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I suspect they think you have to be Redneck* to be truly ‘American’. Me no likey that…
You Are 51% American Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there’s no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one’s going to take it away from you! How American Are You? I mean, really, isn’t it our job as Americans to disagree sometimes with the decisions made by our leaders, to continually want our country to live up to its ideals, to try to make it the best country on earth? I know this is a silly blogthing, but I suspect I lost American points for not…
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Once More, With Feeling
We had a bit of a Buffy-thon last night, watching several Buffy episodes, and I have to say, I miss Buffy. I wish there were something on TV now that I liked as much as I liked this show…something as funny and clever and poignant all at the same time. The last installment to any good Buffy-thon, if you want to end on a high note and you’re not going for closure (that would be the end of season 7, right?) is ‘Once More With Feeling’, the musical episode. I have this on my beloved iPod, actually, and I listen to it more often than I should admit. For you…
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An evening with the boob tube…
 First off, who amongst you goes out shopping on Black Friday? I have some family memebers who run out at 6am to get the best deals, and are home and toasty warm before we even get around to breakfast. It’s a fun tradition that they cherish. Other family members consider this a day to stay the hell home, safe from the hoards of crazed shoppers. Then there are others, like me, who could go out, maybe, if we take BART so I don’t have to park anywhere, but could easily be convinced to stay home with a good book or a few episodes of Buffy. Now, here’s a stupid…
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Thanksgiving, Past and Present
photo found here The first few years that Ted and I were dating, he would go to his family’s house for Thanksgiving, and I would go to my Grandma’s house. I had a lovely time at Grandma’s house, even with the talk of diets and the dry dry turkey and the taste of cigarretes, and it was nice to see my family, as I was living in San Francisco now, and saw them mainly on the holidays. But as time went on, Ted and I decided we wanted to spend our Thanksgivings together. So, one year, I invited Ted to Thanksgiving at my Grandma’s house. I think he was in…
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Enchanted
Monday evening we were fortunate enough to get tickets from Ted’s work for an advance screening of Enchanted, the new Disney movie. The premise of the film is that a fairy tale princess, ala Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, falls in love with her prince charming, and on the way to get married, is duped by his evil stepmother, and she finds herself in Manhattan. The fairy tale parts are in 2D animation, and the Manhattan parts are real life, with just a bit of CGI for animals and such. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Disney has a big hit on their hands this…
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Stupid Tire
Have you ever noticed how difficult it can be to see a black tire with no rims on a black road on a dark night on the freeway? How if there are no other cars around you to shine their headlights, and no streetlights, a tire might just sit in the middle of the road, waiting for you? No? Me neither. Until Monday night. On Monday night, Maya and I were taking Jackie home after Enchanted, and I was going about 70 mph (practically the slow lane around here), when I heard and felt a huge BANG!!!, and then I saw a tire go flying off to my left, and…
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The Ghost of Thanksgivings Past…
I’m sure that we must have celebrated Thanksgiving when I was a child in Alaska, probably with lots of friends, music, and laughter, but I don’t have any specific memories of Thanksgiving during those years. Halloween and Christmas, yes, but not Thanksgiving. My memories of Thanksgiving are of holidays at my Grandparents’ house. My Grandparents’ house was a place where you had to walk on eggshells & be careful what you said, because my grandfather (whom I loved dearly) had a very sarcastic tongue, and a perfectly innocent conversation could quickly turn ugly. Add to that some pretty divergent political and social beliefs around the table, and it’s a recipe…
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Monday ‘4’ Meme
I was tagged for this little meme by amuirin , and since I’ve been doing a meme every Monday for NaBloPoMo, it’s perfect. Black Belt Mama tagged me for another one, but it’s more difficult, so I’m thinking it can be for next Monday. 4 words to describe my response to this meme: Amused (it’s a cute one, and a new bloggy friend tagged me. Yay!) Grateful (because of NaBloPoMo) Annoyed (sometimes memes can be tiring and uninspiring…) Bored (see annoyed, above) 4 jobs I’ve had: Waitress/Hostess at Mr. Steak Front Desk Clerk/Concierge at a fancy hotel Horse poop picker-upper in exchange for horseback riding opportunities Business Analyst at various…
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Sunday Poetry
image found here i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or…
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Pumpkin Pecan Waffles
This is a shameless endorsement for a waffle mix, because dang it, this stuff is good. The recipe is easy, but finding the waffle mix, not so much. Not so much online, that is, because stupid Williams-Sonoma doesn’t have it in their online store. Oddly enough, they DO have it in the brick and morter store downtown. We bought some a few weeks ago, and we whipped up a batch on Wednesday morning. Mmmm. Really, really good. Especially with their pecan pumpkin butter right on top. The waffles came out fluffy and light, with just the right amount of pumpkin/pecan flavor. Sigh. The only cruel thing is that there’s a…
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The North Karelia Project
Click to enlarge The other day I was coming home from donating blood (yay me!), and listening to The World on our local NPR station. They were discussing an experiment in North Karelia, Finland. In the 1970s, Finland had the world’s highest death rate from heart disease, and the death rate in North Karelia was even higher…40% higher. It was not unusual in the least for men to die from a heart attack in their 30s or 40s. Finland’s National Public Health Institute decided to launch a program focused on changing the eating habits in North Karelia, where the diet consisted predominantly of high salt-low grade pork, and dairy. It…
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Children’s Book Week
I found out over at Scribbit that this is Children’s Book Week. The post on Scribbit had some wonderful suggestions on how to encourage reading in children, if you’re interested. Then she came up with part two… We don’t have that problem around here, as Maya is just as much of a reader as her parents are. (This doesn’t always follow…I know several couples who both love to read, read to their children, model reading in front of their children, maybe even have one or two children who love to read…and one or two who just don’t enjoy it at all. Some is nature, and you just have to accept…
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Wordless Wednesday?
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Suite Française
Because I read mainly novels, the identity and experience of the author is usually immaterial to me. Of course, who they are and where they are from shape their words and the stories they tell, but seldom do I pay attention to these things. My belief is that the authors would want it to be so – that they would wish for their stories and characters to stand on their own, and to be authentic without our knowing anything about the artist who brought them to life. Sometimes, however, this isn’t possible. Having looked at the copyright of The Grapes of Wrath, for example, I know going in that John…
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DoSoEvAyMo
Hopped on over to a new blog today (not a new blog, but you know, new to me, found her through the whole NaBloPoMo thing), and loved what she had to say about creativity and letting loose in her writing.  Went from there over to another blog, The Letter W (justsohappens this was Maya’s favorite letter way back when she was learning them), and saw an idea I’m going to incorporate. Do Something Every Day Month, aka, DoSoEvAyMo. So…I’ll post my regular posts, and at the bottom, I’ll add what it is that I’m hoping to do that day. By the way, this is pretty much NOT her point…her point, I…