how much spent?

how much has your own state spent on the war in iraq?
visit HERE to find out.
i see a cool $3.4 billion from minnesota.....

when a girl gets bored...

when a girl gets bored...
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

she will use a bleaching kit to take the black out of her hair. then she'll decide she likes the change. lighter hair: kari tested, sibling approved.

which john cusack character are you?

I'm Lloyd Dobbler....who are you? take this quiz and find out!

why am i watching this?

i've stumbled across the E channel and the Anna Nicole Smith show. no matter what you think of her, no matter what you think of those horrible trim spa commercials and endorsements -- holy crap, she's tiny now... i mean...holy crap. does this mean that trim spa actually works? anna nicole, if you are reading this, give me the story on this: does trim spa really work (you are traveling in the Trim Spa bus, after all), or are you barfing every meal?

maybe high fright, i said.

lowfright6
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

another "low fright" image at the haunted house...pretty sure this is what nightmares are made of.

a wee witch

abbeycorn1
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

one of the children of the corn.

maybe medium fright, abbey said.

lowfright4
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

so the carnival had a haunted house and they offered a "low fright" version of it, meaning they left the lights on and no one was grabbing at your from behind curtains. but some of the imagery was a bit disturbing, even when well-lit...

carnival fun

momabbeycarnival
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

abbey and i at a halloween carnival in cottage grove. she's dressed up as a witch (sans hat) and i'm dressed up as someone who needs to get more sleep.

an early morning

the child woke up with the coughs at 4 a.m. she stayed up, i stayed up. so tired it is actually causing me physical pain. will be working at the kerry/edwards phone bank tomorrow from 2 to 5, which kicks ass b/c i'll have a chance to meet and/or chat with elizabeth edwards -- could be interesting. i become oddly starstruck with people who are not technically "stars" (depending on your definition, i suppose) and i have the tendency to either come down with verbal diaharrea (did i spell that right? i'm not in the habit of spelling that, i guess) and speak nonstop or go to the other extreme and lose all communication abilities. or maybe i'll tell her that i nominated her husband for Boyfriend of the Week on an alternate blog that i do with a young miss kara luger (K Rawk) -- it's seldom updated b/c i've not time to do too many things in a day, but you can check it out at www.karakari.blogspot.com.

http://music.netscape.com/ns/music/popquiz/popstar.jsp?varN=1&score=0
click and find out what pop star you are. it told me i was jessica simpson. i'm not quite sure how to handle that, so i think the best course of action would be whiskey.

for some reason i can't find the link button on this screen, which explains why i'm pasting in links. i'm using Safari for my internet and i think some bugs are still apparent. anyone else have this problem with Safari and Blogger?

i have a tornado dream about once a week. in the dream i'm in the community room at the apartment complex my grandparents lived in and the walls are made out of glass and there is a tornado outside in every direction, and i'm always taking cover but i'm not really scared, i'm just amazed that no one else is taking cover under a table like i am.

anyone analyze dreams?

i also have dreams that i'm losing my teeth. the dreams involve me having a mouthful of teeth that have fallen out of place, have crumbled or have just become very loose. in the dream i keep biting down, trying to keep them in the same spots but it's completely in vain.

am watching a W rally on C-Span. he's in new hampshire and i'm more interested in how his wife watches what he says and does. according the W, the oval office is a shrine to democracy...walking in there can be awe-inspiring. i now have an image of W, going to work every day (or really, once a week or so) and always having the same dumb, awe-inspired look on his manchild face.

still watching laura's expression -- she has her arms folded on her lap and she is stoking her right forearm with her left hand. is she in pain? does she suffer from the heartbreak of eczema? she really loves him and he adores her. but he would be a much better neighbor down the block who owned a hardware store and would let you run a tab. but no, he's the "war prezdent."

okay, so i saw john edwards speak and he had neither a podium nor a written speech. and i don't recall seeing any kerry footage of a podium and a written speech. yet here is manchild bush with both podium and a speech he's reading. do kerry and edwards memorize, or are they just functional people who can think spontaneously while spontaneous words from bush are just embarassing?

paul (joe@joe-mammy.com) mentioned on his blog that he doesn't think the world has changed, but that we are seeing a little bit more of how things work. i don't know one way or the other, but i think the real point is that if the world has always been this corrupt, i'm glad we're taking notice. just b/c it's always been this way doesn't mean it needs to stay this way.

okay, bush was just caught off guard from a prematurely exploding confetti cannon. funny.
"my determination is wrong -- strong, my determination is strong." nice freudian slip, george. however the carefully screened crowd would never take issue with that.

so i've seen "veterans for kerry" and "women for kerry" signs, but this is the first time i've seen "doctors for bush" on a sign. and bush just hugged a small child dressed up as an elephant. and i'm sure he's a great babysitter. i know how much he enjoyed listening to kids read "my pet goat" on 9/11. which, by the way, osama, in the newly-released video, notes, making reference to bush sitting in the classroom and doing nothing, giving extra time for the destruction to occur. according to the video, the terrorists were planning on a 20 minute attack, b/c they thought there would be military action before too long. nope, not in our country! we'll tell them to stand down and wait it out. we'll sit in a classroom and look panicked while a situation goes from bad to worse.

i think that's my rant.

okay, one final thought to close out the world's longest blog entry: kerry has taken to saying that he's got our back. and i think i'm perfectly okay with that.

an update

....and she's still awake...... it may be a long night. she has a little pretend knitting kit. i told her i'd ground her if i saw her doing anything besides sleeping. she came into my room, knitting in hand and here is the conversation:
"mom, i'm only knitting because i'm bored."

she was bored. NOT SLEEPING. bored. if i'm bored the first damn thing i want to do is sleep; when i was 8 i don't think i'd ever consider sleeping a good thing, however hindsight is 20/20 and if i knew then what i knew now...let's just say that i would never have fought to stay up and watch Cagney and Lacy all those nights.

and she's STILL ROAMING AROUND. damn.

jack1

jack1
Originally uploaded by kllnin.

it's the lovely jack in my arms and only 12 hours old. it's strange to think that, just 13 hour prior to this photo being taken, he was actually breathing amniotic fluid.

a baby boy!

my sister amy had a baby boy on the early morning of oct. 26 -- a wee lad named Jack! hurrah! watch for a picture or two posted of the boy...

hairy food, ibooks and more

ibooks are pretty. especially when they are yours.
hairy food is bad, but not as bad when the hair is yours.
my sad cheese sandwich fell prey to my locks. i found the hair whilst eating. the thought of it makes me want to purge. have since tossed sandwich into the garbage and will be sustained only by a small bag of doritos, an apple and a can of coke. and maybe a can of a&w. and cigarettes. wow, when i look at it that way, i really have it made!
my older sister is at the hospital today, enjoying the fruits of her labor. wait. no, she's just IN LABOR. so the fourth marble/larson child will be among us soon. and for those of you in the twin cities metro area, i'm chewing on the idea of having people over on election night to either share in the victory or weep in the face of defeat. or drink in the face of defeat. wait, we could drink either way. anyhow, email me for directions, info, etc.
it's now time for the cigaratte, and then i shall follow that with the EXCITING production of The Georgia Peace Officers Magazine.

another 1 a.m. post

an al pacino movie is on -- not entirely sure what it is. mr. terry walker came over this evening and we took in a couple episodes of "scariest places on earth." all in all some decent creepy fun with narration courtesy of the psychic lady from the poltergeist movies and hosted by none other than Linda "Split Pea Soup Vomit" Blair. Nice...
on a really crappy note, i have to send this blasted laptop back AGAIN! that's right! return #4, original problem of the adapter not staying plugged in. i move slightly, it drops right out. i'm horribly irritated.
should condi rice really be making speeches? she's so horrible. i can't imagine waking up every day and being condi rice -- living a life of total fabrication, secrecy and hypocrisy. no more fox news tonight. onto animal planet.
so...my plans for halloween-inspired movies to watch (and feel free to chime in any suggestions):
1. Halloween
2. Halloween H20
3. Evil Dead Trilogy (or, at the very least,Dead 2 w/commentary)
4. Nightmare on Elm Street
6. Dawn of the Dead (original and remake)

any other suggestions?

oh! my older sister is about to have a fourth babyyyyy! she'll be going in on monday a.m. to have labor induced, so i'll be staying out in eagan tomorrow night and possibly some of monday -- help out with the other wee tots, pace the floor expectantly, things like that. crap..i need to sleep.

abbey put up a poll at her afterschool program -- even school kids know not to favor bush. what a girl my abbey is. 

and here's what comes after the smoke on the porch... 

in case you wonder what one might be doing at 1 a.m. in minnesota... 

joke of the day

Props to Al Franken for this goody:

What's the difference between Vietnam and Iraq?

Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

(ba-dum-bump!)

FINALLY!

if you look closely at the time you will see that i am not blogging during a lunch hour which can mean only one thing.....MY LAPTOP IS FINALLY FREAKING BACK AND REPAIRED. i think. time will tell. but that took WAY too fucking long.
and now i'm doing abbey-related things, but i shall blog again later. because i can from the comfort of a chair. hurrah!

f**king emachines...

still w/out laptop, so the blogs are few and far between. but watch THIS immediately, and props to c.george for the link.
and after that, try to watch the opening part of monday night's Daily Show w/Jon Stewart. it's a gooden.
we have also acquired "going upriver," the documentary about john kerry, so if anyone would like to see it lemme know... we're trying to spread it around to anyone who might be "indecided" at this point.
more blogging later...

unwell

at home today. sleep, medicate, repeat. watched a few daily shows online that i missed, most notable, the bill o'reilly episode -- a good watch and when o'reilly is off of his creepy Fox news highhorse, it's somewhat entertaining. saw john edwards on sunday in maple grove and it was a nice little boost of "maybe we won't be on our way to hell in a handbasket after all" feeling. the music before the rally was great, highlighted by twisted sister's "we're not gonna take it." and now i hope that song is stuck in your head the way it's been stuck in mine for two days.
hope to be feeling better soon -- would like to go into work today, as being at home right now feels too much like the spell of unemployment did. except i know that tomorrow i have someplace to go with things to do, and before i could only look forward to another day of "well, guess i'll look on monster.com in vain again."
i miss my laptop. down with emachines! i got it back after my second repair attempt to find that no, they did not fix what needed fixing, but they charged the battery. which has since been used up. so this time, while awaiting a shipping box from them, i sticky-taped a few arrows pointing to the problem and wrote a note stating the EXACT problem. and if this one doesn't work, on the THIRD attempt, i shall revolt. revolt in a manner of "SEND ME A DIFFERENT LAPTOP THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO SELL AND USE THE PROCEEDS TO BUY A MAC, PLEASE."
(i was so spirited that i used all caps. now you know i'm serious.)
maybe the emachines people will read this and see the error of their ways. maybe they will think, "hmm...she may never buy one again. she will tell all of her friends not to buy one. maybe we should rethink our repair work."
however b/c i've been calling them so oft, one of their little survey callers called yesterday and asked me to rate the repair service, the time on hold, and what i thought of the product. i was more than happy to share with her that no, there was little or no chance of me EVER buying an emachine ever again and that no, there was little or no chance of me EVER recommending one to a friend. EVER.
anyone got a mac laptop to sell?
here are some quotes i've heard over the past few days:

"I might kills you for a sandwich."
-dustin, while we waited in a very, very long line to see john edwards on sunday.

"Some look at a glass and see it as half full while others look at a glass and say... it's a dragon."
-the daily show's jon stewart in response to the bush administration's statement that the Duhlfer (sp?) report actually JUSTIFIED the war in Iraq.

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country." --George W. Bush, Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.

"I didn't join the International Criminal Court because I don't want to put our troops in the hands of prosecutors from other nations. Look, if somebody has done some wrong in our military, we'll take care of it. We got plenty of capability of dealing with justice." -- George W. Bush, Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004

(and i'm noticing most of these are from W. hmmm....but here is another:)

"As you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say." --George W. Bush, 10.28.03.
(UNLESS YOU ARE WEARING A KERRY PIN OR WON'T SIGN THE LOYALTY OATH. THEN YOU ARE JUST SCREWED.)

and now i must sleep, medicate, repeat.

Lonestar Iconoclast

Okay, so the Crawford, TX newspaper, the Iconoclast, has endorsed Kerry and the backlash has come in the tune of this 900+ circulation newspaper to lose over 50 percent of their subscriptions... this is detrimental to the survival of this newspaper so i'm urging everyone to subscribe to this paper... read the EDITORIAL in question and if you want to help save the Bush hometown paper that is going against the grain, check out their site at www.iconoclast-texas.com. It's 45 clams a year to subscribe and it's a small town paper fighting the good fight with a clean conscience.

October Surprise, anyone?

Kerry is leading in the polls... ALL the proof is officially in that there was no WMD reason to go to Iraq....and now a new warning.... gosh, who saw that coming?
What are your guesses for an October surprise?

what's that, dick cheney?

you said to check the www.factcheck.com site for truth about Halliburton? okay....i'll check that site.....

HOLY CRAPOLA!!!

visit www.factcheck.com immediately!!!!

creamy chicken ramen...

...was my lunch today. a pleasant ramen surprise. i'm listening happily to the Al Franken Show on Air America -- his show is on tour and today is in mpls. and freakin' MICHAEL STIPE will be on shortly. i think. hopefully i didn't miss it.
i'm really sick of the medication. really sick of being tired but it is working and i guess it's a bit of a trade off -- sanity for physical energy. as long as i have the energy to blog, isn't that what matters?
have to get ye olde knee checked out-- officially noting that i am, in fact, getting older. if i have to make a noise in order to walk downstairs (i.e., "eek!" or "aah!"), might be time to see a medic.
MEDIC!
where do you think gwbush will be working in january? will halliburton hire him as a "thank you" for all the work received? i'm getting more and more confident that he will NOT be re-elected. al franken gives some really nice "rallying the troops" kind of speeches that are a mixture of howard dean's kick ass barbaric yalp and paul wellstone's wondrous rants. it's nice to hear.
so i went to planned parenthood to pick up some pills. and, for the record, whenever i go to ANY doctor's appt., i cover my scarred little forearms -- it's just wise. but on this occasion i had to tell them other medication i am on and what it's for. well you think there's a social stigma against anti-depressants? try mumbling out the word "anti-psychotic" in a nonchalant manner -- and then wait for the repercussion of that. wait for the nurse to start speaking more slowly for some reason. wait for her to start speaking in a louder voice, for her to act as though, at any given moment, you'll start lashing out with your fist b/c, after all, you must be psychotic to take an anti-psychotic. so that really was depressing. and, in my usual borderline manner, i went in there a supporter of planned parenthood and i came out vowing never to go back to that clinic. nuts.
i'm cutting down on smoking -- only one half a cig on monday, one today (thus far) and we'll see how that goes.

Sweet, sweet Guardian!

I love this news source. And I like the tone of this article, why can't we have a Guardian here?

A good night overall!

check out Dustin's Blog, as it will pretty much sum up the debates and the overall reaction that he and i had. sadly at 5:08 a.m., i'm not very articulate. i fell asleep whilst putting the wee tot to bed and then woke up at a quarter to four, unable to sleep again. i showered, i shaved, i plucked my eyebrows (not all of them, just a few unruly rascals), i drank a yoplait breakfast smoothie that has since left a foul taste in my mouth, i checked some blog -- generally i've accomplished everything i needed to do before i leave for work in TWO HOURS. not enough time to sleep and be able to wake up alright, too much time to blog about stuff that doesn't really matter (eyebrows? smoothie?). what's a girl to do?
a girl is to watch RENO 911!