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| Edit:I missed the post about the lights before sorry about that!! My parents are in town for Christmas and this is our first year staying in Austin for Christmas (instead of going to either of our families places) and we're all needing to get a little more in the holiday spirit :). Any ideas especially dog friendly ones would be GREATLY appreciated! My parents still haven't spent enough time here to really warm up to the city yet, i'm hoping we can change that :). Cheers! Edit#2 (sorry!)- Where in Austin would i be able to find a reasonably priced 12 inch cast iron skillet?! | ||||||
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December 22nd, 2009
December 22nd, 2009
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December 22nd, 2009
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Damnit. | ||||||||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/alphyna/pp/creative.png)
creativeDecember 22nd, 2009
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http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/we http://www.theonion.com/content/news_bri
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December 22nd, 2009
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http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/we http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/cow
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December 22nd, 2009
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| In the infamous Milgram experiments people were asked to give progressively stronger electrical shocks to partners who answered questions incorrectly. The recruits were told they were in a study about learning and memory; in fact, their resistance to obeying authority was being observed. When asked to predict the results, Milgram's peers assumed that only a small minority of participants would give a lethal dose of electricity to their partner. It was assumed by these associates that only a sociopath would be sadistic enough. In fact, 25 of 40 participants were willing to administer three shocks of 450 volts. This study has been replicated with similar results. Joseph Dimow was one of the people in the Milgram experiment who refused to participate. He wrote an article about his experience. I picked out some of his comments that express his motivation. Moral Compass "In retrospect, I believe that my upbringing in a socialist-oriented family steeped in a class struggle view of society taught me that authorities would often have a different view of right and wrong than mine." Experience with Exercising Authority "I had become accustomed to exercising authority and having people from a variety of backgrounds and professions carry out assignments I gave them. As a result, I had an unorthodox understanding of authority and was not likely to be impressed by a white lab coat." Empathy for Feeling Harassed "In the early 1950s, I was harassed and tailed by the FBI, and in 1954, along with other leaders of the Communist Party in Connecticut, I was arrested and tried under the Smith Act on charges of 'conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the government by force and violence.'" Other Factors: Metacognition and Keen Observation He was willing to ask many questions about the experiment and to wonder about the procedure. He was thinking about the thinking behind the experience. He says he was first tipped off that things might not be as they were being presented when he and his 'partner' drew straws to see who would be the person receiving the shocks. The other person drew first and claimed he had the short straw but Dimow never actually got to compare the two straws. http://www.jewishcurrents.org/2004-j | ||||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/we http://www.theonion.com/content/node/299
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December 22nd, 2009
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| ( Read more... ) | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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| And, yes, I am still all over it. Kent came home frustrated last night. He went around trying to find a tabletop tree and there were none to be had. I don't think he has any idea how much the mere fact that he went looking means to me. Christmas really isn't his thing. As a pagan, it really isn't technically my thing, either but....it is emotional for me. I was talking to Glenn yesterday and he went on one of his fundie-Pagan rants (yes, Virginia, they do exist. And, much as I love the man, he is as dogmatic in his beliefs now as he was when he was a Jehovah's Witness) about how Christmas shouldn't matter to me and...well, it does. For me, it isn't about religion, it is about family, and whatever that means to me in a given year. So, yeah, he ticked me off a bit. [Sidenote: Don't play the more pagan than thou card with me, or try to school me in The One True Way, because all you will do is piss me off. Mightily. And ya dinna wanna do that with a redhaired witch.] Anyway, back to the positive. We got two boxes from NJ yesterday. Geralyn said to put them under our tree, but since we don't have one, I didn't feel compelled to follow her instructions. One contained Ashe's latest art project. We now have a green and yellow pinata hanging from the ceiling in the living room, right above the table with the Jack Skellington light, my goth rag doll and Kermit. Oh, and the dried roses from Valentine's Day in an empty wine bottle with a cool label I nicked from work. (We save empty bottles, and this one had such a pretty label....) The other box has 2 coffee cups with pics of the boys on them. :) :) :) Including the one of Ashe with the greeter from FAO Schwarz. So very cool. AAAAAAAND...while I was fretting and pouting about not getting to go home, it dawned on me that I had set money aside to give my grandparents for gas. I had almost forgotten that I had stuck some cash in my jewelry box for the trip. March 9. DPAC. Row M. Yes, I went ahead and bought the tickets for the Moody Blues. And this time, when they play "Question" (and they dang well better), my love can wrap his arms around me and sing with me. "I'm looking for a miracle in my life...." Life ain't so bad. | ||||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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| How cool of a "real" newsman to write about how important Jon Stewart is to news.
http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/new-thou | ||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/stars/green/sleepy_sg.gif){kind=small}
sleepyDecember 22nd, 2009
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| Not sure if you all have seen/heard this, but I have to recommend it. Not work-safe. Very naughty but hilarious and absurd to hear Zachary Quinto telling a slash story. :D http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_s Even if you don't like slash, you've gotta admit that the creativity is astounding! :D Imagine how much time it took for them to edit this! | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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 Под катом больше размером. ( Read more... ) | ||||||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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December 22nd, 2009
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| ( Thanks for clicking! ) Clicking yours now! | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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| I have four eggs so thanks for all the views,pets and clicks....I'll be ninja clicking away :) ( Tuesday post ) | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| Of major chains (target, walmart, etc) who has the cheapest prices on baby/toddler food? Specifically the meat foods or the toddler "meals". Thanks guys! | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( twitty stuff I said today - cut for your pleasure (or not!) ) | ||||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( draguns ) | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
December 21st, 2009
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| I am staying in town for Chrismas with my boyfriend and a friend. They both can't commit to an idea for Christmas dinner and I am at my wits' end. I will be cooking the main but I have to get around a few limitations: My boyfriend is weirded out by slabs of meat. So no pot roast, steak, lamb, you get the idea. Also meat on the bone really bothers him. EDITED TO ADD: He was raised a strict vegetarian, hence the aversion to some...styles of meat. He isn't picky; he just can't physically handle the idea of eating it. I mentioned stew and he got green so he is pretty sensitive to this sort of thing. I want to respect his tastes because he's never made mushrooms and expected me to eat them. He also hates seafood. I think 3 people is not enough to finish a turkey. What is a cook to do? I want to do something special since none of us can make it home. If things keep going this way we're either just having a Yule Log cake for dinner or Hometown Buffet. Yes, I have thought about going out for Chinese Turkey too :)! | ||||||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/pink/angry.gif){kind=small}
annoyedDecember 21st, 2009
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| ( Icy's ) ( Mine ) | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| Gotta love spending time with work people. Lots of fun, but sometimes awkward. Anyways, I'm exhausted. Some clicks now, most in the morning. Have a good night, ya'll. 4 days, 21 hours:  ( My other darlings ) | ||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/tired.gif){kind=small}
tiredDecember 21st, 2009
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    And my scroll. ( Valenths ) | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| Once upon a time, New Recipes for 2009 #30: Toffee Brittle with Chocolate and Sea Salt, from here. Kate served this excellent toffee at her homecoming party and was kind enough to send me the link to her recipe. I made it tonight as a Christmas gift for my boss, a big toffee fan, and it came out so damn beautifully perfect that I burped up butterflies. The end. Dum de dum. Or maybe, and I'm just telling a story here, none of this is necessarily true, maybe I was kind of tired from work and sort of threw the butter and the sugar in the pan without dicing up the butter and the sugar maybe caramelized too early before the butter melted, resulting in hard hard HARD lumps of candy within a buttery goo. And maybe, just maybe, I tried to dissolve that sugar in the butter to no avail, butter being mostly fat, and decided that since the butter was ruined anyway I might as well try straining out the damn hard candy through a fine sieve, add a little more sugar, and try again. Then--and I'm still just telling a story that may or may not be true--it may have turned out okay after all that. At least I think it did. I mean, it looks like toffee and tastes like toffee and walks like toffee, which means.....it's a duck. Quack. And then it grew up to be a swan and lived happily ever after, and Annie got a big candy-fueled raise. The end. Good night. | ||||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( Winter Solstice Babies! ) | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| Case of the disappearing Yulebuck??? Twice now, I've bred a Yulebuck. They both made four eggs, I clicked to keep one the first time. Kept it, was on my scroll. It vanished later that day. Bred another one tonight. Same thing happened...I made sure to click one to save it so that they wouldn't all be abandoned. What's going on?? Help!      My Scroll:  ...and my friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} elaryn's hatchies, with her permission:  | ||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif){kind=small}
calmDecember 21st, 2009
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| I realized that I haven't posted any cakes since August, so I should show y'all what I've been up to since then. (Answer: not too much, actually.) ( Click here for five cakes! ) Thanks for looking at my cakes, everyone, and for all the good advice you give all year long! | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| and as if proving stupidity is genetic, my baby brother has started again as well. wanna bet if we can get these sons of a biscuits grown before Christmas? EXTREME SPAMMAGE GO. ( (ﾉ◉ヮ◉)ﾉ :｡･:*:･ﾟ'✿,｡･:*:❀･ﾟ'❁ ) thank you ♥ | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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Happy birthday cygny !!! | ||||||||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/kyokoaegis/X-Files%20Moodtheme/energetic.png)
energeticDecember 21st, 2009
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 // // // // ( Read more... ) | ||||
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December 22nd, 2009
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GPUpdate TV: Di Grassi revved up for debut season => Video 'Something else was needed' - di Montezemolo on Alonso Vettel misses out on German sports award Yoong disappointed with Petronas decision Grosjean bidding for Renault seat Briatore and Mosley in war of words Petronas becomes Mercedes title sponsor Mansell: Age no worry for Schumacher 'Rome confirms Formula 1 contract' | ||||||||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/kyokoaegis/X-Files%20Moodtheme/cheerful.png)
cheerfulDecember 22nd, 2009
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| Enjoy ;)
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busy
December 22nd, 2009
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![[mood icon]](http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/kyokoaegis/X-Files%20Moodtheme/amused.png)
amusedDecember 21st, 2009
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Thanks and come again! | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| A friend gave us some venison tenderloin. It's in a brine right now, but I'm wondering what your favorite venison recipes are? We'd like something a bit more creative than grilling them up -- bonus points if the recipe reduces the gamey-ness of the meat (we're not used to the taste yet). | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( These eggs need much love ) Thank you for clicking and viewing!! | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| Ok, avahasnoalias, I don't promise 30 days but I'll try to do as many happiness posts as I can in the coming days. The challenge meshes well with my own realization that I need to turn my attitude around right now. I admire Rio for his ability to do that. He used to hang out to sorrow and anger far too tightly, but with reminders he has gotten amazingly good at taking a breath, letting it go, and smiling and starting over, even when the smile is a little shaky and tear stained. So, happiness. Letting go of my stress that I'm still nauseous, still throwing up, plus my CFIDS is coming back, that I haven't dealt with Christmas almost at all (to the point that I wore out today trying to find gifts for the kids). Not a good start, huh? Breathe and release. Happy: All of my in-town cousins except one, plus several out of towners, are coming over on Wednesday to make tamales. Our kids will do a gift swap. Some aunts will come too. I've been focusing on the stress of this, but really I'm happy and excited to see them all again, and to make tamales. Happy that my family in general treats Christmas/Solstice with a delicate hand, and is not offended by non-events and absent or late presents. If I felt pressure to make a nice Christmas for anyone but the kids this year, I'd feel doomed. Instead, I'm able to enjoy our tree, and the lights, and the prospect of my mom's turkey and dressing. Happy that my daughter will be here soon. I'm getting excited to meet her. Happy that I love to spend time with children most of the time. Happy that they are loving and thoughtful and intelligent. Happy that they still want me to hug and kiss them over and over at bedtime. Happy that I got to use my brain for pay some this year, doing technical writing. It's satisfying in a very different way than child rearing and art are. Ooops. I better save some happy for the next few days. Don't want to run out! | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| When Joseph Darby found out that prisoners were being abused at Abu Ghraib he followed his conscience and spoke out. How did that happen? I think it is really interesting that people have this tendency to think that evil is fascinating. Why aren't people just as fascinated with people who decide to do good acts? I think of evil as deliberate acts of power that hurt other people. And I think that evil acts are astonishingly commonplace. Nevermind Nazi Germany. Just think of the Milgram obedience experiments that showed that ordinary people will inflict lethal pain on others -- just because someone in authority asked them. Or think of the fact that bullying is a cross-cultural phenomenon. Cruelty is commonplace. What I think may be more interesting than the idea that anyone can be tempted to the dark side is the question: what are the preconditions that help someone choose to do good? Maybe the case of Joseph Darby is a key to understanding good. One thing I discovered about him is that he knew himself. When he was stationed at the prison he did not want to guard prisoners because he knew he had a short temper. He was afraid that he might act inappropriately. Another thing I discovered was he had been tormented when he was in high school. Some of his fellow students thought he was arrogant and wanted to take him down a few notches. Was he bullied because he was unique? Did he become more unique because of the bullying? One person who knew him suggested that maybe he had gained a deeper empathy for others as a consequence of the bullying. His empathy for others stopped him from accepting the dehumanization of the prisoners. Maybe he was able to speak out because he did not really identify with the group. Maybe he saw himself as an individual instead. When you don't care about the group's norms you have the freedom to make critical judgments and draw unique conclusions. If so, then maybe the stereotype of loners being mentally unbalanced ought to be re-examined. Maybe that status as an outlier --deviant -- can push one into unconventionally good behavior as often as it may lead one down the path of coercion or violence. I didn't know that he and his family were persecuted for his choice and that he had to live under protective care. Or that Donald Rumsfield outed him not only when he had been promised anonymity but also while he was still stationed at the prison. I think he is an interesting person. Much more interesting than the people who acted without thinking. | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( I'm Back ) | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| So, to put it nicely..my neighbors are evil. We live in the Northeast and recently had a ton of snow. Our truck was snowed in, much like all of the other vehicles in our apartment complex lot. Our neighbors hate us, so they decided to dig our truck further into the snow. And I mean INTO the snow. We had a _six_ foot pile of snow behind our truck from them shoveling out their car. How do we know it was them? My husband saw them doing it and laughing about it. And I looked up their facebook (creeper, I know) and found pictures of them bragging about digging us in. (None of the other 20 or so cars in the lot seemed to have a problem putting the snow in the street or next to cars..except them..) We've had problems with them in the past, but we've ignored it and haven't reported them to complex management. They've left bags of used kitty litter in front of our door...we moved it to the side, next to their door, where it sat for weeks..put garbage bags in front of our door..and just are incredibly obnoxious. The female of the couple also accused me of watering her head through our balcony ..which I didn't do..but it was raining so I don't doubt that some rain got on her head. Instead of talking to us, she reported us to the complex and we got a note from them about not watering the neighbors. (Hilarious and sad at the same time..) If it makes a difference, we live in a complex that's 2 stories and about 8 side by side buildings. We're on the 2nd floor at the edge of one of the buildings and face out onto the street. They live directly under us. I like to think we're pretty quiet.. but who knows. So, noble ljers of hip_domestics, how should we handle this situation? It really is just too much and my husband is pissed. | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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December 20th, 2009
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More at my blog HERE | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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 This is a great holiday drink. It's bright, festive, and impressive. The cranberry syrup is a perfect addition to the simplicity of gin and soda. I prefer gin over vodka because I find that it doesn't taste as strongly as vodka does, and I also find that cheap gin is less noticeable than cheap vodka, haha. I gave this to gin and non-gin drinkers alike, and everyone seemed to like the drink very much. It's sweet, but not overwhelmingly so by any means, and the extra cranberries in the syrup pop in your mouth when you bite down on one. The whole drink is pretty simple to make, too, and you can make the syrup a day or two in advance. It's great to have in a pitcher for a party or a small get together. Recipe after the cut or on my blog at The Crepes of Wrath. ( Gin & (Cranberry) Juice ) | ||||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( eggs ) | ||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) | ||||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/amused.gif){kind=small}
amusedDecember 21st, 2009
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| The OC - 401: The Avengers - 405: The Sleeping Beauty. Screencaps: 600-700 each. Resolution: 1600 x 9000 File type: jpg Galleries and Download Links here @ ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} rawr_caps . | ||||||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| While I was trying to figure out a nice way to present my dad's fiance with the wreath I made her for Christmas, I stumbled across this awesome wreath made of leftover scraps of wrapping paper: of course it's on Instructables! Thought I'd share so we can all have a greener holiday season. :) Does anyone have any good ideas for wrapping/presenting a wreath? I know the obvious answer is something like "put it in a bag, dummy!" but I can't find any bags that it fits in that aren't obnoxiously huge and it seems like most gift boxes aren't deep enough. The wreath itself is has white poinsettias and gold ribbon on it and is an oval shape. Would it be tacky to just give it to her unwrapped? | ||||||||
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![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/pink/cheerful.gif){kind=small}
cheerfulDecember 21st, 2009
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| ( my four new eggs ) ( my friends egg/hatchlings, they are her first ) thanks a lot for taking the time to click. | ||||
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December 21st, 2009
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| ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) | ||||||
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