I just got a Nissan Cube Krom edition!  I am so excited!

Maybe I should explain a bit.

It may help you guys understand how a stupid car could make me happy. As many of you know, 2008 was a shitty year. Both Shih-tzus passed away, and I had a “brush with the light” which almost took my life and caused me to loose the babies I was pregnant with…

I was determined to make 2009 a much better year. We got a new puppy named Jewel!

After my 8 hour heart ablation and associated complications my husband decided it was time for a new car. My Pathfinder, though immaculate and only having 85,000 miles, was 10-11 years old and he wanted to get me whatever I wanted. I looked at lots of cars – G35/37s, FX45, and the Audi (both the A5 and the SUV) were my favorites.

I went to Nissan for regular service on my Pathfinder and they had just received the Cubes. I had seen them online and thought they were cute, but too small. Boy was I wrong. From the moment I sat in the car, I knew it was for me. Everything just felt right – even more so than any other car I had seen. It is much bigger than you think and the one thing that I really love is I can see so well, very little blind spot.

I tried to think – would I be 30, 40 or 50 thousand dollars happier in one of the luxury cars I had driven or would I be just as happy in this 20K Nissan Cube? The cube won hands down.

I know it is like comparing apples to oranges, but the cube made me feel right, like being in this car was the right fit for me. I know it does not appeal to everyone, but I had decided to finally live in the moment and choose a car for no other reason than it put a smile on my face.

It sounds corny, and certainly, I may decide to get a different car 4 or 5 years down the line (however, we are people who keep cars for a while) but in this moment, in this fleeting time where I have come to the realization that we may leave this earth at any time, I decided to get this car to make me happy and no one else.

Its funny, I have had so many people ask me about it, wanting to know where to buy one or to comment on how different it looks. I know there are people thinking “What an ugly car” but I really think they are using the wrong words. They should be saying “This is the wrong car for me.” Most people are such sheeps, just buying cars that all look alike. I decided to look a little different and I am joyful for it.

So, all joking aside, I bought a funny car. And I am goofy too. I also love Battlestar Galactica. And Christian Louboutin Stilettos. And I am alive, and feeling more alive every day.

Wow… as they say, “When it rains it pours.”

Our auxiliary backup emergency dog Remy passed away this morning. She was 13. She was not feeling well and we took her to the vet yesterday. For some unknown reason, her red blood cells were attacking each other. After medicine and a blood transfusion, her little heart gave out and she joined Starla in doggie heaven.

This was very unexpected and to loose both dogs in a matter of months is just awful. Please give your loved one, pet, or just a friend a big hug today. Remy loved to spread love and kisses to everyone she met.

Our shih-tzu Starla passed away today.  She would have been 15 on her birthday in September.  She gave us the most wonderful 15 years and we were blessed to have had her in our lives.

If you are wondering about her, here is a picture of her – dressed as an Ewok for the Animal Planet Halloween Charity event and costume competition that she and Remy WON (Mark and I were just accessories, they were the show).

Our emergency back-up auxiliary dog Remy is still going strong and will miss her Starla.

Starla was named for two things – the beautiful white star on the top of her head and the beautiful song “Starla” by the Smashing Pumpkins.

She was our little star.

The ultimate Christmas gift arrived from my sister – the largest Lego set ever created!

5,000+ pieces, 4 pound manual, 80 bags of stuff – nothing labeled or organized!

The blog will focus on the construction of this mammoth project… here we go!

Day one – unpack and get started. Organized main pieces into sandwich bags and containers and got started on the frame.

The lyrics to the R.E.M. song ring in my head… “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”

On my regular Sunday journey known as the “Grocery Store Odyssey” (4 stores in 1 hour, you try it!) I encountered what could possibly be a sign of the apocalypse. It is hard to describe what I witnessed, so I will let the photos do the talking.

(my shots from the camera phone did not download well, so I swiped this off an advertising site… same stripes, different locale)

Yes, those are parking space designator stripes. Yes, that is an advertisement. Yes, it is for the show “Desperate Housewives”. No, you are not hallucinating.

In what could possibly be the end of Western Civilization as we know it, ABC has decided to not only bombard our television screens with this drivel, but force us to park between and walk upon advertisements for their “darkly comedic suburban” evening soap opera. Whatever.

Now let me be the first to admit, I do not watch Desperate Housewives. It is not because my evenings are so full of quality television shows that I cannot find time for ABC’s fun-filled programming. My inability to watch this show has nothing to do with my busy social schedule or the stacks of papers I need to grade. Clearly, only one fact prevents me from tuning in… IT IS UNWATCHABLE.

I have two words for ABC’s advertising “crew”:

STOP IT!

Stay tuned for further updates from the front lines… our next segment will feature interviews with the actual apocalypse horse-riders as they make their way through LA. The signs are here ladies and gentlemen, we just need to read them…

Never thought I would say it, but I agree with Tom Cruise. He is building a bunker in case of alien attack.

When I win the lottery, I am building a bunker to protect me from:

Tom Cruise,
Britney,
Scientologists,
Harry Reid,
Katie Couric,
Ann Coulter,
Bill and Hillary,
Paris,
crappy chit from China,
the Prius,
Lindsey,
Lindsey’s father,
Lindsey’s mother,
any of Lindsey’s siblings,
Kanye West,
the cubracapra,
Nancy Pelosi,
OJ,
Barbara Boxer,
the Situation Room (with your host suffering from ADHD Wolf Blitzer),
and…

wait for it…

Al (I didnt invent the Internet but I did invent global warming) Gore.

Ok, so I just got an email from a famous knitting store here in LA – Suss

I am on their distribution list, and have purchased yarn and patterns from their store. I like their yarn and their designs. Until now.

The email featured a large picture of Paris in one of the owner’s designs. I almost threw up.
I unsubscribed immediately.

Is it just me, or would you want to hurl if you got this in your inbox? I would rather get porn or a male enhancement spam than a pic of this skank.

argggg

(in my best pirate voice)

/rant off

What brings me here today you ask? What, after a long absence, has me reflecting on the events of the day? One more entry in my Blog of Hypocrisy. Yes, its the Live Earth Concert Day Extravaganza and yes, I am ready to puke.

Before I start, let me begin by saying, I believe acting as responsible citizens of our planet is something we should all do. Important warning notice to follow:

Use a bit of common sense before traveling
on your journey to responsible citizenship.

Lets start with this “concert”. I use the term loosely because only a few of the acts I have seen so far deserve my attention or my time. Three words: Lip Syncing Shakira. That is for another blog entry.

Live Earth is like Larry Flynt Promoting Chastity

Knock yourself out and read this little article in the UK Daily Mail

Might as well shove that massive carbon footprint right up Mother Earth’s ass.

How can I make this any clearer. Stadium rock concerts are not exactly eco-friendly. Would it be any different if they were trying to end hunger in Africa? Nooooo. If you read the Live Earth Pledge/Brainless Collection of Ineffective Tactics their proposals will equal MORE hunger and poverty as money and investment is sucked out of developing countries to “stop” a crisis that is, so far, just computer models and dooms-day predictions. Cherry picking statistics and making slide-show movies does not convert a scientific theory into proven fact. Again, best left for another blog entry.

Alert: Even if you buy into global warming, you should be leading the march against this hypocritical concert.

Papa Don’t Preach

Lets start with my first love, the ultimate virgin, a girl who changed my life, Madonna. I am will not hold back here, I think Madonna is a genius. This lady changed the face of the music industry and continues to boldly put her stilettoed foot forward in the name of marketing and music packaging.

Madonna, however, is not the poster child for “green-living”. If we purely look at her actions as defined by the “green police”, she is not a shining example responsible living or “green-ness”. I still love her music and will not be deterred by her carbon-positive lifestyle. I just think it is interesting she is even performing at a concert to promote a style of living she clearly does not embrace.

Sorry Madge for putting you on the chopping block, because every other “artist” appearing at the 9 venues is guilty of the same thing. Private jets, personal assistants, dancers, backup bands, private chefs, masseuse, hairstylists, equipment, and entourage jetting around the world in the name of a carbon-neutral lifestyle makes me sick.

How dare they preach to me about the necessity of driving the ugliest car on the planet (a Prius for all you unwashed few), recycling, growing bamboo, recycling, checking my tire pressure, recycling, riding a bike in the 110degree San Fernando heat, and for goodness sake RECYCLING.

I wonder how many of the artists and guests are following the Sheryl Crow “one square of toilet paper per doo” rule.

Total and complete B.S. Hypocrisy to the nth degree. Al Gore consumes more carbon in a week than I do in a year. And don’t give me any crap about buying carbon off-sets, thats a big load of carbon-positive methane spewing horse-dookie. A simple Google search brings you to hundreds of articles about bogus carbon off-sets.

Me-thinks Snoop Dog needs some Bling-offsets.

Want to help the environment? Stay home. Tell those pampered, bloated “artists” to go to their in-mansion recording studio, get out their handy digital camera and record a few songs. Stream the vids on the convenient Live Earth site and telecast on Bravo and Sun(thegreenestchannelEVER)dance and we can all watch from the comfort of our couches and computer stations. Tell their spray-on tanning specialists and hair-extension installers to stay home today. They do not need to spend the GNP of a small country to join a bunch of smug hypocritical “artists” singing about drugs and sex.

Eat, drink, and buy some guilt-assuaging carbon offsets, for tomorrow we shall fry. Or freeze to death. Or whatever eco-apocalypse is being promoted by the green-police…

Stay tuned… the hypocrisy continues and I may need to update for more eco-freakiness.

Oh wait, Spinal Tap just performed. This whole bloated worldwide concert may have been worth that one performance!

Been away for a while… tragic accident! Slip and fall – end result, and I mean “end”, was a cracked tailbone. Yucko. Very painful. So, have not been able to tend to the blog. Sorry.

Updated items here: Fetching fingerless gloves are finished – and they are yummy!

And a little hat for a friend’s baby shower… its made with Goa from GGH/Muench.

“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

-Mahatma Gandhi