Have you ever had ORANGE caesar salad dressing?

Me neither. Not until today.

And now I am sick to my stomach. I ordered food for lunch with extra for dinner later tonight since Mike won't be home. What a waste. I had to throw the entire order out. You guys in the area? Agrodolce Italian SUCKS. Orange ceasar salad dressing that did not even TASTE like ceasar salad dressing! I can not even BEGIN to describe what the small taste on the tip of my finger tasted like but I immediately felt ill (and still feel as if I may hurl). The rest of the food was bland and I tasted the (child sized) portion of spaghetti I got for later tonight. Ewww. The sauce had ZERO flavor.

Worse. I'm still without lunch hours later. Waiter on the Way told me the owner of the restaurant would call me tomorrow. He's NOT going to like what I have to say.

Let's Say Thanks

This site is one of the neatest sites I've seen in awhile. You choose a card based on artwork done by American school children, then choose a prewritten message, provide your name city and state and they send the cards to random service members overseas. No personal information is exchanged and you just might brighten the lives of the men and women who are far from home. It only takes a second to show them you support them. If you were looking for something to do for our servicemen and women overseas, this is one small thing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heading out this morning to the in-laws. Spending the night with the in-laws in New York and then driving up to Connecticut and staying in a hotel the remainder of our stay (thank goodness). I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

New Arttwork - Urban Fantasy 2006

Loosely inspired by a painting called "Keeping the Secret" by Michael Orwick. You can see the painting here: Duirwaigh Gallery. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized image (will open in a new window). Completely work and kid safe.

Looking for...

Interesting places to take photographs in the DC metro area. Needs to be someplace I can shoot nudes safely and won't cost a bazillion dollars to rent for a few hours. Anyone in the area have any ideas? The studio is really getting stale. I already have a plethora of cheap hotel room locations. There are some really AWESOME hotels in DC I'd love to shoot at, if I can get the models to agree to trade. Look at these awesome locations (very expensive though, LOL):

Hotel Rouge (I do have a shoot scheduled here for Dec. 16th with a burlesque performer)
Hotel Helix
Topaz Hotel

If anybody has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Please continue to pray

For my friend Kate's mother. Things are still in the air and, while her mother is doing better than she was, she's in a horrible kind of limbo.

Morning Cheesecake (bare breasts warning)

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Miss Kobe Lee One of the reasons Atlanta is called "Hotlanta"

Does he really believe this stuff?

In my rounds around the blogosphere, I ran across this little tidbit at LGF. I went and read the referenced article and then I was speechless for a good five minutes. Holy cow, Ted Rall. This guy is certifiable. Does he actually believe the crap he spews? Sadly, I'm pretty sure he does.

All I have to say is...

At the first hints of sharia law being forced in America, I am organising a rebellion.

Political Leanings

I'm not going to talk about the elections OR how I voted. I will, however, go a little into my method of voting. I just know you all are dying to read this. :)

I am what I like to call the worlds biggest conservaliberal. I am surprisingly conservative and yet, have some big liberal leanings in certain areas. What those areas are, I care not to go into too much but I'm sure you can guess some of them.

I take naughty "smutty" pictures and create equally naughty "smutty" artwork. I write pornography. I support our troops, whether or not I agree 100% with the war they are fighting. I consider myself a patriot (which does not mean I blindly follow what the government tells me I should do, it means I love my country even for all its faults). I believe in a person's right to choose their religion. I believe in a woman's right to choose what to do with her body. I believe in love in all of it's myriad forms and know that it is not always boy/girl; sometimes it is boy/boy or girl/girl. I believe that Islamic terrorism is a real threat. I do NOT believe that Muslim automatically means terrorist. Nor do I believe that "Mexican" automatically means "illegal alien" but I do believe we need to tighten up our immigration process. I do not believe it is racist in the least to want to tighten up our immigration process. I believe in embryonic stem cell research but also understand the moral dilemma some may face on the issue. I believe in so much more but who has time for all of that? ;)

I do not tend to vote a "party line". I look at each candidate and then I vote for the one that most closely matches my own beliefs and ideals. Sometimes that candidate is Republican. Sometimes they are Democrat. Sometimes they are neither, though I've seen how little good it appears to do to vote for those "third" party candidates. I vote my heart and what I feel is best and I can not abide someone telling me how I SHOULD vote. It's my vote, not yours. Please respect my choices as I respect yours.

It might surprise some people to know that I care little for either political party and that I happen to dislike one much more than the other. I feel the two party system is no longer working for America but have no idea what I can do to help affect a change. I know I am not the only American that feels that way.

I understand that many people I know are very passionate about politics. I dislike discussing politics with people I really like. Generally because it leads to some nasty fights and misunderstandings. I've seen long time friendships destroyed by such fights so, please understand if I don't try to debate with any of you who may not agree with me. Politics are hard to keep "friendly".

Please Pray

For my best friend Kate's mother. She has been very ill over the past year and took a frightening turn for the worse. While you're at it, run over to Busy Mom and pray for her friend's wife. I'm sure we all have prayers to spare.

Personal Responsibility

You guys remember that, don't you? I've been thinking about personal responsibility a lot lately, especially in light of the remarks Senator Kerry made about the military. Later, he "apologized" but still placed the blame on everyone else for "misunderstanding" his flubbed joke. Because, you know, if it really was a joke and he flubbed it it's our fault for not understanding what he meant to say.

Shame on us. How dare we? How about accepting responsibility for what you said and not place the onus upon us to interpret your words? If you are going to apologize, then apologize. Either way, you either need your eyes checked for reading glasses or to revisit your elementary reading class, Mr. Kerry, for you left out some VERY important words in your 'flubbed joke'.

Segueing away from personal responsibility, I've been involved in a lively discussion over Senator Kerry's words over at The Original Musings. Some of it has been very enlightening, complete with an obviously uneducated liberal defending Kerry and calling us all idiots (complete with copious amounts of swearing). Some of the commentary has been thought provoking. Some of it has been laughable. A poster who identifies himself as 'Daniel' posted the following response:

At the risk of being jumped on, I have to say that when I read the names and information about the soldiers from Florida who have been killed in Iraq I don't see a great deal of Worth Ave in West Palm Beach adresses listed. Nor do I see that they went to Pine Crest Prep near Star Island. I am most certainly NOT saying that makes them uneducated but it does point to a certain disparity in my opinion on whom is serving in the armed forces right now. Historicly speaking it has always been the poor to middle class who has been the front line solider. From the Irish immingrants given a uniform and gun right off the boat during the Civil War to the working class guys with no college exemption to fall back on during Vietnam. This does not make thier sacrifices any less importnant but it does make me pause and wonder why this is so.

I felt he deserved a well thought out response and not to be 'jumped on'. Following is my response to 'Daniel'.

I'll tell you why this is so, Daniel, because it's hard to make your way in the world when you are poor with little prospects for the future. College is EXPENSIVE. If you want to work more than a minimum wage job, you need skills or an education. That's the way the world works. The military not only gives the most excellent on the job training in the world for EVERYTHING they do, I will go so far as to say young people who do join the military come out better prepared to deal with the real world. Not only will they have valuable job skills but they'll come out a hell of a lot more educated than when they went in. That goes for EVERYBODY, not just the poor and "uneducated". In today's military you do need at a minimum a high school diploma (I'm not sure they accept GEDs anymore, they may). You have to pass a test to get in that is NOT easy. I passed it in high school and it was harder than any other aptititude test I had taken up to that point. By the way, I was a straight A student, on the honor roll, and part of a "gifted student's" program for kids with high IQ's. If it was hard for me, imagine how hard it would be for someone who is "uneducated".

Add in the military benefits, of which there are many. I was married to a Marine for many years with a daughter who was hospitalized many times due to illness. If not for military care, we never would have been able to afford the hospital bills, even with civilian insurance. My ex-husband had more than a chance to go to college and better himself, with a large amount of assistance from the military. He chose not to use that chance. It was his choice but at least the opportunity was given to him.

I added in an additional comment:

Let me add on to what I just said as well. It is never good to paint a single group of people with a broad brush as Mr. Kerry did. Let's not forget that for all of his high class education (which the average person can NOT afford by the way), he had very poor grades after all. He may be educated but I'd go so far as to say he's ignorant. :)

So there it is, in case all of you were wondering (and I am sure you were). That's where I stand on the whole Kerry mess.

Good news for me

The folks over at Fleshbot have done a little blurb about my calendar. This should drum up some business for me and interest in the calendar. You can check out the article here.

I haven't been able to stop grinning since I found out about it.

New Artwork

This one ended up being totally hot (in my arrogant opinion anyway) with nary a nipple in sight. No nudity at all, so I did not feel obligated to put this behind a thumbnail. Enjoy :)

Morning Cheesecake

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Savannah Costello

Sims 2 Mania

I admit it, I am a Sims 2 addict. I have all the expansion packs so far, including the new one Sims 2 Pets. Oh my goodness, it's so much fun. The pets do some hilariously realistic things. For instance, there is a catnip filled mouse toy for your cats. When a cat starts playing with it, after a few moments you see colored lights and little stars swimming around the cat's head and then they go a little bonkers, running around all insane. The only difference between that and my own cats is, I can't see the colored swirls. Cats in the Sims 2 will claw the heck out of your furniture unless you give them other options, just like real cats. You teach your pets proper (or improper) behaviors through verbal reinforcements such as praising or scolding. It's a lot easier to train a Sims pet sadly.

I haven't gottan a thing done over the past few days I wanted to do thanks to this game. I wonder if there's a 12 step program for Sims addicts? Nah, this is an addiction I like and, soon, I'll go back to my once or twice a week playing routine.

Morning Cheesecake (bare breasts warning)

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This morning, Dee.

Morning Cheesecake

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Monica

Til Death

I haven't seen this new comedy but, I have to ask, hasn't the goofy but lovable guy with the snarky, sarcastic bitch of a wife been done enough already?

Goo Ghoul

Aside from being a really cute name, this is a handy little search engine for finding Halloween events in your area. Just type in your zip code and go.

GooGhoul

Morning Cheesecake (bare breasts warning)

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A very cozy way to wake up. Lisa Marie Blummer and Kerri Taylor.

Morning Cheesecake (bare breasts warning)

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Have a little Fayth.

Bwa ha!

"Hick Hop" Fantastic :)

Morning Cheesecake

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Good morning, Penny Barber! Photography by me

Morning Cheesecake

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Hello, Julie Simone (photograph by me)

Isn't this just lovely?

News reports have a small plane crashing into a NYC apartment building. Now there are fighter jets flying over NYC and, according to reports, other major cities as well. According to the BBC, the FBI says there is no indication the crash was terrorism related. The White House says they are not ruling out any possibilities.

So far, there are at least two people dead. Let's pray the death count does not rise any further than that. Let's also pray that this was just some sad, bizarre accident.

Edit: Hot Air has updates here. It now appears Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was piloting the plane and is one of those dead.

Blogroll is down

The blogroll is down again. This time, the entire site is down. I don't know what I'm going to do without my blogroll. *whinwhinebitchmoanwhine*


Edit* Once again, whining prevails. The blogroll has returned.

Edit again* Well, damn, the blogroll is down again.

Wow!

The boobie-thon raised $9260.50 for breast cancer awareness this year. There were some pretty nasty things written about the thon this year and some pretty ignorant statements made regarding it. I refuse to even dignify these guys by giving them publicity to their sites and articles but all I have to say is: Instead of bitching about what someone else is doing and how they are doing it, why aren't YOU doing something? I volunteered nearly 40 hours this week for the Thon alone, as well as donating money. What have you done?

And that's all I have to say about THAT.

A big hug to the guys and gals that run the boobie-thon. You're all a fantastic group of people and I am so happy to have met you all.

Pimping my stuff again

My blogroll won't show up for me again. I know it's there, I checked the code. Maybe if I whine about it again it will show up like it did last time.

EDIT* Whining wins again.

This is one of the funniest things...

I've seen in awhile. Sadly, however, I don't think we're too far from this wonderfully romantic scene.

Boobie-thon update

The Boobie-thon is going rather well. We've raised over $4,000 so far for Komen. I sure could use some more work tonight so get out there and donate already. Even if it's just $10.00, donate!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's a good cause, ya'll. I'm volunteering as a donations editor for the "boobiethon" this year. It doesn't matter what (time or money), how or who you donate to. Early detection can save lives.

Edit* I swear the fact it's called the BOOBIE-thon had nothing to do with it. Well, mostly nothing...

Well Poo

The blogroll isn't working. What am I supposed to do without my blogroll? All my favorite blogs, conveniently bookmarked in one place, now I can't access them. *fidget*

EDIT* Of course, as soon as I whine, it's working again. It always happens that way.

I promise to use these powers only for good.

Destroying America

A friend asked me if I'd read Richard Lamm's speech on immigration. I had not so he went to find an 'unmolested' copy of the speech and found one on Snopes.com. I read the article and, all I could say in response was, "wow". Even if he never actually made this speech, it mirrors what is going on in America right now. If we really wish to destroy America, all we have to do is sit back and wait. I don't want to sit back. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do. How do we reverse this?

Men Without Chests

We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful.
-- C.S. Lewis

I've been thinking alot about this quote lately. I could not, for the life of me, figure out exactly why. Why was this stuck in my head? Then it hit me when I was reading an article about a 66 year old nun shot in the back in Somalia. Religion of peace, eh? Meanwhile in London Sunday.

Where or where is the West? Are we so stuck in a quagmire of tolerence and political correctness that we will not say "No! Enough!"? When are we going to put our foot down?

Before anyone says it: No, I do not have a problem with peaceful protests. In fact, I adore peaceful protests and would much rather see thousands of them in the place of a single person getting shot in the back or calling for beheadings as a protest over someone calling their religion violent(hypocracy much?). I do have to wonder, though, just how far a bunch of Catholics/Christians would get if they staged a similar protest outside of a mosque? Not very far, I wager and that is exactly what Christians should be doing - protesting outside of mosques.

Edit: And here is an update from Michelle Malkin on the nun.

Yan Zhu (Cindy) Guan (2996 Project)

I have been trying for a couple weeks to research Cindy's life. Cindy was 25 at the time of her death, a 1999 graduate of the State University of New York at Geneso, married and she was employed as an auditer the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance in the World Trade Center. Her final resting place is Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. She is survived by her husband Edwin Yuen. The facts all sound so impersonal, don't they?

The university she attended in, 2002, set up a memorial for the alumni that lost their lives in the September 11 attack. A picture of Cindy's husband can be found near the bottom: http://arboretum.geneseo.edu/911/

I was most disappointed that I was unable to find out more information about this lovely young woman. I found her name referenced hundreds of times on hundreds of different tribute pages but not much else. She was so young, on the verge of a lifetime ahead of her. I look at her picture and I wonder what were her hopes for the future.

Cindy was more than a simple statistic and much more than a name with a picture on a few websites. It is my sincere hope that someone out there who knew this young woman and remembers her as she was will find this entry and help to shed some light on her life.

Woot!

2996

I found this link on a blog I visit and decided to sign up for the project. Please, if you have a blog of your own, sign up and help.

On September 11 of this year, bloggers from all over the world will unite and remember the VICTIMS of 9/11, not their murderers. If you are not familiar with the 2996 project, here is information:

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.

If you would like to help out, either by pledging to post a tribute on your own blog, or by offering your services to promote this cause, just leave a comment here and I’ll email you the name of a victim.

Then, on 9/11/2006, you will post a tribute to that victim on your blog.

But, and this is critical, the tributes should celebrate the lives of these people–kind of like a wake. Over the last 5 years we’ve heard the names of the killers, and all about the victim’s deaths. This is a chance to learn about and celebrate those who died. Forget the murderers, they don’t deserve to be remembered. But some people who died that day deserve to be remembered–2,996 people.

To date, 2,565 blogs have signed up. Let's get that last 431.

NOTE: In order to sign up, please don't leave a comment on my blog, follow the links above.

Paramount cuts ties with Tom Cruise - Aug 23, 2006

CNN.com - Paramount cuts ties with Tom Cruise - Aug 23, 2006

I can't believe it. I don't mean this in a bad way, in fact I'm pretty happy to see it. People seem to think that because someone is 'famous' they can get away with certain behavior and that belief tends to be perpetuated by the lack of (visible) consequences for their actions. Negative actions should breed negative consequences. Nice to see for one famous person, they finally did.

Feline stealing gardening gloves of Pelham

This is one of the funnier news articles I have read in a long time. I'm so totally a cat person and this is just so endearing to me. Animal behavior is endlessly fascinating to me. Why do they do what they do? What are they thinking? In this case, why the fascination with gloves?

Sometimes I wish I could read the minds of our cats, especially my cat Chelsea. I've had Chelsea for ten years now. She's been my constant companion during those ten years and, at times, was the only friend I had the in the world. She loves my husband but I am her "person". Even when he's scritching her in that special spot behind her ears, if I walk into the room her eyes are on me. Though she's not a lap cat, if I'm feeling blue she'll curl up on the sofa next to me and press close to my side. When she wants company, she'll perch on the back of the couch behind my head. Sometimes at night, she sleeps pressed up against the small of my back. She has such a personality and I swear sometimes she makes faces at me when she's mad at me!

Our cats are funny and not a one of them are alike in personality. Chelsea is the house "mother". Maxine is our "Bucky" (from the Get Fuzzy comics) even if she's not siamese. I think of her as our little curmudgeon. O'possum is my husband's cat through and through. He's a little slow and dumb but we love him just the same. He got his name because, as a kitten, he looked like a little baby o'possum. Our ugly duckling who turned into a swan, he's become a gorgeous cat, colored like a snowshoe kitty. Tink, his sister, is our sitting pretty kitty. She's the most gorgeous shade of grey (mouse grey we think of it) with white on paws. She's very stand-offish unless she wants attention and then she's relentless in her persuit of a good ear scratching. My daughter also has two cats; Mama, a very noisy ('talky') siamese and Hades, a sleek black kitty who has more than earned his name.

Our kitty cup runneth over but, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. My house is just not a home without at least one cat. I suppose, though, you could call us the crazy cat family.

Awkward moments ... understatement

How would you like to be called to testify in this trial? Or be a juror? Or hell, just sit in the 'audience'? Awkward moments abound in penis pump trial

I suppose it does get boring sitting on the bench sometimes.

One of the best blogs I've seen in a long time

Miss Doxie

This woman seriously makes me laugh out loud. I discovered her via a friend and am now hooked. Hooked I say!