Monday

Just dropping in for a few minutes--I'm so tired I can barely see straight, so I will have to wait till later to do a proper post. K and I did a road trip and finished our Christmas shopping. YAY!!! But, it completely exhausts me to push that hard in one day's time. I'll be here tomorrow with a longer post.

Yippee!

Two of my all-time favorite shows are coming out on DVD. The one I have been waiting for way too long is Newhart. I think it is possibly the funniest show of all time. (Larry, Darryl, and Darryl just cracked me up!) I hope they put out all of the 150 seasons the show was on. It will be available on 26 February. The other show that will be available (12 February) is The Equalizer. LOVED that shoe--I really thought Edward Woodward was the sexiest older man I had ever seen. I can't wait!

My Traveling Package

(Am I just too tired, or does that title sound just a little bit dirty? ;))

Anyway, I wrote about a package I was waiting for here and mentioned every place the thing had traveled. Well, it finally was delivered today, but it managed to make a few more stops along the way.

When we left the package on 7 December, it was in New Berlin, WI. Here is where it went from there:

--12 December: ST PAUL, MN
--13 December: BROOKLYN PARK, MN
--13 December: ST PAUL, MN
--15 December: delivered to my house

Now, I'm not exactly sure WHY it bounced around the Twin City area like it did, but it seems as if it got caught in some kind of a time warp or something. All I can say is this: NOW I know why our postage keeps going up--the Post Office has to pay to send our mail on sight-seeing tours of this great nation! What a waste. But, at least it got here--and that's the bottom line, as it contained Christmas gifts!

Red Wings 5, Panthers 2

First, let's get the bad stuff over with. The Wings scored all 7 goals of the game. A good thing, you say? Of course not--two of the goals were for the other team! Yes, Lidstrom and Chelios managed to kick the puck into Detroit's net for back-to-back goals for Florida. Absolutely unbelievable--ESPECIALLY from Lidstrom. Nick so rarely makes a wrong move on the ice that it is still surreal when I think about that play. He is one of the (many) Detroit players that makes everything look too easy--so much so, that he doesn't get ALL of the praise from the league as he should. (And I could make the point that some of the other players are in the same position, but I digress.) Both he and Chris had the puck take flukey bounces and lo and behold, the other team had two goals.

The other thing that really gets to me about the Wings is the inconsistent play. If they actually were able to play 60 good minutes of hockey in every game, there isn't a team around that could beat them. They would have the Cup before the playoffs even began! The second period the guys just didn't seem as if they could get it together--well, for the beginning of the period, anyway.

Now, let's get on to the good stuff. With the talk about the flukey bounces, there also was another unusual thing that happened: the Wings got TWO penalty shots awarded to them! And after just having a penalty shot two games ago! Really, really strange. Anyway, Datsyuk didn't score with his penalty shot but--are you ready for this?--Baby Boy got another penalty shot AND another goal! He has now scored two penalty shots and one regular goal and had one assist in the last five games, for four points--he's on a roll.

The Wings play 8 more times before the end of the year, with a five game road trip. They won't be doing a west coast run, but they will be playing as far as Phoenix, so it will be a tiring trip. They will only have one day home before they play their last game of the year. It would be nice if they would win against St. Louis on New Year's Eve--end the year on a good note.

ANOTHER Award! {blushes}

This blog has been awarded The Spreader of Love Award created by The Love Blog (http://iamlove.blogspot.com), for an outstanding demonstration of blogging love.

Meleah has been so very kind enough to award me The Spreader of Love Award! Not only am I humbled and thrilled, I LIKE IT! (I HAVE mentioned how much of an attention whore I am, haven't I?) If you haven't ever visited Meleah's blog, do so--she has such a fascinating story to tell.

Now, who to pass this award to?

--burg--Burg is possibly the person who has been reading me the longest. She is the same age as my oldest and if I hadn't ever seen a picture of her, I might think she was one of my kids--we DEFINITELY are related in some way! :) She is a sweetheart who has been so kind and thoughtful throughout our friendship. You deserve this, burg!

--cindi--Cindi and I have 'known' each other for at least a year. She is another one of my readers who has shown concern and compassion whenever I have written one of my depressing posts. Thanks for the love, Cindi.

--sue--Sue is a more recent addition to my daily blog read. She is a 'farm wife' who also works at a job off of the farm. She is a wonderful writer and does it all: humor, introspection, rants... A very good read.

There you have it, three of my favorite people in the 'verse. Visit them and see if you don't agree.

What's In A Name

With the influx of European players in the NHL, it is always fun to get to see the way names are spelled after hearing them pronounced by the announcers. For the most part, they do pretty well, but sometimes they just completely miss. At least half of the time I want to SCREAM whenever I hear the way a Finnish name is pronounced--they usually get it wrong. For example, most cannot pronounce my boy's name, Filppula. They want to say 'fill-POOL-a' when it is pronounced 'FILL-pull-a'. (He let the Detroit announcers know the CORRECT way to say it--and they have remembered pretty well.) (I don't even want to TRY and explain how the Red Wing coach butchers the name--the man has no clue!) There are, of course, names from Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and all over Europe, so it can be a bit confusing. There DO happen to be quite a few names that would make one say, "I would like to buy a vowel!" Those are very much fun.

Frankly, I find the French-Canadian names the most confusing. There is a goalie whose name is spelled Huet. And it is pronounced 'oo-ay'. Excuse me? Then, of course, you have the last name of Roy. French-Canadians say 'wah'. Fine, I can get used to that, but THEN along comes a guy with the SAME name--at least the same spelling--and pronounces it 'roy'! It is just too far beyond my comprehension. :)

And they say watching sports is a mindless activity! :D

No Lions Or Tigers, But We Do Have Bears

This is going to be one of my mish-mash posts--a little bit of this, a little bit of that. At the end, you will see what the title means! :)

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The Nephew left yesterday--hopefully for good. Why hopefully? He said he isn't too sure how well he did on one of his exams--the one for the class he MUST pass in order to graduate. I'm REALLY, REALLY hoping he is just being hard on himself. Again, as I have said before, he really wasn't any trouble while he was here, but I. DON'T. WANT. ANYONE. LIVING. WITH. US. AGAIN! I like my freedom and privacy a little too much. And there would be no gracious way to say he couldn't stay here again if he had to come back for another semester. :(

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The room where The Nephew stayed is all ready for whoever (whomever?) comes for an overnight visit. I couldn't rest until I got the room all cleaned up and squared away, so I spent last night doing it. It feels good to have that done.

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The Wings lost to Edmonton in a shoot-out tonight. There went another seven-game winning streak. Z got two goals, so that was a very good thing. Overall, I don't think they played as well as they are able. I guess the injuries are starting to take their toll--tonight there were three players out. The biggest problem is that there really isn't a set timetable as to when any of them are going to be able to come back! Holmstrom's knee is bothering him and he should be out for at least one more game; Draper is just now starting to skate with a brace after hurting his knee on 27 November--and he will be out till Christmas, at least; Maltby got some sort of injection in his back to relieve the pain--they really aren't sure what happened to him and no word on WHEN he might be ready to play. The only good thing: it is still early in the season and far away from playoffs, so they can get the injuries out of the way now and be healthy later on. I certainly hope that's the way this will play out.

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I have been getting a sh*tload of hits on this blog recently--today alone I had 34! This is very unusual for here, so I had to investigate. The second biggest number of hits come from people searching for pictures from Body Worlds. The search leads to the pictures I posted when we went to Chicago this spring and saw the exhibition. All of a sudden there was a surge in people searching for pictures, so Body Worlds must be opening in several places.

The most hits I'm getting is from searches about the Geminid meteor shower. I'm surprised so many people come to read my short piece on the shower and don't just go to a scientific site to get info. Interesting.

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Here is a list of some upcoming shows/series on TV:

--Clash of the Choirs (reality show)
--Duel (game show)
--The Singing Bee (reality competition/game)
--Power of 10 (game)
--Dance War (reality competition)
--American Gladiators (reality competition)
--Make Me A Supermodel (reality competition)

That list scares me. PLEASE, PLEASE end this strike already! I can't take it anymore! We are being overrun by ridiculous programming! HELP, someone, HELP!

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I thought I would post a picture of my new Christmas tree. It doesn't really look ALL that different from last year's tree, but still...

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For those of you who have never heard of, or been to, a Build-a-Bear store, here is a little background. These stores allow you to go in and 'build' your own bear--or other stuffed animal/character. They have 'carcasses' in bins and you decide what kind of stuffed character you would want to have. You then take the carcass to the machine where they fill it with stuffing--this is done to your own specification as to how firm or squishy you want your bear. (There are other options to decide at this point, but I won't get into any more specifics.) When you are done building your 'friend,' you get to register it at the computer and then clothe it. As far as the stuffed characters are concerned, the prices aren't too bad--they make their money on the clothing and accessories for these things. (I get a bear for each grandchild as it is born, I put a set of clothes on it as a gift, and then forget about it--I would go broke if I had to try to continue buying clothes for all of the grandkids' bears!) I own two bears, myself. And I buy them clothes. They are part of my decorating scheme all year long--I clothe them according to the holiday or season and they are on display in the dining room. (I know, pretty damn lame!) Considering it is the Christmas season, my bears should be dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, however, since buying my boy bear his last outfit, I couldn't put anything else on him. I now present to you Pikku Bear (this is the girl--'pikku' means 'little' in Finnish) and Iso Bear ('iso' means 'big' in Finnish--and this is the boy bear).

Pikku Bear




Iso Bear

Now, if I could only get that uniform on my cat I would have a really GREAT picture to send in to StuffOnMyCat.com! Like that could EVER happen. :)

Filppula's Penalty Shot

Valtteri Filppula is currently playing his second year in the NHL as a Red Wing. He is the first Finn ever to wear the winged wheel, so naturally, he is my favorite player right now--and hopefully for a long time. He has some fantastic skills and is compared, favorably, to Zetterberg a lot. Every game he seems to get better and he is showing talent, moves, and a playing level that a lot of veterans would like to have. Last night, he made a goal on a penalty shot that was so sweet, I just had to post the video. Enjoy.

Detroit 2, Nashville 1

Since the powers-that-be decided there will be no more tie games in the NHL, we have had to see way too many shoot-outs. This has taken the thrill out of the penalty shot for a lot of fans. But tonight, I LOVED watching the penalty shot that Detroit was awarded. Why? Because Filppula--my baby boy--was the one who got to make the shot. AND he got a goal--which just happened to be the game winning goal! It was glorious--he made all the right moves and beat Nashville's goalie beautifully. This gives him two goals in the last two games. Good job.

The Wings certainly didn't win this game in a pretty way--they really looked tired in the third. And, rightfully so. They have played three games in the last four days, one of which they played yesterday. Nashville came into tonight's game fresh, but the Wings still managed to win. They are now, once again, on a seven game winning streak. Ozzie was the reason for the win--he was absolutely amazing again. I know the chances are about slim to none, but it would be great if he would be voted onto the all-star team as a write-in. He deserves every bit of praise he has gotten so far this year--I hope he continues the good work.

Starting Thursday, Detroit will play four games at home. At least they won't have the traveling to look forward to--thank goodness!

Christmas Meme

Meleah posted this on her site today and burg sent it to me awhile back, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I think I did this before, but here goes, anyway. I'm not tagging anyone, just let me know if you post this to your site.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags.

I usually do both, but I definitely prefer bags—less work!

2. Real or Artificial tree?

It is just SOOOOO much easier on me since we got our first artificial tree—will never go back to real. (And I LOVE having a pre-lit one—again for the less work!)

3. When do you put up the tree?

I try to do it Thanksgiving weekend.

4. When do you take the tree down?

If I had my druthers, probably 12:01AM on 26 December. I TRY to keep it up a little longer, though.

5. Do you like Eggnog?

EWWWWWW!!!!!!!

6. Favorite Gift you received as a child?

Can’t remember any that stand out. All I can remember about gifts is this: I ALWAYS went looking for my Christmas gifts as a child—The Mother would hide them in their closet. One year, I found EVERY ONE of my gifts, OPENED each one, re-wrapped them, and had nothing to look forward to on Christmas morning. It was a very sad year.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

I collect Nativities and have 12 right now. I usually add at least one a year—I either get them as gifts or buy one for myself.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

K, because he will usually buy what he needs throughout the year.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

Both of my girls are pretty easy to buy for.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?

HMMMMM…could it be the picture of Jesus The Mother gave us one of the last years they gave us gifts? (I don’t remember for sure, but it might have been the one where He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying. Not a bad picture as far as religious pictures go, but the QUALITY was somewhere BELOW a velvet painting someone would buy from a gas station! VERY strange gift.)

11. Christmas Cards...Snail mail or E-mail?

EXCUSE me?!?!?!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Probably A Christmas Story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Whenever—no set time. And it really doesn’t matter much, as my list is quite short.

14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present?

Not that I know of.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Probably ham and cheese crescents. It used to be prune tarts, but The Mother doesn’t send me any these days.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

I now have all clear lights, as my tree is mainly decorated in white.

17. Favorite Christmas Song?

Hard to say—I always loved the candlelight service in church when all of the Christmas hymns are sung.

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home?

We used to travel when the kids were young—haven’t done that for many years. I STILL long to go somewhere far, far away for Christmas.

19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer?

Rudolph. What, you mean there are more?

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree?

An angel, which I made myself.

21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning?

With just K and me here, we open them whenever. Usually on Christmas Eve at some time.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

PEOPLE!!!!!!! I REALLY don’t like Christmas, so EVERYTHING about the season annoys me.

23. Shopping ... Mall or online?

I probably do most of my shopping online.

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?)

I don’t do ANYTHING outside—that is K’s domain. He hasn’t decorated for a few years and at this point, probably never will again. I take care of the inside.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie?

Either peanut butter kiss or M&M cookies.

26. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry?

A few pieces of jewelry—and I only wear the Christmas tree necklace.

27. Do you believe in Santa?

I used to and then I growed up! :)

Detroit 5, Carolina 2

The score of the game makes it seem as if it was a relatively easy win for the Wings, but that is far from the truth. While it wasn't as difficult as other games have been, they were only winning 3-2 with three minutes left. That is when Datsyuk did his magic and stole the puck and scored. Then Holmstrom added a little more icing and scored less than a minute later. The game didn't seem to get too good of a flow to it because of the amount of penalties--to BOTH teams. The refs should just ignore some of this stuff. Filppula scored the first goal early in the first period--it had to be reviewed. But, he got his 5th of the year, so YAY!!!

Tomorrow night the Wings will be in Nashville and Ozzie will be in net. Even though Hasek seems to be back in his groove, somewhat--he has won his last three games--it will be good to see Ozzie play again.

Trivia

Seeing as I haven't done a trivia post in a while, here we go. As usual, these are all courtesy of mental_floss.

--Eagle Scout is the highest rank obtainable in the Boy Scouts of America. The following became Eagle Scouts:
* astronaut Neil Armstrong
* president Gerald R. Ford
* TV personality John Tesh
* film director Steven Spielberg
* billionaire H. Ross Perot
* actor Ozzie Nelson (Ozzie & Harriet)
* Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
* film maker Michael Moore
* TV producer Sheldon Leonard
* entrepreneur Sam Walton

--In 1997, when asked what he would do if he were running Apple, Michael Dell said he would 'shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.'

--Queen Cleopatra tested poisons on her slaves.

--A dog's total field of vision is about 240 degrees, while homo sapiens is 180. Dogs have trouble focusing forward, which is why they tend to cock their heads when you stand in front of them and talk or reach out to them.

--Kraft Foods reports sales of around 60 million boxes of Stove Top stuffing every Thanksgiving season.

--During the reign of King Tut, 15 pounds of garlic could buy a male slave.

--A 2004 British study conducted by Muslim researchers indicated that 58% of Muslims would cease taking a medication if their religion barred it.

--Forks were once forbidden by the Catholic Church because they were thought to be the dining utensils of the devil.

--Saffron is such a valuable spice that, in Bavaria merchants caught selling tainted saffron were once burned alive.

--The active ingredient in Viagara can be found naturally in walnuts.

--The San Diego Chargers have never won a Super Bowl.

--The New Jersey Devils used to be the Kansas City Scouts; The Tennessee Titans used to be the Houston Oilers; the Washington Nationals used to be the Montreal Expos.

--Thriller by Michael Jackson is NOT the bestselling album of all time. Thriller comes in at #2, while the Eagles Greatest Hits 1971-1975 has the number one spot. AC/DC's Back in Black is number three.

--Between Lincoln's assassination in 1865 and his final interment in 1901, his body was moved no fewer than 17 times, and his casket opened twice.

--Bill Cosby was the first African-American to appear on the cover of TV Guide.

--Qa is an ancient Babylonian unit of liquid measurement. It also is a very handy word to remember when playing Scrabble!

I REALLY Don't Understand

I have been tracking a package since last week. Here is where the package has been since it was shipped (this is the correct order):

LONDONDERRY, NH (where it was shipped from)
NORTHBOROUGH, MA
BROOKLYN PARK, MN
SACRAMENTO, CA
NEW BERLIN, WI (this is where it is as of 7 December)

Now, my question is, WHY? What logic has you send a package from the east coast to the west coast and back to the Midwest, where its final destination is (Michigan)? Can anyone explain this to me? I find the entire thing completely confusing and totally lacking in any sort of logic. I really would appreciate an explanation, if anyone has one! Thank you very much.

A Sad, Sad Game

Of course, it WASN'T sad for Detroit, but for Minnesota. The Wings won 5-0 and Dom had his 77th career shut-out! (Not that he had ALL that much to do, but still...) While seeing a game like tonight's is fun once in awhile, I don't need to see a blowout like that all that often.

Tonight's game had a little of everything: Z got his second career hat trick (GO Z!!!!!), Downey had a fight (a 'gentlemen's fight', not too many punches connected), a shut-out, a short-handed goal (go Z!!), baby boy got an assist, and a goalie got a penalty. As I said, a little of everything. The Wings did come out onto the ice a bit sluggish--I thought things might go sour for them, but they got going very well after warming up. I was really surprised at how poorly Minnesota played--they are much better than they appeared tonight.

The one thing that people will be debating, however, is the penalty Hasek got. Gaborik--Minnesota's star player--was skating on a break-away and Dom came FAR out of the net, met Gaborik not very far from the blue line, and sent Gaborik flying ass-over-teacups! Part of the reason this happened is that Gaborik had his head down and didn't see Dom's move--and the fact that this is the kind of thing ONLY Dom would do caused it to be kind of unexpected. Gaborik wasn't hurt during the play, which is good. It still is a bit of a puzzle as to why Dom got the penalty--after all, he was doing his job by meeting the player and stopping the puck. Oh, well, no harm done. Dom got his shut-out, which should go a long way toward his coming back from his slump.



--Minnesota Wild's Marian Gaborik (10), of Slovakia, flies over Detroit Red Wings' Dominik Hasek, of Czech Republic, after being upended during a fast break in the third period of their NHL hockey game on Friday, Dec. 07, 2007 in Detroit. Hasek received a penalty on the play. The Red Wings won 5-0. (AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)--

Geminids

On December 14, the Geminid meteor shower peaks. This is being called the best meteor shower of 2007. You can start watching after 10:00 PM on the 13th and between midnight and dawn on the 14th, things "really heat up." Dozens of meteors could be seen per hour. To read more, you can go here.

I Knew My Readers Were Special!

Over at mental_floss, they had a link to the blog readability test. I put this blog through the test and it came back as this:

Get a Cash Advance

I KNEW I had a smart bunch of people frequent this place! :)

Happy Day

moar funny pictures

Two weeks ago I had an appointment with my doctor for a physical--just routine. Of course, he wound up finding a problem. While checking my carotid artery, he heard what is called a 'bruit'--an unusual sound that indicates a possible blockage. This led me to having an ultrasound done last week, with a follow-up appointment for the end of the month. HAH!! Two days after the ultrasound, I got the call that he wants to see me ASAP and not later. Well, I have been a wreck for the past several days--it didn't help that I Googled carotid artery disease--thinking all kinds of bad things. So, I went to see the doctor today and it turns out that the news wasn't as bad as it could have been. I have the beginnings of plaque build-up in my carotid--nothing too terrible--and he wants to keep it from getting any worse. This means I will have to begin cholesterol meds to try and counteract anything that is going on. All of this is preventative, as I have a horrendous family history of heart trouble--combine that with the fact that I am of Finnish heritage (Finns have a lot of heart disease) and I am at very high risk for things to go wrong. I am lucky to have the doctor I have, as he is very conscientious when it comes to my health and he believes in a 'hands-on' approach to keeping things from going bad. I am one relieved woman and happy that things aren't worse. A good day all around.

Ha Ha Ha!!!

From I Can Has Cheezburger:

moar funny pictures

Great Picture

I love this picture! And I found it at I Can Has Cheezburger.

moar funny pictures

Detroit 3, Phoenix 2

The Wings didn't play as well as they could/should have, but they managed to get the job done and win. Datsyuk is still flying high and got a goal and Z got a goal and an assist--good job. I was on the phone with A for a good amount of the game, so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been. I DID, however, see my boy get up-ended--thankfully he wasn't hurt. It could have been bad, and after seeing the picture, I realize just how bad it could have been!




--Detroit Red Wings' Valtteri Filppula, left, of Finland gets upended on an offensive surge by Phoenix Coyotes' Keith Ballard during the third period of their NHL hockey game on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 in Detroit. The Red Wings won 3-2.
(AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)--