This many people

Showed up at Joseph Beth Bookstore here in the lovely Bluegrass to have Sarah Palin sign a copy of her new book. I MIGHT get in line to see John Calipari for his next book. Sarah, not so much. Although almost any woman banging on the glass ceiling of the American political scene gets at least my admiration, if not my vote (I'm looking at you, Hilary, but not at you, Nancy).

Funny of the Day

I think this sketch might be the reason I've had as many as six cockatiels at at time...

It's Not Coke Zero but...

Today I'm drinking this,


which was also part of my breakfast of champions in 1980 when size 5 was starting to look a lot like size 13.

BUT this is my breakfast beverage of choice currently (no, they don't sell these at Starbucks)



HOWEVER, when it's $2 a 12-pack and three days until payday, this is actually a very reasonable facsimile


Being from the South means never having to drink coffee in the morning...

Who needs Molly Maids?

The slacker in me loves loves loves this video. But I keep losing my laundry baskets...



How To Tidy Up in Three Minutes - video powered by Metacafe


Thanks to Paul Michael of wisebread.com, a favorite blog of mine.

"Who do you think I am anyway, the Shell Answer Man?"

A question my children have heard me say a thousand times in response to another unanswerable demand for information...

Well, little darlings, and anyone who wasn't around in the 70s...

From the Energybulletin.net, February 22, 2007

(He) was part of a television advertising campaign by Shell Oil Co. back in the 1970s, in reaction to the oil shocks and gasoline shortages of that era. The Shell Answer Man was a nice-looking, pleasant-sounding fellow who would appear on the TV screen to ask and answer basic questions about driving in general and gasoline in particular.

With simple language, and in a disarming and folksy manner, the man from Shell would explain things that related to fuel usage, like how proper tire inflation was good for your gas mileage. Or he would discuss how “jackrabbit starts” wasted gasoline. Over a period of time, there were a variety of topical ads along those lines. If you were somewhat savvy about driving an automobile, there was nothing particularly new or revealing in the message. But if you were what we might characterize, with all due respect, as the “average consumer,” blissfully dwelling in energy La-La Land, then the Shell Answer Man offered some good advice. Well, it was good advice if you followed it.

This is the Shell Answer Man (but not as I remember him!)

I want some of this

I saw this street snack being scarfed up by Anthony Bourdain in Cairo on one of his episodes recently, and as I am a big fan of one-bowl meals, I want some of this. It is called kushari and this photo sort of looks like it:




It is made of lentils, rice, pasta, onions, tomato paste, hot paste (hot peppers), and vinegar. All social classes enjoy this street food. It looks a bit like Skyline chili to me, the 5-way.

No recipe yet, but I met an Egyptian physician recently whom I hope will share his (or his wife's) recipe.

No Skyline Chili here in Lexington, but the Gold Star is a reasonable facsimile.

Coming tomorrow: Who is the Shell Answer Man anyway?

Luddites of the World, Unite

This is reportedly one of the best GPS navigator units out there:



It's a Garmin Nuvi and goes for around $539.

Here's my navigation device:



I paid $7 for it and I never accidentally drive into a lake or take a wrong turn at Albuquerque. If only I still had that built in compass in my car, I'd have it made.

What I learned today

Sometimes it is better to buy some quarters and schlep clothes to the laundromat for a 2-hour laundry sprint than to spend 12 hours slogging through 26.2 loads...

Maybe tomorrow.

Also, homemade bread and butter makes a damn tasty supper.

Power Point Lesson at the Library

The Lexington Public Library offers free computer courses several times a month. Today I am taking a refresher Power Point course, which is being covered in 2 days, this morning and tomorrow. This was felt to be a good idea as I was reminded by a "friend" that the last time I used Power Point it was on a "coal-fired" PC.

I'll share any goodies I learn for the similarly unenlightened. (see yesterday's post for my obtuse pun)

Finally, a tag I can snuggle up to

What I learned today

Kentucky has an economy equal to that of Portugal.
California's economy is equal to that of France.

Falling off the wagon

Not enough going on around here to post I guess. No. 2 daughter and I saw "Know1ng" on Friday because if you're going to see an understated (and aren't they all) Nicolas Cage movie, you ought to see it the very first day it's released. It was awesome if you like apocalyptic movies. I do.

There's a "Twin Peaks" marathon on the Chiller network this weekend. Didn't get it back in the 90s. Still don't but I love it anyway.

Looking for a new house to rent. Still cannot get over that 5 families lived in this house simultaneously before us. Actually, considering the state of the dwelling upon our arrival, I can.

What Did I Learn This Week?

I like Joe Scarborough's show on MSNBC. He may be a mainstream media hack but his voting record while he was a Congressman from Florida from 1995-2001 placed him squarely in a Libertarian state of mind (be still my beating heart).

But I digress. My favorite part of his show is at the end where he and his posse stand around and talk about what they learned that day on the show. Yeah, I'm easily amused while I'm having my Raisin Bran and bananas.

This week I learned (but not from Joe or from MSNBC) that the Palisades on the Hudson River outside New York City are one of the results of what happened when Pangaea split up about 200 trillion years ago (or ??? depending on who you ask) and formed the continents we are familiar with today.

So this


Became, among other things, this.

A Blog I Read Every Day

Yesterday at SXSW, the 2009 Bloggies were announced. The blog of the year was, of course, The Pioneer Woman, she deserves it, she's the goddess of mommy blogs, all hail Ree Drummond. I like her blog but she scares me a little. Her recipe section is great, however. I kinda think she believes she is (wink, wink) just like us. Plus I guess I was a little naive to think she actually designed and coded up her own blog. Doesn't everyone use Blogger or Wordpress? Spoken by a true amateur I guess.

Anyway...the ones I was personally watching was the blog from the category Best-Kept Secret Weblog. The winner was a nice little tight blog called Pistols and Popcorn, ANOTHER mommy blog about a backslud (backslidden, backslided?) Mormon lady with an interesting history living in an interesting neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, with an interesting and precious (he really is) child and husband, you get it. Sort of a less foul-mouthed Dooce. Surely you've read Dooce. She got bupkis this year, but it was her turn since she's got books and the Today show and a baby on the way and a precious 5-year-old, etc. I DON't READ EITHER OF THESE. MOMMY BLOGS sort of make me nauseous. I don't think I'll ever past the mustard (I know it's muster, it's funner to say mustard).

The one I DO READ every day that was nominated but didn't win is a wonderful, profane little blog called Thursday Night Smackdown. Michelle, the lady who writes this blog defies description except to say that she makes me want to cook from pretty cookbooks (and not the ones from the church ladies), she liveblogged Top Chef and made me almost pee my pants, and she makes me laugh out loud with almost every single post. Only Cakewrecks (Best Food Blog) also wins that distinction. And who doesn't want to laugh OUT LOUD every day!

BIG CAVEAT: Michelle curses. A LOT. I overlook this easily because she is amusing and entertaining and is someone I wish I knew in real life. Maybe not everyone would think so. Don't read her blog if your sensibilities are easily offended. But if you watched this season's Top Chef thinking FABIO!! every time he came on screen (this was how she referred to him in her live blog), and if you want to at least watch her cook beautiful, delicious-sounding food, and have a great time even when she's not cooking, give her a read.

I had to look up SXSW. Pretentious pricks. Sorry.

Maybe a recipe from a church ladies' cookbook soon.

A Blast from My Past

When I was a little girl I really loved the library a lot. My daddy took me there every Saturday. They let me check out four books at a time. Our library, as well as many others in small towns and cities around the country, was made possible by a gift from Andrew Carnegie. This is what our library looked like.

I have lived in a lot of places in my adult life, but the one constant has always been one of the very first things I do when I move to a new place is go and get a library card. I never met a library I didn't like, but I've got a truly sweet space in my heart for this one and for my favorite librarian of all time, Miss Trosclair.