It’s the most wonderful time of the year

It’s Halloween clearance sale time!

My mission today was to get us a couple of rain ponchos for tomorrow’s ND-Navy game. It’s looking like we might have rain, darn it. But the good news is that we get to tailgate with a group from Ken’s work AND the Blue Angels are in town and are going to do a flyover right before kickoff! This is very exciting, because they’ve been idle since the budget cuts, so this is the first time since then that they’ve flown. What an honor! My nephew Michael is a huge fan, and he’s in seventh heaven, going out to the airport to check ‘em out and everything. All my local friends have been posting about hearing them fly overhead, and I heard them, too. It’s an unmistakable sound!

Anyway, that was the mission. As always with a trip to Target, there was mission creep, as our friend Mark likes to say. I was successful in getting the ponchos, and even saved a few bucks by getting myself the kids’ size. That’s where the savings stopped. I made the mistake of checking out clearance racks and got some tank tops and t-shirts (although I did save some money on the t-shirts because I got them in the girls’ section) and even a couple of bras—NOT in the girls’ section, and anyone who says so is going to get a stern look from me!

Then I found the Halloween clearance aisles. Uh oh. I’m actually rather proud of my restraint. I limited myself to just a few things. I passed on the skull, but got the little fella above. I have named him Skelly, because I’m super original with my nicknames. Just ask Groundy the Groundhog...she’ll confirm that. I also got a cool “adult ball mask” made of black metal with red glitter and clear beads, because I was just in New Orleans and I wanted a mask, dammit! I’m not quite sure what the “adult ball mask” is meant for, but it sounds fun, doesn’t it? Heh. Also scored a couple of pairs of fishnet tights, because a gal can never have too many fishnet tights. Those babies don’t get runs in them...worst case scenario, you’re going to tear a hole in them, but then you can wear them with a more punk kind of outfit. Reuse and recycle, Citizens! It’s the responsible thing to do.

I meant to do a more serious entry today, because I’ve been pondering something quite a bit. It’s a dangerous thing, I know. But time got away from me today, and I want to really think about this entry and do it justice. For now, I’ll just say that sometimes we have no idea how much we can have an effect on others, even in a brief time. One person I met last week has caused a profound shift in the way I look at things and a real attitude change in me. I don’t mean to sound all melodramatic, but I can honestly say that what transpired was an epiphany for me. In the words of VP Biden, it was a big fuckin’ deal.

For now, enjoy a little rockabilly with the Stray Cats, Daddy-O! Fishnet stockings are Brian Setzer-approved, and that’s all right with me!

Santa Turkey, put some giblets under my tree

Well, I'm making progress on the cleaning, but have more to do. Nothing major (although I'm not a huge fan of vacuuming) and I look forward to getting it out of the way so I don't have to worry about it anymore!

I've been seeing Christmas crap in stores for a couple of weeks now. I'm tired of it already. Why must it start this early? Of course, I don't really get into Christmas like a lot of people do...a couple of weeks of it and I'm good. And you probably don't want to talk to me on a day that I'm wrapping presents. That ranks right up there with vacuuming for me, and I've learned that beer and Brian Setzer helps. But then that helps most things. Ha!

Not that Brian is dropping by Nutwood to hang out with me while I wrap Christmas presents, although that would be way cool. I just like putting his Christmas CDs on while I wrap.

So what does everyone have planned for Thanksgiving? We'll be going to my sister Diana's house. My niece Jen is in town, visiting from San Diego, and I'm looking forward to seeing her! Yay Jen! The plan is for dinner around 1 pm (my assignment is deviled eggs, 'cause I'm a li'l devil), followed by some Rock Band. Yes, my sister also loves the game, although her thing is Beatles Rock Band. My other sister, Sue, tells me that the plan is to get my parents to sing "Ring of Fire." I have to wonder if they haven't been paying attention for all these years...have they heard our Dad sing?! I'm guessing that Mom might be game, but I'm thinking that Dad will emphatically decline.

Heck, I'll sing it. I've got a low voice, and I love that song. "The taste of love is sweet...when hearts like ours meet." That's good stuff, right there. Too bad the Wall of Voodoo version isn't on Rock Band!

Speaking of Rock Band, it was a tense situation at Nutwood tonight when I tried to play a little right before I started dinner...and Wii was dead.

I tried all the connections, tried a different outlet, tried turning things off and on...no luck. Noooooo! Wii compressions, STAT! Clear!

Finally, I thought about what was different, because it had been working fine. (I didn't troubleshoot lab instruments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for nothing...all that prepared me for this day.) Yesterday, I hooked up a USB hub so that all the instruments could stay hooked up. I detached that, and voilà, Wiizee was back up and running! Stoopid hub. Anyone who uses Wii Rock Band, how do you hook up the mic, two guitars, and drums at the same time, without a hub? Or did I just get a bad hub? Any ideas or recommendations?

Oh, and thanks to my Canadian friends for weighing in on my topic yesterday. I keep hearing the teabaggers talk about how bad things are in Canada, but in talking with people who actually live there, I get the impression that these tales of Canadian health care horrors are merely manufactured by those here whose best interests are served by no reform whatsoever. That's sure not what I'm hearing from my friends. (And you're forgiven for Celine Dion. You can thank Michael Bolton for that. Quid pro quo, Clarice.)