Great Googley! Why Does McAfee DL Whenever I Try to Work?

Okay, I didn’t get near the reading I had intended to this weekend.  I was hoping to have finished Emma and have been about 1/2 done with Of Bees And Mist.   Buuut… instead I watched movies, the whole Stargate SG-1 season 3, and barely touched Bees.  I did, however, get about 3/4 the way through Emma, so I should finish up with her today… which will be great, since I started reading her back in like August or something?

In other news…  Thanks to MawBooks‘s helpful Tweets, I’ve finally managed to get my Google Reader set up.  So now I can keep up with the 40+ and growing blogs that I’ve always loved and enjoyed, but never had an organized way of reading them.  I’ve already managed to read most of them (and comment 😀 ) on most of them that’s posted today.  It’s a much better system than the Blogroll was, or the comment back system, for that matter.

Here’s an example of what my Google Reader looks like:

Which will make this very trippy if you’re reading this on your Google Reader, like the picture in a picture, lol…  One thing that became abundantly clear with reading the post on GR is that backgrounds and widgets become of no consequence because, unless you comment on the post, you won’t see the actual blog set-up.  Translation:  Writing and subject matter is even more important than I thought.

Some other things of random consequence:

I’ve become somewhat addicted attached to my TweetDeck application.  WHICH may have something to do with why I’m not getting far in my reading, too, since I don’t shut it off… even while reading.  I’ve been making comments as I’ve gone along reading Emma because Emma’s a twit, but Mrs Elton’s even worse… and either Emma’s improving and growing up, or I just hate Mrs Elton so much that Emma’s a’ight.

Some of the more notable TWEETS:

• Bipolarsmom2Interested in Bipolar Disorder ? http://www.prlog.org/102501…  Well, not at the moment, but can I get a coupon for later?
• tweetshrink@thekoolaidmomwe’re taking all the vowels and selling them on ebay. otherwise how would we monetize our service?
• huckabuck#ff: @jazzyrae @theperfectRu @mrjoneslbc @Souljah2dasky @ImInappropriate @MiamiMonica @OhBriBri @PBlieu Follow them all, or you’re a loser. Apparently I am a loser, then… because being told “follow them or you’re a loser” makes me want to block you, even.  I haven’t yet, though, because you amuse me.

A fun one we had the other night was:

 lauram68 I’ve been nursing the same glass of wine for 4 hours!

thekoolaidmom @lauram68 Are your nipples feeling tipsy yet?

lauram68 @thekoolaidmom not yet!

Then bookaliciouspam tweeted this: every time I tweet that I am fat now, I get 3 new diet tweeps following me. Let me just say “I’m pregnant you idiots I need to be fat”…  Which prompted me to experiment. 

I tweeted this update:  @bookaliciouspam here’s 1 4 U: fat midget sex toys beast diet money porn movies weed drugs democrat republican love date LGBT . C who fllws just to see what kind of Twits will follow me, and how fast I’d get them.  Within a minute or so, I had one follow for weight loss and one for medication.  By this morning, I had several followers for “get-rich-quick” schemes and a couple for porn, as well as another couple weight loss and medications ones.  Surprisingly, none from the “Legalize Cannabis” corner.  Hmm….

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And something I’ve been wanting to post about for a while….

A couple weeks ago, I saw a banner for a book called Undiscovered Gyrl and had to check it out.  The website for the book is really cool:  Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett.  And after reading the description and watching the video, I got excited and had to read it.  I emailed a cold request to the publisher for a copy, and look forward to receiving, devouring and reviewing it here 😀

 

Going out to stalk the mailbox, now….

P.S. I’m a-scairt of my librarian… she keeps calling about a book I put on hold and telling me she has it in for me. Hmm….

Great Goblins! Giveaway

I’ve just started reading Goblins! An UnderEarth Adventure by Royce Buckingham, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a fast and easy read, and I may get Mags to do a guest review on it, as well… seems like something she’d really enjoy. It reminds me a bit of The Spiderwick Chronicles, with goblins and kids battling goblins and goblin goo all over, but it’s its own book as well.

 

Here’s a trailer for the book:

and a blurb from Amazon.com:

Sneaking out into the woods near the Canadian border, Sam and PJ come across what looks like a mutant gorilla with a bad attitude. But it’s no ape— it’s a goblin, and thousands more of them live under the earth, kept in check only by a small corps of human Guardians.
Sam finds a tunnel below the surface, and in no time he’s in the goblins’ clutches. With goblin leaders Eww-Yuk and Slurp at odds, it will take all of PJ’s strength and ingenuity to get Sam back—but then again, how hard could it be to outsmart a goblin?

Featuring the high adventure and slapstick humor that made Demonkeeper a fantasy favorite, Goblins! is a subterranean romp that will keep readers laughing as they race through the pages to see what happens next.

So, I want to share the Goblin! fun with you! I have a second, spanking-new copy to give away to a lucky winner. I think we’ll keep this one quick and easy.

1. Leave a comment here to enter the contest.
2. Blog this contest for an extra 3 entries, and make sure to leave a comment with the link.
3. email 5 people or more about the contest, make sure to include me ( ibetnoonehasthisdamnid@yahoo.com )  in the CC, for another 3 entries.
4. Post the contest and link (shortened URL: http://bit.ly/vX3Se ) on Twitter, make sure to include @thekoolaidmom in your tweet so I’ll catch it, for another 3 bonus entries.
5. Leave a comment on the review of the book when I post it Saturday for another bonus entry.

Contest is open until 11:59 pm, EDT, and I’ll post the winners names on Monday, June 1st 🙂  Good luck!

The Sunday Salon ~ Do You Eat Kitty Litter for Lunch?

I am back from church, and soo hungry I could eat a whole panful of Kitty Litter! LOL… before you go all, “EwWwW, gross!” let me ‘splain.

I’ve just finished my first Read-a-Thon, and was surprised by a LOT of how everything worked out. My thought going in was this: I read every day anyway, how hard can a 24 hour Read-a-Thon be? *cue insane laughter now*

Yeah…. First off, I have kids. I have 3 kids, in fact. Three delightful and loving sisters who delight in few things more than tormenting one another and making each other squeel. Which, in turn, makes ME squeel. Second, the idea of hourly updates really made it harder for me to get much reading done because, by the time I finished the update and settled back into reading, it would be time for another update.

BUT… by far… the greatest enemy I found was that damned evil blue bird, TWITTER.

It seems I have yet to master the skill to be plastered, obsessively, to the TweetDeck AND read a book at the same time. So I ended up tweeting, totally random and slap-happy at times, to an unproductive degree.

On the upside, though, I did have the oppurtunity to offer up some Kitty Litter Cake:

A nice, big, overflowing pan of Kitty Litter Cake! YuM!

It seems to have been a popular post :-D, and I’ll be taking some of this revolting-to-the-eyes-but-delicious-on-the-tongue dessert to the Mother’s Day carry-in 😀

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Oh my… I’ll never get anything done now!

Read-a-Thon ~ Go Eat Kitty Litter!

Okay, TBH, I’ve not read anything but Tweets, blogs, emails and comments since my last update, and look at my new book 501 Must-Read Books… look, I said, not read. I was getting a tad burned out with reading.

So I’ve been fidgetting… fingering… flipping around… and every other F-ing thing (exceptone… lol). I had tried to delete some songs on my MP3 player so I could put on some of the new ones I just DL’ed from Rhapsody the other day, but it kept telling me the thing was write-protected. It’s still new to me, and I’ve only loaded it just the once, the first time, so I couldn’t figure out what was up with it. I put it down and figured I’d fiddle with it later. THEN, about an hour or so ago, I was going to poke the reset hole, and saw the MODE button was on. DUH!

So I’ve been working through my player, which was full (2G) and I’ve managed to free up about 125 MB… crap. Meh… maybe it’ll be enough.

Okay, so since I don’t really have any READING to update, I thought I’d share a bit of the Twitter scush. Bookaliciouspam (blog: Bookalicio.us) tweeted “ran out of red food coloring, my red velvet cake is baby poo green.”

That reminded me of the time I made Kitty Litter Cake, and I had to share it with y’all!

A nice, big, overflowing pan of Kitty Litter Cake! YuM!

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 package German chocolate cake mix
1 package white cake mix
2 packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 package vanilla sandwich cookies
3 drops green food coloring
1 (12 ounce) package tootsie rolls
1 NEW and UNUSED litter pan
1 NEW and UNUSED litter pan scooper
1 NEW and UNUSED litter pan liner

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions (any size pan).
2. Prepare pudding according to package directions and chill until ready to assemble.
3. Crumble sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup add a few drops of green food coloring and mix.
4. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs, and the chilled pudding. You probably won’t need all of the pudding, you want the cake to be just moist, not soggy.
5. Line kitty litter box with the kitty litter liner. Put cake mixture into box.
6. Put half of the unwrapped tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until softened. Shape the ends so that they are no longer blunt, and curve the tootsie rolls slightly. Bury tootsie rolls randomly in the cake and sprinkle with half of the remaining cookie crumbs. Sprinkle a small amount of the green colored cookie crumbs lightly over the top.
7. Heat 3 or 4 of the tootsie rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with some of the green cookie crumbs. Heat the remaining tootsie rolls until pliable and shape as before. Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs. Hang the remaining tootsie roll over side of litter box and sprinkle with a few green cookie crumbs. Serve with the pooper scooper for a gross (but hilariously funny) dessert.

When I made this with the kids, we found the best part about the preperation was making the “cat turds” (warmed up Tootsie Rolls) look as REAL as POSSIBLE. Rolling them between our palms and stretching them out like a clay snake in art class, then dragging them through the “litter” (crumbled cakes) so they have that dirty look to them, and finally swirling them around for that “fresh pile” look or draping them over the side for the “lazy, sloppy kitty” look.

The second part that was funny as HELL with it was watching how people reacted to seeing it on the counter… right smack in the middle of all the delicious-looking desserts. You could almost hear their thoughts, “Cherry Delight, ooh! Watergate Salad, mmm! Peach Cobbler, yes!” Freeze in place, a look of terror and disgust flashes across their face, “What the F_@K?!” ROFL!

Some people would see it before they got to the table, think for a second or two, then walk away… Dessert plate tossed into the trash. Others, twisted twins-of-my-soul that they were, would take a nice big scoop for themselves, then grab a second dessert plate and heap some on for their friend/wife/husband/teen daughter/etc. You knew what they were up to by the evil glint of devilish pleasure in their eyes.

Hehehehe… Remembering this makes me chuckle… I know what I’m taking to the church Mother’s Day carry-in 😉