HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

Fun with FUNKINS!


BOO!!!!!

Thanks for all the great book recommendations! I've got a few on my list now. I think I'm going to go with Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.

AND THE WINNER OF THE SECOND NEW YORK CITY SCHMUNSKY GIVEAWAY IS

YELLOWDOG GRANNY!!!!!!!!!!

Got recommendations?!?

OK! Long flights in small seats! I'm looking for a kick-ass book or two to read! I'm not into formula Daniel Steel type stuff and prefer fiction right now, but non-fiction is ok, if it's engrossing. I'm looking for something that will grab me and suck me right in. I'm dying to devour a book again the way I did Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. It had everything. Astounding character build-up, erudition, humor, time paradox, politics, socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology and biological anthropology, religion, and sci-fi excitement.

Anyone have some great recommendations?!?!? If you haven't left a comment yet HERE, I'll add your name to the NYC schmunsky prize giveaway if you give a recommendation!

So here are the results of Sunday's labors:

Dollhouse #2!

My own design. I love the organicy-ness of it and there's plenty of room for many little hands. I made this for the Aurora Waldorf School's auction this weekend. The rest of Lo's class worked on birch bark furniture for it! We won't be there on Saturday and I can't wait to see pictures! Huz was a HUGE help handling the mathematic calculations, assembly, and such! He came up with the idea for a natural branch post.

Pumpkins!

Dea did an amazing job on her witch and Lo picked this interesting cat inside a ghost pattern. Yesterday I bought a Funkin and I have big plans for that thing.

And...Punkin seeds. They're just about gone now.

Whoops. I seem to have a habit of occasionally creating posts and then forgetting to publish them. This one was meant for Sunday. It was quite the productive day. It started off with this early morning shot of the first hint of the sunrise beyond the horizon just starting to touch the wispy clouds over Bear Pass. It came out orange-y in the picture but when I saw it out the window after going to the bathroom, it looked kind of blueish and I thought it might be the aurora. It was 5 degrees outside so I went back into my nice warm bed to spoon my toasty hunny. But then I thought,"Man. Am I gonna let this rare chance to photograph the aurora reaching horizontally across Orion slip by cuz I'm being a pussy and going back to bed?!?!"

Of course, as I stood outside the door neckid but for my robe and snow boots, I realized it was just clouds when the picture came up on the display. Back to bed with me-but it was worth the shot!

The rest of the day saw much activity with bread baking, dollhouse making, homebrew bottling("First Snow IPA"), pumpkin carving, pumpkin seed roasting(I made a KILLER batch! Hold me back!), and movie watching with skirt steak and potatah eating.

I'll post the results of our labors tomorrow.

THE ULTIMATE DATE NIGHT!!!

5 DAYS IN NEW YORK CITY WITH MY HUBBY!!!!!!!!!!

Huz and 8 other agents have earned themselves a trip to the New York Life home office in NYC! Significant others are welcome to come as well, so back to the city I go! We leave late Halloween night-after tucking the kids in at our friends house and return late Wednesday night.

I.AM.STOKED. Many hours on a plane seems wonderful to me now! To sit with my hubby and talk and cuddle, watch movies, maybe even read a whole book!-and not have to entertain or be responsible for anyone for mucho hours....blissful. No offense to my kids-the other half of me is TERRIFIED to leave them-but Mom and Dad do deserve some special alone time!

Walking the town at night, eating the eats, a party cruise on the Hudson, and who knows where we'll be when they announce Obama as Prez!! Hopefully drinking a "Sarah Palin Cocktail"!!

SQueeeeeeeeeee!!!! I can't wait! So to spread the excitement....It's NYC schmunsky time again!!! Leave me a comment-make me laugh-and on Friday I'll pick a winner from the random name generator and some lucky someone gets a little prezzy from NYC!

*Photo found via Google Images

Muckin about on Craigslist!

(Circa 2006-ish)

2006 KIRBY vacuum- Kicks ass! - $1000
Hardly used KIRBY VACUUM for sale.

“EWWWWW!!!! Hardly used?!? How dirty must their house be?!”, you ask? Well, the Kirby worked wonders on our ole’ nasty pet/kid/drunk stepfather in law-maltreated carpets before we ripped them up and put in swell wood flooring. Now we don’t need Kirby, just a good old fashioned corn broom!

This illustrious “Diamond Edition” Kirby comes with the Shampooing System and lots-o-funky attachments in a glorious mountable holder! This thing will sand your woodwork, blow feral cats off your porch and massage your back at the end of the day- I shite you NOT! Sorry, this is not the model that serves hot wings an’ Schlitz, nurses your newborn or de-glacierifies your roof. But it WILL summon the power of Greystoke and suck every last bit of dust mite poo, pet hair, bit of dirt and dead skin and the ilk, out of your carpets, beds, pillows, rugs, Grandpa’s toupee and whatever. Just about! Breathe easier and enjoy relief from allergens ‘cause it’s got *MiCRoN*MaGiC* HEPA FILTRATION!

BEHOLD!

BIG ASS WOODSTOVE$200

Swell cast-iron woodstove: 31ish"deep X H 37" X W 24".(did I just pull a Spinal Tap over there?! Supposed to be inches. Does this " denote inches, or this ' ?)Assuming we can even get it out of the house without knocking down a wall, this big behemoth would be perfect for a large lodge or your garage/workshop. You could also bury it and live in it, post-apocalypse. 'Tis overkill for our humble abode so please come and git it and help fund the downgrade to a smaller stove. ...Really needing to open up the feng shui flow in our living room. Namaste

P.S. Can't have obese cat

Juxtaposed

"Oh, yeah?!?!"

"YEAH!"

So, I've given up-in a sense-on my other blog, FLUXGRAPHIA. I've imported those posts over here-mostly according to the dates that they were written. But a few of the others I will just post in the next week.

Fluxgraphia was my original blog that i started up while trying to come to terms with my ADD and finding the humor in it. I've kept it separate from this blog because it was a more raw expression of myself and I was worried about offending people. Since then I've come to the conclusion that separating the two defies the MAIN reason why I started blogging. To express myself via this medium, for a myriad of reasons. I wasn't posting much in it at all especially since I started the 3rd, political blog.

My blog was for keeping more consistent in journaling and as way to get my thoughts and ideas organized, a release for feelings and an impetus for greater artistic creativity. A month or so after starting MOUNTAINPULSE, I found that there were other aspects of blogging that I enjoyed, such as LEARNING so much from others, having an opportunity to possibly edify some people as well, and the social aspect of blogging with like-minded folks!-It can get lonely in a RED state! But I’ve come to find that I do feel obligated to blog often and I’m writing less and less for myself anymore. So, I'm taking the time to really re-think the whole blog thing, why I started, and what I want it to be for ME.

So, in an attempt to bring my blogging back to what I had originally envisioned, I've married the two blogs here and will no longer be censoring myself-that's not who I am. Not that I'm going to go off on a blazing expulsion of vulgarity(not everyday, at least! ;) but I need to be more true to who I am. If the time I spend blogging is not enriching who I am, then it is time wasted. Time not being with my family.

Don't get me wrong! I'm still blogging, but it may be more seldom until I get back to basics and re-program myself!

Even though it's Monday...

Warm and cozy, snowy Sunday...

THIS MORNING'S "FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON" MOMENT

(This is an old FLUXGRAPHIA post...)
Would ya look at this?



This is my brain not on drugs.

Ahh, these crazy dazy morns before the Adderall's on board. That weird semi-retarded limbo of grogginess between waking and eating breakfast. There’s about 2-3 hours there before I pop my 2 meds and the smarts kick back in. Breky has to come first though, or I feel vomity. So I continually play this tug-of-war of trying not to make these wacky mistakes while preparing or serving breakfast. How many times have I poured OJ into my tot’s cheerios?

“Mommyyyyyyy! I don’t liiiiiiiike that in my bowl!”

Maple syrup in my coffee? Given the sippy cup to my 12 year old? And now the Pièce de résistance , pouring the water for my oatmeal into the pan with my scrambled eggs. I gave it to the dog. He looked down at his bowl, head cocked a few seconds, pondering.

“A TREAT! TREAT! I gave ya a treat in your bowl! Eggies!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah, yeah, alright so it looks like hell. That’s not better than DRY kibble?!?! Just eat it.”

Tonight for dinner: Bitchin’ Burritos!. If I don’t forget to actually put them in the OVEN after pre-heating. 6PM, the flip side, Adderall has left the building .

Catalyst into the day

This is what Huz and I woke up to one early morning last week.

Perfect weather for watching the aurora. Not so cold that you're running back inside after 5 seconds! Just wrap up in a blankie, sit out on a deck chair and enjoy the show.

It's time of year when those pesky bears are going to sleep and I can go for the occasional 6 am run. If this doesn't motivate me to run, I don't know what will. There is nothing that makes me feel as light as air and with boundless power as when I have the aurora and all those stars(often times shooting!) to run to.

And a couple mornings later...Ye GODS....our first snow.

This is the first year that I have not felt "ready for the snow to FLY!" After the non-summer and split second fall.... I'll have to work at rearranging my head around it!!! What about all those fall-sy activities yet to do?!?! "Well, chances are this will melt." I said...

The first snow man of the year!

No hesitation here folks. At least these 2 are jumping right in!

And good morning, Monday!!!! With four more inches. ~sigh~

My rhythms are all SNAFU, but I can't deny the splendor of this place when first veiled in white.

ATTENTION, AKSHAMU!!!!

Sorry folks, but.......

AKSHAMU, in the past couple of months you have foisted yourself upon my blog with the ugliness, insults and accusations that are so typical of the far right. You have accused me of being a homophobe, a bigot, an elitist, and stupid. Despite the fact that I have been forthcoming and pleasant in inviting you to elaborate, you have yet to substantiate your words. Then you proceed to boast your virtuous righteous indignation with statements like, “I feel sorry for the values you appear to be raising your kids with.” And “God save this country from the likes of you.”
“What else do you call your vitriol against a woman[Palin] who merely holds a different view from you?”

I call it EXERCISING MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS!

“Sarah Palin has strong personal views …”

So why is that acceptable and suitable, but if I have strong views, I’m a (along with the above name calling) conceited, pathetic, coward with a warped life?!!

Let’s talk about a warped life! Why is it that so many of those from the religious right who profess to be so godly, didactic , so upright and honorable, are often the ones with the SMARMIEST of skeletons in their closet? Values? Morals, AKSHAMU?!?!
After doing a simple GOOGLE search on your username I found out that YOU have quite the interesting hobbies! YOU, a "large but shapely" douche-bag looking for "activity partners" on the Alaska Dating website, are a MARRIED man searching for an affair! Does the Wife know that you are out looking for "Butt Sluts" on the web? Any luck finding broads to philander with in Fairbanks?!?!?
And you have the audacity to challenge MY morals?!?!?!

BWWWWAAAAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Stay the hell away from my blogs, Tax Man.

"Battlestar Command" called, they want your intellectually deficient and warped brain back for incineration.

Fuck stick.

Her reward is in Heaven, God bless 'er! The VP Debate

OOO! This makes twice this week! I'm slowly racking up my 15 minutes of "fame"..~ SNORT! Huz and I and our 2 friends are sitting there about 1:25 minutes in. Would ya look at that sweet baby!
Enjoying the comedy at the Bear Tooth Theater. I LOVE you People!!!


Well. Doggone it, that Sarah Palin did surprise in the Vice Presidential Debate Question/Answer Session last night. (Anyone else feel that Iffil totally softballed? What about holding the feet to fire?) Despite the snarky demeaning behavior , the spokes-womanly regurgitation of Cliffs Notes populist talking points, despite the vacuous platitudes, and the Buzz Words ad nauseum-(MAVERICK, My Energy Rich Alaska!, 'merica, main street), she done good. Which doesn’t say much when our expectations were not at all high in the first place! Where else did she have to go but up? The spinners and weavers and “electrified” base are rallying hard for ya now, Sarah! There are many proclaiming that she won the debate!
“I’m gonna puke, really.” And “eeeewww!!!” were my first gut responses to much of what she said last night. My Beartooth pizza quickly turned to acid in my stomach but sipping my IPA every time I heard a Palin buzz-word didn’t quench the ire. There was comfort in sitting in this theater pub with the Huz, our friends, M&M and their baby E, and so many diverse yet like-minded folk. ‘Twas a good time, actually.
As we stood in line waiting to get into the theater, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about my ,”WEEEEEEEE!!!! We’re going to a hangin’!!! BURN her!!!!” attitude. The pity didn’t last long though. I felt hoodwinked as I soon realized there would be no breakdown, no crash and burn, as my Dark Side had desired. She came across as quite well studied and rehearsed, she opportunistically jumped to the McCain Camp’s script whenever possible, allowing her an air of confidence . She cravenly stuck to the topics that she was obviously most comfortable with and was brazen in her assertion of disregarding questions in favor of pontificating on something off topic, but of her own safe and secure realm.
“And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also.”

Screw rules and diplomacy! Hey, Bush got away with it, the stubborn ass! And that is frightening.
When faced with a question she couldn’t answer, she turned the spotlight on herself-the Outsider, the Maverick, Miss Middle America with those asinine “folksy” quips:

“In the middle class of America which is where Taaaadd-n- I have been all of our lives…”
“Oh man, it is so obvious I am a Washington outsider and not used to the way you guys operate.",
“I want to talk about, again, my record on energy...”,
“I've had that track record of reform. And I've joined this team that is a team of mavericks..”,
“You know what I had to do in the state of Alaska? I had to take on those oil companies….”,
“what I had to do up there in Alaska was…”,
“I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, DC.”.
EEEEEEEEEcccccchhhhhhh! It was like someone was putting worms down the back of my shirt.

And how about SUBSTANCE? Aptitude? Experience? Humility? My 13 year old has more humility than Sarah Palin. A couple weeks ago, for one of her electives at school she interviewed for a job position. I discussed how most employers(from MCDonalds to Haliburton) will ask prospective employees, in one form or another, that very basic question, “ What is your greatest weakness?”.

“And Dea” I said, ”Everyone has one.”

“So I just tell the truth and talk about how I’m going to improve on it, right?”

Riiiiiiight.

Does Sarah Palin even know what an “Achilles Heel” is?!?!? She didn’t bother to answer that archetypal question . She just blathered on and on about her vast executive experience and how it would benefit the sparky team-o-Mavericks! She worked her Sarah magic with the winks, the snarks, the slick sidestepping, the contrived performance, the usual canned rhetoric that we’ve all heard before-But I’m not buyin’ it, Babe. And I expect the rest of the thinking, grounded in reality, fact seeking public to not buy it either. We’re not that stupid. It’s too bad that the girl next door who has experienced the same struggles as the rest of us, who knows first hand what it’s like to struggle with Health insurance , college tuition, special needs children… really has no intention of supporting those things http://www.afscmeblog.org/.

And I wanted to smack that perma-grin off her face when she dissed my man, Biden.
"I do respect your years in the Senate but I do think Americans are craving something new and something different."
New and different. MCCAIN?!!! Insulting. To you, me, and the Barak Obama campaign.

You can call me DISGUSTED, Winky. May I call you “Winky”?

*A couple of my favorite Biden moments. Besides that fabulous ear to ear grin in response to Palin’s absurdity:
“Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.
He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.
He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.
He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.
He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.
Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?
He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.
So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.”

And,

"Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous VP we have had in history."

Just a sprinkling of Palin's lies/f@#*-ups:

1. FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE MAC: Palin said “it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures,” but fact checkers say that’s “Quite A Stretch” And “Barely True,” and that McCain was a “latecomer” to the discussion.

2. FUNDAMENTALS ARE STRONG: Palin tried to say “John McCain saying our economy was strong” but McCain has used the phrase “The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong” At Least 16 Times This Year.

3. PARTISAN POLITICS: Palin said McCain is “known for putting partisan politics aside to just get the job done,” but he has voted with Bush 90% of the time in the Senate and bragged about his support for Bush on important issues.

4. TAXES ATTACK: Palin repeated the attack that Obama voted for higher taxes 94 times, which the New York Times says is “false,” CNN says is “Misleading,” and FactCheck.org says is “inflated.”

5. TOBACCO REGULATION: Palin said to “look at the tobacco industry” as an example of McCain pushing for even harder and tougher regulations. But McCain opposed expanding the SCHIP children’s health insurance program for 5.8 million children because it would increase tobacco taxes.

6. SPENDING INCREASES: Palin said Obama is is proposing “nearly a trillion dollars in new spending,” but didn’t mention that he has also proposed cuts to balance it out, an attack CNN has already debunked as “misleading” and that ignores the far larger cost of McCain’s tax cuts and spending hikes.

7. HEALTH CARE: Palin claimed Obama’s health plan is “government run” which has been widely debunked as a “canard.”

8. HEALTH CARE. Palin says taxes wouldn’t go up under the McCain health care plan, a fact even his own campaign has acknowledged isn’t true.

9. TROOPS: Palin repeated what the AP called the “highly misleading” attack that Obama opposed funding for the troops, and Factcheck.org notes that the same methodology would lead to the same conclusion for McCain.

10. GLOBAL WARMING: Palin said “I don’t want to argue about the causes” for global warming, when she has clearly taken the position that she doesn’t not believe it is man-made.

11. MCCAIN IS CONSISTENT: Palin said McCain” doesn't tell one thing to one group and then turns around and tells something else to another group,” when that is exactly what he has done on immigration, telling Hispanic leaders he was for comprehensive reform instead of the enforcement focused approach he has taken with conservatives.

12. MCCLELLAN NOT MCKIERNAN: Palin referred to the US commander in Afghanistan, David McKiernan as “McClellan.”

13. MCKIERNAN ON “SURGE:” Palin said that [McKiernan] did not say a surge wouldn’t work in Afghanistan, when just yesterday he said “The word I don’t use for Afghanistan is ’surge,’ ” McKiernan stressed, saying that what is required is a “sustained commitment” to a counterinsurgency effort that could last many years and would ultimately require a political, not military, solution

14. KILLING CIVILIANS. Palin said “Obama had said that all we're doing in Afghanistan is air raiding villages and killing civilians and such a reckless, reckless comment and untrue comment again hurts our cause. That's not what we are doing there.” Unfortunately, the Associated Press says that Obama was right in discussing a critically important point about avoiding civilian casualties.

15. TEACHING: Palin said we need to make sure “that education in either one of our agendas, I think, absolute top of the line,” when McCain has repeatedly favored tax cuts for the wealthy over funds for more teachers and class size reduction.

16. PARTISAN APPOINTMENTS: Palin said “You do what I did as governor. And you appoint people regardless of party affiliation. Democrats, independents, Republicans, you walk the walk, don't just talk the talk” when she repeatedly appointed friends and supporters to positions for which they weren’t qualified.

17. FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Palin falsely claimed that she was the first governor to form a climate change subcabinet, when at least 28 states had already taken action.

And this one is close to RunninL8's heart:

18. DARFUR DIVESTMENT: Palin claimed that “when I and others” found out that the state had money invested in Sudan that “we called for divestment,” when the reality is that Palin’s appointees worked to kill a Darfur divestment plan.

Liar! Li-aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!

Check this out! It’s hilarious!



Oh, P.S. I am SO SURE your What does the VP DO? comment was a little "joke"that no one "got"!

Speedy Delivery!

I posted my pics and a brief blurb of today's delivery of the petition demanding Attorney General Talis Colberg's resignation over on WE'RE NOT THAT STUPID (I changed it from MEET SARAH. After all, things will be different after the election!)

We are making things happen, people!