Ripping the Fright Fantastique

  
(Some stuff is open for public viewing...)

A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.

Last night we went out to dinner here. It's Manresa Castle in Port Townsend. Very haunted old place with pretty creepy history and famous among fellow ghost hunting type folks. Then again, PT is full of haunted places. We had Calamari Diablo for an app, I had a Chicken Mushroom Penne in a Sherry Cream sauce, husbandman had a steak, and we had this caramel/strawberry/banana/toffee/ice cream thing for dessert. NOM. Also, George Eads was there trying to be all incognito and shit, lol. How random was that, wtf? ( other stuff... )

My neighbor Nancy brought me the last of her late season roses for my party!
( GOOD TIMES )

On my stovetop I'm roasting some peppers, corn, and carrots to add to the soup. The whole house is smokey, lol. In other news Ninja Assassin was sooo fun. Did it have CGI effects? Fuck yes, it's the Wachowski Brothers HELLO? Meh, I'll do an actual spoiler-ific review later. Maybe. It was way fun and bloody as hell! Also RAIN? lajlsdj;kasjfd'lashfahfidshf'aoish! Fine-assed man, that's all I'm saying.

Which ones F-List? #1, #2, or #3?

In other news still no word from my mother. Shocked? Not so much... so anyway, ya. I've been exhausted thus I haven't posted diddly in a while. I'm having a big dinner party for Thanksgiving, about 10 people. Holy crap! I've been a cooking fool - maybe that's why I R TIRED? So far the menu is spinach & artichoke dip, roasted veggie soup, turkey (duh), stuffing (moar duh), roasted fingerling rosemary potatoes (with bacon!), gravy (son of duh), sauteed asparagus & green beans almondine, and butternut cheesecake with a pom/white wine reduction sauce. NOM... also, I introduce our newest Betta, Blanco de Luna:

Lastly, husbandman has informed me that we're going to see Ninja Assassin today come hell or high water. Am I complaining? HELL NO.

Holy Crap this movie looks AMAZING. Also, it looks like they may have found the caves of Shangri-La!

Are you fucking kidding me? I guess she's been suspended, but damn. And no, I think all these girls elbowing each other is bullshit. There needs to be less tolerance for this kind of infuriating shit. 
 

 =/= 

Beware on your journey, tread softly with care.
Beware of the hag, in her dark mountain lair.
Speak only in whispers, don’t wander alone.
Take heed of the shadows...
Watch out for the crone.
She waits and she wants you, she knows you are there
Don’t wander alone, tread softly with care.

(art by the glorious moonvoice )

OMG read this story of Nubs the dog and his Marine!

So we went to the Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife Wolf Management Plan hearing in Sequim last night. I'm STILL pissed off about it. Here's pretty much what was said:

Biologists, Ecologists, professors, wolf experts, and all other manner of regular folks:
"Wolves are good, we need them to restore the ecosystem. Here's facts, statistics, and studies that support this."

Ranchers:
"They'll kill our livestock!"

Biologists, Ecologists, professors, wolf experts, and all other manner of regular folks:
"Actually, you have more to worry about from Coyotes, Black Bears, Cougars, and even Eagles than you do Wolves." (shows proof)

Ranchers:
"They'll come down to the lowlands in town and tear apart your dog right in front of you!"

Biologists, Ecologists, professors, wolf experts, and all other manner of regular folks:
"They won't predate your animals, their natural prey are ungulates (deer, elk, etc), coyote, squirrel, rabbit, rodents, etc.."

Hunters:
"They'll eat all the deer and elk and there won't be any left for us to shoot!"

Biologists, Ecologists, professors, wolf experts, and all other manner of regular folks:
"Actually it's been shown that the re-entry of wolves to an ecosystem strengthen herds of ungulates which in turn end up producing more young, ie, more shit for you to hunt."

Ranchers:
"They'll tear apart you dog in front of your 4 year old grand-daughter and then eat you grand-daughter too!"

Biologists, Ecologists, professors, wolf experts, and all other manner of regular folks:
"Wolves are terrified of humans. In fact, they're more scared of us than we could ever possibly be of them."

Big Game Trophy Hunters:
"Fuck that shit. 3 S's! SHOOT, SHOVEL, & SHUT UP!"

Halloweenie Goodness. Those various wines all have names like: Dracula's Blood, EVIL, Headless Red, Phantom, Vampire, etc.. and we had some Pumpkin Beer and WEREWOLF Beer, lol. I should have put the sugar cookies out for this pic, but alas, they were being nibbled even as I was snapping away. We watched Hammer Horror and had a blast. We didn't get many trick-or-treaters though, I'm told it's because we're semi rural, lol. I baked some red pears in Riesling and Pom juice, then reduced the sauce and made an incredibly good syrup. Oh NOM. What did you guys do?

You know, until just a year or 2 ago, they thought Architeuthis was a figment of cryptozoologists... until the Japanese managed to FILM ONE. Now, THIS, something I never thought I'd get to see in this lifetime. IN-FUCKING-CREDIBLE! And she has a calf too! Pretty mama... anyway, now you know where old images like the one on countless paintings and this scrimshaw came from:

Dracula Shark?  Pppft, everyone knows Dracula Sharks look like this. DUH.

So we saw Zombieland and Saw VI this last weekend. Both were mediocre at best. I really like the Saw franchise, so I was a bit disappointed but as usual, I love how they can go back and tie shit in to the current. This installment focused on asshole mortgage lenders and health insurance companies, lol, so it was worth seeing just for that alone! Zombieland had some funny shit in it (BILL MURRAY!) but was too long and got a bit tedious in parts. Meh...

Makes me cry every fucking time... *sniff*

FUCK YOU BOEING 

My husband is in DC right now, but he'll be home tonight... and he'll be HUNGRY! So I'm making Pot Roast, one of his favorites. Which recipe do you think sounds better: this one or this one? I can't decide, please advise. In other news I R TIRED and have little energy. I feel like napping after soup & crackers, lol. I need to start painting the kitchen and decorating for Halloween. And the house is a mess. Send cleaning elves please, thanks. Here, have some random-ass pics:

Glowie-eyed Zen strikes a pose of handsomeness and cute.( see more )

So, see this triptyc? See how it sort of has a plum/lavender/violet/purplie cast? In real life not so much. In real life it looks very green. Thus I have a question for all my artsy f-list peeps, what to do? I can't return it so I pretty much need to make it work. (TY Tim Gunn!) I don't have the best art skills, but I occasionally get by. They're on canvas and sealed with whatever, but can I somehow streak or blend in some purple? Is there a certain technique for that? What do you suggest? HELP! 

I'm a mean grudge-holding bitch, I totally admit it. Then again, I never forget a kindness either, but that's a different topic, isn't it? Currently, I'm not angry at anyone, nor am I holding a grudge against them. Not Jenna, not Shari, not my parents, or anyone else from my past. It takes me a while to get over it, but once I am, it's honestly over and I can only move on. The thing that people need to do in order to work on things with me is pretty simple: they need to talk to me like rational mature human beings. I'm always happy to admit what I did wrong, how it went wrong, what I could've done better, etc., and I've always been willing to apologize... but I find that sometimes others aren't as willing to do the same. 

I believe in taking action, taking responsibility, and doing the right thing. In recovery groups it's called "making amends." I've contacted many people from my past and apologized to them, even if what they did to me was way worse that what I did to them. The 2 are separate and just because they did something wrong doesn't mean I get a pass on what I did. Most of those people are pretty reluctant to even talk to me, let alone admit what they did... or tried to do. It's curious, really. And doing so doesn't even mean that I want them back in my life in any way, it just means I want to set things right, heal things, and fix the energy/karma/whatever from the past. If a new friendship is generated, cool, if not, so be it. I'm fine with that too. 

Last night was date night and we had a blast! I wore a slinky wrap dress and heels (and then it rained, lol) and even put on some lipstick. We saw Vampire's Assistant and OMG guys, it was WONDERFUL! (I want to adopt Octa!) It had flavors of Something Wicked This Way Comes, but also HBO's Carnivale. Go see it if you can, seriously. I hope they make more. Anyway, then we went to a swanky restaurant, I ordered Lobster, he ordered the fillet and we shared. NOM.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCORPIO PEEPS!
karnythia, gi_janearng, raincitygirl, redxmagnum,photogfrog, aphrabehn, caelum_rainieri, kickthehobbit, qweerdo, alabastard, and java_fiend may all you eagles and phoenixes have wonderful birthdays and as much love, health, joy, success, and prosperity as you can possibly stand!

Sometimes it's hard to get super smooth hummus if you're using garbanzo beans. I read that if you remove their skins, you get an amazing texture so I tried it. Turns out it was amazing, so that's how I'll be making it from now on. Also, I really want to see Milla's new scary movie. 

I restrung the watch husband man gave me a year or 2 ago. I took out the filigreed beads and substituted black freshwater pearls and added a few additional aquamarine chips. I luvs it. (welchva I've been eyeing your sparklies for weeks now... *ponders*) Anyway, I'm over the plague but still have a gnarly cough. And now husbandman has it AGAIN. Holy Crap WTF? 

Saw some movies, the first being Seven Pounds. Here's the thing, there've been a few movies that have changed my life. Changed how I looked at things and just moved me so much I never forgot them. One of them was The Fisher King. Another was Fearless. And there's several more that I won't list, but Seven Pounds is now added to that list. It was such an inspiring, engrossing, amazing movie. I highly recommend it.  I also saw Sunshine Cleaning. This movie was made by the same people that did Little Miss Sunshine and while it wasn't as side-splittingly funny as LMS, it was equally as good. Also, as some of you might already know, I'm a forensics and crime buff, and new all about the business of crime scene clean up. They did their research, and at times it was hilarious. And let's face it, everyone in the small cast is just stellar anyway. Another recommend from me.  I also saw Law Abiding Citizen. I think one of the signs of a good movie, is if days later, you're still thinking about it. If you remember the movie Falling Down, this movie has a similar vein to it. Man goes on killing rampage, only this time, the main character's reason is a lot more sympathetic than Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down. LAC is sort of like James Bond meets Falling Down, meets some revenge Charlie Bronson movie (pick one). I really liked it and it was very well done.

Lastly, I want to mention a documentary called OUTRAGE. If you care even a tiny bit about gay rights, you need to see this. Some of the things mentioned was the huge gay population in WaDC (even more than San Fran), and yet how's there's this unspoken conspiracy to not only hush it up, but actively vote against "The Gay Agenda" TM in every way possible. They mention it comes from self-loathing, but that's not even my point. There are several reporters that have made it their life's work to expose these politicians who are secretly gay, married and leading double lives, and routinely voting with malice and hatred towards anything that will give the same rights as everyone else. OMFG, I am NEVER ok with outing folks, but in this case, I have to say I agree with them. I do. And the funny thing? Once these guys are outed and sort of forced to stop hiding who they really are, they become happy and start to vote 180degrees opposite of their former hate votes. McGreevy, Barney Frank (I <3 that man), Larry Craig, Crist (who is hoping to run in 2012 with Sarah Palin) who just got married, and many others are uh, explored in this. So ya, see this one too. Did I mention you SHOULD SEE IT yet?

Other than that, I have nothing of any interest to report. I'm going over to my friend Nancy's house tonight to help her cook stuff for her abuse survivors group (potato/cheese/brocc soup and roasted butternut squash). 

Koi has 2 favorite places to sleep: in my chair, or right above my head if I'm taking a nap on the couch. 

I forgot to post pics of our Autumn Equinox altar... apparently Zen was intensely interested in the bread offerings, lol. See those 3 read pears amongst the pomegranates, flowers, and pumpkins? Koi stole one off the altar altogether (which I'm sure Zen Bullied her out of) and stood on her hind legs and nibbled another one as much as she could! That's my girl!

 FUCK YOU, Michael Vick...   No, seriously, FUCK YOU.
 In other news, I saw Trick 'r Treat and Drag Me to Hell, both were loads of fun. Also, I have the plague. A-FUCKING-GAIN.

Cue pronz music...

Oct 08, 2009
Transiting Venus Conjunct Natal Uranus

NEW KINDS OF PLEASURE
If you are single, don't be surprised if you fall in love at first sight or say things that you thought you'd never dare utter. If attached, don't be surprised if you or your partner decide to read poetry to each other, or open a bottle of champagne at the spur of the moment. Take advantage of this wildly romantic mood and savor each moment as it sparkles past you.

HELP ME PICK SOME SHIT OUT?

 I'm having a small get together tonight. I've been cleaning all damn day, ugh, wtf how does stuff get so dirty? I'm making Baba Ghanoush and White Bean Hummus (Nancy is allergic to Garbanzo Beans =[ ) for starters. Then I'm serving the Frug's Spinach and Artichoke Casserole (I added spinach/fontina/chicken sausage) and Asparagus & Chanterelle Risotto (without that truffle business) for dinner. I tried to make a Butternut Squash/Buttered Rum/Pecan custard but it didn't turn out very well. It was delish, but the texture was more like a quiche as opposed to a custard GODDAMNIT. Now I have to pull a cheap, quick dessert out of my butt. (possible pics later... OF THE FOOD NOT MY BUTT)

So, ya, I'ma weigh in on the whole Roman Polanski thing. Dear F-List, I'm pretty sure most of you already know how I feel about this shit (lol), but I've got a bunch of links you might be interested in regardless. So here's a good break down of the facts from Andrew Vachss. I'm thinking most of you have seen the list of celebrities who've signed the petition for his release, here are some newest additions. And let's not forget Whoopi's Rape-Rape comments and her subsequent explanation of it (can't find the link dammit). Kate Harding has some pointed things to say about all this, as does The Divine Eve Ensler. Lastly, here's a petition to sign if you want Polanski to face justice for what he did. 

ps: Thank you doctoreon !

Happy Birthday Libras!
the_icequeen, dazeydevyne, madrugadita, mousekinn, zllah, cumaeansibyl, demure, sangrenoir, papilio_luna, audacian and all my friends and family... may you have an amazing birthday and a new solar year filled with all the blessings you can possibly stand!

Happy Autumn Equinox (Mabon, Autumn Harvest, etc..) tomorrow F-List! For my friends down under - Happy Spring Equinox!
Is anyone doing anything fun? Is anyone celebrating? The moon will be in Scorpio, perfect for Persephone's reuniting with Hades. I'm going to make a special Autumn themed romantic dinner and we'll light up the altar later on. I've been a painting fool recently, so the house is a mess... I think I'm going to attempt to clean up a bit today. Other than that, nothing special planned... how about you?

Old stove (and Amaranth ears, lol)..................   New stove, sans ears. 
Not spectacular, but ok for no money in a rental house. 

Autumn's almost here! YAY!