This and That

1.  Our power goes out approximately 200 times each summer.  You know, big thunderstorms, a little bit o' wind, and the BAM!  No power.  We use these opportunities to walk around the house with candles and pretend that we're old timey--or worshipers of Satan.

2.  The other day I decided to tune in to the last hour of Steel Magnolias on CMT.  As though that weren't emotionally damaging enough, that damned Sarah MacLaughlin commercial came on during one of the breaks.  I think CMT might have some secret deal with Kleenex or prozac or something.

3.  Also, when I hang out with some of the teachers in my department at school, I feel like I'm on the set of Steel Magnolias.  That part just never gets old.

4.  Cassie's birthday was last week. Cassie is also a big time lover of sharks. (She and Matt are basically soulmates when it comes to sharks and dinosaurs and bleu cheese.)  And since it was shark week last week, too, and because my other good friend Martha had sent me this email about shark desserts, I had to make a cake.  Oh, also, I wanted cake.

Um, maybe we had some issues getting the cake out of the pan?  Or maybe a shark took a bite!

5.  Matt started watching the local news a few months ago in an effort to be more involved in the community, and change starts locally and all.  I don't really care for the local news (no handsome Anderson Cooper), but I do like to watch Matt watch the local news, mainly because he loathes the anchorwoman.  He gets particularly mad when she is mean to the weatherman because it's hot outside.  To be fair to Matt, that woman is just awful.  And what did she think would happen during August in Savannah, anyway?

6.  Bought myself some cheap old school marm shoes today.  At Sears, because that was the only place that had shoes that could toe the line between fun and sassy and just plain slutty.  Also, because of clumsiness, I don't think I'm allowed a heel higher than 3.5".  I'm sure you care a lot about this.

7.  Mitch loves banana puddin' from Back in the Day Bakery.  Can you blame him?

8.  Is anything more fun than the night that you go on a huge grocery trip?  So many choices!  So much food!

9.  Matt wants to start blogging again soon, so we're going to give him his own tab.  But what to name it?  Here's what we've got so far.  Matt Attack, The Mattrix, and The Matt Pack.  Votes?  Also, what would you like to hear about from Matt?

10.  I ellipted three days in a row!  That's basically a world record!  Maybe I can go for four today?

This and That

1.  True or false?  I ate a Taco Bell chicken crunchwrap while lying in bed this afternoon.  (True.  Sadly, true.)  I have an amazing husband who will bring me Taco Bell in bed.  If that's not love, then I don't know what is.

2. Got a haircut last week.  I think I'm going to start getting semi-annual haircuts instead of just annual haircuts because it just feels so nice!  Plus, now I'm embracing the crazy curly lioness look more, so I'm saving time on blow drying.  Extra minutes of sleep in the morning?  Yes, please.

3. Went to Publix tonight and spent $222.  Eek!  I don't think we have to go back, though, until Thanksgiving, except for maybe more bananas and milk.  Every time we spend a lot of money at the grocery store Matt and I spend the entire drive home talking about how really we're saving money and how much better it is that we're cooking instead of eating out.  And all that's true, but still, $222?  For two people and a dog?

4. The latest issue of Food Network Magazine is so good!  Tonight we made this Thai Chicken Soup and loved it!  It's a good thing, too, because it made like 8 servings (not four like the recipe says--maybe four servings for giants) and we'll be eating it for days.

[Source: Food Network]

5.  Oh, and on Sunday we ate at Umami.  If you're in Savannah, go there.  It's super good and super cheap and has great service and is clean and nice inside.  I would show you pictures of our food, but I can't because Matt shames me when I pull out the camera in public to photograph food.  Also, I was really hungry and may or may not have resembled the Tazmanian Devil when the food came out.  But seriously, go there.

6. Also, every time I think about Umami I laugh because it reminds me of Unagi and then I think about that episode of Friends where Ross kept trying to scare Rachel and Pheobe.  I can't resist a good Ross episode.  (He's the best one.)  Here's the episode, since apparently YouTube won't let me embed Friends videos.  "Chandler. . .I sensed it was you."

7. We're currently very into Boardwalk Empire.  The show is beautiful and has great characters and is written wonderfully and is basically everything you could ever want in a show.  Even if it was terrible, though, I still might keep watching just to listen to Margaret Schroeder's Irish immigrant accent.  Matt and I like to have whole conversations where we talk like her.



8.  It's the end of the quarter at school, which is kind of hellish.  Ugh.  Get here already, Friday afternoon.

9.  Tomorrow my ninth graders will read the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, specifically the part where Bob Ewell tries to kill the kids and Boo Radley saves them.  I love reading that part with them, and I kind of can't wait to watch their faces as they realize what's happening. 

10.  Obama on The Daily Show tonight?  Well, that's almost too much sexy for a room to handle.

I Am Engorged with Venom.

No, not really.  Although I did go to the Victory Drive Kroger at 8:00 tonight, and if that experience doesn't cause one to hate the world then I don't know what will.  I want to send Jamie Oliver to that store to criticize people for the lack of veg in their carts. 

But back to Glee. 

Was it just us, or were there too many songs in this one?  Geez oh Pete!  There were three full-length songs in the first twenty minutes.  Shooooooooooot.  Matt lamented that perhaps the show was devolving into a musical with just a little bit of plot instead of a dramedy with a little bit of music.  Any thoughts on that?

And what did you think about the girls' dresses in the "Hello, Goodbye" number?

They made me think of these dresses:

And that made me smile, and made me forget all about Kroger.

My Blank Monday Thoughts

• Thomas Jefferson removed from a school's curriculum?  Are you f'ing kidding me?  F'ing Texas.
• Matt and I spent $195 at Publix today.  But we won't go grocery shopping again for three weeks, so that's good.  And we're ready for Y2K.
• Re-caulked the bathroom over the weekend.  It's amazing the things you'll do to avoid grading poetry portfolios.  It's also amazing that a person can have such a flat learning curve as to assign poetry portfolios two years in a row.
• Cassie came over for dinner tonight.  I think she should move into the house next door.  It's for rent, people.  And it's cheap at $825/month.  Don't you want to move in and be our neighbors?
• This week is going to be good.  It's just got to be.
• Mitch is the greatest dog on the planet.  But you already knew that.
• I love Sharpie markers.  I love the smell, love the colors, love the permanence.  Had to look up the correct spelling of permanence, and I'm a pretty good speller.  I did win the eighth grade spelling bee by correctly spelling the word nougat.  Oh yeah, I'm also fat.
• It's = "it is."  Its = belonging to it. It's sunny outside.  The dog wagged its tail.  Is it so hard?
• Professional maternity pictures are a creepfest.
• Next three weeks are going to be awesomeness wrapped in awesome.  Dogs and friends and birthdays and days off and food and wine and more friends and food and dogs and wine.  You can be jealous.  It's okay.
• Matt and I both have newly-cut hair.  I love the convenience.  Less time spent blow drying and hair that's not so heavy.
• Mitch just farted in my face.  That's the last time I give him a delicious hamburger.  I swear that dog positions his body so that the farts float up into my face.
• An exchange:

Matt:  He's the one who was interviewed on 60 Minutes last night, the guy who wrote The Blind Side.
Me: Oh.
[five minutes later]
Me: Hey!  Wasn't he on 60 Minutes last night?
Matt: You really don't listen to me at all, do you?

Guess I should get off here now so that I can pay more attention to the insightful things that Matt says.  Happy Tuesday to you.  Happy Ides of March, hope nobody killed you.  Also, happy St. Patrick's Day Eve [tomorrow].

Saturday Ramblings

January has been a crazy month for Matt, Mandy, and Mitch. If all goes according to plan, though, February will be much more relaxed. With work and life being so crazy, I haven't found much time to blog. (I also haven't found time to take the load of laundry out of the dryer--the same load of laundry that's been there since Sunday night.) My brain is fried, the school year is officially half-way over, and my house is 65% wreck. But it should get better soon. Until then. .

• Last night, I had a dream that I was on a road trip with my girlfriends and we stopped at a farm and saw hot-air balloon races. Races! Oh, and I think there were guns, and Obam'.
• Speaking of Obam', how about that question and answer session yesterday? I want to kiss him on the forehead, and then have him flash that winning smile. Whether we agree on the politics or not, I think we can all agree that that man has an amazing smile.

• And speaking of smiles, the other night we watched Julie & Julia. I wish that it had only been Julia. Julie sucked. I couldn't wipe the big grin off my face during Meryl Streep's scenes, but allowed my face time to rest during Amy Adams' scenes of suck.

• Mitch is still the cutest dog on the planet. No surprises there.
• Yet again, it's snowing everywhere else and not here. F'ing Savannah.
• We've been eating slightly better. In fact, last night we went grocery shopping [for the first time in almost a month], and we have a menu of pretty healthy meals planned for the next couple of weeks. For tonight: spicy pork stew.
• Have grand plans to get back to posting recipes on here. During the last week, most of our meals have been pasta with parmesan cheese, and I expect that you already know how to make that.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a productive Saturday [hopefully]. First up: getting that load of laundry out of the dryer.

Have a great weekend, and make a snow angel for me if you can!

It's [almost] the [second] Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

(Because we all know that summer is the most wonderful time of the year.)

The Christmas/Thanksgiving combo is a close second, though.

Hey, is it time to start watching Elf yet?

[source]

[source]

Fifth day of self improvement plan. So far, so good. To reward myself for keeping to the plan, I allowed myself to spend money on useless stuff. For the record, spending money on useless stuff directly contradicts the principles of the plan.

My Target shopping experience tonight was one of those moments where I judge myself. Kind of like when I say "cute" too many times in a conversation, or when I talk too much during a movie, or when I leave dishes in the sink overnight, or when I accidentally say "ax" instead of "ask" (it has happened), or when I use too many exclamation points.

Tonight, on November 5, I bought Christmas ornaments. Do I need Christmas ornaments? No. Not in the least. At 28 years old, I already have two large boxes of holiday crap.

But these little felt friends are so fun!

Just wait until they meet Salty Snowman and Pepper Penguin!

I'm a damned hypocrite.

Improv Everywhere and Color Me Katie

I recently discovered Color Me Katie, a blog by one of the most creative people on the planet (thanks, Joy!), and I'm obsessed. I pretty much want to be Katie.

Check it out, and check out the Grocery Store Musical. It'll make you smile. I'll probably watch it five times today.


Happy Thursday! Only one more morning to wake up before the weekend. . .

More Wisdom from Grandma Carol

Sorry about the lack of posting. I'm in the middle of a tired, cranky, overwhelmed-by-work-and-life kind of week. How many weeks until June? How many years until retirement?

Since anything I write right now will be hateful, venemous, I leave you with another gem from Grandma Carol.

"I have learned over the years to be very specific when sending Grandpa to the store. Requesting lettuce has resulted in cabbage, and all pasta is "noodles." He is adamant about JIF peanut butter and I insist on Puffs, as opposed to Kleenex! Those decisions were clear in the first couple years of our marriage. Other things remain somewhat foggy and blurred. He also has the 'man mentality' of not asking for help in finding things, or asking directions. What is that about anyway? Some things never change! That is true, not just a saying. (idiom?)"

The good news is that tomorrow is Thursday and the next day is Friday, and every bad week has to end sometimes. Also, my grandma is pretty funny and my husband is a good grocery shopper.