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      Wednesday, July 01, 2009


otherstuff
09:11 AM - 07/01/2009

The topic: We bought meat
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at CostCo last Friday night and Monday I started dividing it up and packaging for freezing.  Monday night I made Spanish rice. There are leftovers, I need to get some green bell peppers for stuffing and cooking in the crockpot.

Yesterday, I divided up the round steak and roasts.  We had beef stroganoff, which I make with round,  for dinner last night.  I’d like to put mushrooms in it, but Brian doesn’t care for them. It sure turned out good.  When I put the sour cream in, I thought “I could eat sour cream with a spoon”.  And then I realized I had this gigundo (CostCo) tub of sour cream, a spoon, what was I waiting for?  I had a spoonful.  It was yummy.

In my opinion, dishes made with round steak cannot be cooked quickly.  The lower the heat and the longer the cooking time, the more tender the meat. 

Since it cooked for over two hours, the stroganoff was really good.


otherstuff
11:59 AM - 07/01/2009

The topic: Last month at hypnotherapy
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A very heavy, older man joined. His first group session was on the day we’d gone to Disneyland.

When I met him, he had taken Holly’s chair (Holly has lost quite a bit of weight, she’s doing great) and she took another woman’s who is taking the summer off. I seriously don’t think she’ll be back. She had a considerable drive to get to the office.

Anyway, the set up is there is a room for most of us, then there’s a separate room for snorers. This new guy turned out to be a snorer. He’s right next to me and it’s very bothersome. The first week he was next to me, it was annoying. Last week, he was fine.

Yesterday, it was like a stinking freight train. One of the woman, across the room, farthest from him, was the first to speak up after the session was over. She pointed at him and said “he snored the entire time!”. He seemed very surprised. He didn’t think he snored. I said “yes, it was awful today”. We’ve all got headphones on and he came through loud and clear. I kept wanting to kick him.

He’s being banished to the snorer’s room. His feelings are hurt. He’s taking it personally, like we don’t like him. That has nothing to do with it, we’ve paid money for these sessions and his snoring disrupts it.

Even Nikki could hear him in the outer office, with her radio on and on the phone.

I wonder what his wife tells him. “Oh, no, honey, you don’t snore, I’ve never heard you snore….”

I bet they have separate bedrooms.

      Friday, July 03, 2009


catstuff
07:59 AM - 07/03/2009

The topic: Daggum cats
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They sure try my patience. You’ll never hear me threaten to find them different homes, that’s not gonna happen as long as I’m healthy, but sometimes I think about me running away for some peace and quiet.  A story from last night.

I had finished my dinner and we heard much chirping and squawking from on the patio. I ran out to see what was going on. One of the cats had a bird (it all happened so quickly, which cat didn’t register) and the mate or parent bird was going after this cat. The cat let loose of the bird when double teamed by the other bird and me and started to fly away.

Opie grabbed it before it had a chance to get very far up in the air. This fat woman (me) was chasing Opie, yelling “no! no! no! no!” (I had no idea I could move that fast.) He ran into the garage via the cat door. If that bird got loose in there, it would have been a nightmare with the rafters and all.

He ran behind a cat tree, I gave chase, was on my knees and this worried him more than keeping the bird in his mouth and he dropped the bird and ran inside. I reached in and got the bird, which, thank God, was none the worse for wear. I took it outside, it giving me hell and trying to bite me and I put it through one of the spaces between the wire on the fence modification. I took care to not hurt the wings. It flew away. Then it flew back into the tree. My hands flew in the air “go away until the cats cool down!” flew out of my mouth.

Brian says “those birds are teasing the cats!” You know, I really don’t care who’s teasing whom, there will be no dead birds in my yard because of my cats if I can help it.

I have no idea why it’s so bad this year. Maybe Skipper and Spot are excellent hunters, can leap ten feet straight into the air or something. But I’m not liking it at all.


foodstuff
12:16 PM - 07/03/2009

The topic: Black Angus
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We went to Black Angus the other night for the first time in ages.

I do the MyPoints thing and had earned enough points to get fifty dollars in gift cards. Earlier this week, the mail brought junk mail and one piece had a coupon for $13.00 off of their twofer special.  We figured we’d take advantage of it. 

Since the filet mignon was not one of the pieces of meat offered with the coupon (it was with the twofer, but not using the coupon) I went with the chicken. I chose “teriyaki”.

I remember when I first started dating, my first true love would take me to a nice restaurant by the name of Hungry Hunter (not too many of those around). One of his good friends managed one of the local restaurants.  And I would have the teriyaki steak.  It was tender, it was tasteful and it was really good.  The meat was marinated in a teriyaki sauce for at least twenty-four hours before serving.  It was cooked to perfection.

Well, that chicken I got at Black Angus? What a disappointment.  They cooked the chicken, slapped the sauce on it after, and called it “teriyaki chicken”.  I guess they’d do the same if you ordered “barbeque chicken”.  Cook it, then slap some barbeque sauce on it. 

We had the big mountain fudge cake for dessert.  We split it.  It’s a large piece of chocolate cake, with a scoop of ice cream on top and a container of hot fudge to pour over it.  The cake was dry, the fudge wasn’t hot (didn’t pour worth squat). 

I might as well have eaten at Carl’s Jrs.  At least the dinner only ended up costing us seven bucks, what we left for a tip (not real impressed with our server).  There’s still $6.85 on the card.

Won’t go back there for a long, long, long time. I wonder if it used to be so good because we’d had a few alcoholic beverages beforehand. Booze has been known to impair judgement, you know.

      Thursday, July 09, 2009


otherstuff
01:51 PM - 07/09/2009

The topic: Ponderance
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About sport hunting.

I think it’s creepy that someone can get pleasure out of killing. I just can’t get my mind around going out and killing something and enjoying it.

I just can’t.

      Friday, July 10, 2009


catstuff
08:58 AM - 07/10/2009

The topic: Rachel is pissed off
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She’s been pissed off most of the morning.  When she’s pissed, she can’t sit still, she paces and she talks. I kept telling her to shut up, because I forgot how she gets when she’s pissed.  I thought she was just trying to (and being successful at) annoy me.

Then I turned around and looked into the catcam chair.  Her chair.

Charlie has been in it most of the morning.  And that’s why she’s pissed.  She finally settled down on top of a storage box that’s on the file cabinet. She’s glaring at me.

What am I supposed to do?  Kick Charlie out of her chair?  Doesn’t work that way, baby, first come, first served around here, unless you’re old or infirm.


otherstuff
09:02 AM - 07/10/2009

The topic: Had to send Brian’s cell back, again.
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This will be his fourth phone on this contract. The original was a Nokia and the display went wanky.  The first refurb (same phone model) wouldn’t take phone calls.  Had that for about a month trying to get it to work, never did, got another replacement Nokia. Same model.  Less than three months later, it was worse than the last. 

I called Tuesday night, it was late back east, the sun was still out and the computers were down back east so we couldn’t complete the transaction.  And since the computers were down, all information exchanged in the hour or so I was on the phone didn’t save into our account.  I was given a list of comparable phones since we’d had so many problems with the Nokia.  After I hung up, we went through the list and ended up with a choice of two phones.  I called back Wednesday morning, Brian took his phone, he could make calls, just not get them.  One of the irritating things his phone did was when you called him, you got your voice mail. Try explaining that to someone.  Anyway, the first person I spoke with needed the serial number of his phone.  I didn’t have it, he had his phone. I suggested she call him and get it from him.  She’s got the cell number.

No longer than ten minutes later, the phone rings. She can’t get through to him, she has to give the department he works in.  I started laughing.  “You called his cell phone, right?”  Yes.  “Then why would you be sent someplace that needed his department?  You either get him directly or you get his voice mail!  This is a bad, bad phone!”

Anyway, I had to call him (he was helping his brother at his brother’s house).  I called his mom, asked her if she could get him to call me.  He did, I asked him to bring the phone back home so I could take care of business.  He came home, left the phone here, then went back to his bro’s (it’s just around the corner).

I call back the AT&T support and got through to someone else.  Here we go again. The guy was really nice, though and we got through it quickly enough.  Although the phones we picked out?  No longer available. I was given more phones to choose from and did the research while on the line.  I ended up choosing the one with the worst reviews. Why?  I read the reviews.  The complaints were it didn’t have enough apps, email problems and browsing the internet.  All things Brian will not be doing with his phone.  He wants to make calls and receive calls.  He wants to be able to retrieve his voice mail.  Picture quality, downloading tunes, game applications, none of those mean a thing to him. 

I thought it was strange that I wasn’t given a shipping option. The past couple of times we could pay extra to get it overnight, or just wait an extra couple of days.  The new phone was shipped overnight.  It got here yesterday, I set it up last night (it uses the same charger and PC cables mine uses!).  It was very, very simple. Setting up the speed dial numbers didn’t even take three minutes, tops.

I think he’ll like this phone.

Oh, and it’s blue!  He likes blue.


otherstuff
06:12 PM - 07/10/2009

The topic: shirt dot woot dot com
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I really scored on the random shirts last week. They got here today.  I have two accounts on woot and I got three on each account. Because I’ve lost weight, I’m able to wear a woman’s size (still tight, but won’t be next month at this time). The men’s size I get was all sold out. Anyway, here are the shirts I got.

They Were Delicious

Not What I Seem

The Perfected Art

Sunshine

Forget The Toys, I Want The Moon

Let's Play!

I'm glad I went for it.

      Saturday, July 11, 2009


catstuff
10:28 AM - 07/11/2009

The topic: Sometimes when I’m alone
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in the quiet house, one of the cats will just start talking up a storm.

And it makes me smile.

It’s not the incessant “feed me” call of Kirby.  No, this is a “damn, I feel fine today!”

There are a couple of cats who do this and I recognize each and every one.  Ollie, Bart, Georgie and on occasion, Pete.  Sometimes Jackie will share his thoughts, but I think his are more along the line of being a manly cat and looking for one of his girls.

Sometimes, I will try to quietly go to where the cat is talking and just watch him.  Most of the times, the cats are just laying there, all stretched out. 

Happy and content.

It always makes me smile.


otherstuff
11:02 AM - 07/11/2009

The topic: I felt it
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http://quake-origin.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/ci10437169.htm

      Tuesday, July 14, 2009


catstuff
08:30 AM - 07/14/2009

The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #142!
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Sorry about last week, nobody was giving up a belly for me.

Anyway, I was able to get a few pictures yesterday of sweet kitty bellies and here they are!

First off, we have Spotty Dot.  Or Spot-T.  Or just Spot. He’s laying up against the pot of a huge pine tree, in the little bit of shade it gives off.


click for a larger pic

Then there is Bobby. Nothing like a roll in the dirt on a hot summer's day.


click for a larger pic

And last, but not least, and since he always is there when he thinks there's a chance I might give him some rough strokes down his back, is Skip. He's very polite when he asks for a back rub, he slinks low to the ground in front of me, lays down on his belly and trills at me.


click for a larger pic

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If you've got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!

      Wednesday, July 15, 2009


otherstuff
01:53 PM - 07/15/2009

The topic: I refuse
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to leave this house tomorrow.  There was a time I’d go weeks without leaving the house.  Now it seems like I have to leave it five times a week, at least.

I want to stay home.  I don’t want to go to hypnotherapy for my weight.  I don’t want to go to the chiropracter for my monthly back maintenance.  I don’t want to go to the dentist for my bi-yearly teeth cleaning and check-up.

I don’t want to go to CostCo and get eggs and cheese and 9-Lives. 

I don’t want to go to McDonalds or Rosaritos or Taco Bell to get dinner.

I don’t want to go to the mailbox and get mail.

I don’t want to get out of this chair!

I do not want to leave this house for at least a week.

I can dream, can’t I?

      Tuesday, July 21, 2009


catstuff
08:45 AM - 07/21/2009

The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #143!
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In celebration of this horrible, nasty, humid heatwave we've been having this past week and a half, here's Richie showing us all how to cool off.


click for a larger pic

click for a larger pic

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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!

      Tuesday, July 28, 2009


catstuff
07:56 AM - 07/28/2009

The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #144!
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click for a larger pic

So, I see that it’s once again Tuesday and I have no tummy.  I open my July photo folder and I find this cute little picture of Rory I took at the beginning of the month.  She looks surprised, doesn’t she?

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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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