American Idol

I've put off watching the show this year - but seeing as there is nothing good on Monday nights - I've watched the last two of the "guys" competition. I haven't watched the "girls" yet (btw, I'm fairly certain they all qualify as women, Ryan - how very sexist of you). A couple of comments. Please, please, please don't vote for Constantine. What a hack. The whole time I watched his performance my face was all scrunched up and I thought I was going to throw up. Awful, horrible - what is up with the screaming? Anwar and Bo Brice have to be older than 30 - wasn't that the cut-off this year? They seem way too mature and old for the teeny-bopper crowd. And Anwar bugs me. The whole time Anthony was singing, I could not move my eyes from the weird scar/dimple on his neck. What is that? Have they explained that yet? I'm sure they'll make a whole section about his neck - just like the single mom showcases they have done in the past. Not that I would ever want to be in that audience, but tonight someone was telling them to stand up during every song. My worst nightmare - to have to stand and clap or SNAP (did you see that?) all the way through a shitty song. Ugh. Yuck. And what was with the arms in the air swinging thing the back rows were doing at one point?

Weekend, etc.

Um, to the person who found my site by searching for "constipated pooping girls pics".... you have got to be kidding me. There are people searching for that? Yikes. Someone also found my site by searching for ""MMM" size bra" - how the hell big is that? I've never heard of that size. Someone fill me in.

Another nice, relaxing weekend. We did a little shopping on Saturday - Old Navy, Michael's crafts store, Pier 1. I bought some tank tops and some supplies for an Easter stamping project I have to create for the monthly meeting. This whole thing is kind of going against my nature. I'm not a stamper. I'm not that precise and I'm not really into it so much. But I'm trying to broaden my horizons. I'm going to make a little Easter-y basket thingy. See how precise I am?

Sunday, we walked to the yummy Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of town (about 1.5 miles), had a fab lunch of calimari, General Tsao's chicken and Ma La Chicken and Basil. Then we walked back into town, wandered around a bit, and then stopped in the local movie theater to see "Sideways". We both really liked it. But I agree with Styro's comment that she felt drunk when she left (sorry, styro, I'm paraphrasing). I did crave a glass of Pinot Noir afterwards.

We walked home, hung around a bit, made dinner and then I settled in to watch the Oscars. It was okay. Pretty predictable. Chris Rock was pretty good. The Oscars are usually so stuffy and ego-fluffing. I generally tune in to see what everyone is wearing. I liked Salma Hayak's outfit - she is uber-sexy. Cate Blanchett's dress would have been great in another color that didn't totally drain her color. Renee looked great - except I'm not sure how much I like her hair that color. Charlize's dress was beautiful - but it must have been a bitch to sit next to her - I'm sure the dress was all over her seat neighbors. When I saw Penelope Cruz's dress I kept thinking - how is she going to sit down and not crush the bow? And why did Beyonce sing three songs? What, no one else can sing? What was P. Diddy doing there? And Prince? Don't get me wrong - I love Prince - but if you've dragged him to the Oscars, you should at least let him sing. Antonio Banderas sucked ass during his song. He looked so greasy and not attractive at all. Gwyneth looked lovely - long hair and she actually filled out the bodice of her dress this time. Hillary Swank's dress was awful.

All in all, a strange Oscars.

Cat Photo Friday

This is Otto in his favorite place - under the covers on our bed. This is moments after coming upstairs, trying to find him, only to see one little paw extended out. I said "Otto!" and this is his paw scrinching in response.

TMI

So, I’ve been quite constipated lately. Bloated, gassy, uncomfortable. Normally, I’m very regular. Pooping, often, more than once a day. Not lately. It’s now about every other day. And the poops are frickin’ humongous! It’s like pushing a huge bumpy log through my ass. Or, they are enormous rock-shaped structures that look like a mutant goat just pooped in the toilet instead of me. I’m all confused with the signals. Before, I got a little bubbly in my stomach and I rushed to the bathroom. Now, I’m rushing to the bathroom only to sit there straining and silently yelling, “Come ON, already!”, arms flailing, fists clenched. All the while the poop is moving excruciatingly slow, peeking out, then feeling shy, then peeking out again. Today I was half tempted to get a bunch of toilet paper and just reach back there and pull on it. Finally the poop decides to stop torturing me and there is a huge, messy splash. If all that isn’t enough, the poops are too huge and too solid to actually flush easily. The mutant goat poops, by nature, usually decide to all shove themselves down the drain hole at the same time. Which means I have to reach in with something to allow one poop to exit at a time. Even more frustrating is when I’ve strained and strained and pushed and only hear one little “sploop” into the toilet. One tiny little poo-pebble caused that much grief.

I warned you it would be too much information.

Movies

To answer JenB's question about the movies:

I, Robot: better than I thought it would be. The dialogue was a bit cheesy at times, but Will Smith is always enjoyable. Good action scenes. Plus, Will is HUGE in this movie. He must have filmed it after Ali. Huge.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: I enjoyed it. A bit of movie fluff - i.e.: the movie was all about the special effects. But I liked it. The hubs got up and left 1/2 way through - so maybe more of a chick flick.

Mr. 3000: we're both Bernie Mac fans and this was a good showcase for Mr. Mac. Funny, touching. Some baseball, sportsy things. He was really funny. Not a movie that will change the world, but if you like Bernie Mac, you should probably rent this.

Weekend

Well, we had President's Day off today. Why we have President's Day and not Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off is beyond me. Actually, not so much. I work in an office with only white people. And by white, I mean WHITE. So there's that.

Anyhoo, we woke up to about 5 inches of fluffy snow. We slept in all weekend, watched movies (I, Robot; Mr. 3000; Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), ate ice cream and went on a hike up to Poet's Seat Tower in town. It was about 3 or so miles round trip from our house. Nice little hike even though it was frickin' freezing out. The sleeping in was to see what it's like to live like a cat. Also, to catch up on some sleep due to Tabitha. She's been crazy with the waking us up early for a couple of weeks now. I'm exhausted. You can't exactly reason with a hungry cat.

Otto has become quite the lap kitty. It's probably because the house is so chilly. And he doesn't exactly fit on my lap. He sort of sprawls over it. He was never this snuggly. He used to sit on couch cushions near us, but never on us. It wasn't until we moved out here that he's realizing the warmth we generate. Tabitha has always understood this. I took a little nap today and woke up with both of them on me.

That's all I've got for now. Sorry about the no kitty photos on Friday.

How much will you lose?

Under Bush's Social Security "plan"? Remember, there is no crisis. It is completely fabricated. Don't be fooled.

I would stand to lose about 24% in benefits if he privatizes Social Security.

Check how much you will lose.

This doesn't even begin to take into account how much the privatization plan will cost to begin with. And it will be BILLIONS that our country cannot afford.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This evening was pretty laid back. Neither of us wanted to venture out on Valentine's Day and try to get into a restaurant. It's usually bad service, pissed off waitpeople, etc. Instead, my hubby showed up at work with a gorgeous bouquet of lilies and some other pretty flower (I should know the name of it). I had given him instructions that if he was getting me flowers, I didn't want something from the supermarket, nor did I want roses or carnations or baby's breath. Yes, I'm a bit demanding. And then we made dinner, snuggled, and ate some chocolate cake. Nice, relaxing night. It's still pretty frickin' cold in this house. The place just sucks up the oil and we are trying to keep the thermometer low. So, we get home and put on coats and hats and mittens. Ah well. It is nice to have a much bigger place. The kitties seem to like the extra room as well.

Wednesday is another stamp night and the ladies are all coming to my house this time. So, it's time to get the rest of our things unpacked. Not that they'd care, but I need an excuse for the last push. I'll have to turn the heat up before they get here because I'm sure they will be freezing. And then I'll turn the heat back down when they leave so I don't waste too much oil. I think we've both decided that when we buy a house, it will be a newish one. None of these old Victorians. Not that I don't love the charm and the woodwork and the quirkiness, but there are a lot of problems like, oh I don't know, HEAT, that make it not our first choice. It's been a good experience so far for that reason alone.

Cat Photo Friday

Sorry, none of Tabitha this week.

Come one, Come All! See the Ginormous CAT who can cover three homework assignments at once!

Oy

So, my site has been broken for the past couple of days because my hosting company changed the location of all my cgi files. And for anyone who has used MoveableType - everything important points to the location of the cgi files.

It seems to be fixed. If you still have problems, please email me (yummy at elfcakes dot com).

In other news, we were supposed to get about 20 - 30" of snow last night and today. We woke up this morning to rain, which turned into enormous flakes, which petered out to very small flakes, which turned into more rain. We got, MAYBE, 2 inches. Our weathermen suck. Schools canceled classes today because of all the HUGE BLIZZARD TOMORROW talk. Everyone was excited to see all the snow. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people. And then - phhht. Nothing. No bragging rights.

Photos

As promised: cupcake photos. The butterflies were created using white melting chocolate that was already colored. Ladybugs are sprinkles, sparkles and chocolates.

Weekend

We had a lovely, albeit exhausting time at my sister's house. My niece is still extremely adorable and I fall in love a little bit more with her each time I see her. My nephew is one big snuggly excited puppy. He was literally jumping with excitement when we started a little snowball fight with him. The cupcakes were a hit at the party of pandemonium. This was my niece's first party with friends from school. And they were all adorable and tiny. My nephew was a giant compared to them (about 2 years difference in age). One of the little girls kept following him around and asking him to open her juice box straw for her. And she was a little cutie - black leather pants at 4 years old. He's in trouble when they all get a bit older. The party was a big cookie party - you pick out the coookie shapes beforehand and then when you get to the party, the women running it have frosting and candies. The girls got to color an apron and then got down to the extremely messy business of frosting the cookies. So cute. I'll have photos tonight.

Then, on the way home, we stopped by IKEA to get some dining room chairs.

And then we watched the Super Bowl. Very unspectacular game - but the Pats won! Not all that impressed with commercials. I really can't think of any that stuck out to me. They pay so much to have their commercial shown during the Super Bowl and then don't take advantage of the exposure. I'm particularly disappointed by companies who just replay commercials that have already been on the air. Boring. Also, why is Honda coming out with an enormous pick-up truck? I'm a little disappointed in them. Not exactly their niche. On a side note, they kept showing Troy Aikman talking about the game and all we could keep saying was: "Look at the size of his HANDS! They're HUGE! They're bigger than his head!"

Cupcakes

I'm in the midst of decorating/making 50+ cupcakes for my beautiful little niece. It's a butterfly/ladybug-themed party. So I'm making very colorful butterflies out of white chocolate and ladybugs from the tops of the cupcakes with red sprinkles and a darker chocolate. Lots of pinks and purples and blues and sparkles. She's very girly. We are heading to their house probably tomorrow night after work. It all depends on how the chocolate frenzy goes tonight. The cupcakes are all made, the frosting is made - now it's butterfly creation and then decoration. If it all goes well and I can get them all decorated tonight - perfect! If not, and I need another day, then we head down first thing Saturday morning. And then Sunday is the Super Bowl (Go Pats!). We might stop at IKEA on the way back up to Massachusetts. To get some dining room chairs and some roman blinds. And possibly a coffee table. I'm hosting the next stamping party in two weeks and I need to make sure everything is finally unpacked and organized around here for the ladies.

Apparently none of you wanted a Valentine's Day card. Oh well - you would have liked them, too. ;)

I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done with all the little cakes.