A belated Christmas special

I'm a little slow on the uptake, I should have posted images from my trip to Maine for Christmas AGES ago. But due to the overwhelming feeling of not really giving a damn about the birth of "Jesus" I didn't. It's always better to arrive fashionably late, you may miss the best finger food, but you get closer to the time the whole thing is over with. So if you will just bear with me a bit, I will show you the breathtaking breathtakingness of Maine, Our forgotten state.

My mother spends most of her time in Virginia, and the rest of that in Maine where she bought a house from her brother. The good daughter that I am, I chose to spend this years holiday with her. And I didn't take any images of the actual Christmas celebration going down, but I did take images of my family's back yard, where we took our dog for the best walk of his life.




My Grandfather created a Christmas tree farm. That's right, a Christmas tree farm. And during the summers I would work there for my uncle who now owns the business. People, they do not grow in that shape, it takes dedicated people such as myself and the promise of $.60 an hour to wield a machete and sheer them into that shape. Better than therapy. I loved working there, wouldn't do it again, but I loved it.



Lots of trees, acres and rows going on forever.



It was a creepy and foggy day, but here we have the trees. Little seedlings that from what my uncle tells me are really big with the deer population this year.


This is the old Slaughter house. When my grandfather owned a farm it was where they killed the chickens, they now sell you wreaths.



William on our hike. Akira dog is somewhere peeing on something.



This was the end of the world. The boundaries, if you ever get to them are just woods and nothings.



On our way back, we got a little lost in the white and seriously, didn't I already pass that row? Or was it that one? We came across this tower of rocks. We don't really know what it is, even after my other uncle who created it explained it. He's an artist, a painter to be exact, and a damn good one. He does mostly nature. I don't have any money, or enough to afford one of his pieces, but they are sureal and breathtaking. I would however fork over for a large print poster if they make them. He has no website yet. I googled him and here are the top 3 search results.

Alan Bray
alan.bray @manchester.ac.uk. Address. Room 6.6 Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester England ...
theory.ph.man.ac.uk/~bray/home.html - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

Knitting Circle Alan Bray
Alan Bray went to Bangor University where he took a joint degree in history and English. ... In 1970 Alan Bray joined the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) . ...
myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/alanbray.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Bates College | Alan Bray
A painter who studied at the Art Institute of Boston and the University of Southern Maine, Alan Bray received his master's in painting from Villa Schifanoia ...
www.bates.edu/alan-bray-painter.xml - 23k - Cached - Similar pages

I think the last one was him, but alas no images.

That pretty much sums up my trip. So I leave you with this.



Happy holidays. I'm outta here

Day 2 of my week without Will

Day 2 has rolled around and my chef is nowhere to be found. So what does a smart chick like me end up doing? Why go to the grocery store and discover a fast and easy way to make a curry that does not burn my tastebuds off. Enter the "Tastes of the World" isle at Shaws and premade curry.



How did it taste? Not as funny as it looks, but it is a far cry from the "Pujabi Dahba" at Inman Sq. Oh Dabah... I miss your paneer.



Please come home soon. I may starve... or fill the fridge with leftovers. And I need someone to tell me that raw cookie dough is not an entre.

If you have an SUV...

Just don't, think about the rest of us first! What are you doing with an SUV outside of the Yukon? Does it make your trip to the grocery store that much more exciting knowing you have 4 wheel drive? You drive something akin to the size of a New York apartment! Terrorists are not coming after your babies, and your Hummer will NOT do you any good when the apocalypse comes? And forget about blind spots! Hey Steve McQueen, try using your rear view mirror once in a while! They do not make you impervious to winter storms. If memory serves me right, I've only seen your so called "safety vehicles" laying in ditches along the highway. Do you see me in my little Chevy Cavalier waving to you while I CAREFULLY maneuver along the slippery terrain? Seriously folks, I say this out of concern for my own safety, my nerves can't handle knowing that you are out there... driving. And I tire of laying on the horn in order to prevent you from attempting to drive over me simply because you believe it is your right.

So I say to those sad sad soccer moms in their empty marriages who do not work outside the home, I dislike the lot of you. And I will continue waving each and every time I see you in a ditch on the side of the road.

Damn this is good therapy, and to think it is free and doesn't include a prescription.

Praise be my poison womb

.

A big sigh of relief in the knowledge that my period has not arrived due only to my disfunctional ovaries. A little know fact about me is that my girlie bits get bored and start day dreaming and therefore forget to do the things that they are supposed to do. Once, they skived for a year and a half. I'll tell you, that was a whole lot of pocket money saved since I didn't have to run out and buy feminine products every month. I can sleep easier also knowing that it really is just fat from too many potato chips that are adding a bit of jiggle to my waist line. Damn chips! If only they didn't taste so good and give me so much comfort.

I think I got pee on me.

First meal alone

So Christmas has come and gone, and so has my baby. He's coming back in a few days, he only went to Colorado to visit his family for a belated Christmas, but still I am alone. So after crying when I dropped him off at Logan, like a big fat sissy, I returned to my home alone and promptly began watching really bad TV, just because I could. Now Will is the cook in this family, and I feared that I would starve until his return, the dog sure as hell isn't going to whip me up a fine feast, but I made my first meal and thanks to the no-meat chicken from MorningStar Farms, a veg-head like me can eat a dish so fine, bet it had you fooled. It can only fool a vegetarian that it isn't real meat.



So behold my meal, my first foray into rice making (I have never made rice that I can remember, I just don't have that gene that everyone else has that allows them to know the perfect balance of rice to water.) After winging it, I made a bowl of slightly dry and not even noticeably burnt basmati. Mmmm, I tucked into that like it was a $50 gourmet meal, then put the rest in a gladware bowl and told myself that it would be lunch for tomorrow. This however to those who know me, know that I don't like to do "leftover" I think it becomes contaminated overnight. I'm not germophobic, I just don't like to eat food that has had time to... ripen. And our dog is a smart dog, he knows the difference between what is meat and what isn't. Maybe I'll keep it around to show Will, that I made a real diner alone that didn't require a microwave.

the Hat in the Cat

Believe it or not, I knitted this in about a day, even though I have the lame hand (see post below). It's a cat hat. Cute, huh? Not so good with the keeping my head warm thing. But I totally rock the Hat in the Cat.

Photo of the day

fall
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

Fall is here in New England... so is the cold.

it slices, it dices

finger
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

To those who don't know me, i'm accident prone. To those who do lnow me, hey... i've done it again. A few years ago I split my thumb open trying to slice a bagel, that only got me one stitch. A few weeks ago I decided to wear some kitten heel shoes to work instead of my regular trainers; needless to say I took an ass dive in the warehouse and everyone knew about it the next day. But Wednesday night at work I was cutting proofs (which I will never do again, and kinda cut my finger right up the middle. You'd think the finger nail would have helped to stop it, but the razor went through it like buttah. Apparently I very nearly severed the tip off and needed an x-ray to determine if I hit the bone or not (I guess I came really close,) If I had chosen to look I'm sure I would've seen the bone, and I've always been curious as to what that looks like. So, much blood, 6 glorious stitches and a removed fingernail I went home, but not without a prescription for Duricef for infection and Percocet for pain. I can say that I am happy for the percocet, not so much for the fact that I nearly cut half of my finger tip off. But now it looks like I'm always having a great idea.

Photo of the day

standing
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

New England is getting colder and wetter by the minute, but no amount of soul crushing grotty weather will keep me from wearing fun kicks, or dressing in bright clashing colours while walking the dog.

Photo of the day

quincy dog
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

Quincy dog wizzing past us to get our Akira dog. Notice that Akira dog is so much faster and can not register in photographs.

Super snappy

I am now so chic. Look at how fantastic my silhouette looks, really brings out the white in my... outline.

Check out this and other supper snappy fun finds at Pixel Girl. Unfortunatly this hat is now sold out, as is the mocha colour. Too bad. But they have other fantastic things from artists all over. Check out their ipod cases. I was a turn style jumper and got the 4th generation crazy thick & heavy 40 gig ipod, but they only carry cases for 20gig max or I would have bought everything they had. I cry myself to sleep because of this... really.

The sweetness that is our dog

cuddled up with his soccer ball

I can clean my house... really...

click on the tab to view image

New video from the new Sigur Ros album. And if you are like everyone I know besides my sister, you may not know who these cats are. They are from Iceland and they sing in jibberish, but they make some beautiful music. Found this video for their fourth album and it's about as strange as their lyrics, but they have some of the best looking scandinavian kids, and I don't like kids.



click image to play video (Quicktime)

I guess the blame game is back on

Aside from the fact that I think our government is seriously flawed, I gave a little giggle this morning when I saw the Yahoo news spot about Michael Brown going against the whole "Blame is a moot point, we are not playing the blame game." and we enter the spin cycle. Now with all of the spin not working as we saw through the thin veil and clearly knew who to blame for this dog and pony show. Brown has come out fighting with fingers pointing in all directions.

Former top U.S. disaster official Michael Brown, on the hot seat Tuesday for the botched response to hurricane Katrina, blamed state and local officials for delaying a mandatory evacuation order of New Orleans and said he asked the White House for help.

Many legislators on the special U.S. House of Representatives committee were clearly exasperated with Brown, who has been widely attacked as a political crony with little experience who was given the job because he was a college buddy of Bush's former campaign manager.

"You can try to throw as much as you can on the backs of Louisianians but I'm a witness as to what happened in Mississippi," said Democrat Gene Taylor.

"You folks fell on your face. You get an F-minus in my book," said Taylor.

"The disconnect was people thought there was some federal expertise out there. It wasn't, not from you."

Republican Kay Granger of Texas told Brown: "I don't know how you can sleep at night. You lost the battle."

Republican Christopher Shays of Connecticut said: "I'm happy you left . . . You weren't capable of doing the job."

"We had a non-evacuation. Then what? Give up?"

"That's what I feel you did."

And Republican William Jefferson of Louisiana, said it was "absolutely stunning" Brown was "laying the blame for FEMA's failings" on the governor and mayor, both Democrats.

Next he'll be blaming the citizens of New Orleans for living there in the first place.

What a dick

America's Next Top...(Insert humor here)

So the 50th season of Americ'a Next Top Model (ANTM) premiered last night. 2 Hours of screaming girls who for some reason just go out of their heads crazy happy when they see the Florida Orange that is Jay Manuel. No one should get that excited about Jay... No one! The first hour we are introduced to the 30 something semi finalists who beg and cry to get to the next cut. We see a stream of girls who can't walk teeter around on their heels and say things like "I want to be a Top Model because my mother never loved me (start the waterworks)" and then we see some girls who I think were only there as a cruel joke. One nameless twig replies to Tyra's soul searching question "Why do you want to be a model" with "I want my hair done, I want my nails done, I want my make-up done... I just want to be just like you Tyra." And my favorite was the girl who wanted to save the world and little orphans by giving her contract money to a 3rd world country or some charity because sh'e not all about that superficial stuff, and *snap* Tyra cuts in by pointing out her bling and Prada shoes and then was asked when the last time she donated her time to charity. How does the girl reply? "Forget what I just said." This is all so awesome.

Blah blah blah it's narrowed down to 20, there's a runway show where one girl can't stay upright and another can't figure out whether to walk like a man or a woman and tries to do both (gruesom). blah blah blah narrowed down to 13. There are tears from some of the girls who's hopes and dreams are now dashed, you'd think the only way to become a model is through the almighty alienesque Tyra Banks, try pounding the pavement and going to agencies if you want it that badly. Whatever.

So now there's the thirteen to start us off on this rollercoaster of of model fun. I don't really remember all that much from the second hour after they made their final choices. All I can say is this is going to be the bitchiest and most tear staind season yet. Here's to more episodes of "my life as a top model" with "What ever happened to" Naima, to more tears shed over getting their hair cut, and here's to the new judge Twiggy (who was introduced as the model who drew eyelashes on her face, and they were known as "twiggies".) Long live false hopes and cat fights.

apple pick'n

That's right. We went apple picking this morning. That's pretty much my entire story, we drove to the orchard and within ten minutes we picked a peck of apples and went on our way back to the city to make apple pie. OH! but we got to ride on a tractor up to the trees, that was so worth it.

to all the people i never call

It's not 'cause I hate you or anything. I want everyone who knows me and knows my old phone number (or hasn't thrown it away after I moved to Cambridge to be all metropolitan and cooler than you (see article below). I want you all to know that my old number will be disconnected by October 10. I have a new number now and if you call my old moble, the message service will provide you with my new one (this is of course if I don't call you first to inform you) I may be out promoting my new rocker style (again see article below).

I love all of my friends, and the reason I don't call is because I'm too lazy, or I call when the desired person is at happy hour and is a bit too tipsy to remember I've called and can't talk over the loud country music karaoke.

my very own neighborhoodie

look upon me in jealousy, only I can be the bearer of this fancy hoodie. The fine folks over at neighborhoodies have created for me a one of a kind new piece to my wardrobe that will soon make its way to the floor with the rest of my attire usually does. So the point of the neighborhoodies is to create for you fantastic iron on designs with you own caption or graphics etc. Obviously I'm shilling for my neighborhood, but I'm not so much a rocker as a listener of audio books, but maybe people will think I'm really cool, and really into music. What I will start to do is claim to people that I know superfly up and coming artists (I totally plan to come up with the band names myself, what's the point of being fake if you can't have a laugh at someone elses expense?) So someone will be all" hey, did you hear the new Clap your hands say yeah album?" Then I'll say something pretentious like "Clap you hands is good, but you should hear this group called I hate your band, I can't believe you haven't heard of them." then walk away like I know so much more than they do. And to make this even more disgusting, this whole conversation will take while wearing an ipod nano.

NO MORE SPAM you nasty little spammers

Been getting spam in comment sections of the blogs, not just me but every other blogger out there as well. Leave me AND my blog alone you nasty bastards!

a city underwater

It took a few years and a catastrophy that couldn't be blamed on a terrorist for reporters to start reporting the actual "news", to finally say that our government is not working for us anymore. Plain and simple, and it's not going to be fixed while inept people who have been appointed to positions they are highly unqualified for, are too busy pointing fingers in both directions and saying "he went that-a way" "i'm not playing the blame game" when clearly this is a fault of many people. What the citizens of the United States diserve is for someone to say "yeah, we made a poor judgement call, but we are going to fix it". The President was appointed by us (not myself ofcourse), it was not a birth right, he and everyone that surrounds him and everyone that he places in a place of power; they are supposed to represent us. To him, being President is all about photo-ops, and giving his college buddies high paying jobs, and we the people, are suffering for it.

Clinton was impeached for getting a little somthin-somethin on the side. Bush is responsible for leaving Louisianna in danger and underwater (not to mention a Vietnam style war and those esky gas prices) I say the sooner this man is out of the office, the sooner we can start to rebuild a stronger America, one where we really do come first.

Watch this and many more videos at One Good Move

I am now a registered massachusitonian... massachusiter... massachutian...

Okay, so I don't know what I'm called yet, but I am now registered. I have a license, license plates and a parking decal so I can avoid thoses pesky little tickets. However being registered to drive in Massachusetts now enables me to:
1. honk at you purely on a whim.
2. unlearn how to drive.
3. think of traffic lanes not as guidlines but as an idea someone once had, but is not all that important anymore and can be ignored.
4. vote just like the rest of the state

After a week and a half of experiencing the horror of the registry of motor vehicles (known as the DMV to me in Virginia, just another example of how differenly massachusetts views doing things.) After dealing with the most unhelpful people ever born into this world. Being turned away countless times by sustomer service people just because they perhaps didn't want to do the paperwork. I finally got registered, in their face I say. It was actually possible. Now William has to get it taken care of too and we'll be good to go.

Wash your blues away

This certainly helps, thanks Adbusters!

Well if this isn't the cutest darn tootin think you ever did see

Thank you Jessica and Suzy, I love it! I loved the yarn too, and the yummy smelling potpourri and the book on knitting socks. I know what you are getting for Christmas.

Who's praying for Suge?

Not me, I have no idea who the bloke is, but I hear he got himself shot in a club, you'd think someone would catch onto this and stay home. But here's a crazy cat who is deaply crushed by the news. Check out Jeremy Dorin's sight of morning for a few laughs: The Suge. It's all fun and games in the Dorin family.

I got a job!

Okay, long story short. I posted my resume on Monster, the next day I was called by a placement agency that was hired by J.M. Perrone a printing company, to find someone with my very specific qualifications, voila! She found me. Turns out, a designer working at a printing plant for 12 years had just decided to quit at just the same time I started looking for a job so that she could make babies and other things to destroy a quiet night at a restaurant, or a long airplane ride. Well, I interviewed last Monday and basically got the job the moment I walked in there. "Will we see you next Monday for work?" I was asked "Er, sure will."

So I will be making SO much more money at this job than I ever did or could in any of the places I have worked since college graduation (1999). Moving to Massachusetts was the best thing ever! Fate has a really funky way of doing things.

The tooliest tool that ever did tool

This is going to dedicated to the biggest tool I have ever seen. Now I trust A&E to show the shows that I believe with educate me, even enlighten me; but it seems that I am proven wrong.

Our cable TV was finally hooked up last weekend and my days in bliss began. The new season of Ghost Hunters began on SciFi, and so did the heckling from William... until a commercial aired about Criss Angel Mindfreak. And my belief in A&E came crumbling down like the Berlin Wall. William jumps for joy and insists that we hang around to watch this guys "magic" show (I use quotes because it is all bullpoo.)

Now I have been through many transformations in my life; I was bohemian as a child, preppy in my puberty, grunge in my adolescence, punk during my college years and now I'm back to bohemian and eclectic. What I seem short in patience for is goth. When it comes to "Goth" I am at a loss. I have very little tollerance for those that believe in vampires and the occult or even wiccan or basically anyone who says things like "pain is pleasure" or embraces death as "the next real level". I am not frightened by them, just really really humored. Now seriously people... vampires? WTF? You have got to be kidding me!

Now back to the "Mindfreak" that is Criss Angel (who's name I'm guessing he got from Joss Whedon.) Now here is a bloke that probably was picked on a youth, probably from Jersey and decided the way to get chicks that are not at all particular was to buff up, goth out, and watch The Crow about a million times (because you know he did.)



I can't tell if this guy is trying to be as homoerotic as he possibly can, or if he really really loves himself. So we watched this show, and I have never laughed as hard as I have at something that is supposed to be dramatic. From the opening credits; Oh the opening credits were pure genious, a goth metal self titled music track, poor special effects, and a director that must believe that he is somewhere between Burton and Lynch. Little vignettes between commercials and pivital scenes where Criss Toolbox poses for camera like Brandon Lee. And overly dramatised Houdini magic tricks, Criss should really get his own schtick.

Anyway, he's on A&E Wednesdays at 10pm. and I leave you with this little gem.



Man I really don't like this guy.

Dead Like Me

The second season of Dead Like Me was finally released a few weeks ago, however I had to wait till my birthday before it was firmly in my needy little hands. I love this show which is of course now cancelled, as is every show I really enjoyed watching. Wonderfalls, Carnivale, and Firefly Will and I have been watching it religiously since I opened the cellophane wrapper. I highly recommend this show for anyone who hates to see good shows get cancelled by networks like Fox. So put a check next to your Netflix list, or see if it's carried in your local rental shop, or if you like to buy things... go buy it, I promise you will not be disapointed.

For my birthday

So I turned 29 on Saturday, July 30. And apart from not feeling anywhere close to 30, William decided that for my birthday I was going to get a big surprise. Now, about me, I love scary things; I watch the ghost hunting stories and anything about hauntings. I mostly own horror movies and will primarily only rent horror movies. Since we moved to Massachusettes there are a few things I really wanted to do but know that William would not. I wanted to go to Salem and go on a witch and ghost tour and I want to go to the Lizzie Borden house. Figuring that these things would never happen because my boyfriend is always Scullying me, Saturday was a big surprise. We took the Haunted Footsteps tour. It was a blast!

Before the tour, since it ran at night we went to dinner at the Lyceum, where Bell made his first long distance phone call and long distance charges and phone cards were then created. We also went through a wax museum that spat us out in the middle of the Salem mall. Looking for a restroom we passed the Salem's Vintage Photography Shop and somehow we ended up asking to be dressed like witches.







The day was so perfect, I was upset that my birthday came to an end; but I guess it had to. Once again my boyfriend showed me that he is the most thoughtful and attentive person in the world, no matter how much he wants to protect his street cred.

A smile for Monday

a few things to listen to

The Record Store: The Brunettes
Between the Lines: Sambassadeur
Movie Ending Romance: Math and Physics Club
Is This It: Royal City
On A Ship To Bangladesh: Three Mile Pilot
They Won't Let me Run: John Vanderslice
In This Home on Ice: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

keeping warm in Cambridge

My first sweater, or cardigan... whatever it is. I've been wearing it non-stop since I finished it, summer is going to be ending here in Massachusettes soon so I better get cracking on another wooly sweater.

Rocking the move

just a peak at what will be rocking inour ears this weekend while we move into our very first house. Damn that sounds weird, I'm going to own a house; when did I grow up?