dawndie

Congratulations! I'm glad everyone's doing well. He looks like a mellow Zen Baby in those pictures, nonplussed at all the fuss.

Har! I laughed out loud at the teensy imp who yelled "dibs!" on the treasure chest. That Tiger tile looks great! It's really impressive. But you're not keeping the toilet in the bathtub? Just consider all the efficient multi-tasking you could do!

Another early posting! It's been fun to hop in and have it be already "live." I ordered Hungry Ghost Moon (ginger candy, sugar cane and rice wine? *falls over dead*) and Et Lux Fuit (amber, vanilla musk and honeycomb? *gets up, then falls over dead again*). Plus a bottle of Madrid, which has been languishing on my big-bottle wishlist for so long that it's starting to sneer and flip me off. Madrid was a frimp received with my very first order, placed in October 2004. It's not too clove-heavy, it smells more like sitting outside at a cafe drinking red wine and smoking a clove cigarette. I'm debating on CT3 -- I have a bottle of CT2, and while it's OK-smelling (it started fruity like Mi-Go, then goes cologney like how Wolf Moon ends) the idea of experimentation is more fun. But there are so many other bottles I want, do I want to spend the funds on something I may dislike? Why not order something I know I'll like? Who knows, I'll probably cave by August and buy a bottle anyway

I hadn't ordered a Lunacy in so long, I had to go back to find when I ordered the last ones: Beaver Moon (October) and Fruit Moon (July). A while ago I decided most of the "lunar oils" tend to smell like soap eventually and hadn't ordered anything since these -- but these weren't even traditional Lunacies. So we'll see about the Hungry Ghosties. Ah yes, the reappearing frimps. Mine are Marie (which unfortunately gives me a headache) and Hymn. The Lab did its magic though, as I initially thought Hymn was so-so, and it was sent to me enough times I decided I did in fact like it and should order a bottle

Hee! Great elocution there, with the extra phallic syllables

Ugh, that's frustrating. It really doesn't seem like you're in a position to keep the cat with your 2 puppies. You're a kind-hearted person to want to take care of Puddy, and wanting to get him/her to a vet. If you're ready, try picking Puddy up by the back of the neck -- darkity referred to it as like a Vulcan grip, right above the shoulder blades. It's like when the mom cat carries the kittens around, there's a nerve that literally relaxes the cat when pinched, and you can lower him/her into a carrier easily.

Birdy-Birdy! Hee! What a great story.

I'm sorry you're going through this. I found (when DH was out of work for 6-1/2 months AND 3 months after we bought our house) that where there's a will, there's a way. We managed to never fall behind on the important expenses, and slashed away at the unimportant ones. You'll be amazed and impressed at how you deal when it comes right down to it.

I bet he says that to all the girls!

This weekend we went to DH's old workplace one last time. We moved to Dallas 5 years ago because the music retail company he worked for in Ohio was begging him to take over a store -- he was offered places in Vegas, Denver and Southern California before he accepted here. He was excited because he would be involved from the ground up, as the outdoor, urban retail complex wasn't even finished yet, and he would be involved in construction and inventory and fixtures and hiring and everything. Unfortunately for him, 2 weeks after he opened was 9/11. Retail across the country tanked, and his brand-spanking new store was no exception. Add in management changes, and suddenly the golden boy was a problem child. Without going into detail, things ended on a bad note, but it was a company-wide problem. They've since closed a bunch of prominent retail stores, and they're closing the one DH worked so hard to open. So we go there on Sunday, a couple of weeks before their closing, and it's like a mausoleum. Empty, cavernous and depressing. But DH wasn't depressed, because he actually got a better job afterwards with lots more security. And he can Scoreboard! The sports radio station we like here has a term: "Scoreboard!" Like if someone is bitching about how much greater a coach is over Phil Jackson, you just say "Scoreboard" and realize Phil Jackson has won 9 NBA championships. Not that I like Phil Jackson, he's a pompous ass , but he has scoreboard over Larry Brown or Pat Riley or whoever. I'm babbling, but my point is to appreciate when you can Scoreboard over something -- not in a mean, malicious way, but more self-affirming.

Somewhere you had posted a comment about your inner Wookie, "raughaughaugh!" and that was MentalAndy's interpretation. My MentalAndy tells me I need cookies.

I don't know what the deal is with Brad Pitt -- he's too jawey. There, I made up a word to describe him. Something about his giant square head is disconcerting. I loved Andy Garcia in Ocean's 11. He was a great seething villain. But what does he yell in the control room after he's been robbed? It's like, "and get me those ARGHBLARGHS!!" I've seen that part 20 times and I still don't know what in tarnation he's hollerin' fer.

Ooh, I want to see pictures of your office! The Marx Brothers box set sounds great too. I was seriously considering the Astaire/Rogers box set at 35% off at a store closing sale -- I should head back and see if it's still there, maybe at 50% off? What emo kid with scraggly hair is going to want that? I read your Groucho quote out loud as DH walked by, and he cracked up.

June 1 is Marilyn Monroe's birthday! She was born June 1, 1926 (the year Rudolph Valentino died). I tried to post a live picture but failed, so here's a link: http://sourballs.org/icon/marilyn_small She liked teh smellies too! Her favorite was Chanel No. 5, but she may have liked BPAL for the sheer decadence.

I've read a bunch of books & bios of her, and you're right -- regardless of whichever theory surrounding her death, accidental or no, she wasn't "happy" most of the time. She wanted kids, but had miscarriages. She wanted to be a serious actress, but the studios were only interested in dumb blonde roles. She wanted true love, but went through marriages and affairs like water.

valentina's post got me pawing through the laserdiscs and DVDs for favorite movies in general, and I must babble about Defending Your Life. Albert Brooks wrote, directed and starred in a movie all about what happens after you die. It's a mix of Occidental/Western religion and Buddhism with some bureaucracy thrown in, because we all love that! Woo! While I don't like everything Albert Brooks does, he's so dry and smart in this one plus it makes you think for days afterward (or years, but I'm slow ). The premise is after you die, you go to Judgment City and you have to "defend your life," and here on Earth we have to prove we weren't conquered by fear so we can move on to the next level. You're assigned a defense attorney and during your trial you're shown scenes from your life and the attorneys argue before a couple of Gods/judges about whether you faced your fears. One scene is when he's 10 or so and is confronted by a bully at school, and he backs out of a fight. The prosecutor said he was afraid -- getting hurt, looking foolish -- while the defender argues that "he wasn't afraid, he was showing restraint!" Hee! So what's my fear? Number one is probably not being able to to support myself -- living on the street, no money or security, where every person is a potential predator and enemy. So am I facing my fear, by working and trying to save, or just avoiding it? *Edited for spelling, duh

inkdarkmoon posted about a shipment she was afraid was lost/stolen, and luckily she found it, but since we all do quite a bit of shopping and online ordering I wanted to toss in one experience I had last year. I believe the problem started with a local beauty supply store with a member loyalty program, where you sign up and get a membership card, and they'll send you mailers with coupons and sale notices. No problems by itself, but my mistake was after I used my mailer with the coupon, the salesgirl asked if I wanted to keep the mailer. I said no and didn't give it another thought. Unfortunately (and this is total speculation) I believe the salesgirl kept the mailer with my name and address, and since I paid with a credit card she had my credit card number too. I didn't know of any problem until my credit card statement, when I saw a charge for almost $250 to a clothing store at a local mall. I hadn't been to that mall in a couple of years, and had never shopped at this store. It was a week or so after my trip to the beauty store. I disputed the charge and paid the rest. About a month later I got "proof" of my purchase from the clothing store: they had a screen shot of my name and address, and UPS "delivery" to my house that of course wasn't my signature (it looked like Cynthia something). I called bullshit and disputed this "proof," as they didn't have my scanned credit card, just the number manually entered (the credit card company can tell), the store didn't have my signature on file, and UPS' delivery proof wasn't my signature. I also tracked the UPS shipment online and sent to the credit card company, because it showed that right after shipment the "customer" called and rerouted the package to Will Call! So UPS showed the package signed for at my house, but if you brought tracking up it clearly showed the package was diverted. A month later the credit card company said I wasn't responsible for the charge, mainly because of my UPS tracking proof which the store conveniently didn't include. My guess for all of this is that salesgirl at beauty store called the clothing store and used my info, maybe with an accomplice at the clothing store, charged my card and shipped the goods, but then called as the "customer" and picked up the package at UPS later. The kicker is that when I was going through receipts, the clerk at the beauty store was "Cynthia." Coincidence? Part of me wanted to call both stores and raise hell and get people fired, but I have no real proof it was even the beauty store salesgirl. I've never gone back to the beauty store though.

Yeah, I probably should have said something then. But I didn't have proof of anything, and I believe the way it works is if a credit card company suspects fraud it will charge back the merchant -- basically "we're not paying you for those goods that were charged because of fraud, so tough." If so, the clothing store had to eat that amount and would hopefully do some internal investigating of their own. Anyway, it pays to read your credit card statements!

Have you seen Like Water for Chocolate? Lots of magical realism food = love in that one. I'm torn between "happy ending" love stories and "love is death" love stories. Happy Ending ones involve lots of great writing, witty repartee and quotable lines, like When Harry Met Sally and Moonstruck and Bull Durham (which is a great baseball movie too). Love is Death ones are when I'm in a dark foul drunken mood, and Bram Stoker's Dracula is the best. I love brooding Gary Oldman

I started responding to the Las Vegas thread and realized I have too much to say We go to Vegas usually once a year. We're not big gamblers, but we end up having a blast without spending (or losing ) a lot of money. Our tried-tested-true tips are: --Go during the week instead of the weekend. Hotel prices on weeknights can be less than 50% of what you'd pay over the weekend. --Don't just look for the cheapest hotel rates, think about what else you want to do and see. A cheap hotel isn't a bargain if it's way off by itself and you have to take a cab to do anything else. --Everyone should try a huge Vegas buffet once. Rio has a great one, and like the others, lunch is cheaper than dinner for the same food. --Don't forget about free drinks! If you're gambling (even at the penny or nickel slots) cocktail waitresses will walk by and bring you whatever you want, even mixed drinks (although notoriously watered-down and in teeny glasses). Bottled beer or water is best to avoid the teeny glasses. --There's technically an "open container" law, but you'll see people walking around all the time (especially downtown) with their beer or crazy half-yard drinks so it's no big deal. Fun free stuff to do: Rio (west of the Strip) has a Mardi Gras carnival, with floats that hang from the ceiling where people toss beads. Oh! The last time we were there they had both male & female cocktail people who would intermittently hop up onto stages above the slots and dance, then hop back down. It was SURREAL and HILARIOUS --Flamingo has a bird sanctuary, nice to walk through --Mirage has a nice tropical walk-through, lots of waterfalls, and you can see the white tigers --Treasure Island has big pirate boats in front, and at night they'll put on a show. It used to be an "arr, matey" pirate show but the last time we were there they were switching it around to "Sirens of the Sea" or something like that; we haven't seen it --Venetian has the canals with singing gondoliers --Tons of window shopping: Forum Shops at Caesars is the hugest, but Aladdin has a nice-sized mall too, with a Sephora --Downtown is great, especially at night -- a bunch of older, smaller casinos within 3-4 blocks. Plus light shows at night, and a few huge souvenir shops that are cheaper than the Strip hotel gift shops. We bought a pseudo-neon Welcome to Las Vegas sign that was $30 downtown, then back at the Flamingo it was $40! OK, now I want to go again

I'm sorry to beat everyone down with my babbling -- it was more thinking out loud DH has really been itching, as we've gone in May or June the last several years. But we're trying to talk ourselves out of it as we've had some house repairs that we're still paying off. BUT we've gotten email deals from a few hotels, for $60/night during the week on the Strip. It would be irresponsible if we didn't take advantage of a sale, right?

valentina's nightmare! At my last job one desk was next to an older lady with an obsession with food. One large desk drawer was full of food -- and not sticks of carrots either. She would hide food in a file, then disappear for half an hour in the bathroom. Plus sometimes her lunch wouldn't "agree" with her, and it wouldn't be a quiet afternoon We're all animals -- but some more than others.

Yes, the title is sarcastic. I do not understand the excitement of cultivating your ulcer around some dudes running around. DH isn't a huge football fan, thank goodness -- his drug of choice is basketball. So 5 guys running up and down the court dictate not only his mood for the evening, but it dictates our evening: --we have to watch the pregame yakking about what a great game this will be. But I can understand anticipation (Update Speculation thread, anyone? ) --then it's the game, 2-3 hours of tense up-and-down, back-and-forth *yawn* At least DH isn't yelling at the TV during all this. --don't forget, after the game it's post-game commentary! Oh goody. Lots of yakking about how the game went. If the team won then everyone played great against formidable opponents. If the team didn't win then it's the refs' fault. I'm just bitter because I want to watch CSI reruns instead.

Why yes, spanishviolet, it's the Mavericks! You're in the same boat? Do you get to listen to the Ben & Skin 2-hour post-game extravaganza too? It would be cool if the Mavs won the whole thing, I guess, but I don't have a vested interest. If only to show that here in Dallas not all of us are scheming on our lanai on Southfork Ranch drinking highballs in our 10-gallon hats.

Ooh, Vegas! VegasVegasVegasVegas!!! *ahem* Maybe you should go in July? Just a thought