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First, I have to draw attention to the awesome new blog header made by Maria, via Sweet Blog Design. I'm sure a lot of you view these entries via an RSS feed, but you should totally click over to see the banner. Because it is pretty and I said so.
Next, I want to wish all my fellow Irish peeps (even those of you who are only Irish one day a year) a happy St. Patrick's Day!
That is indeed the Chicago river, and no it isn't always quite that green. They dye the river green the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day (which I call Fake Patrick's Day) because this city is insane with the Irish Pride. Also, they really, really, really like green beer. Possibly the later has more to do with it than the former.
This, however, did not have anything to do with any green beer consumption I may or may not have taken part in:

I have to wear it all day when I'm sitting AND overnight, alternating left foot one day, right foot the next. It is just as awesome as you think it is. But after six months of this my doctor has started to bring up surgery and cutting tendons and OH that does not sound like a good idea. So the leg brace thing it is.
Thanks to the above, I am also on an epic quest to find shoes that a) can pass for business casual, b) are flats/very, very low heals, c) are not boots/do not come up over the top of my ankle, d) have some sort of removable foot bed to fit my prescription orthotics, and e) do not look like grandma shoes. This is a shockingly difficult thing to manage, and there may have been a tear and Xanax filled hour of on-line shoe shopping on Sunday night when I couldn't sleep. The shoe-shopping gene that women are (stereotypically) born with clearly skipped me, and I am finding this process to be pure torture. If anyone wants to do my shopping for me, I wear a size eight and a half.
Lastly, while the snow has been gone from Chicago for a week or two, I keep forgetting to post this picture of my back yard. In the Midwest the snow melts sideways.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, all.
May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks.
May your heart be as light as a song.
May each day bring you bright happy hours,
That stay with you all year long.
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T and I have never been big on celebrating Valentine's Day. When we were dating our anniversary was February 8th and that was close enough for us to not want another day of Forced Romantic Schmoopyness right away, so we skipped Valentine's Day entirely or gave each other deliberately cheesy gifts. One year I literally gave her a bunch of cheese.
Sometime last week the morning show we listen to on the radio was discussing gifts you should never, ever give to your beloved for Valentines Day. The list was pretty run-of-the-mill - full of I've-heard-this-before items and dumb jokes. So, you know, like every other morning radio show in the country. And yet I have nothing else to occupy my brain while I dry my hair, so I continue to talk back to the radio. I'm ranting about how this is the dumbest list ever, because if you're going to give someone a gift it needs to be something THEY want, and not everyone wants the same THING, dammit. Their example of The Worst Valentine's Day Gift Ever was a KitchenAid Mixer, which T knows I lust after regularly.
Me, muttering in the general direction of the radio: I would love a KitchenAid mixer! And I have no desire to receive flowers! Bite me, contrived radio show segment!
T: *Continues ignoring me*
Fast-forward to Saturday, the day before Valentine's Day. I had worked a long day and a longer week, nearly 70 hours of work in six days. After work on Saturday I had gone out to run errands and managed to procure cat food and groceries despite long since having lost my will to live. I was tired and cranky and still didn't know what I was going to make for dinner except I was positive it was going to involve tater tots because OMG PMS. In other words, I was going to be a delight for the rest of the night.
Then I spotted it. On the counter.
A picture of a KitchenAid mixer, taped to the coffee grinder. My heart skipped a beat. Intriguing. Was it...just a picture? Was it a hint of a real mixer that was on the way? I got a little fluttery and excited as I turned to T.
"Did you get me a KitchenAid mixer? FOR SERIOUS?"
She barely looked up from the television. "I thought you'd like the picture, since you don't have a real mixer. Sorry it is purple, I think our printer is running out of ink."
"Oh. Okay then. Haha, nice joke."
I proceeded to mope around the apartment for another ten minutes muttering to myself how that wasn't funny and I've had a long day and of course I didn't expect anything for Valentine's Day but I was so surprised by the picture and I thought was getting surprised by a mixer and now in addition to cranky I was sad about not having a mixer and WAAAH. (See: PMS)
T noticed my moping and tearing up and started laughing at me. How dare she laugh at me when I've got PMS! She rolled her eyes and went over to her desk, where a KitchenAid mixer was hiding.
Best. Valentine's. Day. Eve. Ever.
It isn't often someone can surprise a control-freak like me. I drop hints like anvils and nearly always know what I'm getting and when I'm getting it ahead of time, even if the gift-giver thinks it is a huge surprise. But this? She totally surprised me with something I really wanted and didn't expect. She didn't do it for any reason other than she is nice and she loves me and wanted to give me a special treat in the middle of my most stressful time of year. Really, it had nothing whatsoever to do with Valentine's Day. It is on every list of stereotypical bad-idea-gift list, but it was perfect for me. Thanks, love.
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Since I first heard that CBS is going to air an anti-abortioncommercial during the Superbowl, I've been trying to find a way to explain why this pisses me off. On any normal day I don't particularly care if a network runs paid advertisements on political hot-button issues, whether I agree with the point of view in that commercial or not. Heck, when I lived in Minnesota for the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, Minnesota was considered a "swing-state" and I saw more than my fair share of soap-box type commercials, from both sides. I don't particularly enjoy them, but I deal. If this commercial were running any other time, I likely wouldn't bat an eye, nor would anyone else.
Is it unfair that CBS is accepting this ad, while they turned away a more liberal-leaning ad in 2004 because of their policy "prohibiting advocacy ads, even ones that carry an 'implicit' endorsement for a side in a public debate"? Yes, I think it is. And that is the main reason, as I understand it, that my wife and others are choosing to not watch the Superbowl this year. But that isn't what makes me grind my teeth over this.
Me? I'm just mad they are throwing politics into something that in my mind should be politics free. The biggest thing I want to debate that day is who should be the MVP, or which commercial was the funniest.
There is an awesome post about this on a (not safe for work) blog that I read that you can see here. (Seriously, don't go there at work though, it is a sex/sex-toy related site.) (Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Sorry about that link.)
For convenience, here are parts of that post that I find myself nodding at the most:
Hey Gary and CBS advertising execs – here are some thoughts to chew on:
On Super Bowl Sunday, I want to watch funny commercials and a fucking football game.
Correction: my boyfriend wants to watch funny commercials and a fucking football game while I cook up something delightful in the kitchen and run in when a funny commercial airs.
Some dudes spend the entire year planning their Super Bowl party – do you really think they want to hear about abortion between downs and dips in the chili con queso?
There is NO ONE who tunes into the Super Bowl to hear “a story about love between a mother and a son.” They tune in to watch football, for the ritual, hang with friends, drink a shitload of beer and fart in a room so full of people that no one notices.
I’m disappointed simply in the poor marketing decision made by FOTF and the equally polarizing decision made by CBS. At $2.5 million a pop for Super Bowl ad time, wouldn’t their ad met with less resistance, more acceptance and reach a more tractable audience had they chosen a prime time network show with an agreeable viewing demographic? If you’re looking to drive brand or message affinity, why do it in a way that you’re going to piss off the most people possible during an event meant to unite, not divide? And CBS – you’ve finally come out of your discretionary shell, pimping one side of the God ride on this one. If I were another advertiser on this year’s Super Bowl Sunday, I’d be pissed. No one’s even going to watch my ad. They’re going to be waiting for the God Bomb. If I were Anheuser Busch, I’d be digging through my advertising agreement and telling CBS to get fucked in a very out-of-wedlock way.
Do I care if Tim Tebow’s mom had an abortion or not? NO.
Do I care if he’s a kickass football player? NO.
Am I “offended” by the ad (seen or unseen)? A preemptive NO.
Does Tim Tebow’s presence in this world make my life better? NO.
Am I disappointed by the choice of a network to interrupt my upcoming Sunday filled with more junk food and camaraderie than you can shake a stick at by dropping the abortion elephant in the middle of my fucking living room? YES.
Gregg Doyel of CBSsports.com: “If you’re a sports fan, and I am, that’s the holiest day of the year. It’s not a day to discuss abortion. For it, or against it, I don’t care what you are. On Super Bowl Sunday, I don’t care what I am. Feb. 7 is simply not the day to have that discussion.”
Posted at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
This is how we always cooked when I was a kid. Most of my family recipes start with instructions along the lines of "brown three pounds of hamburger". As I'm an only child, you can imagine that such recipes were more for filling the freezer than anything. Currently my freezer is full of pizza sauce, BBQ sauce, BBQ pulled pork, pulled chicken, chili, and pizza burgers. YUM.
The key to successful freezing of food is to portion everything out in baggies and freeze them lying flat, like this.
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