Breakfast: fried bread and a pickle, and nobody to nag me about eating properly. Pondering artichoke and fried egg for lunch... and maybe pot roast for dinner.

Oh lord, sometimes it seems like everything is happening all at once, and I just need to keep my fingers crossed that nothing major gets dropped. I tried to learn to juggle once... wasn't very good at it, really.

Crazy Aunt Purl just reminded me of the Color Quiz website... this thing is just eerie.

mivox took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Readily participates in things that provide excitement or stimulation. Wants to feel exhilarated." Click here to read the rest of the results.

I am no good at this whole boy/relationship thing. At least I'm not any good at doing all the suave little games and knowing things it involves. Like knowing how often to call someone. Or how to act when they call me. Am I supposed to be all calm and coy and whatever? Shit. Was I supposed to be wearing makeup? Oops.

So I officially gave up, when I decided I was really and truly Getting Over the ex, and I lived in Two Rivers anyway, where there are no single men my age anyhow, so why worry? I was going to be the crazy ferret lady of Two Rivers, with my Crazy Lady Hat, and build my off-grid cabin and obsess over my beer brewing and knitting. And everyone said they were so proud of me, and it would be so "good for me" to be alone... which brings me to my main point for the day...

Lordy, lordy. It was hovering around -20ºF for most of the last week. That's cold, my friends. That's weather that sends even the most dedicated nicotine-addict back indoors without finishing a whole cigarette.

But today! Today and yesterday! WOOO. Yes indeed. We can call this a really, truly, honest-to-goodness "cold snap" now, because it's been under thirty degrees below zero for the past two days. Oh yes. Even my ginormous mohair scarf cannot beat off this cold for long!

And last night when I left the house at 11:30 at night to pick up some fuel for our furnace (just to be safe 'cause you really don't want your furnace going out at -30ºF) there was a massive aurora arcing across the entire northern horizon. And an almost full moon. Man, I really love this place sometimes.

Generally, the corned beef recipes I find assume you already have a slab of corned beef lying around, and consist of not much more than, "boil the corned beef until it's done with some pickling spices in the water," more or less.

So how in the hell do you "corn" beef to begin with? After a couple days searching, I found this recipe, and have thoroughly and repeatedly quality tested it. It ain't health food, but it's damn tasty:

The last time a United States President claimed that he alone had the unilateral power to tap phones without a judicial order, that incident ended in the national disgrace known as the Watergate scandal. At the time, Congress stepped up to the plate and served as an essential check and balance to preserve democracy for future generations of Americans.

Merry Christmas to me indeed. :-) On the 23rd I received a letter saying my bankruptcy discharge had been granted. On the 26th I received the letter saying the case was officially closed:

So yeah, it's almost New Years. Everyone's busy publishing their Top 10 lists, about everything under the sun. People are making resolutions and taking stock of their lives.

It's all very deep and meaningful.

I'm not making any resolutions because I never do what I resolve to do anyhow, but I am taking stock of my life. So without further ado, I present you with my Top 5 Milestones of 2005, and my Top 5 Goals for 2006...

Chemistry is seriously cool stuff. This is one of the best magic chemistry tricks I've ever heard, not because it goes "bang" or makes a bright flash or anything exciting like that, but because it has eliminated one of the great banes of my existence: polishing my silver jewelry.

You have perhaps seen ads for the "magic" silver polish system that involves putting a metal plate in your sink, and dipping silver things in the water? Yes?