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February 17

This was one weird week. Monday and Tuesday we wore sandals, Wednesday it snowed. SNOWED. We don’t live in the desert because we want to mess with temperatures cold enough for snow. Amylynn complained about it to her old friend in Anchorage but he had no sympathy for her. He seemed to think that she didn’t have any room to whine until she had the equal of their 139 inches. That’s just ridiculous. 139 inches. Someone should file a report about that or something. That can’t be right. What really matters is that we’re here – not in Anchorage – and the only weather that really matters is where we are. Snow schnow. Perhaps the Occupy Wall Streeters can add that to their long list of grievances. It’s a good thing these little doozies were around to amuse us.

1. The Walking Dead. You might think that this is cheating because we mentioned the character Daryl before, but it’s not. We pulled out the Five Things Rule Book and nope, so long as we’re not highlighting Daryl we are well within the guidelines. If you’re not watching this AMC show, you’re missing out. It’s a great little drama. Although we will admit we will do things differently during the real zombie apocalypse. It’s really alarming how often these people touch dead zombies and various zombie parts with no gloves. If there was ever a reason to wrap yourself in Saran Wrap this is it.  The season is starting out hot – Lori’s upside down in a car and Rick finally grew some balls. It’s gonna be a good season.

2. Artful Vandalism. Don’t get us wrong, vandalism is always bad. Sometimes it’s funny though, too. Like in this instance. Next to the dry cleaners is an empty store front that used to house a scrapbooking store. You may not have inferred that from the strategic scratch-outs suggesting it was Your crapbook Sour – making memories forgettable.

3.Heated seats. It might be a little ridiculous for us to be so thrilled about heated seats in a town that spends well in excess of a hundred days a year over one hundred degrees, but we still are. We have thin blood here in the desert and our tushies get quite chilly on those winter mornings when it’s a frigid 37 degrees. All you readers in much colder climes understand that we know we’re completely absurd, don’t you? We get how crazy we are and we don’t care. We suspect you find it amusing or you wouldn’t keep coming back here for more doses of crazy.

4. Stress Relief. In the form of technical support. More specifically Indian technical support. There may be nothing more satisfying than a long, drawn-out, dramatic sigh and the consequent pause from the tech support person while they determine if you’re still alive on the other end of the phone. Oh, we’re alive alright and you should prepare yourself for Armageddon, my friend, because it’s coming. It’s entirely possible that everything wrong with the world can be traced back to a tech support person. You may think that’s a little harsh but we think that we could play 4.75 degrees of separation with any catastrophe and tech support

5. Behold the pink necklace. Mont Blanc has created this necklace with Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco in mind. Clearly the Sisters were of a similar mind with the Princess which only goes to prove that our kingdom is out there somewhere waiting for us. We’re going to gather all the change under the couch cushions and car ashtrays until we can gather up enough funds to buy one of our own. The necklace, not the kingdom. We’ll wear it to our coronation. You’re all invited. There’ll be cake:  White cake with white frosting and white sprinkles which is not from the Rincon Market.

 

In Our Humble Opinion . . . it might be unwise to ask your 14 year old “If your friends jump off a bridge, would you jump too?” because the answer might not be the one you were hoping for.

In Our Humble Opinion . . . old men talking about birth control is . . . ummmm . . . well it’s . . . why are old men talking about birth control?

In Our Humble Opinion . . . running is stupid unless you’re being chased by a large dog, the building is on fire or there’s a piece of cake someone might get to before you.

Hedgehog? Where?

As anyone who reads this blog knows, we are all about cute furry animals.  More specifically, we’re about having cute furry animals at our houses.

On Saturday night, at my children’s school, we had a science fair event.  Part of the evening included our local zoo bringing several animals for a visit.  There is nothing I like more than visiting animals.  The flyer said, and I quote, “prepare to cozy up to a hedgehog.”  OMG!!!!!  We love, love, LOVE hedgehogs!  I have never been more prepared for anything in my life!

Really Cute Hedgehog

I immediately texted Amylynn – “You are jealous because I’m going to cozy up to a hedgehog on Saturday night.”  We discussed what size purse I was going to need just in case.   

I swear, I do not own a red purse.

Ed did not find this to be funny.  Ed said I was not to even consider stealing a hedgehog.  Stealing is such an ugly word, don’t you think?  I like liberate.  Ed said I was not to even consider liberating a hedgehog.  Whatever.

For days I practiced saying “What hedgehog?” and “Did you have a hedgehog with you?”

There were two people from the zoo with the animals.  I was hoping for just one but I’m nothing if not adaptable to whatever situation presents itself.  The guy zoo keeper was a bit buff.  I pointed him out to Ed and asked if he could take him.  Before Ed thought about that he said yes.  Then I got the stink eye and “Don’t even think about it.”  My non-response resulted in “I’m not bailing you out of jail.”  This wasn’t a concern because Amylynn would – men never really understand the whole girlfriends as sisters thing.

To my great disappointment, we were not even allowed to touch the hedgehog.  I thought there were laws against false advertising?  “Cozy” up indeed.  The zoo handler held her in a blanket.  Her name was Nike and she was freakin’ adorable. 

At the end, we were allowed to pet the chicken and a snake.  I’ll admit I petted the chicken (she was lovely) but I didn’t pet the snake because it was very snake-ish.  I demanded to be allowed to “cozy” up to the hedgehog, as advertised,  and was told she felt like a cactus.  I insisted I didn’t care about that. 

I’ll tell you what; those zoo people kept their eye on those animals like someone might try to steal one for goodness sake.

In Our Humble Opinion . . . when asked to kill a bug, men should just shut up and kill the bug. Comments are unnecessary and not appreciated.

In Our Humble Opinion . . . men and children should come with instruction manuals, otherwise all sorts of things can go wrong.

In Our Humble Opinion . . . everyone should keep the ingredients to chocolate chip cookies in their home at all times.

Comment-a-palooza

The Sisters have been doing a bunch of research on blogs and now to boost our readership. I obsessively check how many people have visited the blog each day and whether or not we have any new comments. We hardly ever get comments and when we do they are usually from someone directly related. That’s lovely, don’t get us wrong. We love my mom and Aunt, but when we get comments from someone NOT directly related to us – OH HAPPY DAY!

I would like to personally thank Michelle, Janet and two other special commentors who we’ll get to in a minute. Ladies, and Mom and Debby, thank you for your comments. You understand how needy we are for proof that people enjoy what we do. It’s really quite sad, but writers are just about the most insecure people you’ll ever meet.

Last week on our Five Favorite things we listed Rachel Gibson as #1. We’ve enjoyed Rachel’s books for years and were very excited to meet her at the Tucson Festival of Books two years ago. She’ll be back this year, too, by the way and she’s very, very nice. Make sure you come out to meet her at the Festival this year. Don’t worry, we’ll remind you again as we get closer. So I emailed Rachel to alert her to the recently bestowed honor and she popped right on to read it and then LEFT A COMMENT.

The very next day Ava hollered at me from across the office at Bank of No Forks, “Hey! Who’s Patrick?”

I had no idea. Neither did she. Nor did Kelli when we called her. How exciting. A comment – a real comment mind you and not someone selling Viagra or trying desperately to communicate something to us in Russian. It’s really weird how many Russians comment on this blog – but that’s not the point.  We pulled up the comment and gathered around the screen. We dissected all three words: #2 Rincon Market.

This comment was interesting on several levels. Why would he guess Rincon Market? Hahahahahahahaha. It’s not the Rincon Market. Don’t bother to go over there and check either. Their bakery does not sell that cake. Really. Don’t waste your time. Why would I lie to you?

Anyway, we decided it wouldn’t be stalker-y to email Patrick back and ask him some questions. Especially if we offer him

Patrick Gorman looking very Wyatt Earp with his winner

cake for his troubles. I wrote a very nice email that attempted not to beg but still solicit answers. He replied. You wanna guess who Patrick is? Come on, guess. You’ll never guess.

Patrick is a celebrity! Way back in October, #4 of the Five Favorite Things was Patrick Gorman and his fabulous mustache. He was the winner of the National Beard and Mustache Championship in 2011. Not only does Mr. Gorman have stupendous facial hair, but he is also a fine, witty gentleman. Best of all, he thinks we’re funny.

Mr. Gorman – if you compete again next year be sure to let us know. The Sisters are happy to accompany you as groupies or your entourage or whatever. We’re huge fans.

We hate to resort to bribing the rest of you with cake (that is NOT from Rincon Market) but we’re not proud. Comment away and we’ll figure out a prize for you, too. I would like to mention that Mr. Gorman refused his reward – he’s slimming down for swimsuit season – but that doesn’t mean you have to. We dare you to comment.

 

 

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