<snerk> (Is it allowed to snerk at oneself?)
I previewed, I swear! I CAN guarantee it will be mundane…
Wallflower, you are my new favourite person. Can I have some cookies and your KitchenAid? 
Draelin, “this is what going mad feels like”. I think my favourite line is still, “Well, my days of not takin’ you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.” I think Safe is my least favourite episode, and my most favourite is duking it out between Serenity, Out of Gas, and Objects In Space. Wow, it’s the perfect show. My co-worker (person I’ve most recently hooked) went home tonight after work to watch the second disk with his wife, and plans to have finished them by Friday. We can trade lines! It’ll be great!
/Firefly geek mode off
Today’s Exciting Adventure was getting locked out of our apartment for three hours when Mr. lissar needed to sleep. The lock broke. He had to stay up for approximately twenty hours today because the locksmith came during his sleep time and I had to work. Grr.
Tomorrow is frantic sewing and buying extra buttons and veil stuff day.
I did some Christmas shopping today, spent too much money and I’m still not done. I may end up doing gifts cards for the remaining giftees.
I did not find anything worthwhile that was King Kong related for my boyfriend so I got him a pair of boxers with Darth Vadar on the front and the words “Sith Happens” on the back. They also had boxers with the Peanuts gang singing around the Christmas tree and the tree was right over the opening of the boxers - that just seemed waaaay too wrong.
So, how is it that I always manage to be up till a ridiculous hour the night before I travel? And then I’m up at a different ridiculous hour too. I’ve gotten lots done, but I have a lot of dumb little things I want to do. I don’t have to leave till about 9:15 in the morning, but I’ll bet I still have stuff to do at the airport. Like write and address Christmas cards. And not forget that there won’t be a mailbox inside the terminal in Atlanta, so I need to mail them before I leave Columbus.
One of the things I forgot (and you threw it straight at me, even)…I see you’re hooked on Firefly, Lissla. Excellent. I have bunches of favorite lines. Can I think of a single one right now? Other than the ones that you and Drae already quoted? Not a one. I pretty much waver between Out of Gas and Objects in Space as favorite episodes. But I think all of them are far above the average TV show. If you haven’t watched the commentaries on the ones that have them, you definitely should - they’re really good. Some of them are hilarious; others just help you see things you (or at least I) wouldn’t otherwise notice.
And I’m betting on 12.75 hours for the FairyChatTrek to Florida. Just because I can.
Well…off to bed for a few hours.
GT
Got an hour and a half to kill before I have to go to the Dr for my bloodletting. OK, it’s just a small tube of my vital essence, but I still don’t much like being stuck. I’m starting to get my hunger headache - gotta fast till they bleed me. Then I’m going to treat myself to breakfast somewhere - probably Bob Evans, since there aren’t that many breakfast places around here.
Furnace guy is coming this afternoon. We may not have a problem, but the furnace has been acting weird. It’ll fire up, and sometimes before the fan comes on, it’ll go off. Then the fan will blow a few seconds and it will quit. Or the fan will come on then the furnace will immediately go off, then the fan will only blow for 10-15 seconds and quit. If it’s an appreciable temp differential - like when the program switches from 62 to 66 - it’ll run what I consider to be a normal cycle. But it’s the temp maintaining that acts strange. We changed out the thermostat since last season and put in a programmable one - I just want to be sure that it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. With oil as expensive as it is, I don’t want to be wasting any BTU’s, or risk the house blowing up, or anything like that.
Which reminds me - I need to set the thermostat to about 60 while we’re gone. Enough to keep stuff from freezing, but not enough to empty the tank. And I need to feed my plants. And take out the kitchen garbage. And run a dishwasher load. I already set up the light timers, so we’ll have the illusion of someone being home, sorta. And I’ve stopped the mail. So, what have I forgotten??
We’re not supposed to bet, we’re supposed to figure it out, doing math!
FCM -when you post again, tell us your distance and rate and we’ll tell you how long it took you.
(see? This is why math is aggravating–she KNOWS how long it took her–she was in the car!).
Off to work.
You know what’s really great about Stuckey’s Pecan Logs? Well, there’s a couple. One, they’re kinda like fruitcakes. They never go “bad”. That makes 'em suitable for giving to people you don’t really like but need to give something to, so they, in turn can pass it on to somebody else, etc. The second thing is they can get really, really hard after a while and can come in handy as a weapon. A whomp upside the head with a Stuckey’s Pecan Log can stop a rampaging, rabid elephant in heat.
Taters I use Zatarain’s all the time for jambalaya. I usually put shrimp, chicken and sausage in it. People go nuts over it like I really did sump’n special. I mean, people have brought me homemade baked goods in exchange for some jambalaya! I do make gumbo and red beans and rice from scratch though. My gumbo is good, but I have this friend in Mobile, AL that makes a gumbo that makes mine taste like it’s one of those weird little microwaveable cup thingies of gumbo. His is gumbo the way the good Lord intended gumbo to be!
Wallflower I am impressed with the cookie baking. I think I’ve mentioned my friends who bake cookies and make candy like mad during this time of year. They are both PAs and they take these huuuuuuge plates of cookies around to all the clinics they work at, as well as give them to friends. I was the possessor of a huuuuuuge plate of cookies but now they are all gone.
welby ick! So I take it you did eat something, as Lissla put it, “interesting.”
Delores we have to make your nomination for guest MMPer official, so here goes.
All those in favor of Delores hosting next week’s MMP say “Aye.”
**AYE!!! **
All those opposed, signify by saying “Nay.”
**:: CRICKETS :: **
The “Ayes” have it. Delores is duly elected to start next week’s MMP.
Don’t y’all just love democracy in action?
OK, I mapquested the distance - they show a slightly different route from the way we usually go, and they came up with 807.94 miles. Since I usually guestimate 800 miles, that’s pretty good. It’s not all interstate, and there will be potty, fuel, and meal stops. We’ll be driving a 2003 Jetta TDI (that’s a diesel, for those who don’t know) and we’ll be traveling with a 10+ year old border collie mix. The car is grey, and the interior is black. Oh, and it’s a 5-speed with a CD player. Anybody need any more information for their calculations??
Do we need to factor in stops every 50 miles for Bernie potty breaks and butt skritches?
Actually, Bernie will treat the trip like a day at home - and extended opportunity to nap.
Every 50 miles??? Even I don’t need potty breaks that often, man! sheesh… 
Her breaks will coincide with ours, thankyouverymuch!
Well, now, surely she’ll seize on the opportunity for extended periods of butt skritching. Heck, maybe you’ll even get lucky and she’ll lean over in your face so you can have an extra helping or two of dog breath.
Or, Bernie deciding that s/he’s a lap dog, and therefore must be in the lap of whoever’s driving.
Of course, Maddy the VunderDog is smarter than that…
Lissla and gt, I’m going to have to say my favorite is “Shindig.” If only for the Captain Tightpants line. 
I so want this week to be over. All in favor?
We got one of those big tin cans of popcorn at work today. You know, the ones with butter, cheese and caramel corn in 'em. YUM! What I like to do is mix all three together and get this buttery/cheesy/salty/sweet/caramely taste thing going. It’s a sugar rush with salt!
I have eaten so much this holiday I may, perhaps, explode. Please, don’t talk about popcorn any more.
Taters or Swampy (and everyone else interested in lazy cajun cuisine) – my tip for using Zatarain’s products is to add a can of diced tomatoes. No matter which one you pick, add a can of tomatoes. And substitue some canned chicken broth for the water. People will go nuts. I usually add shrimp and chicken to mine, though CherryHusband likes his shrimp dishes pure, so I do the chicken on the side. I’m nice that way.
yay for Delores, holiday MMP’er! Although I probably won’t participate. Too much holiday planned for me next week! I don’t have as far to travel as FCM but I have a 15 month old, so that automatically doubles the length of the trip. Whether that’s in actual time or Oh God It Feels Like This Trip is Taking Forever time, well, we’ll just have to see.
Gah. There’s some sort of cheesy dip/cheese ball thing down the hall. Calling to me. Give me strength!
My friend’s fiance (who is a chef) also suggested peanuts in the rice. Just sayin’. I’ve never tried it.
I have to call four people and say “I’m sorry, but the item you ordered last night is out of stock, and there’s no way in hell we’ll have it by Christmas. This is your long-overdue lesson in shopping at least two weeks prior to needing the gift.” Of course, I won’t really say that, but that’s the gist of it. I decided to wait until at least 10:15 before wrecking Christmas for these poor bastages.
Why isn’t it Thursday night yet? Why? Why? Why? I want to be on a plane, gosh darn it! I want out! Out! Out Out Out!
Susan
(Out!)
Nah - that would require effort on her part. We’ll toss her afghans in the back seat and she’ll crash, except when we stop - then she’ll resume a conscious state. She’s really no problem when we travel, unlike our late Dalmatian who would whine and cry the whole time - not out of unease, but out of excitement. When we moved from Va to Fl, I had to drug her before the long ride down I-95. Prescribed by the vet - I didn’t just randomly give her drugs.
I had a dog a lot like that once. He was great on trips. He’d just lay down on the back seat and snooze. Except every once in a while he’d have to poke his head up front as if to say, “Just reminding you I’m still here” and then go back to sleep. Then there was the dog who didn’t want a window rolled down but just had to sit with his nose pressed up against the window the whole time he rode. Never moving, just sittin’ there nose against the window. Oh and there was the one that had to be held when he rode. He’d howl if I tried to put him out of my lap. I’ve owned some weird dogs.
Speaking of, I picked up the kitty tranqs from the vet this weekend, and they ordered me to test them out before moving day. So Khan and Sirius each got one pill. The events of the evening made it clear that Sirius needs two to stop his fat ass from jumping all over the house, but Khan started getting tipsy, then puked, and then just stared at me for three hours like he’d done peyote. It was awesome. I bathed him with nary a meow. The vomiting is mildly worrisome, but he can do it at will–he does it sometimes just because he’s mad at me.