two dolla

look i have books

Upon my return from the wilderness near the St. Croix River, I had to work for a couple of hours. I talked The General to going with me witih plans to hit the thrift store afterwards. Sure enough, I had too much shit to clean up at work and didn’t get done until the thrift store we were planning on visiting was closed. So, I offered the next best thing – a trip to Half Price Books in the Highland Park area of St. Paul to visit their clearance basement. As it turns out, when we got there, not only did they have a clearance basement, then had a CLEARANCE TENT SALE IN THEIR PARKING LOT. You could get a grocery sized bag of books for $5 or a box (the size of an apple box) of books for $10. UH, SOLD.

Somehow I, the non-reader in the relationship, wound up with more books than the one that reads a book a week. I’m not sure how that worked out and I didn’t even notice it until I was busy unpacking them just a bit ago. After visiting the clearance tent sale, we followed it up with a trip to the Clearance Basement where we found some more reading material we couldn’t live without. We spent a total of $21.50, walking out with 20 books to read, a journal for The General, and a book for The Boy. Not a bad day’s work.

And because it’s hilarious, here’s the list of books I wound up with:

1. Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini – The General found this for me.
2. Jailhouse Stories: Memories of a Small-Town Sheriff – I can’t help it. I always love jail/crime true stories… and have since I was 8.
3. Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming-Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, & Their Families – Written prior to Chaz’s recent media blitz, of course.
4. Dick for a Day: What Would You Do If You Had One? – C’mon. Like you’ve never thought about it, ladies?
5. Ms. Thang’s Guide to Fly – Again, c’mon, like you’ve never thought about it?
6. One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘,The Kid’, Ungar, The World’s Greatest Poker Player – I also love Vegas books. A lot. Because one day I aspire to be a champion poker player and/or card counter. Or perhaps just a show girl.
7. The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ – I know you can get it free from calling the 1-800-MORMON number, but I don’t want to get on those dudes’ mailing list.
8. So You Want to Be a Lesbian? – What? It looks hilarious from the cover alone!
9. Tattoo Blues – I grabbed this just as the tent was closing, but on the jacket sleeve it talks about having a tattoo that means “too much hot sauce”.
10. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America – Another suggestion made by The General.
11. Tomboys!: Tales of Dyke Derring-Do – The back cover basically describes my childhood, so I had to get it.
12. I Love This Game!: My Life and Baseball – I live in Minnesota now. I think, by Twins Fan Law, I have to read this.
13. Dry: A Memoir – I loved Running with Scissors and have been meaning to read this one anyway. Hard to pass up for $2!
14. The Games Do Count: America’s Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports – The cover shows Condoleezza Rice in Pairs Ice Skating and James Brown in a basketball uniform. SOLD.

I haven’t read 14 books in the last two years, so I’m not too sure what I was thinking. And that doesn’t begin to touch the stack of “work-related” books I have sitting on my nightstand that include things like “How to Not Be Douche at Work” and “How to Sell Everything to Everyone”. Or at least titles close to those.

links for 2009-07-17

• ESPN – Streak for the Cash – Matchups
  This is seriously my current addiction. Major addiction! I've picked winners in everything from golf to baseball to basketball and even soccer. Somehow, I've managed to hit a streak of 12. My streak stopped when Joe Alexander scored two more points than Jodie Meeks in Bucks versus Bulls summer league game. And as long as Tiger Woods can shoot below 68 today at the British Open, I'll be running another streak of 3.
• Taurasi will sit two games
  Diana Taurasi was suspended "for conduct detrimental to the team" because she got a DUI. I'm gonna have to blog about this later.

packing lightly

I’m in the midst of trying to pack enough clothes to last me the weekend on a campsite next to a river, where it’s supposed to rain Friday night and get down in the 50s Saturday night. But on the other hand, I’m keeping in mind that we’re staying in a walk-in site this year, which means our car isn’t parked two feet from our picnic tables. So, OMG, the drama this is causing when trying to decide how much liquor to bring (to a campsite that doesn’t allow any mind you) is throwing me way off. I already have a nalgene bottle of vodka. Unless you’re from the Minnesota Park Rangers Association, in which case it is JUST WATER.

I hope they don’t actually search my car when I go rolling through the gates tomorrow evening… I’m not sure how I’ll explain the bottle of Mad Dog or the bottles of Boone’s Farm I plan on taking.

you should be a foster

You know the only time I ever post is if I have new pictures or I need something, right? Well, good, because this is no exception.

For the past few months, we’ve been working with Pet Project Rescue, fostering animals that have come from less than crappy situations and finding them really awesome homes where they don’t have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.

First, there was Peeka, the one-eyed Pekignese that we had for a very short time before she found the most absolute perfect family after coming from a home where we’re pretty sure she was fed table scraps all the time and was given up because her owners “couldn’t afford her” anymore.

A few days after we delivered Peeka to her new home, we were introduced to the next members of our family – Fletcher and Colby, two very tiny kittens that probably weren’t old enough to be away from their mom. They were adopted out to the same home and found a family with two kids that are incredibly excited to have new kittens in the house.

And, now there’s Ruby. While I haven’t properly introduced her (and I should!), she’s a 4 year old chihuahua that came from a puppy mill in Iowa. As soon as we got her, it was clear that she’d done absolutely nothing in her life except for sit in a small cage and wait for someone to tell her it was time to have baby puppies. Fast forward a few weeks and right now she’s busy dragging the shirt I wore to work across the living room. She had her first trip to the dog park this weekend and, although she got tired by the time we headed home, she kept up with Riley and Kentucky like it was something she’d done all her life.

This whole pet-foster, animal rescue business? It’s been fantastic. More so then I ever thought it could be. And, now, our foster organization needs some help. One of Pet Project Rescue’s partner rescues was robbed and now they need to find homes for five puppies by the end of this month.

If you’d be interested in fostering a puppy or know someone that might be, please forward PPR’s URL along to them: http://www.petprojectrescue.com. The people that run the organization are fantastic. They provide you with all of the food, collars, leashes, kennels, kitty litter (when necessary!), and anything else you could possibly need. All you have to do is make sure the dog or cat you’re fostering gets some love.

links for 2009-07-14

• CB Radio Ten Codes
  I had two grandpas that were truck drivers. My next tattoo is totally coming from this website.
• SF Zoo's Same Sex Penguin Couple Splits Up – News Story – KTVU San …
  Poor Pepper. :(

links for 2009-07-10

• Eric Hutchinson – My Girl/Ignition – PerezTV
  I love it when white dudes cover R. Kelly.

links for 2009-07-08

• 'Driving commando': Del. man charged with drunken driving in Md …
  My favorite part of the article: "A Delaware man who claimed he lost his pants faces drunken driving charges…" I'm going to try "I LOST MY PANTS" as an excuse for everything, I think.
• Washington Mystics vs. Minnesota Lynx – Box Score – July 07, 2009 – ESPN
  I love that Anosike picked it up with 24 points, and Houston followed her up with 19. It's finally some awesome work from the Lynx front court. Sad that Kristen Mann didn't play on the Mystics side of things, but on the other hand, I wasn't there, so I'm not too sad about it.
• Phoenix police: Mercury's Taurasi cited for DUI – Yahoo! News
  I hope she was drinking because she was so upset that I was yelling at during last week's Mercury/Lynx game.
• Charge: Exotic dancer extorted $7K from her pastor sex partner
  There are about 500 things wrong with this article.

pictures from pride

Pride was like, two weeks ago, so I’m a little behind. We’ve been out of town and stuff!

Here are my favorite photos from the weekend:

And, for the finale:

it’s so cheap to fly there!

I’ve been to Branson twice in my life (that I can remember) – once in 5th grade with my best friend Angie and her family and once when I was a senior in high school and we had a jazz band competition nearby. Not once in my adult life have I wanted to go back. It’s overly touristy and I don’t like that. Anywhere really. I visit reason for one reason and that’s family/friends. Half of the year, I can almost use baseball as another reason to visit two states south, but it’s rare.

However, now that there’s a certain airline flying directly from Minneapolis to Branson (NON-STOP, MIND YOU), my mind could be easily changed, especially considering my parents like to celebrate their nearby regular honeymoon location in Springfield, MO. The Silver Saddle Inn if we’re going to be exact.

I could be persuaded to stay at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel with a pool like the one they have or maybe at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing is less than 10 miles away. Extra bonus that they allow pets, because I’m sure Riley and the rest of the farm would enjoy some time in Southern Missouri, spending time with Mickey Gilley, Andy Williams, and everybody’s favorite Yakov Smirnoff.  I especially like how the hotels offer packages ranging anywhere from some time on the Payne Stewart Golf Course or a romantic package that includes free wine (where allowed, according to their website). Where is wine not allowed??

Next time I go to Branson, it’s going to have to include those awesome Duck Boats I’ve always wanted to ride, a few hours in Silver Dollar City where I can see people blow glass in person, and probably at least three days spent in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. That’s the only thing I remember about my first trip to Branson… besides stealing a 1972 Playboy from an antique store and reading it in the hot tub. That was the 5th grade trip, not the 12th grade trip.

Suddenly, my trips to Missouri sound a little more exciting. No offense to anything near my family tree, of course. But c’mon – where else can I spend time in the Hollywood Wax Museum, the House of 1000 Clocks, or have a chance to see Ray Stevens perform “The Streak” live and in person?

we’re in milwaukee

Or Wauwatosa. But it’s close. We got here around 8pm last night, arriving in our fashionable Kia Rio. Sub-compact is how we roll when our normal mode of transportation (my 2001 Ford Escape) isn’t really up to road trip par right now.

We drove around the area last night for a while looking for a place to have dinner. Our original plan was Mo’s Irish Pub, which is super close to our hotel. We pulled up and noticed they were busy, which was a good sign. We drove around in search of a parking spot and decided to look for a different place to eat when we realized the place was blasting Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” over the patio sound system. Beyonce isn’t Irish, fools. C’mon!

Today, we’re off to the Milwaukee Public Market, a tour of the Miller Brewery, and then we’re heading out to Lake Michigan to hang out with Rick, Brooke, and the fam to watch the fireworks tonight.

Right this very second,  we’re watching 15 Most Notorious Women on the E! channel.