there are those who get it, ...

... and those who don't. These people get it:


more music charts

Chalking up the pro's and con's

Who's the big sister?

Little K is becoming a big girl; she's using a spoon all by herself, and good thing, too.


Come April, mom and dad's hands are going to be pretty full. Just liker her mom, Kayley's going to be a big sister!

poetry for my shoes

Rain, rain, don't go away,

My new wellies arrived today!

Cute all over in black/white plaid,

Now wet feet don't make me mad.

suck on this, Martha

Since I moved into my apartment in late August, there are a number of small projects I've wanted to get to in the realm of home improvement. Painting the bedroom had the highest priority, and that was accomplished in within 24 hours of unloading the Uhaul. Later that same week I cleaned the pantry. Lately, the roomie and I had been discussing the need to defrost the freezer. It wasn't the most pressing matter, but for some reason I found myself in the kitchen tonight, pouring myself a 3rd glass of wine, and looked in the cabinet where the tools are to see if I could find a chisel of some sort. Instead, I found a gardening trowel, and decided to take a few chips at the ice.

But I kept thinking, if only I could melt the ice a little to get the trowel in between the edge of the freezer and the massive block of ice. Enter Conair:

Please note that the frost was several inches thick on the top, bottom and back of the freezer, There were several items that pre-dated the current roommates (with 3 and 4 years of tenure) which were frozen into the frost. With the help of the styling nozel, the "turbo" setting, the lovely Anne, and some animosity towards the ex I'm still haboring and needed to unleash, we went from that cold mess to this clean beauty:

I think I'm going to have to make a special trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on their frozen deliciousnesses since we now have so much room in the freezer!

Yes we did!

wednesday

One of the nice things about being a grad student is the flexibility of my schedule. Today I "worked from home" (a.k.a. played hooky with #3). When I make meals, I sometimes like to pretend I'm on a cooking show or own a bed a breakfast (dork central, I know). See, for example, breakfast:





Whole grain French toast with caramelized banana and apricot compote. It's all in the presentation. Such a nice way to start a lazy day.

Halloween in pictures

As promised, here are some photos from one of the best Halloweens I've ever had! (Sorry it took so long, I had to retrieve the camera from Peter).

Here's me playing make-up artist:

Those years doing make-up for the WHS drama club really paid off!

We took it to the street - literally.

Here are Mona and Patty (a.k.a. Mikey and Peter) stopping traffic on 6th Ave.

Then onto the train - safety demonstrations on the A,C,E line.

Remember, make sure your own mask is properly fitted before assisting others.

Their other friend, Taylor, was a cowboy, so we made a cute couple.

Got tickets to the gun show?

I'm already looking forward to next year! I think I'm going to be a meth-addict soccer mom. Maybe the boys can be my PTA chums.

Shappy

I'm shappy.

I was overjoyed. Last night as I watched the results come in, I could not believe my eyes. The West Coast polls closed, and they called it for Obama. I still couldn't believe it. I screamed, "change it to Fox!" And there it was - even Fox news had called it for Obama. Barack Obama is President elect of the United States of America. We cheered, we cried, we stomped our feet. We popped a bottle of champagne and passed it around. We ran into the street to hear the victory cries of others. We joined the movement onto the streets and into the bars to celebrate.

This morning I stepped outside, breathed in the fresh fall air, and smelled hope.

I tried to by a copy of the New York Times - I want to have the front page that announces our first African-American President - but they were all sold out. I felt jubilant going into the office.

And then I checked Facebook:

Jenny cried when Jessie Jackson did but is mad as hell about prop 8 in california.

No. I checked the LATimes. Yes. California passed Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. Florida and Arizona passed similar bans, and Arkansas one-uped them all by banning adoption and foster parenting by unmarried couples (guess whom that will disproportionately affect?).

And so I'm shappy. I'm sad + happy. I think the election of Barack Obama as the next President has enormous consequences for this country and the global community, and I am excited to feel proud to be an American for the first time in a long, long, loooooooooong time. But I am so disenheartened by these attacks on the civil liberties of American citizens. It's like voters - especially those that were pro-Obama and pro-Prop 8 - are saying, "we let the black guy in, we're not letting the gays get what they want, too." Why must we trade one type of bigotry for another? The number of proposed bans on ballots was down this year, but now that states know see these bans passing and being enacted initiatives to fight against the rights of gay couples will probably have renewed vigor.

I'm trying to focus on the positive, but I'm shappy. To my gay friends on the West coast, the Northeast would love to have you (at least gay marriage is still legal in MA and CT).

Vote, Baby, Vote!

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." - Bill Vaughan

Don't make this a nation of lazy hypocrites - vote.

* I didn't get a sticker! They weren't giving them out. Is the economy that bad?