Here’s a list of places to send donation:

usaid.gov/nepal-earthquake

People actually voted this Steve King into office.  This is why it is so important for those of us with actual working brains to get out there and vote for each and every office, even though I know they don’t make voting exactly easy or convenient.  It still matters.

Polis Proposes “Restrain Steve King from Legislating Act” – U.S. Representative Jared Polis.

I am somewhat more functional than yesterday, but not much.  Had a bath with cider vinegar added, which seems to help for some unknown reason.  I was going to make the olive oil/vinaigrette joke here, but it’s way old.  I know, because it’s my joke and I first used it several years ago.  So there.

There’s a post in Tumblr asking for prayers for Nepal.  I think giving some money to Doctors Without Borders and other agencies sending actual help would be a good idea, but then I’m a practical person, I think.  Asking some invisible sky man to help seems kind of non-helpful.  Words are easy, actually doing something takes a little more effort.

Here’s an ad.  Yes, it’s an ad, but it’s a nice one:

I seriously overdid it yesterday, and now I am soooo tired and hurting everywhere, but god it felt good to get something done that I’ve been wanting to do for some time. And I did. Yay, me.

I follow the FDA on Twitter, and in the past week, Friday to Friday, there have been eighteen (18) recalls of food and drugs.  Would it not be better to find out what’s wrong BEFORE stuff goes out for sale?  Someone is seriously having job fail.

Why Do Bottles of Water Have Expiration Dates?.

To cooking.  Cleaning up.  Apparently I can do one or the other, but not both.  Is the Prednisone ever going to get me back to a more functional level?  One can only hope.  Meanwhile, I seem to be losing ground quickly with keeping up with things.

Meanwhile, here’s Gertrude.

I made a really good one. Things are not going well, I am in a lot of pain, and keep falling asleep at odd times, but I managed to make a really delicious dinner. It’s meant for a crock pot, but since I only have a very small one, I just did it on the stove. Small red potatoes, meant to be halved, but too much pain to spend the time doing that. Baby carrots, peeled garlic cloves, peeled small onions also meant to be quartered, but didn’t. Top with some fresh rosemary springs, add some chicken broth, and top with chicken thighs, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer and cook barely simmering for about an hour and a half til everything is done and the chicken is 165 degrees fahrenheit. I used whole unboned, unskinned thighs, because that’s what was on sale at the grocery store. Speaking of chicken, and we were, I was expecting to see six thighs when I opened the package. I don’t eat a lot of meat, and haven’t bought chicken thighs in quite some time, so surprise, surprise. Have they started feeding them steroids? There were three giant thighs in the package. What? Those had to be some very big chickens. Anyway, just put some veg in a bowl after deskinning and boning the one thigh that I was having, spooned in some broth. Wow. That is really, really tasty. Real food. Done by me. I know. Made me happy.

“if april showers bring may flowers, what do may flowers bring?

Pilgrims”

I know. I’m crazy, but it’s funny.

Took out the extra little ‘o’ up there.  Duh!

From here: Heart Centered Rebalancing

Do you think if I removed the ‘Like’ button, people would actually comment. It feels kind of lonely here most of the time. Of course, it could just be the worst, dullest, most boring blog on the planet, in which case, nevermind. Yeah, it’s one of those days.

Can anyone recommend any? Seems like every new book I read was written by high schoolers with no talent. Shallow and formulaic. I want a book I can get my teeth into, if that phrase is still in use. I like mysteries, and nonfiction, some sci-fi. Not fantasy or had-I-but-knowns. Had I But Known is a phrase I believe I coined for books where there are two guys and a girl and she picks the wrong one. Had she but known he was a serial killer, married, gay, an accountant, she most certainly would have picked the other nerdy, not-as-cute, boring and ordinary guy. You know those books. Or bodice-rippers, as I’ve seen them referred to in Torchwood fanfiction. I don’t read those, either. A book with heart. One that makes you feel like the author had a story to tell, wasn’t just hoping for a movie deal or writing to a formula. Every so many pages THIS happens. There are a lot of popular books like that. I don’t want them. I am a picky reader, so it would seem. Since I can’t really get to the library to see the actual book and decide, I could use some ideas, people. Please.

The Perfect Storm. Now that was a book. I won’t watch the movie, because as I’ve mentioned before, the director’s imagination can in no way top mine, I’m sure. I liked The Hunger Games Trilogy. Again, won’t watch the movie. I guess I’ve mentioned this before. But please, I am desperate for something to read. I just dumped two books from my reader that sounded great but turned out to be about ghosts, and the supernatural, and ooeeooee crap. Real life is fine for me. I used to love Sue Grafton, but I recently tried to reread something cause it’s been quite a while, and it just didn’t do it for me anymore. Made me sad. I’ve read all of Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Conan Doyle, long time ago. I used to keep a Book book, wherein I kept a list of books I’ve read and books I wanted to read. It seems to have vanished into the ether, even though it existed in the real world. 🙂The Spencer books. I loved those. Robert B. Parker. Maybe the library has them in e-book format. Dick Francis. All surround some aspect of horseracing, since he was the Queen’s jockey at one point. Turns out his wife actually wrote them, and they weren’t in depth reading, but a nice light read. I think I’ve finally gotten past my complete and total Torchwood fanfic addiction, although I still read it every day, and am ready to get back to books, books, books. I love books. I remember shopping at Barnes and Noble, back when I had money to spare, and coming home with bags of books. I miss those days. Or going to the library, and coming home with bags of books as well. I am a reader. I figured out I watch four hours of tv weekly, and am seriously thinking of dumping the tv part of cable, if they’d just give me a good internet-only deal. Which they won’t. There is PBS, thank goodness, otherwise it’s all commercials. I hate commercials. I used to find tv watching relaxing, now it’s just waiting for the next actual bit of the show break between commercials. Nope. Not doing that. There’s nothing I want to see that bad, and if there was, I’d watch it on Hulu or Amazon. Or wait for it to come out on Netflix. I love Netflix.

God, I am a rambling mess tonight. Was really tired and my body is really hurting today, so napped on the couch. Now I am good to go. At 12am. Story of my life. My homemaker today said I am an Owl. There are Owls and Larks, apparently, although I’m not sure where she got that from. I am a night person to the core and have been my entire life. I cannot understand why the world will not adapt to my schedule. It is so unfair.

1. What’s your favorite restaurant in your city?
The Mexican restaurant. Don’t know its name, it’s ‘The Mexican restaurant up the road’
2. What do you like to order there?
I like the tostada salad with chile verde pork, and I love chile rellenos.
3. What’s your favorite appetizer, at any restaurant?
Artichoke anything.
4. What’s a restaurant dish you’ve tried to make at home?
Does Tiramisu count?
5. What would make you refuse to go back to a restaurant?
Bad food, bad service, rude waiters.

Well that didn’t really inspire much. I don’t eat out a lot, although I do order in a couple times a month at least.

Still hobbling and feeling pain everywhere. But it’s the ‘oh, this body hasn’t been used enough recently’ pain, not ‘oh god, please fix whatever the hell is wrong with me’ pain. So it’s all good. Cooked last night, and am planning to cook some more this week. I hope. I am determined, but my body is not always cooperative. My homemaker’s almost an hour late today, too. Should I be worried? She almost always lets me know if something changes, so hope she’s okay. I wish she was my friend, not my homemaker, cause I really like her and we get along like a house on fire. A house on fire? We have the weirdest sayings. We have some really interesting conversations sometimes. About anything and everything. It’s a good thing.

So I googled Mexican restaurants, and it’s Rancho Chico. In doing this, I learned there are six, count them, six, Dunkin Donuts in my town. It’s not that big a town. Six? Seriously. I don’t love donuts, and theirs, except for the truck tire ones, are not my favs. I do like a nice hazelnut coolatta now and then, though. Honey Dew has great donuts, but crap coffee.
Oh, homemaker is here. Yay.

on Tumblr.

Has anyone ever heard of her before this? I only remember info about men involved in this. You always saw men on tv, not women. Women need to count more, people. We are actually pretty smart, and have done a lot over time that wound up being credited to men. I think they are afraid of us. Yes? 🙂

Had such a great day yesterday. Lunch (Mexican food, oh yeah!), went for a drive, sat on my friend’s back steps and played with her dog while her hubbies cleaned the yard. Bliss day for sure. Paying for it today, with lots of pain. Didn’t get to sleep til daylight, then up at 12:30. It was worth it. Saw daffodils, a stand of bamboo, grape hyacinths, crocus. It was a cloudless, blue sky day, just warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket. I’m happy. There’s green grass in this picture. Spring has sprung, the grass is riz. I wonder where the flowers is. They’re kind of right next to that white patch behind Misty. 🙂

on Disqus: If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself? DO NOT GET MARRIED. You are way too young, you idiot. Of course, I would have missed out on two great kids, but still.

It is a gorgeous day, the elevator is working as far as I know, and I am going OUT to lunch and maybe some shopping or something with my friend Tess. We are going to the Mexican restaurant up the road. I love Mexican food. NOT Taco Bell Mexican, real southwestern US Mexican food. Is that an oxymoron? Anyway, I am going out. I am excited. I’m not sure if it was two or three years ago when I was really ill for months, and since then, my going out times have been few and far between. Stir crazy? Cabin fever? Being alone most of the time can’t be good, right? It’s true, also, what they say about use it or lose it. Feeling miserable physically and spending a lot of time on the couch is not good for your muscles, people. I don’t know that I can ever get back what I’ve lost. I’m older than dirt, and the body can’t recover like it would if I were 20. Just have to deal, I guess. Story of my life.

Tess called to say they found Aaron Hernandez guilty. How could they not? Like the Boston Bomber. The guilt was pretty much evident. I guess he has another trial for a different murder coming up, too. Just because you play a major sport for a major team doesn’t mean you are a decent human being, apparently. Look at O J Simpson, who I got to see play at Foxboro Stadium way back in the dark ages, before it was Gillette Stadium. He turned out not to be a shining example of humanity, either. Kids need different role models than sports figures, I think. And people who actually do good work, like teachers and nurses and such, deserve to be paid like sports figures are. Well, that’s what I think, anyway. Agree? Disagree?

I’m going out. Woo Hoo.

So apparently I can’t just cram my books on shelves to keep them out of my way, I have to STYLE the darn shelves as well. STYLE THEM???? Like I don’t have any time left after reading everything I can get my hands on anyway? I have to style shelves? Oh, the humanity.

Style Bookshelves

Image from here, one of my favorite places:
VladStudio

From Here: The Friday Five Blog
1. What would you do if a random stranger gave you a bouquet of roses?
Say thank you? “Why are you giving me flowers? Do you want something? Did you mistake me for someone else?” Maybe
2. What is the most commonly used color in your house?
Green. A room feels blah if there’s no green.
3. What color is your favorite t-shirt?
butter yellow
4. If you could go back in time, what time would you live in and where would you live?
I might like to go back before Europeans came to America and live as an Indian (I’m part Amerindian, anyway), just to see what it’s like to live in tune with nature, and without clocks.
5. If you could have any ONE thing in the entire world (not including money) what would it be?
The ability to give humanity a brain. We really need one.

PS. THE ELEVATOR IS FIXED. WOO HOO!!!!

PSS  I made the image.  Well, I added text to the image, let me put it that way.  🙂

Tonight’s The Big Bang Theory with Will Wheaton was one of the better episodes lately. He is really funny.
Also, I saw an ad that implied that I could become a King or Queen (my choice, I think) if I only bought their car. Unfortunately, I was so awed by how easy it is to become royalty, I forgot to notice exactly which car it was. Oh, well.