Toast

Toast from my very own super-cool bread machine.
It's warm and buttery and crisp and delicious.
This is what it tastes like:



Ignore the stupid video.

If I can't have you all nearby, at least I have my toast.

Laundry

That's an old picture, but you get the idea.

We're trying to get everything ready for the trip. Rounding up all the winter clothes, getting all the Christmas presents together, bringing the suitcases down from the attic...It's fun.

We are SO FRIGGIN EXCITED to see you all!!!!



Some Christmas-y pancakes we made.




Watching Journey to the Center of the Earth (major suckage)



Nap attack

Rose Ice Cream

I found this on Allrecipes.com.

SUBMITTED BY: MsMarilyn

"This is a vintage recipe that I discovered after moving into an old farm house in rural Virginia. It was scribbled on a scrap of paper and dated '1930; Rose Ice Cream.'"


INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
4 cups light cream
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons rose extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 dash pink food coloring
Add to Recipe Box


DIRECTIONS
Whisk together the light cream, heavy cream, milk, sugar, rose water, salt, and pink food coloring in a bowl. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately for soft-serve style or transfer to a container and store in the freezer for a few hours for a firmer ice cream.


Sounds good to me.

Iceland

What's the capital of Iceland?


About $1.95.


I added a playlist; If you don't want to hear Ozzy Osbourne, the self proclaimed '******* Prince of Darkness', expound on the virtues of peace and love, then scroll to the very bottom and press the 'stop' button.



But you'll be missing out, big time.

For those who apparently don't care about the economic stability of obscure little european islands:

=-[ <---Right when I was about to hit post, the cat ran across my keyboard and made this face. Seriously.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland: Thousands of Icelanders marked the 90th anniversary of their nation's sovereignty with angry protest Monday, and several hundred stormed the central bank to demand the ouster of bankers they blame for the country's spectacular economic meltdown.

Tiny Iceland has seen its banks and currency collapse in just a few weeks while prices and unemployment soar — leaving a country regarded as a model of Scandinavian prosperity in a state of shock.

"The government played roulette and the whole nation has lost," writer Einar Mar Gudmundsson told a noisy but peaceful anti-government rally of several thousand people in downtown Reykjavik.

After the rally, hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Sedlabanki, Iceland's central bank, demanding the sacking of its chief, David Oddsson.

The demonstrators staged an hour-long standoff with shield-wielding riot police inside the bank's lobby, singing songs and chanting "Out with David" and "Power to the People." The protest ended peacefully when both police and demonstrators agreed to withdraw.

Anti-government protests have been growing larger and angrier since Iceland's three main banks collapsed in October under the weight of huge debts amassed during years of rapid economic growth.

Since then the value of the country's currency, the krona, has plummeted. Icelanders who grew used to buying houses and cars with easily available foreign-currency loans now struggle to repay them. The cost of everyday goods is skyrocketing — furniture retailer Ikea hiked its prices by 25 percent last month.

Iceland has been forced to seek $10 billion in aid from the International Monetary Fund and individual countries.

Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde told The Associated Press on Saturday that Iceland's economy would get even worse next year, with a "severe drop" in GDP and purchasing power and rising unemployment.

Haarde said he does not accept personal responsibility for the crisis. He blames commercial bankers who expanded recklessly in the wake of a mid-1990s stock market boom.

But the protest organizers and many other Icelanders say government oversight of the banks was too weak. They want Haarde's coalition government to resign and hold new elections by next spring. By law, Haarde does not have to call a vote until 2011.

Settled by Vikings more than 1,000 years ago and later colonized by Denmark, Iceland became a self-governing country under the Danish crown on Dec. 1, 1918. The volcanic island gained full independence in 1944.

Throughout the anniversary Monday, Icelanders threw taunts, the occasional egg and acts of political theater at a government many now hold in contempt.

Much of the protest — held on a wind-swept hill overlooked by a statue of Iceland's first Viking settler, Ingolfur Arnarson — had a distinctively Nordic flavor. One protester threw meat and cheese onto the lawn of nearby Government House, encouraging the ravens to come and whisk the government away.

Artist Hildur Margretadottir came to the demonstration holding an artificial horse's head on a stick — her version of an old Norse technique for putting a curse on an enemy.

"I am turning it toward the central bank," she said.

She said Iceland's bankers and politicians "were gambling with our money, and they still are."

Across Icelandic society, political disillusionment runs deep.

Marketing manager Runar Birgisson said he helped vote Haarde's government into power.

"Today, I wouldn't elect any of them," he said. "I wouldn't hire them to clean my toilet."

Associated Press Writer Valur Gunnarsson contributed to this report.

Warhammer Miniature Links

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=269562.0
http://www.hirstarts.com/personal/personal.html
http://www.drunkdwarves.com/?p=21

More pictures!

Girl Genius

There is something pure, and sweet, and immutably innocent about a geek's view of the sexual dynamic.
An environment where a man can actually be rendered speechless by the presence of a beautiful woman, and true love is denied (communicated?) by comedic violence against him; Where physical embarassment leads to increased affection,instead of crippling emotional trauma.

It is in this vein that Foglio's Girl Genius travels, The story is complex, centering around a universe where techno-geniuses called sparks once ruled with the help of complex machines,biological experiments and willing accomplices (Clanks, constructs,and minions). After a bitter and destructive war with the evil Other and it's zombie-making slaver wasps, the primary house, Heterodyne, lies in ruins. The minor houses are united,mostly by force, under the Baron Wulfenbach, a Charleton Heston-like figure who rules with good intentions and an iron fist.

In this universe the travels of Agatha Clay, the last (unwitting) Heterodyne are chronicled. Her cluelessness and frustration are endearing, and her emotional growth is uncommonly realistic, although her knack for getting her clothes ripped/burned/left behind is a little overdone.
If the artist were a character in his own book he would be getting slapped and labeled a perv daily. He's obviously a big fan of the female form, which leads to a lot of gratuitous 'not-nudity' (wink-wink) in the Japanese tradition.
It's a repetitive plot device, but not a huge flaw.

The art is amazing. Incredibly detailed,this is by far the most visually satisfying web-comic I'veever read. The occasional panoramic pages are like the 'Where's Waldo' books in their glorious, minute completeness. The characters seem to grow and shrink according to their relative importance in the scene, which initially smacks of inexpertise but eventually becomes an important part of the atmosphere.

The plot, if not all the dialogue, is worthy of it's own novel. The writer has created a wide swath of characters, places and rich history that is a fascinating story in it's own right. If the relationships area little formulaic, the monsters and villainous good guys more than make up for it. Specifically the Jagermonsters;
Probably the best use of a bad german accent since Hogan's Heroes.


Anyway,if you're looking to kill afew hours catching up and don't mind a childish fascination with boobage given free reign, I highly reccomend
Girl Genius. It's a nice little escape from reality, and a treat for the eyes. I may not buy the Geek Philosophy of Love, but there's nothing wrong with a little test drive.

Extra points if you can read through the Zum-Zum chapter without giving in to the urge to talk like a jagermonster.