Pootie and critter relief time!

I will share critters.
Please share your critters!

I am exhausted by the invective and sliminess of the Democratic primary campaigns. Now it seems Hillary intends to continue and throw more slop into the pig pen. I need a break, I need some fun. Care to join me?

May 3rd. Feels like months since I've last posted, but it's only been 1.5 months. A lot's happened since then. I went traveling a bit, got really busy at work and stopped reading recommended diaries because, god bless us, we're just a bit too worked up around here. Just a bit too ready, like Faux news, to take the tiniest phrase out of context and apply whatever meaning we hope it should have and shout that that's what it does have and so there and phfffttt to you too and if you don't think like I do, then i'll just shout louder than you and call you a troll. Truly, what happened to diaries with intellectual content on the recommended list. When did we all get turned into main-stream-media-like raving lunatics? god bless us.

And now for something more important: depression among veterans.

Okay, so next week will be a whirlwind for me... speaking at two Word of Mouth Marketing conferences -- one in Istanbul, and one in Warsaw.  Anyone got travel advice for either place?

I'll be in Istanbul 3 days, and Warsaw 3 days, so not a lot of time, but... would love to hear anyone's advice on things to see, things not to miss, etc.

Oh, and since this post wouldn't really be a proper DK post without some political content... I'm going to be there from May 3rd to May 9th.  I'm excited about it, of course, but slightly bummed that I will be overseas... when Hillary drops out on May 8th.

Well, we need another diversion today. And there is nothing we like more on DailyKos than a good pie fight! yeah right...

So today's offering is one that we can all get into: Pie fight - 2008!

And I want to make sure that we all give credit to many cooks...and go give COOKS.COM some clicks!

QUICK APPLE PIE

1 lemon
5 to 6 tart apples
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. sugar
2 unbaked frozen pie shell
(If no time, use already made pie filling)

Preheat oven to 425 degree. Place bottom of pie crust into glass 9 inch pie plate. Slice apples into pie crust, squeeze lemon over apples. Sprinkle remaining ingredients over apples. Put second pie crust on top of pie, flute edges and slit top 4 times. Microwave on high 7 to 8 minutes until juices start bubbling through slits in crust. Transfer pie to your preheated oven and bake 8 to 10 minutes longer, or until golden brown.

What are You Reading is a weekly dailykos series hosted by plf515.  Mojo Friday is a feel-good chatty diary hosted by TexDem.  I am pleased to guest host this combined edition.  I believe both regular authors will return next week.    

cfk hosts Bookflurries on Wednesday evenings - Atlantis was this week's theme.  Although I am still very fond of the dragons from two weeks ago.

Goodreads is a place to keep track of your reading, and share with friends.  Beware of emails from authors though ;-), some seem to email the entire community to request "friendship".  My uid there is Jlms, and I will be your friend.  

Two weeks ago I overwhelmed myself (and perhaps some of you) with a plethora of beloved children's books.  This week is completely different, I promise.  

Please share what you are reading, and over the flip, I'll share what I'm reading, why I'm reading it, and how to acquire books.  

It's been a while since we've had a "just-for-fun" diary. I know some people will argue that we should be focused today, and I agree that we should. But if you need a giggle on this very stressful day, here's a place to chill out for a while and decompress from the silly season jitters.

Under the fold, a few of my own limericks to get you started.

After last week's overwhelming response how do you follow it up? Do I tackle serious again? As many told me, don't worry about it, just write something. Okay, so here we go.

Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, so how did you start your's? I had oatmeal. Sometimes I have toast and honey with OJ. And always Tazo Chai Latte, I'm spoiled that way. I did coffee in the past  but the Dr. told me to cut back on my caffeine. I probably eat a better breakfast when we have guest because we'll add yogurt and fresh fruit to the menu.
 
When do you eat the best breakfast? At home, vacation or business travel?
 

I awoke from a very bad Dream just now.  I am not ſure if it was from too much Drink, or too much Conſideration at this Moment.  I do not think that it was from too much Drink, becauſe I have limited my intake of Brandy and Whiſkey to only one Pint in Total for a Day.

At Time from to Time, I feel like I have been taken away from the Bounds of this Earth and have traveled to many other Places.  I realiſe that it is only Imagination, but it does in many Ways feel very Real.  I can imagine a Companion, about whom I can only recall the Name of The Doctor.

So here's a fun non-candidate diary: if you were stranded on a desert island with only a MP3 player and ten albums to put on it, what ten albums would it be?

My totally dorky list after the jump.

Yesterday Troutfishing wrote a diary about the veritable smoking gun needed to make impeachment not just possible but imperative. His diary was based on a piece reported by (OMG) ABC News (Holy Shit). And over at Docudharma, Valtin has written a piece on the National Lawyers Guild's call for the firing of John Yoo from his position at UC Berkeley's law school. And then trying him for war crimes.
 

Welcome to a special Mojo Friday/Frugal Friday joint edition.  In case you are wondering what either of those things are, Frugal Fridays is a regular diary series where we share money saving tips, discuss living frugally and generally talk about personal finance issues.  Mojo Friday is TexDem's series where we all gather on Friday mornings to trade jokes, stories, pictures/videos (please wait till after 300 comments) and whatever else tickles our funny bones.  This week he has graciously let me host this extravaganza, so come on in, sit yourself down and pour yourself a nice tall glass of mojo.

In case you are really jonesing for some financial discussion, don't worry, it's here too.  If you haven't yet filed your tax forms, check below for some last minute tax tips.

Love this video- just something light and fun with your coffee- hoping everthing will lighten up with President Obama in the driver's seat
-have a great weekend

For those of you who don't follow us on Friday, several weeks ago we decide to keep Mojo Friday open as a week long open thread. You find 15-20 regular MF'ers making comments there all week. It has been used as a non candidiary free zone. No politics unless you're beating up a GOPper.
 
Well, due to the volume of comments last Friday's MF diary has just bogged down. The problem was created by some of the games being played there. Word association, song lyric tag, along with some of the old caterpillers. We had 200 or more comment threads, ouch. There have been other Mojo Friday diaries with more comments but the combination of long threads and right wall banging was killing anyone who tried to open the whole monster. Some of us were opening a comment at a time just to make it easier. That can be funny by itself, a comment hanging out there out of context.

Several people expressed interest in the link that got posted in yesterday's midday open thread to the Grand Central Station Freeze event.

I just discovered that there is a worldwide, mostly synchronized set of similar events happening (appropriately enough) tomorrow.

"Though out the world people will gather in squares, stations, in organizations or wherever they are and stop their motion for 5 minutes.  Pause for thought. Pause for human kind. Pause for our planet."  Details below the fold.

There is no specific topic today mostly just some house keeping.
 
I want to thank jlms qkw for filling in for me last week. And while I'm at it announce that next Friday we are in for a treat, Sarahnity will be posting a Mojo Friday/Frugal Friday combo post. The topic tentatively will be on last minute tax filings etc. We're hoping to give her just a little more exposure than usual.
 
If you missed it, Ninepatch posted a special edition MF yesterday requesting your further assistance in writing our Armed Forces personnel. Check it out and support her and our troops with a note to let them know you care about them.

OK, before the cute stories, fess up, when did you finish hiding the Easter stuff last night? Midnight? 2 AM? Claiming you were done by 9 p.m. and expect the rest of us to believe you? When did you make up the Easter baskets? Yesterday? Always have them a week early?

See poll to answer the When questions, and see the flip for more commentary and the chance to tell YOUR story of the cutest thing that happened with your kids. Or your sweet memory of times when your children were little. Or non-Easter cuteness.

I am going to beg the indulgence of the community...and giggle, grin, and boast a bit here!

My commute to work is 2 1/2 miles. Mr. Cat has a 2 mile commute.

I've looked at bicycles but the last bit of the ride is a very, very steep hill. Now I have been driving a 1998 Saturn that gets pretty good gas mileage...26 city and 28 or so highway. Yet, I felt I could do more to save gas and be more efficient in my mini-commute. Well, Mr. Cat and I did the math on mileage, gas costs, and other costs of ownership.

Mr. Cat did some preliminary checking, he did the online reviews analysis, and we just took delivery of:

His and Hers Scooters!