Since it will rush up to about 1 foot away and then stop, but continuously barks, all you have to do is totally ignore it and walk into the store. And all I can think of is that scene from Much Ado About Nothing.

Dogberry: Are you good men and true?

All: Yea.

Dogberry: Being chosen for the Prince’s watch. This is your charge: You are to bid any man stand, in the prince’s name.

Francis Seacole: How if a’ will not stand?

Dogberry: Why, then take no note of him, but let him go.

Verges: If he will not stand when he is bidden, he is none of the prince’s subjects.

Dogberry: True. and we are to meddle with none but the prince’s subjects. You shall also make no noise in the streets.

George Seacole: We will rather sleep than talk.

Dogberry: Why, you speak like an ancient and most quiet watchman, for I cannot see how sleeping should offend.

“How if he will not stand?” “Then take no note of him and let him go.”

If you don’t stop and run away when the dog starts barking, then obviously you’re not an intruder and should be allowed to roam at will. Or something like that.

I think Michael Keaton’s version of this scene is the funniest version out there, but for some reason, no one has put it on YouTube. To get an idea of his version of Dogberry, though, there is this compilation of EVERY OTHER DOGBERRY SCENE IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE except this one. Which is the funniest of his scenes, so WTH?

I’m really not a memoir reader. I dislike most non-history non-fiction. For some reason, I keep choosing memoirs from Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program, and I’m not sure why (perhaps because there isn’t much fiction in my preferred genres). However, I loved I Am Hutterite. It read like a novel, and had very little of the “but that was to change all too soon” in it.

While I’m pretty familiar with Amish and Mennonites (I grew up in and live in Amish Country in south-central Pennsylvania), I’d never even heard of Hutterites until a few weeks ago. I’d heard them all grouped together and was intrigued, but assumed that it was simply another sect like the Amish. Within days I noticed I Am Hutterite appear on Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze page and immediately grabbed it. I’m so glad I did. I read the whole thing through on my recent vacation to Walt Disney World (and those who know me know that I rarely have time for reading there), and have just passed it on to my mother for her vacation. I highly recommend it.

Links of interest:Thomas Nelson’s Product Page, Book Preview

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program for the purpose of reviewing it.

I’ve heard the suggestion that Movado Watches make great Valentines gifts for those who think in riddles (Love that lasts a lifetime, love for all time, etc), which is actually pretty traditional. Just think of the Victorians and their fan language, or the language of flowers, and so on. Lovers have always sent secret messages to each other in these types of ways, and BlueDial.com makes it easy by including free 2nd day shipping to the continental US and free sizing with each watch sold.

To hubs, however, the ultimate in classiness is a Cassio watch, and I don’t wear watches. There’s one Seiko watch that I think I’d like, but I still can’t see me wearing it. I’m perfectly happy with my Christmas Mickey Mouse watch and my Nightmare Before Christmas watch. I rarely even wear bracelets, and I make those!

No, if I ever feel the need to wear a watch, I’ll probably just make one.

Now, my husband and I want to own our own home for different reasons. Me, I hate being stuck with “landlord beige”. Luckily, the townhouse we’re renting now only has the lame eggshell wall paint (flat, of course, so everything marks it), but the carpet is actually more of a tan. SOOOOO much better than landlord beige! I want to be able to paint walls, buy quality carpet, choose my own washing machine, clothes dryer, oven/stove, dishwasher, maybe even bathtub if finances would permit.  Hubs just wants privacy. No maintenance guys having keys to our apartment (though all the maintenance guys here are great and the kind of guys hubs would invite over for coffee if he were the kind of guy that did that sort of thing), a detached so we’re not listening to the neighbors having band practice and they can’t hear hubs crank up the volume on his video games, movies, and music.

We really want to buy, but because of finances, we can’t. Not yet anyway. The housing market hasn’t come down far enough, and the economy gave the bosses a good excuse to not increase our financial situation for a while. I hope that’ll change soon, but since we’re having so many problems with our rental (the building itself), we’re looking to move again and may not be able to buy before we snap. That means hunting for apartments again. Luckily there are some amazing apartments just up the road. They cost a bit more, but they sit on a golf course and have their own little village shopping center right in it! Pizza place, needlework supplies, a bank, post office, and gift shop. Not too shabby!

Would it be every version of A Christmas Carol ever made? A collection of all the old time greats such as Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly, Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton, My Favorite Husband with Lucille Ball, and Gildersleeve? (cuz, if you do, I’m so with ya!) Or maybe a collection of the guest skits on SNL without all the other junk thrown in?

At this moment, I think my ideal collection would be every cartoon ever made that used Phil Harris as a voice actor (Balloo from Jungle Book and Thomas from Aristocrats).

In America, we have Lane Bryant, Romans, Torrid, and a few others. In the UK, however, you have Simply Be.

I’m actually quite impressed with their offerings. Their dresses are super cute, many of which I’d love to have if it weren’t for three things: 1 I’d have to figure out how sizes differ between American sizing and UK sizing, not to mention that most brands don’t even agree on that. 2 I’d have to pay an arm and a leg due to exchange rates and international shipping. And 3,  no matter how cute the dress or how comfortable the size, very few dresses look good on a woman with a stomach. No hourglass figure? Need not apply.

Their Clothing Catalgoue doesn’t end at dresses, however. They have some super cute crop pants (totally my style), and an adorable “rock chic” tank top…er, “vest” which would go great with the crop pants. I’ll admit, though, that the 70′s style pants, er, “trousers” and boy shorts are… lame. And a couple of the oversized t-shirts/tunics just scream to be lit up. With a match.  So, not a total win, but much better options than we tend to get on this side of the pond.

While you can certainly get a good start on a free site, such a blogger or even Squidoo, or a professional site built for freelancers or authors, it’s always best to snag your own domain before someone else does. And if you have the domain, well, it would be silly not to use it, right?

So in comes WebHosting Geeks. They’re a review and recommendation site, where you can find all the information you need to pick out a great webhost no matter your price range or feature needs.  All of their currently featured hosts are also offering free domains with purchase- but be careful with that. If you should choose to change hosts later on, you may lose the domain as well.

One of the nice features about this site is that they have a series of articles on webhosting in general, such as how to choose a web host, or hosting overseas.

The one thing that I don’t like about the site is that my favorite host isn’t listed on their recommended sites, but that’s for a different post.

It’s actually pretty sweet looking, but I fought hard against it! I’m used to my Ford which when you touch the gas it GOES and when you touch the brake it STOPS. It was built on a truck chassis, so it sat high as well, which I loved. I didn’t like how low the Pontiac sat, or how soft the brake and gas pedal felt since it was built on a sedan chassis.

But, when hubs pulled up with our Doom Buggy license plate on the front, I changed my mind. It looks beautiful on that van! The price is so worth it just to have somewhere to hang our Doom Buggy plate.

In fact, the plate earned the Pontiac the nickname of “Doom Buggy” or “Buggy” for short. Though most people probably think we’re referencing the horse and buggies that are often driven around here, being Amish country and all.

And I had somewhere to put my Philharmagic license plate frame now too. It was on my Olds before I sold it, and it’s been lonely ever since.

You may not be able to see it, but we got one of those train design plates, where $15 of the cost goes to museums and such. Plus, the darker design suits us.

And to tell you the truth, I loooove the steering wheel. Perfect firmness for comfortable steering. I’m getting used to the brake and gas pedals too, but I’ve found that I’ve developed a lead foot with the firmer Ford gas pedal, and so I don’t actually realize that I’m making the Pontiac speed. Gotta watch that.  I was never a white vehicle person, but I love how it makes our special plates and plate frames stand out. I just wish there was an external antenna for me to put a Disney antenna topper on! I’m stuck looking for a non-Tinkerbell steering wheel cover.

The upside? Pirates of the Caribbean is so cool when you’re zonked out from cold meds (at the very least, try riding it with your head tilted back and staring at the ceiling of the ride- you go from watching the ride to feeling the ride).

The downside? Uh, well, sick. As. A. Dog. Seriously.

We got in at 2:45am this morning, and zonked out at 3:30 am. Didn’t get up till 3pm, and then only for a half hour for some soup, and then again around 5ish to shower. Finally got up around 6:30ish, did the groceries (forgot half of the list), and got some hot and sour soup for dinner.

So, I took a bunch of pictures and videos with my Flip- Pix and vids should be uploaded to various of my sites within a few days of my feeling better. Hopefully that will be soon! I thought about taking a video of me sick so ya’ll could hear how lovely I sound right now, but A. I’d like you to keep talking to me, and B. loading and posting it is beyond my capabilities right now. For pete’s sake, I had to pass up a James Bond flick cuz I couldn’t concentrate, and cheap yummy pizza because everything tastes of chemicals! Blech.

So, I’m relatively certain that I exist. Let me know if you find out for sure, would ya?