Happy New Year! I hope everyone has slept off last night’s excesses. I, alas, have been thoroughly exhausted all day, the result, I suspect, of a number of things: a late night, that New Year’s Eve feast, a double-dessert crash, an uncomfy bed, and a trio of Weird Food Purchase of the Day video installments. I’m ready for bed. I was ready for bed a little after lunch. But, to ensure you get your daily blog fix, I have uploaded pics and the first of those Weird Food Purchase of the Day videos. Special thanks to my sister who gleefully rooted through her pantry and refrigerator to find three suitably disgusting food(like) products for me to sample. After the third (and, without a doubt, most stomach-churning entry to date), I felt as though I’d downed five successive shots of Inferno vodka (you know, the one with the actual peppers inside). Not even the prospect of Tombola (a sort of Italian bingo with significantly more shouting) was enough to bring me around. If I could have cut out before midnight, I would have. Unfortunately for me, Fondy was the one driving.
I was feeling a little better this morning and joined my sister and mom (and Felix) for a trip to lovely St. Leonard where we visited my Auntie Jeannette who was sent home from the hospital and, I‘m happy to say, back to her old self, updating us all on the tragic events of the week: innocents killed by drunk drivers, seemingly insignificant oversights that led to great misfortune, etc. Ah, just like old times.
To all those wondering, I’ve got Brad Wright’s Q&A prepped and ready to post. Soon. Very soon!
Rose – sorry to hear about your dog’s leg, but here’s hoping he makes a speedy recovery and quickly adapts to challenging but no less happy life.
Whovian – Happy Birthday! Next time you’re in town, remind me and we can all give you the birthday bumps.
Glad you had a good New Year! I did too….at precisely midnight, me and my sister and her friend ran down the street ringing cowbells, banging pots and pans and yelling Happy New Year…..you could see the lights in all the dark houses going on one by one. Can you believe that one old guy even came out and yelled at us!?! At first we thought he was saying Happy New Year back to us, but it turns out he was telling us to shut up and go home. If there was scrooge for New Years, I would think I met him last night.
I jumped the gun on my birthday. I posted it today meaning it’s tomorrow. 😳 I’ll blame it on the greek food I had last night. 😀
WOO HOOO!!! WFPOTD returns! And it’s just as good as ever. Thanks for that!
@Rose: I’m sorry your dog lost a leg. It’s scary to watch them go thru that.
@Shawna: I’m sorry about your dog. I’ve been there and know how hard it can be. You are in my thoughts.
@Das: You must seriously stop showing me such scary pictures of spiders. Now everything I see is a spider. I yelled at poor Ziggy because he dared touch me with his whiskers! 😯 I’ve got the heebie jeebies for sure.
Happy New Year, everyone! May 2009 be your best year ever! 😀
As always, feel free to skip the following medical update paragraph:
I was told on Monday that I had a dangerously low hemoglobin level (I think they said 7.x) and required a transfusion. For a lot of different reasons, I refused at first, but, eventually, I gave in. I went to the hospital and received two units of ‘packed cells'(?). It was not a pleasant experience. They say I may have to do it again because, as yet, they haven’t identified the cause of the sudden drop. More blood tests Monday.
SOS to All
Blood bank supplies are always low this time of year and I feel extra-especially guilty about needing to tap that supply. (What if some baby dies because I got the last of that type blood?????) Any of you who are capable of giving blood and haven’t in the last 56 days, PLEASE consider doing so. I’d feel so much better about accepting the transfusion/s if I knew that more blood was being given than I’m taking.
Ooohhhh, that may be the most painful WFPOTD to watch so far. You, sir, are a brave (stupid???) man! Your sister is evil and cool.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to say: “Mmmm, Eggplant Parmesan.” Yum! Finally, as a cat-person I feel I have to say that Baby is one homely cat.
Baby is cute! In sort of a demon possessed type of way. Dose he spew green pea soup on occasion? 😉 Honestly I bet he’s a very nice kitty, it’s the cute one that bite you when you’re not looking.
OK Joe I’m sure you have already been told . IT’S 2009 See above date on your blog! Wow you must have been trashed last night, thank g-d Fondy did all the driving! Come on now, put up the interview with BW, we have been VERY patient, so PLEASE!!!! AND pleaSE GO PICK UP THE CHESTNUTS!! Happy new year to all!! sheryl
I’ve been wanting to try to make them. The problem is the recipe I have just says “finely chopped nuts.” For a person who hasn’t had them before, this is less than informative.
So I ask – what type of nuts (I’ve seen other recipes calling for pecans, walnut, or hazelnuts) were in those Russian tea cakes? If they happened to not have nuts, what type of nut would you recommend?
Also, I can’t believe you sprayed that stuff in your mouth. Ack!
Yum! Your mom’s famous easy-to-make friendship cake made with ingredients everyone has in their fridge: almond biscotti, apple cake, custard, Tia Maria and whipped cream…
Not so yum — cooking spray/topping? What the heck would you top with a cooking spray? Kind of reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skit for “New Shimmer” from years ago: “It’s a dessert topping!” “No, it’s a floor wax!” “Hey, hey, hey, calm down, you two. New Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping! Here, I’ll spray some on your mop.. [ sprays Shimmer onto mop ] ..and some on your butterscotch pudding. ”
@Rose: I’m glad to hear that your pup is doing well after the surgery!
That cat looks like its trying to hypnotize you into writing a part for it in the SGA movie!
So. This “gleeful” fridge mining sister of yours… an older sister perhaps? Or a younger one, that you may have wronged in some minor way long, long ago…?
Duuuude…! [Gany shakes her lowered head in utter disbelief]
“Brothers”, they can be soooo gullible!!
411 – Shaking *hands* with a Wraith Queen would have been safer!! Or getting whacked with Aunt Jeannette’s walker… [she’s looking good BTW!]
Just peeking in from back-to-back jobs and precious little sleep. (In a week or so things will be much better.)
Bonne Année! ~ Happy New Year! And a very belated Joyeux Noël! ~ Merry Christmas, too.
Wishing you, Fondy, Mom and sis Mallozzi, and the pug kiddies a cracking good year. And Lawren, too. Grand video of the pugs in snow. PG15 nailed it when he described why it was done so well. Was amazed that you were able to keep up with the dog action and not let anyone romp off-camera.
Sending wishes for a rousing good year for everybody here, we who like to hang out in Joe’s “livingroom,” so to speak.
And also Happy New Year wishes to all the cast and crew of Stargate: Atlantis. You all are extended family to one another, and this week coming up will have lots of bittersweet and happy tears in store. The next-to-last epi “Vegas” airs. Then the “Birthday Boys” Joe Flanigan and Paul McGillion celebrate their “Bonnes Anniversaires!” ~ Happy Birthdays on Monday, Jan. 5th. (A warm “thank you” to Joe, whose attitude and penchant for bailing folks out of trouble remind me for all the world of Gromit, from Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit. And an I.O.U. for a b-day smooch and warm bear hug for Paul, whose comic wit, loving heart, and quick thinking improve – or save – everyone’s life.) And then… the series finale “Enemy at the Gate” rolls. As do more tears, and laughter…
I so wish we could see one of those live (or taped) wrap-up shows immediately following the finale. The chemistry of the cast and crew’s family and friendship would be beautiful to see. And to hear the actors, writers, and directors reminisce about their favorite moments on film…priceless. Could it be done???
Cue music:
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of lang syne ?
“For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.”
For Rose,
Coincidentally? I saw a three-legged dog playing in a yard on New Year’s Eve and sent up good thoughts for you and your baby. Hope your dog will soon be having as good a time as that dog did. :-]
For Shawna,
Am so sorry to hear about Kira, and to have to meet her belatedly on her web page. She was a beautiful girl with a sweet, plaintive expression.
Losing the unconditional love of a dog carries with it its own special kind of grief. “Heartbroken” does not begin to describe what it feels like. It devastates even the most stoic of grown men. One of the few times I’ve seen my Dad cry was when we lost our blonde German shepherd, Lady. You can never be prepared for the loss, even when you know it’s coming. Am hoping your vet was able to explain what happened, so that at least you will have the answer to “why?”
Kind of reminds me of the year my nephew made the bourbon glazed ham….he went around for the rest of Christmas day with a spray bottle full of bourbon. Most assuredly did not taste “buttery” though!
Glad to hear your Aunt is doing better!! And that the “crash” did not involve an auto.
And, hey, I make Russian Teacakes too! (Recipe on the blog.)
I’m MEGA excited and immensely SAD about the final two episodes. Excited because Vegas looks to be the quality of great AR eps like The Changeling, 2010, Mobius; EatG (haha) finally seeing more powerful, menacing Wraith.
Sad because of the obvious. After 1/9 I guess I’ll have to console myself with the only other series that has both a great cast and consistently good stories: Burn Notice.
Big Bang Theory & Psych run a close tied second both for its insider jokes & humor. Monk has gotten to be inconsistent. I’ll finish watching the BSG train wreck (hope everyone dies and they take the universe with them). Legend of the Seeker is very disappointing, I need to have a word with Terry Goodkind (the book series was fab). Fringe is watchable for the cast interaction. Gave up on the American Life on Mars (the Brit ver was fab). Some more new Doctor Who to look forward to.
And yeah an SGA TV movie.
DD
Apologies for the absence of late… a combination of PC probs and holidays. Had a lot of catching up to do… “Top of the morning” is a very (stage-oirish) Irish expression by the by!!
Great pics of the family… Sounds like you are having a great time!
Great to see Fondy in some snaps!!
What was the uber-no1 present this year?? Alas no cookery books eh?
Finally, we prepared some of your Mom’s Friendship Cake here over the hols…just scrummy!
Hey you had me worried there, but I’m sure that was the intention of the title. Very funny.
Well I’m off to the beach tomorrow for a week of swimming, vegging out on the balcony reading and definitely some crazy golf. The weather’s been sucky lately. Hopefully we’ll get some sun.
So I’ll be offline for a week. Rats! I’ll miss the postmortem on Vegas. Fortunately I was a very bad girl so I’ll post my thoughts here Joe and you can edit it out or delay publishing it.
Vegas review Spoilers below
OMG!!!! Joe, when you next see Rob can you please give him a hug from me? That was possibly the best Atlantis episode ever and that’s saying something because there have been fantastic episodes. I felt the episode had a cinematic feeling to it. Joe F. delivered a brilliant performance – a perfect audition for a lead role in a cop show. [edited for minor spoiler]
I throughly enjoyed the way it was filmed, the way it would fade to white, that scene where the wraith (it was Kenny right?) rode the escalator, the chase scene was fantastic – so much energy.
The music really added to the feel of the ep. I actually had Solitary Man bobbing around in my head all week. The only musical transition I didn’t like was from Beautiful People to Sympathy for the Devil (too abrupt).
[edited for minor spoiler]
I love the way the last 2 episodes relate to each other and because I watched them in the reverse order, the payoffs occurred for me in Vegas so perhaps that’s why I found that to have more impact.
Here, we had the coolest fireworks ever. I’m not talking about those in the sky. A few cars in the street went on fire and three of them actually burned to a point where they exploded. It didn’t look anything like it does on TV, stargate included – it was far less spectacular, but nonetheless the coolest firework I’ve ever seen.
Russians believe that however it is you spend new year’s eve, is how you’ll spend the rest of the year. Because this year it was actually freezing here in the Netherlands, I turned the balcony into a skating rink of sorts. I celebrated new year with my figure skates on, on the balcony, watching fireworks, doing a spin on my figure skates! Then I went back inside and had a few drinks with friends and family.
I thought it was pretty cool. I’ve never skated before with fireworks exploding in the sky over me.
Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a good one.
Rose: Sorry to hear about your dog Rose. I hope he is doing well. I have heard of dogs with three legs that do well and quickly adapt. Here’s hoping your dog is one of them.
Shawna: Sorry to hear about your dog. I hope you and your family are doing all right.
Happy Birthday to Whovian and Trish even though it is a day late. And Happy Birthday to any other fellow January Birthdays.
Joe: I can’t get to your vidoes. Every time I click on it it goes to WordPress.com. Is there a way that I can get to to them?
Glad to see that Brad W’s Q and A are coming soon.
Shawna & Rose ~ sorry about your doggies! Rose, I’m confident he’ll adjust — good luck to you! Shawna, having lost two dogs (and three rabbits) myself over my lifetime, my thoughts are with you — in some ways, I think it’s harder than losing a person ….
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