Oh the holidays!

Kevin's parents flew to France and forgot to take him with. And now he just accidentally stole a toothbrush.

I'm watching Home Alone, by the way. :-)

Other than the great food and good times with family, what I really enjoy around the holidays are watching all the movies that go with the season, both new and the classics I grew up with. I plan on watching Home Alone 2 after this, and I've already watched The Santa Clause this morning.

Before the movie fest, I wrapped up (no pun intended...maybe?) my holiday shopping at the evil retail outlet nearby. It's crazy trying to go out shopping this time of year, so 8:30 in the a.m. wasn't too bad. Finally got my cards mailed after buying more stamps. Apparently the cashier didn't know what Forever stamps were, and after it was too late I realized I got the regular ones. Let's just hope the postal rate stays at 44 cents for the next two years.

When I returned home I began to wrap all of my gifts, constantly "explaining" to the kitties that these are not toys for them. They have finally left the tree alone, and hopefully the presents will stay wrapped up until the big day.

I've got a cake cooling on the counter (thanks Betty C!) for a little dinner party Chef R and I are having tonight. Should be a good time. Then again, good friends and wine always promise a good time, right?

What are you doing to prepare for the holidays?

Meet Elvira

Born in September of 2010 at Babe's Cat Farm, Elvira was a pleasant surprise when she was brought home the following October. A tabby/calico mix, she was named after cult figure and "Movie Macabre" hostess Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, very fitting since her arrival was two weeks before Halloween.

Elvira's first night in her new home - October 2010

The inspiration for Elvira's name, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Elvira was first referred to as "Runts" as she explored the world of the farm; constantly leaving the shed to explore the fields and gravel piles; dodging large tractors and dozers; spending lots of time inside Babe's house where I'm sure she got lots of treats (maybe that's how she got so spoiled). When she came to her new house she immediately made herself at home.

In the beginning the whole thing really was like caring for a baby. She was (and still is) a baby. Even though Elvira was about six weeks old we thought we'd see if she would drink from a bottle. I wish I had a video: She took about two suckles off the bottle and then bit the entire top off! At first we were just stunned by what she did, and then couldn't stop laughing. Of course, she just had this, "What'chu lookin' at?" expression on her face. This was just an early example of her feistyness.

Although she was a wild little girl who constantly climbed the furniture and explored what all her claws could sink into, she is a very smart girl as she learned how to use the litter box her very first day! She is now a full-fledged house cat, sometimes a picky one at that. It took a few dry kitty food brands before we found one she finally tolerated. But even getting her on dry food was a challenge as she only preferred Friskies canned food. What a spoiled baby.

"Please take me with you." Look at those claws!

Sugar and spice, but not always nice.

Elvira is now on her way to becoming a "grown up," but she will always be a kitty. At first she used to greet me every night when I came home from work and she had to sit on my lap. Now she says, "I'll give you my attention when I'm ready." We think Elvira's real stray mama was killed as Babe hasn't seen her around the farm in well over a year. However, Elvira's inherited her mama's maternal instincts as she now cares for her 6-month-old niece and nephew.

She was not happy...

...at first.

More to follow...

Elvira takes a break from the summer heat in July 2011.

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo with Dennis DeYoung from Styx

View the FULL SET here: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo with Dennis DeYoung from Styx, on Flickr.

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo with Dennis DeYoung from Styx
live at Grand Casino Hinckley 7/29/2011

I wasn't too far from the stage, but far enough for my camera to take grainy pictures. So...the pictures that are a little grainy are from my camera zoomed as close as possible and taken at the highest resolution, then cropped, touched up, and resized (thank you PhotoShop). The slightly pixelated pictures I took of the jumbo screen in front of us. I think those actually turned out better.

Dennis DeYoung told us he was 64, and he sounded just like you would hear him on the radio. Very nice job and excellent keyboard playing.

Pat told us she was 58 (hard to believe). She can still belt out those songs like there's no tomorrow. Perfect pitch and showing no signs that she's tired of the songs or planning to quit. Great vocal performance!

Dennis opened for Pat, or rather, they "shared" the stage. So each group did a pretty short set. For anyone interested, Pat's set was:

All Fired Up
Invincible
Promises In The Dark
We Belong
Hell Is For Children
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Love Is A Battlefield
Let's Stay Together
Heartbreaker

In the middle of "Heartbreaker," they broke into a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire," which was pretty cool and a nice surprise, especially for Pat who seemed a little thrown off with the immediate change in song. She just laughed and went right into it. After they played that for a few minutes, they went back into Heartbreaker and finished the set. Great time!

Being the 80s junkie that I am...

I love music from the 80s, whether it was Top 40, cheesy, or extremely obscure. While browsing the August specials of mp3 downloads on Amazon.com, I found a greatest hits CD by an 80s Euro group called T'Pau.

Named after a character from the Star Trek series, their biggest hit in the U.S.was "Heart and Soul" released in 1987. This was the only song that I knew. After downloading the greatest hits CD, I discovered that they're one of those groups who have a massive string of great songs that perhaps just didn't strike a chord here. Below is the video for "China In Your Hands," featuring strong and soaring vocals from lead singer Carol Decker (and the song that stuck in my head the most after the first listen). Following that video is a live performance of "Heart and Soul" from 2009, showing this group can still rock it.

And if you're still curious, click here to go to the Amazon page to hear clips from the CD.

Enjoy!

Vacation 2010

Here are some pictures from my much-needed vacation that I took in early July.

Camping on Lake Platte

Lake Platte

Heading into Duluth

Duluth Zoo

Petting and Feeding Time at the Duluth Zoo

Polar Bear!

Not at all camera shy

I should go into the postcard business

A View of Lake Superior

One of the barges coming in through Lake Superior

Once the bridge was lowered, I walked across halfway and snapped this

Web Design Fun!

I spent some time this weekend helping The Beaded Pillow with her blog and online shop.

Check out her new shop banner:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thebeadedpillow

And her awesome blog button!
http://thebeadedpillow.blogspot.com/

I used my PhotoShop CS3 techniques to create these fabulous digital works, so if you or anyone you know need some spicing-up for a blog or website, just give me a holler.

Happy Sunday!