I've been tagged!

Ok, it's time for my meme. I have a max of two a year, and Cindy just tagged me for one.

Here are the rules:

• Answer at least three of the questions. Yes, I know a few look time-consuming and there are several of them. That's why I only ask for three. See?



• Post them and the rules on your blog, and please link back to here.



• Comment here telling me and the rest of our little party where you're at and link to yourself.That's all!*



• Oh yeah, don't forget to tag others!

What's the last book you read that you thought was really super, inspiring, you'd recommend it to most anyone? The Kite Runner. The book, not the movie. The movie is ok. The book is fabulous.


What food totally grosses you out, you'd never be able to touch it? Ew. Gag. *hurl* Stuff with eyeballs. Or innards.

Did you ever watch a scary movie that frightened you so much you were afraid of the dark afterward? I mean like you're lying in bed trying to sleep, but you have to pee, but you're scared to get up. It doesn't have to be recently; could be when you were a kid. So what movie was it? Thankfully, I am really nearsighted, and learned at a young age to peer over the top of my glasses. In adulthood, I won't watch movies with a Satanic slant, because in my mind, they are theoretically possible.

Is there a song that makes you dance every time you hear it? Would you tap you feet and sing along to it in public? Just about anything by the Cure does that. Or Eurythmics' "There Must be an Angel".

Do you have any? Tell us! Do you think they're gross? TELL US! Yes. Self-inflicted in about 1974, the size of a dime. Thinking about getting one for my next milestone birthday.

When's the last time you laughed so hard your ribs ached and/or you nearly peed yourself? That's a frequent occurence in my world, but I would have to say "Benny Lava" on Youtube did it.


Draw or doodle a picture of your pet(s) and post it if possible. Nothing fancy, don't be shy! The Suggylicious one posed for her close-up



Go through a stack or box of your old music. Stuff that you may not have heard in years. Pick one and tell us about it. Is it as good (or as bad) as you remember? I think as good. It's Gianna Nannini from about 1988. If you want to see BAD, try this Sinitta medley from the 80s. She had a career when she dated Simon Cowell. The relationship ended and so did her career. Imagine that.

So I'll tag Libby, Suzann, and Ghislane, because she tagged me last year and I wasn't playing at the time.

Yipe yipe yipe!!!

I'm worried that the State of Texas screwed the pooch on the FLDS Eldorado case. There was a two hour expose on the tube tonight, and it raised more questions than it answered. For example-

-Why did they scatter the children throughout the state and separate them from their mothers and siblings? Why NOT just kick the men out of the compound? That would make sense, but part of me suspects that perhaps Child Protective Services needs the extra manpower funding. I'm worried that they've snatched the kids away and NOT done their homework; they'll be sued, and we will have to foot that bill. I am practically betting on that, thanks.

-I know that there is a big hue and cry about young girls and underaged sex. The law used to say you could get married in this state at 14 as long as you had parental consent; I believe the current marriageable age is 16 with consent. (Like a FLDS parent would refuse.) That's not as strong a foothold as anyone might think.

-School-I thought they had to go or be schooled to a minimum standard in this state. So why isn't anyone looking at THAT? That might actually work, you know.

-Food stamps-I got pissed when I found out that since polygamy is not recognized as marriage, most of the women are considered single mothers, and they are eligible for public assistance. That pisses me off. THAT we need to fix.

-No one's been arrested. Has anyone actually done anything illegal (aside from polygamy, legal welfare fraud of sorts, and not educating to the state's minimum)?

There are no do-overs on this one. As much as I dislike some of the sect's practices, I am worried that the court will have to let everyone go. Al Capone went to jail for tax fraud. Texas needs to keep that in mind.

Tuning up the banjos to play Deliverance

It's a wonder we all have our damned teeth. I just got back from my brother's wedding in Phoenix. His third, her second. She apparently decided to let her high school aged daughters pick out the attendant dresses. They looked really silly next to the white linen hula style shirts the guys wore.

Above, you see all the subsequent generations of our family. Fred's girls in the taffeta, and mine in prints. What you can't see...the gorgeous brunette in the center of the photo has a brand new tattoo the size of half an orange on her shoulder-it matches her dress. (It's the stylized wisteria wreath in my header, my mom's family crest) Her sister (left) has a new one going down her spine...it says "twin" in Chinese. My little brother got one too; he also got my mom's wreath on his back, slightly bigger than Nessie's.

Me? No tattoo, but it's something to think about. I made a wisteria wreath to take to the cemetary, so I gave everyone the idea. Guh-reat.

A little love-

Cindy (from Baxter Knits, in my sidebar) pops in every so often, and I pop in at her blog every so often too. Now, she's never said anything to ME about this, but I did notice this picture in her sidebar. Wow, really? How can you NOT shout from the rooftops every time you see THAT?

Not that I wanna be a suck up or anything, but I was in Hobby Lobby the other day. I noticed it, saw her name, and smiled! Figured I'd show her some love. This is a pretty good sock book. Couple of toes, couple of heels, 2 circs, 1 circ. You could totally gift this book, needles and yarn.

Last week, I hit upon a sale on Hanne Falkenberg's Mermaid, so I snagged it. The good news? It was 125.00 and included all the yarn. The bad news? Coral, orange and tomato red. Which, on paper, sounded possible, if a bit dicey. Well it came in yesterday (and DH was HOME after a doctor visit) and it is a great kit, but the colors aren't for me. I have to replace at least one of them. The tomato red is almost rust, so I have to replace it or the orange (two balls of either color). Or maybe both. It's a nice sheepy wool (2/9) and I think this will be fun, but I really must turn down the warmth somewhere.

I have to go to Phoenix for the wedding from hell tomorrow. My older brother is getting married Saturday. It's his third wife. They are making my 23 year old nieces wear taffetta. (eyes cross, makes gagging face.)

Tyarnasaurus Bets!

Most people's armspan is equal to their height. I thought this was a wive's tale, but no, some doctors studied it. I checked mine once for the hell of it. Mine is significantly (about 3") shorter!

Anyhow, DH took me golfing, and made fun of my swing. He said I golfed like Tyrannosaurus Rex! I poked him in the kidneys and ran off to get my knitting. I held up my hands to show him how well T-Rex could knit! He started laughing REALLY hard!

Physiologically, I am REALLY WELL SUITED to knitting.

Cheers to Ghislaine for making my new avatar!

Stick a fork in 'em!

Holy schmoly! They all hatched at once! As un-worldly, un-fun, un-anything as it may be, do I just buy gas cards? I think that's what I am going to do-50.00 gas cards all around. Sounds like more than it is, really, but 50 bucks is, at the end of it all, 50 bucks.

If one of these is my godson's sibling, can I drop 50 on sibling this year, and 100 on him next year? Oh torture! I need gift-iquitte for grads! Help!

Weird though. I remember Bri's mom coming on a trip to Brindisi with me. "I'm pregnant, Bets!" I made a blankie for Sam when Sam was in the oven!! And why do all these girls have BOY names??

Fun stuff for Friday

It's TOTALLY Melanie's fault. This video was mentioned on Ravelry's MCY thread. She mentioned it on her blog, and I started giggling and can't stop.



Please God, make my hair sizzle when I toss it over my shoulder. For THAT, I would even vote the entire Democratic ticket.

Why do you have to turn off Food Network?

I beg your indulgence for just a few days more. I am coming to the end of a project which must not be named. It's been harrasstabating (a funny little word I picked up on Ravelry). Soon, I will be back to knitting hijinks.

While slogging thru this THING, I have, of course, been watching a lot of TV. I've been watching a lot of Ni Hao, Kai-lan (I can count to 3 in Mandarin!!) and reruns of this and that. The other day, Bobby Flay's challenge was the Puffy Taco Throwdown in San Antonio. I watched for a bit, remembering how the food section of the paper excitedly covered the filming two summers ago. I watched for a little bit longer, and then I realized Diana Barrios Trevino was Diana Barrios Trevino. And the little abuelita standing next to her was Viola Barrios.

The camera panned over the family and their bustling restaurant business Viola started many years ago. Then, I had to change the channel. Viola Barrios was killed in her home just a few weeks ago by a stupid punk neighbor kid during a robbery. The crime rocked the city.

Read some of the recipes from Los Barrios here.

591.69

In December, we stopped smoking. I quit on the day after Christmas, DH, about a week or so before. We did it with Chantix.

Taxes played a role in my decision to quit. I suspected they were quite high. Single packs of cigarrettes average between 4.29-4.99 at my local Stop&Rob, and come it at 39.00-49.00 per carton. When I went to China, I looked at the Marlboro ads in Duty Free.

$27.00.

I was tired of bearing the burden of everyone's failed school budget, but no smoker really wants to quit. The impulse is woven like burrs into a dog's coat-after a few years, smokers are enmeshed.

Chantix changed all of that. I felt a reduced urge to smoke with the very first pill I took. But I also felt something else.

I was despondent. Once I figured out that Chantix blocked all my happy receptors, I checked with another Chantix taker. She reported that at her house "they were afraid of me". Oh! Well, ok. I don't think this drug will be on the market too long. But, since it actually worked, I knew that I had to do my part. DH and I both quit. Concurrently.

And no one died, tho we did have to buy bigger pants. That 591.69? That's my saving since the beginning of the year. TRIPLE it for the household savings. This year, that will amount to over 5300.00. That's a lot.

Wonder if they'll decide to tax beer now.

What the hell is WRONG with people??

I shop by mail a lot. So often, in fact, that if there is a way to get it wrong, someone will do it on my order. Do you remember these little darlings? I ordered them earlier in the month. Let's just say I cancelled a very large order from Smartbargains.com because of their blind inability to process and ship an order. I've reordered them from here. Wish me luck.

In the same vein, I ordered some clothing from Land's End for an upcoming trip to Phoenix. It's an everything zen trip, where I get to go to my older brother's wedding. Eye rolling all over the place. He's 50 and his fiance is pregnant. It's wife number THREE. They are registered at a 'buy us a honeymoon' type place. They wanna go to the US Virgin Islands. Now, that kind of trip is fine for some people, but I distinctly remember my dad scooping him outta bed during 'dark time' so they could go catch a flight with the famous Flying Tigers. I think that trip idea is utterly boring, and not worthy of a kid who practically grew up at O'Hare. But I still need to look 'recenta' in the land of "Damn, it's hot."

Now, Land's End is know for conservative clothing. I ordered a few skorts, thinking, well, that model is probably 5'10", I'm 5'4", the length will be fine. I was wrong. They were chach monster skorts. Wax skorts. Seriously, I tried one on and thought-'I can't go to the grocery in this!!! I'll put someone's eye out!' Picture a pair of running shorts. THAT's how long they weren't.

The order that came in properly? Sequined Nanette Lepore Keds. 70% off. Now we're talking.