1. Spicy chili sauce

2. A waiter honest enough to tell us that his boss doesn't respect his customers so that I no longer have to unwittingly support his business

3. Playing around with Typekit

4. Walking to work

5. Short tables set deep...

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1. Ciabatta loaf

2. Spewing out a couple thousand words for NaNoWriMo and liking it

3. Singing 1980s tv show theme songs in the car, which devolved into a limping rendition of "Ebony and Ivory"

4. Power tools

5. Husbands what can do the...

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"Five Star Friday's Edition #78":
Today's roundup of good weblog entries is brought to you by growing up, a small kitchen, awol marriage counsellors, therapy, divorce, gravity, dogs, pediatric blood pressure, Canadian heavy metal music, a joke gone...

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1. Mall security

2. That one of my cats hates my singing so much he bites my arms whenever I do it

3. Famous people following me out of the blue on Twitter

4. Finding my voice in a narrative

5. Waiting for that first paycheck from a new...

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As you may already know, I have been getting into iPhone photography lately. The camera apps I collect on my iPhone have become go-to tools for me when I find myself without my usual camera, and I have not been disappointed with the results. In...

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"Former *NSYNC Member, Joey Fatone, Has a Sense of Humor About Himself":
Former baritone member of the famous boy band *NSYNC, Joey Fatone, 32, has a sense of humor about himself. This is brilliant, especially when so many once-wildly-popular people...

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1. The sharp flavour of raw onions

2. The sound of wind through tall grass when you are lying beneath it

3. Sea glass

4. Someone else doing the dishes

5. Extra thin cut deli meat slices

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in...

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It is 8:27 a.m., and I have already made coffee, blipped some Lou Reed, read and put together some material ahead of time for Five Star Friday, written a couple of paragraphs for National Novel Writing Month, worked on the beginnings of my article...

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"Speidi Transmogrify Themselves Into Jon and Kate Gosselin: How to Make Me Lose My Faith in Humanity in One Easy Step":
Heidi and Spencer Pratt, aka Speidi, are one of two of the greatest traffic accidents going on reality television these days, and...

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1. Nice insurance company nurses who don't mind three cats crawling through all of her stuff

2. Baking soda's amazing ability to de-stinkify cat litter

3. Orange shoes

4. A surprise gift of a painting

5. Whammy bars

Wage a battle against...

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1. The staff at CBC Radio, who were so nice to a radio newbie such as me

2. Finding the impetus to keep at NaNoWriMo

3. A clean kitchen

4. New socks

5. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in...

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Do you want to know what I'm panicking about today?

I AM GOING TO BE ON CBC RADIO THIS AFTERNOON.

Do you want to know what else I'm panicking about?

THEY ARE GOING TO USE MY REAL NAME.

I am going down to the CBC studios at 4:30 p.m. to be...

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1. That my teeth have noticeably whitened on their own since I quit smoking

2. Freshly groomed standard poodles

3. The braces I had to wear when I was a kid

4. Cornball comedies from the 1980s

5. Chin dimples

Wage a battle against...

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Despite my grinchly attitude toward Halloween, I had a fantabulous time.

At the bottom of the above photo, you'll notice that I signed a Bible with the following: Bible thing! Also, sorry about the duck genitals.

There was...

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1. Pesto pasta primavera

2. Flickr

3. Babies dressed up as cute bugs

4. Vintage dresses

5. Fascinators

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things.

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1. Bindis

2. Avocado rolls

3. The scrape of dry leaves under my shoes

4. Watching huge men unload equipment for skinny musicians

5. Vivian Maier's photography

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things.

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When I was eight years old, my parents and I went to California and did a tour of Disneyland, Universal Studios, and other amusement park-like facilities. I liked it alright, despite the inherent hurry-up-and-wait atmosphere of crowded funparks...

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"Five Star Friday's Edition #77":
Today's roundup of good weblog entries is brought to you by Planned Parenthood, cyber-dating, ex-wives, stalking Ralph Macchio, Generation Y, marriage counselling, John Peel, adoption, anniversaries, house fires,...

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1. Taking apart a hulking old television set to in order to be able to get it down the stairs

2. Barbecue pork steaks

3. Stainless steel wine goblets

4. Wire cutters

5. Implosions

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace...

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A couple of Sundays ago, I had you ask me questions for me to answer. So far, I've answered your questions about place, the Palinode and I, music, and myself and blogging. For the final entry in this series, I am answering the questions that didn't...

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"Is That an Animal Humping the Back of Your Head, or Are You Just Wearing a Kate Gosselin Halloween Wig?":
Kate Gosselin. Love to hate her or hate to love her, she and her progeny toddled into the paparazzi's eye with Jon & Kate Plus 8, and Jon...

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1. A completely scrubbed out refrigerator with new groceries inside it

2. Learning to bake cookies

3. Freshly baked cookies with a hot cup of coffee just after the sun has set

4. The weird twist of excitement in my belly as I anticipate...

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"Please Don't Let Grau Wal Hair Jewelry Be the Next Big Thing":
Certain fashion trends need to die. The return of popped collars? Horribly reminiscent of America Psycho era high society serial killers. Tissue paper thin jersey anything? Guaranteed...

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A couple of weeks ago, I sat down to write my Mondo Beyondo list. What is a Mondo Beyondo list, you ask? Andrea Scher, who has been making her own lists for years, describes the Mondo Beyondo list as a
...list of things that are outrageous, wild,...

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