I know y'all can't get enough photos of my dogs. Even if you have, I'll keep posting them anyways. Ha!

After getting attention, eating, sleeping and hunting, this is Pokey's next favorite thing to do. We call this "PokeyVision". Given the chance, he will lay there in the window for hours just watching stuff outside - or watching nothing at all.

Sometime I'll take a video of him getting all excited by something outside. It's really a sight to watch. He starts shaking like there is an earthquake and he can't wait to get outside. And of course, there is never anything out there.

Poor guy.

He lives such a tough life.

This crazy woman does not like the news crew that showed up at her home looking for her granddaughter. The girl was one of several underage girls caught dancing at a local strip club. Something tells me the woman will be facing charges of her own as well ...

This might be the world's cutest kitty!

Is it me, or did they get hotter as they got older?

Meme's Fudgy Brownies

1/2 cup shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
2 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate
I cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Blend together sugar, vanilla and shortening. Melt the chocolate (use whatever way you prefer) and blend into mixture. Once the mixture has cooled for a few moments, blend eggs into mixture. (Don't do it when the chocolate is really hot because you don't want to cook the eggs)

Add flour mixture into the other bowl until smooth. Pour into 9x13 pan.

Bake approx. 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Her name is Angela Simpson.

She's a Phoenix woman who admitted to torturing and killing 46-year-old Terry Neely, who was wheelchair-bound.

Simpson said she lured Neely to her apartment with a promise of sex and drugs. Once there, she beat him with a tire iron, pulled out his teeth and strangled him during 3 days of torture. Then she dismembered his body and set it on fire.

Why?

According to Simpson, he was a snitch.

Never said what he supposedly snitched about though.

Is it just me, or did this woman go a wee bit too far? The chick actually said she enjoyed torturing the guy! She was getting off on it!

How much you wanna bet this woman tries to use the PMS defense?

My friend Danielle's cousin, Marci Mixon, is helping to raise Cancer awareness by participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk.

Check out her fundraising page and see if you can help her out!

Back in December, I went to my first Al-Anon meeting. I really didn't care for it, to be honest. I was half the age of the next youngest person and I didn't really get another out of being there. My cousin loves going to it but I'm not sure if it would help me.

Al-Anon is for people affected by a family member's (or some other connection) alcoholism. My mother's old therapist told her she is a new kind of alcoholic - a "social" alcoholic. Yeah, that's bull. I do, however, agree that she is an alcoholic. I never really was affected by her drinking. Hell, for a long time I had no idea she was drinking. Even when she couldn't hide it anymore, it never really affected then either.

My former therapist explained to me that while the alcpholism didn't affect me, the behaviors that led to the alcoholism did. And she was right. I know I haven't spoken much about my family on here, but that's gonna change. For the first time, I can say what my general issue is with my mother.

She is a narcissistic bitch.

When she started therapy (I use the term loosely as the therapist doesn't sound like what a therapist really does), she said that for once, she needed to focus on herself for a change. I have news for her. It was always about her. She would "solve" people problems because she liked to help. No. She "meddled" in people's problems because she needed to make the situation about her. That's just one of her many behaviors.

Ok. So I am wondering if anyone has been involved with Al-Anon and would you recommend it to others? Given my physical health, I don't want to do something unless I am going to get something out of it.

As always, the final episode of the season is a re-visit to some of the judge's favorite routines from throughout the season. I have to say, this might have been the most boring finale of the series so far! We had way too much of Brandon, ballroom routines we didn't need to see and only one of Evan's performances made the cut.

Some highlights:

Evan and Randi performed Mia's "butt" dance.


Adam chose Phillip & Jeanine's Nappie Tabs-choreographed "Mad" routine from the first week of competition. Phillip is just brilliant in his own style!


Jeanine & Jason performing Travis Wahl's choreography - not sure which is more brilliant ... his dancing or his choreography!


We found out that Kherington Payne from Season 4 is starring in the FAME remake.

Some Lowlights:

The judges decided that 6 of them - Nigel, Mary, Mia, Adam, Tyce & Debi - would come out as the surprise ending of Mia's Top 8 routine reprisal. Did we really need to see Nigel dance?

The judges not only overly praised a crappy paso doble from the previous night's show but they made us endure it again.

And Evan didn't win.

The winner? Well, at least it wasn't Brandon.

Congrats Jeanine!

You've finished four years of college, got your degree and now you can't find a job.

Of course, suing the college is the answer!

At least, according to Trina Thompson it is.

She graduated from Bronx's Monroe College back in May and has not been able to find a job since. So, she wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition back because she claims the school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain by not doing enough to find her a job.

Wait. The school is supposed to find the job for you? All the school does is TRAIN you for a field! Yes, they usually offer services to help you find work after graduation but I don't know of any school that promises to find work for you.

Hell, there are Ivy league graduates out there unable to find employment!

She has only spent 3 months trying to find work and apparently, that's too long.

I am sure there are many jobs out there she isn't willing to take, however. I've seen so many people complaining that they can't find a job. That's just not the case for some. I know a few people myself that have found jobs but weren't willing to take them because it was 'beneath' them or wasn't paying anywhere near what they were making. My partner took a job that was well below the level he is at because we needed the income. I question whether the girl has even considered looking for a job outside of her field of study.

Two questions about this item ...

Is she jumping the gun here after only 2-3 months?

And is the school really to blame here? Say she does win. She'll still have the degree and her money back. So basically, she'd have gotten a free education. Doesn't sound right to me.

Lady, get off your butt and stop blaming the school for economy! And until you find that perfect job, do something else to get some kind of income in the meantime! It's not that difficult of a concept.

Well, here we are folks. The finale of Season 5! I was really hoping the choreography would finally be up to the standard of the previous 4 seasons, and for the most part it was. We need more Mia, Shane, Wade and Mandy Moore routines on this show like in previous seasons. Sonya is awesome, but she can't do it alone!

It was awesome to see that the 4 dancers were starting the night with a Wade Robson routine. I'm happy for Wade that he's gotten so in demand, but I miss his routines on this show each week!

Next up was Evan and Jeanine doing a jazz piece with Sonya! I don't care what Nigel says ... Evan showed again that he is going to be a huge star on Broadway ... and beyond! Even Adam said that the show would NOT be the same without Evan!

Kayla and Brandon were next with a Tyce Diorio Broadway routine from All That Jazz. The tricks were good, but it seemed like the choreography was bigger - and better - than the performance. Of the two, Kayla was a bit better.

Evan and Brandon then did a Pop Jazz from Laurieanne. It was performed to Janet Jackson's Nasty Boys, which I thought wasn't the best choice considering no one would ever see Evan as a 'nasty boy'. Still, I thought the two were pretty evenly matched despite Nigel's comments.

Kayla and Jeanine then hit the stage with a Mia Michael's contemporary routine which was a bit of a modern take on The Seven Veils. Throughout the routine, the ladies took off various layers of their costume. I think the choreography swallowed the two IMO. The didn't have good synchronism and even Mia didn't have a smile on her face when they showed her just after the performance ended.

Then we hit the end of the great performances.

Evan and Kayla did a Tony & Melanie Jive routine that was more fun than anything else. Even the judges didn't seem to think the choreography was up to caliber with the rest. Still, the two had a lot of fun with it.

My biggest disagreement with the judges' critiquing was Jeanine and Brandon's Paso Doble, choreographed by Louis VanAmstel. The music was exciting and the choreography was great but I think it was danced horribly. The man in the routine is supposed to be strong and masculine and that is something Brandon is not. He was way to feminine in his movement and he tried to put on a masculine face that just ended up looking scary awful. IMO, this was a bit of a trainwreck.

As for the solos, I thought Jeanine was phenomenal and may have sealed the win with her performance. Evan's was fantastic as always and yes, I am bias. I want Evan to win it all. Kayla's solo was off-balance and was the weakest of the four. Brandon's solo looked like the same solo we've already seen 3 of 4 times now. Yes, it's a great solo but we need to see something different!

I want EVAN to win, but I think Jeanine will take the prize.

Sandstone, MN - 29-year-old Ludusky Sue Hotchkiss has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of her 10-year-old daughter, Lakesha, in 2006.

Lakesha had cerebral palsy, autism and a seizure disorder. She got her nourishment through a feeding tube. At the time of her death, she had gone from 50lbs to 31lbs ... in one month. Apparently, her mother had starved her and end up killing her. A sibling found the girl dead at the family's home back in 2006.

I know it is tough to care for a developmentally disabled child but if it was that tough, why not ask for help?? I can't imagine how a parent could kill their child in such a brutal, senseless way. I could never imagine the pain and suffering the poor child had to have endured at the hands of her caregiver.

Cameron County, TX - Sheriff Deputies arrested Griselda Gaytan Wednesday after her children were found left alone in her vehicle outside the county jail. She'd left them there while she visited someone in the jail.

As you may know, TX and LA have been experiencing a heat wave lately, with temperatures of up to 100 degrees or higher. Fortunately, the children had only been in the vehicle for approximately 15-20 minutes and were unharmed.

The children, ages 5 and 10 months, have been turned over to their grandmother. Gaytan was arrested.

With all the heat advisories and media reports about stupid parents leaving their children to die from heat related deaths & injuries in automobiles, you would think that people would finally start making better decisions about child safety. Why have children if you're not going to bother keeping their interests in mind?

It amazes me how people like these are able have children but many states still do not even allow gay couples to adopt unwanted children. Maybe if they could, children like these would have better lives.

Or even still be alive to have one.

Apparently, the answer to that question is how to act in public.

More so, respect for other people.

Case in point.

Two parents in West Yorkshire, U.K., took their 2 children to see the new Harry Potter film. During the movie, the 46-year-old mother asked a group of at least 5 teenagers to stop making noise.

Following the movie, the family went to a nearby restaurant to have dinner.

Two members of the group had followed the family to the restaurant and threw bleach over the mother's head and back. She suffered burns to her skin and possible permanent eye damage. Both teens, 16, have been arrested for the crime.

First, why do teenagers think it's okay to act like idiots out in public? It's like the rules at home get forgotten when they're out of their parents' sight. Now, having worked at a kids' retail store I know that many parents don't even practice what they preach to their kids. Seems as times goes on, teenagers have become even more disrespectful in public venues.

Second, why in the world would these teenagers think that pouring bleach on someone was a reasonable reaction to the woman calmly asking them to keep down the noise so people could enjoy the film? What the hell are they getting (or not getting) as a role model at home? Is this really what our teenagers are becoming?

I apologize for the lateness of this posting but I didn't realize that I hadn't done it!

Can you believe next week is the season finale? Doesn't seem like it was really that long ago that we were watching these dancers get discovered across America and watching trainwrecks like "Sex" insult the art of dance. Anyone wanna bet we'll see that idiot again in the Fall season audition shows? I'll be glad when he is too old to audition!

But back to the Top 6!

The show started with an incredible performance called Send in the Clowns, choreographed by Tyce Diorio. Throughout the show, we were treated to encore performances of the 4 Emmy-nominated routines from last season, including Mia Michaels' Mercy (feat. Twitch & Katee) and Tyce's Silence (feat. Jessica & Will).

After Kat has sent Brandon and Jeanine into the Finale (as expected), it is time for the other four dancers to perform their solos from the previous night again. Out of the 4, only Evan's is even entertaining, so why do we have to nap through the other 3 again? It's painful to watch Melissa and Ade do another boring routine.

After another craptastic guest performer, Kat announces that Melissa and Ade are finally going home. It was a great run for the two considering they should have been eliminated weeks ago.

That means that Evan, Jeanine, Brandon and Kayla will be fighting for the title of America's Favorite Dancer. Of course, I'm voting for EVAN!

Here's a reminder of why Evan should win:

This was taken shortly after Dakota started actually playing like a dog. It was actually several months ago, but I wasn't able to upload the video on our dialup service. Thank goodness for high-speed!

Yes, I know Dakota looks viscous, but she really is harmless.