pipettes and FINALLY some snow worth talking about

our lovely shed has been sending me pipettes songs lately. wonderful, peppy pipettes songs! it was, in fact, "your kisses are wasted on me" that i was humming to myself as leff and i walked through the start of last night's storm on the way to easy street to pick up a copy of their cd.

isn't it shiny?



oh, those limes. yes, well, we have beer that was badly in need of citrus. i took a photo of them because i stuck them in my coat pocket on the way home and they looked like misplaced testes. and, well, we ALL know how everyone should be posting more pictures of their balls online. esp women. (sorry i couldn't get a shot of them in my pocket, j. it was too dark.)

where was i? oh yes! the storm. it blew through town, dumped about a little less than half an inch of snow and was over in less than two hours. wonderful! it was the first time i've ever seen queen anne ave shut down.



(cut me some slack. i'm still relatively new to town. one year, three months. the q.a. ave has been open that whole time.)

the press was there. blurrily.



people were sledding down the street but none of our photos came out. but here's a shot of a tiny snowman that i put on top of a short utility pole.



leff and i walked around the neighborhood for a while taking photos and throwing snowballs. thankfully, leff decided to not hurl this one at me.



because that *really* would have hurt.

we found a cute snowman across the street from the convenience store.



and hung out by the "unofficial overlook" on mercer.



now the snow has melted! hooray! if i was as corny as i felt like being, i'd mention "perfect storms" and crap like that. but i have some tiny shred of dignity left. not much, mind, but enough for the words "perfect" and "storm" to make me cringe.

pumpkin donut and a brief cephalopause

ah, spud. even though everyone else was freaking out about the condition of the roads in seattle, they still managed to deliver our groceries for the week at the normal time. and in those groceries? delicious vegan PUMPKIN DONUTS from mighty o!!!



nothing is more fun than eating a pumpkin donut and watching news coverage about tow trucks and people walking on ice. come on, seattle! give it a rest! i KNOW none of you can drive in this stuff (i've watched you. it was amusing. i'm glad you didn't get hurt.) but, JESUS, other things have been going on in town. and, goddamnit, urban craft uprising is this weekend and NO ONE IS EVEN MENTIONING IT!!

so, please, enough with the snow. think of it this way, snow is only *really* cold fluffy rain. and ice, well, it's just frozen rain. you're used to rain, right? please remember that when we get the next storm tonight. oh, and don't drive.

seriously, don't. i don't want to watch another report on tow trucks.

anyhoo, here's that brief cephalopause from the title. there were three squid and/or octopus in a row in popular media within an hour period yesterday. you know how i love coincidences that occur in threes, right? if you didn't, now you do.

1) in "okami" (have i mentioned that game yet? har har har!), you can fish. if you fish in the northern areas of the country, you can catch squid.



2) while flipping channels, i saw an animated squid attacking a shark on the disney channel.



3) a popular web ad campaign where one of the banners features an octopus.



and then leff went and ruined my three thing by catching an octopus in "okami".



silly, old leff.

speaking of leff, time to see him on his merry way to the pr0n factory, er, i mean his job. smell you later.

three new paintings for purchase

hello, readers! a word of warning about this post-- it's about artwork for sale. so, if you're not into my paintings and such, sorry, please skip it and return tomorrow for more inane ramblings. if you are into my paintings, then please proceed!

i've decided to give my etsy shop a shot in the arm and, as such, have listed three new paintings that are now available for purchase. they are...

"t eh suxx0r"



etsy page

"omgwtgbbq!" (this image may look a bit familiar to a few of you.)



etsy link

and "< 3"



etsy link

all are mixed media (acrylic, graphite, ink and wax) on wood. specifics are listed on each painting's etsy page.

i'll hopefully be uploading at least three new paintings a week and will have a link to my etsy shop on the main page here shortly.

"why all of this etsyian rambling?" you might ask. and i will tell you "i wasn't sure if i was going to get serious about my shop there before this week but now i've decided that i will."

not such a bad answer, i guess.

anyway, back to rambling tomorrow. ta.

conjoined garlic, eggwich, a warning, luuther...i am your father, another pinky photo for shed

i could talk about the (lack of) snow in the city proper but since 1) everyone else is doing it and 2) i don't really get why the whole town is spazzing out so much, i think i'll just move on. (yes, virginia, i realize it's got to do with the inherent dangers of mixing black ice with steep roads and also having too many cars on overcrowded streets but i've dealt with it before on the east coast. it's nothing new. le sigh...)

anyway, while making lunch yesterday, i noticed that my head of garlic was conjoined. see the teeny, tiny bulb on top? it's attached to the larger one below it.



fine, don't get excited about my garlic. pbbbt!

something that actually *is* cool: my sunny side up egg from callykarishokka's etsy shop arrived yesterday!



isn't it adorable?!

while finishing up a painting in the afternoon, i noticed a warning label on the side of my container of dorland's that surely inspires consumer confidence.



i know that i feel *much* safer using a product when a company disowns what it sells. "our wax medium? well, that's out of our control. but we do have some lovely damar varnish that you can take home to mother."

and i can't believe that i didn't mention that i got some tiny donuts at kinokuniya on sunday. i mean, they're toy donuts, for christ's sake! so now i'll over photodocument them. first as luther leia buns



and then again in another pinky photo for shed.



now i need to paint and marvel at the continuing coverage of "snow crisis aught diggity six: seattle edition". *dire background music*

vds, dig dug, west seattle, snow, range murata pinky street

yesterday, that was sunday, right? and what do sundays sometimes mean? yes, VEGGIE DIM SUM WITH J AND LEFF!



six, count 'em, six hum buns this time, kids! so we didn't have to fight over them! we also consumed some *delicious* sticky rice things that were wrapped in large leaves and stuffed with pork. omgwtfbbq!1! one!! to the nth degree! i ate not only mine but also the rest of j's. it's now my favorite dish at the vds!

after dim sum, we began our daylong quest (daylong = approx. 4 hours) for a copy of "dig dug". (it's j's game. he pwns me at "dig dug". he also gets a higher score at "ms pac man" but i clear more boards and now i'm digressing.)

anyway, "dig dug". surprisingly, pink godzilla was out of the ds version. they did have a copy for nes and leff and i briefly considered purchasing both the console and the game (since his nes had gone the way of the parental yard sale and i had never owned one.) but j decided that we should just search at target instead. (so much for avoiding big box stores.)

(an aside: before continuing on the quest for "dig dug", i ran into kinokuniya and purchased the first range murata pinky st figure (a ridiculous amount of photos of that in a moment) and j got a "jumpoff". (er, a cream bun from yummy house. don't ask...) i mean, we have our priorities straight.)

anyway, target. the west seattle target to be specific. i'd never been to west seattle before yesterday. it's cute and very suburban. there were adorable little houses with xmas lights decorating them. also, it was snowing.

plus there was a target. a target that was displaying the wii that i cannot have.



a target that was selling cute deer napkins.



and, sadly, it was also a target with neither a plug and play version nor a greatest hits compilation disc containing "dig dug".

thankfully, where there's a target, there is usually a game store in the same megaplex. it was there that j procured the ds version of "dig dug" after we both spent far too long trying to explain to the majorly stoned teenaged clerk just what the hell we were trying to buy. leff was smart and played around with the "guitar hero" peripheral on display.

anyway, omg!! pon1es!! snow!



it was coming down pretty heavily in west seattle. by the time we got back to the lqa (where that photo was taken) it wasn't quite so bad. why do i mention the snow? because it's an anomaly in seattle. at least that's what i've gathered from the way people are freaking out about it.

but enough about frozen precipitate! here are waaaaaaaay too many photos of my new pinky!! first, the "dim sum" outfit. (it's my favorite of the two.)



the little steamer containers open and there are cute little buns inside of them! eep!



and now the "default" outfit with the "pumpkin pants".



it's accessorized not only with the headgear but also a pink dj bag and kickin' boots!



and hidden under the base is a cute drawing. awwwwww!



see, i told you there were too many photos.

'k, i need to check on road conditions for leffstar. here's hoping that the threat of snow means he gets another day off! *fingers crossed*

pink bunny pencil holder, saturday evening in ballard

a large chunk of yesterday morning was devoted to this cute little pink bunny



which not only fits in my pocket



but also expands to become a long bun



that's good for holding pencils and pens



as well as carrots.



(i realize you'll never love my new pink bunny pencil holder as much as i do. i can live with that.)

later that night, j came over. we were all pretty hungry (including the fox on the fridge)



and we were going to eat at zeek's but, holy hell!, it was crowded!! even with j's super coffee powered wristbands


there was no dispersing that mob of people. so we went to hattie's instead. (which, honestly, much better than zeeks. good call, j!)

after hattie's? ben and jerry's because j wanted coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz (which is only in the scoop shops now since it's a retired flavor.) leff got the same as j and i went for dublin mudslide. mmmm!



after dessert, we had no luck finding a wii at fred meyer. also no luck in finding neither a greatest hits disc nor a plug and play controller with dig dug on it. but fred meyer does have the pink ds lite! (as if we need another ds.)

today may find us trawling around downtown in search of dig dug or it might reveal a higher purpose in the eating of dim sum. or maybe i'll go back to sleep--it's gross outside.

it's another busy saturday...

...so here are two things before i run out the door.

leff and i ventured up queen anne hill yesterday. our mission? bouncing wall to look for holiday cards. what we returned home with? new fuzzy mice from the pet store for the cats.



later that night we saw "for your consideration". here's a very bad photo of me waiting for the movie to start.



"consideration" wasn't bad but it wasn't my favorite christopher guest movie. that remains "spinal tap". (i think it'll always be "spinal tap".)

but now i gotta' go. i have to sit in my office and wait for the scheduled tests to not show since 1) it's still a goddamned holiday weekend (who the hell SCHEDULED these tests anyway?!?) 2) there's a threat of snow which doubly means no one is going to show. grrrr!

one holiday down, xmaskwanzikah to go

ah, thanksgiving. it's finally OVER and now there's only xmaskwanzikah to deal with before the good holidays start! and by "good holidays" of course i mean NEW YEAR!! in its many shapes and forms. be it the boring "auld lang syney" type we celebrate in the u.s. (that whole ball dropping thing in nyc? it happens at 9 p.m. seattle time. pointless. boring.), tet nguryen dan, nos galan, yuan tan, nouruz or, hell, even hogmanay, i'm *so* there! with bells on, nonetheless.

but first i must deal the final death blow to thanksgiving 2006. say it with me now, "mortal combat" lovers..."FINISH HIM!!!"

and so i shall. here is a photo of my thanksgiving feast.



nachoes and quesadillas. you can assume from this photo that i love guacamole. and that would be a correct assumption on your part.

we also had key lime pie.



of which none remains. because leff and i are pigs. oink. oink.

naturally, i indulged in the food coma associated with this holiday. in fact, i felt quite like this.



and then i took a nap. which was followed by a marathon stretch of "okami" ending at around midnight or so. i think.

so, all in all, not such a bad day. i didn't have to do the family drill since the ones that i talk to (all two of them) are vacationing in chincoteague at the moment. so that was good. but leff was not so lucky. (at least he caught the 'rents while they were on the beltway so he didn't have to talk long.)

so now begins dvd season (no holiday specials for me!) and active avoidance of all things big box store and shopping mall. (er, not that that will be a problem as i actively avoid them as much as possible anyway.) in fact, if i could sleep through xmaskwanzikah and wake up in time to be drunk on new year's eve, i'd be ever so happy.

by this i mean, i'll try not to be cranky on the blog in the coming month or so but i can't promise you anything. the winter holidays and me? oil and water...tequila and milk....tom hanks and decent movies.

so apologies in advance. maybe i'll take up ice skating or something. that might be funny.

happy thanksgiving if you're a u.s. resident. if not, happy thursday.

christ on a cracker, i overslept! so i'm behind in making the guacamole and cheese sauce for the annual feast. i'm *really* glad that i made the sangria, key lime pie and the sacrificial charlie brown appetizer yesterday!



(for non u.s. residents, the above photo is an allusion to the dinner in "a charlie brown thanksgiving", arguably one of the most depressing cartoons ever made. (imho))

i'll be starting one of the thanksgiving movies soon so i can listen to it while i cook.



"seven samurai" is particularly awesome for this since it has a loooooong run time.

right, ok, time to make some mexican food. photos of the excessive consumption tomorrow!

a card, some carbs and an overrated storm

one day before thanksgiving and i'm starting to realize that, oh yeah, there's a goddamned holiday tomorrow. i guess i should be preparing some of the food!

buying the ingredients earlier this week wasn't what tipped me off. nope, it was the lovely andi2 sending holiday greetings in the form of this beautiful card yesterday!



eeeep! it's so shiny! thanks, andi!!! *hugs!*

also this strange but delicious loaf of stuffing bread that leff brought home was a big clue. yes. stuffing bread.



i mean, don't get me wrong, it tastes awesome. but did stuffing need to become more of a carbohydrate?

here's a slice for your perusal.



and please keep in mind that i asked that carb question while stuffing (har har!) a slice of bread down my gullet. it's really very yummy. yummy...but still a strange concept.

yesterday there was a thunderstorm in seattle. by that, of course, i mean two strikes of lightning and two thunderclaps. oh, and this time some hail. i mean, there was an impressive fork or two of lightning (click for photo) but, uh, why did everyone in town overreact so much? leff, our eyewitness for this story, said that while he was purchasing the much referred to stuffing bread, that people were running outside to dance in the rain and that others were cowering in fear. i mean, huh?

look, no one is from seattle. ok, there are maybe two of you that were born here. but besides you duo, we all moved here. i assume that most of us moved here from places where there are thunderstorms. did you cowering people at the bread store forget what happens when an air mass becomes so unstable that it overturns or, as they say in the business, convects?

seriously, folks. this:



is neither a reason to cower nor to dance. construction and a little bit of rain. that happens here all the time. thank you, the management. i.e.-- rakka the smartass amateur meteorologist who, just because she's lived through a tornado or two, thinks she's hot shit when it comes to storm related things. (psst--word on the street is she's full of crap.)

man, i'm still cranky over this holiday bs. guess i'll go make a key lime pie and try to cheer up.

apologies and a new post with a meme!

look, i'm sorry about being madame crankypants esq. earlier. these things happen. but i'm feeling much better now thanks to clouseau who insisted upon purring at me while he blocked my access to the keyboard.



and also this vegan cherry cocoa heart from island spring organics.



mmmmmm...cherries....cooca!

the spud delivery guy and i talked video games for a while and that helped too. i think he's going to get a gamefly subscription now. (seriously, why do people not pay me to sell their products? (i'm kidding, kids. i don't want to be a corporate shill. i've seen people like that and they scare me. in fact, they scare me worse than the thought of cockroaches in clown makeup. (really, think about that last image for a while. it's quite frightening. how did the makeup get on them?!? *shiver*)))

right, time to meme this up. pants did that "random 10 songs" thing and came up with cameo (which i love, btw.) so i've loaded up all of our music, hit shuffle and given you the first ten that showed up. should i mention that the ones that you don't like are leff's? because we share a computer, you know.

1. be quiet mt. heart attack--the liars
2. quinton's on the way--the pharcyde
3. what's in store--architecture in helsinki
4. blast off again--v
5. 8 ball--n.w.a
6. atoms for peace--thom yorke
7. 7th message--prefuse 73
8. kick me and cancel--robert pollard
9. an assassin--the sea and cake
10. f.o. 02--the fucking ocean (f.o. 02 may not be the title of the song but it's what shows up in winamp.)

what will you get? will it be racheal ray with an entertaining recipe on your box of crackers?



(god, i hate her.)

or will it be that stupid ass gwen stefani song from last summer? no fudging! now go build this meme!