ipadio: Shockers vs. Warheads

Fall beauty

Has anyone else been struck by the vibrancy and vividness of leaves this fall? The color changes have been breathtaking. The oranges and deep purplish reds are my favorites, followed closely by bright reds and yellows and then yellowish-greens. Even the sheer number of browns has grabbed my attention.

I also find myself investigating leaf shapes. I find the spade shapes and the long pointy ones the most interesting. And who would have thought tree trunks and branches would be so lyrical, singing and waving their arms as the wind rustles through?

If I wasn't in love with fall before, I certainly am now...

I love candy

How could something so delicious be evil?

Hmm. I love candy, just as I love makeup and video games. I see nothing wrong with candy, as long as excellent tooth brushing takes place. Readers?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/dining/27candy.html?_r=1&hpw

Berry Chewy Lemonheads and Friends

Mmm... Lemonheads. Remember the original ones? What could be bad? Bright yellow and tangy, crystals of citric acid stinging your tongue, then the nearly flavorless white candy hidden beneath becoming stuck to your teeth? Remember trying five or six at a time, and making your eyes water, then doing it again? What a (sugar) rush.

Lemonheads' friends joined the party after a while, namely Orangeheads, Grapeheads, Appleheads, and Cherryheads. They tasted just ok, but after they turned chewy, they improved immensely.

Later on, they went Tropical, and that was fun. But this flavor exceeded my expectations. These Berry Chewy Lemonheads and Friends are really, really tasty. As a "red" candy lover, I am hooked! (I like them almost as much as I like Starburst GummiBursts.) Kudos, Ferrara Pan!

So hello there. Hello, Cherry Lemonheads, Strawberryheads, Blue Raspberryheads, Red Raspberryheads, and Wild Berryheads! Welcome to my life. I'm CC. Let me introduce you to my mouth...

Fall out

Ever since I got divorced, I always feel a little bummed out in the fall, especially in October, specifically on the 25th.  If we had stayed married, we would have been together for 12 years.  Sheesh.  That's a Bat Mitzvah! 

And as if I don't already know the answer (yes!) part of me always asks myself if I made the right decision. I don't know why I revisit some of my decisions.  There's no reason for me to doubt myself.

But it doesn't help that the first date of my last serious relationship was on October 26th.  Or maybe that's because they were both Tauruses?  Aquarian ladies, don't fall in love with a male Taurus. It's just plain doomed.

Anyway, that's enough gloom for now. Pleasant posts are on their way!

Half-baked Butchie?

So I got a big pointy tetanus shot and two antibiotics for The Butchie Bite. Vitamin N said it still looks swollen but the doctor didn’t, and besides, I have a fairly squishy forehead to begin with. So I will probably be ok. I am to call if there’s swelling or pain up there, duh.

Anyway, I think Butchie’s losing it.

I mean, it’s not like I’d smeared tuna juice and cheddar cheese on my forehead. I was minding my own beeswax. And I can’t have a biter around. What if he bites my family or friends? Niecey or Neph? Me, again? On my freakin’ face? That would be terrible. So I read up on Alzheimer’s in cats, and recent history shows Butchie does have several of these symptoms: acting disoriented, changes in social relationships, changes in sleep habits, inappropriate vocalizing, forgetting commands, breaking housetraining, pacing, wandering, sluggishness, food issues, decreased grooming, and confusion. And I thought some of it was because of his cataract!

Did you know that half of all cats over age 15 show signs of senility? These symptoms are for ooold cats (I consider 12.5 to be “getting older”, not “ooold” just yet), and he’s never had great grooming to begin with… Twinkie had been coming around and washing his face and ears for him since they were babies. And it’s Discovery, which I trust, not some random bullshit “cat fact” website with cutesy-poo pictures and no actual research.

So hopefully it was an isolated incident. But what if I have to put him down? Like I said, I simply can't have a biter around. The thought of it breaks my heart! I’m going to call the vet today and ask if I should be worried. I expect the 400 bucks I spent there a month ago entitles me to ask a follow-up question…

Lunatic pussycat

Last night, I was doing some work with my dad on speakerphone when the Butch and Twinkie started crying. I know they hate the speaker as much as they hate electronic beeps but I can't hold the phone and mouse and type at the same time, and I don't have an earpiece. So here they are, myeching up a storm, when suddenly Butchie ran over, jumped onto my lap and BIT MY FOREHEAD.

Bit my forehead! I threw the cat off me and left my dad there wondering wtf while I washed it and peroxided it. "He what!?"said my startled dad. "Oh my goodness!" And oh my goodness was right. Two small round punctures and a longer bite, too. Good thing he's a housecat.

How bizarre. Not once has he ever bitten my face, although he does give love licks there very occasionally, and love bites on the hand very often. And he had been so affectionate all day, snuggling into my neck and rubbing his face on mine and generally being a sweet kitty.

Anyway, now it itches and Vitamin N says it looks swollen, but thankfully not infected. She said that cat bites on the face can become infected really fast, and counseled me to call the doctor. So I did, and I'm waiting for a call back.

I still can't believe this. I'll keep you posted.

It gets ickier

So, remember those guys who were contacting me separately, the brothers? Well, it turns out they're twins. Twins! ew! Ew!! EW!!!

When I told my mom, she said, "Well, honey, you fit a profile. And, you're appealing." And I suppose I am, for the most part. *smile*

But it had been bothering me so much that I googled the name and the word "twins"... and yup. There it was. And of course my paranoia kicked in double-time of what it had been before. I mean, brothers are bad enough, but socially inept twin brothers? I got to thinking that they would be comparing notes on how far they had gotten with me, or switching off just for fun. Maybe they wouldn't, but I'm not taking the chance.

Thank you, God, for giving me instincts and helping me follow them...

AWKWARD!!!

Wah waaah waaaaaaaaaahhhhh. (Sad trombone.)

I may have mentioned this before, but I keep running into the same people on different sites (Match, JDate, eHarmony) and it freaks me out. And now, it's happened on meetup.com!

Background: in January, I supposedly matched a guy on eHarmony. We emailed for a few days, but I wasn't impressed... in fact, something about the emails skeeved me. So I ended it. And he had an unusual last name, one that I wouldn't forget in a hurry.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I joined a singles group on meetup.com named "Bubbie says it's the best singles group in Boston." Well, my grandmothers were never Bubbies, but what the hell. I thought about it for at least a month before I joined, especially since I could see that most of the members were women. Sigh.

Sooo, two days ago I receive a greeting from a guy who sort of looked familiar, but sort of not. Something about his brow. So we email, and his emails bother me because every single sentence ended in an exclamation point, and the punctuation was poor! I use them a lot too! But my sentences make sense do they not! Does this bother you yet! Even the questions had exclamation points! And he did not click "hide email info" and his email came through as a Lia Sophia email too not an actual personal one! So I thought that was strange right! Sounds like someone I don't need to get to know right!

Sheesh. I was breathless just reading, and not in a good way. But I thought about it. Let me investigate before writing him off, right? Don't judge a book by its cover and all that. Well, I have to trust my gut more.

His profile said, "follow me on LinkedIn" so I looked (without logging in). My LinkedIn profile is professional and comprehensive, so I figured his would be, also. But no. And there was that name again!

I searched my email and lo and behold, they grew up in the same town, same high school, same poor grammar skills, and yes... similar forehead and brow.

My first thought was, "Ok, this is bullshit." My second? "Get me outta here!" So I did. I explained the situation, asked if they were related (I would bet money on it, and I am not a gambler of cash), and wrote that I felt too uncomfortable to continue emailing with him. Do you think I did the right thing? This was, like, 20 minutes ago. I post this because I have to get it out of my system and I am so icked out right now. ew! Ew!! EW!!!

So. If anyone has better ideas for meeting people, please share. I would really appreciate it.

Privacy issues

Something else funny that happened this weekend.

Sunday morning I totally walked in on some kid (probably in college) urinating! It was at the restaurant where I enjoyed a lovely breakfast of an enormous fluffy pancake stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries. And very good coffee. P had broccoli quiche and J had eggs and bacon. I think they were the kind where the yellow oozes out. It was at Johnson's Farm where I met the animals and Farmer Steve.

Here is the scene:

CC: (Approaches bathroom, asks DRINKSPERSON if anyone is in there)
DRINKSPERSON: Nope!
CC: Thanks. (Knocks on door. No answer. Opens door. Gasps, closes eyes, and stammers apology as she backs out. CC and DRINKSPERSON look at each other in disbelief.)
DRINKSPERSON: There is a lock in there, you know.
COLLEGE KID leaves bathroom, makes eye contact with CC and smiles a little. CC enters bathroom, locks door, checks door, and does her business. She returns to her table where she realizes the kid is from the next table over, a FAMILY, Party-of-Five-style. They look at her and nod a little, smiling sheepishly.
CC: (Shakes head slowly, in a wow-that-was-embarrassing way.) Sorry about that! I would have thought the door would have been locked! (FAMILY drops jaws and looks at COLLEGE KID, who reddens.)
CC: (Sits down with J and P, explains situation.) Whoops. (J and P roll eyes.)
J and P: Don't apologize. His fault, not yours!

Later, P claimed that the family was more surprised that I actually mentioned the situation than they were embarrassed for the kid. What the heck!? It's a really nice unisex bathroom in a decent restaurant. What was he thinking? I guess I could have ignored them, but hey! I'm from NY. We actually acknowledge when funny things happen, you know...?

A Blog Cabin writeup...

by the Blog Cabin Queen herself! And now I'm famous! Teehee!

http://blogcabinadventure.blogspot.com/2010/10/who-needs-marshmallows.html

Blog Cabin Adventure is over

I had a freakin' blast! So here are the pros and cons, in no particular order.

Cons:

• Forgot my towel, so I improvised and used my wrap instead (really, my fault)
• Forgot my B.O.derant (my fault again. Hel-lo, Activeion!)
• Smoky-smelling clothes
• Blowing my nose and having soot-colored snot
• Very little indoor light (60s watts for a cabin does not go so very far)
• Occasional mysterious septic smells (popcorn poop, anyone?)
• Port-a-Potties at the Garlic Festival (not BC's fault)
• Forgetting the flashlight and having to use a spiral staircase in the middle of the night because I forgot to pee before bed. I think it took me ten minutes to feel my way to the bathroom. Haha!

Pros:

• The beauty and serenity of a babbling brook, complete with rustling trees and glimmery rocks
• Big campfire
• Tending the campfire
• Toasting marshmallows over the campfire
• Enjoying ice cream and making each other laugh over said campfire
• Licky doggies (many thanks to Grace and Buddy)
• Special homemade oatmeal breakfast and special homemade pizza dinner
• Friends
• Cell phone usage (through Sprint, the only provider to work in the area)
• Good sleeping (just not enough of it!)
• Cider doughnut at the Garlic Festival
• Not being forced to eat garlic at the Garlic Festival
• Learning about sill plates from Their Wayne
• Meeting a friendly bull, horse, and donkey... and their owner, Farmer Steve
• Maple cotton candy (I don't know why, but I just can't resist cotton candy at a fair or festival)
• Appreciating the bones of a building
• So many other things. It was all so much fun!

Funniest parts:

• Hundreds of hippies and hippie children at the Garlic Festival
• J chowing down on garlic, bacon, and chocolate chip cookies at the festival (um, no thanks, I just ate)
• P riding in the trunk so we could park as a car pool at the festival and not have to ride the shuttle bus there
• 18 frogs jumping out of the mud at J and P as they dug around the cabin
• Having to return to the cabin to throw away the rest of my ice cream pint

Scariest part:

• UFO on Friday night! Then I thought I heard a bear. But do bears grunt? We all spooked each other and went running into the cabin. Later, they shared that it might have been the visiting moose. But in the pitch dark, is that any better?

Worst parts:

• Finding out that some leakage had occurred during the rainstorm of the day before. But it's fine, no damage was sustained.
• Digging. The wall of the final footing kept caving in. FOUR times.
• J tried to shovel P's fingers. That'll leave a mark!

First impressions:

• The Blog Cabin is much smaller than it appears on the blog.
• Plywood in quantity is actually very pretty.
• Construction sites do not scare me.
• For a work-in-progress and construction site, it was actually quite clean. And safe.

Fun facts:

• The toilet used to be located in the kitchen.
• J and P have burned all the original wood from the cabin at their campfires.
• Solace the Cat prefers the BC to his regular city home.

All of this and much more, in less than 23 hours... and that includes travel time! Hey J and P, when can I go back???

Tulip Fever

Lovely, lonely, young Sophia Sandvoort has married older, wealthy Cornelis. His love for her consumes him. Unfortunately, they are unable to conceive. Like a flower, his desire for immortality grows so much that he commissions a painter (Jan van Loos) to capture their likenesses on canvas.

Hmm. Whoever would have thunk a breathtakingly beautiful young woman would be attracted to an talented, tempting young artist? And so the story begins, during the 1630's in Amsterdam... during the time period known as Tulipomania.

Suspense! Intrigue! Love! Deborah Moggach paints this picture cleanly and intricately, with obvious love for her characters. The short chapter introductions from various 17th century household manuals, Jacob Cats, Leo da Vinci, and other players of the day added to the word-by-word pleasure. Also, I like tulips. *smile*

I actually willed myself to set this one aside every once in a while to draw out the reading process as far as I could. Hey! Debbie! More, please!