What Part of No (Soliciting) Don't You Understand?

At work, we have a sign on the door; "No Soliciting." When you walk in the front door, there is a desk there. On the desk, another "No Soliciting" sign.

And yet...Solicitors.

"Sir, we have a no soliciting policy."

"I'm not here to solicit, I'm here to save you money!" (Aflac insurance guy.)

We also get people from auto glass repair shops. They walk through the parking lot, looking for cars with chips and cracks and then come to my office to solicit their services. At least once a week, sometimes more, I have to tell these people that I am not interested in repairing my nickel-sized chip.

It has gotten to the point where I have done this to my vehicle:

Let's see if it works.

Sci-Fi Hoedown: Sanctuary Season 1

First, let me say that I refuse to use Sy-Fy instead of Sci-Fi. Sci-Fi = Science Fiction. Sy-Fy = dumb. To have an entire network "dumb it down" is ridonkulous.

David and I are "Stargate" fans; SG1, Atlantis and we're currently catching up on SGUniverse. David is a Stargate fan like I am a Whedonverse fan; slightly nutso. He can name you episode titles, what season, who acted them, etc. etc. And there were 10 seasons of SG1.

Having nothing better to watch, I decided to try "Sanctuary" because it has Stargate actors, Stargate writers, etc. etc.

The premise is this: There are a group of people all over the world whose job it is to protect and give sanctuary to Abnormals (intelligent beings that are not human) on the Earth. The head of the group is Helen Magnus, a 150-something year old played by Amanda Tapping (Colonel Carter in the Stargate World.)

The whole look of the show is very...almost steampunk meets CG. My son complains about the CG being so very bad, but I personally think that's the point. Here are the opening credits so you can see what I mean.

There are monsters-of-the-week episodes, but who doesn't have those, and also running themes of Helen's 150+ year life, including the fact that she knows Nikolai Tesla, who is now a vampire and she once had a relationship with a man who became Jack the Ripper, as well an an eeeeevil cabal trying to destroy the Sanctuary network.

Helen has a daughter Ashley, who works with her, as well as several team members, and new recruit, cute blonde dude. Ok, his name is Dr. Will Zimmerman. I just call him "Replacement Daniel Jackson."

I had to get over Amanda's British accent. It's bad. I'm on Season 2 already, so I'm ignoring it for the most part. We do like seeing Stargate Atlantis and SG1 actors pop up from time to time.

As the show progresses, they hit their stride. I almost gave up on it ("Fata Morgana" - blech. "Nubbins?" ) but there are several episodes that saved it for me ("Requiem," "The Five," "Revelations Part 1 & 2") as well as my like of some characters, mainly the Big Guy (who David immediately identified as the same actor who played Wraith Todd from SG Atlantis just by his voice) and Henry, who I have a crush on. :)

It's visually weird, but in a quirky way that I'm getting used to and liking.

On to Season 2!

Happy Happy

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

and also my youngest sister. We share a birthday. Happy 25th Lissette!

Smile and say "Quack!"

I was looking at pictures on Facebook. Several showed people making a face that on the internets is called The Duckface. So I went to Google (pronounce it Goo-GLE', like you're French and Cool; we do!), typed in Duck face and voilà!! AntiDuckface.com

I lost me some GOOD minutes on this site. It's like a car accident. I couldn't stop looking. Why? WHY?!?!? (Pssst, it's not sexy.)

I asked my Facebook friends to "Show me your Duckface!" Several did. I could not find a single one of me doing this. Ha!! Go me.

I promised though that I would take one. During dinner Saturday night at Buca Di Beppo (FUN! A combined anniversary/birthday treat), I made my duckface for the world to see.

Oh yea. The men are lining up at the sexy.

And because I am an equal opportunity Quacker...

MALE DUCKFACE.

(Jake, seriously. Shave.)

There you have it; the duckface. Now STOP IT!!

Best Season Finale. Go Vote

Will it be RESTLESS?

Or will it be The Gift?

WOW, this is a hard choice for me.

Voting is up on Buffyfest. Clicky Click here.

Betty Crocker in the Hizzouse

Yeah, Boi!

Ok, I seriously can't even pull that off.

I realized today, after hearing a story of crazy craziness in grown people's lives (the friend telling the story was not involved in said craziness), that I lead what some might call a somewhat mundane life.

I've been called Betty Crocker and June Cleaver (what's the Hispanic version of these ladies; Beatrice y Juana?) I've been mocked and also admired. I receive both with grains of salt and slight abashedness, and sometimes even pride; depends on my mood.

You know what? After the story I heard, I'm GLAD I lead a semi-quiet life. I am glad I don't want to "cut someone." (Why do people say that, by the way? It's so ridiculous.) I'm glad I have an "old-fogey" mentality when it comes to things like common decency, courtesy and self-respect. Seriously. The things I see people post about themselves are enough to make anyone cringe or get numb to it. That's really the crux of the matter; it's so common to be rude, "out there", "in your face" that no one bats an eye. Sad.

So call me a dork, or Betty Crocker. Call me June. Call me Al. (ha! "old" people will get that.)

I'll look in the mirror and smile, thankful that my life is NOT full of drama. Thankful for being blessed. Then I'll go off & bake a cool cake in this hizzouse.

Another Cake

I was having cake baking withdrawals, so I baked another one last night.

Check it out on my Cake blog. It's totally Wicked.

More Disney Fun

After we ate lunch at T-Rex on Labor Day, we walked around Downtown Disney.

I love Disney pin collecting. I don't buy very many; between the kids and I, we only own about 25 or so. Not as big a collection as some crazy collectors out there, but I love them and wish I could buy more.

Heh heh heh. LOVE this one.

Princess "Meia."

The Force is strong in this one.

They're also now starting to trade these Vinylmation things, like these below.

Here's a Mike Wizowski one. :)

Buffy Makes EW's list at # 3? Where was *I*?

This Sunday, while straightening magazines at the library bookstore where I volunteer, I came across the June copy of "Entertainment Weekly" and see Buffy on the front cover. The magazine's headline is "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 years."

Wow, Buffy is one of them? Cool, let me look.

# 1. Homer Simpson. Ha ha. OK, I agree he's an icon.

#2. Harry Potter. Absolutely. My Harry Potter fandom is just slightly less than my Whedonverse one.

#3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. *crickets chirp*

What? Where have I BEEN? What happened? Why was I out of the know? The only thing I can think of is that usually, although the magazine says June, they probably come out a month or so early; in late April/early May, when I was dealing with Jake's surgery and the unpleasant aftermath.

Man, I feel so left out.

(Side note: Isn't it SAD that the news is only like 2 or 3 months old and it's ANCIENT news now? Ah, we of the short attention spans.)

There's MAGIC at Downtown Disney, Mom!

We spent Labor Day with our letterboxing friend Dawn (aka Sits N Knits) at Downtown Disney. David had to work later that evening and opted out of going and wearing himself out.

It really was not busy, because most Northern tourists are back home today preparing for the first day of school tomorrow. It was busy for a Monday, but definitely not busy for a summer day. What is was, was HOT.

We met up and ate lunch at T-Rex. It was all our our first time going there. It's just like the Rainforest Cafe, only Dino-themed.

Kaaren & Dawn (aka Kaaren the Vampire Slayer and Sits N Knits to you all on AQ.)

We were sitting right below this guy, but could not see him. We had to get up and walk around a bit to get a better shot.

Every few minutes, the place would get dark and a "meteor shower" would occur. Isabel was scared the first time it happened but eventually got used to it.

The food was pricey (it's Disney) but good (it's Disney).

Dawn got the fish tacos. Yum!

Here's another room where customers got treated to ever-changing wall colors.

Jake stops by the "Kitchen of Fire." It said so over the opening.

Later we walked around the area and Isabel got sprinkled with fairy dust by a cast member with a wand. Not understanding HOW this could possibly happen, Isabel said with awe....

"There's MAGIC at Downtown Disney, Mom!!"

I love that she's 6 going on 6.

More pictures for another post.

I'm Calling them "Vintage"

Once upon a time, I was a pack rat. Then after tons of moves (tons!) with my ex, I learned to throw things away. Sad sometimes [like when the ex donated a box of baby items that happened to be the one box of Jake's firsts (first outfit, first blanket made by a friend etc.) and I went ballistic], but a necessity if you moved as much as we did.

David (that would be my husband, not the ex) and his family keep a lot of things. A lot. It would surprise me to see Isabel taking a bath at my in-laws and learn that the tub toys she was playing with were the same tub toys my husband played with at age 3. They'd even produce the pictures as proof. (remind me to get those so I can post David at age 3 in the tub. ADORABLE.)

With the "keeping of the stuffs" came some really cool items! Fantastic things that we have received, like a picture given to us when David's grandmother died. It was given to David's grandmother in 1969 by the Nixon's. You know, the President and his wife. David's grandmother worked at the White House. It's over the piano, also given to us upon his grandmother's passing.

We got the cool Japanese China, the lovely necklace that made me cry and other furnishings for the guest room (one of the beds in the guest room here was David's high school bed) and the home.

We've also received clothes that belonged to David..when he was like 5-10 years old.

David's Star Trek shirt circa 1974 or so.

David's "Mork from Ork" shirt dated 1978.

David's other Star Trek shirt dated 1977 (they have the dated imprinted right on the shirts.)

The first two shirts are used as pajamas by Iz, (Mork has a hole in the back that I can't repair) but the last picture is her after coming home from school one day. :)

I'm calling them Vintage. And I shall make a mini-geek out of her yet - muah ha ha ha!

Vote for your Favorite Whedonverse Finale

Round one is up over at Buffyfest.

Go Vote!

(Go "Becoming Part 2!" Wait, Go "Restless." Err, "Go Objects in Space." Dang it!!)

Paid Political announcement by the Kaaren Foundation

Epbot Stamp Carve Redux

Remember the stamp I carved for Jen, the Cake Wrecks gal based off her other blog, Epbot?

She said thanks. Here. :)

I'm excited!

I'm a nerd, ok?