A very special Martha Day.
2003-09-14 7:42 p.m.

It was a very special Martha Stewart Sunday. Simon got up at noon and broke out the crockpot to make a cajuny steak strip jambalaya inspired dish. He used a couple of cans of V8 from the fridge, some red wine, water, steak, carrots, celery, onion, garlic-a-go-go and spices to brew up a yummy concoction which he served over rice. Of course, the cats always get excited when the crockpot comes out because they fight over who gets to sleep in the crockpot box. Here's Trinity with first dibs. Although I think Loki is in there right now, which gives me an excuse to not do the dishes right away.

While Simon was cooking I went to the fabric store and bought myself a glue gun and some green crystal trim to dress up the lamp in the living room. Check it out. Would Martha be proud or what? I also got a dragon stencil, brush and paints but I don't know where to use it. Decisions, decisions. September has definitely put us in nesting mode.

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Where's my pencil?
2003-09-12 9:08 p.m.

My best friend Angi and I have an ongoing thing where we send each other offensive greeting cards. Here is the most recent one from Angi. How on earth am I going to be able to top this one?

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Book Report.
2003-09-11 10:16 a.m.

Books recently finished:

Dark Prince by Christine Feehan. This was a supernatural romance novel. The story line was predictable and the female protaganist a bit wimpy. The blood exchanging sex scenes were overly ornate (I agree with Mel's comment of florid) arousing but akward at times. I found myself giggling a lot while reading the sex scenes. The male character was difficult for me to picture as someone attractive, instead he came across as a domineering and self centered bastard. This is part of my romance sex scene research reading so I don't have a substantial repetoire of romance novels to base a serious review on.

The Brontes a Life in Letters by Juliet Barker. This was an amazing collection of letters of the entire Bronte family from childhoold up until after Charlotte's death. Ms. Barker let the letters speak for themselves and only inserted notes after letters in order to clarify the time line and fill in the gaps of the biographies that were taking place through the reading of the letters. I almost didn't want to finish reading it because Charlotte seemed so happy in marriage and yet she died from --at least Ms. Barker says "hyperemesis gravida" (throwing up excessively during pregnancy). Other scholar's argue that Charlotte died of tuberculosis like her other sisters. A great read but I felt sad when I closed the book, like I had lost a handful of close friends.

To the Nines by Janet Evanovich Number nine in the Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series. I can't recommend this series enough. It's funny, it's gutsy and always a wild ride. This time Stephanie, Connie and ex-ho Lula, go to Vegas to make a capture. Stephanie's being stalked by a crazed killer, Lula's luggage never shows up and Connie not only has gambled all her money away, but thinks she may have married an Elivs impersonator. A well crafted mystery with plenty of mad cap humor thrown in. Loved it!

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde Thursday Next works in the literary division of Special Ops. When the nefarious Acheron Hades kills Mr. Quaverly from Dicken's novel "Martin Chuzzlewit" Thursday is on the job. With the help of her wacky uncle the inventor of acutal book worms and a book portal, Thursday jumps into Jane Eyre to save Jane and Rochester and rewrite the book so they can live happily ever after. A very fun book that I made my mother read. She liked it but doesn't have the same penchant for British humor and literature as I do. Brit lit majors will love it, others maybe not so much.

Books I'm currently reading:
Fantasy Lover by Sherilyn Kenyon
I am Diva: Every Woman's Guide to Outrageous Living
The Accusers by Lindsey Davis (only available in UK)

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Operation Save Tiny Concussed Bird.
2003-09-10 10:02 a.m.

I came home last night and Simon had a sign on the door to his room which said "No cats" with a little picture of a cat skull and cross bones below it. I raised and eyebrow at him and he explained that earlier in the day a bird had flown into the living room window and knocked itself unconscious. He went outside and was considering crushing it out of it's misery, then the boyscout in him took over and he decided to attempt to resuccitate the bird. He picked up said bird and spent half the afternoon on the phone with the audobon society. They told him to put the bird in a box with a little bit of water and leave him there overnight if the bird was better (i.e. not dead) in the morning we could let it go.

I grew up in a two story house with a huge bay window. I spent most of my childhoold rehabilitating concussed birds before the neighborhood cats could eat them. I told Simon to show me the bird. The bird was tiny, almost as small at a humming bird with a little pointy black beak and a bright yellow belly. Simon tried to pull the bird out of the box but she clung onto the paper towel inside with her talons like her life depended on it. I told him to move his big hand and I put my finger against her breast and she eventually climbed up onto my finger. I checked her over. She looked all right to me.

"Let's go outside and sit on the porch with her and see what she does." I said. Simon played interference with the cats and we went outside and sat on the concrete steps and I just held her on her finger and let her check out her surroundings. After a couple of minute she pooped on my hand, gave a "cheep" and flew across the street to the neighbor's tree. Then she flew over their house and out of our view. Operation Save Tiny Concussed Bird was a complete success.

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Murph- Aiiiigh!
2003-09-09 9:59 a.m.

I went to my first impromptu acting seminar last night. It was pretty much how you expect the first day of class to go. There is the history of the impromptu acting tradition, the introducing yourself to everyone and the obligatory name game. You know, where you go around in a circle and give an ajective that starts with the same letter as your name and a gesture. Each person in line has to name everyone before them along with the adjective and the gesture. I was "Scandalous Sydney" with an alluring shoulder roll. I was also third from the end so I have everyone's name memorized, which is good because I'm horrible with names. There were sixteen in all and I expect we'll only lose a couple of people. By the end of the night we were learning a couple of warm up games. My favorite was the Zoom Schwartz & Profigliano game which is based on a drinking game. Alas, no beer was consumed last night. Our group last night included a naturopathic gastroenterologist, a lindy hop dance teacher, an insurance salesman, a handful of IT guys and few POLs (people of liesure = the unemployed). I can't wait until next week.

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And, oh yeah...
2003-09-09 9:15 a.m.

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E-mail from a co-worker.
2003-09-08 2:14 p.m.

The LAPD, the FBI and the CIA are all trying to prove that they are the best at apprehending criminals. The President decides to give them a test. He releases a rabbit into a forest and each of them has to catch it.

The CIA goes in. They place animal informants throughout the forest. They question all plant and mineral witnesses. After three months of extensive investigation, they conclude that rabbits do not exist.

The FBI goes in. After two weeks with no leads, they burn the forest, killing everything in it -- including the rabbit -- and make no apologies. "The rabbit had it coming."

The LAPD goes in. They come out two hours later with a badly beaten bear. The bear is yelling, "Okay, okay, I'm a rabbit, I'm a rabbit."

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It's Raining (men?)
2003-09-08 10:26 a.m.

The rains have officially started. I'm glad because my water bill has been astronomical ($300 quarterly) and now I don't have to worry about watering the plants anymore. Although I'm afraid in my negligence I have killed a new little azalia bush. Bushes should not be crunchy and brown. Today I'm wearing a long black skirt, black patterned tights, white t-shirt and a green cardigan. I call this my un-sexy librarian look. I think I need to invest in more lower cut tops.

It's tattoo fever at work! My friend Emily just came over and showed me a neat-o dragon fly she got inked onto her wrist. Laurel is getting a double horsehead native american-ish knot done soon and my friend Jen from yoga is calling my tattoo guy for an appointment. Look at me. I'm a trend setter. C'mon Rebecca. You know you want another one.

I missed the open sparring on Sunday. Saturday night I had a surprise overnight guest. My brother attened a wedding reception at the Governor hotel and needed to be rescued after an hour as out of the 300 people there he knew only three people and that included the groom.

But that's all right. This weekend I was lethargic and spent a lot of time snoozing on the couch. You'd think I was pregnant or something (don't worry, I'm not). Maybe it's sympathetic pregnancy with three of my friends all pregnant. Or maybe I'm just depressed. I'm sure this rain will not help much. You know what I need? Shopping therapy. I think I need some high heeled black boots. That would make everything better.

I watched lots of movies this weekend. Here's a quick breakdown with ratings of 1-5 *.
The Order (theater)***
Identity (rental)***
Cowboy BeBop the Movie (rental)****
Supercop (Tivo)****
Police Story (Tivo)****

Speaking of movies. I'm excited. They're turning Firefly into a movie! Hurrah. I hope they get the same actors to do the movie. I'm also on a wait list at Amazon.com for the first season on DVD which rumor tells me will be in December.

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