Reading List: The Gals Edition

It has come to my attention that I haven’t made a list of must-read blogs for a quiet Sunday.

Probably because my Sundays are never quiet.

Anyway, I would like to share with y’all some of my favorite gal bloggers, the ones that never fail to bring a smile or make me snort laughing.

Autumn People is a gem. Nicole has the gift to make you smile in any situation, not to mention she is a dream of a chef.

Another dream of a chef is Groovy Noms. The Nomstress is not only a fabu cook, but regales us with homeschooling stories, as well as the happenings of her crazy cat.

Over at Fetch My Flying Monkeys, which is rated PG-16, Laura “dreams” of being a government assassin. I put that in quotations because for all I know she might be one already.

Koch’s Tour is filled with wonderful anecdotes from the point of view of a mom to four daughters. I am one of four daughters, so I relate to her in many ways!

Last but not least, Maggie’s Notebook is a politically conservative site. Maggie gives you a rundown on all the happenings in the political scene, as well as bringing humorous anecdotes from across our daily lives.

Stay tuned for next week when we do the Guys Edition! 😉

Cast the Die

If you haven’t guessed by now, I like to play with the titles of my posts. The previous post was a reference to the Superman villain, General Zod. As usual, my friends Soylent Green and John began speculating on who would be cast as General Zod in the next (yet again) reboot of Superman, called Man of Steel.

I am a traditionalist. Some movies roles I believe are iconic, and and a remake of a film can be tricky when you cast the wrong actor. John had suggested Russell Brand, which made my hackles rise. I would rather clip my nails in a Cuisinart than see him in that role. General Zod was bigger than life! He was statuesque, commanding, and a hell of a lot more refined in his cruelty than Brand could ever portray on screen. I’m rather out of the loop on current film stars, but had thought that perhaps Samuel L. Jackson could do a good job. And then I found out who got the part:

Seriously??

Matthew Shannon, people. And he is supposed to be a seasoned general, a contemporary of Kal-El’s father, and a total badass. Oh, and this is Kal-El:

Not too shabby...

Henry Cavill, best know for his role as Charles Brandon in The Tudors. He has the looks, I’ll give him that. But seeing as Shannon is only 9 years older than Cavill, I don’t see how Shannon can be a commanding presence.

Of course, this is Hollywood. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so (*cough* Superman Returns *cough*) 😉

Welcome to the Puzzlehouse

My Little One is fond of puzzles. Very fond. Extremely fond. Thankfully, she can be entertained for hours putting a puzzle together. Usually her puzzles are anywhere in the 250 to 500 piece range, but this time she decided to try 1000.

And danged if she didn’t do most of it!

No flowers or butterflies for her, either. That is The Elements, based on the book by the same name by Theodore Gray. Unlike most times when you do the edges first, it was easier to start with the inner pieces, since the outer ones were solid black.

As you can tell, the elements were represented by real-world items, in this case, Hydrogen was represented by the Pillars of Creation. Carbon was a diamond, Iron was a horseshoe, etc. Several are represented by their namesakes, like Einsteinium. All in all, it was a challenge to put together.

It will be a pity to take apart 😉

The Stuff of Nightmares

I don’t have nightmares very often. Once or twice I have woken up in tears, and those were bad. I can even remember them vividly. But usually the so-called “nightmares” I have don’t involve death, dismemberment, blood, guts, gore (Al Gore, yes, but that’s a subject for another post), or maiming.

I know…I’m doing it wrong.

No, what I classify as a “nightmare” usually leaves me feeling anxious and overwhelmed, like I’m drowning and can’t get to the surface. This time was no different. I had a bad dream where I was travelling with my family to another country, and was at the airport going through screening, and the TSA agent asks for our ID, which were our Social Security cards, and my son forgot his at home, so Hubby had to go to the Justice of the Peace (I don’t get that either), and get a facsimile for the agent, while the line got longer and longer, and when he returned, the agent used it for HIM, not for son, and I told her she made a mistake, and she yelled, “WE NEVER MAKE MISTAKES!!!”, and a guard came over and took me to a holding cell, and Hubby said he would take the kids on the vacation, and would pick me up afterwards, and the agents then proceeded to tell me why they don’t make mistakes, and all the time they were cutting Eldest’s birthday cake and eating it!!!!

Like this, only with TSA gloves.

I woke up anxious and scared, and the first thing to go through my mind was, “I better not have to go through TSA screening when I go pick up the cake.”

Which on the surface is ridiculous, but scaringly possible. About the TSA checking other places, not about them eating the cake.

Yet.

Letter to a Brainworm

Has anyone ever had a person, place, or thing occupy a tiny area of your mind for years, laying dormant most of the time, until you are caught unaware while making a Tres Leches cake and suddenly–POOF!!!–it comes to the fore of your thought processes and interrupts your cake-making bliss to the point of making you question why in heaven’s name you need egg yolks, and how many have you added to the batter???

Yes?? ME TOO!! There have been songs, and poems, and even certain speeches that have done this, but eventually they go away. This one guy, though…. He sticks around like disco. This is my letter to him:

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Dear Signor Da Vinci,

“Larger than life” is an appropriate descriptor for you. Painting, sculpting, inventing were not enough. You were an engineer, an architect, excelling in mathematics and taught yourself Latin so as to be noticed by the Mathematical community. You were ahead of your time in anatomical studies, your inventions considered marvels, and your feats of engineering defy description to this day. So I have one question for you: WHY WERE YOU SO DAMN LAZY THAT YOU NEVER FINISHED ST. JEROME IN THE WILDERNESS??? That painting drives me nuts to this day!!! Oh sure…. La Gioconda is revered for it’s enigmatic smile, and The Last Supper is considered to be the foremost example of facial characterization. But why, oh why did you never finish St. Jerome?? It was the inventions, wasn’t it? The helicopter, the steam cannon, the glider, the bridge, the musical instruments??

There is one consolation in my fevered mind, though. At least I rest easy knowing you were greater than that Michealangelo dude 😉

Sincerely,

A fan