Spiniffy

I just finished reading KiKi's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono (Translated by Lynne E. Riggs). It was a sweet story and I enjoyed it a lot. It's really pretty different from the anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki, however, so if you read it expecting the same story, you'll be surprised (no airship!). And it has some sweet illustrations in it as well, though they don't look like the movie animation.



The book has a lot more about the people in the city than the movie has. And in the book you spend a full year with KiKi and then see her return to her mother and father to visit in the end. There's not as much on Osono or Tombo as there is in the movie, but what is there on them is really good and you can see how important they become to KiKi. And I think you learn more about KiKi through the book, really, even though the movie focuses on her more than the book does, if that makes sense. It's just that the book also brings in a lot of different characters, whereas the movie sticks to the core characters.



I couldn't really pick a favorite out of the two if I tried. I really love the movie with Kristen Dunst's voice and the amazing animation and the airship and everything. But I thought the book was really cute. I definitely recommend reading the book if you love the movie. And vice versa. And if you've never seen the movie OR read the book, I don't know what you're waiting for. You need to get your rear in gear and go find them. Right now!

So, also, I wanted to add that I happen to love Fiesta Dinnerware on Amazon. LOVE. If I had the space, I would buy like at least 2 place settings of every color they have. I think they have like 9 colors, so I'd have 18 place settings, plus all the serving dishes. I don't even care, I adore them!

I am contemplating purchasing a camcorder at some point, if I get the job I am going to be interviewing for on Tuesday. I had an idea for a writing project and a camcorder would make things easier when I am interviewing people. I don't know if I'll do it or not. It seems like these days I have ten thousand ideas for different things but not the focus to follow through with them. Maybe I have ADD or something. My cousin had that when he was young, so maybe it runs in the family. I would love to just sit down and be able to follow through with ONE project idea. That would be nice, seriously.

So, Jon and I are still looking for new jobs. We're mostly looking in Crossville and Knoxville at this point. I have no idea if we'll end up moving to Knoxville or not. We're leaving it up in the air. I think I would be fine either way, so long as we both have jobs and we're able to afford living.

Anyway, I know nothing about camcorders, so if you have any recommendations, please share. I want something easy to use, that will easily download to my computer, and that will record at least 2 hours at a time.

If you are thinking about ordering flowers for anyone this holiday season, please consider ordering them from From You Flowers because they will be donating 20% of the purchase price to NORD, the National Organization for Rare Disorders.



When Jon was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2005, he had just turned 21 a week earlier, which made him ineligible for TennCare. We didn't have any insurance at all and barely enough money to survive day to day. And then we had this horrible news dropped on us and the promise of expensive medications to get his MS under control and expensive tests and steroid treatments. That on top of the fact that we just learned he had a chronic illness with fairly unpredictable symptoms... It was unbelievable and I still can't put into words just how lost we were. But we had some really amazing people around us who helped us out. One of the doctors (they wouldn't tell us who) paid for the steroid treatments he had to have, the MS Foundation paid for the MRI, and NORD paid for the medicine (daily injections) he had to have for a year. Those injections cost more than he made in a month, so there was absolutely no way we could have paid for those without NORD. After a year Jon's boss was able to get insurance for the company and Jon got on the group insurance plan. But before that NORD took care of us for a full year. And it made a huge difference. The treatments have pushed Jon's MS into remission and he hardly has any problems now, compared to where he was in 2005. And without NORD, he'd probably be in a wheelchair or bed bound at this point.

With people losing their jobs left and right, and their insurance, NORD will be bailing people out again. So, I know it's going to be tight this holiday season, but if you have even a little bit of money that you'd be willing to spare, please consider making a donation to NORD. Or if you donate to a charity every year or month or whenever, please consider making NORD that charity. Because I can tell you from first hand experience, they make a huge difference.

I always wanted to work in another country when I was growing up. I was especially interested in Antarctica (continent, I know) when I was in high school. And in Australia for awhile when I was in college. I was really interested in different places in Africa for awhile when I was younger. I still want to do that. I want to work with conservation efforts. I have been thinking of taking a couple weeks a year and volunteering with a nonprofit organization in another country. I think that would be a fun vacation. Of course, first, I need an actual paying job stateside. I'm working on that. Rather hard. Ideally I can work for myself or for an animal organization or some other nonprofit organization. I'm not much of a sales or marketing type of person.

I'd love to work with penguins again. I had a great time when I interned at the zoo. I have looked, but haven't seen any job openings at the Knoxville Zoo. That's too bad, because I think that would be kind of fun, depending on where I was working. Maybe I will take a chance and just submit my resume to them to keep on file.



I am thinking about all of this again because lately I have been sort of catching up with an old high school friend who is in Africa. Not really catching up much, but I read his blog he just started. He's working in medicine and living in Africa with his new wife and it looks like he's having an amazing time. I'm actually a little jealous, because I would love to be doing that. And so now I am wondering how I could make it happen for me. I don't want to live abroad for as long as he is. I'd be interested in a month, at most. And I want to move around to different countries and continents. But that is absolutely something I've always wanted to do. I've always, always wanted to work with animals in other countries, but still come home to the US fairly regularly. That's why I got an English degree, because I was double majoring in English and Biology so I could write about my animal travels in magazines or journals. There's a way to make it happen, I'll just have to do a little research.

*sigh* So many dreams!

I am beginning to get quite an assortment of books on my "I need to get off my butt and read these" list. I let them pile up when I have other things going on. It's too easy to do. I play DND with Jon and I don't want to read while I do that, because it muddies my brain with too many conflicting fantasy elements. And then when I am working and doing things I don't have the time (or make the time). But it's getting ridiculous, really. I'm going to have to schedule things around a bit and get through some of these books. Here's my list:

1.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

How have I not read that one yet, you ask? Well, when it came out I had just gotten married, so I was pretty distracted for awhile. And then I decided I didn't want t o read it any time soon, because then the series would really be over. Plus I'm afraid of who dies in it. I still haven't read any spoilers, somehow, so please don't give anything away.

2.

Kiki's Delivery Service

I got this one awhile ago and have tried several times to sit down and read it, but things keep distracting me. It's not very long, so it should be a light, fun read. I adore the anime movie, so I think I'll probably really like the book too.

3.

The Twilight Saga, all of the books

I didn't even hear about these for awhile and then I was fairly uninterested in reading them. Vampires are overdone, in my opinion. But the more I hear about them the more I think I might like them, so now they're on my list. I also think it's good for an English major to be up to date on the most recent popular novels.

Those are my top three. The rest of the list is fairly extensive, but those are the 3 (more than 3, since Twilight is more than 1 book) I should really be getting to in the near future.

In other bookish things, it's getting close to Christmas, which means Jon and I need to get to work putting together a box of books for our 4 nieces. I love sending them books, it rocks. I've got a few lined up so far.



Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

and



Bedknob and Broomstick by Mary Norton

And then there's another Trixie Belden book, but I forget which one it is. We got them into reading Trixie back in the spring when we were there last. Hopefully I can find a couple more Trixie books to send along.

I'm going to need a few more different suggestions, though. Jon and I are getting them from McKay's this year, so we can afford a few more. New books are, unfortunately, too expensive right now. If you have any book suggestions for 4 little girls ranging in age from 3 to 9, please let us know.

Jon and I watched Casablanca tonight. I never watched it before tonight, even though Andy gave it to us several months ago. It's a wintery kind of movie, anyway.

I've been curious about it for awhile, since it's mentioned in Gilmore Girls several different times. Lorelei makes Luke watch it at one point. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the movie. It's classy. I love that whole era, it was refined. Not like today, where everything is rushed and sloppy. Julie sent me a link to a nifty Flickr set that rocks. People then knew how to dress and how to act and how to be social. Sometimes I wish we had that today.

So if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

ETA: And now Jon and I will be truly blasphemous and watch A Night in Casablanca starring the Marx Brothers. :)

Jon had his office Thanksgiving party today. We made stuffed mushrooms for him to take. They are so yummy and I want some right now!



They're really easy to make too. I made them from memory of a recipe I saw sometime last year, last night. Anyway, I figured I'd share the recipe from memory, too.

Ingredients
1 lb pork sausage
8 oz cream cheese
32 oz whole mushrooms
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of butter

And here's what you do: Preheat your oven to 350. Fry your sausage in a cast iron skillet. While it's frying take the stalks off your mushrooms and cut them up into the sausage. Make sure you have a little hollow in your mushroom cap so you can fill it in. When the sausage is brown and mushrooms are kind of rubbery, add your garlic and then fry it all together a little more, maybe 5 minutes, maybe less. When that's done, throw in your cream cheese and let it melt over the sausage.



When that's finished, you'll have a nice creamy meat mixture. It tastes AWESOME on some artisan bread.



Then fill your mushroom caps with the filling, dip their bottoms in the butter and line them up in a pyrex pan. Pop them in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes.



And viola! You have an incredibly unhealthy - but tasty- appetizer or finger food for your work party or football party or whatever.

I also think if you use just 16 oz of mushrooms and just dice them all up in the meat mixture, you can serve it with an artisan bread or in a roll and it'll make an amazing spread. I've been contemplating selling it as a street food at our county fair in august. I'm not sure if it'd make a good street food or not, but I might give it a try. I think on a roll with a side of potato wedges it would rock. You could also dice up some onions and peppers and maybe even tomatoes and cook it in and I bet it would be really good.

Anyhow, that is my recipe for your holiday delight and enjoyment. Now go out there and harden some arteries!

Walking to Market Street for all the restaurants, shopping, farmer's market, Shakespeare on the Square, Sundown in the City, and Christmas in the City. Then there's the University of Tennessee, World's Fair Park, Old City, etc.



I hope it actually happens. We need a change and jobs and all that fun, adult stuff.

Jon and I both have interviews in Knoxville on Wednesday. Which is very, very exciting! I had to ask specially to have mine on Wednesday, since that is when his is and we don't really have the funds to go to Knoxville more than one time in a week. We're looking forward to finding better paying jobs and moving to Knoxville where there are more sidewalks and you can walk places. Yay! Our dog is also looking forward to this, as it means he will get to spend more time with us and hopefully learn obedience and go to doggie daycare on occasion. Our cats will hate us, but that is just a part of owning a cat.

So, the spam bots are still out there and posting away. I am getting fed up with them, but I don't know what to do about it. I have spam protection on, but it doesn't do much good. Frustrating!!! I will be locking comments more often, most probably. I think adding my link to career builder upped the numbers. I will not do that again :(

I am so looking forward to having money again.

Well, it's going b etter than expected, though I haven't really had any call backs yet. But I've applied for a bunch, so it's only a matter of time. Most of the jobs are in Knoxville, which I think is exciting. I want to move out of Crossville for a little while and rejuvenate. And go to school. And cook more interesting dishes. I'm just ready to move, I think. It's hard to be an adult in the place you grew up, because everyone will always t hink of you as a child a nd not t ake you seriously or think o f you as b eing capable. It gets f rustrating and there are really only so many times you can yell that you're a grown-up before you just look a little c razy. Anyway, stupid space bar problems are getting old. I need a new laptop. I am coveting a Toshiba Tecra. I love Toshiba, even though Jon doesn't. :)

If anyone h as any job suggestions, please feel free t o let me know.