Ben's birthday present finally arrived! The XOPC is shockingly small. Ben is very excited to create programs for it. He plays with it almost as much as his xbox ;-)

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Here’s another old recipe. This totally cracks me up! Does anyone want to hold a mid-century cooking party with me?

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I love this flickr group! They cook recipes from mid century cookbooks and upload photos, with appropriate food styling and tasting comments!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/midcenturysupperclub/

And just like that I'm done with my online ethics class. Yup, shipped off my final essay over the intertubes this morning. Feels sooo good.

Now I can tippity type all the day long to try to earn some cash. Ben is home with a headache this morning. He didn't really have to go into the office today so he's working downstairs. That means I get to work in my lovely craft room, ignoring any strange noises coming from dog downstairs because she is not my responsibility! Maybe Ben and I can even eat lunch together :-)

Shane was pretty funny. It had everything I expected to see in a Western - drunken brawls, quick draw shootouts, swinging saloon doors, covered wagons, smashing chairs on bodies, a guy getting shot and falling face first off a balcony, all that stuff. I'm trying to remember all the movies we've seen now. . .

• Sleuth - Brian
  
• xXx - Ben
  
• A Room With a View - Rachel
  
• Igby Goes Down - Trevor
  
• Cannibal the Musical - Nate
  
• Kill, Baby...Kill - Brian
  
• Keeping Mum - Cate
  
• Blood Simple - Shawn
  
• Marie Antoinette - Rachel
  
• Shane - Trevor
  

Hmmm, I feel like I'm missing one but it's not coming to mind. Well, anyway that's a pretty good list! And most of them are movies I wouldn't have seen if we didn't have the club.

(I just like this 1923 photo of a ballerina. No reason)
Almost done! I finished my online class discussions. All I have left is a 14 page paper, due in 30 hours. I have an outline and most of the research done. I'll be so happy to be done with the class.

After ethics I go back to my old job to write up a final report on our last study. It'll take me a few days, but then I'll be officially done with that job too. That leaves transcription to fill my days. Yes, I suspect I'll be pretty bored. Hopefully I can volunteer at the cat shelter some more and visit Miranda and her new baby.

Tonight is another Movie Club. We're watching a western called Shane, Trevor's pick. We actually might have a large crowd tonight, maybe up to ten people. I better clean my basement tonight.

I usually like to have food for the movie watching, but money does not permit these days. Sadly, we're really feeling the strain of my reduced workload. We actually sat down and wrote out a budget last night - something we've never had to do. No restaurant week for us. No rabies shot for Molly this month. Some things will have to wait for better days.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must continue my internal battle as illustrated below.

Hoorah! Just a quiet celebration this year. Ben and I opened presents in bed this morning. I had lunch with him at my favorite sandwich shop, Panera Bread. We're going out to dinner and then having ice cream cake with friends. In between is normal stuff - transcription work, school work, walking the dog. Actually, I've been at the library for most of the day so I don't have to deal with the dog :-) It's nice and quiet here with wi-fi, allowing me to do lots of work and posting (as you may have noticed).

Birthdays always make me think of The American Astronaut. "Aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?"