Author: Shara

The Quiet Game…

~ Shara ~ 3 Comments

It’s been quiet around here, and I apologize. The past few weeks have had me running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and this weekend won’t be any different. But I’ve got a moment of downtime before I carry on to the next adventure, so I thought I’d say hi.

So, hi!

One thing I would like to share: the hubby and I visited Chattanooga a few weeks ago to visit friends and go see Iron Man 3. In Chattanooga, they have a theater: the Carmike Majestic 12. In the Carmike Majestic 12, they have a special theater called the Ovation Room. This room is 21 and over, and the ticket price is more expensive than the regular price, regardless of 3D. What makes it special? By being for people over the age of 21, it means no screaming babies. It also means you get to order alcohol off their special menu. Also, THEY HAVE A SPECIAL MENU with items you can’t get at the concession stand. You have a waitress. You have an assigned seat (so none of this, “Hey, can you scoot down so we can all sit together even though we got here at the last minute and can’t find seats?” bullshit). You have leather reclining chairs. You have a never-ending bowl of popcorn.

I could get used to this kind of luxury. 🙂

Do any of the theaters near you offer cool and unusual experiences to their customers?

It’s Couch Potato Time!

~ Shara ~ 6 Comments

Ah, the joys of television. I’ll admit it: I’m a TV junkie. Which is kind of amazing, considering that I manage to read 100+ books per year. Hmm… I may need to get a life…

… but in the meantime, I thought I’d talk about some of the shows that I’ve been watching lately. Season finale season is here, but already several shows have wrapped up, so I wanted to talk about THOSE first before I get into the ones wrapping up between now and the end of May.

So, if you’re interested in hearing about the following shows, keep on reading! No spoilers, I promise! 🙂

Continuum, season one
Cougar Town, season four
Homeland, season one
Justified, season four
The Walking Dead, season three

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A Case of the Mondays….

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

I know I promised my next post here would be television discussion, but I had a case of the Mondays, and I really need to get it out of my system. And really (knock on wood), the case of the Mondays only applies to my morning, so let me tell you about it.

For starters, I found a cat turd on the bedroom floor. Got to clean that up. Yay.

Then, as I was getting ready for my day, the cat was sprawling on the floor, rolling around, showing off his irresistible white belly and meowing very cutely, so of course I had to rub the belly. And despite recognizing quickly he wanted to “play,” I kept trying to rub the belly while avoiding his primary method of “play,” which is his teeth. Yeah, you can guess where this is going… he bit the snot out of my hand. No stitches, thankfully, and because he’s not an outdoor cat, I don’t worry about the same kind of germs as I would if he were, indeed, an outdoor cat eating mice and birds and any other kind of vermin.

But the icing on the cake was my car. When I tried to start my car, it was dead. But to make matters worse, I couldn’t even get the key out of the ignition.

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To Those Follow The Syndicated Feed on LJ

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This doesn’t apply to everyone, but it’s time I made this post.

When I started this blog, I started a syndicated feed called “calicotransit” that, if you’re on Live Journal, you can friend and get the entries on your friends’ list. It’s easy, and it’s convenient.

But there are two pitfalls that I want to make LJ users aware of:

1) LJ does not archive these posts. It seems like the calicotransit entries are kept for about a week or two before dropping off the system. So if you, on LJ, ever want to go back to look at an old post, you’re out of luck if you’re relying on calicotransit to do that for you. Instead, you’ll have to come directly to the source here on WordPress.

2) I do not receive your comments on the LJ feed. You might balk and say, “Wait a minute! But you RESPONDED!” and that’s because I try and remember to go back and actually check each syndicated entry for comments. But even though I created the feed, I don’t OWN the feed. It’s just there, and I don’t get notifications when someone comments to an entry. Which sucks, because I’m a comment-whore, but what can you do?

Actually, what you CAN do, despite it being a mite bit inconvenient, is click the link at the TOP of the syndicated entry you want to comment on. That will take you directly to said entry on WordPress and you can comment on the site. This comment I will receive notification for, and can reply in a timely manner.

Commenting on WordPress is easy. You just put in your name (and by name, which never name you want to use that you want me to know you by), your email addy (which is never, ever public) and providing your website is optional. Type in your comment, then let WordPress know you want follow-up comments (so YOU know when I respond), and click “post comment.” It’s that easy! No verification crap to deal with. However, your comment will wait in moderation if you’re a first-time commenter, but I promise, I review that stuff daily. 🙂

Anyway, that’s it. I know, super-exciting post. I’ll make it up to you guys and talk about my television-viewing habits next. 😉

Andes Mint Cookies: Some Tips

~ Shara ~ 4 Comments

Some of you may remember my talking about my first real baking venture of the year: Andes Mint Cookies. I’ve officially made them three times, and I wanted to share some tips, should you decide to make them.

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Trips I Want to Take this Year (But Probably Can’t)

~ Shara ~ 13 Comments

At the start of the year, I was hopeful. There were two trips the hubby and I thought we would definitely do, and two trips that I was strongly considering.

And then there’s the one I don’t want to take, but will probably have to.

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Back in the Saddle

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

I decided on Friday to unofficially take the weekend off. Short of trying to make sure I kept up with my daily Hellblazer reading, I stayed off the blog, didn’t write, and didn’t walk. And honestly, the weekend was just too busy to consider otherwise. It was the kind of busy that makes you wish you had an extra day, just so you can take a breather and actually get some rest.

This coming weekend looks to be a bit quieter, but the weekend after that looks to be just as crazy, if not worse. I’m tempted to make THAT weekend a three-day weekend, because I know I’ll need the recovery time.

Lots of stuff on the table: neighbor is being quite amicable about repairs from his trampoline, so we’re getting official quotes. The HVAC guy is coming out tomorrow to look at our unit and giving us the official diagnosis, and then we’ll start really deciding what we’ll do there. And at work, some guys were hammering away at that HVAC unit (same brand as the one we have at home, which is a piece of crap), but we won’t know if their fix worked until we turn on the AC, which will likely happen Tuesday.

I can’t believe April is nearly over. It’s gone by so fast.

At any rate, I’ve hit the point of the evening where I don’t care what’s left on my to-do list: I just want to wash up, curl beneath the covers, and relax. I’ve got my daily walk, my daily Hellblazer, and my blog entry in for the day. Maybe I’ll try to squeeze out a page of Space Vampires. Maybe. I’m early in and already my daily feedback has me thinking of new! and improved! ways of telling the tale. That’s the hard part for writers like me: staying the course so I really know what the story’s about, rather than trying to fix things with rewrites as I go along (which always amounts to not moving forward).

We’ll see.

In Other Air-Conditioning News…

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

We don’t have air-conditioning at work either. This, we discovered last week when we turned it on for the first time, and the repairman said he’d order some replacement coils (or something), which would take about a week or two to arrive.

Yesterday, my boss happened to run into our landlord and mentioned how he looked forward to having air by the end of next week.

The landlord’s response?

“Oh, we forgot to order the parts….”

Yeah…. my boss was thrilled about that….

Air-Conditioning Unit From Hell

~ Shara ~ 15 Comments

Once upon a time, my husband and I bought a new house. Not just new-to-us, but brand new, as in we were the first people to live in the sucker since it was built. We weren’t in it seven months, and on Christmas Eve, the heat went out.

This was 2004.

The next year, same holiday. The heat went out again. Same unit, of course, but different problem.

And it so it continued. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had problems out of the heating and air unit, only to say that when the heat went out, it was always on the holiday or a weekend. It didn’t go out every year, and last year, we thought we got lucky, because we had no heating problems.

Instead, a new problem arose: the air-conditioning went out in August.

The problem, we soon learned, was that coolant was leaking. The repairman was able to refill it, but this spring would be the test: if we turned on the air-conditioning and got cold air, then we’d be okay: it was a slow leak. If we didn’t get cold air, we’re looking at replacing something. Be it coils or compressor or a whole new unit. Something will need to be replaced.

Well, yesterday, it was a bit muggy out, so when I got home, I turned on the air. Not for the first time this spring, but it was the first time that I noticed the thermostat going UP after I told it to go DOWN.

So yeah, fast leak. We have an appointment on Tuesday for the repairman to come out, take a look, give us options and quotes galore. It’s not going to be a cheap fix, I’m afraid, and it’s frustrating, because in hindsight, it’s easy to say we should’ve replaced this lemon of a machine from the start. But going into it, how were we to know our unit was such a piece of crap? That it’d cause us trouble, and cost us money every year?

Alas. It’s the joys of home-ownership. Every year, it seems like we have more and more expenses piling up: this year, we’ve already replaced our fridge. We’re still looking at the possibility of having to pay for the damage our neighbor’s trampoline did to the house (but hopefully, he’ll be cool and pay for it), and now this. Surprisingly, I’ve discovered that I just can’t get furious over this stuff. It happens. It sucks, but it happens. We’ll deal.

My husband, on the other hand, gets furious. It’s almost like the world, or at least the things in the house, have a personal vendetta against him…. but make no mistake, whatever happens with the air-conditioning unit, it’s going to be one of the more expensive fixes.

Except of the roof. Replacing the roof was damned expensive, but at least insurance covered that. 🙂

The good news: it is not August. It’s still, mostly, spring, and after tomorrow, the weather’s going to cool down some. We have fans, and we have air filters. We’ll be all right.