"New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions."
- Mark Twain
Doing anything special this New Years Eve?
It's a sticky/icky/non-winterish and rainy day here, so off and on I'm watching the (very edited)Doctor Who marathon while barbecue cooks in the oven. Naturally, I plan on staying up until the fake apocalyptic/fake "Bad Wolf" year of 2012 ends. (Hooray for Doctor Who references! Like bow-ties, Doctor Who references are cool).
Before midnight, I'll probably relive my childhood by watching Rudolph's Shiny New Year. (It's been on my dvr for at least a year). So yeah, that's pretty much it. We love to party around here, can't ya tell?
Someone might have to tie me down so that I don't hurt myself with all this rocking and rolling and throwing confetti in the air in between sipping iced mocha's and kissing my cat at midnight.
And unlike myself, our neighborhood has been celebrating for weeks now. Anytime there's a holiday on the horizon, the fireworks are popping until 3 am.
Evidence below:
(Scary, because we're surrounded by tall pines. At least today and tomorrow it's raining).
Anyway, here's my New Years Eve math:
~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~
Because I lack imagination and New Year Resolutions, here are some New Years comic strips and pictures that I found during my bout of insomnia last night.
I might borrow this resolution that I found on the internet: "Start buying lottery tickets at a luckier store."
"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to."
- Bill Vaughan
I couldn't resist posting this video because of the New Years Eve scene between Rose and Tennant.
Now please excuse me while I sob crocodile tears over my BBQ sandwich.
Today isn't only New Years Eve, but my uncle's birthday as well.
After 3 days of lovely cool weather, it'll likely begin warming up after the weekend.
Insert crying jag
This means it's time to make some homemade fudge before it gets too humid and Spring-like again here in Spring, Texas. (Sorry for the pun, but my typing fingers refused to listen to my brain).
Years ago I made fudge when it was too humid, and the results were embarrassing. I had to use a CHISEL and HAMMER to get it out of the pan.
No, you read that right. There's no need to re-read that last sentence. I really did have to hunt down the tool box in our garage in order to fetch the one and only means of separating my failed fudge concoction from the pan. Chisels and hammers aren't only destined for home repairs. Not while I'm in the kitchen.
After chiseling away at chocolate the consistency of brick, I then had to soak the pan in soapy hot water. Not for 1 day. Not for 2 or 3 days.
More like a week.
All the same, in my defense the actual fudge tasted delicious. I just had to beat the everlasting hell out of it first.
Here are the goodies we found at Thads for half off. We didn't get everything we wanted, and since we were in a hurry and it was such a madhouse we didn't realize until we got home that two of our snowmen are the same... only different sizes.
You can't tell from the photos, but one of them is really tall. I've had my eye on him all season, and I was shocked to discover that he was still there.
Now I need to come up with names for them! I think they might need to rhyme, seeing how they're identical twins. I think rhyming names for them would be cute!
(Close-up of the poinsettia on the snowflake. I think we need to restitch it so that the flower can be seen from the front).
I love our snowmen most especially. (I just recalled that I forgot to take a photo of one of them). I think they're adorable and really do wish I had a couple more of them. They're all so precious.
Speaking of snowmen, did anyone else watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special? Now THOSE snowmen.... not so precious.
This was my favorite Christmas Special by far. I'm really excited for the new season, as it looks pretty promising. I think this new companion of The Doctor is going to be even more mysterious than Amy Pond. Clara might even be more of a mystery than River Song used to be!
What I'm hoping is that Clara is River Song, but I'm sure Moffat has something a lot more complicated than that up his sleeve. He always does. It's just that so far her personality reminds me of River. She's very flirtatious with The Doctor, and I know I'm not the only one that thought her line of "Run, you clever boy" sounds exactly like something River would say.
Ooh! And I loooved how they changed the opening credits. Seeing his face there looked so amazing! I'm really not a fan of Classic Who, but I do like how the new opening sequence is a mixture of the old with the new. Well done!
I also enjoyed the "One Word Only" scene between Clara and Vastra. Then there was Strax, who offered a lot of this episode's comic relief. I can't wait to discover who brought him back to life after AGMGTW.
More that I enjoyed:
- The Tardis parked on a cloud.
- Clara's reaction to the inside of The Tardis.
Seriously, THE BEST reaction we've ever seen from a companion so far.
- I think it's a little funny that Clara sort of had this "Mary Poppins" thing going on. Her split life was very unexpected.
- "Remember Me.... For We Shall Meet Again."
- Hearing Ian McKellen's voice!
- I absolutely looove the redesign of The Tardis.
Why do we have to wait until APRIL for the second part of Season 7 to air?
If I had a complaint at all, it's a small one. It's that all this time I was excited about The Doctor having a companion from the Victorian Era instead of modern times, but I now know that isn't going to happen.
Still, all in all I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.
Did ya recognize the first part of that title there? If not, I'll give you 2 little hints: Walt Disney and Burl Ives. Or, I suppose I could just share with you the answer now in order to make that little crease disappear from your brow.
It's a tune from one of my favorite Disney Classics, Summer Magic. But enough about Disney, although come to think about it I probably should watch an old Disney flick tonight. Pollyanna with her Glad Game sounds like the perfect remedy.
It's too late to go downstairs and make a hot cup of tea to calm my nerves - (as Madame Bunny is doing in the picture above) - so Disney might be a welcomed distraction.
Distraction from what? How about from... prepare yourselves now.... roaches?!
Are you squirming in your chair now, too, or are you one of those lucky folks that just stomp on them and then go on with your day, chewing your bubble gum as if nothing terrifying just happened?
Well, color me terrified to the nth degree! And even though I've been known to rescue spiders and silverfish in this house, my good deed there hasn't been returned. I'm the only person in this family absolutely petrified of the-bug-which-shall-not-be-mentioned-by-name-again-because-the-name-itself-is-terrifying-enough. Only I'm scared of them, and yet only I have been stumbling across them this week.
Everyday tasks now take forever and I'm so paranoid.
It's like I'm in warrior mode all the time because I'm cautious and mindful of every little thing: I can't open a door without first inspecting the room from a distance... I thoroughly inspect my clothes before getting dressed... I won't allow my bedcovers to touch the floor... going to the flippin' bathroom (because that's where I saw 2 of them) makes the Psycho film feel like child's play... I have three shoes upstairs and one downstairs, ready for the killing... I inspect the dog's fur when they come in from outside (because a few weeks ago one of the dogs brought one in with them, which I literally stepped on with my bare foot! It was so creepy and scary that temporary sedation was greatly desired)... it's nearly impossible to go to sleep at night, and I have to keep a light on... before and after emptying the litter box, having to open the garage door is tantamount to torture (because last week I saw one in there)... when I see Wendy Kitty intensely staring at something, I'm 99% positive it's going to be a you-know-what... I made sure the yard and house were thoroughly sprayed (for the 3rd time) along with the garage... I'm obsessed with keeping the drains in my bathroom covered.
I have officially lost it. I know I sound stupid and like my brain is comprised of a sackful of ferrets, but honestly.... I would rather face a ghost or Bozo the Clown than to see one more of those 'Ugly Bugs.' I wish that all of this was like last season's Doctor Who episodes with The Silence. The you-know-what's would be no different than those aliens. The very first second that I looked away from them, I would blessedly forget their existence.
This would be so much easier if I had just seen a harmless garden snake or mouse. At least snakes don't come into the house, and we see mice often enough in cute little children's illustrations. But let's face it. Beatrix Potter never put you-know-what's in her books and we all know why.
You can't draw a picture of one of 'them' (cringe), dressing it up in a gingham print dress and flowery hat with schoolbooks and lunch pail in hand. Oh God, I just had a visual of that and it was even more terrifying than the reality.
Sorry for rambling on so. I really am leaving out more proof of just how pathetic I've been about all this. I might need to be hypnotized or something. No joke, I hear they can do that. Hypnotize the fear right out of you.
And I trust I'm not alone as there are endless phobias out there, just as Lucy Van Pelt informed us during our childhood years. Along with ailurophasia and climacaphobia, here are a few of the stranger phobias that I've found:
Coulrophobia - Fear of Clowns
Ephebiphobia - Fear of Teenagers (Understandable)
Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of Peanut Butter sticking to the roof of your mouth
Peladophobia - Fear of Bald People
Aulophobia - Fear of Flutes (This means no Fantasia I guess)
Consecotaleophobia - Fear of Chop Sticks (Well Hell yeah. Those things can put your eye out)
Cyberphobia - Fear of computers (This was a Northern Exposure episode)
Euphobia - Fear of good news (Sorry, what?)
Octophobia - Fear of the figure 8
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - Fear of the number "666"
I know it's easy to point and laugh at these examples... which I did... but then I made myself stop because I think I have a strange phobia myself. Fear of spiders and all sorts of insects are normal, since they're so widely shared, but I think my strangest phobia is of..... hummingbird moths.
I was outside one day, and suddenly this big black thing was hovering right in front of my face. I had no idea what it was, so it was like staring down an alien or something. (Might as well have been a flippin' demon since this thing was pitch black).
So, what's YOUR strangest fear?
I'm afraid little Abigail was a bit neglected over the weekend because I started making more necklaces. (But don't hate me too much, because I did take time out to cuddle with her a few times. I'm afraid Abby isn't one for entertaining herself, and she does love to have her tummy scratched, her throat kissed - she literally raises her chin which is so adorable - and to be told how cute and sweet she is).
To view my latest necklaces click HERE on my "Crafty Emporium" blog.
Wanna know what temporarily distracted me a little from my ugly bug phobia (that's clearly getting out of hand), and which got me through Saturday night? First, it was seeing the new Doctor Who trailer.
The new season begins this fall!
~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~
And then it got even better because I remembered how they were doing all these behind the scenes documentaries for The Hobbit movie last year. I had only seen the first 3 vlogs back then, so I decided to watch them all. My favorite was when they showed Hobbiton.
(You can see Hobbiton beginning at around the 6 minute mark)
Isn't that the most gorgeous place in the entire world? It looks like such an idyllic existence. I want to live there! My mother has always wanted a Hobbit House, and so do I.
After watching all the vlogs... which I will admit did make me tear up because I realized how much I missed Middle Earth... I discovered that the official trailer is out!!!!!!
Good Lord, did I tear up after watching it. I'm just so excited!!!!!!! My mother is, too. We haven't decided whether we're going to the midnight premiere or not. I think we will try to see it in 3D first though. We'll see it a lot, so that doesn't really matter I guess. I'm sure we'll see both the 3D and regular versions.
What you're about to see is akin to a miracle because I actually caught Wendy Kitty playing! I had set out some little jars I've been saving to store some jewelry beads in. When she discovered them, she just started clanking them together. So curious. The video would have been cuter and longer, but the camera batteries died again. That seems to be their destiny.
And here are a few vids of Izzy and Abby, sans Maddie. The first video was cut short because it started lightning. The other videos are of Abby and Izzy chasing each other and playing.
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And this is funny, I think. The above photo is proof positive that Abby doesn't eat her vegetables. She just spats them on the ground. What a mess.
