Thanksgiving

We had a good time at my sister’s yesterday. After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen some of us went for a walk while the others played poker. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this Thanksgiving.

I got my assed chewed when we came home and it was discovered that I had forgotten our share of the leftover turkey and stuffing. Hey, I remembered the pecan pie and the godawful apple salad crap that one of my younger sister made. There’s always leftover apple salad. Wonder why? So we had to have mac and cheese for dinner that evening. Too bad so sad.

Today, since Tracee didn’t invite me to fart-shop with her, I didn’t go to any of the BIG sales. But at 10 this morning BP made me go to Harbor Freight, Lowe’s and Menard’s with him. Yeah, boy—that’s some good shopping! We also stopped at Circuit City for something in their flyer and surprise, surprise, they were out.

Tomorrow we’re going to my mother-in-law’s for yet another Thanksgiving. I really just want to stay home and do nothing, but I don’t see that happening.
Christmas season isn’t officially here because I haven’t yet heard Christmas music on my favorite radio station. I’ll alert you when that happens.

Kitty in a basket

 

I had a red lined basket on a table and the kitty climbed in and snoozed there

 

The Madness Has Begun

I only worked half day today. After lunch at a Thai place, BP and I went to Sam's for lemons, feta cheese and a hostess gift for his mom. We're having Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's with my family on Thursday and with BP's side at his mom's house on Saturday. The place was busy! Then we went to Meijer's for the rest of the things on my list. I was going to make Urban's basil and pesto thingy but then read that I needed a food processor. Unfortunately I don't have a food processor. It's an electronic like a dishwasher--and I don't have one of those either.

I'm making that hot artichoke and spinach dip that BP, my sisters and my brothers in law love. Also an orzo salad served in lemon cups--a recipe that I found on the foodtv site. I like all the ingredients and serving it in hollowed out lemons will look pretty. I''m also making a simple Nigella Lawson appetizer: cubed fresh feta, drizzled with good olive oil and lemon zest and sprinkled with dried oregano. What could be simpler and more delicious.

Meijer's was packed-a-roni but they had almost all the lanes opened and operating! Love it!

Tomorrow I'm staying home and getting things ready for Thursday. LP has school, so I'll have to drag my ass out of bed anyway to take him to school. I might treat myself to Panera coffee and a bagel . . . and bring it home for breakfast in bed with BP.

I also have to remember to go to the credit union because I need cash for the weekend. So note to self: Go to the Credit Union before 4:00pm!!! I also have to wrap the gifts for my sister's three kids. They always go skiing Christmas week so I want to make sure they have their gifts before they go.

Dear Sweet Great Aunt

I think it was Brigit (someone correct me if I'm mistaken) on the old Boreds who once posted a cool obituary that she had read in the newspaper. Here's a sweet obit I saw this morning (I assume it's written by Jane, because she's mentioned three times):

Margaret Jane Peffley, 89, dear, sweet great-aunt of Jane Brittain, left her earthly vessel and received her angel wings at 2:02 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006, at St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis. Aunt Margaret passed into the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, peacefully surrounded by her beloved great-niece, Jane, and her great-great-niece, Candee Anderson. Aunt Margaret married Uncle Rocky, “Roscoe” Peffley, on Aug. 9, 1939, and he preceded her in death on June 15, 1989.She is survived by her great-niece, Jane and husband George Brittain, Kokomo; great-great-niece, Candee and husband Ron Anderson, Kokomo; great-great-nephews, Todd and wife Shari Brittain and Blair and wife Elise Brittain; and several nieces and nephews.Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. No services or visitation is planned. Goodwin Funeral Home, Frankfort, is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family request that you love one another, forgive each other and always do what is good and pleasing in the eyes of God.


She's not my dear sweet old Aunt, but here's to you, Margaret Jane!

Charities

Interesting article on Donor Disenchantment because of various past and ongoing scandals.
Although Americans can be very generous dollar-wise, it works out to an average of only 2% of their yearly income. "Individuals and households accounted for $199 billion of the total — giving away nearly 2 percent of their incomes on average, it said."

"United Way, the Nature Conservancy, Rick Santorum’s foundation – those things all add up," said Rick Cohen, former director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, referring to charity scandals that linger in the public’s mind. "They chip away at the public’s sense of trust."
Kevin McCarthy, CEO of the United Way of Inland Valley in California, argues that the perception that financial shenanigans are widespread is at least partly due to skewed media coverage and selective memory, noting that he still hears regularly about the 1992 scandal surrounding United Way CEO William Aramony."

(That's why I still refuse to give to United Way.)


Here's another LINK to some past Charitable shenanigans

No Drool Zone

LP wanted cupcakes for his birthday cake, so I made vanilla cake with cherry icing. Ick. It wouldn’t be my first choice but he got to choose. They turned out okay, but I think canned frosting tends to have a slick shortening aftertaste.

I went to Hobby Lobby and it was packed. I bought Christmas wrapping and a huge ass spool of wire ribbon that was half price…from $7.99 to $3.99. Good deal. I like wrapping gifts using wire ribbon. I also bought a generic looking HAPPY HOLIDAYS oval tin sign from our front door. I’m going to jazz it up with some greenery. They also had Halloween stuff off 90%! Jeez. So I bought some slick ceramic ghost “BOO” pins for next year (If I put them somewhere I can find them.) I buy crap on sale and pack if away for next year and then can’t find it when needed. Somewhere down in BP’s basement are boxes of Christmas cards I bought years ago.

There was this woman shopping with her two young boys. One was sitting in the cart being an angel, while the oldest one scrunched up his face and tighten his fist in an “I’m going to hit you” manner to every other kid passing by. Tis the season.

As many of one know I occasionally buy a National Enquirer and read it. Janie Jord and I used to discuss the stories in the Shelf. We especially liked the articles/pictures of big time celebrities with cellulite! JLo=cellulite (big surprise). Kate Hudson=cellulite.
Teri Hatcher. Britney. All possess wrinkly cottage cheese. Donatella Versace? Ewww…big time.

Anyway those rat bastard motherfuckers did it this time. They made me feel sorry for Rachael Ray! They ran a story on how her husband’s is cheating on her with this nasty, drug whore, ugly ass woman—complete with pictures. He pays her to spit and drool on him. Blech. I hope you’re not eating your breakfast as you’re reading this because it may put you off your Captain Crunch. She set him up. She passed a polygraph test the Enquirer gave her ( That must be the standard procedure in celebrity tell –all stories) So this guy ole Rach married apparently has this spit fetish. Ptooey.

Enquirer, stick to stories about red carpet fashions, what stars buy on Rodeo Drive, and old stars on their deathbeds (Schell alert: Put Dead Pool money on Charles Nelson Reilly!!) and deep six the hocker-chat. Thank yew.

16 Years Old! & The DaVinci Code

Today is my Little Puddin’s sixteenth birthday! As many of you may know, its so tricky buying something for a teenager—any teenager—because their tastes can be so varied. I’ve learned never to buy him clothes without bringing him along to the stores with me. What’s the sense in buying something he’ll never wear, right? I wanted to get him something special, something hopefully he could keep for a long, long time, so I selected a big chunky marine link sterling silver bracelet. Anyway, he opened it last night and he absolutely loved it. I was happy.
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I bought The DaVinci Code DVD on Wednesday and watched it and the special commentaries and behind the scenes stuff yesterday. For the most part the extras were boring EXCEPT for two:
1. “Codes in the DaVinci Code” which shows that director Ron Howard, along with help from the writer Dan Brown, slipped in some further clues in the film.
2. The “Magical Places” bit was very interesting too. Howard and the cast talked about filming in the Louve after hours. Wouldn’t that be an AMAZING experience—to have upclose and personal access to those pieces of art??? Also they said that the French government was very helpful in filming and granted them unprecedented access to certain places. The French were helpful—who knew?

The British government—not so much. Another cathedral had to stand in for Westminster Abbey and the set designer talked about making that cathedral look like W.A. However Ron Howard had nothing but praise for the English people because they had to shoot a street scene without blocking it off from the public. They were worried about the sounds, and people using flash cameras and mugging for the camera, etc. Howard said that everyone did as they were asked and were just very polite and cooperative.

Both Howard and Tom Hanks loved Scotland and shooting at Rosalyn Cathedral and said the people there were just lovely. I remember reading around the time they were making the film that there were some protests (mostly about the book itself, not necessarily the movie) so people working on the movie were pleasantly surprised with the people they met on each location.

An email I received

Emma,
Long time listener first time caller here.I don't know why I picked out one of Rag's comments, she's usually inconsequential, but she kept saying you started the fight with blu. I didn't have anything better to do until 10pm so I put all of Blu's and your comments in order. It started on November 9, a day that will live in infamy. They are in order but some seem odd because you both may be talking to other posters. This is also where we see Alex and Bly's love bloom.





Asst Tidbits NOVEMBER 9

He bought out an entire room at a restaurant so he and K could be alone.
With people like you watching his every move, do you blame him?
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 10:17

More importantly, Ed Bradley died. Allan, get on it.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 12:24 pm


Yes, don’t you people get CNN Breaking news delivered to your inbox?
I was the first to know about Britney filing for divorce. And acting as any good manager, sent that CNN breaking news headline to my staff to keep them informed of the important events in the world.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 1:38 pm

Bly can’t be bothered with actual numbers, Sheila.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 2:00 pm

I broke down Sheila’s table further:Salary per person, taxes, %1,002,075 235,406 23%190,452 32,277 17%115,007 14,121 12%76,557 7,090 9%43,150 3,024 7%14,149 421 3%
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 7:19 pm


I’m just guessing but I would think that a person making $14,149/yr would miss that $424 MORE than that person making $1,002,075 would miss $230,477
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 9, 2006 @ 9:30 pm

I disagree. It’s all relative.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 10:23 pm

Oh Bly, make up your mind. Rich or billions? You are presented with numbers of people who make a million that show they are paying more % wise than those who make less so now you up the ante to billions. How many people in the US are sitting on billions? And do you actually know how much they are paying? I did the taxes of an extremely wealthy man in Long Island who paid ten million in federal taxes a year. Is that enough for you? Nobody gets by free in this country besides those who refuse to work and reap the benefits of tax payments made by others.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 10:50 pm

Bly, You’d love living in Cuba. Take Emma with you.
Comment by blu — November 9, 2006 @ 10:58 pm

Ole!
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 6:13 am


Bly, Cuba. You can get there through Canada.
Tree, Yes. I agree with that to some degree. However I also side with people who got themselves to a substantial financial position and they should be able to enjoy it to the fullest extent without being penalized any more for it.
With attitudes like Bly “I would tax the billionaires until they were no more, and move down from there” there would be no drive for success and it goes against what America stands for to a certain degree.
For example, I am sure a man (once poor) I know who came from China to build a successful software company and go on to become a millionaire would have thought twice about coming here if leadership was of the Bly mentality.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 10:36 am

–if you tax the rich they don’t pay more tax they just fuck off to another country taking their wealth them
Thank You Meme.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 10:38 am


It’s not about “soaking the rich.” I’m talking about a simple concept: If you earn more money, it’s logical to assume that you would bear more of a tax burden than someone who makes less money. What’s so jhard to swallow about that?
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 11:26 am

—If you earn more money, it’s logical to assume that you would bear more of a tax burden than someone who makes less money. What’s so jhard to swallow about that?
And it’s obviously clear that they are. What are you not getting?
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 12:07 pm

Tree - Alice Munro came out with a new hardcover.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 12:20 pm

Rag, Do you mean Kate Atkinson?
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 12:45 pm


“What are you not getting?”
your attitude about those less fortunate
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 12:50 pm

You know nothing about my attitude nor what I do about the less fortunate Emma. I do know that your rich sister donated her Lexus to you and will be paying for your son’s college tuition. Perhaps you should redirect that to the poor? Or perhaps she should be taxed so heavily so she wouldn’t be able to do that? I was previously sticking to the figures presented which you either didn’t review or seem to understand, so now let’s make it personal.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 1:08 pm

By the way Emma, the Marc Jacob’s bag your sister gave you would easily cover a couple of tax payments for the poor. Why not do that?
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 1:11 pm

Oh hush Allan.
And Emma, I agree that the rich should be taxed at a greater %. Find me a post where I said I didn’t. The problem that I have with you is that you automatically jump down my throat when I stated that the rich are already paying a greater %. Yet you don’t get my attitude about the poor? Fuck off, Emma. You obviously have some gripe against me and are becoming such an annoying fucking bitch saying and arguing ANYTHING I post - ANYTHING. Perhaps some were right about you.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 1:20 pm

bluwhat my sister or friends give to me or my son out of their own generosity, has nothing to do with you. . . unless you count to contribute to your pettiness. I give plenty to the poor. That’s not even the point, but you take personal jabs. So be it.I’m not saying that the wealthy shouldn’t enjoy their money or belongings, but you just don’t get that, do you?
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 1:46 pm


“You know nothing about my attitude nor what I do about the less fortunate Emma.”
you’re right, I know only of what you type. And that’s not very attractive
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 1:47 pm

“Perhaps some were right about you.”
Oh gawd, the only thing I can retort to that is “Whatever”
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 10, 2006 @ 1:49 pm

Emma, Get off your high horse. You are not the new Mother Teresa or all of a sudden an advocate for the poor.
“but you just don’t get that, do you? ”
Trust me on this one - I get plenty with a far more clear and unbiased perception than you are capable of.
Comment by blu — November 10, 2006 @ 3:02 pm
.


Hateful Lemmings November 12

Emma, Stop taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. You are becoming an old hag just like your pal Elton.
Comment by blu — November 12, 2006 @ 2:09 pm

I don’t think Elton John thinks of himself of a victim.
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 12, 2006 @ 3:09 pm

Of course he does.
Comment by blu — November 12, 2006 @ 3:14 pm

I don’t Bly, however I don’t know about the other assorted motherfuckers here, and as per 222, I’m off to have a nice day.
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 12, 2006 @ 4:07 pm

Bly, Between your abortion ramblings and communist views, you’re as big a fruitcacke as those you insult.
Comment by blu — November 12, 2006 @ 7:21 pm

Sparks,I don’t care a good shit about Elton John, but he has a point about organized religion and its hatred of gays.(He also has a point about Madonna being a phony, but that’s another issue)
I am as stubborn as a mule–just as the rest of you are. I’ll fess up to that…now go and inspect Sparky’s shit.
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 13, 2006 @ 7:07 am

—he has a point about organized religion and its hatred of gays.
And he retaliates by saying religion breeds hateful people. A gross generalization.
Comment by blu — November 13, 2006 @ 11:03 am

Why should they? Everyone in this world doesn’t have to agree with you, Bly. Disassociate yourself from organized religion. Elton chooses to be a victim of prejudice. How many people are really that impacted by religious crackpots if they choose not to be?
Comment by blu — November 13, 2006 @ 4:15 pm

Beann, That’s what I was thinking. Bono’s done some wonderful things for this world. I like his music too
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 13, 2006 @ 8:42 pm

I disagree about Bono. Why do people expect him to live in sackcloth and ashes? He’s a multi millionaire and works hard. Let him have a mansion or two..he STILL donates his time, his celebrity, and his money to causes he believes in.Does anyone expect him to give ALL his money away? I sure don’t.
That’s a cop out to say “well Bono still has millions and mansions so why should *I* give my money to worthy causes?” He’s brought more attention and money for the AIDS problem, and lack of clean water, in Africa than almost anyone else you can name. I say you can have celebrity AND money and STILL be a do gooder.
Should Angelina Jolie forego all her money and give it all to build orphanages? Well, I guess it would be nice but it’s unlikely.
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 14, 2006 @ 10:21 am

I thought we were taxing millionaires until they were no more?
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 10:27 am

well, shame on him and his accountants. maybe that 5% saw its way to Africa. Evidently tax laws need to be rewritten. But IMHO Bono has done a world of good. One slimy thing done by his tax accountants does not negate all the good he’s done and the attention he’s focused on some of the poorest nations of this world.
As far as Sparky’s comment—the world is full of middle class do gooders, and I’m sure they don’t mind the celebrity do-gooders hogging all the glory. Thank God do-gooding isn’t restricted to famous people.
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 14, 2006 @ 11:02 am

Ohhhh! So in Bono’s case, she blames the tax accountant? LOL.
Emma, did you just not say a week ago that the rich should be taxed far greater than the poor? Are you now adding in an extra clause - saying if they donate some of the money, they should be exonerated from taxes, period?
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 11:25 am

—Does anyone expect him to give ALL his money away? I sure don’t.
Bly does. Ask him.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 11:29 am

We can disagree, Meme. And unlike blu you don’t seem to take it personally or make your point with personal attacks. You’re a right admirable cunt, and I say that with complete affection
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 14, 2006 @ 12:17 pm

“some clown who just moved up to extra-lean hamburger four months ago.”rofl
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 14, 2006 @ 4:27 pm

Emma - Arguing with you is pointless. You are never wrong even when you are proven wrong. That’s just plain stupidity and I don’t have patience for stupid and stubborn people.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 5:09 pm

blu, so shut up about it already. jeez. you sound like Sparky when he “doesn’t have time for further silliness” and then goes on and on and on.Over the online years you’ve given me and others A LOT of ammunition if I wanted to retailate and make a political or moral argument personal, but did I? No.I’m a Liberal and I believe in Liberal philiosophies. That’s me. It’s not you, nor do I try and convince you to break out of your crappy “What’s mine is mine” shell. I don’t care if you do or not. I just post comments and they can go in one ear and out the other for all I care. You take it like I’m personally going to come and take away all your money, force you to have an abortion, force you to vote Democrat, and force you to believe something you don’t.You’ve been spiteful and a wee bit of a bitch. Now I’m going to steal a line from that “Conservative” icon Stephen Colbert and tell you now, “You’re Dead To Me.”
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 14, 2006 @ 5:42 pm

Emma, If you don’t see the difference in your snipes towards me vs. the way you interact with Meme, then you are clueless. Simple clueless. You started this. And so now tough luck. Deal with it. And I don’t take what you say personally, you are not all that bright to have your opinions taken seriously.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 5:54 pm

—Over the online years you’ve given me and others A LOT of ammunition if I wanted to retailate and make a political or moral argument personal, but did I?
Are you kidding? Honey, go for it. You must have forgetten plenty you told me over the years. And that reminds me, no wonder you side with Clinton and his extra marital affairs.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 5:57 pm

I have no dirty linen here that hasn’t been aired out in my own blog. I know who I am & what I have done in life and secure enough in both not to be worried. Yet when someone has the audacity to threaten me in that way, I’d like to remind them they are not perfect themselves and perhaps they should consider the fact that I have kept quiet on a few things.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 7:36 pm

—take away all your money, force you to have an abortion, force you to vote Democrat, and force you to believe something you don’t.
I see you changed your post to add some more bullshit.
What money? Abortion? Show me one post where I stated I was against abortion. I am all for banning late term abortions unless for the health of the mother. That makes me pro-life all of a sudden? I never voted democrat? You talk so much shit about me and assume so much when I never stated any of these things. Just because someone doesn’t agree with all your liberal bullshit doesn’t all of a sudden make them a conservative republican. There is nothing wrong with being liberal. But you go around posting all this liberal bullshit just for the sake of doing it instead of basing it on any reasonability, common sense or intelligence. You’re unable to have an argument with anyone here or perhaps see someone’s elses point of view. When you come up against someone who has proved you wrong, you move on to the next post or in this case you had the audacity to threaten to use ammunition against me. Get real, Emma. And next time you try that, I will air your dirty laundry.
Comment by blu — November 14, 2006 @ 8:09 pm

“I was always under the opinion that Blu and Emma had decided behind our backs to carry on warfare and laugh at all of us lining up on one side or the other- I never considered their comments that disparaged each other were serious”
222, I heard this happened on the old Boreds between. . .I’m not sure . . pairasocks chick or that diner waitress chick that Iago loved until he met her. But it may be an Urban Shelf legend.
But no…no collusion with blu..she’s just a crazy stubborn mutherfucker and DTM
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 15, 2006 @ 9:13 am


Emma, I thought I was dead to you? And why not direct your name calling towards me? When I call you a stupid cunt, it’s directed to you - not as a response to someone else’s post. Funny, Emma - I am certainly not on everyone’s favorite list but nor do I try to be. There’s plenty around here I can’t stand and I don’t hide the fact, feelings are mutual. But you sure kiss plenty of ass around here because your fan club is dwindling. Ever wonder why quite a few people think you’re an idiot? By the way, are you still meeting married men in hotels for sex?
Comment by blu — November 15, 2006 @ 11:38 am


Mems, Oolijay–that was it!
Comment by EmmaWrites — November 15, 2006 @ 7:52 pm


The rest of the fight is on Tree's ReHash


End of email . . . .

Register Cat

When it's cold outside, this is Nesta's favorite place in the house---sitting atop the heat register. 

Spidey,
I just watched The Office from last night. What a great episode. The poor big guy getting hoisted up on the table. Michael, "I don't know what I have a hold of."
The exchange between Andy Bernard and Dwight in the elevator reminded me of myself and blu. haha!

Meth Lab/Braces

Yesterday when LP and I were taking back videos to the video place we saw cop cars cordoning off a whole street block. It was about three blocks from here. The police were there the whole day. It seems that an unidentified man went into this guy's apartment and shot him dead. The police theorize that it was about a drug sale gone wrong.

I know this cop from work. He's said that meth labs are just rampant in the Midwest. If they close one down, ten more spring up. Evidently it's cheap to make. You can probably get the formula off the Internet. He told me a tell tale sign you have one in your neighborhood is that there is usually a very, very strong smell of ammonia in the area, since that's one of he components. A co-worker looked horrified and said in the summer when she was walking her dog, she got a whiff of a strong ammonia smell. She thought it was cat pee. "You mean there could be a meth lab in my neighborhood??" Chances are . . .


----------

I took LP to his orthodontist last week. He gets his braces off in a few weeks and he's excited! They've been on for 2 1/2 years.

DWTS - Dancing With The Stars Finale Emmitt Smith

This just in . . Emmitt & Cheryl win!! YAY. Schell's jealous of his Hammer pants)

Tree, I think you will enjoy this

Lou Dobbs, Populist

Films I’ll watch over and over:

All That Heaven Allows--My favorite

Hannah & Her Sisters--Woody Allen at his best, before he turned perv. Michael Caine is lovely

East of Eden--Julie Harris is almost as fun to watch as James Dean

Maltese Falcon--Bogie. 'nuff said.

Young Frankenstein--it's Fraankenstein

Waiting for Guffman--Makes me smile just thinking about it

Best in Show--Ditto. I like the way Christopher Guest looks like his bloodhound

The Ghost & Mrs Muir--Escapism

Hud--Paul Newman shirtless. Oh my

12 Angry Men--Just great

Double Indemnity--Barbara Stanwyck is such a ballsy dame

Amelie--Audrey Tatou is just adorable

Broadcast News--Albert Brooks' flop sweat

To Sir With Love--Sidney Portier personifies elegance

The King of Comedy--Only Jerry Lewis film I'll watch. Rupert Pupkin's basement talk shows are genius

Murphy’s Romance--I really really like Sally Field in this one, and who wouldn't fall in love with James Garner?

Lost in America--Albert Brooks again.

Local Hero--This is such a wonderful fantasy film. Love the locations.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--"The fall alone will kill you!"

Defending Your Life--Another Albert Brooks, this time with the wonderful Meryl Streep

Pillow Talk--Rock and Doris, but Tony Randall steals the show

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner--I like Katharine and Spencer together onscreen.

Autumn Leaves--It's so bad that's it's good. Joan Crawford in a swimsuit and it still looks like she is wearing shoulder pads

Mildred Pierce--Joan Crawford again

White Christmas--I love Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen together. I'm always amazed by Vera Ellen's waist size. It's got to be less than 12 inches!

Moonstruck--I love Cher. I love Nicolas Cage, but watch it for Olympia Dukakis

North By Northwest--Cary Grant being in danger but still debonair. What actor today is debonair? Name one!

On the Town--Love the songs.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast--One of my top two all time favorite animated movies, plus Angela Lansbury plays a teapot!

Pixar’s Toy Story--The other of my favorite top two all time favorite animated movies.

Funny Girl--It's all about Barbra. Swoon.

Annie Hall--It made me love Diane Keaton, and I still do.

A Place in the Sun--Everyone is beautiful in Black and White--even Shelley Winters

Giant--Rock. James Dean. Elizabeth Taylor.

The Quiet Man--Schmaltzy but fun.

The Player--My favorite Robert Altman film, and Tim Robbins is just so good.

The Sound of Music--Christopher Plummer is wonderful in this, plus I love the opening shot1

Electric Horseman--Jane Fonda and Robert Redford,throw in some Willie Nelson and go.

Coming Home--Is this the only war film I love? Yeah.

To Kill a Mockingbird--Peck as Atticus Finch. That's all.

The African Queen--Bogie with leeches, looking dirty and druck. What's not to love?

A Star is Born--Babs and the yummy looking Kris Kristofferson. "The black black widow is sitting in the middle of the web it's the fly she seeks..'

The Way We Were--"Hubble? Hubble Gardener?" It's the final scene that does it for me...the way Babs smoothes Redford's hair. I like second banana actor Herb Edelman in this too.

Films I’ve never seen, and don’t want to:

Titanic

Fried Green Tomatoes

Any James Bond movie with Roger Moore

Beaches

Schlindler’s List

Any slasher movie with teenaged victims

Fight Club

Das Boot

A Clockwork Orange

Million Dollar Baby

Crash

Trainspotting

Dead Man Walking

The Last Temptation of Christ

Any Oliver Stone film

Saving Private Ryan

Taxi Driver

Boys Don’t Cry

Full Metal Jacket

Tomorrow: Films I'll watch over and over

Christmas season is officially here!

I bought a big bag of Christmas peppermint chewy nougats! Yum-O!

Blowhard Cop

I actually rooted against someone on Deal or No Deal tonight. The contestant was a blowhard cop who called the models "honey," and kept saying over and over, "That's what I'm talking about." He was trying to gain audience sympathy by saying he was shot at, that he wanted to win money for his family in case something should happen to him. Very manipulative. He was offered over a quarter of a million dollars and turned it down saying "I'm greedy." He ended up with $100,000, not too shabby but he could have left with more. That's what I'm talking about.

I saw Michael Chiarello make this the other day--maybe this is what I'll take to my sister's on Thanksgiving. It looked really good.

Autumn Panzanella

-----

Also, good luck to Spidey and Big Joe today. I'll be thinking about you.

After the laundry and other assorted housework I was too tired to go to a movie. LP stayed the night with Jordan, he’s supposed to be home soon but I doubt he’ll want to go see Stranger than Fiction with me. BP’s out in California until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I gave him Bert and Verbie’s addresses, so expect him for dinner you two. Ha.

The week after Christmas I think my oldest sister, her husband, and BP and I are going to French Lick for a few days. Here’s the link: French Lick. They have revitalized this small quaint town (hometown of basketball great Larry Bird) and renovated the mineral spas and added a casino. It will be a fun two days.

Saturday

It was raining and thundering and lightning last night with more rain on the way today, so that shoots my “Work Outside” Day today. I think I may see a movie today—either Borat or Stranger Than Fiction. I saw Dustin Hoffman the other night on The Daily Show (he’s in STF). What a funny man he is. He has five kids and the youngest left the house last year and so he said it was his Martin Luther King Day—“Free at last free at last thank God Almighty I’m free at last.” lol. Jon axed him which was worse: Having his teeth drilled on by a Nazi (in Marathon Man) or being groped by Charles Durning (in Tootsie). He picked the groped one.

We’re going to my youngest sister’s family house for Thanksgiving and she wants me to bring a “fun green salad.” OK. BORING. I’ll wing it.

LP’s 16th birthday is a week from today! I think Jilly mentioned in Tree’s blog that Maryland has raised the age limit on driving to 18. They’re thinking about doing that here, and I’ve told LP. I’ve pestered him three times to give me his choice about driver’s education (he can pick 2 weeks after school, or Sunday afternoons for ten weeks,) and he hasn’t decided. I’m not asking again. If he wants to drive then he’ll have to take some responsibility and decide some things.

Mostly for Tree

For Your Consideration


watch the trailer

Besides the wonderful election results there’s not too much new in Hoosierland.

In televisionland there’s:


Emmitt vs Mario. I’m rooting for an Emmitt upset.

Lost is so freaky boring. At this point I don’t care if Sawyer lives or if Jack lets Ben die. Yawn. Tree, your Ben Crush was looking really spooky in a few of the scenes last night—especially that one close up shot of him in those funky wire rim glasses. “Lift up your eyes and look north” indeed.

Those promos for Daybreak with Taye Diggs are only slightly less annoying than the dearly departed negative political ads. Argh. Within the Lost episode last night alone, there were about 20 commercials for that show. With ABC pushing it so much it’s got to be horrible. I’m not going to watch it. It’s Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day with murder. Blech.

The Davinci Code comes out on DVD on Tuesday.

Like corpses in a Chicagoland cemetery, vote early and often

One Breath

One more day until Election Day, Republicans

Yesterday LP and I went over to my Lexus sister’s to help her out. She had foot surgery four weeks ago and is still in a cast. She said it was hard to keep a positive attitude because she’s never had to depend on others for help. I told her that she’s always doing for people and she should just shut up and enjoy being waited on hand and foot, so to speak.

I did her laundry (as you know, I’m a pro at laundry), went to Marsh grocery shopping, and straighten up around her house, and gathered up her trash. Then we loaded her up into the car (wheelchair and all) and took her to lunch and to do a little shopping. LP scored big with clothes. He still loves The Foot Locker and Man Alive (when will he outgrow that “I was born a poor black child” sense of style—I don’t want him to be another PapaZao KFed). Lexus’ credit card was smoking.

Then she wanted to go to a bookstore so we went. We had tea and cinnamon scones. She bought some magazines and books and told us to get some stuff. She bought me that Alan Alda book I mentioned when it first came out in hardcover, so now Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is out in paperback so I got that. Plus she had read John Grisham’s The Innocent Man and wanted me to read it. She really liked it. I also got this intriguing book by Ted Bishop called Riding with Rilke. “A motorcycle odyssey that combines the sensory seduction of the road with the intellectual rewards of archival research.” Hmm. One of my all time favorite books is Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and this Bishop book sounds reminiscent of it. I think I’ll read this one first.

Also magazines: the Rolling Stone magazine with Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert on the cover;National Geographic Traveler highlighting New York City on foot, the Caribbean, Ireland and passages thru India; and two Paula Deen cooking magazines: December issue and a special on holiday cooking. LP selected two hip hop magazines and a James Cagney boxed DVD set. Lexus kept thanking us over and over for helping her out yesterday, but LP and I walked away with some good stuff.

Oh, Also I’m making LP into a Bob Dylan fan. I was listening to one of his CDs when the song “Hurricane” (I love the violins on the song) came on. LP asked me about it, and I told him it was the story of black boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who was falsely tried and found guilty of a triple murder. Corrupt cops, an all-white jury, etc. I think it appealed to LP’s sense of being a black child trapped in a white boy’s body. : )

I told him that it was really ‘shocking” at the time--to use the words “shit” “nigger” “sonofabitch” and the like in a 1975 song.


Hurricane, by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously.
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand.
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops."
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
In the hot New Jersey night.

Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that.
In Paterson that's just the way things go.
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.

Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head.
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.

Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in,
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"
Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
"Don't forget that you are white."

Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."
Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.
You'll be doin' society a favor.
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim."

Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail.
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

Rubin Carter was falsely tried.
The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That's the story of the Hurricane,
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.


Here's the Wikipedia dope on Carter

Blue in a Red

Last night I sent an email to this dude who is running for my State representative. Last time he ran I gave money to his campaign and supported him. Some upstart dude beat him because he (Upstart Dude) ran a very vicious negative campaign.

I was all set to vote for My Guy this Tuesday, until I heard his new radio commercial. In it he tells about his background and qualifications which was good but then at the end he spouts off about being “Pro Life” and that he shares “Hoosier Values.” Excuse me? He doesn’t bother to add that although he’s pro life he’ll vote, if necessary, Pro Choice so a woman can keep her reproductive rights. So if he didn’t add that I must assume he won’t. That’s what I emailed him about.

That’s a deal breaker for me. I won’t vote for Upstart Dude, but I’m not voting for My Guy cause he isn’t my guy no ‘mo. It’s hard being Blue in a Red State.

Mambo

Karina & Mario Lopez

DwtS Week 7: Emmitt & Cheryl Mambo

If this doesn't get your blood going--you're dead

Emmitt's Hips

It's November 2nd.

Mr. Eko died. Killed by a cloud of black smoke.
Who's the Eye Patch Guy? Another character we neither want nor need.

I watched Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday and I must admit kinda liked it. I now have a semi crush on Emmitt Smith. I don't know two shits about his football career, but his hip action when dancing is awesome. He seems to enjoy the dance floor. Joey Lawrence, of the Blossom "Whoa" fame is now bald and a lip-licker, but he does an excellent job. His partner, that Polish chick, is beautiful. She seems to be that unusual mix of niceness and beauty. Like me, I guess. (har) And Mario Lopez has dimples deep enough to take a spit bath in, he'll probably win. I loved his samba (now there's a sentence I never thought I'd type "I loved his samba.") and he's a crowd favorite.


I have a headache.

Happy Hallow Weenie

I hate the fact that so many schools and communities have distorted the true meaning of Halloween and negated its existence with "Fall Celebrations." Sheesh.

Some begging of free candy . . . witches, vampires, goblins and black cats and people go all Christian-y on you.

Give a vampire kiss to someone you love. Remember Carou Vamp? Didn't she make bats in the Book Shelf?

The good thing about having a teenager is that he’s more independent; he’s spreading his wings, stays out with his friends and tries to find his own way in life. The bad thing about having a teenager is that he’s more independent; he’s spreading his wings, stays out with his friends and tries to find his own way in life. On the weekends he’s rarely home except to sleep and shower and occasionally eat. I miss him.

Do Not Buy His Book

The Evil Bill O’Reilly was on Oprah yesterday trying to sell his new book. Don’t buy this book. He divides up people into Social Progressives (evil) and Traditional Warriors (good)

SPs want everything to be allowed: rap music, hiphop, abortion, “disgusting” movies, pornography, drugs, gay marriage, and, the Biggie, LIBERALISM. :::shudder::::
“DO YOU WANT AMERICA TO BE DENMARK OR HOLLAND???????”

Traditional Warriors want everything good for America: pro life, winning the war on terror, the “bad” guys in prison, torture’s ok if “it saves American lives”, motherhood, apple pie, and CONSERVATISM. According to Billy Boy, Martin Luther King was a T WARRIOR. JFK? T-Warrior! RFK? T-WARRIOR! As was FDR. ALL T WARRIORS! (lol)

Tree, can you just imagine Stephen Colbert coming up with the phrase “T Warrior”? Colbert would do it tongue-in-cheek. O’Reilly is dead serious.

“THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND!! PICK A SIDE!! THERE’S A WAR GOING ON! DEMOCRACY MUST PREVAIL!”

An audience woman called him on being divisive, and polarizing the nation. “You’re here talking calmly with Oprah, but on your show you do nothing but yell and say everyone but you is wrong. You make a lot of money polarizing this country.” She went on to say, “I work with gay youth, and . . .”

“SIT DOWN MADAM. YOU ARE AN SP! SP SP SP!”

And, of course, all the media (except him and FoxNews) is liberal. They’re bottom feeders. “Did you know my book is on the New York Times bestseller list and YET THE NEW YORK TIMES WON’T REVIEW IT?????????????”

When O’Reilly wails against BIG BUSINESS, and a man in the audience points out that FoxNews is a part of one of the biggest corporations, O’Reilly dismisses him as a “FOX HATER. YOU, SIR, ARE A FOX HATER!!”

To everyone who disagrees with him he yells, “DO YOU HATE AMERICA? DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN HOLLAND?” wtf??

What a fucking loon.

Oprah wimped out. She didn’t call him on nary a thing.

Letterman's Important Message About February for George Bush

haha!

Look what I found

A slug that Jackie's daughter might like :)

One of Satan’s minions--goes by the name of Bill O’Reilly-- is on Oprah today. She won’t have hip hop/rappers on, but she’ll have that turd on her show? C’mon, Ops…….which one of your segment producers is a closet Nazi freak? I don’t know if I’ll get home in time to watch it, but I hope she asks him about his masturbatory fantasies of showering his sexually harassed employee with a loofah.

I want coffee.

One Vote

back to work

Ugh. The frost is on the proverbial pumpkin today.
I worked outside yesterday and I'm sore today. I thinned out the coneflowers, worked some amendments into the soil, and planted the daffodils. Then I mulched. I also moved some big decorative rocks that were hidden with some overgrown perennials to a place where I could enjoy them. I like rocks, I do. I still have a bigass wheelbarrow full of hacked down stuff, in the front yard. If I have the energy after work, I'll haul it around the back and pitch it in the overgrown compost pile.

I saw Sharon Lovejoy (big in the gardening world) on PBS' The Victory Garden Saturday and she was making a "salamander house" from logs and wood screws. They're just stacked like Lincoln Logs and they look cool and rustic. Salamanders supposedly are a good thing to invite into the garden. They eat pill bugs and motherfucking slugs. I hate motherfucking slugs almost as much as I hate motherfucking Japanese beetles. So, I might have BP make a few salamander houses for me. I don't know if they're even around these here parts. I'll have to research, unless one of you know about salamanders and could impart some wisdom.

I finally started Chris Elliott's The Shroud of the Thwacker last night in bed. I actually LOLd a few times. It' s funny and I can imagine his voice as I read it. You know Chris Elliott? For years and years he wrote for the David Letterman Show, and bit part acted in sketches on the show. He recently played Amy's whacked out brother in Everybody Loves Raymond. You either love Chris Elliott or you think he's a no talent dimwitted balding hound-dog looking guy. Chris, if you're reading this, I meant that only in the most loving way. I appreciate you!

The three of us are going to get flu shots after LP gets out of school today.

I was across town last night and saw a house with a Christmas tree up already. At first I thought it was a "Halloween tree", but no...it was framed in their picture window . . . a freaking Christmas tree, decorated and lit. In October. If if were QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE, those homeowners would be dead.

Monday

Nothing new at Mom’s. She wanted to go to Applebee’s for lunch (It was nasty.) I took her shopping. Then home, where she insisted on watching the Notre Dame game until she wanted me to drop her off at church for Saturday mass. The church is two minutes from her house—you can literally see it out the front door and across a meadow, and mass on Saturday begins at 5:30, so when did she want to leave? 4:00. That’s right 4:00, partly because UCLA scored a touchdown and she can’t stand to watch when Notre Dame’s losing. I think they eventually won, but who knows. So I took her over there at 4, and went home to make chili for dinner. My oldest sister and her daughter and friend joined us at 7 for din-din.

So, I’m taking off of work today and tomorrow and want to get a few things accomplished, mainly plant a bag of 50 daffodils, and get my desk cleaned off and in order. That should take the entire two days.

If you’ve a mind to Christmas shop: Here’s want I want: Portrait

LP & I are going to visit my mother today and stay the night with her. Before we leave I’ll leave explicit instructions to Nesta not to have any stray toms over to party.

Spidey, Uncle Allen is back in California for the time being. Thank God. But he’s only there to put up his condo for sale and then the first of the year he’ll be back permanently. He’s got a choice of three houses that would be suitable for him (not ours). Before BP drove him to the airport do you think he offered thanks of any kind to us for putting up with his wrinkled old butt for weeks on end? I’ll leave you to figure that out for yourself.Thanks for bringing him up. I can feel my blood pressure going up.

Oh, and I hope some of the rest of you are privileged enough to be the recipients of Respighi’s jazzy emails! The woman is so witty! On the subject line was “Fart” and then I opened it and she had written “tee hee.” Thanks Respighi, you made my day!! ; )

364 more days until Pretzel Day

What a good The Office episode.
We saw:
Stanley excited about Pretzel Day.
Ryan the Temp's initiation by Dwight K. Schrute.
Dwight's cousin and best friend, Mose.
Interaction (by phone, at least) between Jim & Pam. How sweet was that?
That Michael is a good salesman despite his shortcomings as a human being.
Phyllis giving Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration a little sugar in the pretzel line.

Prairie Home Companion

I bought Prairie Home Companion last week on DVD and watched it on Sunday. I really enjoyed it. It's not my favorite Altman movie (that distinction goes to The Player,) but it was good. Is there anything that Meryl Streep can't do? Her singing is absolutely wonderful. And Lily Tomlin? Woot. Love me some Lily. I'd like to have Lily over for some chili and cornbread. I love Lily's face with its age lines. No Botox for Lily. She's over 60 and it shows but that's a good thing. I hate expressionless actor-Botoxed faces.

Remember that god awful movie she was in with John Travolta years and years ago? I can't remember the name of it and I'm too lazy to Google it, but it was enough to leave a bad taste in your mouth. she was wooden. He was wooden, and the script sucked. NO CHEMISTRY.

PHC is not for everyone. There's not a single M16 firing or car chase or bank explosion in the entire movie. It's slow and steady and satisfying. Garrison Keillor is a surprisely good actor--even though he was playing a character named "Garrison Keillor." What a stretch.

Sometimes I don't like Kevin Kline. In some movies he comes off as being too "actor-y" but he was okay in this. Guy Noir was his character's name. What a great name.

SNL's Maya Rudolph was in it and was surprisingly okay.

Who sucked in the movie, you ask. Okay I'll tell you who sucked in the movie. Lindsay Lohan sucked, that's who. She's such a cartoon in the media with her antics that I couldn't get passed the buzz and see her as this dark teen obsessed with suicide and bad poetry. She needs to go away for about ten years and come back and "ACT."

Another pot smoking loony actor I don't like is Woody Herrelson. Blech. But John C Reilly, who was in Chicago, was a-okay as Woody's singing cowboy partner.


Oh, and on that gossipy website that Mems got me hooked on, someone says Meryl is addicted to pornos. Eh. That's ok. She sings like an angel and she should be nominated again for an Oscar for her role in The Devil Wears Prada. The woman is mesmerizing.

Trying to help out a Sister

Here Schell, here's a pillow you can use to replace the one you lost


 

Drinking cat

Yesterday I was making dinner and glanced out the window and saw this huge cat drinking from the birdbath. I took this picture through the front screen door--that's why it sucks. I opened the door hoping to get a better shot , the cat saw me and hightailed it over across the yard.
That was pretty much the highlight on my Sunday. That, and of course admiring my object dee art left to me by my dead Aunt Dorothy.

 

Another angle

Perhaps it's beautiful from
this angle.

 

Another view

Perhaps another view would help. The built-in caddy, I assume,
would hold either loose cigarettes or matches perhaps.
Do you love it yet? Tell me it's not ugly (although I did LOL
for three straight minutes at Mems' previous comment.)
Thanks, Porks, for seeing the beauty.



 

Pretty Ugly

It’s Sunday. BP’s away, LP’s asleep on the couch, and Nesta’s been put on the back porch because she was climbing and almost knocked over a priceless relic I inherited from my dead Aunt Dorothy. It’s actually a huge, old, strange coffee table ashtray from the 60’s or 70’s. It’s one of those things that I can’t decide if it’s pretty or ugly. Of course we don’t use it as an ashtray. BP smokes, but he’s nice enough to only do it on the porch or in the basement. It’s an “object dee art,” as Roseann once called something on her TV show.













That's the lighter in the top left corner. 

Friday Night

I’m reading a book entitled Some Nerve by Jane Heller. She’s writes beach-read books that are fun to read. This one is about a celebrity writer for a People-type magazine who has to get the Big Get celebrity interview or else her tyrannical boss will fire her. So far, so good.

I’m listening to "The Nail File: The Best of Jimmy Nail" who I fell in love with on Meme’s blog. I loved his "Ain’t No Doubt" song so much I bought a CD. Man, does this guy ever write/sing songs with happy lyrics? I’m half way through the CD and nearly bawling. Haha. I love "Aint No Doubt" (duh) and like "Big River" too. If you listen to "Love Don’t Live Here Anymore"—bring a hankie. Right now he’s singing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "On This Night of a Thousand Stars." After seeing one of his videos, I keep picturing his big, huge, enormous nose. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Anyway, anyone catch CSI Thursday night? PapaZao aka KFed aka Mr. Britney Spears guest starred as a maniac whose gang went around Vegas beating the shit out of people. What a stretch. One of the Beatees was Greg- the- Lab- Guy- who- advanced- to- a- CSI. Weird episode.

I’m going off to read. Tata To paraphrase Ryan Seacrest: “Emma out.”

Guess the Object

 

How's this Tree? Does it look too poopy?

It's colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra today. 34 degrees. BP is working on a project in the garage so I had to park the car outside. There was frost on the windshield. Grrrrr.

Last night we went to high school open house. Would someone mind sending a clue to my teenaged son about the importance of education in this society? Grrrr.

Headline News

Killer Denied Parole

Women Screwed Again: Big Surprise


10 Year Old takes on City Hall

First Spinach, Now Carrot Juice

Didn't Make the Cut

I’m rereading the Constitution and came across this. The following is a partial list of actual proposed amendments that did not get ratified:

1876 An attempt to abolish the United States Senate

1876 The forbidding of religious leaders from occupying a governmental office or receiving federal funding (This one doesn’t sound so bad!)

1878 An Executive Council of Three to replace the Office of the President (doesn’t sound so bad, unless those three were Dubya, Cheney & Rumsfeld)

1893 Renaming this nation The United States of the Earth (catchy!)

1893 Abolishing the United States Army & Navy

1894 Acknowledging that the Constitution recognize God and Jesus Christ as the supreme authority in human affairs (with Moses and Mohammad coming in a distant third and fourth)

1912 Making marriage between the races illegal

1914 Finding divorce to be illegal

1916 All acts of war should be put to a national vote. Anyone voting yes had to register as a volunteer for service in the US Army (this one is hysterical)

1933 An attempt to limit personal wealth to $1 million

1936 An attempt to allow the American people to vote on whether or not the United States should go to war.

1947 The income tax maximum for an individual should be exceed 25%

1948 The right of citizens to segregate themselves from others

1971 American citizens should have the alienable right to an environment free of pollution (sounds good to me)

elections

I was reading about Keith Olbermann and happened upon this site. Scroll down and watch
"Tom Kean Jr turns his back on a Soldier's mother"

PerfectlyWrong

I got up early today and went to Panera Bread for a small coffee and an Asiago cheese bagel, sliced and toasted, and had to contend with an uppity counter girl named “Heather.” It was obvious that Heather did not want to have to work on Saturday morning and made sure everyone knew it, but too damned bad. Is it too much to ask for butter, plastic knife and a napkin for a to-go order? And have them put in a bag without a sneer?

So then I went to Meijer’s and bought: liquid hand soap, Dawn detergent, milk, bread, a gold pineapple which smell divine, toilet paper, (the big honkin’ package of Charmin mega) an Enquirer which shows a collapsed Oprah on the cover, a head of garlic, potato sticks, Liquid Plumber for my slow bathroom sink drain, eggs, and some Glad plastic wrap.

A pineapple, Enquirer, and Liquid Plumber in the same store. Aint America grand??

I came home and filled the birdfeeders. Today’s weather is glorious. After my inside chores I think I’ll go outside and putter around.

I taped 20/20 last night. I’ll have to watch that later. They had a special on the Seven Deadly Sins and were highlighting SLOTH. One segment was supposed to be about lazy teenagers and how you can get them to straighten up their bedrooms. We’ll see about that. Speaking of taping shows, I was soooooo pissed. I had taped The Office and CSI on Thursday, watched the Office Friday morning before work and rewound it because I wanted to watch it again later. When I got home yesterday I HAD TAPED SOMETHING ON BRAVO OVER THE OFFICE AND MOST OF CSI! To make matters WORSE, it was a James Lipton interview with Mr Couch-Hopper Himself: Tom Cruise. Life is sometimes very cruel.

In trouble? Blame it on BIll

Our team raised $5000 for the JDRF on Saturday.
After the run we went back to my sister's house and had lunch.
Then some went shopping and I stayed with Mom.
She was watching a Notre Dame football game, so I
sat in the sun room and read magazines.
This is one of my favorite areas in her house, it faces south
and looks out on a small garden.

 

Stuffed Green Peppers


Four green (or other color) peppers
½ to ¾ pound of ground sirloin
1 cup cooked rice
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1 small onion grated with the juice (grate it with a box grater right over the mixing bowl, the onion juice will help keep the meat moist)
1 egg, whisked
½ T salt
1 t black pepper
1 t red pepper flakes
1 jalapeno, finely minced (you can omit this if you don’t like things too spicy)
1 small can tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375


Whisk all ingredients except the beef and rice in a mixing bowl. Add beef and combine just until blended (too much meat handling and your meat will be tough—just ask Bert)

Grease a baking dish with olive oil.

De-stem and cut the tops (about 1/3) off of each green pepper. Reserve the tops! If you have a wobbly pepper you can take a little slice off the bottom to make it stand up.

Put some rice into each green pepper, then add the meat mixture, packing each pepper tightly. Put a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce over the top, and then put the pepper top back on top of each pepper.

If you have any meat mixture, rice and/or tomato sauce leftover, you can add it to the bottom of the baking dish to cook.

Lightly cover with foil and bake for an hour or until thoroughly cooked. Take the foil off for the last 10 minutes or so.

NOTES:

1. Some people combine the meat and the rice into the peppers but I like to layer them.
---It’s a great meal with just a salad or dinner rolls. Leftovers are good for lunch.

2. You can divide this recipe by half if you want to.

3. Some people like to cut the peppers in half lengthwise instead of cutting them “tall-ways.” They might cook a little faster this way.

Back from a Meeting

I need to go away more often. When I was away for my two day meeting, BP & LP replaced a splintered window in the bedroom, fixed my clothes dryer, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned LP’s bedroom, and vacuumed the living room. The only thing that LP forgot was to clean Nesta’s litter box.
I had a good meeting, the catering was phenomenal, I had two martinis with dinner last night, we had a funny comedian as an after dinner speaker, and the hotel room was nice—it even came with a sleep kit including a relation/mediation CD, lavender linen spray, and earplugs.
When I go into work tomorrow I’ll have to fill out expense report/travel papers which I hate to do.

Note to Tree,
We had door prizes—one of which was a $25 Chili’s gift certificate. When they announced it I started singing, ala Michael Scott, the Chili’s commercial song, “Chiliiiii’s baby back ribs, Chiliiiii’s baby back ribs.” From across the room another woman chimed in with “I’ want my baby back baby back, I want my baby back baby back…” She came over to the table I was sitting at and asked me if I was a nut, or if I just liked The Office. Haha. A friendship was born. But, no, I didn’t win that door prize or anything else.

Monday. Blech

1. Uncle Allen is back staying with us for another four days. But the good news is that I'm going on a two day business trip and leaving this evening.



2. Among LP's school announcements:
Homecoming is this week. Dress up days are the following: Tuesday-1960s (peace, love, and the hippie movement), Wednesday-1970s (groovy disco baby!), Thursday-1980s (retro, big hair, stone washed, leg warmers), Fridays-spirit day (red and blue).


80's=retro? okay.


3. I made kickass stuffed green peppers last night for dinner. Marsh had green peppers on sale yesterday--25 cents apiece. I was giddy, almost Biddy-like, seeing the sale sign--and I didn't even have a coupon!
blu, did you made my hot Italian sausage concoction?

About 6:00 it rained like hell here and there was a
magnificent rainbow that lasted for well over twenty
minutes, and at one point turned into a double rainbow!

 

JDRF

Today most of the Writes clan . . sisters, brother, mother, aunt, cousins are participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk in Indianapolis. I contributed money in my brother’s name and in my cyber friend Urban’s name (even though she’s a looong way away from being a juvenile) : )

You may remember my nutso religious sister who couldn’t cut it as a nun and the convent kicked her out with instructions to go and get psychiatric help. Well if you don’t then you’re not a loyal reader of Emmerica so go play with yourself. If you do remember “The Nun”, here’s the latest tidbit. For years she’s also participated in this fundraiser and walk, but this year she left a message on Lexus sister’s voicemail (we’re all meeting at Lexus’house.) Her message:

“I went online and researched the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and discovered that they give 5% of contributions to stem cell research! I cannot in good conscience participate in any way to an organization like that!”

She doesn't even know what a fucking stem cell is. This good Christian, moral person loves stem cells and zygotes and embryos and fetuses but shows distain for most living breathing people. She told a story once of two migrant workers coming to the backdoor of the Catholic Church office she works for. The church had had a luncheon that day and these workers had the temerity to ask for leftovers because they were hungry. Miss Christian told them to go away because “this wasn’t a soup kitchen.” I suppose if they had been two zygotes requesting assistance she would have welcomed them with open arms.

Anyway, I hope the rain holds off until after the Walk. Bye.

Making good music into crappy television commercials

In the eighties I was a fan of the music group Big Country. I saw them in concert once in St. Petersburg. Good stuff. Here are the lyrics of their big hit

“In a Big Country”

I've never seen you look like this without a reason,
Another promise fallen through, another season passes by you.
I never took the smile away from anybody's face,
And that's a desperate way to look for someone who is still a child.

CHORUS:
In a big country, dreams stay with you,
Like a lover's voice, fires the mountainside..
Stay alive..

(I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered)


I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert,
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime..

CHORUS [x2]

So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you.
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded.
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming.
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted.
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered.

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert,
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime..

CHORUS [x3]




The bio on their lead singer, Stuart Adamson:

Rock musician. Although born in Manchester, Adamson grew up in Crossgates (near Dunfermline). Initially a member of the punk-rock group The Skids in the late 1970s, Adamson went on to form the band Big Country (1981) with whom he made his most noted contribution through his distinctive style of guitar playing. Their albums include The Crossing (1983), Steeltown (1984), The Seer (1986), Peace In Our Time (1988), No Place like Home (1991), The Buffalo Skinners (1993), Why the Long Face (1995) and Driving to Damascus (1999).
Having suffered from alcohol-related depression, Adamson disappeared from his home in Nashville (USA), to be found dead some weeks later in a hotel in Hawaii.

What got me thinking of them is a commercial for Kohl’s department store that’s been on the past few weeks. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when popular songs get bastardized into commercials. I don’t like musicians selling out their music to be background music to sell soap, restaurants, tampons, computers, underwear, or whatever. Whether it’s Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Go-Gos, The Who, the Rolling Stones, or Big Country. It’s their right, I suppose. And it’s my right to bitch about it.

My morning walk

I took the camera on my morning walk
around the 'hood.

Don't do this. Some idiot planted spruce trees
on either side of the sidewalk leading up to the house.
Now they are so huge the house is hidden.

 

Park ballpark. Very deserted on a Wednesday

 

Cute house over by the park

 

Bridge in the park

 

The park a few blocks away from me.
I like the weeping willow

 

Cool pinecones 

Don't do this. This is a house a few blocks over.
The window boxes are filled with plastic flowers. 

BP's ugly van, parked in its makeshift space by the carport.
It hasn't been moved in six months. There's usually a squirrel
and/or bird poop on it. You saw it on a good day.

I have an Oowie

I’m taking a few days off of work. I replanted some sedum out back by the shed where the Messy Area used to be. I love this area now. The ornamental grasses have grown and filled in and it’s beautiful, especially when it’s windy. I pulled some weeds and mulched the area too. I cleaned and Cloroxed the bird bath and rinsed it well, filled up the yellow finch feeder, and hung out on the porch awhile with a magazine.

I made some hot Italian sausage and pasta for an early Linner (combo lunch and dinner). Onions, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes, oregano, S & P. It smelled heavenly and tasted just as good. I got a knife out of the drawer to slice the onion, and slammed the drawer shut . . . with my finger inside. You know when something hurts so badly that it just knocks the breath out of you? That’s what happened. I sat down. LP heard me yell and came and got some ice and put it in a baggie for me. That helped. He was very attentive and wanted to know if I wanted a Tylenol. I said, “No, but will you check to see if the dryer’s off and if it is will you take out the towels and fold them?” He said, “You’re stretching it, Mom.” But he did it anyway. LOL.

The ice helped and I’m glad my finger isn’t broken.

Win a $50,000 Dream Vacation

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Republican strategy

Typical Republican strategy: blame the Democrats. Or more specifically, Bill Clinton. Clinrton’s been out of office for years and years but the right wingers still blame him for “not getting bin Laden.” Sheesh. And evidently he got testy with Chris Wallace and his smirkiness on a Fox News interview. Bill said that he tried and failed in getting bin Laden. He admitted failure. When’s the last time Dubya admitted a mistake?
The Republicans are running scared with mid term elections looming. They’re practically crapping their collective pants, and still blaming Clinton.

Roses aren't my favorite, but my mother-in-law gave
me this miniature rose a few years ago. It's only about a
foot and a half high, but it's blooming like crazy.