SpinWeaveKnitandCake

$$$ For rent: One couch. Towels extra $$$ Deposit $$$ Must like annoying cats $$$

Wow!  This whole inauguration business is quite the racket for DC's tourism industry.  If you want to rent a hotel room think 4-night minimum stay, oh, and that's prepaid!  Oh, and they're all booked up.  And now you can go on Craig's List and rent a room or some fool's house for a boatload of money.

We were thinking about toodling into D.C. for Obama's inauguration but the reality of the insanity took hold and I think we may just have an inauguration party at home instead. 

For the first time ever I want to watch and be a part of the event, however, I already know what the Presidential limo looks like and the only seat we'd get is in the pick-pocket lane in amongst the throngs of people pushed up against the curb.  Our only view would be the back of some chump's head.

I figure we'd get a better (and warmer) view of the event from the well-placed network television cameras and sit by the fireplace with a bottle of champaign.  Oh, and hey, the bathroom's just down the hallway.  The only thing that would steal my seat is a furry four-legged beast named Whisky.

Yeah, a party.  Hmmm...

Mr. Man...

Mr. Man and I have been together since 2001.  Recently I've been tightening the screws for us to get hitched, make it legal.  I mean we've been together for 7.5 years.  Geesh.  The only longer relationship I've had with anything is with that stupid bank of mine.  Never change banks at the beginning or at the end of the month because it seriously boogers up automatic bill paying.

So instead of an engagement ring because I don't wear that much jewelry and I'm hard on my hands, I want an engagement loom.  You know with a heartfelt inscription stuck to it on a little silver plaque. 

No blood diamonds here!

And I Fried...

Okay Typepad is being stupid slow.  Is it because my picture file was too big - who knows.  So let me try this post again.

Today instead of making dinner as I had originally planned, I decided to experiment in the field of frying.  I went to Super H today and got lost in their selection of vegetables and I had seen somewhere how to make your own chips so one thing lead to another. 

So I came home and got to frying.  Loretta Lynn eat your heart out.

Here is the experiment in a nutshell.  I've included the name of the vegetable next to its raw and fried forms.

My favorite chips in order were the Russet Potato, then the Beet, and then the Parsnip. 

The Turnip was kind of floppy and blah, the Purple Yam was good and sweet but I think I burned the little buggers.  Mr. Man and I decided the Purple Potato was all right, it just had the least flavor out of them all.

Dang, I forgot the Sweet Potato, oh well, next time.

Consumerism a la Christine

Yes, I bought this coffee because of the name and it was on sale.

Luckily for me it's not bad coffee, it's got nothing on Columbia Supremo, but hey what did I expect with that name?  (Again, it was on sale.)

I am a consumer.  Even a purchaser of silly names.  But I am a woman quite miffed at her bank, a bank that I have had a relationship with for 11 years.

 Back in September you may remember my debit/credit card was compromised and Chevy Chase said they would take care of it.  Well, let's say I'm not pleased with the outcome or how it was handled or is being handled.  They did credit me the money that was taken and then yesterday I found out, without warning, they took back the biggest chunk of it almost causing me to have a small issue with my account. 

Nothing like running to the bank with cash minutes before the bank closes to cover a purchase even though you checked your account in the morning before you went shopping and everything was hunky-dory.  Jerks.  Not even a call, not even a warning. 

Luckily I checked my account online again when I got home and was like, Huh???  Have I been compromised again?  What is this "Debit Charge"?  Since they charge me to use debit I only use their darn card as a credit card.

So I called the rats and the poor woman on the phone could not tell me what their reason why was.  Get this!  I had to open yet ANOTHER dispute and will be contacted in 48 to 72 hours by Chevy Chase and oh, the letter with the reason is in the mail I should have it in 3 to 5 days.

How's that for customer service?  I have banks that are closer to me, you know within walking distance so I am going to open a new account on Monday.  What a pain.  But I as a consumer I need to make a right choice with my money and not be taken for a ride while not being protected.  I mean if there is a next time and even more money is taken, how will they treat me then? 

As a consumer I just need to go somewhere else.  I can write a letter to the bank but who will read it?  Who will give a toot there?  It seems like nobody.  So goodbye bankie-poo.

Not for the lack of enthusiasm...

I did not blog yesterday because I was hungover and then had an unexpected call to work in the afternoon.  So that was my day, I was asleep by eight last night. 

So I will add my official two cents to this political ballyhoo:  wOOt! 

Finally the guy I voted for won and I didn't feel like my vote was trash.  Hence, the hangover.  Okay THAT was because I drank wine all night while watching the results roll in and then we broke open the champagne when McCain gave his eloquent speech.  It was so well written, I wonder how long his speech writers had been working on that? 

I mean, seriously, every campaign must have "that guy" who is hired just to write the "just in case I have to concede" speech.  I wonder if they seclude him from the others just so he doesn't bring them down. 

And of course, as I spent some time on the couch yesterday morning I thought about how would I run a campaign and what I would do if I were Supreme Ruler, ahh.., I mean President. 

Yes, President.  If the Republicans think they're getting a socialist now...(Oh, you ought to hear the crap down here.  whine, whine, beach, and moan...)

I wouldn't want to be the stinking Vice President.  What do they get to do all day?  Well they do have nice diggs over at the Observatory and a nice office in the Old Executive Office Building.  There's a lot more room at the Observatory and nobody ever chains themselves or stands outside their gates chanting mean things.  You get helicopter rides.  You get police escorts (even with an ambulance escort like Cheney).  I think they get paid well.  They definitely get to party a lot. 

Hmmm, maybe I should be Vice President instead.  It would certainly be less stressful than being Numero Uno.  Okay.  So Vote Christine for Vice President. 

I will go to the fancy parties for you, I will be bored for you when a foreign dignitary tries to tell a funny story, I will make darn sure the President does not get impeached (because I want to be VICE president, not President, geesh). 

Oh, oh, maybe I should be the one who gets into trouble instead of the President.  Yes, I will deflect all of the negative media from Number One by causing it myself.  Yes.  I will throw a great number of parties, go to to other countries when they have parties.  I will throw eggs at the Russian Dictator What's His Nuts, Vladimir Putin - how many jokes can you get with Putin?  Tootin Putin?  What else?

Shoot, I will make myself Vice President for Life not Supreme Ruler for Life.  He totally did it wrong.

Well, I'm off to Ikea.  Land of frozen meatballs and jars of ligonberries.  Mm-mmm.  Oh, wait maybe I should brush my teeth, have some coffee first -- wow, 12 hours of sleep sure makes a 35 year old girl feel like she can rule the world.

You can count on my vote, hopefully...

We got to the polling station early this morning and there were lots of people already lined up ahead of us but we got out in 27 minutes.  Granted when they opened the doors they said the machines were down and we would have to use a paper ballot instead.  Luckily the guy with the swipe card went running by and we were able to vote by machine, which has its problems.

There are usually four machines open at our polling station but only three were up today.

Twitter is on fire with more people in the Commonwealth of Virginia having problems at the polling stations.  I hope at the end of the day all of the votes are counted and none are thrown out or rejected.  Funny how swing states can have such problems when they didn't before.

When we left the polls the line had formed around the building so I'm sure those people have a long wait in store for them.  I hope this doesn't come down to the popular vote vs. electoral vote again.  I think today is definitely going to be entertaining, that's for sure.

I almost forgot, we got a sideshow to boot this morning.  A woman in her "savedarfur.org" shirt briefly stepped out of line and sort of laid on her back in fetal position, we're not sure if she was just bored and doing yoga or if she was so stressed she had to rock back and forth to self soothe before she cast her vote.

Halloween Was A Complete Bust

I have decided that neighborhood Halloween parties suck.  They take all of the trick or treaters away from us DINKS.  I always make sure to have the good candy, nothing lame here.  I don't hate kids, I just don't have any or need any right now but I love Halloween and the parade of kids in costumes.

So all of the good candy I had to give, most of it went to a handful of lame, unsupervised teenagers with no costumes holding out their Bloom grocery store bags.  I don't want the candy in the house so I had to shell it out.  One kid scored half of the bowl. 

Actually there was a little girl whose dad was shoveling the candy from the bowl into her bag, you know, picking out the stuff he wanted. 

Next year's Halloween is going to be on a Saturday, maybe Mr. Man and I will have a costume party and ignore the door.  I can see next year's Halloween now:

There's a knock at the door:

KID: Trick or treat!
ME/GUEST:  Canape?  Cheese?  Cracker?  Stuffed Olive?

Hmm, I do believe I have a plan.  Stupid neighborhood Halloween parties, I'll show you. (Whacky cat lady shaking fist in air)

Spooky Cat Says Happy Halloween!

You may approach and bring me treats...

Why Dull Knives Are Bad, Mm'kay?

Because when you are making chili for dinner your knife doesn't slip up the side of the rather large onion and slice into the fat, doughy base of your thumb.  Owie.  Hey, Mr. Man, the knife needs some attention.

Also at this time I would like you to remember to hold said wound above your heart while applying pressure, it is supposed to slow the blood loss down.  Mm'kay?

God I love Nexcare bandages. 

At least we have enough chili for a family of 20.  Can anybody ever cook for just two?  I was at the deli in Wegman's a of couple weeks ago and this woman only ordered two slices of cheese.  What?  Just two slices? 

My immediate thought was somebody has eating issues and then I thought, she probably has the cleanest refrigerator in town. 

Speaking of which, I have to throw that into the hardhat of chores.  For just two people our fridge is loaded with some long forgotten, not-so-timeless meals that's for sure.  If I start chucking things blindly into the garbage Mr. Man comes to help.  Heh, heh, heh...

HIM:  Hey don't throw that out.  That cheese is still good.
ME:  It smells like feet and it has mold on it.
HIM:  It's supposed to smell like feet and have mold on it. 

First Fire of the Season...

The blustery weather yesterday prompted Mr. Man to light a fire for us last night.

I'm currently using this to relax...

And to keep these warm...

The cold has inspired me to make myself a pair of felted mittens.  So I photocopied my hands for size comparison and template purposes.  Yeah, I'm a dork.  I've also cut them out in cardboard.  Let's see how this idea of mine works out. 

I'm waiting for a pair of small circulars to arrive via mail so I can do some tight knitting in the round.  I'm not sure which felting process to use to make these.  Knit, then felt?  Or should I just grab some cloth and chunks of wool and get scrubbing to make felted pieces?