Here’s another Mimimimimi -

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
On a craggy cliff overlooking the ocean with a forest behind and a wicked winding road up to it like in some B&W from the 30’s.

2. FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?
My bloomers. Seriously - instead of a slip to go with dresses I have these coulotte type knee length pantalettes that are made of slip material. They are the best things in the whole world and infinitely more comfortable than a real slip. Not to be tacky or anything . . .

3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Some Natalie Cole CD I bought three years ago.

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
Depends. Sometimes real early, sometimes not.

5. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?
Electric skillet.

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A full size harp. Really. I’ve been wanting to learn to play for a while, even a small harp would do, but I think it’s all a little lush for right now. I hear harps can’t be found at low prices.

7. FAVORITE COLOR?
Green

8. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?
Neither, they all suck. Let’s just all go back to horses.

9. FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOK?
The Little Princess. Unless you really mean a 10 page illustrated book? That would be Clarice Bean. You can borrow it if you want.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Winter Winter Winter Winter Winter - and Spring on and above the Mason Dixon.

11. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I want to be like that kid from the Twilight Zone. As I drive down the road everything in my path instantly becomes beautiful.

12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
H E L L O on one hand and J E R R Y on the other.

13. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
Not really, but sort of.

14. NAME ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD TALK TO.
The dead are not included? Well, then I’d have to say my best friend from elementary school in Dallas, Kristin Griffith, just because I haven’t seen her since 2nd grade and I’ve always been curiuos what she turned out to be like.

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
Saturday because Sean’s home. Hey! Don’t get vomit on the keyboard!

16. WHAT’S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?
Clothes that have been waiting to go to the consignment shop for almost a year now, my painting kit, a canvas, a finished painting, and obsolete key maps of cities we no longer go to.

17. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
That is a dumb question. Would you rather be hungry or satisfied? PS: I’ll have cheese on that - no mustard.

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
Chocolate cheesecake

19. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
Cooking at home: S.O.S but Sean doesn’t understand it so I haven’t had it in years
Dining Out: Breakfast at Owen’s, but just like El Fenix, you can only seem to find ‘em in the Metroplex (in TX anyway).

Stolen from Epiphany, who is also a thief.

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com.
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function at the upper left and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.
C.) Bold the songs you liked, strike through the ones you hated, italics for your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about).

1. End Of The Road, Boyz II Men
2. Baby Got Back, Sir Mix A-lot
3. Jump, Kris Kross
4. Save The Best For Last, Vanessa Williams
5. Baby-Baby-Baby, TLC
6. Tears In Heaven, Eric Clapton
7. My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It), En Vogue
8. Under The Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. All 4 Love, Color Me Badd
10. Just Another Day, Jon Secada
11. I Love Your Smile, Shanice
12. To Be With You, Mr. Big
13. I’m Too Sexy, Right Said Fred
14. Black Or White, Michael Jackson
15. Achy Breaky Heart, Billy Ray Cyrus 16.
16. I’ll Be There, Mariah Carey
17. November Rain, Guns N’ Roses
18. Life Is A Highway, Tom Cochrane
19. Remember The Time, Michael Jackson
20. Finally, CeCe Peniston
21. This Used To Be My Playground, Madonna
22. Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough, Patty Smyth
23. Can’t Let Go, Mariah Carey
24. Jump Around, House Of Pain
25. Diamonds and Pearls, Prince and The N.P.G.
26. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, George Michael and Elton John
27. Masterpiece, Atlantic Starr
28. If You Asked Me To, Celine Dion
29. Giving Him Something He Can Feel, En Vogue
30. Live and Learn, Joe Public
31. Come and Talk To Me, Jodeci
32. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
33. Humpin’ Around, Bobby Brown
34. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover, Sophie B. Hawkins
35. Tell Me What You Want Me To Do, Teven Campbell
36. Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg, TLC
37. It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday, Boyz II Men
38. Move This, Technotronic
39. Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
40. Tennessee, Arrested Development
41. The Best Things In Life Are Free, Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson
42. Make It Happen, Mariah Carey
43. The One, Elton John
44. Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, P.M. Dawn
45. Stay, Shakespear’s Sister
46. 2 Legit 2 Quit, Hammer
47. Please Don’t Go, K.W.S.
48. Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes), Mint Condition
49. Wishing On A Star, Cover Girls
50. She’s Playing Hard To Get, Hi-Five
51. I’d Die Without You, P.M. Dawn
52. Good For Me, Amy Grant
53. All I Want, Toad The Wet Sprocket
54. When A Man Loves A Woman, Michael Bolton
55. I Can’t Dance, Genesis
56. Hazard, Richard Marx
57. Mysterious Ways, U2
58. Too Funky, George Michael
59. How Do You Talk To An Angel, Heights
60. One, U2
61. Keep On Walkin’, CeCe Peniston
62. Hold On My Heart, Genesis
63. The Way I Feel About You, Karyn White
64. Beauty and The Beast, Calms Dion and Peabo Bryson
65. Warm It Up, Kris Kross
66. In The Closet, Michael Jackson
67. People Everyday, Arrested Development
68. No Son Of Nine, Genesis
69. Wildside, Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch
70. Do I Have To Say The Words?, Bryan Adams
71. Friday I’m In Love, Cure
72. Everything About You, Ugly Kid Joe
73. Blowing Kisses In The Wind, Paula Abdul
74. Thought I’d Died and Gone To Heaven, Bryan Adams
75. Rhythm Is A Dancer, Snap
76. Addams Groove, Hammer
77. Missing You Now, Michael Bolton
78. Back To The Hotel, N2Deep
79. Everything Changes, Kathy Troccoli
80. Have You Ever Needed Somone So Bad, Def Leppard
81. Take This Heart, Richard Marx
82. When I Look Into Your Eyes, Firehouse
83. I Wanna Love You, Jade
84. Uhh Ahh, Boyz II Men
85. Real Love, Mary J. Blige
86. Justified and Ancient, The KLF
87. Slow Motion, Color Me Badd
88. What About Your Friends, TLC
89. Thinkin’ Back, Color Me Badd
90. Would I Lie To You?, Charles and Eddie
91. That’s What Love Is For, Amy Grant
92. Keep Coming Back, Richard Marx
93. Free Your Mind, En Vogue
94. Keep It Comin’, Keith Sweat
95. Just Take My Heart, Mr. Big
96. I Will Remember You, Amy Grant
97. We Got A Love Thang, CeCe Peniston
98. Let’s Get Rocked, Def Leppard
99. They Want EFX, Das EFX
100. I Can’t Make You Love Me, Bonnie Raitt

Wow. I can’t remember over half of those, and it seems that I didn’t like most of what I could remember. Of course, I don’t think I listened to the radio hardly at all that year. In my tape player were Blondie, Berlin, Depeche Mode, They Might Be Giants Flood, and a couple of mix tapes. For the record, my least favorite song of all time is Under The Bridge by Triple Nipple.

Mary Hartman (Louise Lasser)

I ran across this fat mama in the backyard this morning (well not this one exactly, I grabbed the picture from another site). As I stood in mute amazement I wondered if there had been a toxic leak somewhere that had created this mutant. So that you understand the scale of her largess, I have to tell you that her circumfrence was slightly more than that of a Marlboro. Huge. Here’s what I found on the net:

Cowkillers are parasites of cicada killer wasps. They use their amazing stingers for protection should the cowkiller be discovered by the cicada killer wasp in its nest. This attractive velvet ant squeaks audibly, especially when stepped on, and is exceptionally tough. However, if stepped on barefooted, the squeaks of the cow killer would be drowned out by screams of the victim. Perhaps this is the derivation of the name, cowkiller. All velvet ants are parasitic wasps. The females are wingless and resemble hairy ants. The males have wings and resemble other small, dark, wasps. Female velvet ants seek out a host nest and lay their eggs on the host larva. The velvet ant larvae consume the host wasp larvae, pupate and mature into another generation of velvet ants. The cow killer parasitizes the nests of the cicada killer. Cow killers slip into the host wasp nest, lay their eggs and depart. The exceptionally tough exoskelton of the cow killer protects it from stings of the host wasp in case they meet in the nest. Velvet ants are not usually numerous, and no control measures are usually needed. However, one of the commercial aerosol bee and wasp sprays or one of the flying insect aerosols will also kill this insect.

Oh, and did I mention how great those popovers were last night? You should definitely make some. The best part? NO YEAST. Whip ‘em up in less than five and bake for forty. Scrumptious.

Epiphany asked for the recipe for this chicken I make for Sean. It’s his favorite chicken, or at least he likes it a lot. This will not be in normal recipe format. By the way, this makes for a very moist chicken, so if you like yours dry, you might not like it. Sean and I love it.

Give skillet a bit more than a coat of olive oil. I guess you might say a good and heavy coat, but don’t drench it entirely. I don’t know what size your skillet is, so I can’t give you a measurement. My skillet is large and I would say I probably use a little less than a quarter cup. It has to be olive oil though, I shudder to think what this would taste like with anything else.

I have an electric skillet and I turn it to about 300, but I adjust the temp as I cook sometimes, depending on what’s going on. Most of the time, it will stay at 300 for this chicken. Did I mention that I’m talking about boneless chicken?

Coat a plate with honey for dredging. Coat chicken lightly with it. You might need to rub it in a little, because it resists sticking to the chicken.

On one side of the chicken sprinkle spices. The spices I use depend on the what the rest of the meal consists of, but a favorite is parsley and cilantro. I always put something green like that, and I use a couple of good pinches per piece of chicken. When it’s done it almost looks like blackened chicken, but much prettier. My other variation so far is chili powder and cilantro. Ease up on the chili powder though.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Five or six shakes of the salt, and 9 or 10 shakes of the pepper.

Put spice side down in the skillet first and then turn as needed and cook until done. Obviously.

Oh, and those pop-overs didn’t all turn out absolutely perfect, but they tasted like pure heaven. Awesome. See this website for the recipe, but be sure to follow the tips page. Oh, and I only use real butter, never margarine, so that could have made the difference. The tips work though, because I use lowfat milk, and that apparently neccessitates a change in temp.

Netflix gives Xanadu four out five stars !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Xanadu your neon lights will shine for you in Xanadu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So most of my friends are anti-Iraqi “involvement”, but I’m going to post this anyway. Liberal media be damned. Besides, it’s so much easier to post than to forward.

All of the facts are verifiable on the
Department of Defense website.

Have you read any of the following in your newspapers or heard about these things happening in Iraq on radio or television?

Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq, the Iraqi current government employs 1.2 million Iraqi people, 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq? Iraq’s higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating. 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program, the Iraqi Navy is operational - they have 5- 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
Iraq’s Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers.
Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion, the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers. There are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks. There are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq, including 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities. 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations. 43 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October. There are 1,192,000 cell phone
subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%. Iraq has an independent media that consist of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations. The Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004. 2 candidates in the Iraqi
presidential election had a recent televised debate.

And what is the question that is so important, and of such import, a red taped letter floating freely in manilla up the courthouse steps to arrive out of it’s case torn from the side of the bovine lady minding her business, her cud, the green grass of a pasture in Yorkshire, a fly on her back, a swift flick of her tail; to arrive out of its case to be judged, to be questioned, by a man not so astute as yourself, waking just this moment from a midday dream about buying new socks as the one’s he is wearing, socks loosing their fit; so important is this question that we cannot just idly wash it away on a summer’s day and hang it to dry in the crisp sunlight on the porch of some clapboard cottage in need of painting, chipped, dried, and gray just it as was did fifty years ago when our mother’s hiding, blushed behind the railing at the young milkman delivering his goods winking at her; because it is so important, and the question, asking why, why must this prose twist and taunt our tounges with such verbosity that our minds wend this way and that in search of Cairo or a pyramid or back to the country cottage looking for some connection to all of the words pattering forth out the pen, used twice by Gates, as it isn’t really a pen at all, being fashioned of plastic hewn on the Mississippi, pouring out of stacks the horrible stench of petroleum on the poor tourists looking for beauty in old architecture, the great alleys, hoop skirts; the connection that puts this at once in mind of old Virginia, spewing forth with nonsense of every kind, ignoring the greatness of the story and of causing her audience, aged though they may be now, to drift off on some fantasy of their own about where are the cigarettees, and what’s for supper, and who’s to be seen this weekend? Tell me, tell me, what is her point, her purpose, if being only to commit to page, another page? I dare say, I’m afraid of Virginia Woolfe.

So I was going through some old stuff and I found this in my junior high newspaper:

From the Old Kentucky Home Journal, Winter, 1987?

Willie with a thirst for gore,
Nailed his sister to the door . . .
Mother said, with humor quaint -
“Now, Willie dear, don’t scratch the paint.”

A peanut sat on a railroad track;
His heart was all-a-flutter,
A train came speeding down the track -
Toot! Toot! Peanut butter!