Crankypantsing, News & Politics

A Faux News Observation

Shelly

As I mentioned, I am (probably) finished with physical therapy. Thank goodness! I don’t mind the sessions themselves. They’ve been educational and helpful. The waiting room, though, pisses me right the hell off. Even when I’m right on time, instead of 10-15 minutes early, I’ve had to wait, and every time, the television in the waiting room has been tuned to Fox News.

There are a lot of things in this world that I’ll more-or-less gracefully endure, but I’d rather Faux News weren’t one of them. While waiting for yesterday’s PT session, it struck me that the super-hyper banter between the talking heads reminded me a bit of listening to the Bob & Tom show (something I grew out of when I was, oh, 15-16 years old). When a supposed news show sounds like a morning radio show that relies heavily on toilet humor, that should be a clue that it’s time to turn the channel.

Pets, Photography

The Cranky Sisters

Shelly

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They weren’t really being cranky, but I love how both of them have their ears in the “I have an attitude problem” position.

Somehow, Henry managed to break off some of her whiskers. You can actually see one of them dangling, in the middle photo. I guess it must have happened while she was playing with Polly, though Polly’s whiskers seem to have escaped unscathed.

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In other news, I’ve been released from PT. Yay! He did Graston massage on my shoulder the last two times, which was not exactly fun, but wasn’t too bad, either. I don’t know if any of it is helping, but I figure it can’t hurt (not, at least, the specific exercises I’m doing), so it’d be stupid not to follow through with them.

Uncategorized

Chess

Shelly

When we were little, my brother and I would play chess for hours on end. Usually, this was accompanied by a big bowl of home-grown green beans, cooked with ham, onions, and potatoes, and slices of fried homemade bread to dip in the juice. The two things are permanently intertwined in my brain, so that whenever I think of playing chess, I can almost taste green beans with fried bread.

This is all by way of saying that I just recently noticed that my computer came with a chess game. I hadn’t played since I was a kid, so at first I couldn’t remember the movements of all the pieces. I played it a few times, though, and even managed to win a couple of games (on the super-duper easy level), but now I’m craving green beans and potatoes with fried homemade bread.

Crankypantsing, News & Politics

Note to Coworker (and a political rant)

Shelly

Dear Miss Busypants,

Please refrain from grunting an unprovoked “Morning,” at me, as you walk past. If I’d spoken to you first, I could perhaps understand why you’d respond as if you were irritated, or as if you couldn’t be bothered. But I didn’t. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, so why the hell did you have to say anything, if it was going to be a grumpy-assed grumble in my general direction? You can take your cranky “Morning” and piss off.

Alsotoo, would you like to talk about stress? The Indiana house and senate are required to pass a budget by midnight TONIGHT, otherwise, the state government will shut down. I could come in to work tomorrow to find out that I don’t have a job, so if anyone has something to be grumpy about, it’s me. Not, Miss Busypants McGrumpersons. She has made it clear, every time someone pisses her off, that she could retire at any time. Must be nice.

Oh, and the best part about this stupid budget nonsense? The state house and senate had come to a tentative compromise about the budget IN APRIL. Governor Daniels trashed it, by demanding that funding for the most at-risk public schools be cut. Yeah. That would be the same Mitch Daniels who was director of the Office of Management and Budget, under BushCo II. You remember, the guy who promised that the Iraq war would cost only $50-60 billion? The same war that has, to date, cost approximately $682 billion. And we elected this bozo as governor twice! What the hell is wrong with people in my state?

Uncategorized

Summer Brownies

Shelly

It’s too hot to turn on the oven, but I was craving brownies, so I thought I’d re-visit the thought of making them in the microwave. If nothing else, this is way cheaper and healthier than those microwavable brownie bowls from Betty Crocker.

This is basically my regular brownie recipe, halved, with a couple of tweaks.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa (dark is best!)
pinch of salt*
4 Tbls olive oil*
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (or do what I do, and just slosh a little bit into the bowl)

Add the dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly, then add the wet and mix. It will be fairly stiff (half-way between cake batter and cookie dough in consistency). Spoon into a shallow, greased soup bowl. (I used the left-over olive oil that had collected in the bottom of the measuring cup.)

Microwave for about two minutes. This is the only tricky part, since every microwave is different. If you don’t nuke it long enough, it’ll be too gooey. Not that I believe there’s such a thing as too gooey. Too long, and it will burn, and that would be a sad thing, indeed. My microwave seems to be permanently stuck on Chernobyl, so two minutes works well for me. This also assumes your microwave has a turntable. If not, you may want to rotate 1/4 turn every 30 seconds or so.

* The original recipe calls for melted butter. I didn’t feel like melting it, so I used olive oil. If you use olive oil or unsalted butter, you’ll want to add a pinch of salt. If you use salted butter, omit the salt.

My Garden, Photography

Daylilies

Shelly

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These came from a friend. I transplanted them after they’d bloomed last year, so I wasn’t sure what colors I was getting or even if they’d bloom for me, since I had to plant them in pretty much full shade. They seem to be doing okay, though.

The top photo is a Lensbaby 2.0 shot, but with no filters. I’m shocked that I was able to get the anthers (the polleny bits) in focus.

Crankypantsing

This Is Not a Post About Michael Jackson

Shelly

I’ve watched a too much bad television this weekend, and now I’m all cranky.

First, Bridezillas: The show is, frankly, horrifying, and not only because of the over-the-top, craptacular, childish behavior of the brides in question. In every episode I’ve seen, someone–or several someones–reminds the bride-to-be that this is “her day.” I’m sorry, but where I come from, it takes two people to get married. Has something changed? And worse, the “It’s your day,” crap is always said in a way that’s meant to excuse the bride’s horrible, abusive behavior.

Second, Raising Sextuplets: I don’t know if this one has started airing or not, but the promos piss me right the hell off. The voice-over introduces the mom, then the dad, then goes on to state that the mom is “raising sextuplets.” What the hell is the dad doing?! And really, after the Gosselin fiasco, do we need another reality show that pimps out people’s babies? I expect life is weird enough for kids from high-number multiple births, without taking away their privacy, on top of everything else.