You're so Vain, You Probably Think this LJ is About You

I have no words for what is going on (or not going on, rather) in Congress right now. I will just say that I am not surprised that dumb fuck Cruz is from Texas. I am shocked and saddened by how many people I know and love are spittle-yelling, virulent Tea Party supporters. I feel like telling them that he who shouts loudest is not the winner, but what's the point? It seriously turns my stomach. I feel like once my parents and older brother are gone from this world, I cannot leave Texas fast enough.

I've never affiliated myself with any political party because I am always willing to listen to both sides; however, the divide has gotten so ridiculously huge and the messages so negative, I feel like there is no point in even trying to see things from both sides. Everyone else is digging in, so I will too. As a minority woman hanging on to the middle class by her fingertips, I cannot in good conscience support the Republican Party. As a human being, I cannot abide the Tea Party Republicans. There are plenty of things about the Demos I don't like, but guess what? At least their lies sound believable.

See what I did there? Said I wasn't gonna talk about it...and yet I did.

So, on to other news. I am beat! This Thursday, the San Antonio Aids Foundation is having a charity event and my sister and I have offered to provide some bake sale items (she has gotten mad-talented at cake decorating and I am still obsessed with baking, because I am on forever! diet, LOL). I am making a rainbow cake (hee!), a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and ombre icing, and a dozen pies-in-a-jar (apple and raspberry). To prevent myself from staying up until 3AM on Thursday morning and cursing the day I ever offered to do anything for anyone, I am trying to prep stuff this weekend. So I assembled all the pies and put them in the freezer tonight. Easy but time-consuming! On Wednesday night, I will bake the cakes and on Thursday, I will pop the pies in the oven and put frosting on anything in the kitchen not moving.

I need to lie down...

I have seen that 30 Days of Blogging meme going around and I was going to start it today, but I think I will postpone. I still have dishes to do and for some reason at 8PM tonight, I decided to wash all the sheets, bedspreads, and comforters. Whyyyyyy?????

So, next time: meme!

Now, enjoy some pie in a jar (OF COURSE I had to taste test!)

Checking in for what is now becoming my quarterly update. Fail, fail, fail. I miss ye old days of LJ, but the internet's evolution stops for no man (or woman). I'm sure someday I will be on tumblr, but for now I will resist and instead delight you with the highlights of my ho-hum life.

Work is going well; I was promoted again, which is nice. I basically live and breathe the huge, scary project they were supposed to remove me from several months ago. Instead, I stayed on and expanded it to cover the entire group my former boss presides over. It's stressful, but I enjoy being at the center of it, proving that even though I'm an introvert, I'm still a glory-hog. Oink, oink baby.

JP and I are good. He has been in Seattle this past week, visiting his family at their gorgeous lake house and attending PAX Prime. Last month, we went to Space City Con in Houston, an old school sci-fi convention. I was mainly there to kick it by the pool, but I did get to see Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown, Dr. Who) and he was a hoot. JP was in geek heaven, hanging out with all his old favorite sci-fi actors.

My mom was hospitalized earlier this summer. Scared the Hell out of us. It was ischemic colitis and she was in the hospital for about a week. She's slowly getting better, thank goodness.

My most exciting news is that I have been on a rigorous diet/workout routine since late April and have lost almost 40 pounds. It's been tough but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I don't really deny myself - if I want pizza, I have pizza. I just eat less of it. Limiting snacking is tough, but seeing the scale go down has been a great motivator. We'll see how long I can keep it up! Working out is actually kind of fun because my co-worker goes with me. She's a hardcore athlete, but very sweet and encouraging.

I guess those are all the "big" things. I'll just leave a picture of the bb rainbow cake I made Nay-nay for her 40th birthday because I am so proud of it (gloryhogsayswhat?):

I do not think I can adequately convey how tired I am. Maybe if I posted a picture of a deflated tire...

Big news at work which I will discuss later. Suffice it to say that the Bukowski was right - the gods will offer you chances. Know them. Take them.

Maybe.

Tomorrow is our god-damned holiday cookie exchange, so I just made 8 dozen chocolate-peppermint sugar cookies:



Will someone please tell me what the Hell I am going to do with 8 dozen cookies?! LOL...

I am so excited because I walked out of the house today and it was actually cool! Of course, it was 90 degrees by lunchtime, but this morning! I almost thought about going back inside for a light jacket!

I obviously get way too excited about this shit.

In other news, my cake was totally eclipsed by this awesome cheescake one of the ladies made with crumbly toffee chips on top. It was quite delicious. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board (these potlucks are going to turn me into a mad scientist baker, JFC).

JP took Spike to the vet today because he keeps throwing up all the time. Our little kitty was the model patient and JP said everyone was impressed with how well behaved and calm he was. They think he is okay, but suggested a couple of things for us to try, changing the food, etc.

I do have to admit our cats are pretty badass and that has everything to do with JP - he works with them a lot, training them, playing with them, and trying to keep a consistent sense of order in the group. You can take the wildlife ecologist out of the zoo, but you can't take the zoo out of the wildlife ecologist. Or something like that. I love the cats, that's no lie. But I spend a fraction of my time with them. JP walks out of the room and if the cats are awake, they are bound to follow him. It is hilarious and strange and adorable. 

Okay, done rambling for now. Ta!

Let's have a random post, shall we?

I saw Iron Man 2 last night and enjoyed it muchly, especially the scene near the end in  the Japanese-style garden, with flying flower petals and mecha, LOL.

Today we went to see Robin Hood and all the haters can step to the left, because I thought the movie rocked! And while I am disturbingly prone to loving Ridley Scott movies, I think this one was just a very original retelling with spectacular fight scenes. There were little things that bothered me, like Russell Crowe in general (just not a fan), the fact that his Merry Men didn't have enough face time (IMHO), and the little issue of the entire English army never showing up at all, even though they were supposedly right behind Robin (or if they DID return, where were all the Nottingham men? Dead?). But these are little quibbles. Mostly, I love anything that includes medieval England, bone-crunching battle scenes, hot archers, and the Robin Hood myth. Mmmmhmmm. Two thumbs up.

Then, we came home and watched Walt Disney's Robin Hood, which was totally awesome, too.

I recently bought the Kitchen Princess manga and have been tearing through it. I love this sweet, sappy shit. Also, I am dying to try the cupcakes made with pancake mix in paper cups. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Work tomorrow. Yuck.

Mmm, love the lovely no-work Fridays! I did bring stuff home with me (a binder full of software admin guides) that I have to read by next Tuesday. DO NOT WANT.

I ran a couple of errands earlier, including picking up a couple of pairs of jeans at Old Navy (on sale for $19 apiece and it's tax-free weekend, baby). Oh, Old Navy! Why do you tempt me with your sales and your cute scarves, and blouses with lacy trim?!

In super-dooper exciting news, I am going to see my sweet baboo Arwen over Labor Day weekend. That's right, uh-huh, going to see her, can't stop me...er, what was I saying? Oh, yeah! Visiting the greater San Francisco area, one of my favoritest places in all the world. ^_________^

And finally, I thought I would make Nay-nay a vegan, diabetic chocolate cake for her birthday, but the recipes I've come up with so far do not fill me with any great amount of confidence. I think the potential for disaster is rather high on this one. What to do, what to do...if any of ya'll have any tried and true tips for uber-specialized baking, I'd love to hear it!

Okay, off to go do stuff.

My threat gift to JP for Valentine's Day...