Borrowed from~ Julie
1. My eye color: blue/hazel
2. Favorite car: Toyota Avalon (my favorite car that I've owned, lots of cars I suppose I would like to have)
3. Right-handed or left-handed: Right
4. Shoes you wore today:New Balance
5. My fears: hmmm mostly I suppose that I'm not a very good mother
6. Goal you would like to achieve this year: quit smoking ; improve overall health
7. Thoughts first waking up: crap I hate that alarm
8. My bedtime: 10:30 when I'm being good
9. Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi, of the diet persuasion
10. Single or Group Dates: I've been married since 11 bc. ok maybe not quite that long..
11. Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
12. Do you smoke: Yes
13. Do you sing: Yes , at home
14. Have you been in love: Yes
15. Do you want to get married : erm... my husband would be so pissed off! ;o)
16. Do you get along with your parents: They're both gone.
17. Do you play a musical instrument: nope
18. In the past month have you smoked: Yes.
19: Favorite candy bar: Probably Payday
20. In the past month have you gone on a date: Well, Richard and I went out for dinner one night and went to the bar that Ricky was playing at ( except I sat outside cuz the bar was so gross!)
21. All-time favorite sports team: that's tough.. Probably still the Minnesota Vikings
22. Ideal girlfriend/boyfriend: uhm no comment
23. My best friend(s): Probably Theresa and Debbie.. sometimes I'm a terrible friend and they never dessert me
24. Do you believe in love at first sight:Hah!
25. Favorite clothing brand: Coldwater Creek (I guess)
26. Dream vacation: Someplace warm
27. My favorite singer: Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Stipe, Ryan Tenholder ( ok, I just said Ryan cuz he's the singer for my son's band)
28. My favorite movie: Princess Bride, Blazing Saddles
29. Have you ever fired a gun: water pistol count?
30. Do you like answering these questions: that's a weird damn question..
31. Do you like yourself: yeh, pretty much
32. I am addicted to: cigarettes, photo editing,flickr, NFL football and Lost
33. Favorite drink: coffee, iced tea, diet Pepsi
34. Do you have a crush on anyone: Oh always!
35. Are you ticklish: yes
36. Favorite ice cream flavor: homemade vanilla (my Mom's recipe)
37. Define yourself in 3 words: short, middle aged, happy ( mostly)
38. Do you believe in God: yes
39. Favorite day of the week: Sunday
40. Heads or tails: Tails
41. Favorite author: JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, tons more
42. What magazines do you read: People once in awhile and I hijack Ricky's Rolling Stone now and then....
43. Sweet or sour: sweet
44. Favorite chewing gum brand: I don't really chew gum much
45. My hair color: greying reddish brown
46. Height: 5′ 2" almost
47. My heritage: Scottish,German
48. My weakness: puppies, all dogs really... this list would never end if I wrote all of my weaknesses
49. My perfect pizza: vegetable with a really thin crust and no tomato sauce
50. My most overused phrase on IM: probably lol
51. My best physical feature:hmmm, maybe my eyes
52. Do you get motion sickness: sometimes
53. McDonalds or Burger King: Burger King Oh yeah baby! love that greasy Whopper!
54. Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:Lipton
55. Cappuccino or Coffee: Coffee
56. Do you swear: yup..
57. Do you want to go to college:yup
58. Do you think you’re attractive: define attractive, people don't barf when they look at me, what's the standard?!
59. Do you like thunderstorms: Love them!
60. In the past month have you drunk alcohol: yes
61. In the past month have you been on drugs: cholesterol meds?
62. Favorite cartoon as a child: never cared a lot for them until I had kids. Then I fell in love with Rocko's Modern Life
63. Favorite sport: NFL football
64. In the past month have you been on stage: I feel like I'm on stage everyday at work.. but no, I haven't
65. Ever been beaten up: nope
66. How you want to die: another weird damn question
67. Number of piercings: 2. both ears :o)
68. Favorite color: green
69. Favorite food dish: BBQ chicken
70. My parents are: Jack and Vi, both have passed on.
71. Do you have children: 4
72. Do you have pets: Two dogs Bart and Peanut
73. My favorite music genre: The kind that makes my heart sing at the moment! The only "music" I don't much care for is Rap . Still you gotta love Snoop Dog !
74. My favorite season: summer
75. Silver or Gold: silver
76. Who was the last person that called you: Mandi
77. Are you a good driver: yes
78. Would you rather be rich or famous: Rich
79. When I’m sad or down, I prefer to: sleep
80. What is your phone’s current ringtone: different one for each caller
81. The longest you’ve gone without sleeping: probably about 36-48 hours
82. What would you do with a million dollars: give some to my kids and spend the rest!
83. What makes you laugh: irony
84. Your favorite book: The Lord Of The Rings
85. Most embarrassing moment: too embarrassing to mention!
86. Favorite item that you currently own: my rice cooker ( it's a phase)
87. Have you ever moved: yep
88. Kisses or hugs: hugs definitely!
89. Are you a very emotional person: fraid so

tofu?

So... today I have attempted to alter my Mom's yum-a-licious potato salad recipe by injecting tofu into the mix. Yup, bean curd. That stuff that has almost zero flavor and really is just all about texture and whatever other flavors you happen to mingle with it.


See, Richard has been hankering for potato salad. I actually do make a fair duplicate of Mom's , complete with 6 or 8 eggs, a couple cups of full on fat Miracle Whip and oh yes, some potatoes.

I decided to see if I could alter the recipe and still maintain the flavor. Cuz see, both of us recently had our physicals and while our cholesterol levels would make outstanding bowling scores, they simply caused our Dr. to shake his head and say " I don't know what you people eat but...." ( see previous post of Julie's Carbonara! Yum!)
Clearly it was time for a change. We've done really well actually. We don't do the NO fat foods, we've opted for lower fat and moderation. It seems more do-able. Richard actually lost five pounds the first four days of our new lifestyle. The bum.
Well, in any event, today I made the potato salad with TWO eggs and maybe 2 tablespoons of Miracle Whip in the dressing. I used tofu in it's stead. Lots of onion and celery and maybe a few more sweet pickles. Hoping that the extra flavors will meld nicely with the tofu and make a passable salad.

We'll be eating it tonight, so I'll update this post later!

Ceilings... glass or otherwise..

I've been thinking a lot lately about the Sarah Pallin / Hillary Clinton / glass ceiling thing and I think that Sarah and Hillary have more in common than anyone ( even Saturday Night Live) would care to admit.
I keep going back in my mind to the primaries when Hillary kept claiming to have so much more experience than Barack Obama
But what troubles me is that it would seem, based on her claims while campaigning, that most of her experience was garnered through her husband. Bill was the Governor of Arkansas.. Bill was the President of the US.
Isn't that the same as saying that ... I don't know .. Lucy would be a good conductor because Ricky was? or that I could install phone systems because my husband does?
God help me, Gloria Steinem may strike me dead.. but I think it seems sexist the way Hillary did her campaign.
Now, I have to qualify this whole thing here by saying that If John McCain ever had my vote, he surely lost it when he brought Pallin on board. That was just a pathetically schmoozy political move attempting to lure we fluffy brained women to his camp( dripping sarcasm here!). Stupid move too ( politically speaking) I mean who the hell were the uber conservatives going to vote for anyway? Not Obama that's for sure. He should have aimed a little more center of the road-ish. Where the moderates live and work. Really John, if you think so poorly of women, that we aren't any smarter than that, then I guess maybe you shouldn't be president.
Sad in a way, because I've always admired McCain very much . If the republicans had run him instead of Bush low these many years ago, think how much better off our country may have been. Maybe not, but I have a suspicion that John McCain would be much less likely to be led around like a child by God knows who was leading Bush around.
Well, having said all that, I'm so hopeful now, so much more optimistic that we have someone coming to power that will lead is out of this horrendous mess that Bush and his failed policies (had to use that term, it almost seems to be a colloquialism now) have brought us to.

Things are looking up indeed.

Oh yeah, I did vote for a winner this time!

footnote here: Clinton has been a US Senator since 2000. THAT does give her more experience.. not her husband's work

I've taken about 1000 blog quizzes this weekend. Pathetic, I know

This one I found interesting Your Learning Style: Personal and Passionate

You are very flexible and curious about the world. Human understanding is very important to you. You Should Study: Anthropology Architecture Art Art history Art therapy Classics Counseling Foreign Languages and Literature International Studies Linguistics Literature Psychology Sociology Teaching

What Should You Study?

So I'm at work today. as usual, and a customer approaches my friend Wen-Jin ( she's from Taiwan) and asks for the "Abraham Lincoln" stamp. She and I exchange glances, racking our brains to remember if an Abraham Lincoln stamp is due to be released. ( I don't think so, but then again who knows, I don't read every word of every memo they put out).

So Jin turns to the customer and says brightly, " We have Frank Sinatra."

I laughed so hard, that I cried.

the wisdom for today

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.

Bill Shankly

Finally some hope....

Yes, it would seem we can

well there you have it..

You Are 86% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

Are You a Feminist?

Election Day

I hope the American public behave like adults ...

I'm so glad it's nearly over.

This is a photo that my six year old niece Sammy took yesterday. Her sister Jessica ( another niece of course!) had told me

" Sammy takes great pictures!"I was curious to see what kind of shots she would choose. Her choices are fascinating. Not at all what I would expect from someone only six years old. When I first handed her the camera, she said," everything is all blurry." So I showed her how to focus. I don't remember ever hearing a child that young making a comment like that, or even caring if the subject was in focus. ( the camera was not complicated to use for sure, but still!)
Additionally, she is about the most photogenic individual I know . Looks like she can hang out on either side of the camera!

This is Sammy! ( the marking on her cheek is a temporary tattoo that she refused to wash off all weekend!)