I like my cards sassy

From Offensive + Delightful:

Winter ruminations

My sister is still in town, so I get dropped off at work and then she does random Risha things all day -- shopping, visiting with friends, eating at my favorite restuarants without me and probably bank-robbing and red light-running too for good measure.

She mentioned today on the morning commute how dark it is here and with the heavy cloud cover, we never really see the sun all day! It's just gloomy. I know that I already blogged about how craptastic it is here right now, but having someone else confirm it for me is...just sad.

On a lighter note, D and I are going to the movies tonight...we never go anymore since my friend Netflix delivers a film every couple of days, but one of the bigger theaters in town just dropped the price of EVERY movie to $3!

We suspect that they are trying to compete with the highly succesful but always crowded Bear Tooth Theater. Bear Tooth has only one screen but you can get local beer on tap and eat yummy food while watching the movie. It's the sister facility to the Moose's Tooth, best pizza in AK!

3 Cool Things - 12/12/08

In the spirit of winter, I present...headgear!

(what, you were expecting something else?)

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Beard cap -- For the man (or slightly weird woman) who feels the need to express their affinity for beards and mustaches in cold weather.

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Head band - not sure why I like this so much, but it looks oh-so classy compared to the other winter headbands out there.

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Pumpkin hat -- Can't forget about the kiddos - here's a hat for your favorite little munchkin:

Stats don't lie

I like 90% of all chocolates - and peoples, I am fairly sure that I could eat 100% of this chocolate pie chart.



D is afraid that all my teeth are going to fall out because I am quite fond of candy. Damn these craggy Korean teeth...they are cavity magnets.

But this chocolate pie chart represents math, and math is good for you, therefore the chocolate pie chart is good for you! See, it's all in how you present the issue -- if A=B and B=C, then A=C! I am a genius...

Books'o'million

Books are one of those things that I tend to collect, along with purses and organizational helpers (baskets, etc.) But books take up so much room and we are trying to de-clutter the homefront. In a perfect world we would have a huge room dedicated to our ever-growing library, like so:

And then I could have one of those rolling ladders to peruse my fabulous library...sigh.

On the flip side, reviews have been really good for this handy little device, the Kindle. The convenience of reading books on that hand-held doodad is quite attractive -- however it is just slightly out of my budget right now. And I read that it may not work as well in Alaska for some reason. Actually, most things don't work in Alaska for mysterious reasons, like satellite positions and sun rays and butterfly wing-flappings and crazy things like that.

DIY - Pendant lamp

Ooooh, this is a neat do-it-yourself project -- String Pendant Lamp

Just think of all the fabulous color combos that are possible - or stick with a monochromatic scheme!

Hello? That's Dr. Kitty to you

I read about this Hello Kitty-themed hospital on Apartment Therapy and thought, "I bet it's somewhere in Asia, probably Korea." And I was half right - the hospital is located in Taiwan. Asians are in freaking love with Hello Kitty -- I remember having tons of that stuff when I was a kid. What can I say, I'm half Korean. Here's the Reuters article.

"Director Tsai Tsung-chi said he hopes the white, mouthless cat that is one of the world's most recognizable characters will ease the pain and fear associated with childbirth and being admitted into hospital."

Well, I hope he's right -- but I would much rather have some lovely pain meds or an epidural, thanks very much. Hello Kitty is awesome and everything but last time I checked she wasn't healing people Jesus-style.

Puppy love

Drift loves his Auntie Risha...

Home cooking

I really hope this is safe, because I've been roasting marshmallows in the wood stove for the last couple weeks...

Do you like my stick? It's actually a telescoping and rotating fork -- I have two now because everyone would always "borrow" mine around the campfire and then I'd never get to use it. So now I have two -- one for me and one for the moochers. It works out well. Seriously, it's like the tool of the future peoples.

FYI, I started that fire myself and it was so perfect! If there was a woodstove fire-building course, I would totally rock that bad boy. But don't tell D -- otherwise he'll make me build all the fires from now on.

Gray day

It is 10:05 a.m. and according to the National Weather Service, the sun should be making its glorious appearance in the morning sky. But alas, I do not see the sun. It's cloudy out today and very dark and depressing. The cloud cover is currently halfway down the mountains. Anchorage will have a whopping 5 hours, 42 minutes of daylight today.

The good news is that on December 21st -- winter solstice -- we'll start gaining daylight again! Right now we are losing around 2-3 minutes per day, at other times during the year it's closer to 5 or 6 minutes. So in a month we could possibly lose (or gain) 2 hours of daylight.

People wonder why Alaskans play golf or bike and hike at midnight, or otherwise stay up so late in the summertime -- well, we're trying to soak up as much sun as possible! It's a neat experience to go camping and stay up all night, but only use a headlamp or flashlight for about 2 of those hours.

Look at that tongue!

Reminds me of the Humunga Tongue...


Then he got distracted by the tv...

Printer Problems

Personal chef

I like it when Risha comes to visit...she makes stuff, like these yum yummy cranberry and raspberry (from our yard) muffins with a crumble on top.

Here they are before baking:

And after!

I use silicone baking cups - less waste than the paper ones since they're reusable - and it's so easy to pop the muffin out of the silicone. Plus the cups are ok for the dishwasher.

3 Cool Things - 12/5/08

Free fonts - at dafont.com. It seems like a weird thing to pay for fonts when you get so many gratis on your computer, but there are graphic designers who do nothing but create cool new fonts and really, they should be compensated for their time and creativity. However, the fonts at dafont are TOTALLY FREE and easy to download. They just need to be put into the Fonts folder in your C: drive.

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Holiday gift tags in Word format. Easy to add your own text.

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To-Do List - from Patricia Zapata.

Fishy art

This woman in the UK picks up the fish from a market and then develops a scene around them. Her mom creates the costumes. Here's a slideshow: