Hey you Virginians...

What the F is going on down there?? A Republican governor? Really? (eyes rolling)

Chicken Soup!

hmmm..










what else is going on?

Well I spent all day yesterday scouring the discount stores in the greater Portland area and found nothing good to buy and sell on Ebay. I've also realized that I will probably not get rich by reselling stuff I buy at TJ Maxx on Ebay. However, I do have a $75 bid on a Mauviel saute pan that I bought for $69. So a $6 profit.... for about 20 hours of work.

Jon and I have an idea for a new blog, our new get-rich-quick scheme. More to come on that later.

I'm working on my new novel, An Apocolypic Comedy, and have rewritten chapter 1 four times already.

I went to Borders yesterday and bought Ralph Nader's new novel "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!" The premise is that a group of megamillionnaires and billionnaires, a la Bill Gates and Warren Buffet decide to use their ridiculous wealth to save the world. I know... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! All that money is doing much more good sitting in some rich guy's bank account as half the world goes hungry. Every idiot knows that. (what, me bitter?)

Anyhoo... Happy Sunday and Happy All Saints Day, whatever that is.

Working on this song

...from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack. I sound a LOT like this guy... a lot.

A new career..

I'm getting into the resale industry....buying things cheap and selling them high. First item on the agenda: finding the hot Christmas toy of 2009. Jon says I'm selling my soul and becoming a Capitalist Pig, but hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I won't reveal what I KNOW is going to be the hot toy for 2009, but I can tell you, I'm about to bid $60 for 4 of them on ebay right now...hoping to sell them for $100 a piece come December 15th or so... bwa ha ha ha... I'm going to be RICH!

Florida Vaca

3 words and phrases for Florida in September

1. NOT cool and fall-like as I expected (guess I didn't need my fleece after all!)
2. Rilly rilly Hot
3. Actually, quite sauna-like

Some photos....








View from our hotel room. That's Fort Lauderdale Beach (with A1A in between).
















Beach umbrellas.














Landshark stadium. This is where the Dolphins play. Jimmy Buffet, who also owns Landshark Beer, recently bought a portion of the team and the stadium, so now everything is Jimmy Buffet themed at the games. On a side note, I did try Landshark Beer...it's something akin to Bud Light with a slightly different after taste. ehh.















Sand Art, football style.



















Palm tree. Never seen one of those before have you?















Local lizard. Scared the bejesus out of me as I was looking for the potty.










Lighthouse on Key Biscayne. We had lunch here. I had the shrimp creole and we watched my diet coke dance across the table. It's the next You Tube sensation. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZl1BD1XwQo








"I enjoy long walks on the beach, talking about literature, cats, but most of all wearing cheap ugly skirts I bought at Target because all I brought to Florida in September were 3 hot pairs of jeans. Call me!"

















Is that a water spout?












Our hotel. Highly recommended. 4 stars.













Sad players about to lose the biggest game of their lives. Actually it was a really good game. It was just the ending that sucked. But it was fun for me to pretend to be a Dolphins fan for a day. Fins up!










Beach.

Awesome recipes I love

Eggplant sandwiches

Ingredients

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced (you can either slice them in rounds or on the long side) slice them about a 1/4 inch thick or thinner

Grate mozzarella cheese on the smallest setting

Mayonaise (Cain's is the best if you can get it. If not, get something of good quality)

Garlic

Good quality mustard (grey poupon would work)

Good buns

Good tomatoes

Directions:

Brush the peeled and sliced eggplant with mayo and dip in cheese. Put on a greased baking sheet and broil on both sides.

Mix the mayo, mustard, and garlic for the sauce. Slather on toasted buns, add a slice of tomato and then layer on the broiled eggplant.

Yum!

Gas-free lawn mowing

...or at least gasoline free. Girls, a little to the left please. There's a big clump of grass growing between the begonias.







Anyway, we're back from our Alaska cruise. It was wonderful. I wasn't sure if I'd like cruising, but it definitely had some things going for it, such as:

* an endless supply of food. I don't have a big desire to eat mountains of food, but I do like to know it's there when I need it. Finding food is usually a cause of anxiety and marital disputes on vacations. Not this time.

* a comfort zone. I have to admit, it was nice to come back to a familiar place of comfort after a day of exploring a new place. Ok, it's the wimpy way to travel, but it was nice anyway.

* there was a lot to do, but nothing so great that I didn't feel guilty laying around taking naps and catching up on my reading. This was the most restful vacation I think I've ever taken.

* it wasn't overly expensive, but we were also pretty vigilant about not going crazy.

* it was easy and we got to see amazing places without much exertion or planning.

* it was also pretty exciting. Definitely a new and different experience.

Things I didn't like so much:

* too much food. I know this contradicts the one above, but let me explain. We ate in the dining room only once because with "anytime dining" there was always a long wait, and if you didn't make reservations before 6 am, you couldn't get in till 8:15 at night. The one time we did go, the food was really good, but there was way too much of it. So whereas most people go to the buffet so they can eat as much as they want, we went to the buffet so we could eat as little as we wanted. And you know me, I can eat.

* ok, I know I'm a stick in the mud. But some of the things going on were really silly. and people really seemed to enjoy them. In fact, the sillier the things were, the more people seemed to like them. I'm talking about things like martini demonstrations (and I like martinis as much as the next girl), charades, stuff like that. It doesn't sound so weird now that I'm writing about it, but you just had to be there. I could've lived without all that. But the good thing is that the ship was so big that you could always escape the silliness.

* no control over your own schedule. I would've liked to have seem more of Ketchikan. We were only there for a morning and our "crab feast" excursion took up the whole time. Same with Victoria, BC. We got there at 7:30 pm and left at midnight. I'm not sure what the point of that was.

* I got a bit tired of people, but like I said, you could always escape.

Alaska tidbit: Did you know that there are no roads going into or out of Juneau? There is an ice field to the north, the ocean to the west, and mountains to the south (or something like that). The only ways in are by plane or by boat, and apparently both are very expensive. Weird, huh? And it's the capital.

Ok, and for the part I know you're really waiting for. Here's a picture of a glacier:



This is Sawyer Glacier, one of 3 we saw up close. This one the cruise ship drove right up to in a place called Tracy Arm Fjord. This was 1/4 mile away. It's hard to fathom how big the glaciers are unless you see something man made next to them. This one is the equivalent of 30 stories high. Of course, this one, like all of them, are retreating because of global warming. Better see them while they're cold! ha ha.