I was using the computer, John was reading. Suddenly he started to get up, and I SWEAR he muttered, "Chicken Fucker!" as an angry curse. Instead, he was just muttering about 'checking our fire' (in our wood burning stove to see if it needed a poke.) I told John what I thought I heard. We're both still laughing. *grin*
posted:9:00 PM | link |

Notice anything different? LOL. Tom's redesign got me to thinking about redesigning, or at least sprucing up my own blog. I had liked the previous 'simple' design but had been wanting a bit more COLOR lately. The subpages and the archives are still all the OLD design, but then, I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep THIS one anyway. Just needed a change. It was a pretty quick graphics job too, and I have some other ideas simmering on the back burner. You've been warned. ;-)
posted:6:57 PM | link |

Heard some scratching sounds on the roof last night, so I wandered out to the back porch with my flashlight. I stepped outside and closed the screen door and five feet away from me, on a post by a waist high ledge... a little raccoon peeked out from behind the post. I jumped and grinned and said, "Oh, hi there!" and he blinked at me. I moved a little and he started a bit but didn't jump down right away. His body was only about a foot long and his face was small - rather cute. After a moment of us looking at each other, he turned around, climbed down to the ground and jogged away into the darkness. :-)
posted:12:46 PM | link |

Geez - I wrote an article for the Conscious Creation Journal in the middle of November and I believe I forgot to mention it here. What WAS I thinking? *grin* Anyway, the article's called, Know Thyself. Go read it now. I'll wait. ;-)
posted:11:21 AM | link |

Many kudos to tom on his striking redesign!
posted:5:29 PM | link |

Geez - if Snopes says it - it MUST be true! Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Concocted by writer for Montgomery Ward in 1939 as a promotional gimmick. Huh. Also, check out this other Christmas Legends page if you want to make sure you know the acceptable 'mass reality' versions of things - heh heh. (link thanks to metafilter)
posted:8:05 PM | link |

You know what's cool? LED Christmas Lights. Less power, don't get hot, etc. I bought a string with star shaped ends the other day just to see how they work. They were red, orange, yellow, and green, but no blue - I don't think the LEDs were 'strong' enough to make the blue light up enough. (Which explains why LEDs DO make good traffic lights - LOL.) What's strange is that when you jiggle the string of lights, they give the appearance of flickering.... well, more like seeing the spaces between each shot in a strip of film - like if the film was suddenly rolling just a bit too slow - it's weird. And they aren't quite as BRIGHT as the regular ones, but I'm sure they'll get better over a few years. I was surprised that only KMart seemed to carry the LEDs and not many - I venture to guess that most places still have strings and strings of the old lights to repackage and sell yet.
posted:9:14 AM | link |

Since Thursday, John and I have been watching our collection of Christmas shows. Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Charlie Brown, the Grinch, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, etc. I like them all for the magical content and for the way they make me feel. Of course, there are a lot of things that stand out in these as either really dated or things that just don't mesh with me.

Take Rudolph - I remember as a kid being terrified by the abominable snowman, and I can still remember that feeling when I watch it today and get chills - LOL. On the other hand, I'm also more aware of what a mean, self-centered, preoccupied grouch Santa was. And my favorite dated line from that show: "... they knew the best thing they could do right now was to get the women back to Christmastown." *grin*

Take It's a Wonderful Life - ostensibly it's about a man who was disgruntled because he 'had to' stay at home and work the family business but finds out his life really isn't so bad. Now, I can watch it knowing what the filmmakers were attempting, and can enjoy it. On another level however, I see a man who didn't really follow his heart and his desires to explore out of a misguided sense that things at home would just fall apart without him, something pretty much supported by what happened when he 'was never born'. It's not what I agree with, but I enjoy the magic of the film and it's really fun watching Jimmy Stewart act.

Miracle on 34th Street (the original, not that horrible remake from the 80's), I'd have to say, that although it's a bit dated, most of it fares really well and ends up being mostly just a magical movie. :-)

I can see why networks also wouldn't show Santa Claus is coming to town and The Year Without a Santa Claus on tv anymore (although I certainly wouldn't AGREE with their choices, mind you.) Santa Claus is coming to town is the one with BurgerMeister MeisterBurger and has the town being bullied by people who seem suspiciously German-esque, and Santa Claus goes around flouting all the laws and then he and Jessica get married outside instead of in a church - not very "christian" - LOL. And the Year Without a Santa Claus (the one with the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser) is just a pagan fest with elementals and mother nature and flying reindeer and elves and not a drop of religiosity in the mix - heh heh. And damn if I can't stop singing songs like "put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking out the door" and "I'm Mr. Heat Miser, I'm Mr. Sun..."

Oh, and of course, there's the Bloom County, "A Wish for Wings that Work" starring Opus and Bill the Cat, featuring ducks that look like the three stooges, a pig that insists it's a rhinocerous, a cross-dressing cockroach, and Opus' butt that falls off like a manhole cover - nothing screams Christmas more than that! Can't find the 'Tick' animated Christmas episode that we have around here somewhere, but that's hysterical too.

How about you - got any favorites I haven't mentioned or thoughts about the ones I have?
posted:9:03 AM | link |