Tuesday

Laundry started

Dishwasher started

Dinner in crockpot

Kitchen clean

Back to editing

Be somebody- TFK

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=UUv8xpzILpS2IKEd8CUuGd-Q&v=l6JTUfQI0Zo&feature=youtu.be

Q is for quail

This is a patch i sewed out recently

Carpet of petals

Sith Order patches

Made these Star Wars Sith Order patches recently. Didnt even know someone had invented such a thing.

Taxidermy captions

Hey would you scratch behind my ears?

Oh dear this honeymoon is so romantic

Did you hear something?

SYTYCD 2013

I've been catching up on So You Think You Can Dance 2013 today.  Here are the best dances.

SYTYCD week 3 - Paso Doble

Really enjoyed this Paso Doble. Everything else on the show was eh.

SYTYCD 2013 week 2

Love this Argentinian Tango with Jasmin and Alan.  Everything else kinda sucked.

s

Faces of Migraine

SYTYCD Top 20 6/18/13

Really enjoyed the ballroom routine.



LOVED the Top 10 Guys routine to music "Sand".  The dance starts at about 1minute 11seconds... skip the commentary before that.
The sand prop is beautiful.  Reminds me of the dancing water fountains in Las Vegas.  There are some good moves from different genres, and there is strength display.  The costumes are good.  But why do the guys get to wear slacks and a long sleeve shirt when the girls have to wear the crap costume in their group routine??

I HATED the Top 10 Girls routine to music "Let's Have A Kiki".  I've seen better High School JV dance/cheer squad routines.  The costumes sucked.  The music sucked.  The choreography sucked.  It was horrific.

Quote from "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg

"An international report at Hewlett-Packard revealed that women only apply for open jobs if they think they meet 100 percent of the criteria listed. Men apply if they think they meet 60 percent of the requirements. This difference has a huge ripple effect. Women need to shift from thinking 'I'm not ready to do that' to thinking 'I want to do that—and I'll learn by doing it.’” (p.62)

Urban Sprawl

This is the Dulles Airport area in 1985.

This is the Dulles Airport area in 2012.

What I learned in High School

Source: dumpaday.com via Jillian on Pinterest

I guess y'all were drugged out during high school or something.

How to do taxes: you save all the financial paperwork that you receive; you buy a program like TurboTax; you follow their guided interview and fill in the boxes by copying from your paperwork; you click send.  How damn hard is that?

What taxes are: Did you not take U.S. Government for an ENTIRE YEAR in 11th grade?  I did.

How to vote: First, you register. We did that in the above-mentioned U.S. Government class in school.  Second, you pay attention to when elections are.  On the day of an election, you look at your voter registration card and you go to your polling place.  While you stand in line, you read over the free sample ballot you were handed.  You check in.  You follow the directions given you by the people who are there to tell you what to do.  You vote.  How damn hard is that?

How to write a resume/cover letter.  Did your high school not a have guidance counselor? Or did you simply fail to make an appointment to get their help? 

Anything to do with banking: Um, we did banking in fifth grade.  Every morning we had to write out a few pretend checks for thinks like utilities and groceries (so we learned how to fill out the check, we practiced how to write out numbers long-hand).  We entered them in our checkbook, we kept the balance up to date (practicing our math).

How to apply for loans for college:  Did your high school not have a guidance counselor?  Or did you simply fail to make an appointment to get their help?

How to buy a car or house:  For a car, you research what kind of car you might want. Go to the website of a few car dealers.  Look at the price of your car... most even have an entry that shows you the monthly payment.  Compare the monthly payment to your income.  If you can afford the car, you either go get a loan from a bank or you get a loan from the car dealer.  A car salesman greets you the instant you turn off your car engine. You tell them what car you want.  You fill out a ton of paperwork that they guide you through.  How damn hard is that?

For a house, you research neighborhoods you might want to live in and you make a list of features you would like if possible.  You pick a realtor and tell them this stuff.  You fill out paperwork that they guide you through (including getting a loan from your bank). You tour a bunch of houses.  When you see one you want and can afford, you tell the realtor.  They help you negotiate.  When you are selected to buy the house, your realtor helps you fill out more paperwork.  How damn hard is that?

If you really paid enough attention to understand pythagorean theorem, then you can do all of the above just fine. 

Fire your photographer

If this is the head shot you choose to go with (implying, in my mind, that this is the BEST photo of the photo shoot), then please fire your photographer and also your makeup artist.

A GOOD photographer should have been able to come up with 3/4 profile or even full profile poses, like these, which minimize the paralyzed side of her face and emphasize the other side:

• http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-73682080/stock-photo-woman-face-with-beautiful-makeup.html?src=p-8034115-2 
•  http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-8034115/stock-photo-beautiful-woman-face-side-view.html
• http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=woman+side+view&search_group=#id=88260271&src=QNWFm18-hNN4rrxZ_ROkQQ-4-49
• http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=woman+side+view&search_group=#id=50664190&src=QNWFm18-hNN4rrxZ_ROkQQ-5-72

Books read in 2012

1. The Bible
2. Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
3. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
4. Mocking Jay, by Suzanne Collins
5. Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer
6. Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer
7. New Moon, by Stephanie Meyer
8. Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer 
9. Zero Day, by Mark Russinovich 
10. Pandora's Grave, by Stephen England 
11. Heat Wave, by Richard Castle 
12. Naked Heat, by Richard Castle
13. Heat Rises, by Richard Castle 
14. No Turning Back, by Tiffany Snow 
15. If You Can't Stand The Heat, by Robin Allen
16. Handgun Stopping Power: The Definitive Study, by Evan Marshall and Edwin J. Sanow 
17. Chill Run, by Russell Brooks
18. Cherry On Top, by Kathleen Long
19. The Edge of Trust, by KT Bryan
20. Knox's Irregulars, by J. Wesley Bush 
21. Death of the Couch Potato's Wife, by Christy Barrettt
22. Chili con Corpses, by JB Stanley
23. GOTU, by Mike McNeff
24. In Her Name: First Contact, by Michael Hicks 
25. Inflammatory Diseases of Blood Vessels, 2nd Edition, edited by Hoffman, Weyand, Langford and Goronzy 
26. Strangers in the Land (Zombie Bible book 3), by Stant Litore 
27. Wool Omnibus, by Hugh Howey 
28. Wisdom to Know, by Elizabeth Maddrey
29. Not Guilty, by Teresa Pollard and Candi Pullen
30. Courage to Change, by Elizabeth Maddrey
31. Fiery Secrets, by Stephanie McCall
32. Tokens of Promise, by Teresa Pollard

Reusable produce bags

I was just this week telling my sister that there needed to be an alternative to the plastic baggies that you get on the spool to put your lettuce and tomatoes into at the grocery store.

Then the Gardeners.com catalog arrives in my mailbox.  And they have reusable mesh produce bags that let the veggies breathe in the fridge. 

Source: gardeners.com via Lynellen on Pinterest

Snark

Source: gsnvip.com via Lynellen on Pinterest

Stair rails

I used Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations Dark Base Satin Cabinet Paint (tinted "Rustic") to change my builder grade Oak stair rails. Here's the "before".

Here's how they looked after the base paint was on.

Here's how they looked after the glaze and protective coat were finished: 

 The project took me about 30 hours or so. First you have to clean dirt/grease/whatever off the rails, spindles and base plate. Then you scrub the deglosser on, then wipe it off twice. Then you paint on the base color, two coats. Dont get discouraged at the appearance until after you've put on the glaze! The paint color itself was kinda cheesy, but once the dark glaze had been applied and wiped off, they looked amazing. Then you apply the protective coat. Lots of awkward work and very tedious to get in all the round crevices, but it is absolutely gorgeous and matches my cherry floors wonderfully. Totally worth it.

Dressing in the dark

Poor Emma Watson!  For the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, she dressed in the dark and did her hair in the dark!

Check out her tragic look in the fourth picture of this slideshow, as she poses with equally tragic Ezra Miller.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/showbiz/gallery/mtv-video-music-awards-2012/index.html?hpt=en_t1

Water conservation

With this year's drought causing the midwest farmers so much pain, here are some interesting facts about the amount of water needed to make the food we eat.  Source: Heifer.org magazine and the Water Footprint Network (I guess that's like your carbon footprint).

• Growing a gallon of coffee requires 880 gallons of water.  Growing a gallon of tea: just 128 gallons.
• Growing and producing a gallon of wine requires 1,088 gallons of water; beer: 689.
• It takes 713 gallons of water to produce a single cotton tshirt.
• Half a pound of leather for shoes requires 1,096 gallons of water.
• Paper for a magazine takes about 76 gallons of water.
• A pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce.  So a 1/3 pound burger costs 660 gallons of water.
• A pound of chicken takes 468 gallons of water to produce, and each egg takes 53 gallons.
• A pound of goat meat takes only 127 gallons of water to produce.
• A pound of cheese requires 600 gallons of water; a pound of soybeans takes 216 gallons.
• One pound of Chocolate needs 3,170 gallons of water to make.
• Apples and oranges take less than 20 gallons of water each.

Smith and Wesson 1911

The Smith and Wesson 1911 is an amazing gun.  Wow, I love it.

That is all.

Carry on.

Fresh Air in Five Counties

This is the 170 mile trip we took today.  Dumfries -> Annandale -> Clifton -> Culpeper -> Sperryville -> Warrenton -> Dumfries.

Lots of green trees, blue sky, and rural roads. Five counties: Prince William, Fairfax, Fauqier, Culpeper, and Rappahannock.

Top Spots I should live

According to the quiz at findyourspot.com, I should live in one of these places:

1. Salisbury, NC
2. Hickory, NC
3. Murray, KY
4. Maryville, TN
5. Berea, KY
6. Winterville, NC
7. Guthrie, OK
8. Hendersonville, NC
9. Gainesville, GA
10. Edenton, NC
11. Aiken, SC
12. Charlottesville, VA
13. Woodbury, TN
14. Oxford, MS
15. Clayton, GA
16. Paris, TN
17. Morganton, NC
18. Hopkinsville, KY
19. Atlantic City, NJ
20. Mount Airy, NC
21. Myrtle Beach, SC
22. Rocky Mount - Stony Creek, NC
23. Hampton, VA
24. Lawrenceburg, KY

I would never ever live at Atlantic City, but Hampton VA or Myrtle Beach SC seem like they may be worth looking at.  I've lived in MS before, and I don't think I would move back there, so Oxford is out.   Western North Carolina was very pretty when I was there recently, so those are possibilities too, but let's rule out any town smaller than 10,000 people.

Gas and flowers

We sent roses to Mike's mom.  The path they took is scary:
Clovis, CA
Fresno, CA
Oakland, CA
Memphis, TN
Tucson, AZ

The amount of gas involved in delivering these is terrible!  They traveled at least 3,660 miles!  Ugh!

PGM 24

My paternal grandfather, C.H. Perry, was a cook (Ships Cook First Class - SC1) on Navy ships during World War 2.  According to my father, one of these ships was PGM 24.  NavSource says PGM 24 was a Motor Gunboat / Patrol Gunboat.
Click the image to go to the larger version on the NavSource website.

Anglerfish

The Oatmeal has a great cartoon about anglerfish, titled "How the male anglerfish gets completely screwed!"

It's fantastic, and Wikipedia supports the facts laid out.

Young London : Let me go

Dance / pop band I discovered while at Foot Locker the other day.

Do you live in the Panem Capitol?

I read the three "Hunger Games" books this week.  Partly b/c the movie is coming out.  I read the first book a long time ago and disliked it.  But I wanted to be able to tell people WHY I was not going to go see the movie: I don't like the books.  Now that I've read all three, I can still say "I don't like the books".  And I will not be seeing the movie.

But let me ask you a philosophical question...

Premises:
1) The barbarity of having children murder each other in the arena was considered prime entertainment for the citizens living in the dystopian Panem Capitol.
2) The Hunger Games books are quite violent.  The movie is also quite violent.  Violent and bloody and gory enough that the "British censors agreed to give the film a "12A" rating only after some footage was cut."  In America, "The Hunger Games has been rated PG-13 "for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images - all involving teens.""

Intense, violent, disturbing images.

So here's my philosophical question:

If you judge the citizens of the Panem Capitol to be idiots (or whatever word you choose) because they view the Hunger Games as entertainment...

Why the HECK are YOU viewing the intensely violent and disturbing movie as entertainment???

Shouldn't you be applying the same measure of judgment to yourself?  If it's horrible for the fictional characters to find murder entertaining, why are you excited about the film?  You'll be viewing that same murder as a form of entertainment.  So...  what the heck??

Ok, let the flame wars begin, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Backyard Bug of the Day

Uhler's Waterbug was on our back doorstep last night.  2-3 inches long and kinda scary looking.

"Individuals are capable of inflicting a painful bite with their strong beak, and may also pinch with their front legs. Individuals prey on aquatic insects, small fish, frogs, tadpoles, small birds, and other organisms they are able to capture. Powerful enzymes are injected into prey to kill them. Adults of Lethocerus are considered a delicacy in Asia, and are eaten both fresh and cooked."

Yeah, I didn't harvest him for a snack.  In the zombie apocalypse when bugs are the only food out there, I will probably starve before I can choke one down.  Ewwww!