Monday, September 24, 2012

A Few Questions...

Soooo... Lois over at LivingSimplyFree, as well as P over at HowIGotThisFar were so kind as to nominate me for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award.


This award is meant to thank regular blog readers for being part of your community, an idea which I find both very nice as well as somewhat redundant. In my opinion, reading people's blogs is its own reward!


Anyhow, as usual, there are "rules" that come with this award, and as usual, I'm not going to follow them. I'm supposed to nominate some of my own readers, but to be honest, I really hate the idea of singling people out.


Truth is, I LOVE it whenever anybody comments on my blog. I mean, I don't consider myself to be the the keeper of any great wisdom, nor do I posses a great wealth of knowledge that I'm sharing with people. I mostly just like the conversation.


I love having a place to blather about whatever happens to be running around in my brain, and it's always refreshing when somebody gives me a new perspective or a new way to look at things.


All that being said, I know from looking at my web logs that there are WAY more people visiting my humble little corner of the interwebs than there are folks who actually comment. I understand... there are plenty of blogs that I read but don't comment on. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say (unbelievable, but true,) and sometimes I feel "unqualified" to comment - like on the bicycle blogs where people talk about their 100 mile "recreational rides." Oy!


So, I'd like to give my Readership Award to all of the lurkers out there, along with an open invitation to de-lurk any time you feel like it!


Here, I'll make it easy. Let's do our own little "getting to know you" quiz... So if you'd like to play along (whether you're a regular commenter, first time visitor, longtime lurker or whatever) here are the questions:


1) What's your name (real or made up... doesn't matter) & what part of the world do you live in (you can make that up too if you don't want to tell us.)
2) What's your favorite movie? (It can just be your current favorite)
3) What household task to you loathe?
4) What are you looking forward to today?

Here, I'll start.

My name is Cat and I live in Denver, Colorado.


My favorite movie is 12 Monkeys. I mean really... I loves me a good apocalyptic thriller, plus, Brad Pitt has got to be the funniest crazy guy ever.


And I never met a temporal distortion that I didn't love. Besides, it's Terry Gilliam, and somehow his warped sense of humor gets me every time.


I loathe vacuuming. Oh how I have tried to make peace with it, but I just find it to be a horrible unrewarding task. It's noisy, and smelly, and it scares the cats. Plus, it's sort of like wrestling an octopus, and no matter how thorough I am, it's NEVER done. There's always more cat fur and litter just around the next corner. Sigh.


Today, I'm looking forward to movie night with CatMan!


OK, your turn!



98 comments :

  1. 1) My name is Ailed from Houston, TX
    2) Favorite movie is the Harry Potter series, they are just out of this world
    3) I loathe laundry...the folding and putting away part more specifically, I need to invent a machine to do this for me.
    4) I'm looking forward to going home from work to cuddle with my kitties (or at least avoid their scratches from being held hostage for a few minutes ;) )

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    1. Hi Alied!

      I loved Harry Potter too. CatMan and I actually read all of the books in Spanish - long story. Anyhow, the only problem was that we learned all of the made up words in Spanish rather than English (mortifago instead of deatheater, etc...) so we got a bit confused watching the movies!

      As strange as this sounds, I sorta like doing laundry. Maybe it's because I'm a slob and don't do it often! But the folding is always a big kitty party. I grab an item to fold... a cat promptly pounces on it. After much wrangling I get it folded, set it aside, and someone pounces on it and un-folds it. Of course, I usually do this while watching a movie (can you tell I like movies?) so I never really consider it to be work... which is probably a good thing because otherwise all of the kitty pouncing could get to be a tad bit annoying!

      Give your kitties a nice cuddle for me. Kitties goooood... work baaaadddd....

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  2. My name is Kelli (really).
    I live in Sacramento, California.
    One of my all time favorite movies is Truly, Madly, Deeply - a British film starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman. Imagine the same intensity he brings to Prof. Snape in the Harry Potter movies channeled into a romantic role. Yeah. And it's a good movie.
    I loathe dusting and do it as little as possible. I no longer hate vacuuming since purchasing a better vacuum cleaner a couple of years ago. (The cat and dog still hate vacuuming.)
    Today I am looking forward to making something yummy with the okra and tomatoes I bought at the farmers market!

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    1. Hi Kelli,

      I totally LOVE Alan Rickman, so I'll have to check that one out!

      I hate dusting too... but fortunately Smoky does most of it for me. He figures that all horizontal surfaces belong to him, so he lounges on them frequently which eliminates the need to dust. Of course, if there happens to be something on the horizontal surface, he first knocks it on the floor and then proceeds with lounging. Perhaps he's trying to teach me to become more of a minimalist!

      And I would LOVE to know that you're gonna do with the okra. I fear that's one of those vegetables that I have very little experience with, and the one time I tried to prepare it, it turned out sorta like ectoplasm... eeewwwww!!!

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    2. Thanks for posing the interview questions, Cat! It's been fun reading all the comments.

      I made "Whole Okra" from the book Laurel's Kitchen (p. 199); it's a classic your library is sure to have if you want the official recipe. Essentially whole okra pods are sauteed with onion and garlic for a few minutes, then a bit of water is added to the pan to cook them until "almost tender" (yes, that's what the book says, I swear!). At this point peeled, chopped, seeded tomatoes are added with some salt and pepper and the whole combo is cooked until the okra is tender and the tomatoes are done. YUM!

      Alas, I will have to do without Smoky's assistance as Daisy (the dog of the house) says absolutely no more cats allowed! Got to go over to Netflix now to order some movies ...

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    3. Laurel's Kitchen is my favorite cookbook! I'll have to go check it out. Actually, I don't even know what whole okra looks like. I sense a cooking adventure in my future!

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  3. Hi My name is Kat and I'm from the UK.
    My favourite films are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Room with a View, Breakfast on Pluto and Photographing Fairies.
    I hate hoovering with an absolute passion.
    At the moment I'm looking forward to the 2 weeks I have booked off work. I'm looking forward to the lie ins and just chilling out doing my own thing :).

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    1. Hi Kat!

      Wow... four favorites! The only one I've heard of is Room with a View, which I also loved. I'll have to check out the rest!

      Maybe we should start a club of people who hate vacuum cleaners. Seriously, I've even considered ripping out the carpets just so I wouldn't have to face the thing!

      Hope you have a perfectly marvelous 2 weeks off! I just LOVE how you Brits say "lie in" instead of "sleep in," because sometimes I just want to lounge around in bed even if I'm not sleeping!

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    2. You need to vacuum MORE often without carpets, because the cat fur bunnies get huge and lurk in dark corners...and you start to get cat fur 'slippers' from treading on the bunnies...carpets sort of absorb the hair...

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    3. Oh dear... thanks for the warning!

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  4. Hi, My name is Jill, I'm from Michigan.
    My favorite movies are Amelie and Sunset Boulevard.
    I hate to dust furniture--no one really notices if you've done it. That's why I wait until everything has a fuzzy, soft-focus look to it before I do it.
    I'm looking forward to finishing work early today and spending a little time outdoors with my husband.

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    1. Hi Jill,

      Gosh... 2 more films I've never seen. Netflix has been suggesting Amelie for a while, so I'll have to check it out... and I see that CatMan already has Sunset Boulevard in the queue.

      Another dusting hater... I think y'all just need to borrow Smoky for a few days (see my comment to Kelli above.)

      I hope you thoroughly enjoy your outdoor time with your husband... :-)

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  5. This post reminded me that I meant to comment on your last one, so I went back and looked at it... and couldn't think of a single intelligent thing to say! Thought-provoking stuff.

    I'll answer your questions here instead - that's easier ;-)
    I'm Rachel and I live in Wales.
    My favorite films are the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it has to be the extended version, and I'm looking forward to watching them again.
    I hate the washing up, just because it never goes away. I can ignore vacuuming and dusting for a very long time, but I run out of plates pretty quickly.

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    1. Hey Rachel,

      Well, nobody said that comments had to be intelligent! :-)

      I loved LOTR too... although I think they easily could have made 6 movies instead of 3!

      And thanks for the context on "washing up" because I would have thought you meant washing your hands before dinner or something like that. Two people separated by a common language again... :-)

      It's funny, the dishes used to be the most hated of all household tasks until I got the wonderful new dishwasher... and the ever-important Finish Powerball Tabs to make it work right. I feel so bourgeois every time I use it, but it really has been life-altering. Seriously, I even have a little "I love my dishwasher" song that I sing whenever I use it. (Yes, I am totally, and unabashedly off my rocker!)

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  6. I'm Nicola and I'm from Suffolk (England, in case there is a Suffolk in the US!)

    I don't really have a favourite movie, I tend to watch documentaries and so on instead. That said, I do like LOTR, Harry Potter and things like Pride and Predjudice.

    I don't hate vacuuming or dusting or washing up, as I find the cleanliness afterwards so satisfying.

    I do tend to procrastinate about cleaning the chickens though, as the poo is ENDLESS. And really hard to scrub off the patio..

    It's nearly the end of the day now, so I am looking forward to taking my contact lenses out (starting to hurt) and getting into bed. Sooo sleepy, I was yawning through 90 mins of yoga...

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    1. Hi Nicola,

      I'm a documentary buff as well. But I'm under strict orders NOT to give them high ratings in Netflix anymore, because it CatMan tires of Netflix recommending nothing but documentaries!

      And I think this may be some sort of epic moment... the one person on the planet who actually likes cleaning! Don't let that secret out, or people will be inviting you to come "house sit" with ulterior motives! :-)

      I've never had chickens, but I imagine cleaning up after them would be quite a chore... sort of makes 7 litter boxes sound like child's play!

      I hope you have a blissful sleep!

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    2. I'd not say like...I've had to train myself to just do it, rather than be annoyed by the skanky plates, or treading on crumbs on the kitchen floor and ignoring them whilst also being grumpy about the mess...own worst enemy...sigh!
      I just hate crumby feet more than I hate the Hoover :) My kitties don't like the hoover either... Now that must be universal to all kitties!

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    3. Ha! Sounds like Maslov's hierarchy of complaints at work!

      Aren't you supposed to be in bed? :-)

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    4. I have one cat that doesn't leave the room when the vacuum is on. I wouldn't say she likes it, more like she doesn't trust it and wants to keep an eye on it.

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    5. It's so funny... the only one of my cats who doesn't immediately run and hide when I turn on the vacuum is Jasper... but he's the one who disappears into hiding places unknown if a stranger sets foot into the house!

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  7. Okay, I'll play.
    My name is Connie & I live in Orlando (The Tragic Kingdom).
    I can't narrow it down to 1 movie. Depends upon my mood. Singing in the Rain & Cabaret - favorite musicals
    North by Northwest & Conspiracy Theory - favorite suspense
    Ladyhawke & Out of Africa - favorite romances
    Jumpin' Jack Flash - favorite comedy
    Serenity - just for the luscious goodness of Capt Tightpants & the genius of Joss Whedon.

    All household tasks. I want a maid!

    New eps of Bones, Major Crimes & Castle on TV tonight.

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    1. Oh Connie, you always make me laugh. "The Tragic Kingdom" oh my!

      That is a wonderful movie list... the ones I know are all favorites, and your description of Serenity (which I haven't heard of) makes the mind reel! :-)

      I keep wondering if there isn't a way to train the cats to do the housework. Waddya think? ;-)

      Actually, I was seriously contemplating getting a Roomba, but I kept having visions of cat toys getting sucked up into it and it wasn't pretty. CatMan thinks Smoky would love it though - although I can imagine him dragging it off into a corner and disemboweling the thing.

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    2. CatWoman, you shameless hussy, TSK!
      Translation, the 'captain tight pants' reference is from the TV series 'Firefly', from which the movie 'Serenity' is derived.

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    3. Hi Merry,

      Good lord... I've never heard of the TV show either! I think perhaps I actually do live under a cabbage leaf.

      BTW - you neglected to post your favorite movie - let me guess... I'm betting it has Hugh Jackman in it!

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    4. Joss Whedon fan that you are, you haven't heard of Firefly (incredible) & it's follow up movie Serenity? Shocked, I say!

      Speaking of Hugh Jackman (swoon) - I love Kate & Leopold. Hugh & time travel & period dress - what could be better?

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    5. I loved Kate & Leopold.... isn't there a scene in there where they're building a bridge and calling it an "erection?" Tee hee hee...

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  8. Hi, I'm June and I live in Mayfield, USA with Ward, Wally, and Theodore.

    It's hard to pick a favorite movie, but off the top of my head, it would be, "Singing in the Rain." I love musicals.

    I hate cleaning up a messy kitchen.

    This evening I'm looking forward to a little snuggling with my husband and several cats while were checking out the new season of TV shows.

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    1. Hi June,

      Does Eddie Haskell live down the street? :-)

      I totally LOVE "Singin' in the Rain," that and "White Christmas" are my two favorite musicals and I think I know every word to every song from each.

      I hear you on the eternal kitchen cleaning thing. It's actually gotten much less onerous since I got the new dishwasher though - and have allowed myself to believe that it's more environmentally efficient to throw things like mixing bowls and casseroles in the dishwasher than to do them by hand. I have no idea if this is actually true or not, but for the moment it's my story and I'm sticking to it!

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  9. My name is Stephanie and I live in Southern California.

    My favorite movie is My Neighbor Totoro.

    I hate cleaning the bathtub and the oven. Apparently I don't like to bend over.

    I am looking forward to dinner. My husband put a roast in the slow cooker.

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    1. Hi Stephanie,

      Yet another film I've never heard of!

      OK... I have a little confession to make. I've never actually cleaned my oven, and it's about 6 or 7 years old. It's terrible I know, but nothing bad has happened, and it's not like it smells or anything. There's no way I'm gonna get in there and scrub it, but maybe I should try to scoop the carbonized black stuff off the bottom!

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  10. I'm Jan and I'm from Misery (Missouri) I guess I'm the lone sports buff as I love "Hoosiers" and "Rudy" and also
    "Dead Poet's Society". I also hate cleaning the bathtub-- it's just so awkward. I don't mind the sweeper at all...right now we're battling fleas...so I run it almost every day. While I've got all you cat people on here...I cannot for the life of me give my little female a pill (she has tapeworms...ick) she is totally tramatized when I take her to the vet...I bought "pill pockets" and she just sniffs and walks away. They are all (three) on Frontline and I think the flea problem is under control...I just need to get her wormed. Thank's much!

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    1. Jan, tapeworms are tough to get rid of. The medication works, but some cats, at least in my experience, seem to get tapes over & over again. If they swallow an infected flea, the cat gets tapes. Two things to try - if you have someone to help you, swaddle your cat tightly in a towel with only her head exposed. Someone holds the cat, the other puts the pill in. You can also try a pill gun (available at Petsmart & vets). Google How to pill a cat & you'll get lots of videos. See if one might work for you. BTW - Revolution works for round & hookworms, mange & ear mites, in addition to killing fleas.

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    2. Connie has good ideas and she is right that until you get rid of the fleas, your cat will keep getting reinfected. That's my experience anyway. I have tried everything over the years to get pills (and liquid) into my cats. Some cats are more resistant than others, and I had one that would hide the pill in the back of his mouth and later go to another room and spit it out or if he had to throw it up. I have found the pill pockets work only when the pill is not strongly flavored.

      If you have the cat swaddled and turn their head to the side to open their mouths, you should be able to pop the pill into the back of their throat. Then you stroke their throat to help with their swallowing reflex. When that doesn't work, try the pill plunger. Good luck. I hope you are more skilled with this at your house than we are at mine.

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    3. Hi Jan,

      I'm actually a HUGE sports fan... although I don't seem to have the basketball gene. It's that terrible squeaking noise that the shoes make on the wooden floor - it always sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But Rudy is on my list of movies I want to see, and Dead Poets is one of my very favorites.

      And in terms of the bathtub... I think the only solution for mine would be a nuclear bomb. Seriously, someone (who shall not be named but whose name is a three letter word often paired with "dog") used the wrong kind of cleaner on it back when she first bought the house and damaged the porcelain surface. So even when it is clean, it doesn't look clean. Sigh.

      OK... so my thoughts on the pill thing are...

      First, the only time one of my kitties had a tapeworm they gave her a shot and it killed the thing dead.

      But in terms of pilling, my method is to get down on my hands and knees on top of the cat... facing the same direction as the cat with the cat between my legs and my torso on top. I like to snuggle my kitties in this position so it doesn't generally scare them... but the advantage is that it allows you to pretty much immobilize the cat without using your hands. Then you stroke their little face, and at the moment they least expect it you sort of stick one finger in either side of their mouth and their jaw just pops open. Then with the other hand (and speed is your friend here) you pop the pill in and cram it back as far as you can with your index finger. Then hold the cats mouth shut until they swallow. That's the only method that's ever worked for me!

      Good luck, and I hope your little kitty is feeling better soon!

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    4. Thank you all for your advice on pilling my gal. I'll let you know how it goes....Jan

      Delete
  11. Cat, I love how you change the rules every chance you get. :-) Okay, so my name is Lois from Pennsylvania. My favorite movie depends on my mood, but I pulled out an old movie for the grand kids and found myself remembering how much I loved it so George of the Jungle it is (not the animated version), but the one movie that usually comes to mind is Law Abiding Citizen. The hated household task is anything in the bathroom, I just find it gross. As it's evening the only things to look forward to yet tonight is some Monday Night Football and bed.

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    1. Hi Lois,

      Rules Schmules!

      I haven't actually seen either of those films, so I'll have to add them to my Netflix queue.

      Can you get Monday Night Football over the air? Since they moved it to ESPN I've been in withdrawal. I heard there was some horrible call that changed the outcome of the game tonight... hate when that happens! I'm sure I'll hear all about it on every newscast tomorrow!

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    2. Both are great movies,George of the Jungle stars Brendon Frazier and as for Law Abiding Citizen, well just check it out it's very thought provoking.

      As for Monday Night football, I watch the games on my computer. There was a horrible call, it was the worst I've ever seen. The entire game was badly officiated, but the ending takes the cake. IMO, they better get the "real" refs back or this season won't mean any thing to anyone.

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    3. OK... I just added George of the Jungle... it has John Cleese in it so that's a very good sign. And CatMan already has Law Abiding Citizen in the queue!

      I totally agree about the refs... there were some REALLY questionable calls in the last few Broncos games... though none that would have made up for the blown coverages that let our opponents score WAY too many points... or for Peyton's 3 interceptions - three interceptions in ONE quarter... oy vey! But that call was rather incredible.

      I'll have to go see if I can figure out how to watch it online so I can experience my referee disgust in real time!

      Delete


  12. I'm pretty sure I say more about me than anyone wants to know.

    My real name is Roxanne. Half of my friends call me that, the other half call me Roxi.

    Tonight I live in Utah, but tomorrow night I live in Arizona. Probably.

    One of my favorite movies is Brokeback Mountain, because it's so beautiful and romantic and tragic.

    I hate to cook.

    I'm looking forward to sleeping. I do it every night, and I think I'm getting really good at it

    The Good Luck Duck

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    1. Hi Roxanne,

      I think you live in the land of wanderlust. I've been enjoying your reports from the Best Friends sanctuary. I've been a member for years, thought I've never actually been there.

      Brokeback Mountain was one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. I still can't look at a flannel shirt without tearing up.

      And I don't always love cooking... but since I love eating, and since my food allergies mean that I pretty much have to cook everything from scratch if I want to eat... well, you get the picture!

      I'm really hoping Smoky lets me sleep tonight, because things get ugly around here when I don't get my required 8-9 hours!

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  13. I'll bite. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments! I really appreciate it.

    1) Jennifer. I live in NorCal.
    2) Favorite movie: depends on the mood and/or reason I'm watching it, but maybe the 1995 Persuasion, or Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit, or Gosford Park.

    3) I hate cleaning the cat litter area. Brie shovels like a champ.

    4) I'm looking forward to going to bed. It's been a long day.

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    1. Hi Jennifer,

      I'm glad my comments aren't too annoying! :-)

      I don't know if I've seen Persuasion, although Emma is one of my very favorites, and you can't go wrong with Wallace and Gromit!

      I'm looking forward to bed too... I'm just trying to decide if I'm gonna face the litter boxes now or in the morning. I'm really trying to not allow any excuses for further "peeing in the tennis shoes" incidents!

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  14. Hello Cat,

    I am a long time lurker. found you through the 'down to earth' blog.
    I love your blog and your thoughts and comments.
    I am Radha from India.
    I hate cleaning up the kitchen and my kitties litter boxes..i wish they could do it themselves.
    I am looking forward to reading 'Light on Yoga' by BKS Iyengar..not the whole book ,just a big chapter on Pranayama..but the best part is i read it right before bedtime..i am just so lazy to really start doing those exercises!

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  15. Hi, i forgot about the movie..i think the most recent one i saw was 'Bad Teacher'..i love the character Cameron Diaz has played in it..
    Radha

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    1. Ha Radha,

      At one point I actually looked at "self cleaning litter boxes". They make these crazy contraptions that use plastic pellets instead of litter and actually wash and dry them with some sort of sanitizing solution. It's a lovely idea, but somehow I just can't imagine my cats going for it... with 4 of them, the thing would be in constant clean mode!

      I love Cameron Diaz, so I'll have to check out that character. And I'm quite impressed that you're reading about yoga... for some reason that sounds like much more work than doing the poses!

      Delete
  16. I'm Beth and I live in Norfolk Virginia. Though I love 12 Monkeys I'm going to put down Velvet Goldmine as my favorite movie. My least like household chore is convincing others to pick up after themselves. Today I am looking forward to texting a friend.
    On a side note I've been reading your blog for about a month. It is very comforting(?)/nice to read a blog that is very thoughtful and touches on some of the same ideas I have. Its a reminder that there are others who live thoughtfully and that is is important to have the support of others. Okay, that's it for deep thoughts.

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    1. Hi Beth,

      Velvet Goldmine... yet another film I've never heard of! My Netflix queue is going to be much more robust after this little activity!

      Thanks for your kind words about my blog, it always sorta blows my mind to think that there are actually people out there reading my random blatherings, but it sure is nice to find other kindred spirits!

      In terms of getting others to pick up after themselves, I actually have a cat who does just that. Seriously, I have a little basket for all of the cat toys and numerous times I've seen him pick up one of his toys and deposit it in the basket. It's sooooo cute! And sometimes when he finds things that aren't actually cat toys but that he wants anyhow, he puts them in the basket too as if to claim them. Now, if I could just teach him to load the dishwasher...

      Delete
  17. 1) My name is Holly (not really, but that's the name my mother *was* going to name me before she changed her mind at the last minute and I like it lots better than my real name) and I live in Wisconsin.
    2) LOTS of favorite movies, but the ones I've watched the most are Sense & Sensibility and Singin' in the Rain (I cry at the end of each every single time-great stress reliever).
    3) I loathe all household tasks, so I do them only when absolutely necessary. Dust? Why? It helps the acoustics in my house. Vacuum daily? Why? The cats will fur it up 3 seconds after I finish.
    4) Today I am looking forward to going home after work and getting snuggles and cuddles from "the boys" (my 5 kitties). When the weather turns cooler, EVERYONE wants to cuddle with mom. I love it.

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    1. Hi Holly,

      OK, that's the best excuse I've EVER heard for avoiding dusting! And, Cat isn't my "real" name either. My crazy dysfunctional parents managed to load my given name with all sorts of emotional baggage, so I tend to avoid it. I dunno... I think there's something very empowering about naming yourself.

      Isn't it wonderful how the cool weather brings out the snuggles... if I could just keep them from swatting at each other in my lap...

      Delete
  18. Hi Cat. I'm a long time lurker and really enjoy reading your blog. There is nothing else like it on the internet.

    My name is Nikki and I live in Austin, TX right now.

    My favorite movies are The Namesake and 5x2.

    I cannot stand doing the dishes, but I love to cook so they are a constant in my life.

    I am looking forward to finishing up my book, Peace Pilgrim.

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    1. Hi Nikki,

      Thanks so much for de-lurking! Still MORE movies that I've never heard of!

      You know, while my parents make me totally crazy, in one area they've got it figured out. My stepmom loves to cook, and my dad hates messes, so they have a team approach. Basically as she cooks, he follows her around doing all of the clean up chores. Wouldn't that be nice?

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  19. I am Shirls from Durban, South Africa.
    My favourite movie is Camelot - the one with Vanessa Redgrave when she was young and gorgeous (weren't we all?).
    I also hate vacuuming with a passion the pesky retractor cord has a mind of its own.
    I'm looking forward to a cup of after dinner coffee.
    I love your blog and I wish I had a cat, but I know my dog would eat it.

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    1. Hi Shirls,

      You know, I don't think that I've ever actually seen Camelot... at least not the whole thing. But personally, I think Vanessa Regrave is still gorgeous - even at 75!

      Sooo... apparently my vacuum cleaner did not take kindly to my disparaging remarks, and it up and died on my yesterday. Now if that isn't karma, I don't know what is! I'll probably try to fix it, but I must admit that I'm drooling over a new cordless model. Stay tuned...

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    2. oops... I meant "up and died on ME yesterday"

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    3. How could I have forgotten Camelot. OMG - my obsession in high school. My best friend & I skipped through the halls singing the entire soundtrack. I was mad crazy in love with Richard Harris (for you kids out there - the 1st Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies). He was a dreamboat as a young man. The music is wonderful & I weep, uncontrollably, every time I watch it. Cat you MUST see this film.

      Delete
  20. Hi Cat,

    I'm one of those lurkers! I stumbled upon your blog some months ago and I think I've read everything in the archives by now.I love your blog.

    My name is Rolien and I live in the Netherlands.

    I think choosing one favourite movie is like choosing one favourite dish - impossible. The last movie I saw was Goodbye Lenin, I really liked that. I loved Burn after Reading (Brad Pitt is hilarious again). Two other great movies are Together (Tillsammans) and Jalla! Jalla!

    I hate taking the bucket of green waste to the container near my apartment building. Biodegradable waste is collected separately here and composted and I think that's great. But it's also smelly and yucky.

    I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening, when my son's birthday party will be over and I can relax!

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    1. Hi Rolien,

      I LOVED Burn After Reading... I think I have a thing for quirky comedies. Haven't heard of the others, although "Tillsammans" sounds Norwegian or Swedish, yes?

      I agree about the compost bucket, but I'm jealous about the forward thinking waste collection policies! We do actually have compost collection here, but you have to pay extra for it - which is just totally backwards in my opinion. But it's sort of a moot point since I compost all of the kitchen waste myself. The container gets much less disgusting if I remember to line it with newspaper and empty it every couple of days.... which I seldom do. Sigh.

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    2. Yes, I totally agree that it's a very good thing that green waste is collected separately (plastic too, recently). The municipality encourages people to do this also because composting is cheaper than incinerating waste. So this reduces our waste-removal-bill. I'm shocked to hear that people have to pay extra for compost collection, if they did that over here, hardly anyone would do it!

      Nb I usually think my English is quite good but my vocabulary for this subject is limited!

      Tillsammans is a swedish movie, that's right. I thought it was very funny. It's about leftist people living in a commune in the 70-ties.

      Rolien

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    3. Your English is flawless! And you're totally right, very few people participate in the municipal composting because of the cost. It's just stupid because the city sells the compost material to a private company, but has to pay to dispose of the garbage. I've written countless letters to the city council on this matter, but I think it's a collections issue. The cost of collecting it costs more than the savings. Sigh.

      I actually found Tillsammans on Netflix and watched it last night - it was funny and cute... and I was very surprised at how much of the Swedish I understood. (I spent a year in Norway nearly 30 years ago.) Thanks for the recommendation!

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  21. 1) I'm Debbie and live in Texas.

    2) Best movie I know of: "The Iron Giant" - gorgeous animation (well, it's old now; not as gorgeous as some modern stuff like "How to Train Your Dragon"), a couple of fun characters, and a good lesson (though it makes me cry). Favorite from this year: "Moonrise Kingdom" - very strange, but interesting and good.

    FYI: Jane Austen + Alan Rickman = "Sense and Sensibility," though he doesn't have the biggest role. My favorite Jane Austin is "Pride and Prejudice," though: not the one with Colin Firth, who is too good-looking to properly hate, but the other one where I really do dislike him at first and then I really do like him at the end.

    3) I hate weed pulling. I don't see how the vicious slaughter of innocent plant life can be relaxing. But I really don't need one hundred mulberry seedlings in a single square foot of land. Nor is it good to have billions of those pretty white flowers that turn out to be called "beggar's lice" because of all the burs they make. I actually want to have more than one kind of plant in my yard.

    I may also hate weeding because I have clay soil and because rain is rare and because it gets really, really hot in the summer, and then my arms are often covered with a weird rash-like thing from all the nasty plants.

    4) I'm looking forward to having nothing on my plate after work, so I can do whatever I want. I'll have leftover banana chocolate chip pancakes and milk for dinner, play a bit on an online video game, maybe make up some lunches, and probably do the daily laundry-and-dishes routine. There will also be smooching and cuddling. And I just checked out two new books from the library which both look awesome; I'll be reading one of those on the way home (I take a bus). Maybe I'll do some exercise.

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    1. Hi Debbie,

      I KNEW I'd seen Alan Rickman in something recently, it must have been Sense and Sensibility since I just saw that.

      "... the vicious slaughter of innocent plant life..." you crack me up. But you're totally right, "weed" is such a bizarre classification when you stop to think about it. They're really just plants that are much more suited to their environments than the ones we insist upon replacing them with!

      And I must say, that sounds like a thoroughly marvelous evening... well, except for the laundry & dishes part! Hope you enjoy your new library books!

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    2. Good book, pancakes, video game, TV, cuddling. Did have to work an extra hour and go grocery shopping. But also did cook up two pounds of ground beef with onions and garlic (to be split into 4 dishes; 1st dish: tacos). No exercise.

      Home owners have to be such murderers. Most of my weeds are overly suited to their environments. I forget the word for them, but they are imported and have no natural enemies or something, so they take over everything. Mostly I try to have native stuff (plus a few other xeriscape plants that I can't resist).

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    3. I think you're searching for the term invasive species.

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    4. I hear you with the invasive plants... the WORST are those Chinese Elm trees... which I read somewhere aren't actually from China. I don't know if they are such a problem other places, but they're horrible here. The thing is, they grow in the cracks of the sidewalks, and along the fence lines, and they have full tree-sized root systems, so they're virtually impossible to get rid of. Shit.

      OK... now I'm laughing... I meant to write "Sigh" but somehow it came out "Shit" - if that's not a Freudian slip I don't know what is!

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  22. Thank YOU fo being MY friend!
    My name is Christine. I live in Whistler, BC. I couldn't think of my favourite movie so I stole two from the previous commenters - Amelie and Sense and Sensibility. The moment I post this, I'll think of a movie I love way more and regret not thinking about it harder. I live with 2 children and 1 man child and I hate wiping everybody else's pee off the seat, walls and floor almost as much as I hate looking at it on the seat, walls and floor. I am looking forward to setting a new mouse (capture) trap as my friend min-E escaped before I could deliver her to greener pastures. Thanks for asking Cat! I love seeing where your readers are from.

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    1. Hi Christine,

      OMG - I am totally laughing my ass off at your man pee comments! Seriously, sometimes I wonder... I mean what do they do, wave it around while they're peeing? Don't get me wrong... I LOVE it when CatMan is here, but I sometimes have to shake my head in wonder and disgust at the state of the bathroom after he leaves.

      The toilet seat has gotten so bad, in fact, that there are places where most of the paint has been scrubbed off in my attempts to clean it. I thought about painting it, but a new one only cost $5. So I bought it... but that was nearly a month ago and I still haven't gotten around to installing it... mostly because I dread the distustingness that will await me around those bolts where the thing attaches!

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    2. My gentleman friend's ex-wife "trained" him to sit and pee. I want to give her a big hug.

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    3. My man shakes it off after he's done. I pointed out the disgustingness of this to him; he is not fazed.

      Toilet seats are easy to replace, but they all go bad. I am trying to find one whose bolts won't rust or otherwise corrode and where the paint or finish doesn't wear away from regular use. Grr. I should be able to keep one for years and years.

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    4. Holly - My oh my! I can't imagine many men being willing to go for that, as I'm sure it must feel a tad bit emasculating, but it sounds marvelous!

      Debbie - Oh the dreaded 3 shakes technique, I know it well!

      The good news is that this whole little discussion finally got me to get off my rear and replace that toilet seat. And since the case of enzymatic cleaner that I bought for cleaning cat pee just arrived today, I gave the whole bathroom a once over with pee-eating enzyme cleaner. It's AMAZING! No more stale urine stench.

      BTW - I bought the cheapest seat they had at Home Depot, it's made by a company called Bemis. The bolts that came with it were nylon so they shouldn't rust. Of course the hinges are plastic instead of metal, so we'll have to see how long it lasts. But it was only $5 so if I have to replace it again soon it's not a tragedy.

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  23. Hi Cat! I've commented a few times, but decided to share a little about myself for the funs! :)

    My name's Eimear, and I'm from the Republic of Ireland. My favourite movie is either The Vow or The Notebook; I'm a sucker for romance! I absolutely despise cooking. If I want food, I want it yesterday! But I adore hoovering so I wish I lived near all of you so I could do it for y'all! And since it's 10.30 at night here, I'm looking forward to staying up a little later and having a lie in in the morning since I have the day off college :)

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    1. Hi Eimear,

      I wish you lived close too... we could trade cooking for vacuuming! I actually did something similar once with a friend who also hates to cook. She's a quilter, and I needed some baby blankets for a friend's baby shower. So we struck a deal. She made me 2 baby blankets and I gave her 2 grocery sacks full of pre-made meals!

      You know, that same friend was watching me cook once and had this big revelation. She said that people who like to cook seem to cook when they're not hungry. To me this was totally obvious - if you're already hungry, it's WAY too late to start cooking. I'll often grab a sandwich and eat before I cook... because the way I look at it, I'm not preparing food for one meal, I'm making a week's worth of meals, so it really doesn't matter if I eat it then or later. There's nothing less fun that standing there with a grumbling stomach waiting for the food to finish cooking!

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    2. Ahhhhhh I really need to sort my meal planning/ batch cooking so that I don't end up coming home from work and being too hungry to be bothered to cook properly...heating up chilli or soup, yes...making them from scratch...no!
      (Sort of a mini revelation- I am not going to want to cook when hungry after work...so must cook on days off...duh..)

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    3. That makes so much sense Cat, so it seems like a bit of a revelation to me also (although I tend to be a little slow on the uptake so that's nothing new :P). The only thing is that I live with my family still as I'm only 20, and my mother does most of the cooking, which she loves, so it wouldn't be practical for me to cook in batches since I don't really cook for myself all that often, and we have no room in the freezer! It's a great observation for the future when I live alone though!

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    4. Nicola - I have the utmost respect for people who make dinner every single day, but I just couldn't do it without losing my sanity, and I don't even have a job to go to! I just figure if I'm gonna go to all the trouble of cooking, I sure as hell want to get more than one meal out of the deal! Besides, cooking is just sooooo much more fun when you aren't in a hurry and can just sit back and enjoy it.

      Eimear - Well, my guess is that your relationship with cooking will change a bit once it becomes a prerequisite for eating! But as long as you've got someone who loves cooking for you, I say enjoy the luxury! :-)

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  24. Hi Cat, my name is Dar, and my favourite movies are Rocky Horror Picture Show and This Is Spinal Tap. I just posted about housework this week; my least favourite task is probably cleaning the microwave! Tonight I am looking forward to watching the DVD Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

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    1. Hi Dar,

      Oh my... Rocky Horror Picture Show... now there are some memories. When I was in high school we'd all go down to this old theater downtown where they played Rocky Horror at midnight. It was totally crazy... people would dress up like all the characters, and if they found out that you'd never seen the movie before they'd grab you and put you on their shoulders and start chanting "virgin, virgin!" I still can't hear anyone say "a toast..." without expecting pieces of bread to fly through the air!

      This is Spinal Tap has been on my must-see list forever... I'll have to actually watch it someday.

      I'm not a big fan of cleaning the microwave either. I finally went to the thrift store and got this old pyrex dish that is just the right size to work as a plate cover... I used to have a plastic one, but then I got paranoid about putting plastic in the microwave. Anyhow, remembering to use the cover makes it SOOOO much easier... well that and the fact that the removable glass plate thing fits nicely in my new dishwasher!

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  25. Hi Cat, Emily from Ohio here. I recently discovered your blog and love reading about your approach to life. My favorite movie is "True Stories." I don't like cleaning my toaster over. I am looking forward taking a nice hot bath tonight. Thanks for sharing your unique perspective.

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    1. Hi Emily,

      Awwww, thanks so much for your kind words. And I have yet to attempt to clean my toaster oven... hmmmm... I'm sensing a trend here as several of the tasks mentioned are things I just have never bothered to do! Oh well! And I must say, a nice hot bath sounds marvelous!

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  26. Im not a lurker as more a commenter but couldnt help playing along : )
    My name is Rue & I live in australia.
    I hate cleaning windows (my house has a lot of glass : /).
    Sadly I cant think of a good movie as dont watch many and dont have a favourite book - today at least! I think Im a bit numb from my working week but hey Thursday is my Friday : ) Its raining here and I love listening to the rain as we dont get enough water in our land of a sunburnt country. My favourite thing in the world is going bush camping with my man and spending days and days reading endless books from the library and swimming in the ocean looking at the coral and tropical fish and saying Gooday to the dolphins. When my daughter, her partner and our two grandchildren join us for a couple of days (justa couple ; )) that makes it more than fav jumping to awesome

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    1. Hi Rue,

      Alas, I seldom bother to clean my windows... I generally wait until there are so many kitty nose prints that you can't see out. And I've never cleaned the outsides of them - that's what rain is for! Of course, like you, rain is a rare treat here. But we've enjoyed some showers that past few days so everything is finally looking nice and green, just in time for winter! :-)

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  27. I am a long time lurker...
    My name is Ang and I live in Canada.
    I hate housework of any sort, however, being a neat freak means that I have to indulge on a regular basis...sigh.
    Favourite Movie...Pretty Woman. Who doesn't like a fairy tale ending?
    After I finish this comment, I am headed out for a long hike to enjoy the fall colours, which are just starting here.
    I enjoy your posts, they never fail to make me smile. Thanks.

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    1. Hi Ang,

      Hmmmm... that's a very interesting comment. I've always assumed that neat freaks LOVED to clean, but perhaps this isn't true after all? Perhaps they just hate filth more than they hate to clean? Very interesting...

      I too love Pretty Woman, and how I long for that bathtub! The fall colors are just starting here in Denver too. CatMan and I went for a long bike ride yesterday and it was just gorgeous! Hope you enjoy your hike!

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  28. Me again. I just had to add one of my absolute favorite films that I won't miss whenever it's on TV - Time After Time with Malcolm McDowell & Mary Steenburgen. He plays H. G. Wells & Jack the Ripper uses the time machine to escape to the future. Wells follows him. I love time travel movies.

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    1. I'm trying to figure out if I've seen that one or not... it sounds sooo familiar, but the one I'm thinking of seems like it was more recent than this one... and there's something about trying to save a woman who gets hit by a car or something... but she dies anyhow... or wait, maybe that's a Star Trek episode. Oy! I fear things get jumbled up in the depths of my memory. I think I'll just add it to the queue in any case because it sounds wonderful!

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  29. my name is Nancy and I am from Massachusetts.
    Favorite movie...well, I have a couple. Sound of Music, Roman Holiday, Bourne (any of them) and Salt.
    I hate to iron unless it has to do with quilting!
    I am looking forward to having my whole family back under one roof since my husband was in the hospital for most of the week.
    btw: i am also a long time lurker and have commented every so often.

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    1. Hi Nancy,

      Ironing... that's another one of those tasks that I just don't do. If it needs to be ironed, it doesn't come home with me!

      That's a great movie list, although I haven't heard of Salt before. It sounds great though so I've added it to my Netflix queue. This little exercise has been a boon for my queue!

      I hope your husband is OK... I'm glad he's getting out of the hospital too!

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    2. Salt is a great movie...first 10 minutes are a little slow but after that, it's like a Bourne movie. It is with Angelina Jolie and she did almost all her own stunts. I hope they eventually make a Salt 2.

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  30. My name is Lisa, I live in the northeast. I love The Ghost and Mrs. Muir HATE doing the dishes, and I'm looking forward to making a birthday cake for my son tonight. Which will lead to doing the dishes again....

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    1. I LOVE that movie! I was just thinking about it last night for an odd reason... there's a scene in there when she first buys the house and the house keeper is cleaning the floor & saying how there ins't much that can't be cleaned with good old fashioned soap and water... anyhow, I always think of that scene when I'm scrubbing something with soap & water.

      Oh... the endless dishes. My relationship with dishes improved greatly after I got a dishwasher that actually works and decided that it was OK to put things like mixing bowls & baking dishes in it.

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  31. 1) My name is Stefani and I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC
    2) My favorite movie is Harold and Maude
    3) I loathe picking up after myself
    4) I am looking forward to cuddling with the kitties!

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    1. Hi Stefani,

      Well, here's hoping you'll cancel out my right-wing wacko brother's vote! I'm not very good at picking up either... probably closely related to my hatred of vacuuming since you have to pick up before you can vacuum!

      But the cats are helping to "encourage" me in that department - someone peed in my tennis shoes recently! Still not quite sure who the guilty party was, but I'm pretty sure I must have tracked in some sort of threatening smell and they were just trying to make it "safe" again. Oy! I've been much better about putting my shoes away since that little adventure!

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  32. I have de-lurked already, but haven't answered these questions yet. So here it goes...
    1) My name is Bele and I live in a small city in Brazil.
    2) My childhood favorites were Charlie's Chocolate Factory and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which, I now realize, was very inappropriate... maybe this says something about my weird sense of humor!) My latest favorite is The Hobbit -- fuck the haters, I loved it :P
    3) I HATE doing the dishes and yearn for a dishwasher.
    4) I am looking forward to exchanging birthday presents with my boyfriend -- we were born on the same day :)

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    1. So, are you Brazilian or do you just happen to live there? I've always had a bit of a fascination with Brazil.

      OK... you've made me curious about Roger Rabbit... I only have the vaguest memories of that movie and I'm trying to figure out why it might be considered "inappropriate." Perhaps I'll have to go watch it! I can't wait to see the Hobbit - waiting for it to come out on Netflix.

      And I've gotta say... since Sputnik is eating only canned food these days... and since you can't feed one cat a nice canned food treat without giving one to all four... I'm doing a LOT of dishes these days, and I am eternally grateful for my wonderful, wonderful dishwasher!

      Hope you enjoy your birthday! :-)

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  33. I'm Brazilian (and glad that my high school english doesn't give me away immediately :o) It's a lovely country, with exuberant nature and multitude of cultures. Too bad many filmmakers choose to only focus in the poverty and violence (and carnaval... geez, I hate carnaval) Portuguese is also a lovely language.
    Well, Jessica Rabbit is in that movie, so there are lots of sexual innuendos. And boobs. But the sex things just went over my head, and I've always liked boobs, so no harm done really. It's a funny silly movie.
    I think Peter Jackson captured the spirit of The Hobbit. Many people are complaining that it's too light and funny, but The Hobbit IS lighter and funny than LOTR. Sigh. Everyone's a critic. I do regret having seen it in the movie theater, though. There were only sessions in 3D, which is expensive and annoying.
    I WILL own a dishwasher, sooner than later. Just expecting a sale on some models I'm drooling over.
    So far, it has been a great birthday (I didn't realize we were whooping 5 hours apart -- it was already past midnight when I wrote that comment) and despite not being old by any stretch, I still feel so much younger. Guess that's a good thing :)

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    1. I must say your English is PERFECT! I was sure you were a native speaker!

      In terms of the dishwasher, I got a new one this year - I'd always had a mixed relationship with dishwashers because my experience was that you practically had to wash the dishes before you loaded them in order to get them clean. So I finally decided to buy a "good" one instead of a cheap one.

      I don't know what brands are available in Brazil but I ended up with a Bosch (made in Germany) and I'm very happy with it. It's extremely efficient and actually gets things clean without any pre-rinsing. Well... I should qualify that statement, if I use the right detergent (Finish Powerball Tabs - like Bosch recommends) everything comes out sparkling clean. If I use the cheap stuff I have to pre-rinse to the point that I'm practically washing the dishes twice and they still don't come out clean. Makes me wonder if the cheap machines of my past might have performed just as well if I'd used the better detergent.

      Anyhow, that's my experience with dishwashers!

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    2. Aww, you're too kind! I always get self conscious when writing in English, so that means a lot to me :)

      Bosch dishwashers are hard to find around here, but we do have those Finish tabs, so let's see how it goes.

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I welcome your thoughts so please leave me a comment and I promise I will respond.

On older posts I've had to enable comment moderation to prevent spammers, so don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away - unless you're just commenting for the sake of embedding a link, in which case I really wish you wouldn't waste your time or mine because I'll just delete it.

Thanks, and have a fabulous day!