Just for fun

Who else remembers these commercials from the '80s? I love the extreme dorkiness of the first one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuS6pgc1mXw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rrFW3YubdQY

I myself was a big fan of the Dial-A-Lash concept back then. (Wish I still had a tube as a collector's item! Note to self: Start stashing away all "revolutionary" makeup concepts from '00s to sell on eBay in the '040s.) But looking back, I think they were scamming us. Could that dial really control how much stuff came out on the brush? I wonder, because in every picture of me from that era, my eyelashes are so heavily coated with gunk that you'd need a power drill to bore through it all.
Or perhaps I just never dialed it back from 10. Restraint wasn't really my strong suit in the '80s. Then again, was it anyone's?

Roy, Roy, the cute little boy

As promised, here's a photo of our newest addition to the Atlas family. Big brother Thunder has (literally, in this pic!) taken Roy under his wing. Note the size difference between these two felines. Thunder, whose name was changed to Pookie somewhere along the way, is only about a year and a half old. But he weighs 18 pounds and is basically the most ginormous-looking cat ever. But look how sweet he is!

The two play merrily all the time (which is fine with our third cat, Circles, who's antisocial), so hopefully Pookie will drop a few pounds in '08. I think he's motivated! When he's not sleeping and eating and sleeping some more, that is.

Here's to a spectacular 2008!!

Which, for me, will hopefully include blogging or column-writing more than I did in 2007. It was almost a year ago (Jan. 18, I do believe) when I sent in my final Eastside Journal column. I seem to be missing it more every day instead of less. So my resolution is to stop getting distracted by 40,000 other random things and find another spot to deposit some column-worthy words this year.
On another note, we have a new addition to the Atlas family! His name is Roy, and he's orange. Yes, Emily got a spectacularly cute kitten from Santa. We adore him! (Pics to come tomorrow or whenever I can locate the little thingy that connects the digital camera to the computer for downloading.)
She picked out the name; we were deliberating amongst such monikers as Felix, Freckles, Nathan and others, but nothing seemed to fit. Then Emily walked into the room, kitty in tow, and said, "How about Roy?" We all looked at each other. Roy it is! He looks like a Roy.
Hope 2008 has been great to you thus far. :)

Celebrity dog!!

So I was just doing a little "research" for Santa so he can bring us (I mean, Emily) the perfect little orange kitty for Christmas. (See post below.) I clicked on the website of the shelter where we adopted Scooter, and the homepage had been updated to read, "The pets above have all found loving homes." Please see the pets here: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/TX54.html
The smiling Jack Russell on the bottom row, second from the left is our pooch! We're so proud.

To answer one question

A kindly blog reader recently asked how our cats and dogs are doing. Well, I have sad news (which I don't think I've mentioned on this site yet): My vet -- whom I'd accused of being a "glass half-empty" type when she examined our cat Spot -- was actually just being an observant doctor. Turns out Spot did have cancer, as she'd suspected, and we had to put him to sleep.
Everyone who has ever endured that torture knows how bad it is, so I don't need to go into detail.
We're now down to two cats and a dog, who is barking like crazy right now because he wants in the house. I would let him in, but then I'd have to throw the golf ball for him 10,000 times in a row and would therefore have a tough time typing. He's just gonna have to wait his turn!
Three pets is probably enough for most families, but when Emily mentioned that she wants to ask Santa for "an orange kitten that can fit in my hands," my eyes lit up. What can I say, I'm a Leo.
Just imagine the thrill on Christmas morning when she finds a LIVE BEING waiting for her instead of boring old inanimate toys. (I'm assuming Jake will be fine with the aforementioned boring old inanimate toys.) I'm so excited. I hope Santa comes through for her! Mike, on the other hand, is crossing his fingers that Santa hits some sort of snafu when it comes to this gift. But he won't.
The only potential problem: As I talked up this plan to my hubby, I heard myself promising to take over the litter-box duties full-time if Santa delivers OK (orange kitten. Hey, wouldn't that be a cute name?). I've promised to start my new position on Dec. 20.
I sure hope OK -- and a certain red-haired girl -- appreciate this.

It's always the little things that get to us, isn't it? Below are two phone-calling-related features that I would like to see gone by the year 2008:
1. The paging option. Oftentimes, as you start to leave a voice mail, the lady on the other end says, "To page this person, press 5 now." Why? There is no need for this service in the 00's. The person will get the page (just some random phone number) and a voicemail/text (containing actual INFO!) at the same time. It's not like the page prompts someone to run through the streets and shout, "Paging Bob Anderson! Paging Bob Anderson!" No. All you get is this on your phone: "bling!" Just like a voice mail.
2. The Workplace Automated Phone Directory. First, a question: Has anyone ever, in the history of phone calling, had success with this system? Here's what happens when I try: I'm asked to type in the entire last name of the person I'm trying to reach. OK. Heavy sigh as I look up corresponding numbers for the name Gulbransonowitz. (It's never "Brown.") My task complete, I hit the pound sign. Whew! I do a happy dance.
The recording then says one of two things:
- "You typed 'Bob Smith.' If this is incorrect, press the star key and start over." OR:
- "This is not a recognizable name." (I got this one the other day as I tried to reach the CEO of a company. I'm sure his name is, in fact, recognizable to the staff.)
Perhaps I missed my calling as a phone-company executive.

Howdy, strangers!

OK, how sad is this: Once I FINALLY decided to post a new item, I couldn't remember my own blog address! Pathetic.

Let me first explain why I've been such a horrible blog owner: At one point or another, I decided to just let it die out. Not even sure WHY I decided that now. I guess I just assumed no one was reading it and that I had approximately 457 other things to do in a day, so something had to go.

But then I'd occasionally get an email from one of you lovely Seattleites (sp?), wondering if I was still alive and kicking. Someone cares! :) So thanks to the person who wrote to me yesterday (his or her name is "Anonymous") I shall begin blogging anew. With regularity, even!

So how have you been? (I'm assuming there's one person reading, so we'll keep it as the singular "you.") Life here is good, but frantically busy as always. My brother and his family are coming over for Thanksgiving, and for the first time ever I'm going to try to make my mom's stuffing. Suffice it to say that it's a two-day process with plenty of opportunities for disaster. But I'm up for the challenge! Got my game face on!

The kids are great, Mike's great, blah blah blah. (See, this is the problem with creating a blog and then ignoring it. Too much to go into with the first post back.) I still greatly miss the old EJ column; there's hardly a day that goes by that I don't think, "Wow, that thing that just happened/that witty comment from the kids/that general life observation would have made a good column." Of course, I could have just posted said thoughts on this here blog! Which is what I shall be doing in the future.

Attached is a picture of a very giddy Emily at the Hannah Montana concert last week, just because this post needs a photo. There's a story behind how we landed tickets, but I'll save that until next time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU AND YOURS!!!!

Sincerely,

Me and Mine :)