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Why Do I Love These People?
Back in February, my dad sent my sisters and me copies of this book, Why Do I Love These People, by Po Bronson. He had read it, and thought it was a valuable collection of stories that we might all enjoy, and perhaps gain something from. The stories are those of families, and how they overcome difficulties in their lives, and come out of hard times closer together than they were before. Some of the stories related to dealing with parents, others to spouses, and still others, children or siblings. Some to all of the above. What struck me the most about the stories in this book was a theme…
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“George Bailey, I’ll Love You ‘Till The Day I Die”
I was sad to read that Bob Anderson, the actor who played the young George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” died today, at the age of 75. I thought he did such a wonderful job of playing a young Jimmy Stewart, and made you care about the character from the get-go. Here’s an interesting tidbit about the filming of the scene where he gets his ear boxed by a very drunk and saddened Mr. Gower, the druggist, played by H.B. Warner: Warner took the role seriously and on the day of shooting had been drinking and was “pretty ripe,” Victoria Anderson said. The scene called for Warner’s character to…
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Go Big Brown!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoFquax2F-k[/youtube] This video is of Secretariat, who won the Belmont Stakes, and the Triple Crown, in 1973. Even if you’re not into horse racing, this is an amazing horse race to watch. Watch him make all of the other horses look like they’re standing still, as he goes on to win one of the most difficult flat races for 3 year olds in record time (still unbeaten), and make it look EASY. The Triple Crown is within reach of Big Brown, but just because he’s won the first two races does not mean he’ll win today’s Belmont. 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and then failed to…
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Year of the
RatTurdWoke up 3 times last night. Twice by small earthquakes, then a phone call that said mom fell last night on the way back to bed from the bathroom, and hurt her neck. They’re sending her back to the hospital. Sigh. (And another grumpy thought…I haven’t even spoken to a single woman who could bring herself to vote for Hillary (besides a few family members) so what’s this stupid talk about Obama needs to heal rift with women? Idiot press. Most people I’ve talked to say, they’re so similar on the issues, they would vote either way. And then the campaign turned a lot of people off to her. So…
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I’m ready to complain now…
(unenviable job picture found here) I must say, I am not enjoying 2008 thus far. Can it end now, rather than waiting until December 31st? Please? (BlackBeltMama noted on her blog that Spring is over in just a few weeks…so let’s just start with Summer for the turnaround, k?) Why the complaining, you may ask? Am I really that crabby about my stupid stove and dishwasher? No. This has been a hard year thus far on our family, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better as of yet. Perhaps the Sickmas we spent in Portland was a portend of things to come. So. I’ll fill you in. First,…
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13 Things I Wish I Could Change(graphic found here) For the most part, these aren’t biggies. For that, I am thankful. I married the right man. I have a healthy child. We bought our house at the right time. These are more like ‘pet peeves’, things that I mostly ignore, but sometimes flare up and bug me, and I wish I had done things differently. I thought I would come up with 13 things, for a Thursday 13, but I guess most of my beefs are a bit bigger than this list lately. Anyway, here’s a few pet peeves, things I think, Gosh, wish I had done this differently… 1. I wish we had bought a…
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Slashed Chicken and ‘Saffron’ Orzo
I guess it’s all about the cooking here lately, huh? Well, Monday we had a yummy chicken dish that utilized both my beautiful dutch oven AND my beloved Shun knife. Fun! The chicken recipe is SO good…I mean, why wouldn’t it be, when you take a chicken and cover it in a whole stick of butter and some herbs. What’s not gonna be tasty about that? I found this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website. My picture isn’t nearly as gorgeous as theirs, but still. Good chicken. Slashed Chicken with Herb Butter 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1 Tbs. chopped fresh…
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Turkey Meatloaf
Photo found here Sunday morning, I woke up wanting Turkey Meatloaf. I have a cookbook of Ina Garten’s (Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa), and it has a wonderful recipe in it that we really enjoy. It makes a LOT of meatloaf though. If you look, the recipe calls for 5 lbs of turkey. That’s a LOT. So I halved it, and there’s still plenty left over. Plen-ty. Barefoot Contessa’s Yummy Turkey Meatloaf 3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions) 2 tablespoons good olive oil 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried) 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 3/4 cup chicken stock…
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Sex and the City
Ted and I went to see Sex and the City on Saturday night, along with our good friends, Cherry and Eric. Here’s my thought: If you liked the TV Show, you’ll like the film. If you didn’t, you won’t. Well, duh, but I kinda think that might need to be said, because I’ve seen a few reviews by folks who hated it, but also said they didn’t like the series either. The relief, for me, is that if you did like the series, chances are you’ll like the film. Whew. I’m guessing you all know the story line. When we last saw this fab four, they were living in New…
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Friday Randomness…
Anybody else amazed by these photos, of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon? I was pretty surprised to read that there are about 100 tribes of people who have never had any contact with the outside, modern world, and that about half of those tribes are in the Amazon. Really pretty interesting. Still processing last night’s season finale of LOST. Clearly I need to watch it again today. Stupid work. I will say that I shed a few tears, actual tears, at the Sun/Jin thing. Sob. It’s OK, he’s probably still alive. He knew that the ship was going to blow, so he probably jumped and got off in time.…
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Music Update
I decided that my sidebar hasn’t been updated in awhile. I update the books (semi) regularly. I update my blogroll about as often, with new blogs I’ve found, and sometimes getting rid of blogs that no longer speak to me. But the TV part was boring, so I got rid of that. And the music part? Unchanged. Boring. Time for a change. So, I updated my lyrics, which I suspect no one ever looks at, and means nothing to anyone but me. But it does mean something to me. Music isn’t as big a part of my life as it is to Ted…music is his back-beat, his soundtrack, and he…
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Driving Sideways
I decided to take a break from my Reading Challenge books, and pick up a copy of Driving Sideways, the first published novel of my bloggy friend, Jess Riley. I bought the book on Tuesday, and finished it on Saturday night. It was the kind of story that sucked me right in, and had me thinking about how I wished I were reading it while I was doing other things, like working, or being at a boring party on Saturday, that kind of thing. This is a relief, because I have to say, I was a little bit worried…what if I hated it? I’ve never reviewed a book by someone…
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Monday Meme
I found this one via Crum’s blog…he comments over at Scribbit sometimes, and he often cracks me up, so I went and checked out his blog, and he came and checked out my blog, and there you go. The bloggy world. 🙂 He lives in Maine. I’ve never been to Maine, but I suspect they have blueberries as good as the ones in Fairbanks. Mmmm. Blueberries. OK, here’s the meme. The Meme 1. Last Movie you Saw in a Theater: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was fun. But I must admit that I’m REALLY looking forward to next weekend, which is when Sex and the…
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1,000 Things About Me
OK, just kidding. But WordPress tells me that this is, in fact, my 1,000th post! Really, truly, 1,000! OK, not really truly, because there are a few in a holding pattern that I’ve started and not published. There are a few that seemed like a good idea, and then I ended up deleting them (like one I wrote last night about how I prefer to watch The Price is Right over American Idol). But this post has the distinction of being the 1,000th post that I’ve written, for better or for worse. So, how to celebrate? How to commemorate this, er, occasion? I’m not sure. I could tell you a…
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Get Yo’ Man Chicken and Jess’s Secret Salad
Sunday was chore day, and one of the chores that had to be done was the grocery shopping. I enjoy cooking, and I don’t mind cooking dinner almost every night (since Ted works late), but what I do dislike is trying to come up with ideas for meals week after week that won’t get boring. So Ted came up with a few yummy ideas, and I was trolling through Food Network’s website, looking for something that might be good. I came across this recipe, which not only looked good, it had a catchy name. It’s from their new show, Down Home with the Neelys, which I haven’t seen yet. The…