I Heart Soup

This clip is easily the funniest thing I have seen in months. Jim and I were both in hysterics when we saw it Friday night on The Soup. Poor, sweet little Staines!

Precious

I heard a story on NPR this morning about mini Angus cows and of course I had to run and Google them. They are DARLING. But even as a meat-eater I find this website’s copy unsettling. Is it really appropriate to talk about cuteness and tastiness in the same sentence?

New

We finally bit the bullet and got a new car. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. After much debate that occurred over a period of months, we settled on a 2009 Forester. Once that monumental decision was behind us, Jim spent a fair amount of time on the phone and interweb, pitting two competing dealers against each other. The salesmen tried every trick in the book, but in the end I feel like we won. We got the car for less than $1000 over invoice, including the $400 “dealer fee.” We didn’t pay a delivery fee, and they gave us a discount card that allows us to get the first oil change and every subsequent 4th oil change for free for the life of the car. Not bad considering the Forester was voted Motor Trend’s SUV of the year and was recently ranked the #1 small SUV by Consumer Reports.

We sold my car in a day on craigslist. Apparently used Subarus (even those that are 10+ years old) are a hot commodity in these parts.

I was a bit freaked out to drive the new car at first, but it has grown on me. The best part about it is the extra room. We don’t have to worry about smacking Max’s head on the top of the car when we’re trying to maneuver him into his carseat, and we can actually put the umbrella stroller and all the groceries in the trunk AT THE SAME TIME. Once we procure a wire screen we’ll be able to entertain the idea of toting the dogs and Max around simultaneously, something that was previously impossible, since the dogs are wont to bounce from one end of the car to another like furry ping pong balls.

2008 Wordle

I have been wanting to create a Wordle for a while, but wasn’t able to on my old computer thanks to my ancient operating system. Anyway, pictured below are the most used words from my 2008 posts. The size of the words corresponds to their frequency of use. I guess it’s no surprise that “Max” is the most frequently used word, but I am kind of shocked at the prominence of “just.” I always think twice about using that word thanks to having an English teacher in college who would always say, “Nothing ‘just’ happens, there is always a cause. Just Say No to “Just”!” Sorry Dr. Dave, it appears I have failed you.

Image courtesy of http://www.wordle.net

Yes!

It’s such an odd feeling to have an election night go my way . . . I had almost forgotten how delightful it can be. Not only did Obama crush McCain—Colorado went blue! And to top it off, voters here defeated a ridiculous “personhood” amendment that would have declared all fertilized eggs as “persons”. So now women won’t have to worry about nonsense like getting a court order to resolve an ectopic pregnancy, and I won’t have to worry about the potential effect such an amendment might have on medical treatment for infertility. Of course, I’m sure there are some pregnant women who are upset they won’t be able to ride in the carpool lanes. Ha!

I predict I will be grinning ear to ear for weeks.

The 180

The Daily Show is so deeply awesome. This is the best video I have seen in a while. Papa Bear O’Reilly takes the cake.

Opportunity Knocks

I keep telling everyone I know to watch “Mad Men”. The acting is amazing, the production design is impeccable—it’s just a terrific show. And unfortunately, I don’t think it’s doing that well in the ratings despite the constant media accolades and the fact that Jon Hamm won a Golden Globe last year. He plays the complicated, exceedingly dapper Don Draper. Rrrraarrrrr. And I’m allowed to say that because “Mad Men” also boasts the radiant January Jones, who seems to be a favorite with the menfolk. See? Something for everyone.

Watch it. There is a marathon coming up on Sunday, so it’s a perfect opportunity to catch up on the season so far. You won’t be sorry.

Sticky

These might be the cutest sticky notes I’ve ever seen. I spied them in a store today and though I REEEEEAAALLY wanted them, I resisted. I’m trying to be more careful about my spending, and have severely limited the amount of gifts I buy for myself. Which just means I’ll have to buy them for someone else. They would make a perfect birthday gift.

Still life with “yam”

Jim and I have decided we need to eat more veg (as the British might say). We seem to easily get stuck in a rut. So in an effort to branch out, I picked up a couple of “yams” at the store a few weeks ago. I put the quotations there for a reason. Apparently the vegetable referred to as yams in the supermarket are generally NOT yams in the strict sense; I learned this on Wikipedia.

Anywho, after I peeled one of the “yams,” I was struck by how much it resembled a bird. So I decided to assemble a little still life on our window sill. The bottles were a gift from Jim’s uncle, who was a collector of antique bottles and glass.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure that liver cure was far from “safe”.

Pinky and the Brain

I saw an ad for Lynda Barry’s new book in the latest issue of Harper’s, and my heart skipped a beat. I had no idea such a tome was in the works! It is all about writing and the creative process in general, and looks to be phenomenal based on the sample download (available via the link). I cannot wait to get my grubby mitts on it, so I’ll be visiting the Boulder Book Store tomorrow during lunch. The timing is perfect because Jim will be working for most of the weekend, and the little guy has recently been indulging in long, leisurely naps. And there is only so much cleaning a person can do.

The good news about the book almost makes up for the bad news that I’ll be working on my usual day off. I received a call early Monday afternoon from Max’s daycare informing me that he appeared to have pinkeye. I strongly suspected it was just his blocked tear duct acting up, but I went and fetched him and put a call into his doctor’s office. And thus began a ridiculous back and forth that lasted for a couple of days and almost made me mad enough to break something. The long and short of it is that Max had to stay home on Tuesday, and I had to stay home with him. He’s on eye drops and doing fine, but I’m going to have an in-depth discussion with his pediatrician about the office phone nurse and her lack of helpfulness/professionalism when we go in for Max’s 4 month appointment. Grrrrr.

Aaaaaannnyway, Jim has now taken to calling the two of us “Pinky and the Brain”. “Pinky” is a pretty obvious allusion to Max’s pinkeye, but “The Brain” is courtesy of a far simpler time. You see, I was voted Class Brain my senior year in high school. I’m pretty sure I would have rather been Cutest Shoes or Prettiest Eyes, but I guess Class Brain was probably more accurate. I graduated 3rd in my class and would have tied for first had it not been for a snafu regarding honors credits and my transfer from a private school (which didn’t have honors classes) after my freshman year. My parents fought long and hard with the superintendent of schools to try and get him to intervene, which I found really embarrassing. I couldn’t care less about the ranking issue then, or now. But I do find it kind of amusing that I was Class Brain. And it makes for a delightful dual nickname. Lemons to lemonade, and all that.