Hobbit Countdown: 360-ish days and counting...

I've been waiting patiently for the first installment of The Hobbit to come out. Of course, the realization of the movie mostly seemed like vague reports and imagination to me, and I could handle that. And for some reason, I thought it was coming out this summer. No problem. I could wait perfectly well for that.

Then hubby sent me this trailer this morning, which both took away any patience I had and informed me that I have to wait until NEXT DECEMBER 14th to see it!


On the bright side, this gives me plenty of time to re-read the book, which I haven't read since high school.

And this just showed up in my RSS feed: Waiting for Bilbo: Comic: The Hobbit Trailer (just so you know, I wasn't one of those people. Really. I'm serious. Why don't you believe me?)

Christmas Countdown: If you don't have it, fake it...

No fireplace? 

Fake tree? 

No Christmas CD's? 

No problem!

A pine-scented candle, over on the left

(I'm always on the hunt for the most realistic Christmas tree scent since we can't have a real tree), 

+

Pandora Radio on the computer, 

+

a Fireplace video streaming through Netflix on the TV

(we do have a fireplace, but it's gas, so it doesn't have the nice pop & crackle of wood like the video), 

=

A nice holiday mood while I worked in my home office the other day.

Update 12/22/11: A Facebook friend posted a link to this fireplace video on YouTube, so you don't even have to have Netflix - although the YouTube video is shorter, so you have to press play more often ;)

Christmas Countdown: Packages, Packages, Everywhere!

The postal service says today is the biggest delivery day of the year, while tomorrow is the biggest mailing day of the year. I found this picture from World War II in The Smithsonian Institution's photostream on Flickr. Click through to see some humorous notes users have applied to parts of the photo (just mouse over the photo once you've clicked through). Unfortunately, more keep being added, so I think some of the funnier ones are getting buried - kind of like some of the boxes in the photo. :)

Click through!

 

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

I visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton in 1996. The pictures I took there have turned out to be some of the most-viewed in my Flickr stream despite being faded-looking scans. In honor of Jane's birthday, I thought I'd share a slideshow of those photos. Enjoy!

 

Here's a video of the house (including some improvements done a couple years ago). It all makes me want to go back again.

Christmas Countdown: Winter Wonderland [Photos]

Saturday morning everything was covered with frost, so I ventured out to take a few photos.


Berries on the burning bush. View on black.

 
I love how wooden fences seem to grow whiskers in the frost. View on black.


I played around with this one in Picnik and added their fake HDR effect, which turned out really interesting, I thought. View on black

Christmas Countdown: O Dragon Tree, O Dragon Tree...

My coworker Steve makes Study Dragons for students each year about this time.
It appears a few of the dragons took over the Christmas tree.

I really like this one :)

Christmas Countdown: Yum!

I baked! 

This doesn't happen often (though it's not as rare as me cooking dinner), but I found a recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread earlier this week and thought it looked like something I could tackle. Then today was one of those perfect snowy, lazy days when I didn't have to go anywhere and the house wasn't a complete disaster, so I was in the mood to bake. The result was yummy, even if I did eat enough of it to get a tummy ache.

And thankfully, it didn't turn out like Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (sung here by Mick Moloney, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting in person). 

Christmas Countdown: LEGO Christmas Tree

St. Pancras railway station in London features a Lego Christmas tree this year. According to the St. Pancras website, the tree is made from 600,000 Lego bricks.

These pictures are by Andrew Smith (McTumshie on Flickr)

What work must have gone into this tree! 

By McTumshie

By McTumshie

via In Pictures: The St Pancras LEGO Christmas Tree | Londonist

Christmas Countdown: Jim Gaffigan on holiday traditions

You know, it turns out we do some weird stuff for Christmas - trees inside, lights outside - but I still enjoy it all!

I love Jim Gaffigan's take on some of our traditions - the Christmas stuff is at the beginning, but he doesn't spare any of the holidays if you keep watching...

 
If you can't see the video above, you can find it here.

Countdown to Christmas: The Sith who Stole Christmas

via @DarthVader

The dogs' (and my) favorite chair

I had to move this chair into my office to make room for the Christmas tree in the living room. It has made my little office a bit overcrowded (notice the displaced items beside the chair), but the dogs seem to be enjoying it. Now they have an extra comfy spot while they hang out with me.

This is my "Martin Crane" chair - it's kind of ugly, doesn't go with any of the other furniture, it's kind of beat up and is even missing its two back feet; but the thing is so comfy I haven't been able to part with it. Maybe someday I'll re-cover it...or I might just keep it in the office where it doesn't really matter if it matches the living room, even though that will mean permanently eliminating some things from my office.

Do you have your own "Martin Crane" piece of furniture? Do you do any major rearranging to get ready for Christmas decorations? Let me know in the comments.

Update 12/28/2011: So, the chair didn't last long. I spent my evening taking the tree down EARLY (I usually leave it up until Jan 6) just so I could get the chair out of my office and back to the living room. The room is just too small for such a big chair - it was nice for a day or two, but then the whole room started to feel like a closet and I hated to spend any time in there. And now I'm not even sure I like the chair in the living room. As soon as the basement is cleaned out, I think it's going down there. It's a comfy chair, but it's just having a hard time finding a home in my home lately. :(  (I know, I know, first world problems...)

Black Friday got a little crazy

I looked out the back window of the house yesterday morrning and spotted this stray shopping cart across the street. My best guess is it came from WalMart...what its story is, I have no idea...

A thought for the day

Photo by denipet

"If the Christmas frenzy is wearing you out,
you've missed the point of Christmas."

from Dave Ramsey's December 2009 Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving...Star Wars style

This was just so cool, I had to share!

From the Official Star Wars Blog via Flickr

I like pumpkin pie

View on Flickr

I spotted this sticker on the ground in my parking garage at work this morning. I have no idea who or what it's from, but I thought "Yes, yes, I do!" I think I look forward to the pie even more than the turkey.

So, what's your favorite pie to have after Thanksgiving dinner? Or, if you're not into pie, what's your favorite alternative dessert?

Martha Stewart isn't coming for Thanksgiving

I pulled this out of the depths of my email - it seems to have been making the rounds a couple years ago. I've searched, but can't seem to come up with the name of the original author of this (if you do, let me know - I'd like to give credit!)

Martha Stewart will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving.
I'm telling you in advance, so don't act surprised. 

Since Ms. Stewart won't be coming, I've made a few small changes: 

Our sidewalk will not be lined with homemade paper bag luminaries. 

After a trial run, it was decided that no matter how cleverly done, 

rows of flaming lunch sacks do not have the desired welcoming effect. 

Once inside, our guests will note that the entry hall is not decorated

with the swags of Indian corn and fall foliage I had planned to make. 

Instead, I've gotten the kids involved in the decorating by having them 

track in colorful autumn leaves from the front yard. 

The mud was their idea. 

The dining table will not be covered with expensive linens, fancy china,

or crystal goblets. If possible, we will use dishes that 

match and everyone will get a fork. Since this IS Thanksgiving,

we will refrain from using the plastic Peter Rabbit plates 

and the Santa napkins from last Christmas.

Our centerpiece will not be the tower of fresh fruit and flowers that I

promised. Instead we will be displaying a hedgehog-like decoration

hand-crafted from the finest construction paper.

The artist assures me it is a turkey. 

We will be dining fashionably late.
The children will entertain you while you wait. 

I'm sure they will be happy to share every choice comment I have made
regarding Thanksgiving, pilgrims and the turkey hotline.
 Please remember that most of these comments were made at 5:00 a.m. 

upon discovering that the turkey was still hard enough to cut diamonds. 

As accompaniment to the children's recital, I will play my recording of

tribal drumming. If the children should mention that I 

don't own a recording of tribal drumming, or that tribal drumming 

sounds suspiciously like a frozen turkey in a clothes dryer, ignore them. 

They are lying. 

We toyed with the idea of ringing a dainty silver bell to announce the

start of our feast. In the end, we chose to keep our traditional method. 

We've also decided against a formal seating arrangement. 

When the smoke alarm sounds, please gather around the table 

and sit where you like. In the spirit of harmony, we will ask the children 

to sit at a separate table. 

In a separate room. 

Next door. 

Now, I know you have all seen pictures of one person 

carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers.

This will not be happening at our dinner. 

For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private

ceremony. I stress "private" meaning: Do not, under any 

circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Do not send small, 

unsuspecting children to check on my progress. 

I have an electric knife. The turkey is unarmed. 

It stands to reason that I will eventually win. When I do, we will eat. 

I would like to take this opportunity to remind my young diners that

"passing the rolls" is not a football play. Nor is it a request 

to bean your sister in the head with warm tasty bread. 

Oh, and one reminder for the adults: For the duration of the meal, and

especially while in the presence of young diners, we will refer to the

giblet gravy by its lesser-known name: Cheese Sauce. 

If a young diner questions you regarding the origins 

or type of Cheese Sauce, plead ignorance. 

Cheese Sauce stains. 

Before I forget, there is one last change. Instead of offering a choice

between 12 different scrumptious desserts, we will be serving the

traditional pumpkin pie, garnished with whipped cream and small fingerprints. 

You will still have a choice; 1. Take it or 2. Leave it.

I hope you aren't too disappointed that Martha Stewart 

will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving. 

She probably won't come next year either.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A little nod to Monty Python for the day

I think I need to watch Holy Grail again soon...


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Birds on a wire

I'm a sucker for birds on a wire and sunsets, so I had to shoot this as I was leaving work yesterday. I love the little loopdey-loop in the middle. :)

How to Spot a Writer at a Party

This post over at Not Your Usual Suspects made me chuckle. From the looks of the comments, I'm not the only anti-social one out there. Phew!

How to Spot a Writer at a Party

Sigh...

http://www.gocomics.com/lio/2011/11/01