Time to play!!!

This is a rare view of Daughter the Younger's basketball shoes without her feet in them. Yes, it's basketball season. That means that I shall be sitting on bleachers (if I'm lucky) or a gym floor until Spring. Both girls are playing the local Booster ball, but this year the little one is also playing on a Select team. In case you're wondering, that means a game or practice almost every evening, with games on the weekends. They're a lot of fun to watch. I've just got to build up the butt callouses to endure it.

My huge, mom-like bag contains my notebook/sketchbook, a copy of "The Magician's Nephew", my camera, my Zen and my free hand is usually holding my travel mug full of tea.

You know...just the essentials.

Another Buffy thing...

that I've been doing is...get ready for it...listening to the musical episode, "Once More, with Feeling"!!!! I downloaded it off of Napster while I have my free month trial. It's now safely loaded on my Zen and one of my favorite things to listen to.

Now I just need to get "Little Shop of Horrors".

I told you I was geek.

This is the toughest one to get...

CORDELIA You are Cordelia 'Cordy' Chase. The spoiled snob
everyone loved to hate, then grew to love.

Which Character from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Are You?
brought to you by

I'm so tough.

BUFFY You are Buffy Anne Summers. You are very strong.
The leader of the Scooby Gang. Fighter. Friend.
Vampire Slayer.

Which Character from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Are You?
brought to you by

Christmas just keeps on coming for musicgeek!

I am now the proud owner of a Zen MicroPhoto MP3 player! I've been spending all of my free time getting it loaded up with music, photos, and all 17 cds worth of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. After doing lots of looking and reading up on all the options, this is what I decided on. It makes the musicgeek in me very happy. The photogeek is overjoyed as well.

In keeping with the "all about me" theme I had going on last week, I also broke down and bought some Bare Escentuals makeup. Jennifer recommended it highly, and I have to agree with her. It's fast and easy to put on, and it covers up what needs covering up. Can't ask for much more than that, can you ladies?

So, I'm starting the new year with a happily made up face and a song in my earbuds. Throw the new vitamin routine on top of that, and you've got a whole new musicgeek!

Bon appetit!

A Beautiful Sunset

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I call days like that "bonus days"... especially in Illinois... in January. Beautiful sunsets like this are a rarity in a season that is usually one gray day after another. My new camera has a "sunset" setting, so now I can capture those wonderful colors by just pushing a couple of buttons.

How great is that?

Every journey begins with the first step, right?

You are looking at a newly cleaned out and organized (for me) coffee/tea/spice cabinet. I'm lucky enough to live in a nice house with lots of cabinet space in the kitchen, but right now it seems they're all just stuffed with junk. This is the first attempt at organization. Trust me, it's a lot better than it was. I can be kind of a packrat, because I just hate to waste stuff, you know. There were so many little packets of tea, coffee and almost empty spice jars that had accumulated on the shelves that every morning something was falling out on me. It's so nice to make the morning tea and coffee without risking a concussion. It's a small step, I know, but you have to start somewhere, so the kitchen it is.

Heaven help me when I get to the craft room.

Happy Buddha Enlightenment Day!!

Betcha didn't even know it was today, did ya'. I'm technically about as Protestant as you can get, but I still want me one of these. I think Jesus and Buddha would have gotten along pretty well...just sayin'.

New Year, New Projects

I've started on my very first knitted (then felted) bag. I really had my heart set on making a Booga Bag like Jennifer, Needlefingers, and Ragged. The only fly in the ointment was that I couldn't find any of the beautiful Noro yarn that they used. Yes, yes, I know I could have ordered it on the internet or shopped around for it, but NOOOO...musicgeek can't possibly delay the gratification of starting a new project. So, I'm just doing the Booga Bag pattern in black wool, and throwing in a couple of pink stripes. I'll just have to make it again when I get my hands on some of the purdy yarn.

New Year's Eve was lots of fun this year. During the day, we met our former next door neighbors at the Steinberg Ice Skating Rink in Forest Park. It was pretty crowded, but we still had a lot of fun skating. Then we headed on to their new home. I had gotten out my new (Any Bitch Can Cook) cookbook and made a big (bitchin') batch of Tex-Mex soup that was very tasty. Our friends already had a roast beef platter, shrimp, veggies, and killer brownies. It was a mountain of food. We did our best to polish it off. The kids had a great time sharing their new Christmas games with the friends they miss bunches. The adults had a few cocktails, played some euchre (which we had to keep playing until the boys won), and continued to chip away at that mountain of food. I have no sense whatsoever when it comes to good food, so you can imagine how I felt by the end of the night.

The next morning, I painted a canvas for my friend's living room. She saw one that I'd done before and said that was just what she needed. It was a BIG canvas, and took awhile to get finished, but she was happy with it. We were going to start it the night before, but the euchre got out of hand, not to mention the Tanqueray and Fresca. Trust me, it's better than it sounds.

It's the last day of the girls' vacation. Gotta go see what they want to do with it.

Ciao