Woke up to several inches of snow this morning. Wet, soft spring snow. Very pretty, very artfully shaken on, like confectioner's sugar on a jelly roll. It doesn't look quite real. Movie set snow. I'm not going to take it too seriously.

I noticed today that my Morocco - Warm Amber and Incense candles from Target carry a blurb/description inside the lid that reads as follows: "Embark on a safari that explores the wonders of nature as mountains cascade into the sea, animals run wild through uncultivated lands and the sun glows with an amber hue. The exotic nature of this home fragrance fills the air with the untamed sensuality of Africa." Hmm . . . the illusion of cultural globalization packaged in the rhetoric of colonial nostalgia? Evidence of capitalism as the new colonialism? Have I been spending too much time by myself at home? Why, yes.

Speaking of orientalism, here are pictures of the geisha kitsch shower curtain. Love! It!





Also? Aiko wants you all to know that she's going to be phoning it in today.

In important local news, I now officially own the Geisha Kitsch shower curtain. Won it for $16.50! Plus shipping! On eBay! I confess to being in a total froth of anticipation awaiting its arrival. Pictures of geisha kitschy bathroom may more than likely be posted. If this is too much froth for your taste, please feel free to look away.

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The local China Trough burned down just over a week ago in a terrible inferno that collapsed the roof and walls and brought out all the local townsfolk to watch. It took the Volunteer(!) Fire Department almost two hours to put out the blaze, and now there is nothing salvageable left of our beloved local trough-ery.

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My spring cleaning/decorating twitch/spasm/parosyxm/grand-mal-epileptic seizure continues unabated, blazing through my collapsing bank account not unlike the fire at the local China Trough. For me, this type of hard-core, obsessive nesting usually seems to adumbrate a period of intense creative and productive energy. Here's hoping.

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I have been experimenting with learning to recreate some of my favorite Thai dishes, because I find myself so frequently jonesing for food from my beloved Sioux City Thai eatery, Diamond Thai (located next door to the Lovely Hair Salon, whose front window is decorated with styrofoam heads topped off with an unnerving display of oddly dated and dilapidated wigs--and where one can also, apparently: get a passport, have immigration papers translated, and secure a small loan).

Last night I was able to produce a very nice spicy green curry, with zucchini, fresh string beans, yellow pepper, onion, and fresh basil. The curry sauce had green curry paste, coconut milk, a touch of brown sugar, fish sauce, and vegetable broth. I spooned this over brown rice, and it was dee-lish-us! This weekend I might try to fiddle around with a spicy glass noodle salad, and eventually I want to move on to fresh spring rolls.

O Roomba, I love you with a love that is fetishistic and zombie-esque and o so unholy.

Lately, I've been fickle about apples--every week declaring another variety my current favorite. A few weeks back it was the Cameo. Before that the Pink Lady. Last week it was Braeburns. And Galas, to me, taste like flower petals. Now, though, I'm in love with the Pacific Rose. They are honeyed and crisp and big and pinky-red and round and well . . . just so darn pretty.

And then there's the fishnet bag full of Clementines. So bright and juicy, small and sweet. Their thin, sunripe skins making my hands fragrant.

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Last week I read fiction at NSU in Abber Dabber, SD and visited with my dear friend P. at her charming new house. It was fun to read and talk about the music school stories, and gossip about my characters behind their backs. All in all, a great trip.

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In the wake of the recent Shower Curtain Mauling by Crazed and Ferocious Beastlets, I was forced to go shower curtain shopping. I found the curtain depicted below (which is fabric, and hopefully therefore less gnawable) on clearance at Target, but it's just not, well . . . doing it for me.



I confess, that I tend to have unreasonably high expectations from a shower curtain. I want it to coordinate with my towelage and my bath mattage. I need it to complement the claw foot bathtub, but I'd like for it to be modern at the same time. I want it to brighten up the room. I want it to be a little bit of a surprise. I want it to be aesthetically pleasing, but not take itself too seriously. (What's worse than a pretentious shower curtain, yes?) I want a touch of whimsy, but I don't want the shower curtain to be goofy, because the shower curtain's visible from most of the rooms in the apartment. So it also needs to function organically within the apartment-at-large. And, as if this order weren't already tall enough, the shower curtain apparently now needs to be gnaw-resistant.

So here are the current candidates under consideration. I'm leaning toward Option #1 (Geisha kitsch! On the shower curtain!) vs. Option #2 (Entomologically correct butterflies! On the shower curtain!), but perhaps you, oh blogosphere, would like to cast your vote in the Who Wants to be Artichoke Heart's House of Wayward Cats' Next Shower Curtain Primaries?

Option #1:


Option #2:


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Look closely. Here is the vet-assistant-with-no-pants toy that Yuki likes to prop up against the futon pillows in the middle of the night for me to find in the morning. Because she's funny that way.



Yuki has named the vet-assistant-with-no-pants toy shortmark. Because she's just funny that way, too.



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Also? I'm considering moving my headquarters over to WordPress.

That is all.

Here is the hole the cats gnawed in my shower curtain.

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Here is the appropriately prophylacticized new MacBook. (I wish I could have afforded a MacBook Air! Perhaps the next time there is a CatMacBook Debacle? Although please let there not be a next time?)

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Here are pictures of the offending beastlets.


Tampopo Stuff-On-My-Catting Nobu


Grrrls


Dangle


Behold! My splotchy paws are cute!


Our Machiavellian Machinations to import a large and compelling laptop box filled with crackly paper to lounge about in by killing off the old laptop through Death by Coffee has been successful! Mwa ha ha ha!