The Name Game

In this little bloggy world of ours I understand that many of us have a desire and even outright need to maintain some kind of anonymity. Very few give their full names, or even the towns they live in. I'm okay with that, and think it is probably very wise, what with all the weirdos, wackos and cyber stalkers that are out there these days.
Therefore, I'm fine with you all having my first name, but unless I know you I'm not putting the rest out there (unless you're inviting me to some really groovy party like PW had recently, or I'm inviting you to come visit my bomb shelter or something). And because of same, I have been calling the Mister "the Hubs". I don't really like that title, but it's all I could come up with on short notice. I have decided he needs a new name.

So here's some background.
Before I knew the Hubs, I was working, working, drawing a little, working, and playing in a Celtic band. No, really. I played this and sang. We called ourselves Free Whiskey. We were...fantastic terrible sometimes good, sometimes okay, often erratic. We had the occasional gig and also got together to play at a little Irish pub on Tuesday nights with other local Celtic musicians. (I no longer play with them due to the fact that they are a bunch of flakes conflicting personalities schedules.)
Hubs and a couple of his friends started hanging out there after their usual Tuesday night haunt started sucking. I did not know him at all at that point.

One night some guy at the bar bought a round of drinks for the "band" (20 odd [in every sense of the word] musicians). Huzzah!
A couple weeks later that same guy bought another round for the "band". Huzzah again!
This started to become a habit with him. (I have since been informed that it was because he liked the "cute blonde drummer".)
We just thought he was some nice, rich strange guy stranger (and if he was acting like he was rich, he isn't anymore because he has a life wife now).
Eventually I decided someone needed to thank the guy for all the booze. I somehow got shoved toward the bar nominated.
Not being particularly shy I wandered over and struck up a conversation with him. He was a little shy, but he seemed nice. He was funny. He was smart. I still, at that point, knew very little about him except he worked for a government contractor and did not talk about his job. It kind of became a little joke with my friends and I that he was some kind of hit man for the government or a spy.
I later commented to my friends that he seemed nice and it was too bad he didn't have a girlfriend. They all looked at me like I was some kind of idiot at which point I decided I probably was so I went over and talked to him some more and eventually asked him out for a beer. He surprised us both by saying yes.
The rest is, as they say, history. We dated 8 months and 23 days and then got married.
Huzzah!

So on with the story.
Hubs, for the record, is not a hit man. He is not a spy. However, he does indeed work for a government contractor and is not really allowed to talk much about his job. What little I do know I'd rather not know (lets just say the terrorists are real, folks, and they really do want to kill us all and we'd better stop listening to the idiots that run this country and start paying attention to what's going on around the world. But I digress.)
My friends still joke that he is a spy, however, even though they know better, partly because a couple years ago the local piece-of-shit-not-even-fit-to-line-a-birdcage newspaper did a story about the black ops compound facility where he works and stated people have seen black helicopters and other strange goings on out there. (Probably because there are a lot of pot farmers out there, is my opinion.) And just yesterday a guy I work with called him "Mr. CIA". Hubs did not think that was funny. I, however, thought it was hilarious.
In any event, I spent some time thinking about it. Pioneer Woman has her "Marlboro Man" or MM. Midlife Slices has her HBL or "Hunka Burning Love". Smart Mouthed Broad has her Harley Stud. And so on.

Anyway, I decided I like that everyone thinks the Hubs is a spy. (Which make me Mrs. Spy!) So henceforth, Hubs will be known as "Secret Agent Man" or SAM, for short. It's a new identity...like witness relocation or something.

Somewhere That's Green

A matchbox of our own
A fence of real chain link
A grill out on the patio
Disposal in the sink
A washer and a dryer and
an ironing machine
In a tract house that we share
Somewhere that's green

He rakes and trims the grass
He loves to mow and weed
I cook like Betty Crocker
And I look like Donna Reed
There's plastic on the furniture
To keep it neat and clean
In the Pine-Sol scented air,
Somewhere that's green

Between our frozen dinner
And our bed-time: nine-fifteen
We snuggle watching Lucy
On our big, enormous
Twelve-inch screen

I'm his December Bride
He's father, he knows best
Our kids watch Howdy Doody
As the sun sets in the west
A picture out of Better Homes
and Gardens Magazine
Far from Skid Row
I dream we'll go
somewhere that's... green

(lyrics from Little Shop of Horrors/image from Plan59)

I'm so tired of all this...crap. Terrorists. Bailouts. Deficits. Mexican Swine flu. Blah blah blah.
I want a more simple time. When men were men and women were housewives (I know, that sounds chauvinist, but hey, I benefited a lot by my mom being home all the time and, come on, wouldn't you really rather be at home? I would). When neighbors were actually neighborly. When cocktail hour started promptly at five.

When we knew who the bad guys were (and they weren't our own politicians!) and they didn't crash planes into tall buildings (seriously, people, watch it. We can NOT afford to forget!) When the things we bought were still (mostly) American made. When movies weren't all about shock and gore. No telemarketers from India. No internet scams, mail scams, people stealing your credit card numbers. No meth, no crack, no gang shootings in suburbia. Moms didn't drown their kids. Dads didn't rape the babysitter. (Well, maybe on rare occasion, but not all the time, like you hear now on the news.) And speaking of the news, it was actually news and not commentary disguised as truth.

I think I'm going to build a bomb shelter in the back yard (a la Blast from the Past) and mix up a pitcher of martinis. Anyone wanna come?

This weekend

Three things of note for this past weekend:
1 - It was my Anniversary yesterday. 6 whole years married to the Hubs. (Yea!) Some days it feels like forever, which is a good thing. My brother brought his kids and wife over with a yummy ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's for "lunch" and then we had a really nice dinner at our favorite little Italian place...double yum!
2- I finally have most (not quite all) of my necklace parts and am in the process of adapting some of my art for pendants. (Tedious, but- Yea!)
3- I got my prize from Midlife Slices! ...and it's lovely! (Yea!) I used it when I went to dinner tonight. And, even though it's a "clutch" I can use all by itself, I am also going to use it as a wallet in my giant new apple green Vegas purse (seriously, I think I can fit at least one of my cats in there!) I am a total purse slut junkie obsessed freak so it's perfect! Thanks, Ms Midlife!
I also just have to say, as a purse junkie, if you haven't discovered Vittorio handbags yet, check 'em out if you can splurge a little (just a little...) they are gorgeous! The leather is soft and they seem well made. Plus I love all the pretty colors they come in!

On A Break

So we (the Hubs and I) have been going to a lot of classes and exhibits in Vegas for this NAB thing. It's been interesting, even though most of it is not relevant for me. (I'm thinking I may get more out of SIGGRAPH, because it's more for designers, graphics people, artists, etc and I would love to go this year because it's in N'awlins, but alas - I can't. Maybe next year...but it will be in LA.)
Anyway...we've been doing a lot of running around. A little shopping. No shows. Most importantly no Elvis...sigh... and halfway through the day yesterday I realized - I forgot my camera! Oh well, we have not seen much worth taking pix of anyway.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, however, and that should be way cool.

And I found out I won a prize! Yea, me! No not here at Vegas, but on a lovely blog by my friend Midlife Slices! I have no idea what it is yet, but I really don't care. I just love the fact that I guessed something right and won a prize. The only thing I ever won were tickets to a Richard Marx concert back in oh, must have been '91?, from a radio station giveaway. It was cool, at the time. But this is more cool. Cool-er?
Anyway, if you haven't found Midlife Slices yet, in your blogging about town, check her out. She's a read-headed riot!

Tomorrow's Girl #3

...and now for the blonde!

Vegas Baby

So Hubs and I are headed to Vegas! It is, unfortunately, a working vacation.
But still...it's Vegas!
Hubs has already headed that way this morning. I don't go until Sunday, but I'm still off work until then. Which is great, because I am about to lose my mind really need a break! I have not had an actual vacation since last year when we went to Vegas but I was sick the whole time I was there. This year I am not going to be sick. I am not going to have allergies. I am not going to get a migraine. I am not going to get heat stroke. (Me and the desert don't get along too well, which is a shame because I so want to live there! Not Vegas. But Sedona would be nice.)

Hubs goes every year for NAB, because of his job (which I can't talk about, because it's, like, top secret. No, really. But he does a lot of video stuff and I'll just leave it at that...) I usually tag along because when he's not in class we can go blow all our money in the casinos have fun. This year, because I am officially a business now, I can actually participate in some of the classes and things. They have a lot of Photoshop stuff and this year there are a lot of blog and web marketing classes. We'll see if they are useful!

What I really want, though, is to see Elvis. Or more accurately, an Elvis. Any Elvis. This is my 5th trip to Vegas and the only Elvis I have seen was a fat, ugly one hawking some kind of pamphlet in a used car lot. Talk about a disappointment! So maybe this will be the year. I even tried to see if the Flying Elivi were going to be around but I could not find an actual schedule for them. Bummer. I so want to jump with them. No, I have never been skydiving, but I would totally do it in an Elvis wig and cape! Woo hoo!

Anyway, I'm excited to have a little time off...hopefully I can get more artwork done.
In the meantime, I'm sitting around waiting for the Comcast guy to show up. Our internet connection keeps dropping for no apparent reason. At our house "Comcastic" is like a cuss word. Grrrr.

*** Well, I have to say the Comcast guy was very nice and helpful, even though he couldn't fix the problem. Seems we have "low db coming out of the tap"...??? I guess the signal is too low. Don't know why, we haven't done anything to it and it's been fine since we got the business account hooked up months ago. Anyway, I guess the big guns are coming out "some time" tomorrow. Okay. ***

Tomorrow's Girls part 2

Another of my wicked sexy space girls.

Not So Perky Today

Today I had sunshine, clouds, rain, thunder, hail, more rain, snow, snow, snow, sunshine and then clouds.
And a migraine.
Tomorrow I will have an actual post.

Nothin' but Nothin' (and some pictures)

I am an insomniac.
This is nothing new, I have struggled with this off and on for the past 20 years or so of my life. Usually it kind of goes in phases: lasts a couple weeks then goes away. But I find as I get older (and entering that lovely pre-menopausal stage of my life [yes, yes, I know I'm old only 44 but it's happening nonetheless...]) the sleepless stages last longer and longer. Lately I've been having to drug myself a couple nights a week just to get a few measly hours.
Of course it doesn't help that I have a cat who likes to take showers in the middle of the night (no, sadly, I'm not joking) and because he can't reach the shower knob ('cause of course, even stretched out he's only about 2 1/2 ft tall...long?) so he slams doors and yowls and hollers until someone gets up and turns on the water. He has been known to do this sometimes 3 or 4 times a night.
(And no, we can't put him outside because he is declawed (I know, I know) and we have lots of coyotes and owls in our area and I do not want him becoming a late night snack.)

Hubs sleeps thru it all takes turns with me when he can. I get up in the middle of the night most of the time because he is a very sound sleeper (lucky duck). He usually is the one to get up around 430 or so, however, if/when that darn cat starts up again or decides he's hungry, or wants in the garage or whatever he thinks he needs. He is a very demanding little critter. Kind of like a 4 year old I'm guessing.

The cat. Not the husband.

Anyway, the point of this is that last night when I was laying awake for hours and hours I had this great idea for a post today.
Except now I can't remember what it was to save my life.
And no, it wasn't about skinning cats.
Although I thought about it...
Not really.

So instead you get some lovely pictures my dad took. So it's not all bad.
I believe these were taken in The Dalles, OR when the folks took their recent trip here to visit. I added some filters via the Pioneer Woman's "action sets". (Thanks PW and Totally Rad Actions).



ps> Just in case you think I'm telling a tall tale, here's a picture of the suspect brat cat I'm talking about. He walks in there, meows and then paws at the back of the shower until you turn it on, just slightly, so the water drips on him and gets him soaked. Then he jumps out and goes in the closet and takes a tongue bath to dry off. He's so weird.

New Ideas, Sunday Drive and Old Lady Glasses

[First off, this picture has nothing to do with anything except I think it would be funny to see my Buster Kitten in a variety of hats...but he would claw my eyes out if I actually tried anything like this with him and then he would slink off into a corner and not speak to me for days. Well, he doesn't really talk to to me, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I've done a little series of drawings with Buster in a variety of hats. This is my Eatser Buster. He would hate this one most of all.]

So, I have decided I'm going to try getting into the glass pendant necklaces like I see on Etsy and other places online. I have noticed a lot of them are using art papers and Japanese papers, which are really lovely, but I'm hoping that I can maybe do one better by using some original art work. I've noticed florals seem to be popular. But what do you all think? What kinds of pictures/art/images do you think would be nice/fun/cute/pretty, etc (and by that I mean sell a lot)?

On a different note, the weather was great today! It was 58 degrees outside and it's hard to believe that we had 4 inches of snow last week! I am feeling much better than last week, so we took a long drive in the country. Then we came home and watched this movie, and then this movie. Phew! That was a lot of violence and action and car crashes and dead bodies (I read that "Shoot 'Em Up had a body count of 108!) and wow, what a ride! Definitely better, for that genre than the last intense action movie I watched (see this post).

Tomorrow is my 2nd day off and I am going to get the dreaded bi-focal...I already have to wear glasses most of the time, but it's gotten so that I can't use just my "regular" glasses at work because I can't see anything close. I have these in the tortoise/green and I like them ok, and I have these in dark red, but they are way too dark for my face. So hopefully I will find something I really love. We'll see!

Home Sick/Leftovers

So I'm home sick from work today, which I hate, but I also hate it when co-workers show up sick and spread their germs to the rest of us (we have recycled air in our building so it happens FAST), so I figured I'd better play it safe and not go in.
I don't feel like really doing much of anything including making myself lunch. Luckily I have leftovers!
I made a Mexican "lasagna" the other night for my folks when they were here and it was fantastic, if I may say so myself.
I hate to bake.
But I can cook like crazy!
So I started with a recipe I found in one of my 7243 magazines and altered it to suit my own tastes. I'm sure there are tons of recipes out there for this kind of thing, but I'm going to share mine anyway. Because it's my blog you all might like it!

1 lb hamburger

Taco seasoning to taste

1 can corn

1 can pinto beans

1/2 jar salsa (I used Mrs. Renfro's black bean salsa)

1 medium onion

1 medium poblano pepper

2- 10oz cans of enchilada sauce (I used medium)

1-2 pkgs shredded cheese (I used a four cheese Mexican mix)

Tomatoes for garnish

Sour cream

Chop and sauté the onion and pepper.

Brown the hamburger and add taco seasoning to taste -DO NOT add water like you would to make tacos.

Stir in the corn, salsa and beans, cook until hot.

Add the onion and pepper.

Stir in one can of the enchilada sauce.

I used an oblong cooking dish, I'm not sure what size, maybe 9x13? (I don't keep track of those things very well, I just grabbed one I thought looked right. Hey, I don't bake, remember?)

Grease the pan and lay 2 tortillas side by side.

Ladle some of the meat mix onto the tortillas.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Repeat until all the mix has been used.

Put two more tortillas on top.

Pour the 2nd can of enchilada sauce on top.

Cover with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 400 until the cheese is good and bubbly.

Garnish with diced tomatoes and sour cream.

I realize my food picture isn't up to some standards, but hey, I was sick today and didn't feel like digging out my camera, so you get a cell phone picture...

For desert we had this:

Don't let anyone tell you that cats can't taste sweet or that they don't have a sweet tooth. Oh yes they do! We made the mistake of leaving this out on the counter and my Buster Kitten decided it must have been all for him. Luckily the Hubs had to stop at the store on the way home anyway, so it was all good.