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Fantastic News!!! (not the part about Legos) This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD
Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy.

Fungal Infections Found in Users of Eye Products
A Wall Street analyst is predicting Bausch & Lomb will be forced to issue more product recalls after the Centers for Disease Control determined that almost all of the company's ReNu eye care products were linked to severe fungal eye infections.

Apparently real Eau de PLAY-DOH – Play-Doh perfume
Those fresh-from-the-can, full-of-potenial, childhood memories. Now in a convenient spray.

New fave site: Vegan Lunch Box Sample menu item:
For lunch I made cream cheese spirals: wholegrain dough spread with vegan cream cheese and a sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, and dill), rolled up like a cinnamon roll, cut it into slices, and baked.

I read this not because I’m vegan but because I marvel at the time and trouble this woman goes through to prepare her kid lunch. I don’t put this much effort into my own meals. If I had kids and I made them lunch and they were vegan, those poor kids would be eating almond butter on celery sticks every day.

Yesterday I thought it was a fluke but this morning I had to wonder. Why are my pants baggy and my arms can barely fit in my shirts? How did my ass shrink while my arms got fatter? Is is possible I’ve finally achieved my goal of looking like Popeye?

The shirts I wore today and yesterday are for warmer weather and had been in the back of the closet since September. I got crazy and washed them before wearing them instead of wearing them all wrinkled and spotted from when I shoved them in the back of the closet last Fall. Then I carefully ironed them. I only iron about 3 times a year so this is indeed, big news.

So where the armhole shrinking part comes in, is that I buttoned the cuffs and both shirts are the style where you roll up the sleeve up to the elbow and there’s a little tab you button to hold them up. If I had my camera handy I’d show you a picture. It looked very nice and neat while I was ironing but the buttoning makes the opening too small for my Popeye arms.

I’m almost always running late on Wednesday mornings for reasons that aren’t clear so I unbuttoned the tabs and rolled the sleeves down, unbuttoned the cuffs, shoved my puffy arms in and then put on a sweater over the droopy sleeves. It’s a fantastic look.

I don’t know what to tell you people about the redesign. When the weather is nice, I’d rather be outside working. And after busting ass in the yard all day, the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer.

The other thing working against us is that Frodo’s color display has gone all plonky again. This happened at the end of last year and I made some calls and it’s not uncommon with the eMac and I can’t remember precisely what it is, a tube or board or something, but for what it would cost to fix I could be a third of the way to a new computer, so why bother?

Bob and I talked about buying a new computer and Frodo must have heard because all of a sudden he flickered a few times and color was back. He’s out again so playing with photoshop, photos or anything with colors is a drag. Bob needs a new computer, too and we’re not made of money so I’m not sure how we’re going to proceed. I’ll probably deal with it as is for awhile longer.

One project I managed this weekend was I did all my mending and hemming and I cleaned out my closet and drawers. It seems like I just did that but there were dustbunnies the size of VWs in the closet. For someone who loves to throw things away, I have a hard time in the closet. I have several items of clothing that I rarely wear and would never miss except they were gifts and I don’t want to get rid of them. There are shoes that I haven’t worn in decades but I hang onto: just in case I need a pair of heels. Which I haven’t in decades. I did grab my heels to wear with my holiday outfit and they didn’t even fit. My feet have shrunk. I was going to toss them yesterday except they don’t take up that much room and they are a link to my eighties rockergirl past. They are part of the PamSmithsonian. I don’t need that much new stuff. Maybe a pair of light pants and definitely a pair of shoes.

So did anyone else notice all the crusty old songs broken out for TV shows this week? Probably not since no one has my exact show scheme. (I’m glad we’re getting to the end of the TV season as well, because when the weather is good, I don’t like spending a lot of time in front of the TV, either.) Did the Doors just have some sort of meeting of the minds in terms of pimping out their music for TV? I have a vague recollection of something but too lazy to look it up right now.

Riders on the Storm was in both Invasion and Alias. Music should enhance the viewer’s experience (see: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola) not bring attention to itself (see Invasion, Alias). I thought Riders was a bit distracting on both shows although it was used to better effect in Invasion. It had nothing to do with anything in Alias. Supernatural had Carry On My Wayward Son which was also distracting and one of my favorite songs when it came out. I’d listen to it over and over and over and over and over and couldn’t imagine there would ever be a moment when this wasn’t my favorite song. I still like it.

The Sopranos also had a classic song but I can’t remember what it is and my attempts to track down that information led to sites that were downloading so slow they were going backwards. That doesn’t have anything to do with the work walk out today, does it?

Last tidbit this morning I have the thermostat turned incredibly low but the heater bumped on the last two mornings. And, there was ice on my windshield.

Last night was my last class at my second yoga home downtown. Yoga Bhoga is moving across the river next month. It isn’t far, but too far to walk from the office which means I have to drive. It’s not bad, just not as nice as walking.

I have about 80 things I want to do today and sitting here typing is not one of them. See ya.

This week has been a little frazzling between the whole, you know, thing that I’m not going to write about again (I hope) but still hasn’t totally gone away and what for me has been a busy activity week. Monday I worked late because of the 2 hours at the Drs. and then went to the store to buy saltines, applesauce and bananas for the week plus pick up a prescription so I got home late; Tuesday was yoga night so I got home late; last night I met my long-lost-and-now-found-again friend Tonya for a wonderful walk and dinner so I got home late and tonight we have tickets to see Harvey Pekar and when we get home (late), Mom and Erin will have arrived.

This long wind-up is supposed to explain why I’m phoning in another entry. Death, Taxes and CSRs via Consumerist, someone has to say it:

... another form of grief that often comes about after the passing of a loved one: sorting through a lifetime’s documentation of accounts and finances, trying to get the deceased’s consumer affairs in order. Unfortunately, his father’s affairs seem to have been in a bit of a mess. But no matter how well organized a loved one’s finances are at his time of death, it’s cold comfort to go straight from the funeral to the endless sorting of papers and documentation.

We’re posting this largely to suggest to our readers that they might want to have a serious discussion with their parents about what to do in case they die.

I slept like a dream last night. Wow, it was fantastic. I woke up once and opened an eye long enough to see it was 4:30am and thought: I’m sleeping, awesome. And didn’t wake again until the alarm went off.

Sorry to keep yammering about my digestive system but that’s all I’ve got going right now. I guess that’s not true. I keep a card at my desk for things to blog about but sometimes those things don’t look so interesting and I can’t imagine why I scribbled the note in the first place or the note has become obsolete.

For example, scarves. I used to not get scarves in winter. You’d toss one around your next and it didn’t add a lot in terms of warmth plus it became another obstacle to trip on or drip into your lunch. Then, I learned this cool way to secure it from my cousin Lisa and I was going to do a photo demo which I never got around to. But, now it’s spring and even though the weather still is cold and sucks ass, if I’m going to demonstrate anything, it’s going to be open-toed shoes. I will WILL warm weather into being.

So we’re back to my health. Yesterday when they took my pulse, it was 80 and she said that was normal. Not for me. Yikes. I’ve been feeling like my heart was racing which I suspect has to do with all this food deprivation. Last night I drank some organic sports beverage juice. I’ve always wondered what those drinks have in them and if I’m reading the label correctly, this is juice with salt added. Couldn’t you do that yourself? Secrets revealed!

Also the Dr. said I could eat jello which is apparently a clear liquid. (?) I can’t remember the last time I ate jello (I’m supposed capitalize that and put a TM after it or something, aren’t I?). We are not a jello family. Even the extended family. If you come to a summer potluck in Orleans, no one in my family will bring something with jello. Just not part of our repertoire. I’m shoveling some peach jello in right now. I’m hungry.

We also aren’t pot roast people. I can’t ever remember my Mom making pot roast. We ate lots of beef but it was stuff you’d throw on the grill. I can’t remember any of the cooks in my extended family making pot roast. I made a pot roast for Easter Dinner. I read several recipes and mainly used Mark Bittman. I only ate three bites, remember the digestive thing, but I didn’t love it. Bob and Priscilla said it was good and they arm wrestled for leftovers but I don’t think this will become part of the regular rotation. Bob likes red meat, maybe I can find some other fun recipes that will please him.

Finally: if you get the IFC Channel, please check out Henry Rollins show. (A possessive belongs in there somewhere.) He is so intelligent and funny and informed and articulate. He does great interviews (this week: Werner Herzog) and has fun music (this week: Frank Black). You’re probably thinking you don’t need one more show, but this is only once a week and it’s less than 25 minutes. Unless you’re say, my Dad, you will love it.