tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-120065452009-11-05T08:38:01.846-08:00What fresh hell is this?Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.comBlogger410125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-63726020963548554672009-07-31T12:48:00.000-07:002009-07-31T14:33:19.835-07:00

The Rugrat and I were running errands on Tuesday and saw that there was a big "Now Open!" sign on The Carvery, a new restaurant across from the Target shopping center. Mr Wonderful and I have been anxiously awaiting the grand opening, so on Wednesday evening, the three of us headed over there for dinner. I'm not a big fan of buffet restaurants, but this one is a little different. It's more

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-18296196862351718082009-07-27T16:33:00.000-07:002009-07-27T16:52:56.767-07:00

Summertime...ah, such a blissful word. It conjures up thoughts of freedom (road trip!) and simple joys, like running after the ice cream truck or scampering through the sprinklers. Backyard BBQs with friends, beach excursions, camping under the stars, trips to the amusement park and the waterslides...yep, we've pretty much got all that covered.The kids have been enjoying our season passes to

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-36716306806751315922009-07-08T08:59:00.001-07:002009-07-08T09:17:05.384-07:00

OK, not really. But it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas knitting projects, as I have completed two scarves and a hat already, and started on scarf #3 last night. So far, I have:1 Woodland shawl (except really, it's a scarf - see photo)1 Woodland hat (my adaptation; there's no real pattern for this, I just wanted to use up the leftover wool on a matching hat)1 River Rocks scarf (

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-15001272095953213072009-06-29T13:37:00.000-07:002009-06-29T13:56:47.145-07:00

Three weeks ago I started my new job, working for a fairly large retail company, doing what I do best: building a content management system and a dynamic website. The website already exists, but is in pretty sad shape, code-wise. Like so many other web projects, it was built a little bit at a time, with things being tacked on as needed and no real framework in place to keep things orderly and

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-32363172530980868172009-06-11T17:00:00.000-07:002009-07-31T14:33:19.855-07:00

The "Tuna Stuff" is my latest obsession. I go through phases where I'll eat lots and lots of something for a few months, and then I'll get sick of it and not eat it for a long time. Tuna Stuff is what I've been making for the past few months now, and it hasn't lost its appeal yet, so it must be good, huh?The greatest thing about the Tuna Stuff is that you can throw all kinds of things in it.

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-81704695116145850502009-06-02T17:53:00.000-07:002009-06-02T18:02:26.119-07:00

It's been a month since our wedding, and not much has changed in our day-to-day lives, except that I'm starting to use my new last name. I finally got the marriage certificate from the county last week and was able to go to Social Security & DMV and get my name changed, and although I don't have the new documents yet, I was able to change my bank accounts and am getting started on the long

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-68912748550789808032009-05-29T13:04:00.000-07:002009-05-29T13:05:25.835-07:00

Including lip balm!

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-37665033563402845172009-05-18T09:40:00.001-07:002009-05-18T09:42:20.629-07:00

Is there any more disappointing moment in a young woman's life than when she discovers that in reality, people never, ever break into a synchronized dance routine?

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-64760450463935387772009-05-04T23:39:00.001-07:002009-05-04T23:43:05.181-07:00

Just wanted to drop in real quick to give y'all a link to the wedding photos. I keep getting more in, so there may be more added to the Flickr set , but I wanted to get something up fast for those who couldn't make it to the party.Also, you might want to watch our first dance. :)Enjoy!

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-30104250543752479652009-04-27T14:02:00.000-07:002009-04-27T14:18:57.089-07:00

We're in the home stretch...and we now have about a hundred people coming! Oh. My. God. And weather.com is predicting rain on my wedding day. One hundred people standing around in the rain. Great.Guess what I did last week? I caved. I bought a veil. I was absolutely positive that I did not want a veil but then I changed my mind and bought a veil from a very nice seller on Etsy. So I'll

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-51779830866839162132009-04-17T22:16:00.000-07:002009-04-17T22:35:55.564-07:00

We're two weeks out now. Most of the stuff on my to-do list is done, but I'm a bit worried about my wedding shawl. The border is taking a LOT longer than I thought it was going to. I've jut got to keep plugging along with it and hope I get it finished in time. I'm planning to spend most of the day tomorrow knitting; I hope I'll be able to get the first end finished (I'm about halfway done

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-34172718126245185212009-04-10T21:10:00.001-07:002009-04-10T21:24:37.155-07:00

Anyone out there used Mirena before? I just got it, uh, "installed" on Tuesday. I had discussed it via email with my gyn a couple of months ago, when I was still employed & still planning to get married in October. I was hoping that the lower dose of hormones, delivered locally rather than systemically, would eliminate some of the things that I hate about birth control pills (the moodiness,

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-9399256975925178212009-04-04T18:49:00.000-07:002009-07-31T14:33:19.871-07:00

I've been MIA for a while now, I know. But in my defense I 1) got engaged, 2) lost my camera for a while, and 3) got laid off. So my wedding, which was initially planned for October, is now taking place the first weekend in May. I'm a bit overwhelmed. :)Today I did a trial run for my wedding cupcakes. I'm not much of a baker, but I figured i could manage mini cupcakes for the

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-15330280391807915502009-04-01T18:53:00.001-07:002009-04-22T17:20:46.848-07:00

You may recall, a few years ago I spent a full autumn day planting over 250 spring bulbs, in the hopes that I'd wind up with a garden full of my favorite flowers to cheer me up during the high hay fever season. Unfortunately, I didn't realize at the time that gophers LOVE tulip bulbs, and not only that, but they can easily get into my planter boxes. I ended up with a few hyacinths and

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-70228556076754797642009-03-30T12:04:00.000-07:002009-04-22T17:20:25.377-07:00

This weekend I did some cupcake trials. I bought a couple of mini cupcake tins, some liners, and a few boxes of cake mix (because I am lazy and don't want to make everything from scratch).First I made a batch of lemon cupcakes - I added lemon zest to the plain yellow cake mix, threw in some lemon juice in place of some of the water, and then made a simple glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-48329752776277210742009-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:002009-03-26T10:55:08.160-07:00

Oooh boy, things are in full swing now!Still no job, but I've been doing some contract work for individual clients and for my old supervisor, who quit working for The Boss and is now opening up her own consulting business. So there's some money coming in. In fact I'm hopeful that I'll be able to just do consulting, as that would solve my issues with telecommuting quite nicely.The wedding is set

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-20027831484195579762009-03-05T17:23:00.000-08:002009-03-05T17:29:48.277-08:00

OK, so things aren't quite as dire as they seemed last Saturday. Mr Wonderful chatted with his supervisor at work on Monday and discovered that I could be added to his insurance as a "domestic partner." It won't be free, but it will be MUCH cheaper than COBRA and it doesn't require us getting married immediately.So now our plan is to wait three weeks and if I don't have a new job by then, we

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-23776070550986464282009-02-28T11:20:00.000-08:002009-02-28T11:39:23.789-08:00

Yesterday morning I met with Boss and was laid off from the job I've been at for the past five years. Of course he said he was all broken up about it and felt terrible, blah blah blah. But I'm pretty bent that he's keeping our SysAd on staff. SysAd left the company to work for someone else and was doing "on call" occasional work for my company for about a year. Then a month or so ago he got

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-51139121813651723312009-02-24T10:05:00.000-08:002009-02-24T10:19:55.703-08:00

Mr Wonderful and I are now at the point in the wedding planning where we need to make a decision about a caterer. And the best part about this is that you get to run around meeting various caterers and tasting free food. On Sunday, we went to a caterer-sponsored "wedding faire" kind of thing, where there's a few vendors hawking their wedding-related shit (like photographers, officiants, etc.)

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-84931792128768218892009-02-23T15:59:00.000-08:002009-02-23T16:07:07.936-08:00

I broke down and ordered Swingtown on DVD from Amazon. I just love that show; watching half-naked Grant Show and his glorious porn 'stache was one of the things I loved best about last summer. So now I can watch this horribly underrated show whenever I want, even if I never get to see a new episode again. Stupid CBS for sucking me in to an awesome show and then dropping it like a hot

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-55891578979695555522009-02-18T15:38:00.001-08:002009-02-18T15:58:41.772-08:00

Nothing better than free stuff, right? Well, today, I got a FREE tooth whitening kit from my dentist. Not just any crap-ass whitening kit either; he made custom molds of my teeth and gave me the good stuff. This is like a $300 tooth whitening kit that he just gave me.I totally love my dentist. And that is saying a LOT...my dentist phobia is near-legendary. In fact, I won't go to the dentist

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-18815645034354966882009-02-17T18:03:00.000-08:002009-02-18T16:01:06.674-08:00

Am I the only one totally freaking out about California's complete inability to pass a fucking budget? I'm not sure I'll ever see the $1300 that California owes me as a tax refund this year. And frankly, if it means keeping the schools open, and police and firefighters working in our communities, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.But I'm starting to think California is going to declare

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-37078572937498064392009-02-17T08:32:00.000-08:002009-02-17T08:48:00.188-08:00

If you haven't seen Across the Universe yet, you really should. Beautifully made, with AMAZING covers of Beatles songs that are integrated seamlessly into the story. I just bought this movie on Blu-Ray; I had already rented it twice from Blockbuster and just had to have it.In other news, we opened up savings accounts for the kids this weekend. They will be able to deposit & withdraw money

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-54071254691062826892009-02-12T14:36:00.000-08:002009-02-12T14:39:15.988-08:00

One of my favorite cover songs, like, EVER. Imagine a country band covering Snoop Dogg. This is worth the price of admission, folks.

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12006545.post-15960413745224269272009-02-10T10:39:00.001-08:002009-02-10T10:40:38.892-08:00

Seeing James Earl Jones in a movie other than Star Wars is just so surreal. I keep hearing Darth Vader's voice coming out of this big black man and it's totally freaking me out.

Snarkmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16918549239684109762snarkmeister@gmail.com0