*blows off layers of dust*

Wow, it's been forever. I'm still alive and kicking... and happy and healthy. Hopefully all of you (those of you who may still be checking) are, too.

As you may have noticed, I lost some of my blogrolls to the left. Which means, I probably don't have a good way to find some of you whose blogs I used to read. Drop me a line and let me know if you're still blogging.

Happy Independence Day, y'all!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, seriously! But it's been a nice blog vacation...

Can't say I'll be back anytime soon, but just a quick hello to those of you who might have wondered about my absence. Just enjoying life offline, ya know?

Special thanks to those of you who wished me a happy BD yesterday -- I've been sick for days, but those greetings were certainly welcome to distract me from my ailments. And now, off to more distractions, as my sweet, sweet boyfriend will be distracting me this evening with an intimate shindig of our closest friends.

Here's to the year ahead!

My goodness, it's been a month of Sundays since I've updated this darn blog. I'm amazed at how easy it has been to become completely immersed in not being online. Maybe it has something to do with a job that I love and that keeps me busy, so that I don't even think about pissing away my work time on surfing the web. Maybe it has something to do with my boyfriend occupying my computer with eBay for most of its switched-on hours. Or maybe, there is no good reason!

But when there's dessert involved, especially pie, I feel compelled to share. So, here's a gratuitous pie shot from my creation tonight. Nothing fancy, just homemade banana pudding poured into a shortbread crust with whipped topping to finish it off.

And now, to embark on a web project... something I haven't done for a while. But it will be completely worth it. Stay tuned, especially if you are a fan of sci-fi/horror. Good stuff, I promise!

... I held one of these.

Life in LA is grand!

Two months ago yesterday, someone broke into my car (in my secured -- HA! --garage) and stole a bunch of my CDs and attempted to steal the CD player... which still resulted in it needing to be replaced anyway, since the thieves ripped off the front of it. It seems that BMG's selection has taken a nosedive, and thus all of the free CD certificates that I have available I can't even use. Doh!

Any have any of these CDs, slightly used, that they'd be willing to part with for a small fee? I'm not into online auctions, b/c I don't trust that things will be the quality that the sellers say they are... so if you're someone I'd become acquainted with in the blog world, I'm more likely to trust your judgment! Let me know about:

Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
Indigo Girls self-titled
They Might Be Giants - Flood
They Might Be Giants - John Henry
They Might Be Giants - Mink Car
Erasure - I Say I Say I Say
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

Soundtracks:
Wicked
Five Guys Named Moe
Little Shop of Horrors
Into the Woods
Tommy

And, as you can tell, I'd probably be interested in any other soundtracks, TMBG, or Indigo Girls stuff that you might have available. Drop me a line or a comment.

Swimming from the rain that hasn't stopped for 3 days now (and won't for another 4), and swimming with a train of thought that won't stop. Normally, Sprocket and I get up around 7:30 or 8 on Saturday mornings, go for a nice long walk, and then come back in and fall back asleep for another 2-3 hours. Hey, it's my only day to sleep in, what can I say...

But this morning, when I lay back down, I couldn't close my eyes. My mind wouldn't stop racing, still actively flitting from thought to thought. I think it started as soon as I woke up, as I tried desperately to remember the two intricate "stuff-horror-movies-are-made-of dreams" I'd just had... and surprisingly, with some measure of success on both.

Then, I started thinking about writing the dreams down, just to cement them in my mind, as well as in text. Which brought me to one of the items that has long sat on my to-do list... backing up my old files from high school and college. Why not, on such a rainy day? Why can't I knock off a ton of tasks that I've been putting off?

I want to light some candles. I want to bake muffins. I want to finally fill the picture frames that have been empty in a drawer since after I got married six and a half years ago. I want to clean the kitchen, and throw something in the crock pot.

I started remembering my great-aunt Lola who just had a birthday, who I would love for Steve to meet this summer. Then I started thinking back to looking through old family albums, seeing pictures of my paternal grandparents when they were younger. Then, I thought "What about my grandkids? Are they going to miss out on flipping through photo albums just because all my photos are digital now?"

I want to organize all my photo directories, and back up my files. My roommate's friend's hard drive took a dump the other day, and we all had the discussion of why people don't back up their computers. You just never think it will happen to you. How upset would I be if tomorrow I didn't have photos from the last three or four years? The e-mails that I saved from my first college sweethearts? The thank-you e-mail from my dad, who never ever uses the computer, for his birthday present, sent two days ago?

They're random thoughts on a Saturday morning, but yet still interconnected. You can't ever fully explain your stream of consciousness, and you certainly can't stop it. Today, mine is exceptionally energized, and I will let it guide me to tackle all of those things on my list that have been "listed" for months and months.

I realize now that most of the time, I feel guilty for leaving these things undone. Maybe somehow, it's days like these that are meant for "lists," when everything just comes together, and things just can't help getting done in spite of my normal level of motivation.

Not to mention, anything that induces me to feel that I just HAVE to blog and get it out of my head can't be too bad either. Greetings everybody, and here's to you having an exceptionally manic and productive Saturday, too!

My baby done good tonight... look what he found tonight as we drove down the boulevard!

The place is a mere two weeks old... I can get a real caffeine fix again! *jitters*

It's currently hailing/freezing raining/sleeting in my neck of L.A.

Glad I made it home early from work (thanks to a bum shoulder that needed a chiropractor visit)... because I have a feeling this evening's rush hour is not going to be pretty.

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm not gone for good, just swamped... and technological issues have fallen pretty far down on the list. Of the two issues I was suffering with, I've just fixed the problems with IE that I've been having. *whew*, to say the least. Me not being able to access Hotmail and Steve not being able to access eBay from this computer was definitely getting on the frustrating side.

Now, to address one that you're all painfully aware of... blog comment spam. Ugh. I don't know whether it's good or bad now that the only spam that comes to this address is the blog comment kind. Bear with me as I try to find a solution for that, as it will make me less depressed to look at the blog once it's cleaned up.

So let's all start the new year off right... may it be a happy, prosperous, and joy-filled year for us all!

Through all of the circumstances of this past year, I've found I've become much more nostalgic. Most often, it's a smell that instantly triggers a memory. Other times, memories bring along with them the remembrance of the smells of the Iowa countryside... the dusty smell layered over clean, cold air as the wind blows the chaff out of corn pouring out of an up-ended wagon during harvest... or the warm, green scent of new growth on a spring morning, stirred up as you walk down a gravel road. The latter was what I sensed as we stepped out of the building for our morning walk.

It was one of those mornings to be shared with someone you love. Instead of walking hand in hand with my tall, two-legged love, my quadripedal sweetheart pulled me out by the leash into the San Fernando Valley sunlight. He forged ahead, no doubt pursuing some scent, but probably not the one I was reveling in at the moment. How a Los Angeles fall morning smells just like an Iowa spring, I'm not sure, but it encouraged me to let Sprocket guide me to wherever he wanted to explore on this morning's walk, rather than cut it short in order to crawl back into a warm bed for another couple hours.

His nose leading the way, we crossed over a few of the residential streets, propelled at one point by the threat of a barking dog catching sight of us. We left him behind and turned the corner onto a street that seemed to be home to no early risers.

We walked in silence, him stopping every so often to smell what four-legged creature had come before. These pauses allowed me to take everything in, and I surprised myself by what ran through my mind.

I had forgotten that autumn really did happen in LA, with as brilliant colors as one might only think you'd find in those true four-season regions. I saw blindingly green, new grass where just weeks before there had been only scorched earth. The light breeze stirred up a glittering, sun-fueled shower of tiny yellow leaves. Bare, black, skeletal trees stood defiantly next to others that still boasted thick (yet slowly diminishing) coats of bright oranges and reds.

The low sun was starting to build the heat under my black insulated jacket. Sprocket pulled me forward, perking up at the occasional cat on a stoop, ferreting out the source of a scent, and maneuvering to mark a tree or shrub even though he had long exhausted his supply. As we stopped for one of the last times on our journey, I noted the stark contrast: between the tree under which we now stood, one that softly rained burnt orange around us... and the lush, intensely green one several yards away that was blocking the climbing morning orb and plunging us into a cool shadow.

It was one of those mornings to be shared with someone you love... but as we ambled back home, I considered that the factors playing into this amazing experience could never be re-created. The perfect angle of the sun would be long gone. The silence would be more frequently interrupted by passing cars. Morning joggers and dog-walkers had already started to emerge from their homes...

And finally, I realized that had I not taken this amazing morning journey with only my silent, four-legged companion... I might never have noticed any of exactly what made it so special.

Combine the following for a fantastic dinner experience:

• Garden-fresh tomatoes with dressing
  
• Emilio's Italian bread with garlic/parsley/rosemary olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping
  
• Baked potatoes
  
• Sirloin steak with cognac-mustard sauce
  
• Key lime pie (oh baby) courtesy of Marie Callender (and Oreos for the non-believers)
  
• A hungry, grateful dinner companion
  
• A begging doggie
  
• Cool breeze blowing
  
• Candlelight
  
• Gershwin on the stereo
  

I'm thankful for a lot of things, but tonight I'm especially thankful to be reminded of how much I love entertaining. I can't wait for the holidays!

Tune in to "Without a Trace" tomorrow night (although it might be next week, too--not sure), and keep your eyes out for this handsome mug...