Once again, I add recipes to the pile

Guess what came in the packaging with my Martha Stewart Living magazine today: A supplement called, Our Best Recipes: 40+ Dishes for Every Season. It's all organized and separated via season of the year.
Someone tell me why I thought that I should keep such a thing. I'll zip through it really quick right now and let you know if there's anything either interesting or easy enough for me to attempt.
Summer: Summer Tomato Salad, because tomatoes are super yummy. Though I'd probably add some fat mozzarella chunks in it, to make a bit more caprese. Oven-Roasted Chile Butter Corn, because corn on the cob always is yummy, and chile butter sounds delicious. Neopolitan pops, because ice cream. And a striped red velvet cake, because Sydney has decided that she needs to be an expert on all things red velvet.
Fall: Chicken and Sausage White Bean Pot, because holy cripes, this picture looks fantastic. Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese, because maybe I can make mac and cheese a healthier dish.
Winter: Cinnamon Rolls Dough, because duh. Also, there are a bunch of filling options to the cinnamon rolls. Short Rib Lasagna, because that sounds super yummy for a cold night. Raspberry Swirl Brownies, because there's not a single thing about that doesn't sound amazing.
Spring: Ham-Asparagus Strata, because it looks good, and seems like a decent breakfast entree. Lavender-Honey Scones, because they sound so fancy!
And that's that. So I suppose I may get some use out of this little publication after all. All I have to do is, you know, buy the stuff and make the stuff.

So thirsty for our yummy water

Yesterday at work, the filtered water guy came by to do something with the filtered water dispenser, and told us that the system would be draining for six hours, so to get our water before he got started.
This morning, the system still was not working. We had no water at all out of the faucet. And there is something truly scary about having to drink water out of the tap at work. I don't know why, but it was awkward, and I was not a fan of it.
At lunch, I brought my water bottle home and refilled it with my own filtered water and ice for the afternoon. Thought that only got me through half of the afternoon.
It's a situation of, hey, you know you appreciate this convenience, but once we take it away for a day or two, you're really, really going to miss it. Anyway, I hope there's filtered water to drink tomorrow.

And now I have an opinion on everything

Apparently, I've reached that point in my life were I have a preference in cheap ballpoint pen brands. Here you go: I now actively prefer Bic pens over PaperMate pens.
I had purchased a couple packages of Bic pens some time ago, and recently discovered that the packages were empty. Following that, I found some packages of PaperMate pens to replace them. Over the last couple weeks, I've discovered that the PaperMate pens don't right too well, aren't as comfortable to hold, and the caps don't stay on very well. I've found myself pining for the Bic pens I used to have.
Let's just take a moment right now and realize that this post is actually happening.
....
....
....
Where was I? Ah yes, I was hoping that the PaperMates were magically Bic pens.
I fought with my general dislike for the PaperMate pens for several days and nights. I was silently determined to live with them because shame. But then I was all, "Dude. You use these pens all the time. Get pens you like." So last weekend, I picked up a package of the Bic pens that I prefer. And as of tonight, I'm pleased to inform you that I once again am satisfied with the writing implements I have scattered throughout my house. And from now on, I'm a Bic pen person.
So there.

My chicken salad sandwich was the best

PRE-LUNCH: I’m trying something new, and very modern, today. I will be ordering my sandwich via website for pickup at lunch. I’ve seen the signs for the particular service at this sandwich place, but never had a need for it before. Lately though, I’ve been wanting a sandwich, and not wanting to stand in the shop’s unpredictable line. Last week, I remembered that the shop had online ordering. I haven’t had a chance to do it until today, so today, I will do it. The website seems quite comprehensive, and I should even be able to request that my bread be lightly toasted. Will they collect my chips for me, too? My cookies? That’s the question of the moment!
POST-LUNCH: Even though the bread was a bit too lightly toasted, the rest of the sandwich was as close to perfect as could be. For the first time in a while, technology has performed exactly as it was supposed to, nothing more, nothing less. Also, the humans who took the order did exactly what they were supposed to do. It's pretty amazing that the combination of the two makes for an ideal lunching experience. It'll be a study in self control to not order the same sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

The elements of today's blog post

WIND: We had the most delicious winds blowing through my part of Arizona today. Nice and relatively cool, they did a great job of airing out my house and making me feel like its fresher today than it was yesterday. At this moment, the slight breeze is blowing through my bedroom window, and its so comforting.
According to the weather app on my phone, it'll be cool tomorrow, too, but it doesn't indicate any windy conditions. That's a bummer. In fact, I'll say that wind may be my favorite weather condition that's not a cool, sunny day.
WATER: I need to start bathing Oliver's tummy again, as the skin infection has returned, and left some big, ugly patches on his undercarriage. I noticed that he's started licking again yesterday, and tonight did some maintenance on him in general, but discovered the tummy situation and was immediately irritated. Would a general antibiotic be too much to ask? Or do they not work on skin infections?
EARTH: I have the money for my potting shelf piece from Ikea, but I didn't have the space to bring it home last week. I'll pick it up this weekend though, since I'm really eager to dig into the deck box and set up my new outdoor potting shelves/bench. I think I may have to put the raspberries on it though, since they seem to be getting burned in the sunshine. And that will only get worse as we get more into the summer. But the shelves/bench!
FIRE: Time for bed. Because sleeping is hot.

Kiddo needs to not be sick, you guys

It's my plan to get to bed early tonight. We'll see how that goes.
At any rate, the blog will be done earlier than normal.
The biggest happening of the day was, sadly, Sydney not feeling well. She woke up with a sore throat, had a low-grade fever, and put herself to bed at 7:30 p.m. Of course, since she's a kid, she felt okay enough to spend more time than I'd like on the computer and on FaceTime with her friends. But again, she put herself to bed very early. Unfortunately, she put herself in my bed to sleep. So now it's super quiet; I can feel the germs floating around in my room; and I don't want to move her because she is totally sleeping deeply. And she's so cute all cuddled up with her Bear. I hope she feels better tomorrow. ... I need to remember to wash my hands so totally thoroughly after I'm done at this keyboard.
 ... This pic makes it seem like she's super feverish, but she wasn't. I just picked it because it is a little, brown-haired girl in bed with her bear. Which is what's lying asleep next to me right now.

I love that he did that

I am obsessed with that LG G5 commercial with Jason Statham. You know, the one with a whole bunch of Jason Stathams? It is cracking me up. My favorite part, without a doubt, is when he's got the long hair and is wearing the black and white striped flowy shirt, and he's snapping along with the music. No kidding, I love it. (Oh my goodness, I found the picture!)
I've always been a fan of Statham's, but I think this will cement him as totally awesome forever and ever in my eyes. Short of hurting a woman or coming out as a Trump supporter, his fantasticness is pretty lofty. Someone needs to make me a gif of that snapping action, STAT.

Mission: New Computer?

It's getting to be time to replace the computer, my friends. This one is officially incapable of updating anything. Two of my three internet browsers aren't supported by my operating system, nor is Twitter, if you can believe that. My computer is so obsolete to Twitter that I have to use the platform's mobile site on the computer. It's weird. And we know that I'm dangerously low on memory space and the like on here, too.
It's something that I'll have to investigate on my own though, as Sydney thinks we should have a PC for all her games that don't work on Apples, and Brian will do nothing but complain about the expense of it all. But I'm in the mood to start shopping now. I feel like it's only a matter of time before this thing crashes and won't wake up, and that will be quite devastating.
Here's the question, do we want a desktop or a laptop? Do we get the desktop and keep the current laptop for travel and whatnot until it's just really not usable anymore? I really enjoy bringing the computer around the house, as I am currently sitting in bed with this one on my lap. And also, I'm lazy, and when Sydney has a problem with the computer, I can say, "Bring it to me and I'll figure it out." I'll not ever want to get up and check out what's going wrong.
So perhaps that's the answer there. Laptop again. With the most memory possible. And no one gets to touch it until they wash their hands first.

UPDATE: I just spent the better part of 30 minutes on the Apple web site, and now I'm more conflicted than anything. Maybe I will get an iMac. ...

The pots are draining, but the floor remains dirty

FIRST THIS: So I've been issuing the last couple days about the plants outside and how the pots don't seem to be draining at all. I knew the pots had drainage on the inside, but picked one up to check out the bottom. What I found was no holes to drain water. What else I found was a whole bunch of scored circles on the bottom of the pot.
I thoroughly enjoy how my husband rolls with my flights of fancy, and figures things out with me, so I sent him to get a screwdriver, and then we set to work poking through the scored circles to create some potential drainage. And what to my eyes would appear when we broke through the first pot's circles, but a whole lot of water draining out. Honestly, I could not get the rest of those pots draining fast enough. And now I feel so much better about the garden, if that was at all possible. I already was pretty pleased with it. [Editor's note: This photo is not my plant pot draining.]
AND NOW THIS: I'm watching Marvel's Agents of SHIELD right now via Chromecast off my phone, and one of the technology's commercials is getting super intriguing. I'm seeing this little ad about the Roomba, and how it will clean up the floors for a couple hours at a time. And at this point in my life, I am loving the idea of this little dude. My hardwood floors are the bane of my existence, and I could really go for a machine that will take some of the heat off me in regards to them for a time every day. Granted, my dogs will not enjoy such a thing, but I'm not sure how much it would really bother them. I'm beginning to not care how much the Roomba would traumatize them. But the price tag is traumatizing me right now, so I may have to live without it for a while longer. *sigh*

I want to go to summer camp!

It’s getting to be that time of year again: When I get super excited about all the summer camps that Sydney gets to attend in the next few months (while I’m stuck at work). Yesterday, I got my calendar out, and my sticky notes, and my pile of camp information, and the internet on my phone, and began the consuming and laborious process of figuring out which camp goes where. Happily, after only two hours, I had her summer figured out.
While the first month of camps are places she’s been before and wants to go again, the month of July is chockablock with new experiences and places to go. I’ve even got her penciled in for somewhere the very first week of August that looks totally awesome. She and I went into the summer camp experience wanting to broaden her horizons, and I think we’ve accomplished that.
I should be able to pay for the first three weeks tonight. From tomorrow on though, I’ll tackle each of her two-week summer camp segments as I get paid for each of my two-week working segments. *Sung to Toto’s music* “Every mom is working for the summer camps…”
So right now, my job as nothing but a series of payments for summer camp, and it’s all good.

Have I told you how much I love my garden?

I'm pretty excited to tell you that all of the random gardening that I wanted to get done this weekend actually got done.
APPLES: To the left there are our five apple saplings, that are just older than a year, in their new, personal pots. Remember that the five of them started out in a single pot, and have been sprouting and growing very well together. While we figure there would be some roots, for sure, the amount of roots, and how knotted together they were, surprised us. With plenty of patience though, and dirty fingers and gardening tools, we managed to separate everyone's roots with a minimal amount of breakage, and move them into their own places. Now, they each have a stake to give them support, and a whole lot of soil for more root growth. I'm excited to see how they grow from here.
STRAWBERRIES: Sydney picked out a strawberry plant at Home Depot yesterday, and it got potted in a beautiful little red pot and is now comfortable on the backyard table.
ROSEMARY: Now this was a bit more of a production. Brian got down with the plants and the shears, and the bushes are finally in a more controllable way. We didn't have any rubber bands to bunch and hang them though. But because of our dry climate, we separated them into four portions and put them in some paper grocery bags, leaving plenty of space for the air to circulate, hoping that the paper will help the herb dry out. We secured the paper bags under the table so they wouldn't fall over or get blown anywhere. I figure it'll be a matter of a week or so until the herb is dry enough to be separated from its stem and prepared for people to take off my hands. It would be quicker during the summer, for sure.
GARDENIA: I did pick up a small gardenia to put with my other happy plants, because I wanted to, and potted that today, as well. It had a bud on it that unfortunately got snapped off during the potting, so I may or may not get any flowers on it this spring.
PLUMERIA: My awesome plumeria tree is finally sprouting some leaves, though they're super tiny and just starting to show themselves. I'll have to baby that guy through the summer and especially through next winter. I'm very concerned with its lack of flowers, but I really don't want it losing leaves again during the next cold season. You know what? I think I've got some plumeria fertilizer somewhere! I need to find that and get to helping my Hawaiian kiddo out.
GARDEN: It's pretty fantastic, and I'm in love with it!

I'm in love with a baby panda, you guys

You see? Here it is, after 10:30 p.m., and I'm at a loss for the blog, because I didn't write anything for it at work today. Did you notice that the last couple posts were nice and long, and somewhat clever? That's because I wrote them in the middle of the day, with all kinds of energy and mental clarity, and with the sun shining.
Look at this picture! Is this not the most adorable thing you have ever seen? I love so much how happy and friendly he looks as he's waving his little bear hand.
This picture was retweeted by one of the accounts I follow on the work account, and I was so enamored, I saved it and emailed it to myself for this very purpose, to post it to the blog.
It actually has another life as the desktop picture on my computer at home, too. I'm super disappointed that Sydney didn't say anything. Because he is ridiculously cute.

These are some random ITEM!s, for sure

ITEM!: Brian and I have agreed that we’re going to replant and re-pot four of the five apple trees in the orchard, giving them more space to grow and spread their roots. I’ve realized that regularly watering everyone in the garden is quite joyful, so I’m okay with pulling the apple orchard off the drip system and giving myself the responsibility. So, four more pots to be purchased on Saturday, in addition to maybe one of the gardenias they had at Home Depot, and if someone else calls my name and insists on coming home with me, so be it. [Editor's note: Those are my apple tree saplings to the left, so you have an idea of how awesome they are right now.]
ITEM!: So now I’ve got all this awesome new responsibility at work (not really a lot), but I still have to wait for other people to get me the stuff I need to get it all done. Such is the way, really, of everything editorial, no matter the magazine. But when you don’t really have anything else to do while you’re waiting, it just makes the wait that much more painful. I could, literally, sit here and bug people every 10 minutes, but I don’t even like me that much. I wouldn’t wish that kind of persistence on anyone’s email inbox.
ITEM!: I’ve been taking the antibiotics for five days, and I’m not feeling loads better yet. Every morning is a little bit better, I guess, but there’s been no obvious, marked improvement. I was able to sleep without NyQuil last night, mainly out of necessity because I was out of it, but I feel like just the fact that I actually did sleep without it is somewhat of a better state of things. But still, I’m not totally better yet, and that’s getting super, super frustrating. I hate, hate, hate that my nose is still stuffy … though I don’t have to blow it regularly throughout the day. Like I said, I’m getting bit-by-bit better, upon reflection, but I still haven’t had that morning where I wake up all, “Yes! I’m feeling good today!” And that’s what I want.
ITEM!: I’ve discovered that on my computer at work, I prefer a dark blue-style desktop image. And it’s like, an obvious preference to me. I played around with a few different backgrounds this morning, and discovered that when the photo image is anything but dark blue-based, my eyes would squint and I’d have to physically move back from the screen. Like, bright green leaves or pink flowers? Too bright for me. Mountain vistas or animals? Too much activity in the photo. I had a gorgeous dark photo of the Milky Way back there, but changed it to a dark-blue Hawaiian print this morning, you know, because spring. This weird preference doesn’t afflict me on my computer at home, which has a picture of Oliver on it, so that’s the only reason why I mention it here. Work-computer bias, obviously.

Wait. That's how they grow? Cool!

Apparently, the best way for me to try a vegetable that I historically have not liked, is for me to drink a beer and a half on an empty stomach, and then for someone to put said vegetable on the table in front of me. This is what happened tonight at Oregano's, one of our favorite dining hangouts. Brian's parents were in town for the night, and we adjourned to the restaurant for dinner. We had to wait 30 minutes, so we we decided to have a beverage while waiting.
The Stella was, of course, delicious. We eventually ordered our food, but it was taking a while, and Brian's side dish of sauteed vegetables arrived at the table before the main courses. So I, in order to show Brian's mom that they weren't bad, ate a brussels sprout. Imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed the taste of the brussels sprout. (I looked it up online, and while there is definitely an "s" at the end of brussels, there is some confusion as to whether it should be capitalized or not. According to Wikipedia and my computer's spell check though, it should be.) Fine, Brussels sprouts.
This is how Oregano's describes them:
Brussels Sprouts
Our own recipe! Over 1/2 pound roasted the Italian way with fresh rosemary, sautéed onions, and sprinkled with Parmesan.
Honestly, I ate about six or seven bites of them, and they were super tasty.
I ate Brussels sprouts with my dinner tonight, for the first time willingly, and they were good. I'm 43.
DON'T TELL MY MOM.

The most delicious goldfish ever

THIS MORNING: Sydney and I are obsessed with the new, relatively new, I guess, goldfish cracker flavors that we found at Target. Actually, Sydney was introduced to the vanilla cupcake goldfish crackers at school, and fell in love with them. When we visited Target to get her a bag for home, I found some whole-grain, cinnamon goldfish that looked pretty good to me. News flash: They’re totally awesome.
There has been a constant supply of the vanilla cupcake in the pantry for a couple months now, but I finally was able to replace my cinnamon fish this last weekend. I keep them at work, actually, because they are the best snack ever. I just finished a handful, if you must know.
But when it comes to work snacks, my tastes are quite fickle. I brought a box of mini-Whoppers Easter eggs in a couple weeks ago, and I’m not even done with half the box and I’m totally over them. The Smart Food popcorn I brought in for a while made too much of a mess on my fingers, so I stopped eating that. What I really miss are the Smarties. We had a huge bag of them at home that we bought at Costco, and I thoroughly enjoyed having a couple of those every afternoon, but Costco hasn’t had them for the last several months, so that’s a drag. I liked it when I brought in the chocolate bunnies, but those are at a short supply now, and oh my god, that was a lot of chocolate for the afternoon. A few Bit O’Honeys is okay, but not ideal. The struggle is real, you know.
I’m also bringing in a tea from Starbucks for the afternoons, to try to curb the candy craving I had adopted, since they have so much candy here. Smarties do not count as candy; they’re in a food group, though I haven’t decided which.
The goldfish are good, and I should probably bring in some of the plain, baked fish, too, since those are super tasty and just the right amount of salt for a snack. As it is, I have far too few options for my afternoon snack at my desk. This must be remedied soon.

THIS AFTERNOON: As an addendum to what I wrote this morning, I’ll tell you that I broke open one of the last two packages of Easter Peeps that were in the pantry, and brought four bunny Peeps into the office with me this afternoon. Starbucks disappointed me by not having a working app for ordering my tea for pickup, so I’m stuck with water the rest of the day. Not a bad thing, but certainly not what I was tasted for. As afternoon snacks go, this one isn’t terrible, but I need to get creative and delicious from now on.

My lack of "process" punishes YOU

I need to start writing these blog posts at work again, because by the time I get to it, it's 11:13 p.m., I'm tired, and I just don't even care about what I'm writing here.
And that's a travesty to both my "process," and your enjoyment of the fruits of my labor. Honestly, it's like my head can't even create anymore this late at night. Or is it just that I'm still getting over my ick?
At any rate, this is getting stupid frustrating. So, here's the question, how to write a blog entry -- not post it, of course -- while at work. How to be creative in an environment where, let's face it, the sound of my typing anything too animatedly would attract attention. How to be the best writer when I'm not supposed to be ... that is the question.

If I'm getting better, it's meds, not spinach

So. The disease. The illness. The gross.
I woke up Friday morning with the worst sore throat I think I have ever experienced. It hurt so much. And all I could think of was the email sent to all the parents last week about the "few" cases of strep throat that had been floating around the fourth grade. My first thought, "F*ckin' A."
But then I swung into logical mom mode, and checked to see how Sydney was first, then Brian, and then I called in sick to work. If I had strep, there was no way I was going in to the office. I checked in to the urgent care online, which gave me a couple hours before my appointment, so I spent some time cleaning up the house and futzing around doing stuff that hasn't been done in a while.
Cut to the urgent care, where, come to find out, I did not have strep throat (yay!), but I did have a super bad sore throat. The doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic in case any strep throat symptoms presented themselves within 24 hours (so I wouldn't have to come back for another visit), and I could start the medication at that time. My decision: Start taking the medication anyway, as soon as possible, because if anything, the sinus infection I've been dealing with for the last two weeks will be destroyed.
Something more drastic needed to happen; my body needed a boost of something to feel better. As of now, my nose seems to be getting better, though it's still more stuffed up and sore than I'd like; and the sore throat is totally gone. I'm only 48 hours into my 10-day antibiotic treatment, so I continue to assume that every morning I will wake up a bit healthier.
I am so over being sick.

What was your wish?

It's 11:11 p.m. right now, and it's time for a wish. Tonight, I wish to feel so much better when I wake up tomorrow morning, because I am over this cold like no one's business. I don't want it anymore, and I think it should go away. In fact, it should go away while I sleep, so when I wake up at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow, it is gone.
Could I be so lucky as to have my wish come true?
And if it does, I'll be staying up tomorrow night to wish for something else.

A whole lot of music going on

Well, it looks like I've got a noisy several nights ahead of me near my house. The 20th anniversary of Arizona Bike Week is happening across the street from my community, and as of this moment, I can hear all kinds of rock music going on. I noticed all the motorcyclists riding around the streets over the last day or two, and had wondered aloud to Sydney this afternoon if there was something happening that we should know about. Upon hearing all the music for such an extended time tonight, I hit up the internet to check the WestWorld website.
And here are the music offerings for the next couple days: April 6 (tonight, right outside my window), Blackberry Smoke, and Joan Jett and the Heartbreakers; April 7, Warrant, and Blues Traveler; April 8, Reverend Horton Heat, and Social Distortion; April 9, Ratt, and Buckcherry; and on April 10, Metalhead.
Indeed, I will be hearing muffled musical sounds with closed windows, and actual music with open windows through Saturday night. And all the snarls and grumblings of motorcycle engines, too.
I still can't decide if I enjoy or despise being so close to WestWorld on weekends like this.

Are those bogies dancing for you, too? Awesome

ITEM!: So Brian came home with a cold last week, and Sydney and I are now afflicted. I've been dealing with it for about five days, and Sydney's only had it for three. The worst part about this particular cold is that it's producing these really, really hard bogies (a "bogie" is a Harry Potter way of saying booger; we adopted that after watching Sorcerer's Stone the first time) in my nose that hurt. I mean, they hurt. They're super hard, and super attached to my inner nose walls, so blowing my nose, even just breathing, makes the air push against them, and that makes them pull on the nose skin, and it hurts. ... This cold is not the worst. The snot issues themselves aren't a problem. I've experienced very little fatigue. My only real issue with this cold is the bogie problem. And no matter what I do, they just hurt. What the f*ck is that about, really?
ITEM!: Cooper ate some lunch this afternoon, and it's given me hope that he's finally getting through his own illness. He's got more energy, seems to be acting okay, and is drinking plenty. The only problem is eating. No doubt he's totally traumatized by all the vomiting from last week, and it's hard to eat again after that, for sure. But I made him some of his breakfast meal when I came home for lunch, and he ate most of it. That is a good sign for breakfast tomorrow. If he eats that like normal, I'm going to be a very happy dog mommy.
ITEM!: I had to turn my air conditioner on twice tonight: once at about 6 p.m. for about 45 minutes, and again at 8:30 p.m. for an hour or so. It's getting too damn hot in my upstairs.
ITEM!: I'm over the red candles as my centerpiece on my dining room table. I want something cool and funky, and maybe kinda weird. I'm looking around my house and hunting for the ideal weird thing for the table that will still match aesthetically, because me. I'll have to consult with my on-staff interior designer, of course, but just know that my wheels are turning.
ITEM!: Apparently, the wild mint that I thought was so awesome that's growing in my backyard is an invasive plant that I will have a hard time controlling, or destroying, when the time comes. As of now, I like it for the potential of mojitos. But I can see where it would take over the garden if given the opportunity. Oh, that reminds me that I need to find out how to harvest and prepare rosemary for cooking.

Possibly a new Ridiculous Favorite? Bears

I watched a movie last night, and it was one of those films that make me want to watch it from the beginning simply because the premise is so odd. Into the Grizzly Maze, stars James Marsden and Thomas Jane as estranged brothers on the hunt for a bloodthirsty grizzly bear in the Alaskan wilderness. Honestly, the movie had me at "bloodthirsty grizzly bear." But then it also boasts Billy Bob Thornton and Scott Glenn in the cast. And randomly, that Coyote Ugly actress, Piper Perabo, as a deaf nature conservationist married to Thomas Jane who needs to be saved constantly because she can't hear the bear approach.

Anyway, I'm sure there's some kind of nature-hugging premise there, but beyond how quickly they abandon their principles about not killing bears, it was not a strong one. Although, Billy Bob Thornton is a horrible bear killer who eventually gets eaten by a bear. And Scott Glenn is the super mean, illegal poacher (not spoilers, btw), who also eventually gets killed by the bear. Of course, the deaf girl isn't the only girl, because James Marsden needs to have a girl, too. So his girl is the doctor, who, of course, falls down a whole lot and gets her leg impaled by a tree limb, and has to be carried out of the forest. Because of course, if the girl is intellectually superior to all the boys, something has to happen to make her physically dependent on the boys.
Taken as a whole, the movie may be one of my Ridiculous Favorites, mainly because of the computer-generated imagery of blood dripping off the bear's mouth. Honestly, the special effects were horrible. But I feel like this movie is one that all the actors chose to make because it got them into the beautiful wilds of Alaska for a couple months. Make no mistake; I'm not judging. I'd totally take an awesome job on a questionable movie so I could be amazed by the beauty of Alaska for a time. And it looks like they probably had a ton of fun avoiding a bear on video kinda following them. I feel like I should recommend Into the Grizzly Maze, but I kind of enjoy that it's my little secret.

Busted and illin', but no dog puke!

ITEM!: Thanks a lot, Oklahoma. I was thisclose to actually picking a winner in my bracket this year, and then you went ahead and messed up. Losing today was not at all what I was interested in seeing from you. I mean, really. I never, ever do well in my brackets. Actually, one year I picked all four teams that were in the Final Four, but my actual winner did not win. I was feeling pretty confident with my Oklahoma pick. More surprisingly, Brian had confidence in my pick. But then, the team's all, "Nope. Not going to win because you." I actually have no idea how Brian's bracket is at this point in time. Sydney's bracket died a while ago, as she selected Hawaii to win the whole thing.
ITEM!: Brian brought illness into my house, and it has invaded me a little bit, and I'm pretty annoyed. In my opinion, if one covered their mouth when coughing, or tried to contain the germ spittle that erupted from one's face when sneezing, they would be less likely to get their loved ones sick. Others do not agree, hence my little bit of illness, and now I can't get too close to my kid. Grr.
ITEM!: We've managed to go a whole 48 hours without any dog vomit, which is fantastic. I think Cooper is too traumatized by his last several days to eat much still, which is making me nervous, but he's at least eating some stuff. Not really much dog food, of course, because that's what tossed his cookies all over the house, but he's had bits and pieces of goodness. Brian tells me that Cooper ate breakfast this morning, but apparently he didn't stay and watch to be sure, so who knows, maybe Oliver had twice as much breakfast as normal. It's hard to say when the only proof you have is an empty bowl.
ITEM!: I think tomorrow I will tackle the foot-tall pile of magazines in my bedroom. Catalogs, entertainment reading and other cool stuff are starting to topple, and I should probably take care of that. I'd also like to get started on the library book I've been not reading for the last several weeks.

My super spy has a name, but it's a secret

This month's avatar is in homage to the great television show, Archer, and its super spy hero, in celebration of their return to my TV screen, as of last night. The show usually begins its short seasons in January. It's like a lovely little birthday present just for me. But this year, they made us wait until the end of March. What kind of madness is that?
Last night, I was giddy with anticipation. I was so happy, I could hardly contain myself. And we even watched the show before the kiddo went to bed. (I typically like to wait until she's asleep to watch Archer, for no reason other than she's less likely to interrupt it when she's sleeping.) And while it didn't have the fun, super spy stuff going on, since the characters have moved to Los Angeles and opened a detective agency, I have faith in the upcoming story lines, and look forward to the show ripping apart my birthplace. (As Archer said last night, "Because California is assholes." So. Funny.)
So in honor of my favorite super spy, this month's avatar is rocking the super spy gear herself, adjacent to the awesome spy-mobile, and she even has her own spy gadget inventor standing behind her. ... And her boss is named W. And the gadget inventor is B. And the boss's secretary is named James, because that's some karma right there.