Thanksgiving in All its Northern Minnesota Glory

It's really friggin windy out, and my building is old, so my windows don't really seal, and my curtains are moving. But hey, not only do I not have to pay for my heat, I am actually allowed to adjust it!! The radiator turny thing isn't painted over like other landlords have it. So I turned the heat up for the night. Maybe sometime the landlord can come and caulk around the windows or something. Here at the edge of the Earth, some cranky people dwell. In this neighborhood, I have seen great displays of shouting, carrying on, even screaming. Luckily on this Thanksgiving night, a lady down the hall proved to be very nice! This was nice for me after having to hear a high-strung dad deal with his total brat kids across the street from me. At least the neighbor kids were behaving themselves and taking turns riding the ATV on the grass. And my dad grilled tonight! I don't trust people enough to throw a grill on the porch, so I look to my dad for grilled food when I visit my parents, and he never disappoints. As windy as it was and as much trouble as that was for his grilling, the turkey burgers were most tasty! Mom made fries in the oven, and I didn't have to make anything, although I did do my laundry at their house. And I had an RC Cola. I push Coke aside for RC Cola--I even push Pepsi and Shasta aside for it. I got my mouse so I wouldn't have to use the worn out clicky thing on my laptop, and I grabbed my box of plastic canvas supplies because I have a host of patterns to choose from now, so I have no excuse not to stitch in my free time. And last night I cleaned my kitchen, so I got to come back home to a clean kitchen for once. The hermit crabs might get an extra hermit crab cake tonight just to simulate typical Thanksgiving dining habits.

Livin' On The Edge (Of The Earth)

So I moved out of my parents' house now and into a little place of my own in the above pictured building with the hermit crabs and the fish. The hermit crabs are still too quiet, I would rather have furry rodents, but I am only allowed to have the crabs and the fish. Although my kitchen echoes quite a bit, so sometimes when the crabs decide it's party time, the "THUNK!" of them screwing around travels through the whole place and I would imagine down the hall as well. If I laugh at my TV I can hear it in the kitchen and I'm sure they hear it down the hall. Everything I do is sorta magnified by the kitchen. Just pouring cereal or opening chips seems like it's picked up with a mic and then there's speakers up in each corner. The ceilings are really high, so I'm sure that's what's going on. The edge of the Earth is just down the street. Dad says he saw "sailboats piled up down there," and I saw for myself that the edge of the Earth looks to be the St. Louis River. I see a lot of cars come up the road that comes from the edge of the Earth, and I assume there's so many because they come from the other way, realize they've reached the edge of the Earth, and then they turn around and come back. Even the bus goes there, which is handy for me because even as someone who lives at the edge of the Earth, I need to go places, too! I also have phone service and I get TV channels and radio stations, so there must be a big antenna at the edge of the Earth as well. My apartment even came with a phone book, so I am able to reach the other Earthlings. I have even had contact with a few, and they're all as friendly as me. I think the hermit crabs can contact those BEYOND the edge of the Earth, and that may be why they're so restless at night.

Burned Out By Haus

So okay. Friday afternoon I showed up at my Uncle Mike's house to watch his girlfriend's daughter, who's 9. She asked me if I could do the whole weekend because she wanted to have a girls weekend out, so I said that was fine. I agreed to do this because her daughter is no trouble at all. I have been babysitting this kid since she was 4, and she's never been any trouble. Uncle Mike's dog, Haus, however, is more trouble than a spoiled toddler. He's a huge energetic lab, so he's this big dopey furball. I got here on Friday and it's Sunday, and I just can't wait to get the heck out of this house and go back to Esko to my parents' house. At least my parents and my hermit crabs aren't like spoiled toddlers, so things are pretty quiet there. There's also 2 cats living here, but they really like to just sorta hang out or sit on my lap--they don't cause any trouble. Well hopefully I'll end up renting this little efficiency like way out on the edge of Duluth where I'm sure tumbleweeds blow--although the bus goes there, so maybe it's the same scene only no tumbleweeds. It will be way too quiet there because I won't be allowed to have furry critters, just the crabs and a seemingly epileptic betta. I really think those fish need to be taken care of better at Wal*Mart. The betta cups are stacked REALLY high and the water in every cup is dirty, so it's no surprise that my betta suddenly goes from calm to flailing around like he's being choked. Maybe when he gets old, he'll get fishy Alzheimer’s and forget his water was ever dirty at Wal*Mart, or maybe he'll forget what Wal*Mart is and stop randomly freaking out. For now I just worry about him trying to purposely choke on one of the rocks in his tank so he can end this battle between his brain and his brain.

The Secret to Why I Smell Good and other pics

I smell good, and people sometimes ask me what I use. Allow me to show you:

Left to right: Suave Ocean Breeze shampoo, Suave Ocean Breeze conditioner, Suave Ocean Breeze bodywash, Suave Ocean Breeze body lotion. That's my big secret, and that whole works is less than 5 bucks at Wal*Mart.
I have this thing in my room, and it's really handy when I need to take my pills (tilt your head to see, I was too lazy to rotate this picture):

Last week, my normally well-behaved razor decided it was tired of obeying, and it really showed me who's apparently boss:

I suppose now you're ready to write me an angry email about showing off a wound, but I'm not even worth yelling at--you should see some of Odd Todd's stuff--I have seen so many pictures of his big hairy feet and stuff, and he posts about his dog's crap, and although that's kinda unsavory, it's still funny. I'm not a wuss like lots of people, I can handle things. I can watch a mouse clean his tail while eating gummi worms, that's easy. And anyway, mice are cute, especially when they clean their tails.