oh, dear

Some game designer must have seen me at the track this past summer and gotten inspired. This is exactly why I prefer trail running - plenty of trees and stuff with which to pull one's self along.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

theatrical heinie-kicking taken to a whole new level

So, between the never ending booze and cleavage, the barfing fellow bus passengers, the line of "vendors" thrusting the calling cards of "available" women in your face as you pass by, and the guys holding up handmade "Repent NOW!" signs, the Las Vegas Strip is basically like a 24/7 Mardi Gras in the biblical town of Gomorrah. I mean, we all know this, right?

Also, after spending several hours wandering through the smoke-drenched air of various casinos in rhinestone heels you start to realize that you could fairly accurately (and more cheaply) recreate the experience by finding a dirty ashtray and licking it clean while sticking your feet in a Cuisinart and setting it to "shred."

But as far as people-watching goes, I can't imagine a much richer environment than Vegas. And also, they have stuff like this in the water and this on the ceiling. And, of course, this, which was like nothing I have ever seen.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

vegas, baby

Is it just me, or does everyone completely relate to this commercial?

Ah, well. No matter. I'm gettin' the heck outta Dodge. Time to hang with friends and family, catch a show, blow a few bucks on the slot machines. I'll be back next week, hopefully with tall tales galore.

Oh, and our Friday Soap Giveaway winner from last week is Donna B. from LA! Donna, send your address to me at NEBrackett (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll get that bar of Falling Leaves out to you on Monday!Follow @nicole_mcinnes

honor

Recently, a WWII Veteran I know brought over the Purple Heart he was awarded by President Truman so I could see it.

image credit: unknown

The stories this man tells about what happened abroad nearly 65 years ago alternately send chills and inspire awe. He's careful about which stories he tells when the kids are around, but he did show them how his fake knee (the real joint was wrecked when his submarine was torpedoed) pops when it's moved from side to side. He told me he sometimes wishes there was a doctor who could open up his head and take out the worst memories of what he witnessed during WWII and in Korea. He was a P.O.W.

My dad is a vet, too, as are several of my friends and students. I'm not a war romantic, and I still have enough Jesus freak/nouveau hippy protester in me to believe war should be avoided whenever possible.

But sometimes it can't be avoided, unless you consider capitulation a victory. And I know full well how absolutely blessed I am to live in a land where the kind of men and women who don't consider capitulation a victory can still be found in abundance.

Today, my Thank You goes to them.

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friday soap giveaway!

'Tis the season for Falling Leaves! I don't know about where you are, but here in Northern Arizona any tree that's not a Ponderosa is well on its way to being bald. These newest bars to be added to the Garland Prairie Soaps line celebrate the loveliness that is Fall. It's hard to tell from the picture, but these bars are a deep, reddish orange with many other fall colored chunks embedded throughout the soap. They're scented with a yummy citrus, cranberry and wildflower fragrance blend, making them a perfect addition to anyone's bathroom or kitchen. You gotta USE my soap, though, okay? None of this setting in on a windowsill as pure decoration. It's good stuff - glycerin-rich (which means it helps keep your skin soft), detergent and surfactant-free!

Wanna win one?

Simply leave (no pun intended) a comment describing your favorite fall memory.

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at least we know we're raising her right

I'm a firm believer in exposing kids to horses as soon as possible. It does my heart good to know that our now-8-month-old Lizzie agrees.

Oo! And I almost forgot to mention that Maiden is the lucky soap winner from Friday before last. Look for another soapy giveaway this Friday. I'm well stocked at the moment, since the big Holiday House show was last weekend and there's another biggee coming up in a few weeks. It's all soap all the time here at Writer/Rider Central. That and Chicken Cacciatore, which is what's currently cookin' in the crockpot.

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hope you did, too

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works for me

photo credit: unknown

According to the folks over at Futility Closet, this is the Lone Ranger's creed, as written by LR creator, Fran Striker:

I believe:
That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That "this government of the people, by the people, and for the people" shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later … somewhere … somehow … we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

i'm starting to get

the fact that the "acceptance" part of grief is not the end of something but the beginning of something.

I'm also starting to get that disillusionment is a good thing - really difficult, but good. Who wants to spend her whole life mistaking fake for real?

Whoa.

Okay, on a lighter note, it's time to crank up the ol' Friday Soap Giveaways again! Who's with me? It took a while for the giveaway to get going last year, but once it heated up, the competition got fierce!

The lucky winner will receive a bar of Midnight Chocolate Amber, which was my top seller at the County Fair this year. It's sultry, sexy and somehow perfect for the new, dark nights of fall (not to be mistaken for dark nights of the soul). Plus, just like an authentic autumn day, these bars start out light colored and cheery (see background soap) and then darken to a broody, rich brown as they age, showing off the gold veins running though:




Just leave a note in the comments section telling me why you agree or disagree with my heavy psychological observations in this post - and why. Okay, go. Discuss amongst yourselves.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

the NaNoWriMo folks

are starting to pester me and all the other lunati - I mean, novelists out there who have in the past or are planning to pound out a 50K-word book in one month. I partook in NaNo last year, and it wasn't pretty. Neither was I by the end of it.

This year is all about focus on the essentials, so I - sadly - won't be doing the November novel blitzkrieg. It may be a bad decision, since the book currently in the hopper really does need to be finished and sent off. But instead of the NaNo I'll be focusing on the day jobs - mommying, teaching and soaping (and, of course, working on the book as much as possible).


It seems a little pathetic to blog about t.v. shows, but the fact is I rely on a couple of them to give me some inspiration when it's time to create the season's new and not-so-new soaps. For instance, while whipping up a batch of these Waltz of the Flowers bars



I have been getting inspiration from Ace of Cakes, which is basically a day-in-the-life look at the bakers of Charm City Cakes. I'm also a huge fan of The Rachel Zoe Project. I'm not nearly as interested in the personal drama inherent in these shows so much as I love seeing examples of the creative drive in action.

So, for you creative types out there, what do you do to get those artsy juices flowing?Follow @nicole_mcinnes

beats wheaties

I do think I may have found the coolest product ever in Organic Batter Blaster, which I bought on impulse at Sam's Club yesterday after the kids and I raided the sample cart. The idea of Cheez-Whiz style pancakes was too much for my brain to take in until I read the ingredient list and watched the demo guy create these perfect little healthy pancakes with total ease and no mess. Seriously, I want to buy stock in this company, 'cause I think it's poised for world takeover.

Then there's Rachel. Okay, this is the ONLY way yogurt should taste - it's pure tangy, smooth numminess. And the cool flavors and packaging are totally inspiring to my soap-making self. Pomegranate Acai? Plum Honey Lavender? I think I'm in heaven.

Top it all off with a piping hot cup of Gorilla Coffee and right there you have yourself a serious morning repast.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

5 ways to know it's fall in northern arizona

1) This guy shows up in your back yard:



2) The aspens go golden, then bald:

3) You see that first dusting of snow on the Peaks:

4) Your kids discover this guy on a Trick-or-Treat Treasure Hunt in the forest near the Flagstaff Nordic Center:

5) Pine needles (and the cleanup thereof) are the main source of your daily workout:

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tae kwon DOH!

Okay.

This is not me.

In fact, after our first family Taekwondo lesson last week, son said - ever so gently - "Mom? Not to be mean, but, you kind of looked -"

"Like a complete dork?" I offered.

"Well..." he said. Ever so gently.

"That's okay, Buddy." I knew I'd done okay with the stretching part. And I knew I'd done okay with the running laps part. I even did okay with the place-your-foot-on-the-side-of-your-knee-and-balance-there part. It was the footwork part that got me. The place-your-feet-at-a-90-degree-angle-and-face-this-way part that tripped me up a little. But, Zen mind, beginner's mind, I kept telling myself. Or something like it, anyway.

Later that night, on the porch swing, my son had a confession to make. "Actually, Mom. You looked really nice. Actually, there was just that one time where you looked kind of...you know."

I know, Grasshopper, I thought.

I know.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

oh, the beautiful smallness

I am so inspired by this Nikon Photomicrography - and it's a contest, no less. I could easily wallpaper entire rooms with some of these lovely organic patterns.

And while I don't have the equipment necessary to get into this type of shutterbugging, the D-80 and I have been playing around a bit with distance and movement in recent months. In August, for instance, I was driving out to the prairie house when I looked up and spotted this Red-tailed hawk atop a windmill (at least I'm pretty sure it's a RTH - any birders want to correct me?). I high-tailed it home, grabbed the camera and drove back to the spot with my fingers crossed, trying to switch lenses while I steered around the potholes in the horrendous cinder road. Luckily, the hawk was still there, and I was back in time to get some shots of its perching and its flight.

Okay, so I don't expect National Geographic to start knocking on my door any time soon (other than to ask me to renew my subscription - lol), but in my defense I was working on the spur of the moment and without a tripod.

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can't blog much at the moment.

Still processing the return of Friday Night Lights last night on DirecTV's new, special channel that lets subscribers watch this stuff before the general public sees it on NBC. So, neener.

Anyway, it was a good show. I'm not sure how I missed the story of Tami becoming principal,but there you go.

Hard to believe how "bonded" Riggins

and Lyla

are, too, though it doesn't look like that one's going to be too promising.

As one of Riggins' friends told him, he's pretty much a rebound from Jesus. Never a good sign.

Now the veep debate is on while I'm working at my computer (okay, while I'm taking a break from work), and I'm impressed by Sarah and Joe's endurance. I can't imagine keeping that up in front of the entire world, commercial-free.

Of course, tomorrow all the talking heads will be spinning every possible sound byte in every possible direction. Oh, how I am looking forward to this election being over, for better or worse.

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the bane of my existence

looks something like this:


Those of you with small children in your lives, those of you who succumbed to the unrelenting advertising bombardment of the Christmas 2007 toy shopping season will no doubt recognize this perp as none other than Squawkers McCaw. Here are some of Squawkers' "selling points" from Hasbro's official press release:


*SQUAWKERS McCAW will repeat – in a squawky voice - any words spoken to him.


*SQUAWKERS McCAW will respond to preprogrammed phrases, such as “Hello” and “Are you hungry?”, with his own phrases.


*You can “teach” the parrot to respond to you by programming voice commands or prompts. For example, you can program him to respond with “Happy Birthday” every time you say a specific child’s name. You can also program additional phrases that the parrot will say at random.


*SQUAWKERS McCAW can also be “humorous” and “playful” by randomly responding to his pre-programmed phrases in a nonsensical way.



Yeah, that's all well and good and everything. But the truth? The truth is that when Daughter has Squawkers out on the swing set and I'm sitting at my computer inside it sounds like Carrie White and Sybil Dorsett are taking part in some kind of Tim Burtonesque Toastmasters Competition in my back yard.

In other news, I have a new answering machine that lets me know just what I have done every time I listen to a message and then press the Delete button: "Message elited," the machine says, in a most authoritative-if-somewhat-emotionally-devoid, masculine voice. It's like each lost message has just graduated from West Point or something.


Ah, technology. Some days I am in utter awe of just how many things the human race has accomplished in this area. Other days I feel like the release of the original Speak n' Spell isn't far behind us at all (I always especially liked the sound of the "w" key). It's those days - these days, actually - when I suspect we may still have a long, long way to go.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

ummm.....

Or should I have titled this post "yummmm..." instead?

What does it say about me that I scored 100% on The George Costanza Candy Identification Quiz? (via MentalFloss, via Neatorama) On second thought, don't answer that.

It was a bit cruel of me to do this to myself - taking the quiz, I mean - since I've been off refined sugar and flour (for the most part) for the past few months. Yup, it's been stevia sweetener and Ezekiel Bread around here at Nicki's Health Central. Walking past the recent Halloween candy displays in stores is particularly excruciating, since I could easily rip open a fraternity-sized bag of Brach's Candy Corn, stick a section of hose in there and "beer bong" the entire bag in one sitting.

Also, about five minutes ago, a friend brought over a loaf of banana bread so fresh from the oven that it is STILL WARM. Makes me think of a refrigerator magnet I saw at the feed store in town today. It was a picture of a pig with its front half inside an open feed bag. "Lead me not into temptation," the caption read. "I can find it all by myself."Follow @nicole_mcinnes

so I want to say thank you

Basically, summer sucked.

I hate to sound so cynical, but it's the truth. I got through it, though, and I'm glad it's finally fall, which has been my very favorite season ever since The Cosby Show first aired and Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable taught me how much joyous potential was out there just waiting to be tapped wherever fall sweaters were sold. So, I suppose it was fashion that made me love the current season as much as I do. I remember one favorite sweater in particular - a gray mock turtleneck with little colorful nubbles of yarn knitted throughout. I used to count down the September days, just waiting for one cold enough to warrant wearing it...

But I digress. And in an odd way, too.

Anyway, I spent much of the summer in my hometown, where I had hoped to work through the descending/exploding emotional crud via frequent jogs around the old neighborhood. Something about running past all those childhood/young adulthood ghosts waiting to greet me sounded like just the ticket to help me get through what I have come to think of as the "tunnel of fire."

Unfortunately, there were signs like this one posted all over the place:

Nice. And here I thought a remote Arizona prairie was a potentially dangerous place to run because of all the "kitties" (as an old hunting acquaintance used to call them). Turns out the 'burbs are apparently much more treacherous.

So, I ended up running the track at my old high school instead, which was inevitably bittersweet (and only partly in the if-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now sense). I ran and ran, circling the Latino soccer teams that frequently practiced there and sometimes bringing a kid or two along to keep me company. (Side note: I'm fairly certain my son is destined to be a track star. The kid has seemingly endless energy, plus the perfect lanky/colt-like runner's frame).

Sometimes, when I walked, I listened to this.

And, sometimes, when I ran, I listened to this.

I still have lots of listening left to do.

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and my mother gave me a doll

This is me:

This is me in the kitchen today, making taco soup without the aid of a properly functioning can opener...which meant I had to pry the partially-opened can further open with a spoon that slipped and...

...why are you all spinning?


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equinox equine

My old boy Zzari has been a total drama queen lately. I've owned this horse since he was three, and in the nearly two decades of our association he's just about been the easiest keeper I've ever known: Totally predictable, totally low maintenance.

He's recently moved into a new herd, though, and something about this has brought out his inner diva. It matters not that one of the members of the new group is an old pasture mate he lived with for many years or that another member is just as elderly as Zzari. His knickers are in a twist, plain and simple.

This has manifested itself via various, dramatic lamenesses, faux colic episodes and a general unpleasantness toward life in general. Except when the grain bucket appears. Then he's like a backstage groupie at a Jonas Brothers concert. Good thing for him and the rest of us that he's on a new bulking-up regimen that includes free-feed hay and lots of nummy Equine Senior topped off by a few generous dollops of corn oil. Maybe that, plus the fact that it's now officially fall (which means fly season's days are numbered) will settle the old dude down. Let's hope so, anyway. Life's dramatic enough without adding a four-legged crisis addict to the mix.

Viva autumn!Follow @nicole_mcinnes