Mmh Cheese Fondue!

White Christmas

... make it stop! Argh!

Merry Xmas!

Ouch.

Old Navy Christmas Stockings

... for a measly dollar! And SO colorful!

Five For Fighting - Chances

Love their new album, "Slice" (which I got to download for free, thanks to One2One Network!)

Thanksgiving...

Early Black Friday shopping at CVS and Walgreens, getting overage on all these items thanks to deal websites like iheartcvs and iheartwags.

The Cat enjoyed himself:

and we had a great dinner:

Oofta.

Awww.

The must-have Christmas gift for this year: NOT a Zhu Zhu Pet, no: the USB powered Pet Rock!

"Simply plug the USB cable into a free port and let the fun begin. The USB Pet Rock will instantly begin to work its magic. People will stop by and ask you what your USB Pet Rock does. Each time, you can make up a new story; for no matter what you say, it will be greater than the truth - because these USB Pet Rocks don't do a dang thing."

Don't do a dang thing? Perfect. I wonder whether they come with an adapter for the cat.

Candy freakout in 3..2...1...

Omigodomigodomigod, Aldi has TONS of German Christmas candy this week!

Not just the usual Stollen (raisin bread) and Spekulatius (almond cookies), but Marzipan! and Nougat candy! and jam-filled gingerbread hearts! And and and, my favorite: Dominos! Chocolate gingerbread cubes with marzipan and jelly filling! OOOOOH!!! *waves hands exitedly*

Screw Santa, I want a holiday pig!

As seen in Kmart's ad: The Trim-A-Home "Holiday Pig" ("150 lights. Icy look."), on sale for a mere $39.99! Awesome.

"Holiday Pig, Holiday Pig, does whatever a Holiday Pig does..."

Michael Bublé

Oh, I just LOVE Michael Bublé and his latest single, "Haven't met you yet". I watched him on Graham Norton last Sunday and on Letterman's "Top Ten", and he's so freakin' cute and funny! I'm such a sucker for crooners (we actually got married to Harry Connick Jr.'s "It had To Be You")!

Yowzer!

Damn, it's almost Halloween already! Yikes! These translucent cat eye window panels (from Grandin Road) would look awesome if only we had the right windows... So I guess the scariest thing we'll have is a grumpy ol' REAL cat staring outside...

Aww he just wants a hug...!

Of all the weird stuff I've seen on ThinkGeek.com, this one easily beats 'em all - the Alien Facehugger Plush! Quote: "Always happy to see you! Cute and cuddly! Poseable "fingers"! Fills your chest with love!" Quick, order before Halloween for that warm, cuddly feeling...

Into the Woods

We went to see "Into the Woods" at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre this Saturday (yay for free tickets!).

It's a musical that basically takes a bunch of Grimm's fairy tales, mashes them together, and twists them into something dark and new - while dealing with the question of what happens AFTER "happily ever after"?

The first half was awesome and surprisingly funny, the second act was a tad long and forced, but altogether it was great! Even the Hubby managed to survive it somehow, even though he HATES musicals...

Arboretum

Once in a Blue Moon...

Got this Eileen Goudge book to review on some retailers' websites. It was actually not as bad as the cover made me fear. Nice little story of two sisters, torn apart at childhood and grown up under very different circumstances, reconnecting and getting their lives in order. Happy end (of course).

Kinda weird to read after I just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, a dark, bleak, but beautifully written story about a dying father and his son in a postapocalyptic world where survivors have turned into cannibals... The movie starring "Aragorn" Viggo Mortensen comes out in November. Can't wait.

Office window view

"Yo quiero my rubber steak!"

Tee hee! New puppy visit!

Unsportsmanlike Conduct Kitty says...

"I swear to God, I'm *** takin' this ball and shoving it down your *** throat. You hear me?"

Venturing downtown

Last Saturday, we ventured out of our cozy little suburb into the big, scary city. We went to see the Indian scout statue overlooking downtown (after circling the damn area about five times, seriously KC, would it KILL you to put up a sign? And what is up with that area, a ramshackle parking lot next to a skating park, then an overgrown foot path in REALLY bad condition, with no idea what looms behind the next hill?), anyway, nice view! Then we drove on

to Crown Center (bypassing the Irish fest, which seemed to be a LOT more popular than the German Octoberfest we visited a couple of years ago, what is UP with that!),


to have lunch and visit the "Art of the Brick" Lego exhibition!

And then on to Loose park, where no less than THREE wedding parties were enjoying the nice weather (and blocking the damn rose garden and the duck pond bridge, wtf, people! STEP AWAY FROM THE DUCKS!).

State Fair

We went to the Missouri state fair in Sedalia! Apart from the best corn dogs EVER (because they were free!), we saw: tractor pulls, horses pulling heavy stuff, award winning hams and flowers, BUNNIES!, chicks that had just hatched (beneath a sign saying "popcorn chicken" bwahaha! sigh), pig races, Ferris wheels, slides and roller coasters, a robot exhibit, a silly western show, andandand...

Oh, and on our way driving there we passed Whiteman air force base and a freakin' huge, triangular stealth bomber flew right over us! I was too busy saying "WHATTHEHELL IS THAT!?" to take a good photo, unfortunately.

Kmart loot

Omigosh, I love it when Kmart doubles coupons... two visits this week, total paid after coupons and rebates: $6 (stupid Kansas tax :-))

Julie & Julia

I've heard great things about the new movie "Julie & Julia", with Meryl Streep playing famed chef Julia Child and Amy Adams playing a food blogger who cooks every recipe in Child's famous book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The previews I've seen just annoyed the heck out of me, especially Meryl Streep who keeps reminding me of her over-the-top role in "Mamma Mia", so I'm not in too much of a hurry to see this one.

Plus, nobody can beat Dan Aykroyd when it comes to impersonating Julia Child:

Dove Visibly Smooth deodorant review & coupon giveaway

I was among the lucky few who received the new Dove Visibly Smooth deodorant before it even came on the market - a deodorant that claims to "make underarm hair look and feel less noticeable over time" and "help you feel stubble free for longer". I've been using it for a while now and while I can't say I've seen any dramatic effects, it IS a very good deodorant, smells nice ("wild rose"), and maybe, just maybe, does soften the stubble a little bit...

I also received a TON of $2 off coupons good for this specific deodorant. If anybody's interested, go ahead and email me thru my profile; I'll be more than happy to send out a few coupons to the first five or so people (within the U.S.).

Summer reading

This is what I'm reading right now - perfect for summertime! Reminds me of "Enchanted April": in post-WWII Italy, four strangers, each with their own complicated background, arrive at a mysterious, beautiful villa...

Heaven on a plate...

Toasted, garlic rubbed baguette slices, balcony-grown tomato, mozzarella slices, basil, salt, pepper & olive oil.

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies

Straight from Martha Stewart, and omigosh, are they GOOD! I used slightly less strawberries and baked them for the full 25 minutes the recipe recommends. They're awesome fresh from the oven but get a little soggy after 1/2 day. That shouldn't be a problem, however, since you're going to devour them instantly.

In the woods

This weekend, we went to "Jazz in the woods" and "Country in the woods", toted as Kansas City's largest free music festival. The jazz one had a decidedly easy-listening quality to it *snore*, only saved by eating copious amounts of funnel cake, but Eric Church's country rock on the next day was pretty entertaining, actually (if you can ignore the lyrics). It was fun to see the different crowds on the two days... Oh and I saw my favorite TV weather guy, Don Harmon!

Tequila watermelon

I tried out a nice boozy recipe (by Martha Stewart) for tequila-soaked watermelon: Just marinate the wedges in a simple syrup with tequila and Triple Sec, season with lime juice and salt, and serve ice cold. Cheers!

Visit to the park

Saw a little turquoise-blue lizard!

Orange Star

Got a beautiful plant from Hubby. It's called "Orange Star"; I've never seen it before...

Hullo.

Daytrip to Konza Prairie, Kansas

Two hours west of Kansas City is where the prairie begins... or rather (since it's May and we had a lot of rain) green hills as far as the eye can see... alternately evoking comparisons with the Swiss alps (but a little less hilly) or Ireland (but with less drunk Irishmen). The Konza Prairie Biological Station (that's what it's officially called) is part of the Flint Hills and basically a huge chunk of tallgrass prairie (there's even a herd of buffalo, although in a not publicly accessible part).

We took a 3 hour hike along one of the hiking trails and I loved it - the husband mostly enjoyed the fact that we saw a weird lizard (a "horned lizard", apparently) and that we had packed snacks and plenty of water...