T minus 6 minutes and counting

In approx. 6 minutes the clock will hit midnight here on the East Coast of the united States and it will turn to be November1st.  Day one of National Novel Writing month.  Also known as NANOWRIMO.  I’m ready to go for this year’s challenge!! I’m planning on writing only for about 15 minutes and then going to bed.  I’m only staying up this late for ceremony purposes.  And another cool thing that out of hundreds of thousands of people writing this year, my friend Krista was picked out to be the feature on the nanowrimo home page for October 30th.  To read her story go to www.nanowrimo.org find Q & A and then archive for Oct. 30th.  You’ll get to meet one of my oldest and truly best friends.  Well two minutes to go.  I’ll talk to you all in December

Bye!!

My comment on Lutefisk

To clarify how much I hate Lutefisk, I have written my own poem

No, No, No
I do not like Lutefisk on my plate
I do not like it soon or late
I do not like it hot or cold
It can go in the trash to mold!
-by karen marie 10/25/08

Flu Shot

I got my annual flu shot yesterday and I’m not feeling so hot.  I know that getting the flu shot is controversial, but because of the probability that I could get really sick and go back in the hospital if I get a bad case of the flu, I decided that getting the shot was worth the risk.  So I’m just going to wait it out.

Swedish version of “Green Eggs and Ham”

One of my favorite books as a child was “Green Eggs and Ham.”  In fact, I think I can still recite most of it by memory still today, so when I came across this Swedish parody of it, I had to put it here for all of you to enjoy!   (And with Christmas coming up, there is absolutely NO way I’m going to eat any Lutefisk, and if anyone thinks they’re going to make me, remember that it takes a MONTH for your house to get rid of the stinky smell of the fish- if you can even call it fish, MOM!!!)

Lutefisk and Yams

by Ulf Gunnarsson

Hark and ware, oh Warrior!, Weird of Sven now hear you.
How good Lars he harried, pestered him with questions.

Late at meadhall light burned; Lars did strive to largen
belly with a bowl of boiled fish his mission.

And some chunks of chicken, cheese and bread and peasoup,
finally pounds of pancakes paired with lingon berries.

Smallish snack he snuck while woozy wife lay snoozing.
When inside there wandered forth a fellow northman.

Lars did greet him greatly for he knew the gruesome
tales of host who hasten travellers forth from doorstep.

Lars did ask his name then. “I am Sven,” he mentioned.
“Sven I am,” he stated. “Do you like lutefisk and yams?”

“Nay.” said Lars, “though largely like I food most goodly, but
I do not like lutefisk and yams, I do not like them Sven I am.”

“Ah,” said Sven most sagely. “Would you eat them on a trip?
Would you eat them on your ship?”

“Nay,” said Lars, “though largely like I food most goodly, but
I would not eat them on a trip.
I would not eat them on my ship.
I do not like lutefisk and yams,
I do not like them, Sven I am.”
“Ah,” said Sven. “Then maybe might you eat them on a raid?
Might you eat them with a maid?”

“Nay,” said Lars most strongly. “Like I food most goodly, but
I would not eat them on a raid,
I would not eat them with a maid,
I would not eat them on a trip,
I would not eat them on my ship.
I do not like lutefisk and yams.
I do not like them, Sven I am.”

“Hmmm,” said Sven, “Good fellow,
would you eat them on the field?
Would you eat them off your shield?”

“Nay!” cried Lars most wrothly,
“Like I food most goodly, but
I would not eat them on the field,
I would not eat them off my shield,
I would not eat them on a raid,
I would not eat them with a maid,
I would not eat them on a trip,
I would not eat them on my ship.
I do not like lutefisk and yams.
I do not like them, Sven I am.”

Sven then looked most crafty. He then slyly stated:
“Would you eat them served up cold?
Would you eat them if I paid you gold?”

“Well,” said Lars, “since largely, Like I food most goodly…
I might like lutefisk and yams. I might like them, Sven I am.”

Sven produced this Swedish yam and lutefisk sample.
Lars did test this tasty treat then longly pondered.

Stoutly Lars then stated:
“I despise lutefisk and yams.
I despise them, Sven I am.
I will not eat them served up cold,
I will not eat them if you pay me gold.
I will not eat them on the field,
I will not eat them off my shield,
I will not eat them on a raid,
I will not eat them with a maid,
I will not eat them on a trip,
And I will NOT eat them on MY ship!
I do not like lutefisk and yams,
I do not like them, Sven I am.”
And he slew Sven.

Fall cleaning

I hate cleaning the house.  It’s a pain in the butt.  Luckily I have hardwood floors in most of my place, so I just plug my vacuum in and go, but first I have to dust, and put the small rugs in the washing machine…  And because we’re heading into winter here, I have to change the blankets and other stuff, so that’s more washing to do.  

 I bought one of those swiffer mops where you stick the cleaning pad onto the bottom of the mop and push the cleaning solution bottle into the top of the mop, and as you’re cleaning the floor (ceramic, tile, or even hardwood!) you press a button and the cleaning solution sprays out and the cleaning pad picks up the dirt and the chemicals.  I think that this is one of the greatest inventions ever!!!  I don’t need a bucket of water to rinse and I can clean both the kitchen and the living room with one mop- I just change the solution.

Ok, I really shouldn’t complain.  It just takes a lot of time.  But things sure smell good!

It’s NaNoWriMo time again!!

For those of you who are new to my blog, I’m doing the National Novel Writing Month project again.  (Also known as NaNoWriMo)  The goal, and the pride of winning, is if you write a novel of 50,000 words during the month of November.  It averages to be about (for me) 3 writing hours a day and 1667 words a day.  It think with the font I used in Microsoft Word last year it turned out to be about 120 pages or so.  50,000 words is about the size of “Catcher in the Rye.”  I was successful last year, and I’m hopeful that I’ll win again this year.  My friend K, turned me onto this, and I’ve been waiting and plotting all year to do this again!

So wish me luck, and if I tune out for November, you’ll know why.  And if you think that this might be something interesting that you might like to do, let me know and we can do this together!

Presidential Debate #2- “blah, blah, blah”

All I’m hearing (I’m writing this as I watch the debate) is pretty much “blah blah blah blah” from both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama.

If I’m really honest- If I were playing a drinking game (which I would never do because 1) excessive drinking is irresponsible and dangerous and 2) I’m allergic to alcohol) I’d be taking a swig every time John McCain said the words “My Friends.”  I would be passed out by now.  Does he even know how annoying that can get?

And Sen. Obama is about as inspiring as watching jello set.

The most interesting thing about the debate is watching Tom Brokaw get frustrated at the two men, because they’re not following the “rules of the debate.”  Good ‘Ol Tom, trying to keep things under control.

But still— today was blah blah blah.  With 4 weeks left, give me some excitement people.  I want to hear HOW YOU’RE GOING TO RUN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!

Oh and don’t forget to register to vote and then VOTE to let yourself be heard.  You can be sure I’M GOING TO VOTE!!!

VP Debate

All I can say after watching the Vice Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin is that if she really wants to expand the powers of the Vice President (even beyond what Dick Cheney has done) we may end up with our first woman president after all in January.

Oh, and I have a huge headache.