You were all wondering if I forgot how to use the computer weren't you?  Or maybe that the bombshell of this summer hit me like a ton of bricks and I was in a closet hiding under a blanket.  Admit it.  
No, I've just been busy and my laptop has been in a drawer (I know I'm hanging my head in shame at this moment) for a while.  And I didn't have a connection at my house (yes, I've moved in). All of this is kind of a crappy excuse for basically ignoring some wonderful people who have really been there for me (in a not-really-there-in-a-physical-way way) during a lot of horrifying nastiness.  So thank you more than you can ever know for all you did, you might not even know you did it- but thanks all the same.  You guys are fantastic. 
I intend to use this computer now and not put it back in the drawer- really!

where?: kitchen table
drama level: yoooohoooo
noise: news

As the psycho is in jail, and I am safe except for the horror movie-ish scenes that pop into my mind occasionally . . . . .  I believe it is completely acceptable and somewhat theaputic to indulge in a bit of Potter-mania (as they say).

So here's my required pre-DH post.  I've said most (maybe all) of these things before, but here it is for the record.

1)  Neville Longbottom must not die!!!!!!!!!!   *if this happens, I will at once dig a very deep hole and bury the damn book
2) Snape must not be simply written off as a one dimensional super-villan  *I really don't think she will do this, it would be a monumental waste of an intricate character- besides that it would be stupid and I would have to eat my book with ketchup (as I've said this in front of many witnesses, I'll have to do it!)
3) If my dearest Professor has to die (I'm a realist, I know it's very possible) he needs to do something noble on his way out  *my personal vote is jumping in front of a curse or something like to save someone important (can anyone say Ginny Weasley, or in my ultimate fantasy HERMIONE!!!!!!)

**Other than those things I will cry if characters die (like everyone), possibly to the point of violent sobbing, but I will keep reading like a maniac through the sobs and take the book to the bathroom or refrigerator as needed.

***Will probably post a heavily LJ-cut vent after I read, unless I'm digging up my book in the backyard.

where?: my dungeon
noise: gordon ramsey on bbcamerica

Yeah, real life is completely scrambled and bizarre-with-a-side-of-hideous these days.
But that moment in the movie (see astericks below for not-really-a-spoiler) is at least as good as some of the medication I could be taking right now.  
And much less expensive.









** naked man in a fur coat


*I don't have an icon that reflects my peculiar new obsession, but Lupin is close enough (pretty close actually-  snicker snicker)

Tags: hp
where?: my dungeon home
drama level: snoozey
noise: monty python's flying circus on tv

So this is my not-so-official checking-in entry.  All is well, considering the obvious.  Damn, I thought my life resembled a Lifetime movie before!  So anyway, the kids and I are physically safe.  I think I'm a bit in shock. Not that I say "Let's go to my house and make a sandwich, but to the point of maybe not quite seeing this as horrifyingly real and bizarre as I would if it happened to someone else.  Make any sense?  Probably not, but it also makes no sense that I incinerated 4 pieces of bread trying to make toast the other morning.  
If none of this makes sense to you and you don't know the story, just imagine a truly horrific end of a abusive marraige (and the house where it happened) in which everyone is still alive and you are probably not too far from what happened last week.  I'll probably be able to write it out (or link to a newspaper story) sometime in the future.
Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers during this . . . . . .  hell, I can't even think of a word. 

drama level: still standing

Uggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to kick something.  Maybe I should smash some of his junk.  Angela Bassett seemed satisfied after she set that BMW on fire in that movie (what the hell is the name of that movie, I think it was a Terry McMillan novel-turned -movie .  . . . . . . .).  I don't think I'll do anything quite that severe though, probably just gripe and eat.
Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Tags: the ex is a moron
drama level: bitchy
noise: thomas the tank engine in other room

Was Lost awesome or what?????
Anyway, I'm heading to a semi-social thing this evening (Pampered Chef party).  But will be back later.  

drama level: yippee skippy
noise: the boy taking a bath after a mess

OK, it's a small and rather unimportant victory in the grand scheme of things.  I have been searching for a fic I've read a few times before, but had the urge to read again (you know how it is).  But after about 45 minutes of searching through BtVS fics on various sites (with no success and increasing frustration), I have found the fic I was hunting!!!  I am a lover of the platinum vamp and his teeth,  but have a horrible memory for fic titles   Here it is in case anyone is terribly curious:
http://vampires-kiss.net/archive/viewstory.php?sid=387
Zippidee do dah zippedee day!!!!!  Of course, it's now pretty late so it may just have to wait until the little PrincessMonster is at Girl Scouts and the BoyMonster is napping tommorrow afternoon . . . . .   or I may just stay awake reading some good neck-biting smut until 1 am!  Hell, I deserve some fun.

drama level: SQUEEEEE!
noise: dripping faucet, computer noise

Sawyer's latest beach-read is The Fountainhead.   Damn.
I tell you, when all my freaking real-life melodrama is over and I've taken a long nap, I am finding myself a man who reads.  Plain and simple. 
Not even considering the functionally literate, must possess stacks of substantial books.  

drama level: yawn
noise: wind rattling the windows- storm blowing in

So last night was Lost night, which was a welcome 1 hour television vacation from the real life melodrama that threatens to consume my life.  was a good episode lots of Sayid, a bit of Sawyer too.   Ummmmmm.  I don't think I saw Desmond though- Must've been taking a nap on the beach.
Then by some beautiful randomness, both of my kids slept soundly enough through the night.  My tired brain even had a chance to dream:   Sayid and I were tied up (or draped- hell, my brain is a bit fuzzy)  with red yarn in a basement and then were married.  Of course my nocturnal brain is too damn tired to fill in the good parts.  But that's OK, I can probably conjure up something on my own!  ; )

drama level: life is a big thrill

We've been basically snowed in (snow, wind and living on gravel roads that state snowplows don't hit) for the past 2 days.  OMG, it is not quite the end of the world when a kindergartener can't get to school on Valentine's Day, but still a bit devestating.  Add to that the fact that the mail didn't make it here yesterday or today (no mail valentines) and that one couldn't go out to play in the snow until it stopped snowing horizontally; it's not quite the totally pleasant and peaceful day off that it may appear.
However, it is Lost day- yeah!!!!  
Hope you're all having a nice day, go buy yourself some chocolates if you didn't get any!  (I got some from my daughter- isn't she sweet?)

Tags: reality
noise: Oprah in other room

So I watched Lost, House and Grey's Anatomy and all that this week, all good.  However, the entertaining thing that had me in stitches was the term "transvestite toad" that Detective Havers used to refer to her own appearance in my current murder and mayhem literary wallow  (In Pursuit of the Proper SInner by Elizabeth George).  Just killed me!
Divorce drama is continuing.  Ugh.  I wish I had a fast-forward button.

drama level: getting tired
noise: yim

So they say when life gives you lemons make lemonade, right?  So what if you forget where you keep the  sugar?    (crazy talk, ignore please)
Do you think Lupin and Snape could fly in and rescue me?  Cardigan and black robe please.

drama level: contemplative

BBC America is starting Dr. Who tonight!!!!! 
Now I can neglect all that boring housework (after bedtime for kids of course) in favor of the tasty timelord twice a week (Tuesday on BBC and Friday on SciFi).
Yippee!!!!

drama level: Dr. Who-induced euphoria

Twist and Shout cookies (Walmart's Oreo knock-offs) have trans fat (the bad nasty killer fat that Satan himself created to make us fatter and clog our arteries sooner); however, actual Oreo cookies do not have trans fat.

* I think this may be definitive proof that Walmart is the Evil Empire.

** I discovered this while shopping at above mentioned Evil Empire.

drama level: eeeeevil!!!!!

OMFG Lost!!!!!!!!
My psycho-killer-Other-implanted-evil-pacemaker is about to blow my heart up!
I actually recorded this episode and will probably re-watch it 907 times before that crazy-ass Groundhog Day series goes away!  I ran in here to my computer right after it was over (like 5 minutes ago) because I wish I had someone to go nuts with.  This will have to be good enough I guess.  Really trying not to spoil for Aussie, West Coast or anyone else (?).  But . .  . . . .  

( I think it'll be alright )

Tags: lost comments
where?: rest home for the Lost Obsessed
drama level: we have to wait until February

Got this from ladytonks  (*waving arms frantically at ladytonks over on the other end of US political spectrum!).
My voting experience was good, my candidates won.   Well except for our firmly entrenched republican US House Rep, but his opponent seemed to get a higher percentage of the vote than he did last time. 
The big nasty  machine didn't bite or anything (we used the old-fashioned paper dealies out here in the sticks until this year).
On a entertainment-related note, it's Lost night!!!!!!!!!!  If I don't go into a television-induced coma, I'll probably bitch or swoon on Thursday!

You are a Social Liberal (76% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

drama level: chipper

So this morning I was sorting some dirty laundry to go to the laundromat (getting water from a well these days means only two or three loads of laundry per week), and the little furry beast is just sitting there among the socks and tee shirts- quite at home. Needless to say he jumped out quickly when I screamed.
These damn things are getting to the point of insanity, I realize it's getting cold and they don't want to live outside in the freezing air. But there's a damn barn full of straw about 300 feet away- not to mention a freaking garage less than 50 feet away!
Can't remember if I reported on the big chase last week. Bailey (black cat lives in house, sometimes goes outside- but less now that the coyote or whatever is eating cats from the armpits forward again) chased one around the hall and living room- alternately sitting on it and chasing it under furniture- for about 20 minutes one evening. The kids thought it was quite the show.

Tags: more mice
drama level: frustrated
noise: news on radio

Oh my god.  Ugh.  Are they trying to kill us too?
So, according to the commercials there will be another crash survivor dying next episode.  It has to be one of the "red shirts", right?  Or are the producers such sadistic bastards that those two (new characters who came along to pearl hatch) were thrown in so we'd expect them to die, but they'll stay alive?  So help me, I will stop watching the damn thing if they kill my Sawyer.  Really, I will.  Dead Sayid is not an option either.  I'd probably still watch, but I'd be really pissed off the whole time.

Tags: lost comments
drama level: wtf!!!!!!!
noise: npr news

Snagged from 
nixxymoon.

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
violet451 goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as witch.
browneydweasley gives you 13 pink watermelon-flavoured pieces of taffy.
hpca tricks you! You lose 10 pieces of candy!
jandjsalmon gives you 17 yellow licorice-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
ladytonks gives you 9 red-orange cola-flavoured gumdrops.
ladytory tricks you! You lose 19 pieces of candy!
maple_mahogany gives you 10 softly glowing watermelon-flavoured wafers.
nixxymoon tricks you! You get a block of wood.
onlymefeelinsad gives you 18 light yellow coconut-flavoured gummy bats.
phoenixankaa gives you 9 red-orange lime-flavoured jawbreakers.
tajareyul tricks you! You get a rotten egg.
violet451 ends up with 47 pieces of candy, a block of wood, and a rotten egg.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

drama level: grey's anatomy is on tonight!
noise: wild kid in bathtub, girl asking for granola bar

This mouse incident was far worse. Ugh. I'm getting the shivers just thinking about it. Here we go.
So I'm at my mother's house yesterday, trying to get my children into the car to leave (this takes a while: "I don't want go home, you go 'way." etc). And their cat (a fat orange thing that lives inside but rushes out whenever possible) must have gotten out during all the drama. I am standing at the door for some reason (it all kind of mushes together in my mind), and I see Mr. Kitty a couple of feet from the door with a little twitching mouse in his mouth. (half-dead twitching mice in the jaws of pets are not the issue here.) I scold him appropriately and shut the screen door so he doesn't take his victim into the house. Cat drops mouse, mouse squirms a bit. Cat chomps his mouse again. And somehow (again, it's all a blur) the beast gets into the house with his half dead squirmmy prize and heads through the porch into the house (this is the big no no as a rotting dead mouse hidden in your house is a veeeerrrry bad thing). Cat runs deeper into the house, my dad (who has a very nasty cold and is gives a twist to the whole grumpy patient thing) screams "Get that god damn son of a bitch!". I proceed to run after aforesaid son of a bitch and get to the door and think I've won and blocked him out of the basement (aka dungeon of playrooms, spare bedrooms and storage areas) which was a goal. I slam the door and the furry freak runs back toward the porch. Hooray! - right? As I step down with my right foot I hear (no feel) a squish/pop.
The god damn furry orange bastard dropped the half-dead squirmer and I fucking stepped on it . . . . and it fucking EXPLODED.

Tags: mouse story
drama level: still a bit queasy
noise: npr news