Laughing at myself

Why am I laughing at myself? Well, if you remember from all my whining, last winter was bitterly cold. And gosh, my car just never seemed to warm up on my way to and from work. I resorted to wearing big ol’ winter boots any time the temperature dipped below +15F. When I had my car in for its annual oil change (synthetic oil, plus I don’t drive very much) last week, I asked about the heat. Turns out that the thermostat was stuck open. One new thermostat later and my car is toasty warm again. D’oh! Why didn’t I take it in last winter?!

Ali’s having a recipe contest and is looking for recipes containing cranberries or sweet potatoes. Write a blog post with such a recipe, or leave her a comment with a recipe or a link to a recipe by midnight CST, November 28, and you could win some gorgeous skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca yarn.

Don’t forget your Black Friday Bingo card before you go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving! Actually, if you’re braving the madness, make sure you do your homework first so that you actually get deals and don’t just get caught up in it all.

CursingMama has some great information on how the online world makes her “real” world better.

Hmm – this could be either Chaos or May… Oh oh. Eeek! This must never happen.

If you read romances, you can find out where you fall on the Romance Apologia Scale. Hee hee – this is my favorite question from it: “Is that a naked man on the cover of your book? 1. Is it? I hadn’t noticed. A friend recommended it to me.” Suuuuuuuuure. Uh-huh. 😉

Reading Update
Get a Clue by Jill Shavis. Completely non-paranormal trashy romance. Heavy on the trash. So-so.
The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake, Book 4) by Kerrelyn Sparks. This one read like it was hard work to write. That’s not really a good thing.
The Rogue Hunter (Argeneau Vampires, Book 10) by Lynsay Sands. Sexy vampires at a lake cottage two hours north of Toronto – and possibly the first ever instance of a vampire jet-skiing/sea-doing.
Mysteria Lane by MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, P.C. Cast, and Gena Showalter. Unsurprisingly, this is the sequel to Mysteria (the mythical Colorado town, which “was ‘accidentally’ founded by a random act of demonic kindness”).
Satisfaction by Marianne Stillings. Another completely non-paranormal book of romantic suspense. Not bad. Not great.
Flirting With Danger by Suzanne Enoch. Now this is how romantic suspense should be! Here’s hoping that the sequels (Billionaires Prefer Blondes and Don’t Look Down) are as good. Please note that Enoch seems to write mostly historical romances, if you’re looking for her books. Not my cup of tea, those.
Blood Lite: A Collection of Nerve-Jangling Tales with a Humorous Bite by the Horror Writers Association. The story by Jim Butcher (a Harry Dresden tale) was my favorite. The stories by Charlaine Harries, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Kelley Armstrong were ok, although not part of their “worlds.” Many of the others were disappointing. Please note that a familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos might help with several of the stories.
Howling at the Moon (Tales of an Urban Werewolf, Book 1) by Karen MacInerney. The surprisingly good story of a fashionista auditor who was born a werewolf. Poor thing – when she transforms, her back legs are all bare from her shaving them as a human…


Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US! (And happy regular old rest of the week and weekend to everyone else.) SoC will be taking a long holiday weekend – back on Monday!

“Mmmm… I hope Mom brings home a turkey for us to catch and eat! I bet that’d be real tasty.” -Mayhem

38 thoughts on “Laughing at myself”

  1. Chris- Since crossing over to a German vehicle, I’ve decided that seat warmers are the best thing ever.

    One of the cat food company has turkey flavored treats (shaped like little drumsticks, that makes me laugh out loud in the grocery store).

    Have a great gluten-free holiday.

  2. When we bought our house it was summer, and when winter came around we finally needed the heater, but couldn’t get it to come on. We had a service man out and when he opened up the thermostat… all the packing material was still inside, keeping anything from moving. Whoda thought? Gotta love a cheap and easy fix, though!

    Happy Thanksgiving Chris and gang!

  3. YEAH! for Warm cars!! I did something similar one winter but am too much of a wuss to wait but so long. I was complaining to everyone I knew when a friends SO heard me and looked 😀

    and May – I hope you and Chaos get something extra good and you all three have a very good Thanksgiving!

  4. Happy Thanksgiving! We’ll be up here, thinking good thoughts of turkey (mmmm, I hope you get some too, May).

    Oh, love that lolcat! It cracks me up everytime.

  5. I love that picture of Mayhem. Is she likely to get any turkey? (I usually offer some to Mel, but he licks it and goes away, so it’s never much.)

  6. I had the same thing happen with a heater in the car years ago. Had a freakin’ blanket on the front seat so I could wrap it around my lap. Dopey me.

  7. Ahw. That “thumbs” LOLCATZ was a little sad. It reminds me of the times my dogs have run out of water without me knowing and I find them in the kitchen trying to dig a well through their bowl.

  8. Ah, yes, the cats are very much looking forward to Bradon and I coming home from Thanksgiving dinner with Ziploc bags full of Turkey…they always get a few pieces as a Thanksgiving treat…and no thumbs required!

  9. Did you ever see the adverts for Arthur who could scoop cat food out of the tin with his paw? Chaos and Mayhem could learn to do that…

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  10. We used to change out the thermostat on the car twice a year, 160℉ in summer, 180℉ in winter. (You can have a higher temp thermostat in the winter because there is less chance of the car overheating when the ambient temperature is near absolute zero, as it is in MN in the winter.) Our more recent cars have much better heaters so we don’t need to do that any more, thank goodness. I am grateful for the automotive technology that has given me/us cars that start all winter, go through 8″ of snow with no problem, and keep me toasty in the winter and cool in the summer. Oh, and run reliably all year.

  11. Hooray! That’s an easy fix for your cold feet. I really want my next car to have seat warmers — nothing seems more luxurious than that.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  12. Well, glad your tootsies will be warm this winter! So far this November has been colder than usual (though today is warm, maybe we’ll be able to put lights out w/out freezing our fingers off!) You got some nice goodies there! Enjoy the long weekend.

  13. I did the same thing back when I drove aa little MR2 (pre-children); actually, that was the year of the Halloween storm!

    Hey – I’m on book #4 (The Lunatic Cafe) of the Anita Blake series. I’m really enjoying them, none of this sparkling vampire nonsense. Do you know how many Anita Blake books she’s written?

  14. Hehe… I thought of Chaos and May when I saw that first LOLcats.

    I bet this winter will seem a lot warmer, even if it’s not, now that you have heat.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  15. Happy Turkey Massacre!

    Nom nom nom.

    The thumbs made me laugh…a friend of mine now has to move the kitty condo since she caught one of her cats climbing onto the top to reach the thermostat…and was turning it up!

  16. I would buy a new car if the heater didn’t work, and I live in mild CA.

    No! They must not have thumbs!! Can you imagine the carnage?

    Noooooooooo! Not another blog! But the #4 answers were too perfect. I had to subscribe.

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