Hiya... I updated to wordpress, but am leaving the old site here for now. Please update your bookmarks to http://toysaregoodfood.com/blog. Thanks, Matty

The cookie jar has been restocked... with homemade Snickerdoodle cookies.

Mom and Evie are both tuckered out, and are sleeping, so I thought that this would be a good time for a quick update.

If you were expecting an article about knitting, pez, or something other than cute baby, you will be sorely disappointed. Besides the baby being the main focus of our life right now, we're using these web updates to keep all of the far away Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, Nieces and Nephews, and friends involved with Evie's daily changes.

Nanc and the baby were discharged from the hospital on Friday. Let's get you up to date.

After lots of discussion, agonizing decisions, and beta testing, Baby Girl Collins/Cheerio now has a name. She is now known as ----

(Click 'Read more' for the exciting conclusion !!!)

At least that's what her nursery paperwork says now. We're pretty sure that it stands for baby girl Collins. Mom and Dad are still working on figuring out the baby's name (and baby ain't talkin').

Oh yeah, and first pix are inside! Click the 'Read more' link...

Nanc's water broke this morning, and we're at the hospital now.

We've been clicking away at our kittens for a while now, catching them being cute and mischievous.

So please to enjoy a random selection of our cute kitties from this past year. I'm sure there's more to come in 2009.

Sadly, she is has left already.

While we couldn't get back home for Thanksgiving this year, we quickly put together a wonderful meal with friends.

We decided to have an orphan's Thanksgiving, and invite everyone we knew that wasn't going to be spending time with family. We had a fantastic time, and some tasty food ta' boot.

It is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful. Specifically, I am thankful for Matt and all he does.

No, I'm not going to go into a mushy diatribe of how awesome he is. (And really, he is.) But I'll give you one good example that he did today.

Right now we are trekking across the frigid cold of the Midwest in order to visit our families. Nanc will be too pregnant to make the journey during the traditional holidays, so we're out now.

We just left Ohio yesterday. Read on for a brief synopsis and some pics.

We just got back from Arizona, where we spent time with family. Grandma Collins passed away last week.

read more...

Hi Mom- I promised to post some pictures of pregnant Nancy, so... here they are.

We wouldn't have even realized that it was our anniversary!

So, there's a pretty good reason that we haven't been updating the blog lately. (Besides the fact that it's summer and there's all kinds of fun things to do outside.) The big news is that ---

Maybe you read the earlier entry. The woot BOC (bag of crap) arrived this weekend. Wanna see?

read more...

After years of trying and failing, I finally scored a bag of crap!

We've taken some random pictures over the past week.

Nanc and I noticed that a notable birthday recently passed. In March of 2003, toysaregoodfood.com was born.

We picked the name 'toysaregoodfood' after hours of domain searching. Once you realize that every single possible domain name that you want has been taken, you get a little punch-drunk. It still doesn't make any sense, but I can't imagine the name being anything else.

This past weekend was a blur of activity, including buying a truck, gardening, and building gardening accessories.

Alas, the truck has no name, and we are at a stalemate. Click the link to read more and make truck name suggestions.

We just got back from a long weekend visiting with Rachel, Jason, Ben, and Sam of welikedogs fame. We had lots of fun. We played with Sam, who is wee tiny and super-cute. Ben was also fun, and is a super-awesome big boy. We ate ridiculously well. We played video games.

This morning, I went to uphold my civic duty and serve on a jury. This afternoon, most of us were sent home. Huh.

This weekend Nanc and I realized a dream that was years in the making: one bookshelf to rule them all. A bookshelf big enough to contain our books.

Come inside for a photo of the mammoth and some ridiculous statistics.

Last night the camera died. Perhaps too much Christmas spirit?

Luckily, I still had the receipt, and got a replacement at Fry's this morning, before the rush started. Also, I added some new lights for you to play with. Merry Christmas (eve)!

dial-up version

Java-based streaming video(IE, Firefox, Safari, etc)

IE only streaming video

Hi. The tree cam is experiencing an outage right now. It should be back up (hopefully) Christmas eve.

Just when you thought the tree cam couldn't get any better... Now you can control it over the internets!

The 3rd semi-annual tree cam is now active through the holidays. Take a peek inside for all the details.

Not the pork-based breakfast meal, but a mix of blog fodder.

Today, I've got an odd assortment of pictures and what-not for y'all. A few Maker Faire pix to go along with Matt's post, Halloween pix, and a spooky cheeseball!

Some of you might have guessed that Matt is a bit of a geek. (Just a hint of geekry, really.) But he is also a sweet guy. Combine these two features and what do you get?

Simple documentation with graphics on how to turn on our hot tub. If that doesn’t say love, I don’t know what does. (No, seriously. What?)

It was his Bonez' birthday this week (yesterday, to be exact). Birthdays are celebrated for an extended week at our house: weekend to weekend.

So far, he has received all things that make a Matty happy:

• a kewl pad of diner placemats
• PEZ shoes
• PEZ display stands
• battery-operated, swimming pool shark
• spinning books
• spumoni ice cream
• Weeds season 2 DVD

And there's so much more left to do/give (get, in his case)!

Come on and wish this Bonez a Happy!

{{rubbing eyes with fists}}

What’s going on?

This Christmas was maybe a little bit more like Halloween. Some tricks, some treats.

Good Girl Purl of the Purling Ps asked us (the proverbial, internets "us") to make a list of what makes us happy during the holidays. What can I do but to oblige such a sweet request.

We’ve had a bit of weather lately, and the sub-50 degree temperatures have weighed heavy on my soul. The gray days dropped me deep into a funk that started over two weeks ago. Hopefully, sharing my private pain will be cathartic.

The frantic days full of packing are over. On Saturday, the movers transported all of our belongings approximately 10 miles east to our new home.

Even moving the cats went (relatively) smoothly.

I'd like to apologize in advance for the backseat this blog will take, and its temporary metamorphosis into a DIY/home decorating/home repair blog. We try to use the blog to reflect our current interests and activities, and will continue to do so.

This may hold our interests for a while.

If you've read the last few posts, you might be wondering how I can show a Saturday Sky picture. Well, good news...

Okay, not just "black and white" - there's orange and green and brown, too. But the idea of the title is that this blog may be just text for a while.

It seems that our camera has gone MIA. Or more likely, some unsuspecting (or immoral) rental car renter thinks he/she just got themselves a great deal on a digital camera with a super-sized memory card. Wo0t! Yeah... not good.

So in the meantime, we'll try to be clever with our words and/or we'll recycle some pix stored on the PC.

If you want to read about our trip to Cinci, continue on.

Come on. How could I not use that nickname? Oh, sure. I could've gone with the more common and couth "Queen City", but then there might have been some confusion as to my actual destination.

The man and I are heading up to Cincy this weekend to help my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. (I know. Can you believe it? FIFTY YEARS?! Whoa.)

It's going to fun to be back in my ol' stomping grounds (although I think I did a lot more stomping up in Cowtown/Columbus). It's a quick trip, so we won't have time to hit all the sites and sounds. But this'll be my first time back as a knitter and I'm wondering what the city has to offer.

Any Cincy knitters out there that can recommend a good LYS?

I'm not blaming anyone, but certainly someone was laying down on the job when it came to telling me about toasting Pop*Tarts.

We received a mysterious package that made the cats go crazy. What could possibly be inside? Did I mention the strange and funky smell?

A piñata coffin, er... fancy wooden box? Cast-iron skillet candy logs? Chocolate golf club set (with irons and woods)? Candied liver & onions? A wrought iron and wood bench in Willy Wonka's Candy Gardens?

What in the Sam Hill am I going on about? It's the Bonez' and my sixth wedding anniversary today. And although we promised each other not to get anything, it's still fun to look, plot, and think of these things.

And it seems that I am not the only (bonus: a knitter, ta' boot) one with this conundrum.

Please help me wish my honey a happy 'nother year. Happy Anniversary, babe!

more inside...

Fast moving cars in the distance traveling on a heavily trafficked route. Tall buildings of varying heights and businesses. Professionals walking back from late lunches. Cars, quiet and still, gathering heat in an uncovered parking lot. Manicured lawns and landscaped trees tended by strangers.

Sitting in a meeting today, I watched a helicopter take off and a people mover glide past while two businessmen discussed details of some random process. All this activity and inactivity doesn't touch me as I sit in air conditioned boredom.

Sandy has been rounding up the troops to post pictures of your Saturday sky. So here are some of mine for today.

Typically, the fortunes that await me in the mist of Chinese fortune cookies are likely to make me laugh. Out loud. And if they're not humorous on their own, finishing the line with "in bed" is sure to have me cracking up.

'Member back when I took the motorcycle safety course and passed? Well, since then I've taken the test and got my license. Wo0t!

So this means - watch the roads parking lots, folks! I may be haulin' ass riding in circles near you!

Well, I guess guys can help me out too. Really, anyone with a good recommendation is welcome to throw their opinion into the obligatory pot.

Okay, so its not so much of a clever title. But really, I didn't work at it for very long either.

It's another busy weekend for us. And that's our excuse for not writing much lately. See, we've been discussing our article timing and how to avoid the infrequency beast. And we're making some plans. For reals.

But y'all don't care about all this blah-blah-blah. So I'll get on with it and show you some cute kitties.

We had fun Sunday night. We got dressed up and went downtown to see a man sit behind a table full of equipment and talk about radio. It was great for a number of reasons, which are just beyond the "read more" link...

So, I started off with 121 validation errors. Luckily, most were fixed with only a couple of changes. I just thought that I would share. Creating valid code is important.

I was able to spend a couple of hours working on the website this weekend. It's starting to look like a real site again. My favorite part? Oh, probably the sweet color fade on the links....

It's late, so I'm not really sure which day to count this as, but we are out of the design stage, and I've started developing the front page. It's still pretty rough, but it's starting to take shape.

How much fun we have working on the site...

What will the new design look like?

Today is all about trying to figure out what the new website design will look like, and how people will interact with it. Taking a couple of extra hours to plan this stuff in the beginning saves me an awful lot of time later.

So here we go — I ' ve stripped all of the styles and graphics from the site, and we ' re gonna start redesigning the website. I ' ve scoped it out, and instead of just posting up a new design, I'm gonna do it over several days, and post daily progress.

If you haven ' t ever really considered how to create a site design from the ground up, hop on in,--it might be interesting. Today — The plan

So, I haven ' t written anything lately. This isn ' t because I lost both my hands in a freak thresher accident, or because I refuse to believe that the Internet exists. The reasons are far more pedestrian. The kind folks that give me money in exchange for my services (a.k.a. work) have been keeping me pretty busy for the past several months. Now, I've got some breathing room and am going to tackle a project that I've been putting off for months (or years).

Change is in the air and you are all down wind. Starting tomorrow, I am going to be redesigning this website. Over the course of the next week to ten days, I am going to be working on the design every night for a few hours and your thoughts count.

My changes will be updated on this front page every night, and I will try write of the specific details as I get the design and the code together. Throughout the redesign, the site will continue to be usable, and the individual articles will still look the same. Only the front page will be "under construction".

I will keep the comments open, and would like to hear what you like or hate. You read the site. Is there anything that you would like to see? Anything that bugs you? For me, the existing site is pretty rough. It was pretty cool in 2003, but we are ready for some changes 'round these parts.

General geekery on the inside

This past weekend we had a wonderful visit from Matt's sister Rachel and her awesome family (Jason and baby Benny). Obviously, Benny stole the show and it was really all about him. (Hopefully this won't cause too many issues for him in the future.)

Curiosity and cats are funny things. Why do cats have such a queer (as in "odd") sense of interest in how things work and hidden crevices? What makes them so interested in the unknown, and what gives them the courage/stupidity (tom·A·to/tomäto) to investigate?

With the added benefit of being cute, kittens being curious really gets me every time. And Walter IS cute.

Okay, admittedly "torture" is way too strong of a word here. And "masochism" would bring on too many Google-searching freaks. Besides, it's not really THAT bad. And it's for the best, right? Right?!

Caution. If you are sensitive about religion, do not continue to read this. I do not mean to offend, but I'm not completely PC either.

Oh-my! I did this as a lark, but the results were such that I had to share this with my peoples.

So we've been watching A LOT of the TV series, Lost lately. Matty got me the season 1 DVDs for Christmas, and STiVo has patiently been saving season 2 all this time. We had a few marathon sessions, especially during the DVDs: one 8-episode entire day, plus a couple 4-episode week nights! Yikes, that a lot.

Combine this with the fevered "little voice in my head" and you've got quite the chatter. I've always been an avid inner conversationalist, having full on discussions, arguments, and rationalizations all within the confines of my skull. Sometimes I think Bonez would appreciate it if I included him in these discussions, but overall I believe he's relieved. My head can prattle on and on.

Dude

And so from all this Lost watching, you'd think that my inner voice would pick up on some hero/heroin figure, right? Nope. My inner voice is totally set to Hugo "Hurley" Reves, dude extraordinaire. 'Read more' for some of my inner dialog.

Who can you blame for these meme things? The initial blogger that started it (have you ever back tracked and found the owner)? The "friend" that tagged you on it? What about the bloggers that propagate this, including yourselves?

Well, screw the blame and just have some fun with it! Read more to find out a few items that make me a bit kooky.

Updated*

Christmas is a time for memories and tradition. For instance, gathering around the um.. yule-evision for a viewing of that Christmas classic Elbo The Elf *, roasting chestnuts on a open (propane) fire, or having that Christmas cookie dough fight. Perhaps you have your own traditions.

One of the things that we try to do each year that we aren't with family is to repurpose the fishcam for a couple of days as the Christmas webcam.

Avid visitors from previous xmas webcams will notice a key difference this year. No big tree. That is due to the new kitten in the house. Instead, we have a couple of smaller, more put-out-of-Walter's-reach trees. Oh, and that ever so creepy snowman head. (What's up with that snowman head? I mean, I can totally see how Santa's workshop would be unionized, but is there some sort of jolly mafia up there in the north pole? Was there a hit put on this snowman? Is this a warning to his family? Yikes!)

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Update: Happy Boxing Day! (or is it "Merry"?) We had a happy and fun Christmas day. We missed you if you weren't here, and if you were, then thanks for coming out. The camera is down until next year (at least). We wish you all a super happy new year.

* What? You don't know and cherish Elbo the Elf? Well no longer will you have ignorance to blind you to this touching and memorable story. Come back in a day (or two - it is the holidays after all) for the wonderful story of Elbo. Our *gift* to you!

Um. So yeah. We're still here. And we've been thinking about a lot of great things to post. Stories and projects and recipes - Oh, my! But, you see, there's this impending deadline (What? No - it has not already past. Hush yo mouth.), and we're trying to get a bunch of great things done and a short amount of time... while continuing to live our "normal" lives.

So please be patient with us and I promise good and exciting things to come.

No, I will not give you any hints.

No. I will not whisper it in your ear no matter how much you promise to keep it a secret.

And no, you cannot unwrap one gift, even the smallest, until it is time.

Now go play nicely with the other blogs, and we'll see you after the holidays.

There is the occasional need for good, bad TV. And since the advent of "reality" shows, both the 'badness' and our need to watch has grown exponentially. I say this in the "we" of Matty and I, but I am fairly certain that a large portion of the populous are doing the same damn thing.

One of the shows that we watch is Cheaters. Joey (or Joel) Grecco tells us all about local (DFW area) infidelities and trysts. No, I am not going to write all about the greatness (of bad) that is Cheaters, or go on anymore about crap TV. This was all an introduction to prepare you for what you are about to see when you click 'Read More'.

These aren't your grandma's My-relative type-Went-To-cityname-And-All-I-Got-Was-This-Lousy-T-shirt mementos! (Phew, that was tricky to write!) Unless your grandma rocked. Which she might have. I dunno; I don't know yer g'maw.

Anyhoo, the point is that Bonez and I picked up a bit more that a tchotchke that will last... well, a lifetime.

Once upon Thanksgiving woe,
We wanted to go to the house of Poe.
Tho it was in a bit of a ghetto,
Luckily, we were in um.. well... Baltimo'
For more info, just click "read more".

yulp. hop inside for pix of our pumpkins and bucky

Another fun (and quick!) meme is making it's way around the interverse. You simply Google "[your name] needs", and post the top 10 posts that match. So here we go...

1. Nancy needs to make sure that her Mom understands Nancy's message. (ha - this came from another knitblogger's meme of the same!)
2. Nancy needs witness accounts of rental activity to take action.
3. You calculated that Nancy needs 2097 kilocalories per day. (Eep?!)
4. Nancy needs help choosing snake to breed.
5. Nancy needs catechists. (EEP!)
6. Nancy needs to "bite the bullet" and let her boss know that...
7. Nancy needs the exact same hardware in both machines for the servers to work together.
8. I was just informed Nancy needs a copy of our DLs.
9. Nancy needs a family who can not only provide her with the nurturing, care and security, but also firm and consistent boundaries.
10. It's too dark, however, Nancy needs a flashlight.

Funny note... when I did this a day or two ago without the quote marks, I pulled up a lot of Nancy Drew mysteries. Now go check yourselves out!

I may be cutting this close, but this is for Mim. A pix of my feet.

Warning to those that don't like nakeed feet (Rachel): There are bare toes in the next bit! Don't go any further, even for pix of Walter. Here... here's a Walter pic to appease you. Now you have no reason to go on. Everyone else, click to see Walter attacking my toes.

yep.

How are our three, mature (not older, gotta watch that!) cats taking the invasion of Sir Walter? What do they think of his ultra cuteness and high energy? I believe that Dil's look captures not just the moment, but their collective philosophy of new kitten.

There is a new member of our family. More info and pictures inside. Do not look unless you can handle a boatload of cute. If you get woozy from too much cute, do not look at the pictures while operating heavy machinery.

Although this post is really giving you nothing (and asking nothing in return, thank you v. much!), it is saying a lot. I've got plenty to say, but nothing right now. We've been having fun (yay!), been sick (yuck.), been busy, and been all around town. Yet, still I say nothing.

Corn-fused? Yeah, me too. The 'read more' section just goes on to talk about more nothing, and when my nothing will change to something for all you dear readers out there.

A certain ducky tagged me for this meme thing. (Oh, duck. You'll get your comeuppance!)

So... in my 23rd post, the fifth line reads:

:-P

A bit anti-climatic, right? Okay, well if emoticons (that's so aught-3) don't count, I guess here's the real 5th sentence:

Click on the 'read more' for the recipe, or read on knowing that our bellies are happy tonight.

It was a recipe for our Thanksgiving turkey carcass made into tasty soup with couscous and spinach. And it was tasty! I may hug you instead of hurt you now, duck. You've reminded me of some yum I forgot about. How soon is Thanksgiving?

In retribution ('cause that's what its all about), I'm tagging a few pals I know... Lauren, Erica, Rachel, Jennifer, and Michelle.

Here are the rules for the meme:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

Enjoy!

Lookie what I got

Hey you! You with the reciprocated love. Five years... its the tip of the iceberg.

Happy Anniversary, Bonez.

**Update** And just so you know that it really is reciprocal...

My shoes rock!

It's been a few weeks, but still find myself enamored with a new pair of sneaks that I bought on a whim. I have to restrain from wearing them every single day, and am extra-happy on the days when I allow myself to wear them. Crazy, huh?

Don't be jealous. I'm sure that you have a neat pair of shoes that make your sole (ha!) smile and heart sing, too. You do, don't you? If not, what are you waiting for?

We know. It's hot and bright out. The heat saps your energy and the sun? The sun, she causes wrinkles in the corners of your eyes. (Not that they're noticable on you. YOU look loverly and well-rested.)

So come into the shade, just to cool off and rest a while. Maybe leave when it's not so hot and blinding out.

Well, since you're here, can we offer you a beverage? Something nice and refreshing, perhaps with a little bite to it? Oh sure, we have our tasty limeade that will surely quench your thirst. But perhaps I can recommend one of our house drinks instead?

Motivation is a most difficult beast to domesticate.

No words can really explain the image you're about to see. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh. And that's even without going THERE.

sshhh. be vewy, vewy quiet

To get your sleep. You need it, ya' know. Beauty rest (ha!) and all. You're not so young anymore. So find a cozy place to rest, and grab some Z's.

And if that catnap spot happens to be a kewl bed knit by the Skitterness herself, well then bonus. (Thank you, your most Skitterificous one. Mrow.)

Taking my cue (okay - actually stealing the idea) from Best Week Ever, I'm going to start regularly posting 'Upgrade/Downgrade' reviews every Friday. These will totally be of my own, not-so-humble opinions perhaps with a little help from my friends.

The premier issue? Dark chocolate M&Ms

I like big butts (and I cannot lie), but this is ridiculous

Besides the cute bunnies in our back yard, this vision accosted us last weekend.

Okay, so I don't know if it's really love, lust, or just friends, but we have bunnies in our back yard!

Overheard in la casa:

She: I wonder if she (a common friend) has hit menopause yet?
He: I wonder how old she is?
She: When does one get hit by menopause?
He: Menopause can strike at any time - it's like a ninja!

[insert fits of laughing]

Yes. Menopause is exactly like a ninja. A black-belt, karate-fighting, menstruation-stopping, hormone-messing ninja! Do you think Quentin Tarantino would make a movie about it?

Okay, so maybe I'm the last to jump on this here pony. Or maybe there will be a second wave of this meme thing for late blooming bloggers. (I will mention no names.) Anywho, it's the interview thing, and here's how it works:

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones asked of me.
3. You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I stepped up to bat with Miss La' of pr0n fame. With a little help from her friends, she asked a mishmash of questions ranging from general favs to... well, ones with answers that you may not want to know.

So read on IF. YOU. DARE. [insert maniacal laughter here]

For those of you waiting for the answers to La's interview of me, please be bit more patient. You're dealing with an accomplished procrastintor, ya' know.

Hey Skitter ... Happy Birthday, grrl!

Let me be the first (no matter what time you read this, it's early - don't ask) to wish you the best this year. May happiness find you this year.

I won't divulge the age of Mme. Skittermagoo, but I will tell you that she's full of childish vim and vigor. (What that means exactly, I don't know. But she's great fun to hang out with.) I will tell you that since meeting C., I believe that I have found my fraternal, non-familial twin. Or sister, none-the-least. We share v. similar tastes in music, movies, men. (Really, it's kind of weird how similar B. and Bonez are.)

So miss thang, have yourself a great, fun time today. If not for yourself, then for me.

I like my house. I like my friends. So why not bring these two great tastes together?!

So. Um,... we moved.

Yeah, well, Matty and I are bad people. You see, we moved mid-November and haven't really passed the news on to many people. Oh, sure. We told our folks and siblings... well, most of them I think. And the USPS is forwarding our mail, so we got all those loverly cards. Thanks.

It's just that we've been so darn busy. Yeah, yeah - I know that you've heard this excuse up and down the block, but really. We learned an important lesson this year. If at all possible, don't move from Oct through Jan. It's just too much.

So without further ado, I give you a pic of our new abode. This was taken on Dec. 22, just before we took a cab to Union Station to catch our train. (Yes, it was snowing in Dallas.) House living is so different from apartment living, in really small yet pleasing ways.

We are back from our winter wonderland trip to the north. Yes, it was cold and snowy. Yes, it was fun. Yes, we are glad to be back.

My fella' and I took the train up to visit our families in OH and MI. Yes, the TRAIN. Amtrak. Yes, it still runs and people (a few at least) still travel via this method. We both had a great time and highly recommend it as long as you have some spare time. I hope to write more or post another article just on our travel/train experience, so I'm not going into much now.

But the point of this article is to say that Yay!, we're home and the holidays were good to us. We hope they were good to y'all, too. And not that the gifts or the getting is the important focus of the holidays, but I had to share a pic of the bounty that Santa left at my folks house. Amazing, no? (Okay, so click the image to see a not so skewed image, but still insanity.) Between the two families, we ended up celebrating three Christmases and gift exchanges. phew!

Merry Everything and Happy Always

So I'm happy

Matty and I did this last holiday, Thanksgiving, up well. Although we missed our traditional turkey-day family trip, I think that we more than made up for it. We road-tripped up north to visit Rachel, Jason, and (of course) baby Benny. (And don't forget Scout & Rossi-roo, too!)

We had a great, if not too short, visit, and did the requisite eat-until-you-can't-budge meal. What may be surprising to some of you is that those places up north... well, they're cold.

Oh, sure, sure. It's been nippy down in the big D lately. Frost an' all. But in MN, we got snow. In the foto, jimmi is covered. (His first snowfall!)

It was also Benny's first snowfall. It's a good thing that his auntie had knit him some sweaters to wear! Yup, proud me knit that blue sweater (with football buttons), hat, and matching booties.

What? Does that sweater look familiar? Huh... oh - that may be because it was knit way back here for my friend's twin boys. They had out grown them before I was done knitting 'em. And then they were indented for Jackson, but he was too big and the weather was too warm. So guess what sweet lil' boy lucks out?!

And yes, the original deal was for two sweaters, and two there are! I changed out the buttons (R & J aren't really into sports, so the baseballs had to go) and put on some Peter Rabbit buttons. You might recognize this sweater from here!

The knitting probably bored Mr. Bonez to tears, but he sure joined in on the baby lovin'. Are they some cute boyz?

The lack of articles recently has probably made you wonder, "Have Nancy and Matt run out of things to blather on about?" The answer is definitely not!

We are in the final few days packing madness before we are in the new digs. For now, ponder the photo I took this morning of our living room floor.

Ponder Points:

• Will he really pack his converse in bubble wrap, or is their living room just a gigantic mess?
• In the grand scheme of things, am I the shoe, or the bubble wrap?
• Where can I find bubble wrap to pop?

Answers to these questions and more will be unpacked, unwrapped and discovered in the following weeks. Stay tuned.

A bit belated, but worth it! Apparently some Amish do use electricity and computer to surf the 'net for... ? Cow teat balm? Barn raising ideas? Beard grooming tools on eBay?

Matt's ease into the Amish style and look is a bit too spooky to me, but that's Halloween. (He he - "Amish style" he he he.)

Yup. I voted today. As did Matt. (Or at least he was right behind me in line, I guess I didn't really see him mark anything on the ballot. But I'm pretty sure...) Besides, we were up late last night researching our votes and making personal cheat sheets, er... notes to take with us. Damn, we'd make Jon Stewart proud!

I am a little disappointed that we don't get "I Voted Today" stickers anymore. It is such a little thing, but brings so much joy.

Oh, and the ballots here are a bit different - you use a fine point Sharpie® (provided) to fill in the circle for whom or what you're voting. (And no, you don't get to keep the Sharpie®.) V. similar to scantron tests from school days, but with the Sharpie® and not a #2 pencil. (Can you tell I have a Sharpie® fixation?) When completed, you send the form through an electronic ballot box, which verifies - what? I don't know. But I do know that this morning Matt was voter #98 and I was #100. Yay!

It's been a busy camp 'round these parts, but worth every bit. This past weekend, we decided that Jimmie (that's the Civic Hybrid's name... for now) needed to stretch his legs, or tires (or whatever would be relative to the car's anatomy). And since we've had a visit to another new boy on our To-Do list, it just seemed perfect to do them together.

A few hours later and we were visiting with this handsome, young man. (Okay, so this really isn't the best pic of baby Jackson, but it makes me laugh.) JT was one day away from 3 months and is already a big boy. He laughs and smiles and is an all over awesome tyke. We like Jackson. And his folks are purty kewl, too.

Now we're just waiting for Ramona and it'll be a grand ol' time!

After a fun day out, here are some pix of the new car.

Can you guess? Huh, huh? Y'all are a smart bunch, I'm certain you can figure this out.

Yep - we got a new car!

The quick n' dirty: it's a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid. Yep, you heard/read right - hybrid. Gas and electric working together in harmony for Mom Earth. Trying to make up for so many damn Hummers and SUVs. That, and it's sweet.

We'll post more details tomorrow and a pic, or two. Tonight? Well, I'm just too tired. It's been a long day, and I want to get some sleep so that I can wake up excited 'bout the new car again. (It doesn't have to make sense to make me happy.)

Haven't you always wanted to be "hand-cancelled"? Did you ever think why that hadn't gotten around to putting YOU on a stamp yet? (They shouldn't have to wait till you're dead to realize your brilliance, do they? I mean, you amaze yourself all the time.)

Well wait no more. You can realize your importance right now and share it with others! Put yourself on a stamp. PhotoStamps will take (nearly) any photo image and make them into real stamps. That the post office will really use. Amazing, no?

This is an awesome site and idea. What a great way to personalize your holiday cards, party announcements, and what not. This beats the pants off of those customized address labels any day! And they'd make great gifts for family and friends.

The ideas are limitless. (Well, okay. There is a limit. But not the point.) Hmmm - it could almost be like trading cards. Collect cancelled postage of your friends, or your friends' pets. Oh, the joy.

Today is my sweetheart's birthday. Instead of a picture of him from his childhood (I'm too lazy/medicated to scan a pic), I give you what he would look like if he was a South Park character. Ta Da!

Matty Bonez, may all your PEZ dreams and wishes come true.

What? You want to make your S.P. character, too? Then go here.

Now what?! You want to see mine? Okay, here ya' go.

Have you seen a good movie? Drop us a comment.

-----

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far, keep 'em coming.

More inside...

It's hard to believe that a mere four years ago, Matty and I stood in front of (an) Elvis in Vegas and got married. Yep, Viva Las Vegas indeed!

It's been great and we're trying to keep our vows to not step on the other's blue suede shoes, be together on Christmas so that it's not blue, and to be each other's teddy bears. U-huh. [visualize the lip curl]

Now give us a little suga', baby.

Don't fret, Nancy will be updating soon. She's been out with a cold for a few days and hasn't been feeling like writing anything. In case you were wondering, her throat hurts, she has a fever, and she coughs an awful lot. Sick, sick, sick. She is eating chicken noodle soup, juice and cough drops. I expect that she will be up and around very soon.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

We're back from our vacation in New England, and had lots of fun, and even more cool stuff to write about in the coming weeks.

You should look forward to a range of stories/entries/articles (whatever) about black bears on scooters, grabbing the brass ring, airline travel and more.

On an unrelated note, when we got home, there were approximately 300 comments on various articles which normally would be cool, but most of them were from the evil porno spambots (from the planet concubine!). At any rate, when you leave comments now, you need to also key in a security code that is displayed in the comment area. This ensures that the messages are left by people and not bots.

Look for new content as early as--- umm... well, soon!

Okay, to most my next comment is going to seem crazy, but hear me out. (Click on the image ONLY if you want to see the real thing. Wussies, do not click.)

I miss the cicadas.

Back home (Ohio), they're going through the emergence of the 17-year cicada. We don't seem to have cicadas in Texas (at least not in Dallas). And I am truly missing this experience.

I have fond memories of cicadas; collecting the shells like great treasures as a toddler (kept in a cigar box for my friend), comically trying to walk/ride a bike/drive through throngs of cicadas, and the amazing site of our backyard after the last cycle of 17-yearers (it looked like an aeration treatment gone awry).

It's too quiet here in Texas. Sure, we have nasty, huge roach-like things, plenty of June bugs, and other nasty creepy-crawlers. But no singing cicadas. No fireflies, either. Shame 'bout those, too.

So no, I'm not crazy. Just sentimental.

Today is Nancy's birthday. It's really not my place to say how old, but I will include the obligatory picture of her as a kid.

... and Hershey® Caramel Kisses! oh, sweet heaven - life is good!

I finally made it to the Woolie Ewe and what glorious site that was! Yarn, yarn and more yarn - all fibers, colors and textures. Yum!

While I was there, I picked up Rowan® Big Wool and Lind 60® Tondo to make a felted purse. Some Crystal Palace® Cotton Chenille wanted to come home with me to become the Bloom Flower Washcloth from Weekend Knitting. And I couldn't resist a ball each of Gedifra® Shakira and GGH® Boboli in similar fern colors. What they'll become is a surprise.

Also in my basket was a Clover® Bamboo Circs US#15 and Chibi finishing needles. Plus later today, my Bonez got me the Spring/Summer issue of Vogue Knitting International. (Such a sweetie.)

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo AND my birthday month, Bonez and I went out to eat at El Fenix (we hit the geriatric "rush") and saw 'Mean Girls'. Yay - mean girls! Yay - the Tina Fey!

Click on the image for a alternative view.

Behold my Chucks!

I have never owned a pair of Converse before. Yes, I am part of the generation that brought Chucks into fashion. But somehow I missed the boat. (That happened a lot growing up.) So my Matty got me these. Aren't they delish!

I [heart] Cons. Especially Tang Cons.

I love pistachios.

This is a fairly new realization. I don't remember having these green gems as a kid, and if given the choice I'd still choose chocolate ice cream over pistachio. But the nutty goodness of these green legumes are, at times, overwhelming.

Just today while having lunch with my dear Bonez, I mentioned that I've missed snacking on pistachios these last few days. (We had recently finished the last of a 4 lb. bag of nuts from Sam's Club.) They're much tastier than the traditional salty snack choices, like chips or munchies ending in "-itos." And they do have health benefits. (Perhaps not in the quantity that I maw down on them.)

Somehow, we started discussing the idea of eating your (my) weight in pistachios. To me, this sounded like a great and rewarding challenge! Would the amount be based on your starting weight, or would it increase much like my thighs, hips and ass? Is there a time limit, or could this be a lifetime achievement sort-of thing?

I will admit that even after filling up on my delish' lunch, the idea of this many pistachio nuts just for me seemed tempting and possible. My mouth just might have been watering... a little.

Then we started discussing the immense quantities of nuts needed to reach this mighty goal. In case you've never seen it, even 4 lbs of pistachio nuts is quite a lot. We could store them in a rented garage, but the birds and squirrels (and people - hey, what are u looking at?!) may be a liability. Just then we passed a lovely, older VW Bug in, what looked like, mint condition and we were temporarily freed from our nut trance. But not for long.

Immediately, the conversation took an odd turn (yeah, it wasn't so odd up till now, right?). Matty thinks that this quantity of pistachio nuts, in the shell, would fit into the VW Bug (including the trunk). I disagreed, but admitted that I was very entertained by this thought. We could use a new Beetle for the discarded shells. How exciting! This, of course, kept us laughing the rest of the way home and then some.

Okay. That's the end of the story. Thanks for listening. Now go home.

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines opportunity as "A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances." It's a rare opportunity for me to get pix of our other two cats.

Dil is our (plus-size) supermodel; always showing off for company, and making herself and her needs known to all. So it's seldom that we can get a good photo of Marie PussPuss (no, don't ask about the name - it goes on and on from there) and Mrs. Slocombe.

Every four years, there is an extra day, February 29. It's kinda like a bonus. Woo!

It doesn't snow much in Texas. When it does, it merits a couple of pictures.

I'm usually not a huge fan of leftovers. I rarely take the extra portions from restaurants, and if I do I usually throw them away within a few days. Home-cooked leftovers retain their original form (unless they can be made into a burrito of sorts) until I'm tired of reheating my history. Cooking - that I can do, but reanimating a meal into a fantastic new beast? Nope.

So that's why I was surprised at both myself and the latest two leftover dishes that I've made.

Is that beef roast (or stew) leaving you cold? Did the holiday ham overstay it's welcome? If these meats are still good [read: not green, slimy, or mush], I've found a way to make them new and tasty... again.

Sometimes, I am a boob. (Like as a goofball or a dork, not a mammary gland.)

I have made some über cüt magnets and packaged them in equally cüt tins (from The Container Store). The recipients' name or an apropriate quip spelled out in stickers was affixed to the lid, side, or under-the-lid of the tin. These were are fun and clever and simple to make. They are going out in the mail today.

I, however, forgot to take pix of any of it. [grumble, grumble- my own stupidity, grumble]

I guess it was due to the confusion of finding other cute stuff at The Container Store, like this, this, and this. Oh, well. Another day, another goof-up. At least it's minor. % )

Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing you prosperity and wealth (gung hey fat choy).

I don't know why I skipped past the washcloths in my knitting journey. I mean, I made the requisite coasters and bookmarks. Washcloths were the next stop before scarves. (And I'm still there, it seems.) For whatever reason, I did and now I find myself backtracking.

I like birds.

I mean, sure, I do like birds (but not for pets) and their little chirping ways, and such. But what I really like are when my cats are stalking the birds!

Oh, everyone is safe and good. The cats watch the bird antics from the balcony and there's no fear of them jumping down. (The only cat that would fit is too damned scared to do anything so dangerous.) So the happily stare and anticipate for when they capture the birdies (or at least that's what it seems like when their butts twitch - anticipation).

Ah, an indoor cat's life must be grand.

I tried capturing a pic of the cat-bird relationship, but neither party was willing to participate. So here's a pic of Dil and Mrs. Slocombe waiting for their turns.

Everything has a balance of yin and yang. It makes the world a livable place and (most) people tolerable. This balance can be found demonstrated in some truly odd ways.

I crave order and planning. (Yin) I am a huge procrastinator. (Yang)

This works itself out in ways that could drive a normal person (or matty) nuts. I purchase organizational tools and gizmos for each and every occasion. But I never get around to entering the data or keeping up with the projects. I vowed that this time would be different!

In order to reduce my sentence (and my stash, he he) for the 2004 Stash Lock Down! I need to be on my best behavior. To encourage this, I'm planning a handful of challenges to get me motivated. The first of these is to deplete my fleece stash by leap day (Feb 29).

I was/am the secret Santa to my brother, Mike. (Secret's out, so no worries.) I had this great scarf in the works. Then I hit an obstacle. So I came up with a solution...

...that didn't work out in time.

And still no giftie for my bro. What a snafu.

No. I'm not talking about that kid's cereal with the leprechaun. And those who know me know that I wouldn't tout the word "magically" about unless I really meant it.

And I do. These are the most incredible, edible frozen treats ever! * See what all the hubbub's about.

* Qualifier: non-chocolate, frozen treats.

Within the past four months, I've seen a lot of knitting blogs referring to "Stash Reductions" and "Yarn Diets." I've been intrigued, but never jumped in.

Recently, it has come to my attention that I have more fabric and yarn than this home will hold. (Funny how if it's hidden in the back of the closet it doesn't really count. ;-) I've been found guilty of amassing masses of textiles and fibers.

Starting immediately, I am self-imposing the 2004 Stash Lock Down! program. It will be a tough-love situation with sweatshop-like conditions. An' I ain't gonna be no fabrics' biatch!

Dil wants to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

That and you had better pet her soon!

Many of the folk I know wax poetic about having a big, juicy stuffed turkey for Christmas dinner. But for me, it's always seemed like we've just finished the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers and I'm ready for something different.

This year I conceeded to the ham request and I was justly rewarded.

Well, it's a new year... what are you gonna do about it?

I've put needles to yarn and have knitting up a Secret Santa gift for my mom to give to my nephew, Nakoda. (It's after the holidays, so I'm okay letting the secret out.)

And then I get gushy about the craft. Damn me for being a girl!

You'll want to trade your soul for this fine soup. So easy and so tasty. Don't worry about the length of the ingredients list, most of this stuff you should have on hand.

This soup made an excellent meal served with Chili-Cheese Black Bean Enchiladas .

Yes. I know 'circle' is misspelled. I was trying to be clever. But nothing should distract from the tasty goodness of these turkey rounds. Not even the lack of a good title.

These aren't holiday-turkey leftovers, they're made with ground turkey. But don't think of them like hamburger patties, either. This is better than either of those, ya' turkey.

A bit belated, but here they are... the cookies I baked for Christmas.

None were very fancy or traditionally festive, but we're starting our own traditions. A favorite for both Matty and I, and a shared fav between us. Three recipes, all good.

Note: The treecam has been transformed back into the fishcam. Thanks to everyone who stopped in today... Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas "y'all"!

Like last year, the fishcam is now temporarily the treecam. Drop in for a few minutes, it will be on for the next few days. Here are the links...they will open in a new window. (note: if you use the streaming video link, the video could take as long as 10 seconds to load in the beginning. Be patient *smiles*.

cross-browser, friendly, updates once-a-minute
or
streaming video

This is the year of fluffy and foofoo girlie scarves. Bright splashes of color and the oh-so-many variations of eyelash and novelty yarns! It's really quite exciting, you see.

So I had to do my part. The scarf isn't so bright or foofoo-ey, but it does have the bright pink eyelash yarn going for it and it's definitely girlie.

Temperatures are dropping; lights are twinkling; malls are overcrowding. Yup, it must be the holidays!

My great friend Krista and her husband found out that not only are they expecting, but that they'll be getting twin boys! How exciting for them.

Although I couldn't make it to the baby showers (which turned out okay, since she was uber-sick), I knitted up my first, and second, pair of baby tube socks.

I WILL complete my squares!

I WILL make Matty complete his!

And little, by little the wedding quilt for Rachel and Jason will be done.