Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: My sister-in-law makes custom purses and tote bags. I'm partial to these little bags that, coincidentally, are exactly the right size for carrying a set of scriptures. (And so much cuter than what I've seen at the bookstore.) $16 at Eichhorn Creations on Etsy.com

Lisa writes: Mom wanted these two posted, and I am supposed to mention that Kellen's mom made the dress.

Lisa writes: Weddings are the gift that just keep on giving. I got a new stack of wedding photos in the inbox today from my little sister Deb's wedding . Me dancing with the groom, Kellen. Tom dancing with Debbie. Dad dancing with his baby daughter. Friend Tawnie taking her life in her hands and dancing with my bother, Donny.

Lisa writes: This happened last year, too. Somebody in our neighborhood is catching and dying squirrels. Not KILLING squirrels. DYING squirrels, like Easter Eggs. Last year, there was a red one. (Tom corrects: actually, it was pink. You can read all about it here .) Today we saw a hot pink one. Hot pink from head to tail and shooting straight up the tree in our front yard, too fast for us to get a picture. You'll just have to take our word for it. I'd feel sorry for it, but it didn't seem any worse for wear, and goodness knows they're not an endangered animal around here.

Lisa writes: "Thanks a million until you're better paid." "Quick like a bunny." "If it was a snake it woulda bit ya." "Be good, or I'll give you to the indians." "A good time is 50% anticipation, 50% recollection." "Every day is a new day for grandpa." -- Said by my dad when his parents' minds began to slip. It means, anything you tell Grandpa today is going to be news to him, because he can't remember that you told it to him yesterday. It's not necessarily a terrible thing, really. Every day is a clean slate!

Lisa writes: Here's my dilemma. My friend Jamie recently posted about me on her blog. That's not the dilemma. The dilemma is that, on her blog, she makes me sound WONDERFUL. So, the dilemma is, do I post a link to the extremely flattering blog entry, thereby risking not looking particularly humble? Think, think, think... Well, since my readership consists 99% of my own mother, who already thinks I'm wonderful, link it is. Click here.

Lisa writes: Nick Hornby ("About a Boy," "High Fidelity") put it best: "All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do." That how I feel about these movies, especially the first one, because it seems like almost no one has seen it and it takes a ridiculous amount of convincing to get them to sit through it. My most successful technique has been to trap captive audiences (say, house guests) in front of the TV screen and just turn it on before they can say no. You say "coercion;" I say you'll thank me. I'm including the trailers here, but I'd actually recommend you NOT watch the trailer and instead just go watch the movie. They always give away too much, those trailers. The Secret of Roan Inish : Irish family loses a baby son when they're force to evacuate from their rural is...

Lisa writes: I stole that headline quote from somewhere. We had a strangely cool and wonderful spring that dragged all the way into July. Fantastic. Low humidity, low temperatures, no mosquitoes. The world was my DEET-free oyster. But then came the heat, and with it, the mosquitoes, and now I am a sad and cowering, welt-covered, twitching shell of a woman. Last night, they breached the final bastion and got into the house. It looked exactly like this: (scroll down) Kill mosquito - Flash Game Sorry, you will need the <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/" target="_blank">Flash Player</a> to play this game. Add Games to your own site More Flash Games!

Lisa writes: This is my favorite Swedish rapping-ska-swing-banjo group. It will be yours too.

Lisa writes: Here's what I'm singing these days:

Lisa wrote: "It's Friday night and we're hanging out, checking our blood pressure with the new cuff Tom bought. I just check mine to show off. It's always perfect." Dad wrote: "If your BP is perfect, then you found the right one for you. I test every scale I come across. Still looking for the right one for me."

Lisa writes: This is the soundtrack in my head for the past couple of days. Embedding is disabled, but click here for the song. But then minimize the screen and just listen to the song. Ignore the video. The video is distracting. Del Amitri, "Driving with the Brakes On" (Remember in the 80s when people were all serious and sad about how the advent of videos was destroying the integrity of music because the video images supplanted people's ability to imagine their own storylines for the songs? Remember that? We had too much time on our hands. We should have been worrying about the Russians.)

Lisa writes: If you are pasty and prone to bruising, like me, here's a helpful hint. After you get blood drawn for lab work, immediately raise your arm over your head for a couple of minutes. (Let them put the Band-aid on first.) You can go to work wearing short sleeves the next day and nobody will think you're a heroin addict! Thanks to the phleb tech who gave me this tip a couple of months ago. 9/15/09 Update: I had THREE blood draws last Friday (thanks to a not-very-accurate phleb tech), held my arms up for a couple of minutes afterwards, and NO BRUISING.

Lisa writes: Yesterday, my brother Donny said he'd found some listings for sales jobs on craigslist that he was thinking of applying for. My scam-antennae started beeping and spinning around wildly and I think I talked him out of it. (I recommended he go directly to the company websites and look at their "Careers" sections to find legitimate, non-illegal, job postings.) And then today I saw a link to this site , which, like all good things on the internet, proves I was right.