Well, not in the sense of promoting any particular candidate.

It’s U.S. Election day.  Get out and vote, if you haven’t voted already.

FactCheck.org has put out their 2008 Fact Check awards, summarizing things they found amusing or shocking about this year’s election.  Chuck Norris got best actor for his early Huckabee support ads.

Also, today is Walter Cronkite’s birthday.  Happy 92nd Birthday, Mr. Cronkite.  The news hasn’t been the same since you left CBS.

I’m not dead, but I feel like I am. I have bronchitis that’s about a step from walking pneumonia, brought on my my allergies this year. No wonder I’ve been a completely miserable human being to live with for the past month. I’ve had a couple of new allergy medications added to the chemical scene: Nasonex headaches, joint pain, stuffy nose, and nausea and Allegra headaches, back pain and nausea, so I’ll have a wonderful time telling which one is the source of the side effects. We’ve been allowing Sully Cat outside while wearing a harness and leash.

We hoped this would stop him from begging at the door to be let out, or alternately making mad dashes out the door as we’re trying to leave. Conversely (or perversely, as your sense of cat logic may lead you to believe) this has increased his determination for escape attempts. Given my current lung power, it was a challenge to catch him both times he darted out yesterday. My sister, started a little etsy shop she’s calling Knit Wicks. She and her significant other are upcycling glass wear into cute little shabby chic candles and this is an outlet for their designs. It’s very small right now, but I’m sure they’ll have more offerings soon. K1 P1 rib is really challenging when you’re knitting to try to keep from falling asleep while waiting in the doctor’s office. While I didn’t have to tink anything working on the pseudo Noro Stripe out of my aunt’s yarn, I really did have to think about it. On that note, I’m heading back to bed.

I don’t like insects, which are technically animals, very much at all. They give me the heebie-geebies something fierce. That said, this article on Discovery.com about
bugs gnawing on dinosaur bones moved termites up to the top of the creepiest of the creepies list.

Why?

“Although it is not commonly known, termites can consume bone, both fresh and weathered, and can completely consume a human skeleton,” the team wrote.

– Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News, May 8, 2008

This side of town is famous for being nothing but a giant termite mound. Now I have daymare visions of termites not just eating the sheeting under my house’s siding, but still being a ravenous, mass of alien might. Driven by hunger and having no empathy, they eat everything in their path, including the cats and I too.

Rosie escapes in this daymare to get our friend and neighbor Ken the exterminator and avenge the cats and me.

• I’m never eating at a certain restaurant with the initials ZJ again. I had the worst stomach problems yesterday afternoon and left work by 1:30, which means I’ll have to work late today because I have huge deadlines looming on the projected that never leaves or settles when it hits my desk.
• Crocheting kitchen cotton is hard on the hands. I find myself able to only work a few rows before my hands hurt too much to continue. At the rate I’m going, Aunt Net’s birthday present will be ready by June.
• Socks are fun. I turned the heel on my Koi Pond Handpainted Highlights socks. There will be pictures as soon as I get the toe done.
• I’m still obsessed with the Anne scarf. I’m just not boring people with my obsession anymore.
• I’m moving this blog from LJ. I haven’t been happy with the templates available or the amount of control that I have over the appearance of these pages, so I’ll be moving from LJ to something I host myself. It will happen before the first of June. I’ll keep my ID here and the Hootinannies group. I have to figure out how to post feed here from another source.

The bleeding heart in my shade garden is blooming.
There house is situated in such a way that the front of the house, where I’d love to plant beautiful things, is also the south side of the house. The rest of the yard is too shaded for growing anything, so my salsa garden has to be right up in front of the house. Because of the amount of shade, I’m pretty limited on what I can put in my actual flower garden space. Bleeding hearts love shade and this one’s been very happy since we planted it.

Hearts upon blooming hearts, all bleeding for your enjoyment.

Runaway Lawnmower Kills Monk

It’s tragic, and yet that headline takes all the tragedy out of it. Thanks Reuters!

So, when World of Warcraft == Love, I guess you’ve got to craft the wacky. It’s a bottle of Moonberry Juice, because you couldn’t just give your loved one a plain old bottle of sparkling blueberry juice, now could you?

She crafted it for him. Heh heh. Crafted.

Plus the latest episode of my favorite YouTube broadcast, The Guild posted! I was most amused by The Guild: A Christmas Raid Carol, because no Christmas is complete without a WoW in-joke.

I give you that thing yet another reason why the rest of the world hates us: Someone’s actually marketing a gold pill that makes your poop glitter. I can think of far better things to spend $425 on than bling for my excrement.

I return you now to your regularly scheduled web browsing.

I like Batman, don’t get me wrong, but what can you say about Batman that hasn’t been said? He’s Batman! He kick’s Superman’s butt, as evidenced in The Dark Knight Returns.
More importantly, though, he inspired the Batgirl.

I know there are some women out there who wanted to be Batman, but I always wanted to be Batgirl when I grew up. Librarian by day, crime fighter by night? You’ve got to love that. Kick butt, take names, without sacrificing femininity, as if it’s less important to be feminine than it is to be masculine. (There’s a whole gender theory argument about why it’s “okay” for girls to take on “masculine” traits like playing with trucks but “not okay”for William to want a doll and knit.) I didn’t want to be someone I wasn’t, and of the things I was, I was a girly-girl and so was Batgirl, and she still kicked butt.

Batgirl has skills. She continually finds Batman and Robin, almost never get captured, can defuse bombs, and she’s familiar with the details of the laws that govern employment relations in the country in which she lives and works, like equal pay for equal work.
Plus, she’s more intelligent and cunning than the Worlds Greatest Detective! Only someone with her savvy could pick such a powerfully motivating time to discuss increasing her compensation ratio.

Holy discontent, indeed, old chum!

This particular meme has been going about, and I guess it’s my turn now.

1. I only shampoo my hair twice a week. This may seem icky to some people, but my skin and scalp are very dry and shampooing anymore often than that leads to flat hair, breakage, and an itchy, flaky scalp, so I rinse my hair every time I wash myself, but I only shampoo twice a week.

2. I occasionally shed the nail on my pinky toes. It doesn’t hurt when it happens, but sometimes they just fall off. Weird and kinda gross.

3. My eyes are blue, but they have brown flecks around the center, technically making them hazel, but a blue/brown hazel. I got that part from Dad. The blue part picks up the colors I’m wearing, like Mom’s grey eyes do, so sometimes my eyes end up looking purple with yellow flecks.

4. I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I love peanut butter toast or eating peanut butter right from the spoon. It makes no sense.

5. My ears used to be quadruple pierced, with one piercing at the top of the ear, but I let that one close because I decided it looked silly on a person of my age.

6. When I’m watching TV, my imagination fills in all the missing details. Specifically I imagine the smells that go with the scenes. My imagination’s so vivid, I can actually gag myself with imaginary smells. I think that’s why I can’t eat meat and watch CSI.

7. I secretly lust Chris Garver from Miami Ink. I can’t explain why. Maybe it’s because he’s the most mature acting one on the show. Maybe it’s because he knows that some people have to buy cool, but others (like him) simply are cool. Either way, I watch the show for him.

The one who makes me laugh my @$$ off.
HuckChuckFacts

I don’t like his politics on several key issues, but he made me laugh. Decide for yourself by checking out his stance at www.mikehuckabee.com.