Winter Wonderland

This morning I awoke to a fresh blanket of white on my neighborhood. Fresh snow is so amazing to look at- especially when it covers brown grass. Here is a shot from my window.






It took me about 15 minutes to clean off the outside of my car because under the snow was a solid sheet of ice- which is why all of the schools in the metro area let the kids have a snow day.

Snow days are appreciated by kids and adults alike- especially those adults that still have to go to work when everyone else is out.

When I was young we would hope for a snow day!!! It didn't matter if the school added the days to the end of the school year. It was just awesome to be off unexpectedly in the middle of the week. I think now about how awful snow days are for parents. The parents just wanted to go to work and zone-out, but instead parents have to determine who is staying home and entertaining the kids.

So if you are a parent out there and need a bit of entertainment during your snow day. You have got to check out these 2 links. The first link is 13 year old boy humor, but it will get you smiling. The second link is ironically funny in a very sad way.

First Link
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/europe/23crapstone.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=town%20names&st=cse

Second Link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/

Enjoy!

The most wonderful time of the year

I think the end of January is the most wonderful time of the year.

Not because of the weather, Superbowl or conference play in NCAA men's basketball, but because there are wonderful little groups of children dress alike and run from door to door in their neighborhood to sell middle-aged versions of themselves over priced, fattening, wonderful cookies.

I am a sucker and I buy expensive boxes of those little cookies every time. Who cares that we are in a recession- Mama needs a $5 box that contains 13 Samoas!!

I also think of girl scout cookies like the smell of my grandmother's pie crust. No matter where I am in life the taste of a thin mint takes me back to the days of my childhood- hocking cookies to neighbors for a merit badge and a discount to summer camp. I remember the sense of competition with the other girls in my neighborhood and the reaction my mom would have if one of those girl's parents tried to break the rules by going out before the annual cookie kick-off date! Selling cookies taught so many lessons - including DO NOT ever agree to be the cookie Mom- no one picks up the cookies at the right time and you get to have a garage full of cookies and your cars outside in the snow and ice. It was a thankless job and my mom volunteered to do it every year- which meant that the entire family got to spend a weekend picking up cookies and sorting them for the other troop members parents to pick up and deliver.

I loved being a girl scout and I love the cookies even today. I just have to practice some restraint in placing my order- Do you think 24 boxes of thin mints and 12 boxes of Samoas will get me through to next year?

Probably not- it just means I have more to eat in the 2 weeks following the delivery of the cookies.

I hope you all take part in the most wonderful time of the year and purchase a box of girl scout cookies!

Aspirations for Blog

I have so many things that I want to do with my blog.

I would like to have reviews of restaurants and recipes and have a suggestion list of books for those who read the blog to post for me.

I think I am going to need to enlist the help of Blogging for Dummies or something similar. If anyone has any tips on things to do or not to do, I would love to hear it!

Addiction

Addiction is one of my favorite topics of discussion- probably because I have an addictive personality.

I can't just have a diet coke. I have to have at least 5 diet cokes. I can't have just a scoop of ice cream. I have to have a half gallon of ice cream. There is really no reason for this addiction. I did not grow up in a house that went hungry or a competition between siblings for the big piece of chicken.

Because of this I will probably frequently write about addiction.

Addiction rears its ugly head with every human being regardless if you live in Memphis or have just moved into the White House. Obama stated during the presidential election that in exchange for running for president Michelle made him quit smoking. But Obama met his addiction match with the blackberry. Obama can quit smoking but not stop using a mobile email device. Click on the story link below for more information.

URL to share: http://www.abajournal.com/news/obama_reportedly_gets_a_super-encrypted_blackberry/
Title: Obama Reportedly Gets a Super-encrypted BlackBerry

Happy Friday!

What have you accomplished in the last 48 hours?

I am an Obama fan. Heck if I had a kid I would be an Obama-mama. Even with all of my research on Obama and support for Obama during the presidential race, I am still a pesimist at heart. I thought Obama would come into the you and hopefully get some changes going with in the first 100 days.

I am so excited to say that Obama has eclipsed my pessimism. In the first 12 hours he had a day of revelry and dancing. In the next 12 hours he issued a pay freeze on White House employees making over 100k, issued a new rule eliminating White House staffers from having ties with lobbiest and gave a fantastic speech. In the next 24 he issued 3 executive orders and a memo that undid Guantamo Bay detainings and the war crimes that were allowed to occur thanks to the Demon and his Texas puppet.

Oh and by the way, the rest of the world is noticing. I wanted to share an email I received from a great friend in Australia that shows the international excitement:


"how about that new president of yours hey?! I know people here who got up at 3am the other day to watch history in the making. He's the most popular offshore president you guys have ever had from what I can see, and his attitude that he's going to fix his own house before he focuses on other people's houses is great. Lovely to have some values back in the white house!!"

Amen sister, amen!!!

In the immortal words of Shakespeare: "Out, out brief candle!"

Thank goodness we are finished with the Demon and his Texas puppet's 8 years of ruling (or lack thereof).

Time to go- I have finished my 5th diet coke.

The beginning

Well this is something I have fought hard against - like myspace and facebook before it, but I have now crumbled to the mighty power of the blog. I am a caffeine and food addict that is bad at spelling and even worse at punctuation - so readers beware- there will be verbs at the end of sentences, comma splices and dangling modifiers.

Some people blog like it is a a requirement to live. I don't think it is nearly that important, but I am going to give it a try and see if it becomes a part of my daily routine just like 5 diet cokes.

If you enjoy my blog I hope it also becomes a daily addiction for you.