Monday, May 26, 2008

My Husband Screams Like a Girl

OK well maybe not entirely like a girl but he did let out one loud EWWWWWWWWWWW when he was cleaning out the fireplace. We're finishing up the last of the spring cleaning and the duty of cleaning out the fireplace with the wet/dry vac fell to him. Inside was the skeleton of some poor bird that must have flown down there months ago. We didn't use the fireplace this winter so I guess it could have been a year or more. We just never got around to cleaning it because shoveling the ashes is such a pain in the neck. The new wet/dry vac has made that job and a few others a lot easier, if not less... gross. For sure we have to go up an replace the wire around the chimney so this doesn't happen again.



Along with spring cleaning I've been doing some spring knitting. I finished up my mom's Mother's Day gift. It was late, I had to rip back a LOT because I dropped a stitch and didn't notice. Then I decided it was a good time to use up some odds and ends leftover from other projects and made this cute little felted bag.


I'm doing great on my stash-busting, of course poverty helps. Between gas and grocery prices we're really tightening up the budget. Lucky it feeds into the green thing we've been doing lately. It has become kind of a game to see how little water, electricity and gas we can use in a month. We see it as a challenge and get to tease one another when a light gets left on or timing showers. Hey it's free fun and if it saves on the bills and the environment all the better.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

We Had a Puppy Play Date

We had a puppy play date today. It went on like this for 5 hours. I'm thinking they'll both sleep well tonight. Me? I'll be cleaning up the destruction they left behind. It currently looks like a bomb went off in the living room. At least I remembered to put my knitting away BEFORE the battle.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Barbara Walters Isn't Just a Media Whore...

...she's an old fashioned whore as well. Now, I've been losing respect for Walters over the years but this latest just washed what was left completely away. Like a lot of other people my appreciation for Walters started to wane with her appearances on The View. Call my expectations high but a well respected journalist deciding to join a daily hen peck just struck me as wrong.

This woman was a ground breaker for women in media, she did some of the most memorable interviews in broadcast history. When she started doing The View I did try and watch a few times but I mostly saw otherwise intelligent women clucking away and simply couldn't stomach it. Over the years I did catch it on occasion when I saw a promo for an interesting guest but it was often painful to watch.

Then the cast DRAMAS started. I say cast because a panel would be more fun and hosts a little less trite than the reality of this daytime turd. Between TMZ and the other gossip rags as well as legitimate media on a really slow news day we were all treated to an inside look at the behind the scenes workings of the view. It was more than I really wanted to know. I can honesty say I was equally disgusted with the treatment of Star Jones (hate) and Rosie (adore) by Walters. She showed herself to be less of a journalist and more of a diva entertainment "personality". My respect dropped further encouraged by a series of softball puff interview "specials" when there was no sign of the woman who got THE INTERVIEW with Fidel Castro.

Now we have the new book out and Walters is revealing a thirty year old affair with a married man. One of the justifications for the inclusion of this tidbit in her book, given tonight on FOX News, was that times have changed. Sorry Babs a whore is a whore is a whore. Even thirty years later, I'm sure his wife agrees. Then as I watched a woman I used to respect justify whoring on cable news I had a terrible thought. What if all the disrespect and sniggering Walters received when working her way up in the news biz wasn't sexism, maybe it was deserved. Maybe they knew then what it took the rest of us decades to figure out. Barbara Walters isn't a talented journalist, she's just a whore looking to cash in. I'm disgusted and worse very disappointed.

May 9th Edited to add : Even though I don't like Star Jones I really admire her restraint this week. If someone went on national TV and said I was too fat to walk around my workplace I wouldn't just hit them in the press I'd hit them with my car.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Someone Needs to Put on Her Big Girl Panties

AND STOP WHINING! Massachusetts politics has always been and will always be one of the roughest trades around. It's full of arm twisting and threats and a whole lot of backroom dealings. From the local level up to the state legislature it isn't for the faint of heart or the weak of will. Traditionally a man's game, Massachusetts politics has produced some amazingly tough and full-on ball buster female politicians. Women who learned to play the game as well if not better than than the men. Massachusetts' female politicians were to be admired, respected and even feared. That is, until this week.

As reported on TV, in the Globe and the Herald Jennifer Callahan decided to give a half choked almost tearful report of a "threat" she received from another state Representative while speaking to the house. Thankfully Speaker Sal DiMasi closed the session immediately and saved all women from further embarrassment. Seriously I was embarrassed to be a woman after this little bit of whining.

Someone needs to tell Jen how things work she must have missed the memo. She obviously doesn't have the backbone to do her job. Jen, if you get pushed... PUSH BACK. Don't whine, don't cry and for the sake of all that is holy if you are going to whine and cry DO IT IN PRIVATE! You are an elected Massachusetts Representative time to put on your big girl panties and ACT LIKE IT! I was disgusted and embarrassed by your display and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. Madeleine Albright and Margaret Thatcher never whined and they were threatened by bigger and badder men with, you know, WMDs. Stop being a baby. I can only hope you are the proud recipient of a ginormous pair of skivvies at the St. Pat's breakfast next Spring, maybe then you'll get the hint.


Now on to some fun stuff. It's Spring and that means it's time to air out and mothproof my wool yarn and sweaters. Last year I found a munched pair of gloves and went the scary chemical route and mothballed everything. I never found anything else munched so if they were here they're dead now. I dislike chemicals in the house. For one a lot of them are pretty toxic and unnecessary. Second I have allergies and I really think a lot of over the top chemicals in the house make them worse. So while the natural alternative won't kill the little buggers I'm going to see how well it at least deters them.

I dug out some heat seal jumbo teabags, my iron and a bunch of herbs and EOs that moths don't like. I mixed up a huge batch and filled and sealed about two dozen sachets to tuck in with all the wool. They smell pretty good and it didn't take much time. I'm always on moth patrol so I'll know fast if they don't work. Plus it was fun to do something crafty for an afternoon.