joy and shadows

You did it again. You made me cry again. And with a trailer, no less.

Toy Story 3 Trailer

I'm going to need an entire box of tissues for this one.

Hello everyone, it's National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and there's pink everywhere. Pink ribbons, pink drinks, pink bags, pink sweatbands for football players. Doesn't everyone love pink? And you can Shop for the Cure and get fun pink things for your kitchen at the same time. It's great, right? Right?

Great, except for the part where the research societies don't get a whole lot of the money you just spent on your new KitchenAid. A lot of this pink stuff is a gimmick, another way to separate you from your money using your good wish to do something for someone else and get that blender at the same time. So here's what Aunty Arafel is here to tell you today:

If you really want to help with breast cancer education, prevention, and cure efforts, GIVE MONEY DIRECTLY to places like the American Cancer Society or the National Breast Cancer Foundation. That way, 100% of your money goes where you want it to, as opposed to a few percent (and that goes for any charitable organization, by the way.) And while you're at it, check your own health - not just the boobs, but also cholesterol and blood glucose levels and things like that, because heart disease and diabetes kill far more women than breast cancer.

There's nothing wrong with buying something pink - if that shade of pink is what you want in your kitchen, go crazy - but separate consumerism and philanthropy. You'll be a better person for it.

O HAY TEA-DRINKING FRIENDS!

Follow me on Steepster! Because I just know that you want to hear about all the tea I've been drinking, and vice versa. :)

My husband has started reading Harry Potter. He's been carrying the book around the house, and it's adorable. Now, if I could only get him to try His Majesty's Dragon, given his penchant for Patrick O'Brien books...

This morning, when I let Biscuit out of the basement, she saw ANOTHER CAT in the back yard.

Biscuit: WHAT.

Other cat: ...

Biscuit: *puffs tail*

Other cat: *stares*

Biscuit: *arches back*

Other cat: *hunches down*

Biscuit: BITCH DON'T EVEN, THIS IS MY HOUSE AND MY YARD, GTFO

Other cat: *leaves*

Me: You're very fierce, missy.

Biscuit: DAMN STRAIGHT.

And then a deer walked by and I had to chase it off the lawn in my pajamas.

So the good news is that after all that, we are indeed going to Maine; we're just not going to the same cottage that we usually go to. Husband got on the phone and within 48 hours had secured a week at Stonehill Cottage, which is about three miles from the Admiral's compound, as the crow flies. It's not the same lake, but it's the same area, and we'll most probably stop by to see the Admiral. My parents said that his voice sounds stronger, and I'm hoping that perhaps a swim in Alamoosook will be part of our visit. :)

The cottage looks very cute, and although I'm sorry that we're not in the same place and my parents won't be joining us, there are a lot of positive aspects to the new place. It's very pretty (I LOVE the decorating in the great room) and it will get a lot of afternoon sun. Definitely much more modernized than the Admiral's cottage, though the rusticity is part of the charm. We're renting a canoe for the week, and the weather looks like it will be good for about half the time, so we expect a lot of waterfront activity.

Aside from the decorating, we feel a lot freer about this week. Because my folks are very close to the Admiral and his family, we usually ended up spending a lot of time with them, and my dad was prone to inviting everyone to dinner and then asking me (or my mother) to cook for everyone. This is not always the most fun thing to do on your vacation, and sometimes it felt more like babysitting. I can understand this, because the Admiral did need a break now and then from caring for his wife, and he didn't have a lot of company. This year, while we do want to see the Rodgers, we're not responsible for entertaining them, and if we do happen to have a dinner party (which I doubt) it'll be at my own discretion and not because I was roped into it.

It's too bad that Stonehill doesn't allow pets, because we wanted to bring Biscuit with us, but the neighbor's children are going to look after her. Definitely less expensive than boarding her, and she'll be happier to be staying in her own place than in some little cage. We bought Biscuit a kitty drinking fountain to be sure that she'd have good water, as she hasn't quite mastered drinking out of the toilet like a proper cat.

We leave on Sunday, and we'll get back the following Sunday. Rather strange to have an entire free day to pack, but it does make things easier. We bought some rafts last night, and we're good to go. Can't wait!

Anyone want some Moxie? :)

1. Thought that was a good solution, hangin' with the raisin girl Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos first guessed by cassandramorgan
2. I can't wait to be with you, no, I just can't sit still, are we there, yet? Closing In - Imogen Heap
3. Searching for the answers but we've lost our way The Blind Man - Mono
4. Whatcha gonna do with all that junk My Humps - Black-Eyed Peas guessed by fadingembers
5. She packed my bag last night, pre-flight Rocket Man - Elton John (actually, the Kate Bush cover guessed by morgi
6. 'Cause it is close to us We Like the Moon - Spongmonkeys
7. 'Cause it's cold, cold, cold in my hole, hole, hole Hello, Mr. Zebra - Tori Amos guessed by ada_kensington
8. There once was a time and there once was a way, we had something going but to my dismay I Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan
9. Here's the day you'd hoped would never come Speeding Cars - Imogen Heap
10. Mama I have nothing but cobwebs and dust in the lock Little Hells - Marissa Nadler
11. Walking through the rooms in my head, I came across your image I Don't Care - Shakespear's Sister
12. This I call my sailboat, and these are all my friends Breezing Up - The Ocean Blue
13. Clouds descending Concertina - Tori Amos guessed by buttercup0222
14. A bottle of red, a bottle of white Scenes from an Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel guessed by morgi
15. Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends Circle - Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, guessed by lady_ganesh
16. So suddenly the madness came, with it's whiskered, wolven, ether pangs Dirty Knife - Neko Case guessed by buttercup0222
17. You said I began this messy state of love affairs Heartstopper - Emiliana Torrini
18. On the Starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk Star Trekkin' - The Firm guessed by morgi
19. I tell you how I feel, but you don't care Sleep to Dream - Fiona Apple guessed by buttercup_0222
20. I can sense it, something important, is about to happen. It's coming up. Bjork - Big Time Sensuality
21. And so the world goes round and round, with all you ever knew Caribbean Blue - Enya
22. If this is a question, is maybe a lie Only Got One - Frou Frou
23. Where once was light, now darkness falls. Where once was love, love is no more. Gollum's Song - Emiliana Torrini
24. Don't let yourself get hurt this time Falling - Julee Cruise
25. I'd like to help you doctor, yes I really really would Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega guessed by lady_ganesh

Thanks to everyone who guessed!

It's a happy day for me, anyway, because two years ago on 7/7/07, we bought our house (or, came to mutually agreeable terms, which is the same thing.) The market has dropped in the meantime, but I haven't suffered too much in the way of buyer's remorse, especially considering our great neighbors. Hurray!

4th of July weekend was nice, especially since the cold/flu/whatever that I've been battling for the past week started to recede. It wasn't a particularly bad bug in terms of coughing and congestion, but it made me very tired. My employer gave us the 3rd off, and I spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping.

On the 4th, husband and I went to Sea Bright Beach Club for the day to visit my aunt and uncle and watch fireworks on the beach. Every time we go, we talk about how nice it would be to belong to that club, but 1. we live too far away for it to be reasonable given the NJ shore traffic and 2. the startup costs are expensive and you have to find 5 members to "sponsor" you in once your name comes up on the waiting list. In any event, it was good to see my uncle, who just came through a severe event where he had an embolism in his lung. You'd never know it, though, because he was unchanged besides being a little short of breath. We had a swim in the ocean and played tag with my younger cousins in the pool before the evening's events.

We had intended to go into NYC for lunch on the 5th, but my FIL called up and said he'd like to see us before too long, and husband revised our plans such that we went to Lambertville instead. We'll just have to get cannoli in Little Italy another time. Nothing in Lambertville opens before 11 AM on Sunday, and husband decided we'd get there at 10 AM, so we waited around a lot before lunch. In any case, I bought two Lilly Pulitzer dresses from a consignment shop, and after a trip to the dry-cleaners, they'll be good as new.

Tonight my husband is off to see the Mets as a guest of our next-door neighbor's corporate suite, so I'll probably run some errands and then spend the evening learning to make flying geese units for my next quilt. My life is so exciting. :)

Nothing in our house is safe from the dreaded Paws of Biscuit. No cake, no cookie, no red bell pepper that was for tomorrow's dinner. For a while, we had a Safe Place to put things for a while; namely, on top of a high shelf where we keep the spice jars. Now, that safety is in doubt.

My husband left me a voice mail telling me all about her latest Discovery. The germ of the idea probably started in Biscuit's little cranium when my mother sent us a gift that came in a giant box full of peanuts. Lazy people that we are, we haven't thrown the box out yet, and her most favorite game last week was to 1. get a peanut 2. play with the peanut 3. get another peanut 4. play with the peanut 5. get another peanut...

You get the idea. There are bits of chewed Styrofoam all over the house.

Anyway, he came home and wondered why every single one of Biscuit's many toys were on the floor. We'd been keeping them above the sliding glass door, where there's a windowsill. It took her long enough, but Biscuit finally deduced that if she jumped from the floor to the counter to the top of the fridge to the tops of the cabinets, she could stroll right over to the windowsill and also to the hiding place for the red pepper (which, after all, was for dinner. Just not ours.)

Biscuit must have had a grand old time all day, throwing her toys on the floor one by one. Husband put them all back, and she's been up there again, batting them down. (1. Throw a toy on the floor 2. play with it 3. throw another toy on the floor...) He just came over to me and asked me to remind him what the difference was between cats and kids, and I reminded him that Biscuit doesn't need to go to college.

Iranian women stand up in defiance, flout rules

A young Iranian woman named Neda is gunned down in one of the most iconic images of the last week. Another walks down the street, defiantly showing off her hair and body in a revealing dress. And still another woman says she's not scared of paramilitary forces -- no matter how many times she gets beaten.

"When they want to hit me, I say hit. I have been hit so many times and this time it doesn't matter. I just want to help my brothers and sisters," says the 19-year-old woman whose identity is being withheld by CNN for her safety.

I am humbled by the courage of these women.