1. Good relationships and new friendships that make a big church seem small.
2. Hootchie boots make me feel uber girlyish.
3. Hunky’s hawsum meatloaf.
4. Snuggling with Hunky for a Sunday nap. *passes out barf bags*
5. Turning volume way up to Greensleeves on Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas, closing my eyes, and savoring the music while I still can.

Random Posts:

• No, Captain Obvious, I am so NOT ok.
• God help me; I’m 34 and the word "Poop" still makes me chuckle
• Wordless Wednesday #10
• Flood ‘08: Chapter 6
• I’d like to call this meeting to order…

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2009. | Permalink | Last one to comment is a rotten egg! | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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December 28 to January 03

It was a light week in the photography department. I was working really hard on a quilt most of the week.

When I work on my sewing, very often I’ll just set up my ironing board, iron, and sewing machine in the living room. Elli quickly learned that the morning sun hits just so, and the ironing board is a great place for a nap.

More Weekly Winners Here!

Random Posts:

• Wordless Wednesday #4
• *Lacks the energy to come up with a witty title*
• A video from gazetteonline.com about Flood ‘08
• Signing Saturday, the Pilot Episode
• If only I could get paid to procrastinate.

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2009. | Permalink | 3 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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Here’s another thrilling episode of Signing Saturday with your hostess, Dory!

Well, we’re not getting any younger; let’s dive right in.

First, one of the things you need to understand about signing is this: a sign is NOT equal to a word. A sign is a concept. For example, the sign most commonly known as FINISH can also mean ‘done’ or ‘already’ or ‘complete’ or… well, I could go on, or you could consult a thesaurus. Guess which I’m going with? Good guess.

Next, in sign, there is no am, is, are, was, were, the, a, an… and a whole bunch more. Well, actually, let me clarify that; in most kinds of sign language that’s true. There is one kind that uses those, plus special endings for -ed and -ing and a whole bunch more, but that’s more likely to be used in schools while they’re teaching English.

We’re always going to be talking about two forms of sign here. We’re going to talk about ASL (American Sign Language) and PSL (Pidgin Sign Language) and they do NOT use those signs.

Then, word order… it’s weird. ASL and PSL use the same signs, but different word order. ASL starts a sentence with a topic and moves from there (there’s a whole bunch more nuances to ASL grammar, but this is the key one). PSL uses mostly English word order.  So take this sentence, “Do you want a pop?” In ASL, you’re going to sign POP - WANT - YOU with your eyebrows raised through the whole sentence. In PSL, you’d sign YOU - WANT - POP with raised eyebrows. Most Deaf folk sign ASL. PSL is used mostly by people learning to sign. People who use ASL will usually switch easily to converse with someone using PSL. Then as you start to get the hang of it, you can gradually change your word order. 

Ok, last… you earned a naughty sign. 

You know that sign you use for ‘whatever’ where you make a W with your hands? Sure, you’ve seen it. Lots of hearing people use it. Well, a variation that you probably haven’t seen is pretty commonly used in the Deaf Community. Do your ‘whatever’ sign.

Now, instead of your index fingers up, put them down and put up your tall fingers.

Congratulations– You just signed ‘what the f**k ever’!

Alright, that will conclude the fourth episode of “Signing Saturday.” I’m taking suggestions for what signs you want to learn, as well as any ideas to make this more interactive.

If you really like it, take a badge and put it on your blog by copying and pasting the code in a widget or post.

The little badge is 89px by 100px
`<a href=”http://www.cantrememberdiddly.com/2008/10/25/signingsaturday/” title=”Signing Saturday with Dory”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/2971907832_993f05c211_t.jpg” width=”89″ height=”100″ alt=”signing saturday” /></a>`

The bigger badge is 200px by 219px
`<a href=”http://www.cantrememberdiddly.com/2008/10/25/signingsaturday/” title=”Signing Saturday with Dory”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/2971907832_d896a8fe17_o.jpg” width=”200″ height=”225″ alt=”signing saturday” /></a>`

Want to know more signs but you can’t wait for the next episode? This is my favorite ASL site.

Want more about Deaf culture? Google Deaf Culture.

Rip it, roll it, and punch it, dude. Word. T’yaw mutha. In sign, of course.Random Posts:

• Signing Saturday, Episode #2
• Meme-wars of a Blogger
• Wordless Wednesday #11… The “Ice Ice Baby” Edition
• My first Meme… how momentous.
• Or maybe it was the Antichrist. One can’t always be sure.

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2009. | Permalink | Last one to comment is a rotten egg! | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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Welcome to another edition of Photoshop Phriday with your hostess, Dory!

*kazoo chorus*

By the way, if there’s anyone out there that’s all Photoshoppy, I would love for you to join in the fun and bring Photoshop Phriday to your bloggy casa. Just send me an email. Or a stripper gram. Ya know, whatever.

Anyhoo… on with the show.

I’ve been Photoshopping all day long, and I’m about all Photoshopped out. I’ve been getting a bunch of my artsy-fartsy pics ready for print, and I’m going to put some up on Etsy and see how it goes. Here’s the set. (It’ll open in a new window and do a slide show.)

So anyway, today Photoshop has worn out its welcome, and I can’t even send it to a hotel. Truth be told, I was this-><-close to just punching it in the face.

But I could not let down Mah Peepull!

But I can cheat a little. I did this one quite a while ago. But hey, it’s new to you, right?

I was having one of those days, and this is how I felt. 

I know you feel mah pain. You’ve been there. Driving the Cranky Bus.

Or, The Can’t Even Stand My Own Damn Self Bus.

I never did get around to captioning this masterpiece, though. I’ll leave that for you.

Leave a good caption in your comment, and we’ll vote on it. Winning captioner gets a 4×6 print with their caption on it. Ah, hell, anyone who wants a print gets one too.

Can ya feel the love? Kenai gedda widness?!Random Posts:

• The One Where it’s My Birfday. Again.
• Signing Saturday, the Pilot Episode
• Thursday Thirteen, the Freek edition
• I ahm the weakest link… goodbye.
• Chapter 1: In Which We Meet The River Otter Obsessed With Dory’s Safari Hat.

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2009. | Permalink | 3 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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1. 2009 = Clean Slate. Bootiful, baby.
2. Watching The Rose Parade with Hunky on the 50 inch HDTV, just as God intended.
3. Clean laundry right out of the dryer.
4. Pieces of quilt all over the living room that are already put together in my brain.
5. Thick-sliced hickory-smoked floppy bacon. (In Dory-speak, floppy equals medium-rare.)

Random Posts:

• 100 things about Dory
• Row, Row, Row Your Truck, gently down the streeeeet.
• The story behind the picture… Self-portrait (2004)
• Warning: This post is witty repartee deficient.
• If only I could get paid to procrastinate.

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2009. | Permalink | 7 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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Some good stuff came out of 2008. 

Top Viewed

1. His name was Dice.
2. Eeet’s not a too-mah.
3. We’ve been Elf’d!
4. Signing Saturday, the Pilot Episode
5. Joyce Meyer 26th Annual Women’s Conference
6. Musings on Steps, Grief, Love, and Old age. Oh, and divorcing dinosaurs.

Top Referrers
Where’d ya’ll come from? Besides my old blog, then Google Reader, and then Twitter and Facebook, these lovely folks made with the kinky linky love. Thank you so very much, you lovey people!

1. Five Star Friday
2. Country Girl, City Girl
3. Okay Fine Dammit

Top Commenters
Sorry, this only goes back to August when I switched from Blogspot to WordPress. I just didn’t have the energy to do the math between the two casas. Nonetheless, my most loviest of love goes out for my dealers of verbal cocaine. You give good comment, Mah Peepull. I love you guys.

1. Kizzle (27)
2. City Girl (19)
3. BEG (16)
4. Jim (16)
5. Heather P. (11)
6. Caron (9)
7. maggie, dammit (9)
8. Trienne (9)
9. fatboyfat (8)
10. Britchik96 (7)

Top Posts
Handpicked by yours truly.

January 2008 There’s no place like home. Except your childhood home.  ”…I’m not sure how deeply I want to dissect the last few days, because I’m just exhausted; physically, emotionally, and mentally. So we’ll break it down in a safe, distancing, I Use Humor as a Defense, sort of way. Ready… Break!…”

February 2008 My HMO declined to cover that particular ER visit. The bastards.  ”…Cut to two thirtysomething women up on bar stools laughing uproariously and weaving back and forth in their seats as only the seriously shnockered can. Several empty shot glasses (one of which has been licked clean)…”

March 2008 The One That Almost Was Not  ”…I don’t share Dr. Jekyl side of myself a whole lot; well, I did once and got no comments that post, so I had to conclude that no one wanted to hear that crap, much less put a hand out to steady me. So I thought, Aw hells no, I’m never doing that again. Then I changed my mind…”

April 2008 That’s Alllllll I Waaaaant…  ”…Now, never having been in this situation before, let’s just discuss exactly what I pictured Mr. Bondsman to look like. The only thing I have to pull from is Janet Evanovitch’s Stephanie Plum series and Dog The Bounty Hunter…”

May 2008 Stoo-pid is as stoo-pid does. -OR- Life is like a box of cat poop.  ”…He so stoo-pid, he chewed the cord on the LitterMaid, gave himself a pretty good jolt, and is now afraid of his own litterbox. In his feeble mind, The Potty Bit-ted Me On My Mouf…”

June 2008 Happy 13th Anniversary! Yay, us!  ”…Syllabus…Class: How You Can Can Make Yer Wimminfolk Happy Just Like I do; Instructor: Hunky; Location: Billiards Room; Pre-Reqs: Meaningful Commitment With a Significant Other…”

July 2008 The One Where We Went To Michigan. Again. Now with added contest at the end!  ”…At one point, Dino went and sat on Seester’s lap and she leaned into him and deliberately burped in his ear. He turned around to look at her, and completely dead-pan said, “That was HAWT”. I laughed so hard I almost peed. That’s my boy. We’re SO proud…”

August 2008 Mi Casa Es Su Casa times 200 divided by PMS squared. Or something.  ”…Now, before we begin, let me warn you that today I am sporting PMS colored glasses…”

September 2008 Where do you send the fire truck if Teh Innernets go up in flames?  ”…To the estrogen laden population of my readers, and the testosterone-y ones who have estrogen-laden significant others, I don’t need to explain this next revelation. But just in case there’s one or two readers who I dunno, possibly live in a frat house on a men-only campus on another fooking planet, I will state the obvious…”

October 2008 In. Mah. Damn. HOUSE.  ”…About an hour went by, and all of a sudden, I wrinkled my nose and inhaled a little more deeply. Smoke. OMG, something’s on fire! Just then, Hunky came out of his cave office, and said, “Do you smell cigarette smoke?…”

November 2008 (a very hard decision, since I had 30 to choose from, damn NahNoMoFoMe) Smoke and asses and mirrors; that’s what little bloggers are made of.  ”…I caught myself starting to whine, “Why don’t I have H8Rs and Trolls and obnoxious Anonymousi spitting their venom all over my comments?” Then I pulled my head out of my ass…”

December 2008
Ain’t no such thing as a homeless playah. ”…For the most part, the people who are given clothes really need them and are very grateful. Every once in a while, Hunky’ll get the guy who comes in and says, ‘Ah need me a coat.’ and when he’s shown what they have in his size, he says, ‘Ah cain’t wear dat. I’m’a playah.’…”

Top Tall Finger
Goes straight out to 2008. Screw you, man. You sucked. 

Rip it, roll it, and punch it, dude. Best wishes of a blessed, happy, and healthy 2009 to you and yours from me and mine.Random Posts:

• I need Depends that fit on my head. You know, just in case.
• Flood ‘08: Chapter 6
• Cuatro Thingos
• Photoshop Phriday, Episode #2
• Wordless Wednesday #9

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2008. | Permalink | 7 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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More Wordless WednesdayRandom Posts:

• I wonder if I’ll qualify for hazardous duty pay?
• Chapter 1: In Which We Meet The River Otter Obsessed With Dory’s Safari Hat.
• And the magic wand in the glove compartment.
• A video from gazetteonline.com about Flood ‘08
• Wordless Wednesday #6

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2008. | Permalink | Last one to comment is a rotten egg! | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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December 21 to December 27

I’m getting in late because last night my Flickr plugin quit working and I was hoping it was just a little glitch. But it’s still not working. Dammit. 

Anyway.

Bubbles + Jack Russell Terrier = invisible trampoline

If you look closely at her left eye, you can see the reflection of the Christmas tree 

Can someone help a gal out here? I’ve played and played with my shutter speed and aperture, and I can’t get what I want out of my low light pictures. Especially since I hate using the flash. It’s so harsh and also too attention grabbing when I’m trying to get some good candids.

I’m very frustrated with my new boyfriend, Manual Mode. He’s kind of a persnickity doody head.

(Above) No flash, f/4.4, 1/2 second, and I set the ISO to 400. But the color is weird and it’s not as sharp as I’d like it to be. 

(Below) Flash, f/4.4, 1/60 second… I hate how harsh the light is and how dark the background is. 

What settings do you use for your low light situations?

I’m very determined to work it out with Manual Mode. Perhaps we should try couples counseling.

More Weekly Winners Here!

Random Posts:

• The obsequious interlocutor acquiesced tumescent dreck. *
• As a spectacularly clever jingle writer once said, "two great tastes that taste great together."
• Happy Independence Day
• Smoke and asses and mirrors; that’s what little bloggers are made of.
• Cuatro Thingos

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2008. | Permalink | 5 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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Just exactly then, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” came on the radio.

I busted out bawling again.

Rocky put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Mom, this is, like, the stupidest song ever.”

Laughing through crying helps.

• • • • • •

I invite you into my bathroom this morning, right after our shower. (Yes, HunkyDory showers together. Save water; shower with a friend!).

Just, like, in your brain, blur stuff out where The Sim’s game does.

Christmas carols are playing on the iHome.

Hunky: [singing along with 'White Christmas] IIIIII’m screaming at. A. Whiiiiiiite Supremisiiiiiiiist. Just like the ones I… [stops singing abruptly] There’s a chance I might’ve had too much coffee.

Dory: *blink* *blink blink* I got nothin‘, dude.

Hunky: *wandering off and twirling his hands* [sing-song voice] Tooooo Muuuuuch Caaaawwwffffffeeeeee!

Yeah, that’s how we do what we do when we do what we do.Random Posts:

• No, Captain Obvious, I am so NOT ok.
• A video from gazetteonline.com about Flood ‘08
• I ahm the weakest link… goodbye.
• Or maybe it was the Antichrist. One can’t always be sure.
• I wonder if I’ll qualify for hazardous duty pay?

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2008. | Permalink | 4 atta-girls | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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Forgive the crappy picture, but remember, my son dropped my point and shoot which was kind of a POS anyway, so I was using my camera on the PPC. 

I’m pleased to report that Elli’s new heater is working out just dandy for her. Note the hot pink inside her right ear and the panting. It has a handy thermostat so I can set it to go off right before her little head bursts into flames. So, she is once again crime-fighting in the wee hours of the night, and Cedar Rapids is a little safer on her watch.

Ah, I note the looks of confusion from some of Mah Peepull. I shall explain. You see, my little Jack Russell Terrier has been unveiled as Ghost Dog. She bursts into flames in the middle of the night and heads out on her skateboard (she can’t exactly take the motorcycle; no opposable thumbs) to fight the forces of evil.

It’s quite an interesting story how this all unfolded. Don’t worry; they’re quite short. I beg of you; partake and enjoy. Part One • Two • Three • Four • Five

Rip it, roll it, and punch it, dude. Please note the fire extinguishers positioned conveniently adjacent to each of the exits.Random Posts:

• I’d like to call this meeting to order…
• At least I don’t have binoculars and a log book.
• Photoshop Phriday: The Pilot Episode
• Wordless Wednesday #13 Walk in a Winter Wonderland
• Musings on Steps, Grief, Love, and Old age. Oh, and divorcing dinosaurs.

© Dory for Can't Remember Diddly!, 2008. | Permalink | One atta-girl | Leave some comments on my pictures on flickr. Because it makes me giddy, that's why. | Join my blog network on Facebook and Rate my blog while you're at it. This means YOU, bub. | Join my community at MyBlogLog. We can propagate the illusion that I'm popular or something.

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