We're planning on celebrating Dean's birthday (which is actually Dec. 23) with dim sum at Jun Bo on Sunday, Dec. 20, at 11:30 a.m. Please let us know if you plan to join us.

I need a new (used) car. It has to be an automatic and have AC. I like my Hyundai Elantra, but it will cost too much to repair it this time. Anyone have leads or know a good place to get a good used car?

elisem is having a sale on jewelry; go see here for details)
I have bought several of Elise's pieces in the past and I always get compliments when I wear them. Also keep watching her site for further markdowns as the sale progresses.

Thanks to everyone who shared dim sum with us this morning in celebration of my birthday (Wednesday): fmsv, cakmpls, carbonel, dd_b, dreamshark, kalmn, kaustin, pameladean, lydy, and Richard (winolj). It was a lovely brunch with just the right amount and variety of food. It was fun to try some new things I hadn't had before. We should do this again sometime.

Here's another reminder about Dim Sum tomorrow: 11:30 AM at Jun Bo to help celebrate my birthday. We've got about a dozen people at this point, but more are welcome.

My birthday is coming up next Wednesday, December 10. If anyone local would like to help celebrate, we are planning to go to dim sum at Jun Bo on Sunday, December 7, at 11:30 a.m. Please comment to me or Dean if you are planning to come, but if you just show up Sunday, there will probably be room because Jun Bo is so big it's never full.

We had a great time at the Dougie MacLean concert this evening. Here are a couple of pictures that Dean took with his digital camera. I will write more about the concert tomorrow.

( Pictures beneath the cut )

We're off to see my favorite Scottish singer/songwriter, Dougie MacLean,at the Cedar Cultural Center.  Concert starts at 7:30 p.m. We made a special trip to Dunkeld when we were in Scotland to go to his store, Rural Image.  And we drove to Winona two years ago for one of his concerts.  If anyone else is going, see you there!  http://www.thecedar.org/dougie_maclean_0

I just went for a walk around the neighborhood.  I wore a quilted jacket, and I was feeling too warm by the end of the walk.  The sidewalks had more puddles than ice.  I saw a girl skipping rope and two teen boys in shorts hitting a tennis ball back and forth on a tennis court that was still covered in snow.  One of them was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt, the other a sweatshirt hoodie.

I survived my colonoscopy this morning.  Pam, I succeeded at the prep.  It was called Movi-Prep.  They did find and remove one polyp, so pray that it was the benign kind and not pre-cancerous.  Afterward, we went to Red Lobster, and I had grilled lobster tails and scallops.

I have tomorrow off, too, so if it's still nice out, I can go for another walk.  Anyone want to meet for lunch?

Dean and I are helping Carol and J host the LJ party at Minicon.  Hope to see some of you there.

I'm feeling a lot better today after a long nap.  The surgery went well,  and I'm getting around better today than I was yesterday.  I don't seem to need the pain medication as often.  Early this morning I finished reading Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines, which I took with me to the hospital Monday.  Goblin Jig was a good companion on my journey to recovery.  (The first book is Goblin Quest, and Goblin War is due out in March.)  Jim is jimhines on LJ.  If you like reading about SF writing and the world of publishing, take a look at his journal.

I will share my secret recipe for an easy to make holiday treat that I got from a coworker last year.  First, go to Cub or other grocery stores and look for the seasonal ring pretzels that are about an inch and a quarter in diameter.  Then get bags of Hugs candies and holiday colored M & M's.  Heat the oven to 250 degrees.  Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Spread out the ring pretzels on the parchment paper. Eat or discard broken rings.  Unwrap Hugs candies and put one inside each ring.  Heat in the oven for about ten minutes.  Check occasionally and remove the cookie sheet from the oven when the Hugs have started melting into the rings.  Gently press an M & M into the center of each Hug so the melted Hug fills the ring.  Cool on the cookie sheet in the refrigerator until the Hugs are solid.  Then you can put the treats on a plate or in a candy dish to serve.  Don't use old Hugs as they don't melt well.  You can experiment by using different kinds of Hugs and Kisses and different M & M's.  I like the mint M & M's.  This year there are mint truffle kisses that you can use with mint M & M's for a very minty treat.   But the combination of sweet and salty of the basic recipe is hard to beat.

Tomorrow morning I am going to the hospital for same-day surgery for an umbilical hernia.  I have my holiday shopping done, most presents are  wrapped, and packages have been mailed.  D can decorate the tree and maybe I can help with the Christmas cards.  I may just want to lie down and look at the pretty lights and read a book, watch a DVD, or listen to music when I'm not sleeping.  I have to go back to work December 26, but that gives me nine days to recover, and the doctor thought I'd be okay before then.

Here's a fun web site where you can cut your own paper snowflake online: http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/index.html?id=122858

Wishing everyone happy holidays!

Tuesday night D and I went up to Coon Rapids (MN) to the Book Bin, a used bookstore that is about to close.  Books are 70% off this week, and 90% off next week.  I found some kids' books, science fiction, beading books, and pop-up books.  He found some ship and language books and others of interest and said he wished we'd gone there before.  A week or more ago we'd gone to the Atlantic Books store at the Mall of America.  At that time everything was 40% off.  I got a lot of good craft books there. But it's sad to see so many bookstores closing in the Twin Cities area.  Greg Ketter, owner of DreamHaven Books, said he knew of five bookstores in the area that were closing.  He's not sure how long he will stay in the business.  Online purchases of books are helping to drive independent bookstores out of business.  If you love books, support your local independent booksellers.

I've got some great ideas for scarves to make and try to sell in the art show at Minicon.  I have one crocheted in blue and white eyelash yarn that I may call "Starry, Starry Night."  I'm working on a double knit Knifty Knitted scarf in shades of olive green, tan, and black with metallic threads that may be "The Green Hills of Earth."  And I found some neat variegated orange-red yarn to use in a "Red Mars" scarf.

I'm new to this LiveJournal thing.  I guess I'll just start writing.  D. helped me set up the account and mentioned me in his journal.  Several people have already Friended me.

Today I took one of the cats to the vet for thyroid tests.  She was not very happy about it.  She seems fine, but her tests were borderline last time and she has lost a little weight.  We won't get results until next week.

I've been doing round knitting on the Knifty Knitter looms for a while now.  That produces a tube which can be made into a hat or a scarf.  Recently I've been learning how to double knit on the long loom, which produces a flat piece of knitting that looks like ribbing.  I got some cool imported rainbow yarn from Tuesday Morning which is turning into a very pretty scarf.

I like cows, and I just finished reading a rather bizarre kids' book with a herd of white cows in it.  The book is The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson.  It's very British.  Madlyn and Rollo are sent to stay with some relatives who own a run-down castle which they open to the public once a week to help make money to maintain a herd of pure white cows living on their estate.  The neighbors down the way are making lots more money with their castle, so they have to find a way to attract more people to Clawstone.  With the help of the resident ghost, they decide to enlist some ghosts to haunt the castle.  The bloody bride, the man whose heart is being eaten by a rat, the girl whose body separates into two halves, the man who is mostly a skeleton, and The Feet are a big success.  But the neighbors want their land and scheme to get rid of the cows.  And it looks like they may have succeeded.

That's all for now.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!