OK, just found this, I wholeheartedly agree:

This one's good too:

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not? I like to shop on my own terms, when I want to and not when everyone and their dog is in a panicked frenzy (um, like from now till January). I like to shop when I don't have to worry about every dime I spend, especially as I have to now because I have no credit cards anymore (whole different story). I don't like being guilted by the media to shop or buy cards for made-up holidays. And I HATE crowds, I used to be on the other end of the cash register and it's not exciting to me, just stressful. On the other hand, I'm very efficient at shopping, I could buy a whole wardrobe in one trip if I had to. I've gotten real decisive over the years about what I like and don't like.

2. What was the last thing you purchased? Other than necessities, a watch from eBay, just got it, have to take it in to be resized (of course, I have tiny wrists). It was a good deal and has hands and numbers big enough I can rad it without my glasses.

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why? I like both. I like the real store concept because I'm hard to fit, I can actually see and feel the quality of the merchandise, the correct color, etc. I love to shop online for things I already know will fit me (like Land End tees & nighties) and things I don't have to worry about (like books and music).

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it? I did, I honestly don't remember but it was fair for the era. Enough to buy some comics, candy and Slim Jims with each week.

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing? A three pack of fruitcakes at Sam's Club. I don't need to be eating fruitcake, even though it's one of my favorite things, and this is a brand I've never tried and I'm really picky about my fruitcakes. And I'm the only one in the house who will eat it, so I think it's going to go back to the store.

Had a pretty much ideal Thanksgiving day... I got up early (for me) and made StoveTop Dressing (with added mushrooms and pecans), packed up the apple pie I'd bought at Sam's Club, and some bottled gravy and we drove the like 1.5 miles to my parents house. My mom supplied rolls, green beans and a pumpkin pie. And my brother, who works at a BBQ restaurant, made what we all agreed was the best smoked turkey we'd ever had. And he brought a pecan pie.

So we pretty much ate like pigs, got to bring leftovers home (yippee!), gave a few pieces of turkey to the cat, and I went back to bed and slept like three hours. I ate WAY too much, but I had to have some desert and turkey and dressing is like my favorite all-time meal.

I got up, listed some things on eBay, answered my email, ate two pieces of pumpkin pie, then watched SouthPark the Movie on Comedy Central (completely uncut). Now I actually have to work some, wrap the rest of my packages to mail out tomorrow, the post office people said it won't be as bad as I was dreading because everyone will be freaking out and jamming the malls. I don't get it, but then I grew up in a retail family so we have a whole different perspective on the holidays than everyone else. Not my favorite time of year. If we could just skip right over Christmas and land on my birthday in January it would be cool with me.

We have an artificial tree, lots of pretty glass ornaments, but since we moved into this house they've stayed in the attic, neatly stored away. Besides not really having a place to put a Christmas tree in our house, this year we have a new cat and I honestly don't think even if we wanted to we could even get the thing assembled. And if we did manage to, it wouldn't last 10 minutes. Phoebe really needs a kitty jungle gym to play on, which Sparky has been violently protesting (something about ex-wives and girlfriends making him suffer their presence), but we'll see. She would love a Christmas tree, but somehow I don't think that should be the first piece of major cat furniture we introduce to the house.

Oh well, gonna do the Friday Five, missed last week's, then work some and crawl back in bed...

I don't watch a lot of TV, especially one hour dramas. The only one hour shows that I follow are Charmed and Angel, which my husband tapes and we watch back later. I do try and catch some half hour and variety shows throughout the week, parts of David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. If I'm up early enough I'll watch Dr. Phil, and it there's something interesting on, Oprah. My "junk TV" to relax is HGTV. I don't watch much news. When I remember or just happen to be sitting there, I watch The Simpsons, Insomniac, South Park, Malcolm, and Friends and Will & Grace.

We watched Friends during dinner tonight, then I came back in to watch Will & Grace, which, at the end of, I was dozing off on the couch. So the TV stayed on NBC, while I turned the sound off and took a nap. About an hour later I wake up, and am sitting there in a semi-comatose state trying to wake up and I look up at the TV. Hmm... must be ER, lotsa doctors. Like I said, I don't watch a lot of TV.

My husband is in the other room watching JFK be shot in slow motion over and over again. So a group of ER doctors are on the roof of the hospital wheeling a patient out to the Lifeflight chopper. One of the doctors is apparently having a panic attack because we suddenly get the grisly image of his arm being chopped off by the helicopter's blades, uggh, wasn't expecting that. Then the guy's OK again and obviously freaking out because he gets back on the elevator and goes down to the ambulance receiving area to get some air (and apparently away from the copter). OK, I can sympathize. The sound is still off on the TV...

Then we're back on the roof, the nurses wave bye to the helicopter as it takes off (uh-oh), then as they're wheeling the gurney back to the elevator it catches on something (double uh-oh) and then we realize the copter is slowly spinning out of control just above the roof, and now it's coming down onto the roof, crashing, the blades cutting out hunks of the roof, it's spinning all over the place, right up to the nurses cowering against the wall, one of them gets a hunk of something shot into her... Then, the helicopter plunges over the side of the building, and lands in frightening detail, on top of the doctor who just ran away from it and bursts into flames. Cut to a commercial break. Not a hallucination this time I guess...

OK, I'm awake now, went and told my husband, he's like "Oh yeah, they've been talking about that on ET all week", I try really hard not to watch ET (or Extra, or any of that garbage). Good grief, too much drama for a weekly basis. That's like a movie's worth of death and destruction and FX. When I wander back through a few minutes later, there are all the doctors and nurses, with flames behind them, blood pouring from huge open wounds... So I flip it over to HGTV, then go into the next room to work. I'd rather listen to House Hunters, I think.

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space. Overflowing

2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer. Perfectionist, frustrating

3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime. Challenging, endless, technical

4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day. Non-stop, hectic, unhealthy, nocturnal

5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life. Comfortable, healthy, wealthy, contented, peaceful

Our house is organized but stuffed full of mine and my husbandís various collections.

Iím self-employed, though most of the work I do is on eBay, which can be a PITA.

I love learning new things on the computer, designing websites, etc.

Working at home means I pretty much work from the time I get up to the time I go to bed (itís almost 5 am and I still have stuff to do, but I had to take a short break to do this ;-) Iím also chronically ill, which is why I work at home.

Iíd love to be able to do nothing but what I wanted for the rest of my life, I actually wouldnít get bored, Iím very good at amusing myself.

Some photos of Phoebe taken at Halloween...

1. What food do you like that most people hate? Fruitcake! And eggnog too :-)

2. What food do you hate that most people love? Probably a bunch, bell peppers, pickles, celery, avocados...

3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you? Before the scandal I probably would have said Martha Stewart, but now everyone seems to dislike her too. (She always annoyed me) Iím not a celeb follower, probably Britney Spears?

4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive? Honestly, I canít think of anyone.

5. What popular trend baffles you? Why people feel the need to be on the phone 24/7. If they knew how insane they looked walking through a supermarker seemingly talking to themselves they wouldnít do it... no, they probably would. I think I was the last person to get a cell phone, I never wanted a pager, I donít want people to be able to find me, thank you. I only got one because they had a killer deal where I worked at the time and I used to drive a lot and donít have a particularly reliable car. Iíve used my cell phone many times to call wreckers. The one time I broke down on the freeway (on an overpass, yet) the damned thing kept cutting out on me.

One more postdated entry

Every Halloween for 12 years now we've held a huge party at our house, which is fun, but stressful since I do 99% of the planning, I'm not cut out to be a hostess. But all went well as usual, there were no messes or accidents, everyone had fun and the costumes were inventive as usual. It's sad when the guests have better costumes than the hosts, though I did actually have a real character costume this year and wasn't just the "spooky pale girl in black who might or might not have fangs". I'd been wanting to do Magenta from Rocky Horror for years and had been too lazy to do it, but this year I actually did it. It's really an easy costume for me because I did her for years at the RHPS weekly midnight shows and I sort of look like her (maybe it's because we're both Irish).

Years ago I actually handsewed really elaborate custom outfits for Magenta and Columbia, but eventually sold them at garage sales when it became clear I probably would never be tiny enough to fit into them again. I had a black satin and lace dress, a sequined Columbia outfit, and a gold lame and black vinyl Magenta "space" costume. In my usual last minute costume rush I went out a few days before the party and ran through Walmart looking for lace and remnants to sew white collars and cuffs, to put straps on the apron I had that I had used 20 years ago, and to get some dark blood red lipstick. I went to Sally Beauty & Walgreen's and bought some super strong hairspray, shampoo to make my hair curl even more than usual, some spray on red haircolor, fake eyelashes and a new thing of Almay Mascara.

I never buy makeup at drug stores because I'm really picky and like to test everything and have super sensitive skin (and expensive tastes in the few cosmetics I do wear). So of course, the lipstick was all wrong. It looked great in the tube, but when I tested it, it was a hideous pink-purple color. So, the night before the party I decided to go to the mall and get some proper lipstick and look to see if I could find a better shirt skirt combo than the one I was planning on wearing, maybe with a white collar on it already. I was going to drive to Memorial City Foley's because they have the best selection of makeup and I wanted to look at MAC, but it was getting late, traffic was bad, and so I thought I'd be brave and try the new Galleria Foley's. I managed to find it, and park in a decent spot, but alas they had a lame selection of cosmetic brands compared to MC so I ended up with Prescriptives Plum, which is really a fabulous dark blue-red, almost Vamp dark but sheerer.

I did my usual speed shopping and ended up finding several tops with white collars, snatched them up, and then found a hideous black dress on the clearance rack that looked interesting. All the tops looked too flimsy, but the dress was near perfect. It buttoned up the front, had short sheeves, was the right length and made of a heavy cotton befitting a domestic. It was a little tight buttoned up, but since I was doing Magenta, I wouldn't be buttoning it but about halfway so then it was find.

Ran home, then we went to Sam's and the grocery store to pick up food for the party (pre-cooked food, yea!), and stayed up all night finishing arranging and recording the music for the party. The next day I got up and basically sewed the collar and lace onto the costume till about half an hour before the party was supposed to start, then spent the rest of the time on my makeup and hair. I washed my hair earlier and let i mostly air dry, so it was properly frizzy and curly. I found out that spray on haircolor is really difficult to use (kept getting round red spots which wasn't what I wanted). But it all came together nicely, and people actually knew who I was supposed to be, which was fun for a change.

Here's some pics: