So apparently now I'm it?

I think I got tagged by Amy...

3 Names You Answer to:
Nancy Elizabeth (when I'm in trouble)
Nan (the rest of the time)
Gin (Everquest...don't ask)

3 Parts of Your Heritage:
Scottish
British
Cherokee (teeny weeny part)

3 Things That Scare You:
Spiders
Heights
Falling (goes along with heights, no?)

3 Everyday Essentials:
Irish Breakfast Tea with two packets of SPLENDA
umpteen bottles of water
kissies from my greyhounds

3 Things You’re Wearing:
my watch with the Maryville college crest on it
my puzzle ring that Charles Y. gave me years ago
leather imitation birkenstock clogs made by "Fayded Gloh-ree"

3 Favorite Songs:
(this week)
"Far Away" - Nickelback
"Savin' Me" - Nickelback
"Rockstar" - Nickelback
(see a pattern?)

3 Things About the Opposite Sex That Appeal to You:
A healthy sense of humor
Strong hands
A happy smile

3 Things You Want in a Relationship:
Laughter
Comfortable Silence
Lots of Movie Nights and other Dates

3 Favorite Hobbies:
Everquest
Blogging
Writing

3 Things to Do Before You Die:
Become someone's Mommy
own a Scottish Deerhound or 20
get a tattoo

3 Places You Want to Go:
France
Canada
Alaska

3 Ways You’re Stereotypically Female (or male if you’re a guy):
I too jump on things and squeal when I see a spider
I put the cap back on the toothpaste
I like being taken care of now and then

2 Truths 1 Lie:
I have met James Carville, Pat Conroy, and Ralph Macchio.
I am tri-lingual.
I have been on stage at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

I don't know who to tag, so hopefully the game will continue on someone else's blog...

Rejoice, give thanks, and sing...

The plumber is coming on Thursday! The plumber is coming on Thursday!

Now I can once again be taller than the pile of laundry, though in my own defense I didn't have on shoes with heels and the slipcovers from the sofas are in the Waiting To Be Cleaned bin at the moment...

Giving the Preacher's Kid a Sedative

I was mad mad mad yesterday afternoon when I wrote my post concerning the cancelling of the Book of Daniel. I have since then slept, contemplated, and sent my inner preacher's child back to her room.

I still feel the same way about the cancellation. It is indicative of so many other things in our country today...our melting pot is becoming a "Christian" crucible, and it's a little scary to those of us not of that ilk.

That being said, I wanted to take this post to tell you about the wonderful childhood I had. When I look at my peers whose parents are divorced (not that divorce is always a bad thing) or had rough childhoods for any number of reasons I count myself lucky. I have fantastic parents who do what I think parents are supposed to do: they put their children first, before anything else in their lives.

My father is a retired United Methodist minister and my mother is a retired English teacher. Mom took a hiatus from working when I was born and went back to work twenty-three years later to make sure she would get her full retirement. I have one sister who is four and a half years younger than I am. From birth to graduation from college I lived in six different towns and nine different houses. It always seemed to me that just as I started to get settled somewhere we would move.

My parents were very careful to set up our rooms in our new houses to look as much like the ones we had just left as possible. In fact, I have a hard time distinguishing some memories as happening when we lived in the first house we moved into, the rental house, or the third house we lived in while in Marietta, Georgia. Our family was close, I think, because we moved so much and we were each other's only constant.

I learned when we moved to Commerce that everyone knew who the minister's children were in the town, and that if I sneezed too hard someone might tell my parents that I had a cold. I think it was there, as I entered my teenage years, that I saw for the first time the stereotypes that people have about ministers and their families.

I always thought my family was relatively normal. We watch Days of Our Lives and have for as long as I can remember. Daddy and I used to watch parts of Saturday Night Live together, and he used to get quite a kick out of parts of Monty Python's Holy Grail. I admit to a rather sheltered life compared to some of my friends who were drinking at 15 and smoking at 16 and on cocaine by 18. I didn't go to concerts, I didn't sneak out of my house...well maybe just that one time, but I only got as far as the backyard before I was afraid someone would see me and I went back inside.

I hated my sister like all sisters hate each other. When I went to college and she went to high school, she became bearable. When I graduated from college and she started college, she became likeable. When she graduated from college and went on to seminary, she became a friend.

Some of the things I saw in the Book of Daniel I thought were spot on. The struggle that Daniel had with telling his father that his son was gay was completely believable to me. Daniel was not only a priest himself, he was the son of a priest. While he probably had issues with his son's homosexuality, he still loved and accepted his son as a person, as a unique and perfect creation. I see more of that kind of tolerance and acceptance now in the clergy than I did growing up.

The daughter being caught for possession of marijuana and then the entire town knowing about it was also very familiar. Not that I have ever been in her shoes exactly, but see above my comment about sneezing. When I was 16 I had just gotten my license and I rear-ended someone at a stop sign. She of course made sure the police came and I ended up at the police department (right across from the parsonage, I might add). I don't think she pressed charges (mainly because I'd tapped her at most and there was NO damage to either car) but the next day at school EVERYONE knew. "Rev. Allen's kid had a wreck, did you hear?" Yes, because I'm Rev. Allen's kid...

I was heartened when 7th Heaven was premiered because I thought finally, a show about my life growing up. Not. Then I saw BoD...and while the characters were not the same as my family by a longshot, the sentiment, as expressed by the creator of the show, was the same. Here was a family that loved each other no matter what. No Matter What.

I was raised to think for myself and make my own decisions. I was raised to allow others to do the same. If you like 7th Heaven or Fear Factor or Jerry Falwell or the 700 Club, that's great. You won't see me campaigning to have them taken off the air even though I may have personal issues with them. Sure would be nice if those who screamed and yelled about BoD had the same perspective, eh?

In which the preacher's kid in me comes out to play...rough

Anyone that knows me knows that my beliefs and values tend to run a bit on the liberal end of the spectrum. My religious beliefs are no different. I have big problems with organized religion on a variety of levels, one of the most glaring being the judgemental nature of "the church" today.

Now, take a deep breath and hear this...I am not lumping everyone that works for, worships in, or holds in high regard a place of worship in the same category. I see shining examples of what I think Jesus stood for every day, in my own family. My sister and her husband are two of the most caring, compassionate, and open minded Christian ministers that I know and I'm so very proud of them. My sister's talent in this area is hereditary, as she is a walking reminder of our father's ministry.

I have written previously about a show that I thought was just brilliant, NBC's The Book of Daniel. Apparently, the show has been cancelled, due in no small part to the massive outpouring of complaints about the sacrelige and blashphemy of this show that focuses on the life of an Episcopalian priest and his family.

From the forums on NBC.com:

Unfortunately, due to many reasons, "The Book of Daniel" will no longer be aired on NBC on Friday nights. I just wanted to say "thank you" to all of you who supported the show. There were many wonderful, talented people who contributed to it's success - and I do mean success. Whatever the outcome, I feel that I accomplished what I set out to do: A solid family drama, with lots of humor, that honestly explored the lives of the Webster family. Good, flawed people, who loved each other no matter what... and there was always a lot of "what"! I remain proud of our product, proud of my association with Sony, NBC Universal, and NBC, who all took a chance on a project that spoke to them, and proud to have made an impact on so many of your lives.

Thanks for watching.
Sincerely,
Jack Kenny
Creator, The Book of Daniel

Are you kidding me? Some of the comments on this forum make me TRULY embarrassed to be alive. Truly.

"trulyrich" writes in response to Mr. Kenny's post: "You might just figure out a way to use your God given talents for good, not evil."

"drfong" quipped: "You said you were just trying to show a good family drama about people who cared about each other no matter what. You could have done that without offending christians."

How many of you who thought this show was offensive to Christians have ever been the child of a minister? Did everyone in your hometown expect you to be either a wild child or a prude because your father was a religious leader in the community? Were you at the center of scrutiny of an entire congregation of people? I just wonder how many of those "Christians" that were so outraged ever lived that life, either as a member of the clergy themselves or as the child of a clergyperson? Mmmm I'm betting almost none of them.

Lemme tell you something...7th Heaven is not real life in a minister's family. Not in today's world. Not by a longshot. Like it or not, the Book of Daniel came closer to real life than 7th Heaven's happy, campy, sunny little family ever could. Someone even referenced that show, asking why BoD couldn't have been more like 7th Heaven.

Again I ask...are you kidding me?

It absolutely blows my mind that shows like Fear Factor and Distraction (although I admit to being a fan of the latter) and soap operas and bloody violent crime dramas are left alone to "ruin the minds of the impressionable" but a show that has the nerve to portray the real lives of the clergy in the world today is taken off the air.

If you're going to comment that I need to go to church or hit my knees and repent so that I can >pause for dramatic effect< be Saved, save it. I know what I believe. I know what my relationship is with my Higher Power. I thought that I lived in a country where free speech was important, but it seems that it's only important if it's not offending certain sections of the Christian faith (and I use that grouping with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek).

I guess somewhere the Religious Right is having a party. Or maybe they're all getting ready to secretly watch Wife Swap on ABC while pretending to be faithful to 7th Heaven on the WB...

In which I use the word geezominey a lot...

I had a rough day today at work. ROUGH. To say my morning assignment was challenging was an understatement at best. Geezominey did I want to just be able to throw my hands up, declare that that was it for me, and go out on a high note.

But I wasn't done. Drive drive drive and then drive some more to my afternoon assignment with a wreck on I-85 and some construction strategically placed to make me five minutes late. Hoo-rah. The assignment wasn't bad, but geezominey did I have a headache by the time I was in my car to drive home.

Home, safe and secure, my refuge from the maelstrom that is the world...or so one would think. I'm lying on my bed, snuggling with my puppers, when I hear something outside the glass door on my porch. Critter I think? Not exactly. A bit bigger.

Geezominey, there is a man on my back porch!

Right before I called 911 I took a closer look and determined that it was the man that I've written about before, the one hired by my landlord to paint the outside of my house. Now maybe I'm just being a girl, but I don't much like the fact that I found out he was here when I happened to notice him in my backyard! Quick call to the landlord's voice mail and I felt a little bit better...but geezominey man, don't you knock?

There is a bottle of excedrin in the bathroom with my name written all over it, a man with a skill saw in my back yard, and a greyhound spinning in the front room. And I'd be willing to lay down money that my gate is standing wide open...geezominey.

TGIFive O'Clock...almost

Today has been super long. Yesterday was worse, admittedly, because I had one of those migraines that makes you want to take a pair of scissors and hack away at your neck till your head falls off. Today I've been in the post migraine foggy land where you aren't quite sure what time nor day it is and you just want to sit down somewhere and STARE.

I misjudged how long it would take me to get to my first assignment this morning and slid into the office, I thought, only 4 minutes late. Turns out I was actually early. My assignment is for 10:30am NEXT Friday. As I'm getting ready to head back to the house, growling all the way HA HA HA, I check my pager.

Hey, look at that, I do have an assignment this morning! The only problem is that it's about 45 minutes drive away, and starts in under an hour from the time I noticed the note in my planner.

Indy 500 ain't got NUTTIN on an interpreter late for an assignment.

Of course, because I again have no concept of time I got to the assignment ten minutes early and it was late getting started by 30 minutes.

I love my Blackberry for entertainment while sitting and waiting on a job to start.

However, after that I was free to browse Barnes and Noble and run errands. I keep heading for the SciFi/Fantasy sections of bookstores to see if just maybe Terry Goodkind has another book coming out in his Sword of Truth series. I almost can't read Chainfire just because I know it's the next to the last one and I don't want the series to end. Kudos to Mike for turning me on to this author.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand...

So now I'm home, the dogs are begging for an early dinner, and it's almost five 0'clock. I have a vacuum cleaner to put together, spaghetti to make (without the onion soup this time), and a house to generally clean.

What was I thinking, this day seems long...?

Kitty Patrol

Kitty Patrol
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

This is just a quick picture for those who think Mills isn't real...more proof.

Whatcha See, Kitty?

Zooey Silhouette
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Yo Ma! Where's Da Eats?

Yo Ma! Where's Da Eats?
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

The 44lbs of dog food did indeed arrive tonight. Puppers will be feasting on Lamb and Veggies tomorrow morning if all thaws according to plan. I bet it will taste better than my pork chops.

House 2, Nan 0

Actually that should be Lack of Cooking Skill 2 or Lack of Patience 2, Nan 0. I had such plans for dinner tonight. Before my friends moved to New Mexico, they gave me some stuff out of their freezer that wouldn't have survived the trip, including some pork chops. I took them out several days ago to let them properly thaw in the fridge, bought some scrumptious asian ginger dressing, and put the chops and some baby carrots in a baking dish with the dressing to cook.

30 minutes later, they were only cooked on one side each. Ahhhh my mistake, I'd left them stacked on top of each other. Rearrange, replace, reset timer...lie down to take a quick nap on the sofa (I'd only set the timer for 15 minutes...didn't want pork leather for dinner).

Timer goes off, but chops are not white on the inside like they should be. Pop them back in for another 20 minutes. In the meantime, eat a bowl of broccoli florets with the same yummy dressing.

Remove pork chops just as Scott arrives to drop off my mail. Fabulous. Pork chops smell and taste to me like meat that should have been cooked about 3 days prior. Scott pronounces them a success and decrees something to be wrong with my sense of taste.

By the way, after a combined hour and five minutes cooking at 350 degrees the carrots were still crispy mostly. I really need to clean that oven.

I started to just give up and make some couscous but had a few spoonsful of honey crunch peanut butter instead and called it a night. I have one of those complete meal dealies in the cabinet for tomorrow night and an Already Made So You Can Just Heat and Eat Huxtable's Shepherd's Pie in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

The kitchen came with the house...and it's another week till payday or I'd just order pizza.

Good Morning, Britain...

Coming in August of 2006...

Title borrowed from a great song by a Scottish band called Aztec Camera...

Follow up to "Catching the Rabbit"

I have another shipment of yummy raw-fed goodness that is supposed to arrive on my doorstep today. The cost of this food is really worth it, I think, when you consider that I don't have to purchase a grinder, I don't have to handle icky bits in order to give my dogs some variety in their diet, and they LOVE it!

More pictures of the feasting as soon as the food is thawed and ready for their highnesses to consume...

House 1, Nan 0

So I have a beautiful laundry set now, right? You may remember the arrival of Chip, the gorgeous dryer that purrs me to sleep at night because his humming is just enough to cover my tinnitus? Chip is fine...but the washer and I have issues.

It seems that when I do laundry, especially if it's been raining, water backs up in the somethingoranother and comes up into my tub and toilet! And it's not just water, either, it's sludge. Dave thinks it's rust, but I swear I saw dirt and rocks in there...not to mention caulk and other window-repair type debris that used to be in the tub until right before I moved in.

I think the problem is two fold. First, I have an old house that probably has roots and all kinds of nasties all in the pipes as well as an apparent venting problem. Don't ask me what that means, an online friend of mine who is a plumber diagnosed that one for me. Second, there is debris and goodnessknowswhat down in there from the window in the bathroom being replaced right before I got here. When I first looked at the house there was a hole in the bathroom window probably caused by a rock being thrown when the next-door lot was mowed. I mentioned it to my landlord and he of course agreed to have it repaired. After it was repaired there was a lot of stuff in the tub...caulk, paint chips, etc. When I moved in (before the Molly Maids came) all that stuff somehow had been swept down into the drain.

I don't know who did it, but my money is on the person who replaced the window...who is also the person that is allegedly responsible for painting my front porch. Somehow when he's been here soda cans and cigarette butts end up all over my yard and my gate's been left open TWICE. Let's just say I'm not his biggest fan.

The tub fills up to my ankles every time I take a shower but I bet this morning's puddle will be even more lovely to stand in. Just when I think things are smoothing out at the house, I'm up till 1am cleaning the tub.

As seen on the street in Greenville, SC...

A black truck with dark tinted windows with a yellow bumpersticker on the back that read:

"Jesus is my homeboy."

Let us all rejoice.

...the kitchen just came with the house...

So I set out to make myself some lunch today, right? Simple enough. I have some beef that needs to be cooked, I have some spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, and I have some incredibly good whole wheat pasta. No problem. I will make the first meal I actually cook (couscous doesn't count, really, because you just heat water, throw the stuff in and let it sit there 5 minutes) be reminiscent of the first meal we cooked in our house in England...spaghetti.

No spices in my spice rack...problem. Ah, but I am a Tim Horton's Coffee Fueled Genius this morning! This is not a problem! I have some french onion soup mix in the cabinet!

If you're groaning at this point and saying to yourself "Dear Lord, she really should not be left alone to fend for herself..." WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU AN HOUR AGO???

Anyway...I was luckily astute enough NOT to add the entire four cup of soup packet to the meat as it was cooking. Brown the meat, add the sauce, start the pasta.





Drink more Tim Horton's Coffee that is really too strong but is my last bit of this Mana From Heaven until my next shipment gets here from Canada. Timer goes off. Drain the pasta.



Like my nifty collander? Next time I will get one with legs on the bottom, so that the yummy pasta doesn't have to touch the icky bottom of the sink...

My happy little kitchen...



All that work and I have this to show for it:



Looks tasty eh? Yeah, it wasn't. There isn't enough parmesean cheese on the earth to cover up what french onion soup does when combined with spaghetti sauce. Note the cup of Tim Horton's in the background and the sad little coffee maker that will have to wait a few days before it can again produce the Mana From Heaven.

By the way, don't ever put french onion soup mix into meat that you intend to combine with tomato sauce. It's just not a good plan. It's true, what it says on the trivet Amy gave me as a housewarming gift: "The only reason I have a kitchen is that it came with the house."

Catching the Rabbit

Rabbit Picnic
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

This week has gone by incredibly fast. Time flies when you're hanging on by the toenails, eh?

This week, I discovered a new food source for the puppers. It's a little bit expensive, but GEEZOMINEYMANALIVE do they love it. The link is in the title there. So far they've had a variety of what the place offers but I think their favorite is the rabbit.Funny eh? Only one of the three of them got to grade A and even he didn't stay there long while racing. They had to retire to get the rabbit.

Okay, only funny to me. My house may smell like a barnyard at feeding time (and I haven't even gotten to the green tripe yet!) but crimney do I have some happy puppers. And that's worth the smell...I promise.

Follow up to Conversations

Me: "Profile, what are you doing, it's too quiet in there."

Huff, puff, SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Me. "Profile, do you need to play?"

Silence. "Ah..roowoof?"

Me: "Profile, come in here please."

From the doorway: "Ah...roowoof?"

Me: "You need to chill out."

Huff, puff, toenails on hardwoods, thump...
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Me: "At least you still aren't spinning."

Dream

Liz
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

I miss you, Lizzard-Angel.

Conversations in My House

Me: "Hey, what are you doing in there?"

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, pause...SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK.

Me: "Profile, what are you doing?"

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, pause...SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK.

Me: "Enough with the spinning."

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, pause...SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK.

Me, aka Voice of God: "ENOUGH!"

Silence...SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK, SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK, SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK, SQUEEEEEEEEEEAK.

"Well, I guess that's better than spinning..."

Who says they don't understand what we say...?

A parrot owner was alerted to his girlfriend's infidelity when his talkative pet let the cat out of the bag by squawking "I love you Gary".
Suzy Collins had been meeting ex-work colleague "Gary" for four months in the Leeds flat she shared with her partner Chris Taylor, according to reports.
Mr Taylor apparently became suspicious after Ziggy croaked "Hiya Gary" when Ms Collins answered her mobile phone.
The parrot also made smooching sounds whenever the name Gary was said on TV.

For the full story, click on the link in the title. Go Ziggy Go.

The Newest Arrival

Chip, the brand new dryer!!!
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

May I present "Chip," my new dryer!! My parents are the absolute best and got me this fantastic dryer yesterday...and I was up until 3am doing laundry. I have never in my LIFE been so happy to fold warm, yummy smelling clothes.

I had resorted to buying underwear and socks at Walmart because I just couldn't bring myself to go to the laundromat anymore like we did in Anderson...so this little baby came along just in time. In addition, running it while I'm trying to fall asleep totally blocks out my tinnitus and gives me a peaceful white noise to concentrate on instead.

Huzzah "Chip!"

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Nan!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Nan!

1. If you kiss Nan for one minute you will burn six or seven calories.
2. By tradition, a girl standing under Nan cannot refuse to be kissed by anyone who claims the privilege.
3. Nan is the traditional gift for a couple on their third wedding anniversary.
4. More than one million stray dogs and half a million stray cats live in Nan!
5. Fish travel in schools, but whales travel in Nan!
6. Edinburgh imports three thousand kilograms of Nan every year!
7. The risk of being struck by Nan is one occurence every 9,300 years!
8. Nan can pollinate up to six times more efficiently than the honeybee!
9. All the moons of the Solar System are named after characters from Greek and Roman mythology, except the moons of Uranus, which are named after Nan.
10. Forty percent of the world's almonds and twenty percent of the world's peanuts are used in the manufacture of Nan.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Things I've Learned

Three cats + three greyhounds + wardrobe in two houses - the proper amount of sleep = fifteen minutes of sheer panic and frantic "avoiding the animals underfoot" dancing in the morning on the way to a freelance assignment. Who says I can't do math?

I have a great deal of distrust for people who overuse the words "folks" and "gang." If these words are used in conjunction, such as "Hey gang, lemme tell you about the folks here tonight..." the urge to run away grows even stronger.

There is no code of ethics so stringent that it will not allow me to call my father at midnight to talk about a job that was really hard. What's a minister for, after all...? It's reassuring to know that I can talk to him and it is protected information...oh, and the fact that we have similar senses of humor and he can make me laugh when I'm bone and soul tired and want to pull out my hair and bash my head against the door doesn't hurt a bit.

There is no clear way to interpret (without laughing) the following sentences: "I had to pass gas to have a cent in my pocket." "I looked back (in reference to the aftermath of eating a first gen protein bar) and I had passed a wicker chair!" And finally, "We were so broke we couldn't pay attention!"

Speaking of...a bit more math. One spoiled greyhound + one chicken leg quarter + 7 hours in the office - her brothers = Look Mommy What I Left You On The Floor!!

I'm sure there will be more...after all, it won't be Sunday till I at least fall asleep...

While I'm talking about TV shows

Anyone who has ever been a preacher's child or is a preacher/minister/priest/whatever in today's churches should watch The Book of Daniel on Friday nights on NBC. I mean it. Sit down, open your mind, and watch the show. It isn't sacreligious or blasphemous, at least not in my way of thinking. It's like real life hit Seventh Heaven, which I always thought was a little too...um... nice?

Watch it. Then decide what you think. And no, my opinion is not soley based on the fact that one of my FAVORITE actors of ALL TIME, Adian Quinn, is the lead actor...not soley anyway.

Too Late for Three Feet of Angry

From the BBC re Pat Robertson (or as I lovingly call him, Three Feet of Angry, thank you NBC's 4 Kings):

Earlier this week, the ministry's spokesman Ido Hartuv said Israel would no longer be signing a contract with Mr Robertson to build a biblical theme park by the Sea of Galilee.

But relations soured when Mr Robertson said God wanted Israel to be whole and undivided and had therefore punished Mr Sharon for Israel's pull-out from the Gaza Strip last year.

"You read the Bible: This is my land, and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he's going to carve it up and give it away, God says no, this is mine," he said last week.

I forgot the shepherd's pie...

Yesterday is a blur after about 10am. I should have known that there was a migraine a'comin because I woke up on time yesterday morning but couldn't seem to make myself do anything at better than a snail's pace. I did manage to make it to the hospital only about 10 minutes late, though...

Around 10 I started getting a little pain behind my right eye. No big, with my sinuses and me living in the land of roller-coaster temperatures and dandery cats, I am quite accustomed to having a little sinus pain almost all the time. The pain then grew, quite suddenly, to encompass most of the right side of my head. Great...I haven't eaten anything so the excedrin I keep in my desk won't do me any good till lunch time. Keep reading your book, Nan. Keep reading your...okay, now the pain has shot down the back of my neck like the last hill on the Mindbender at Six Flags. My face flushed and I felt nauseous.

This sounding familiar to any of you with migraines?

The lights in my office, which are fluorescent by the way, suddenly jumped in brightness to that of a theater spotlight, but it was an angry spotlight, intent on burning a hole through the top of my head in order to release whatever wild animal was currently clawing at the inside of my skull.

Nicole, God love her, agreed to come cover the hospital knowing she'd be back again today, and I finally walked out of there around 11. Everything was too hot and too bright, but I managed to drive to a Wendy's to eat something (yeah, I know, fast food, but sometimes it helps!) so that I could take the excedrin. I managed to make it to Publix to get cat food (to lessen the yawling that would go on were I to leave them without food till dinner) before the clawing of the wild critter, momentarily distracted by the magic chemicals in the Wendy's hamburger, began again trying to scrape holes in my eyes.

I took the excedrin around 12:30. Why is that monumental, important, or even worth mentioning? Because Excedrin Migraine, nectar of the gods, fastest way to lose the blindness and calm the critter known to man... can only be taken once every 24hrs. By 1pm I was relatively normal. A co-worker came by, we chatted...and by 2:30 when she left, I could feel the critter starting up again. I immediately hopped in the bed and slept for about four hours, waking up to the same icepick being driven through my right eye.

I admit to standing in the bathroom, holding the excedrin up to my temple, hoping that it would relieve the pain through osmosis. I also admit to wondering how bad taking one now, only 22hrs early, could possibly make me feel? I already wanted to remove my right eyeball with a spoon and hold my head under the faucet in the tub, mouth open, until I drowned. Could taking two doses too close together really make me THAT sick?

I didn't try it. I instead downed three 16oz bottles of water in rapid succession, having read somewhere that water can help ease headache pain. Ease yes. Eradicate, no.

I think it's all because I forgot the shepherd's pie part of my earlier migraine cure.

On a not at all related note, the same small minded idiot has again made a purchase using Scott's debit card number at the same Rent A Center. I'm so mad that I could just scream...but I'm afraid that loud noise would wake the critter in my eye, so I'm just going to quietly stew for now.

Just a quick one...

...So that ebeth will have something to read! Just kidding...

I've had a rather stressful week. I know, when is it not...but this week has been particularly vivid. You see, someone stole something from me and Scott. Some reprehensible jerk got the number to Scott's debit card somehow and used it to buy something. An equally reprehensible jerk at a Rent A Center store here in Greenville processed the transaction, and now we are less $103.95. But never fear, oh small minded (bleeeeeeeep) we will find out who you are. I was so mad yesterday when I got the number of the store in Greenville that I had to make myself calm down before I called. And don't think that just going over there and grabbing a fist full of shirt hasn't crossed my mind.

Why be angry at the store, you ask? Why not just direct my ire at the (bleeeeeeeeeeep) who made the purchase? Because the purchase was made with a number, not a card...I've seen Scott's card, it's in his wallet. No one thought that was odd, to make a purchase of over $100 with just a number and no id check??

Now if I find out it was made via the internet that will be a different story...but for right now I'm angry and I feel violated. Luckily the bank where we still have a joint account (I know, I know) was very nice and helpful when I called them in a panic that someone had compromised our account.

And for readers who are sitting there thinking "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy..." If the he you're thinking of is guilty, then he will be found out. I'm not that much of a pushover, at least not anymore...

My Favorite Things

The title is inspired by the HILARIOUS episode of Will & Grace I watched last night, followed by a series premier that I think has incredible potential if people can see past the obvious likeness to Friends..."4 Kings."

But on to the topic at hand...

Today I feel like talking about two of my favorite things, just because I have had a positively rotten few days recently and need to cheer myself up. (Of course, thinking of Debra Messing bursting into song last night is enough to make me crack a giggle, but I digress...)

1. My animals. I know that everyone that knows me knows how much they mean to me, but I am not exaggerating when I say that they save my life on a daily basis. When I'm so tired of being alone that I want to just lock myself in my room and not come out in the mornings...when I want to just run away from everything and never come back, something happens with them that turns me back around. Whether it's knowing that if I ran away they'd starve (at least until Profile figured out how to get the fridge door open) or just sitting at my desk and having one of them come over for attention. They need me, and that is what I need to know. (Not to mention the times they make me laugh until I nearly pee.)

2. My computer. Holy MOLY what would I do without it? The 6 days that I had no power during the ice storm I think I nearly went psychotic. And of course, the day I come to the office where I can actually get on the internet...it's down because the power was also out at the hospital. My computer is my portal to friends that I can't see in person and can't afford the long distance to call. My computer houses my writing and my graphics work. Yeah...okay maybe it's more of an addiction than a favorite thing...

What are your favorite things???

Willow in the Wind...

Willow and Haley
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

I found out tonight that Willow Gilmer, the beautiful greyhound in this picture, went to the bridge this evening. Willow was a courageous and unique soul...may she be welcomed at the Bridge and continue to watch over her family who were so blessed to have her in their lives.

Goodnight, sweetheart...well, it's time to go...

Oh...it's a Jeany behind me...
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Tomorrow two of my dearest friends, Kathleen and Tim, will move to New Mexico. They'll take along with them the beautiful little girl in this photo, Kaya Rong...my god-daughter. I wish them safe journey and lots of luck and happiness in their new home, and I wish that I wasn't going to miss all three of them as much as I know I am. When Kaya hugged my Hunky goodbye tonight...ILY ILY ILY.

They...are the Lost Boys...my friends...

Yoo Hoo?
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

I had a wonderful New Year's Eve weekend. I had agreed to take a dear friend of mine, Kalyne, to Georgia to hear the Lost Boys play at, of all places, a comic book convention. Here you can see the reason many of the young ladies that are "fangirls" of the Boys in Teal attend their shows...Angus Archibald Douglas, the angry Scotsman. In that song he was reminding us not to spill the ale, but was surprised to find in the can he'd borrowed... "Yoo Hoo?"

One of the great things about these four men is how incredibly into their performances they are, and how attentive to their audiences. Many times they would pose for pictures mid-song if they noticed someone pointing a camera at them. They are incredibly talented men and their shows are just a joy to attend. If you have a chance to visit the Georgia Renaissance Festival you can experience the Lost Boys there, and I highly recommend it. Click on the picture there to see more photos from my NYE weekend.

Oh, and if you go the second or third weekend you just might see me, red-faced from the heat, following three greyhounds about...