verbatim

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Here at the Right Time - Josh Ritter
2. Polly Wolly Doodle - Dan Zanes & Friends (with Sheryl Crow)
3. Patience - RedBird
4. Down Among the Wines & Spirits - Elvis Costello
5. Infamous Angel - Iris Dement
6. Take Another Look - Little Village
7. The Obvious Child (live) - Paul Simon
8. Rock and Roll Doctor - Little Feat
9. Let's Go Get Stoned (live) - Hayes Carll
10. Guess Things Happen That Way - Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash

Feast of Lights

I forgot to show you the beautiful Hanukkah menorah Julie made at Sunday school:

Updates

1. So Julie woke up this morning with her tiny earlobe back to normal. Which left me very briefly with nothing to worry about, so I quickly shifted gears to her persistent cough Phew.

2. It turns out that the best thing about finally getting the Bat Mitzvah invitations sent out is that now we're getting reply cards dribbling in every day! As soon as I hear the mail plop through the door slot onto my foyer floor, I run downstairs to count the envelopes. I'm not allowed to open them, though, so I text Steph to tell her how many we got and wait till she gets home from school. Now I know that the next time I get invited to a Bat Mitzvah, I will both send my reply card back immediately and put my return address on the envelope.

3. Our old Skip-Bo game still hasn't turned up, but we've broken in the new one pretty well. Last night for Hanukkah we gave the kids a new game to share. It's called Yamslam, but we haven't tried it yet. It's supposed to be a more fast-paced and more fun version of Yahtzee. We've also been playing a lot of Rat-a-Tat Cat lately, yet another winner from the folks at Gamewright.

4. The other night I dreamed that I got a new laundry basket. I was so happy in the dream! All together now: GET A LIFE!

An Earful

As you know, Julie got her ears pierced 3½ weeks ago. They've healed up so nicely that I was considering letting her change them at the 4-week mark instead of waiting 6 weeks. Then she woke up this morning with one very red and swollen earlobe. I swabbed it as best I could with the disinfectant they gave us at Claire's and gooped it up with Neosporin, and it looked no worse (yet no better) when she got home from school in the afternoon. I spoke to the nurse at the pediatrician's office, and she said to keep it clean and bring her in only if it gets worse. I'm hoping beyond hope she doesn't have an infection that will require her to remove the earring and start all over again some months down the road. She would be devastated. She's already got all her earrings (gifts from me and cast-offs from Steph) arranged in color order on her new earring tree and in little boxes and is very excited to start wearing earrings that match her outfits.

Pahk My Cah—Please!

For someone who hates shopping, I've been doing an awful lot of it lately (but I'm nearly done, yee-ha!). Don't get me wrong, I'm a damn good shopper—I just don't get pleasure out of it anymore. Was a time I'd go to the mall on my lunch hour from work just to poke around. (Yes, ME!) Now it's a dreaded chore that I put off as long as possible—indefinitely, even, if Amazon has what I want.

One thing that I no longer have any patience for is parking. Driving around and around and around looking for a parking spot makes my blood pressure spike dangerously. And, regardless of what the latest sales figures suggest, people are still heading to malls in droves (they're apparently just not buying anything). Normally I don't mind parking a little ways from the entrance—so I'll walk a little, and my car is less likely to get banged into. But if the weather's bad and/or I'm in a hurry, I do that stupid drive-around-and-around-and-around thing. I follow people leaving the mall, hoping to snag their spot before someone else does. I hover, vulture-like, until so many cars are lined up behind me I can't bear the pressure anymore and I drive off. Why isn't he pulling out? Why can't she talk on the phone after she leaves her spot? What is wrong with these people?

You know that thing where you see a spot and you don't know whether to take it because there might be a better one up ahead? And then the one up ahead turns out to have a VW Bug or a Smart Car in it, and then you missed your chance at the other one?

How about the joy of a pull-through? Great, until you come out of Costco and find that someone pulled in right behind you, so close in fact that you can't open your minivan hatchback to unload all your unboxed, unbagged warehouse-sized items.

'Tis the season.

A Few Quick Links and Then Back to Work

I still feel as though I'm sinking in quicksand, mostly due to too much work heaped on top of everything else going on. But I do have a few links for you:

1. I might have to buy a case of these cards to hand out:

2. Scott suggested I try Finlandia grapefruit vodka. I couldn't find it, but I did get a bottle of Absolut ruby red grapefruit vodka, and it is dee-lish-ous. It's possible that I like it as well as—or possibly even more than—the Absolut citron I've been drinking for eons. Yes, it's that good.

3. I'm looking forward to watching this recent episode of Sixty Minutes featuring Ricky Gervais.

Xie Xie!*

On Friday, at the end of a very hectic week that left me still up to my eyeballs in work, I took the day off to chaperone a grade 2 field trip to the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. I had missed this opportunity with both Steph and Pete, and they both loved it, so I wasn't going to pass up my last chance with Julie.

What a great day we had! First the grownups helped the kids made paper lanterns out of decorative Chinese "red envelopes." They came out beautiful! Then we all learned some Chinese words and characters, and the kids got to practice writing with narrow paintbrushes dipped in black ink. From there we went to roll out dough and stuff dumplings for lunch. After that, we had brief lessons on the abacus and mah-jong. Then, finally, we were served a wonderful meal of dumplings (don't know if they were the ones we made—frankly, don't want to think about that), lo mein, chicken legs, and fortune cookies. Everything was delicious. When we were done eating, we were treated to a wonderful performance of a ribbon dance and a Chinese opera fan dance. Each kid was given chopsticks and a bookmark with his or her name written on it in Chinese letters.

It was a fun but exhausting day. 75 second-graders sure do require a bit of attention! I was glad I went but also glad to leave them all back at school and go home for an hour alone.

*That's "Thank You" in Chinese, pronounced, "Sheh sheh!"

Happy Hanukkah!

The miracle of having enough oil to keep the eternal flame lit for 8 days was nearly matched by the miracle of me actually having gifts—nay, wrapped gifts!—ready for the kids last night even after the crazy week I had. Steph got two shirts and some earrings, Pete got a big LEGO set, and Julie got an earring/jewelry caddy and some earrings.

I did not, however, have sufficient energy or time to make latkes, so I will try to make that happen tomorrow. Tonight the kids all got new drawing books and markers. We also played a rollicking game of dreidel. It was hard to tell who won because we all kept dipping into our winnings (we were playing for peanut M&Ms instead of coins).

Last week's temple newsletter had a wonderful essay from our rabbi about how Hanukkah is often pushed into competition with Christmas and made into something it was never meant to be. He said:

Chanukah means "Dedication." Dedication to our values and ideals. Dedication to our synagogue and heritage and tradition and community. Dedication to the notion of miracle and wonder, that some things are simply amazing, beautiful beyond our words.

I see the brightly lit menorah reflected in my kids' eyes as they push aside some discarded wrapping paper and spin a simple wooden top on the floor in the hopes of winning a handful of candy. There is plenty to celebrate in my warm kitchen.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Cowboy Man - Lyle Lovett
2. Angel From Montgomery (live) - Tim Reynolds & Dave Matthews
3. I'm a Believer - The Monkees
4. I'm Your Toy (live) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5. I Got Drunk - Uncle Tupelo
6. Please Read the Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
7. Little Head - John Hiatt
8. Broken Man's Lament - Emmylou Harris
9. Instant Pleasure - Rufus Wainwright
10. Song for Sonny Liston - Mark Knopfler

Green Works in the Laundry

Once again I've been given the opportunity (thanks, Mom Central!) to review some environmentally friendly products from Green Works. This time I received two items from their newly launched laundry line: a jug of laundry detergent and a spray bottle of stain remover. As with all the Green Works products, these two are:

1. made from only renewable resources (that is, resources that are "replenished by natural processes at a rate that's equal to the rate of consumption by humans").

2. made from biodegradable ingredients (those that have "the ability to safely and relatively quickly break down biologically into the raw materials of nature and disappear into the environment").

3. made from natural, plant-based ingredients.

4. 99% petrochemical-free.

5. phosphate-free and bleach-free.

6. not tested on animals.

But how do they work, you ask? I found that the laundry detergent works just as well as my usual choice, Tide Free. I have to say that I never use scented products, but the detergent I was sent from Green Works is "original scent." It is not an unpleasant scent, but it is a scent, and I noticed it. I would absolutely choose the "free & clear" version if I were to buy it in the store.

As for the stain remover, I didn't have much in the way of stubborn stains to try it out on this week, but it seemed to work just as well as my usual Shout.

I think that these products are a great addition to the Green Works line. Surely it won't be long before you can't even find toxic chemicals on the shelves of the supermarket anymore, don't you think?

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox Green Works and received a bottle of Green Works Natural Detergent and Stain Remover to facilitate my review and a $20 thank-you gift certificate.

Decemberist

Wow, this month is just kicking my butt so far. I honestly don't think I've ever been this overscheduled work-wise. My three current projects (four, as of tomorrow—what was I thinking?!) are all elementary-level textbooks. They're also all the kind where individual units/lessons/chapters come flying at me fast and furious, and I have to turn them around as quickly as possible. I have to keep switching gears and trying to remember for each one who my contact person is, how to work their FTP site, the specifics of their style guide, how they like their transmittals, and so on. Oh yeah, and then actually do all the editing.

Then, because it's December, I have an extra load of work from my "other" job—remember, the bookkeeping thing? Bookkeepers have to care a great deal about end-of-year things, otherwise evil IRS goblins come after them. It's a ton of paperwork, and it has to get done, and done properly.

December also brings Hanukkah, which begins in under 48 hours. I'm thinking my kids might be expecting some gifts this year, which would suggest a visit to the dreaded mall tomorrow.... Steph's birthday (13!!) is also this month, and I bet she'd like a gift or three as well.

Then there's the Bat Mitzvah! I had a preliminary meeting with the caterer on Monday, and I still have to call the DJ and photographer, and hire a bus to take the kids from the temple to the party. And get a dress for me and one for Julie. And something for Pete, unless I decide to let him wear a Red Sox T-shirt, camo cargoes, and black high-tops as usual. And eleventy billion other details to attend to.

Oh, and plain old life keeps cropping up here and there, too. Like, the cat food in the bowls right now is all that we have in the house. We ran out of milk, yogurt, and fruit yesterday. We have had more take-out for dinner in the last few weeks than we normally have in the same number of months. Friday I'm going on a field trip with Julie's class. The hours just keep getting used up somehow. I need to make appointments, return calls, pay bills, do laundry....

Well, the good news from all of is this is that is indeed all good news. Having new clients is a good thing, and as hard as all this work is, I'm getting paid for it. Hanukkah and birthdays and Bat Mitzvahs and even field trips are all joyous occasions to be celebrated.

So, I just need to survive the next couple of months, and then I can think about getting back to having a few hours of free time each week so I can cook and read and watch movies and buy cat food.

Avoiding the Flu Like the Plague

In October Andy and I got our seasonal flu shots when he had a nurse come to the office and give them to all his employees (well, those who wanted it, that is). Around that time Steph got one at school. Maybe a month after that, Pete and Julie got theirs at the pediatrician's office. 

As for H1N1, I think Andy actually had it—the disease, not the shot—a few weeks ago. He had what seemed to be a very mild flu. He was feverish, but not too hot; achy, but not like other times when he couldn't even bear to have a T-shirt touch his skin; tired, but not completely zonked out. A few days of taking it easy at home and he was pretty much back to normal. That's how I've heard H1N1 described for most adults. It's kids who seem to get sicker from it.

Steph was allowed to get one of the early batches of the vaccine because she's considered high-risk. Then Pete and Julie just got theirs at school today.

Which leaves me. I don't know whether I should bother trying to hunt down an H1N1 vaccine for myself (or Andy, for that matter, since we don't know for sure whether he actually had it). What about you, have you had a flu shot (or the flu) this year?

Recap

I made it! I came through on the other side! The most hectic day in history is over! The hardest part was dealing with the teensy bits of downtime (10 minutes here and there) that were not long enough to actually do anything but too long to just sit there. It doesn't help that I am positively swamped with work (did I mention three new clients in as many months?) and was unable to check anything off my to-do list today.

Apropos of my Saturday post in which I suggested that I might be taking a day off from blogging each week ... I think I'll try not to (for a while, anyhow). Many of you made the point that this blog should never become a dreaded chore, but by the same token I feel that forcing myself to write something—anything—every day is a pretty good habit. The truth is that my blog stats plummet every Saturday, so that would be the day to do it if I should decide to give myself a weekly day off. Well, let's see what this Saturday brings, shall we?

Overscheduled

Tomorrow will be the day that either does me in or proves I'm immortal (Steph, too). Here's what's on tap:

8:30    Kids start school, just like always.
9:00    Caterer comes to my house to discuss Bat Mitzvah menu! Exciting and a little scary.
11:15    Pick up Steph at school for...
11:30    Steph has her biannual dentist appointment. I normally don't schedule medical appointments for the kids during the day, but I had to reschedule this one twice already, so you takes what you gets. But she does not go back to school afterward, because then...
1:30    Steph has her annual ophthalmologist appointment. Again, I had to reschedule, and Dr. Bhatt is famously hard to get an appointment with, so we were glad to get anything this calendar year. But she does not go back to school afterward, because then...
3:00    Steph has a meeting with the rabbi to work on the draft of her Dvar Torah, which she began last week. Also at 3:00, Pete will go home with his friend; he has a standing playdate-cum-saxophone lesson every Monday afternoon. (That reminds me, I have to remember to drop off his saxophone sometime before 3:30.) Also at 3:00, Julie will go home with her friend for a playdate.
4:15    Pick up Julie at her friend's house, because her friend has dance class. Andy should be home by then, so I can leave her with him, because then...
5:00    Steph has her regular Monday tutoring session for her Bat Mitzvah. I will drop her there and run back to pick up Pete at his friend's house, because right afterward...
6:00    Steph and Pete have their second appointment with our new chiropractor (more on this later).

And then, sometime around 7:00, I will walk back through my door—and Andy better have a big glass of vodka iced up for me is all I can say.

Day of Rest

(Sorry, but I just can't do it today. I've been thinking lately about taking a blogging break on Saturdays. Would you be disappointed? Would you think less of me? Would you even notice? I'm open to feedback on this extremely complex and far-reaching issue.)

Friday iPod Random Ten Eleven

OK, tell the truth: Did you notice that I plumb forgot to do this last Friday, or did you just politely not say anything about it? Well, regardless, I'll give you an extra one today for your troubles (and don't ever let anyone tell you mine doesn't go to eleven):

1. Brown to Blue - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2. Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare-Krishna Beauregard (live) - John Prine
3. Teardrops Will Kiss the Morning Dew - Alison Krauss & Union Station
4. Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six - Tom Waits
5. Kansas City - Willie Nelson & Susan Tedeschi
6. Boom, Like That - Mark Knopfler
7. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
8. Tennessee Plates - John Hiatt
9. The Picture (live) - Loudon Wainwright III
10. Streets of Philadelphia (live) - Bruce Springsteen
11. Mirror in the Bathroom - English Beat

Real Bloggers Do Eat Quiche

I've often said that I could be very happy to just nosh all day long. When Andy's away on business overnight, I often don't have a proper dinner—I might have some cheese and crackers, maybe a few bites of leftover something-or-other, and a handful of cashews. And I'm the one who always loads up on the hors d'oeuvres at a wedding—they're always better than the main course anyhow, aren't they?

So when Mom Central asked if I'd be interested in trying out a package of frozen appetizers from Nancy's for free (and giving a free package to one of my readers!), I leaped at the chance.

At my local market, the only Nancy's product they carry is the one I was hoping to get anyhow, the mini quiches. The coupon was worth up to $4.99, and the 12-pack of quiches were on sale that day for $4.89.

I love quiche lorraine—bacon, cheese, and eggs all in a crust? What's not to love? So about an hour ago I heated them up in the oven and presented them to the kids. Steph ate one and thought it was "just OK." Julie ate one and then quickly ate three more and declared that she had just had supper. Likewise, Pete took one bite and said, "Can you please buy these a lot now?" (Answer: Yes—and next time I'll get the larger ones so they really can be a dinner!) He elaborated: "This is the kind of crust I like." I too thought they were delicious—the filling was just the right texture and flavor, and the crust was crisp but not hard. All in all: YUM.

If you visit the Nancy's site, you will be dazzled by all the appetizer offerings: mushroom turnovers, crab cakes, beef wellingtons, and more, plus mini chocolate and/or pecan tarts for dessert. I bet they're all awesome. The web site also lists all the stores that carry their stuff, including the warehouse stores, where you can get big packages for big parties.

So, now's your chance: If you want to win a coupon for a free 12-pack of any Nancy's appetizer (up to $4.99 value), leave me a comment below telling me about an hors d'oeuvres you've had that was yummy, or one that you make when you entertain, or anything else related to pre-dinner noshing. I'll take entries until midnight my time on Tuesday, December 8, and announce the winner the next day. You'll need to provide an email address so I can reach you, and then I'll ask for your snail-mail address so I can send the coupon off to you pronto, in time for your holiday party needs. Good luck!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Nancy’s Appetizers and received 2 coupons to facilitate my review and a $20 thank-you gift certificate.

A Few Links Before I Collapse

Today whipped my butt, so the best I can do is leave you with some links that I hope will be of interest:

1. A gallery of photos that Norman Rockwell used for his famous paintings. Way more interesting than it sounds, really!

2. Do you know your litotes from your chiasmus? Take this quiz on figures of speech! (Don't worry, there are also some easy ones, like metaphor and pun.) I did better than I thought I would.

3. Have you seen this thirsty kitty? Reminds me of my friends who used to have a Maine coon cat that liked to be soaking wet. He would stand in the shower with each of them every morning. Bonus: Unbearably cute surprised kitty.

So Cold

If you've been playing along at home, you know that every few weeks or months, the freezer part of my fridge stops working. Then I open my wallet for the repairman, and all is well again. Lather, rinse, repeat. You may also recall that we recently decided that we would replace the damn thing instead of continuing to throw good money after bad, and it's been behaving beautifully ever since. Until this past weekend (after Thanksgiving, for which I give extra thanks!), when it was up to its old tricks again. This time I drove straight to Best Buy and Sears, armed with my list of model numbers I'd gotten off the Internets. (Incidentally, I found that prices were much better at Sears—a store I'd never so much as set foot in before except in recent years to return items to Lands' End). As soon as I got home, wouldn't you know it, Mr. Freezy got all cold and lovable again. Its days are numbered, mark my words.

Skip-Bo Skipped Out on Us

We did a massive cleanup before Thanksgiving, which meant that afterward we had to locate all the stuff we'd stashed in out-of-the-way places. Lunchboxes? Broom closet. Pizza stone? Sunporch. But one thing never turned up: our Skip-Bo game, which Julie and I play at least once every day. No exaggeration. We looked everywhere. I even offered a cash reward. Yesterday I finally broke down and bought a new one, figuring that I would immediately find the old one. But no, it still hasn't surfaced.

I just looked up Skip-Bo on Wikipedia and was delighted to learn that it's really just a packaged version of Spite and Malice, which is an old card game we used to play all the time when we were kids. I'd forgotten all about it, but now I know why I love Skip-Bo so much!

Forms of Address

I had planned to send all the Bat Mitzvah invitations out today but ran into a partially predicted snag: The only 61¢ stamps currently available from the USPS are wedding cakes and Richard Wright, neither of which is exactly right for this occasion. So I did what I swore I wouldn't do: went to Zazzle.com and ordered monogrammed stamps for more than the cost of postage—and paid extra for two-day shipping! Gah! I got the smallest, least fancy ones I could, but still. And because of that delay, I still haven't bothered printing out the address labels or stuffing the envelopes yet.

Speaking of which, my Invitation Lady gave me some photocopies from an etiquette manual that tells how you're supposed to address the envelopes. For instance:

Invitations to girls under age eighteen should be address Miss Jane Smith. For ages eighteen and over, Ms. is preferred. Boys under age nine are Master. Between ages nine and seventeen, no title is used. At eighteen, Mr. is used.

I'm glad I'm not inviting any nine-year-old boys, because I think I would die laughing if I had to address them as Master.

Other interesting "rules":

For same-sex couples, if you know both partners equally well, their names should be written in alphabetical order on two separate lines. If you know only one person well, list that person's name first.

Divorcées can be Ms. Jane Green (maiden name) or Mrs. Jane Green (married name). In the past, widows were addressed as Mrs. John Smith, but today Mrs. Mary Smith is acceptable.

I got a few other clever tips from my Invitation Lady:

1. Number the guest list, and then write the corresponding numbers in tiny print on the back of the reply cards. That way if you get one back that doesn't have a name on it, you'll know whose it is.

2. Use a glue stick (not your tongue or a sponge) to seal the envelopes.

3. Ask at the Post Office if you can hand-cancel the envelopes. They'll look prettier without that tire-tread mark all over the front, and it's one less machine they have to get through safely.

True or False?

Please confirm or refute:

1. If you swallow your gum, it stays in your stomach for 7 years.

2. You use up more calories chewing and digesting celery than are contained in celery, so it effectively has negative calories.

3. Jews with tattoos can't be buried in Jewish cemeteries.

Anything you were told as a kid that you don't know whether to believe or not? Let's throw it out to the crowd and see what sticks.

Saturday Stuff

1. I got a kick out of this Horoscope for Editors by John McIntyre. Mine (Taurus) says, "The project that has been in the works for eight weeks will land on your desk three hours before deadline." I can imagine doing a horoscope for all freelancers, or work-from-home parents, or parents in general....

2. Some useful questions to try on people who claim to be copy editors.

3. How to cook a fucking steak. (via Nancy, prompting Diane to say, "I feel like I'm watching The Culinary Institute of Deadwood!")

4. I normally don't care for David Brooks one bit, but I did like this piece he did on Bruce Springsteen and "emotional education."

5. Here's a cool optical illusion.

A Turkey and a Half

In the past I've always made two big turkeys for Thanksgiving, because I've had more than 20 people here. This year I had "only" 17, so I considered making two smaller turkeys, but I was nervous because I've never done anything smaller than 16 pounds and feared I'd somehow wreck it. Then loyal Verbatim reader Amy suggested I make my usual big turkey and also a whole turkey breast, since most people prefer the white meat anyhow. Great idea! Only problem was I'd never made a whole breast before. Amy to the rescue again, with the recipe below!

It came out great. As it turned out, there was quite a bit left over (like, the entire additional breast!), but that meant that I got to send my guests home with leftovers and still have plenty left for us. I will definitely go this route again next year if I have a similarly sized group. I did the breast on Wednesday, refrigerated it overnight, then reheated it gently on Thursday.

Roast Turkey Breast

You'll need 1 whole bone-in, skin-on turkey breast, weighing 6–7 pounds. Trim any excess fat.

I recommend brining the turkey breast, just as I always brine my whole turkey. I really think it makes the meat extra juicy and flavorful (but no, not overly salty). Dissolve EITHER ½ cup table salt OR ¾ cup Morton's kosher salt OR 1 cup Diamond kosher salt (they have different-sized crystals!) in a gallon of cold water in your biggest spaghetti pot. Submerge the turkey breast in the brine, cover the pot, and put it in the refrigerator for 3–6 hours, but no longer than that or it will indeed get too salty. Meanwhile, leave 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter out on the counter to soften.

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 425°. Spray a V-rack with nonstick spray and place it in your roasting pan. Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse it thoroughly under cold running water, then pat it dry all over with paper towels.

With a rubber spatula, mix the softened butter with ¼ teaspoon pepper in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. (If you didn't brine the turkey, you can add ¾ teaspoon table salt to the butter-pepper mixture.)

Here comes the only tricky part. Beginning at the top near where the neck was, stick your fingers between the skin and the meat, being careful not to rip the skin itself or the membrane around the edges of the breast. Stick your hand right down in there to separate the skin from the meat on each side of the breastbone. (I had trouble getting around the pop-up thermometer thingy but didn't want to try pulling it out.) Then spoon half of the butter mixture under the skin on each side. Rub your hands all over the outside of the skin to distribute the butter evenly. Place turkey on V-rack skin-side up.

Roast turkey for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Continue to roast turkey until thickest part of breast registers 160° on instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour longer. (Ignore the aforementioned pop-up thermometer thingy.) Transfer turkey to carving board and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Giving Thanks

Today was wonderful—all of the food was plentiful and delicious (details to come tomorrow), and made even better by sharing it with a houseful of family. Really, it was jut a lovely day from hectic start to lazy finish—beginning with turning on the oven in the morning and ending just now when I nuked one more bowl of stuffing and gravy to tide me over until morning.

As is my custom here at Verbatim, I wish to acknowledge some of the many reasons I have to give thanks:

I am thankful for my loving, happy family and our (generally) good health.

I am thankful for my comfortable home.

I am thankful for my friends, who encourage me and make me laugh.

I am thankful for peace in my corner of the planet.

I am thankful for all my cyber-pals, whose tweets and blog posts and comments inspire me every day to think and to write.

Best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving!

Appreciative

At this time of year, some of the teachers at our school ask the kids to write a sentence about why they appreciate each kid in the class, then they compile them all. Pete got a lot of nice responses, such as "Pete is funny and always makes me laugh" and "Pete is very kind," but the ones I liked best were these:

Pete is a good sport. Whenever he is out in a game, he just goes out.

Pete is very friendly. If you're not playing, he will say, "Come play."

Pete is always helping people, even girls.

I appreciate people like that too.

Of Stuffing and Software

Today, right smack in the middle of making 5 batches of stuffing, I had the brilliant idea to install new software on my MacBook Pro. (You can already tell how this one is going to go, can't you?) You see, not only don't I have Snow Leopard, I don't even have Leopard! Yes, I'm still running Tiger, if you can believe it! There wasn't really anything about Leopard that made me think it was worth the extra cash, but lately I've been admiring the Time Machine automatic backup system, and there have been a couple of software upgrades I couldn't take advantage of because I was still running 10.4. So a friend happened to have an extra copy of his Leopard disk, and I popped it in.

The next thing I knew, the whole screen went black, which was more than a little scary. But then I saw that it was really only about 99% black. With my trusty flashlight (really!), I could just make out enough of the dialog box to quit and restart. I did some Googling and quickly found out that this weird glitch can be avoided by adjusting the screen brightness to maximum before installing, and also by disabling the Energy Saver. So I started again.

This time I could see just what I was doing, but when I went to do the installation, it said that I couldn't for some reason. So I tried to restart again, and that's when my troubles began. Every time I tried to start it up, it would power itself off. I even tried to reboot from my old Tiger disks, but no luck.

I felt like I was going to throw up. Luckily I had just backed up to an external hard drive about a week ago—very luckily, because I rarely remember to do that at all—so I would have lost only a few photos and emails and such. I was more concerned that I had somehow cooked the whole machine and was suddenly going to find myself looking down the barrel of a big purchase at a bad time for big purchases.

I quickly called Scott, who walked me through some possible fixes, but nothing worked. His verdict (and I quote): "You're fucked." Get me my smelling salts!

I booted up the old iMac and made an immediate appointment at the Genius Bar. I dashed over to the dreaded mall, where Derek talked me down off the ledge—and then managed to get my Mac up and running again! I don't know what kind of special magic genius trickery he used, but I was mighty impressed. He said that if I wanted to leave it there, he'd install Leopard for me and I could come back for it in an hour, but I figured I'd had enough excitement for one day—and those pans of stuffing weren't putting themselves in the oven in my absence either. I also want to do a complete backup before I let that disk anywhere near my baby again. I'll go in next week, maybe, and see if he can set me up.

So, Mac and I are back together again–and I've got 5 batches of stuffing in the fridge, ready to be reheated on Thursday.

Thanksgiving Countdown

1. Today I cut up all the bread into cubes for the stuffing.

2. Tomorrow I will pick up the turkey*, green beans, and the last few miscellaneous items. I will also make all the stuffing and the plain gravy.

3. Wednesday I will brine and roast the turkey breast, then brine and begin to air-dry the whole turkey. Then I will roast half of the root veggies and cut up the other half.

4. Thursday I will roast the second half of the veggies, roast the whole turkey, reheat the turkey breast, make the real gravy, and steam the green beans.

5. I also have to think about the hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and other side dishes. Don't worry, everything is under control.

*I have a "small" group coming this year—17 instead of 26!—so I'm going to do one whole turkey plus one turkey breast, per Amy's suggestion.

She's Bejeweled

Does Julie look any different to you in this photo? If you look closely, you'll see a tiny sparkling earring in each earlobe! Yes, today was the day, after a long wait for soccer season to end (yesterday). Off we went to Claire's, and it was all done in a matter of minutes. She was very brave and proud.

She spent the rest of the day announcing, "This is the first time I'm playing Skip-Bo with pierced ears!" "This is the first time I'm having Chinese food with pierced ears!" etc. Tomorrow will be the first day she goes to school with pierced ears, and she's very excited about that.

Grownup Evening

Tonight Steph and Pete both slept at friends' houses, and Julie goes to bed very early, so Andy and I got to revisit our beloved old habit of making a grownup dinner and watching a grownup movie. We made our favorite duck and parsnip stew and then watched "Desperado." The DVD said that "El Mariachi" was on Side A, but it seemed to be all a Robert Rodriguez director's cut thingy, so we flipped it and watched "Desperado." Andy thought it seemed familiar, but it turns out that we had already seen "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," which features the same Antonio Banderas character (vigilante mariachi dude). This one had some excellent cartoon-style gratuitous violence (à la Tarantino) but was otherwise laughably dumb and predictable. We will try to watch "El Mariachi" next; apparently we didn't fast-forward far enough. In any event, it was a pleasure to once again open a bottle of wine, eat food that our kids don't like, and watch an inappropriate movie. Just like the old days.

(Update 11/22/09: Tried again this morning, but still could not find "El Mariachi" on this disc, aside from the muted version with Rodriguez narrating. Bummer! That was supposed to be the best of the three.)

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Natural Forces - Lyle Lovett
2. Don't Forget Me - Neko Case
3. West Texas Teardrops (live) - Old 97s/Whiskeytown
4. I'm Gonna Jump and Shout - Paul Rishell
5. Adam Raised a Cain (live) - Bruce Springsteen
6. Crazy Love, Vol. II - Paul Simon
7. Gulf Coast Highway - Nanci Griffith & Darius Rucker
8. Candy (live) - Martin Sexton
9. A Father and a Son - Loudon Wainwright III
10. Radical (live) - Catie Curtis

From "To Do" to "Ta-Dah!"

I've been a whirlwind this week. Highlights:

I've been working well into the wee hours almost every night, but I will indeed make my deadline tomorrow, even with a reasonable bedtime tonight.

I finally got the enclosures (driving and parking directions) printed up for Steph's Bat Mitzvah invitations. The Staples copy center person was really helpful, and I couldn't believe how cheap it was. The next step is to bring a fully loaded sample (envelope containing invitation, reply card and stamped envelope, and enclosure) to the post office to be weighed, then buy some pretty stamps.

Because I'm having "only" 17 people for Thanksgiving this year (instead of the previous high of 26), I decided to make only one turkey and also one whole breast. I've never done that before (thanks to Amy for the suggestion!), but it makes sense. So those are ordered, and I'm planning to buy all the non-perishable items tomorrow.

In the meantime, Andy was in New York on Monday and Tuesday and came home sick. He stayed home from work yesterday and today. Steph came home early from school Monday sick, stayed home Tuesday, and went in late Wednesday.

Then there was all the usual carpooling and other driving back-and-forth-ness, including going everywhere in search of a black skirt for Steph's chorus concert next week (so far: no dice)

Did I mention laundry? shopping? cleaning? cooking? 2 shifts at the school library? It's no wonder I forgot to shower one day and neglected to eat lunch the next.

High Five

1. 17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat

2. iPhone + children's book = clever

3. My alma mater is doing some cool work with a local prison. (via Elena)

4. I get a good daily chuckle over at Autocomplete Me.

5. Check out BobDylanSays on Twitter: "Every Bob Dylan song line-by-line. 1 line/hr until all have been tweeted. After each song, BobDylanSays-bot chooses next one at random." (via Nancy)

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Dentist

Remember Pete's tooth that wouldn't fall out? I was supposed to make an appointment with the dentist last week so she could yank it, but I was busy, and he didn't want to go, and I couldn't bear to pay for such a thing, and it seemed to be getting looser.... Finally this morning I couldn't stand it anymore. Yes, we resorted to the Starburst technique. Pete put a cherry Starburst in his mouth, bit down, and out came the tooth. Took about 1/3 of a second. By the time he got home from school, the permanent tooth was almost completely in its place instead of off to the side as it had been.

Nice photo, huh? I call it "Still Life with Pete's Tooth Embedded in Cherry Starburst." Someone on Twitter suggested that I make a pendant out of it.

Editorially Yours

I think that some people imagine editors to be frustrated writers—and I suppose that may occasionally be the case. I have known wannabe writers who pay the bills by doing editorial work until that first novel is accepted, but I suspect that most of them are much better at one or the other. (Yes, I'm sure that exceptions abound; I'm just describing what I've seen over the years.)

Me, I'm an editor. Sure, I can express myself in writing, but I don't think I have what it takes to write a whole book or even a long article. What I love to do is what I'm good at: editing what someone else wrote. And that works out well for the most part, because a good writer knows that s/he needs a good editor, so everyone's happy.

I mentioned a while back that I had signed on with a company that helps people self-publish their books. I wanted to try my hand at fiction editing, both just to see what it was like and also to add something new to my resume. Most of the novels I've edited for this company have been just awful. Really, it was painfully obvious why these authors chose the self-publishing route. But there have been a few that had some merit—I remember a young adult novel in particular that was very clever and held my interest right up until the end.

Most recently I did a collection of intertwined short stories. The subject matter was most definitely not my cup of tea—serial murder and every kind of sociopathic behavior you can imagine that would go along with it—but it was extremely well written. Even as my stomach was lurching at some of the descriptions, I was still impressed by the author's style and use of language. I tightened it up a bit here and there, made a few suggestions, and sent it back. For this company I have no direct contact with the authors, but I write a memo that the client sends along with the edited manuscript. 

The client wrote back to tell me that the author was really pleased with my work. He said, "Please pass on to Karen my thanks for such a meticulous job on the manuscript. She’s been able to highlight perfectly the difference between what I once thought was polished and what actually is. The edit has taught me a lot."

And that, my friends, is what I do. He writes way better than I ever could, but I'm the closer.

Bar/Bat Mitzvah 101

I'm trying not to let this become The Bat Mitzvah Planning (and Freak-Out) Blog, but it's about me, so for the next couple of months it's also going to be about Steph's Bat Mitzvah. What hadn't occurred to me, however, until Tonya posted a recent comment, is that some (many? most?) of my readers might not know much about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah tradition at all. Me, I grew up in a town and now live in a city with a large enough Jewish population that there's no public school on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. When I was at Wesleyan, the student population was around 40% Jewish. So, I've always been surrounded by Jews and often forget that this is not the case for the majority of the country—and world.

What follows is a very brief outline of what it means to become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Some of this is not accurate for Orthodox congregations, where, for instance, women are not permitted to read from the Torah, but I was brought up Conservative and now belong to a Reform synagogue, so this is how I see it.

The Bar ("son") or Bat ("daughter") Mitzvah is a person for whom the commandments apply—that is, one who has achieved majority age in the eyes of the Jewish congregation. That is generally considered to be age 13 (although some use 13 for boys and 12 for girls), and that's why most invitations ask you to celebrate with the family as the child becomes a Bar/Bat Mitzvah—the child has become one who can take responsibility for his/her actions. The ceremony itself is not a coming-of-age ritual; rather, it is just the first time that the child is allowed to participate as an adult. The child becomes a Bar/Bat Mitzvah regardless of whether there is a ceremony or not—it's a function of age. Up until that point, Jewish children are not expected to obey the 613 laws of the Torah.

So, yes, it's a big deal. However, what's become a really big deal is the party after the services. This, in my opinion, has gotten way out of control. It is, after all, just for a kid. Yes, it's an occasion to celebrate; no, it's not a wedding. I have heard of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs that cost upward of $100,000—yes, you read that right!—and had hundreds of guests. Oy. We will not be going that route, although it will certainly be a little fancier than beer and pizza in front of a big-screen TV.

Tonya wanted to know whether Steph was excited about the upcoming event. Yes, she is. She still has quite a bit of practicing ahead of her, but the reward will be a great party with lots of her friends and a DJ playing dance music I've never heard of! She also has to write a speech about what her Torah portion means to her, and then Andy and I have to write a speech about what she means to us, so I expect a major sob-fest by the time it's all over with.

And then you won't have to hear any more about it—until I start planning Pete's for June 2012, that is.

Another Rainy Saturday

This morning I woke up at about 5:30, rolled around for an hour or two, and then managed to fall back to sleep until 9:00. That was a major treat for me!

As usual for Saturdays in Boston this fall, it was pouring rain, so that meant that soccer was canceled for Pete and Julie. Pete will have a makeup game tomorrow; Julie's season has been extended one week because of all the rain. 

We had been planning to go to temple this morning, because the rabbi has repeatedly urged us to go as often as possible before Steph's Bat Mitzvah to get a better sense of what goes on. I had a ton of work to do—I have two, count 'em, two—deadlines on Monday—so Andy and Steph went themselves. It's a very different experience to go and be paying attention to what happens when, and who goes where and does what. I hope to go at least once or twice before our big day in February.

When they got home, we zipped down the street to the Windsor Club, which is where Steph's reception will be, and where our caterer was doing an afternoon party today. We hadn't met her yet, and we're always eager to see how people have decorated that old and rather boring room. It's a good-size room with a very high ceiling but little else of interest to it. We popped in a few weeks ago and saw it done up with lots of white and silver and a very elegant feel. This time they had brightly colored tablecloths and balloons, for more of a fun and festive approach. Our caterer has done hundreds of parties there over the years and has tons of ideas about how to make it interesting without letting the tail wag the dog. She knows that I am not interested in throwing "the party of the century" for a 13-year-old (nor do I have the budget for it), but she also wants to help us make it feel special. It's fun to see the many options. I'm really looking forward to choosing the menu—that, at least, is something I care deeply about!

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. People Get Ready (live) - Eva Cassidy
2. Morrissey Falls in Love at First Sight (live) - Hayes Carll
3. This Is My Favorite Cage - Joe Henry
4. Flora - Crooked Still
5. Stuff You Gotta Watch - Levon Helm
6. Angeline (live) - Martin Sexton
7. Memory Motel (live) - Dave Matthews & the Rolling Stones
8. We Shall Overcome - Bruce Springsteen
9. It'll Be Me - Paul Rishell
10. Dividing the Estate (A Heart Attack) - Todd Snider

Pity Party

Oh dear, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself these days. When was the last time I did something just for me? It's a good question. I haven't so much as picked up a book since I finished Infinite Jest in September. No, nor a magazine. I haven't watched a DVD since August. I haven't been to the movies since ... what year is this, anyhow? I don't watch any TV. I don't exercise at all. I don't have a hobby.

Blogging? Just a few minutes a day. Web-surfing and tweeting? Again, mere minutes, and usually while I'm waiting for a work-related page to load, or some other "downtime."

So what do I do, in between my nightly bouts of insomnia? I take care of my kids, which includes volunteering at school a few hours a week and driving them all over God's creation the rest of the time. I take care of the house (well, sort of ... please call first if you're thinking of surprising me with a visit). I work. And when I'm all done with that, I freak out because I realize that Thanksgiving will be here in 2 weeks, Hanukkah in 4 weeks, and Steph's Bat Mitzvah in 12 weeks.

Calgon, take me away! Calgon? Calgon, where are you? Calgon?

Fiber Loops

The other day a huge box landed on my front step. What the heck did I order? I thought, with not a small amount of excitement (and also worry). But no, it was a selection of Kellogg's cereals sent to me by the folks at Mom Central. I got a box of regular Froot Loops, a box of Froot Loops with added fiber, and two boxes of Apple Jacks with added fiber. Yes, Kellogg's has started adding fiber to some of its most popular cereals, without changing any of the other nutritional components. Same fat, sodium, sugar, protein, etc.—same everything, except for an additional 3 grams of fiber. You can learn all about it here.

But how does it taste? Exactly the same. Really. There was some discussion among my kids about whether the regular or the fiber-added Froot Loops tasted sugarier or fruitier, but no consensus was reached. In a blind taste-test, no one could distinguish between the two.

Me, I grew up on Froot Loops (also Rice Krispies and Lucky Charms). Just a handful (of either variety) sent me back to my childhood. For whatever reasons, we never had Apple Jacks in my house, but I was pleasantly surprised by their apple-cinnamon flavor.

Fiber is something that most people don't get enough of in their diets these days. (Argh, please don't try to parse that sentence!) When Pete was little, I used to buy these gummy-bear fiber supplements for him because he ate absolutely no fruit or vegetables and, well, it was very obvious. I myself take a fiber supplement every morning because, um, that old machinery starts falling apart pretty fast after age 45, let me tell you.

So, to recap: Fiber = Good. Froot Loops = Yummy. The End.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s and received boxes of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Stick to Your Ribs

This photo earned me at least one Twitter marriage proposal, and several self-invited dinner guests. If you like ribs, you would've loved these. I do the same thing every time, but these were exceptionally good.

I served coleslaw and cornbread alongside, as usual, but this time I tried a Southern-style (that is, unsweetened) cornbread—once again, from The Cornbread Gospels. It was good, but you know what? This Northerner prefers a little sweetness. Granted, when combined with the BBQ sauce and coleslaw, you don't notice, but I like the taste of a very lightly sweetened cornbread slathered with butter, all on its own. That being said, this would be a very nice accompaniment to chili or some other dish where you pretty much have to mop and dip.

Basic Southern Cornbread

¼ cup butter or bacon drippings (I used butter but promptly kicked myself for not using bacon drippings, which I keep in the fridge.)
2 cups fine stone-ground white cornmeal (I had only yellow on hand.)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1½ cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Place butter in a 10" cast-iron skillet and put skillet in oven to heat.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat together egg and buttermilk. Add wet mixture to dry, using the absolute minimum number of strokes needed to moisten dry with wet.

4. Remove hot skillet from oven and swirl it around so the butter coats the bottom and lower sides of the skillet. Then pour the remainder of the hot butter into the batter, and stir a couple of times.

5. Dump the batter into the hot skillet, put the skillet back into the oven, and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown, 20–25 minutes. Serve, hot, in wedges from the pan.

Fun with the Google

We haven't done this in a while—let's see what Google search strings led people to my blog today, shall we?

timeline of refrigerator: You buy it because it seems awesome; it's awesome for a little while; then it breaks down repeatedly. Or at least that's been my experience—your mileage may vary.

what does pork butt look like? Not what you'd think. It's not actually the butt, but the shoulder. Really. It just looks like a hunk o' meat.

how do you spell supercede: Not like that. Hint: It's the only word in the English language that ends with "-sede."

do you write dear to whom it may concern: No, you don't. You may write "Dear So-and-So" or "To whom it may concern," but never "Dear To...."

arroz con pollo recipe awesome: It really is—and I haven't made it in ages, so thanks for the reminder!

spatchcocked: Sounds so dirty, doesn't it? It just means that a chicken or other bird has had the backbone cut out, and then the whole thing gets opened up like a book and pressed flat. That makes it cook faster.

cover letter to dear whom it may concern: No, no, no. Once again, it's either "Dear So-and-So" or "To whom it may concern," but never "Dear whom it may concern."

verbatim in a sentence: If you can recite any of my blog posts verbatim, then you are probably spending a leetle too much time here. Not that I mind, of course....

krogers jarlsberg cheese spread: We don't have a Kroger's here, so I can't help you there. But try this easy, yummy recipe.

timothy treadwell idiot: Indeed.

Smelly Washer: Vanquished!

Yes, this is about my godforsaken washing machine again, but this time it's a more subtle problem: It stinks. And I don't just mean the fact that the entire agitator comes out of the machine when I remove the clothes (and if you think I'm going to call the Maytag repairman, you haven't been reading this blog very long). I mean it really stinks. It smells. It's putrid. Ewww. I notice it only when it's open, and luckily the smell doesn't seem to get on the laundry. But it smells awful, and it's (not surprisingly) worse in the warm weather. 

The amazing thing about the Internet Tubes is that you can search for "smelly washer," and the next thing you know, you get an email from a guy offering to send you a free bottle of an all-natural product called Smelly Washer to try. 

All you do is put a capful of the magical powder in the machine and fill it with hot water, let it agitate for 2 minutes, and then leave it to sit overnight. In the morning, just finish the cycle. I did it on the smallest possible load size, because the stagnant stinky water seems to be hanging out at the bottom of the tub, not all the way up the sides.

Fast-forward to the voilà moment: No more stink! Really! Nothing! I was amazed.

But here's the kicker: It said that you could use the product for all your smelly towels that got ruined by your smelly washer. As I said, I am lucky enough that I never had this problem; however, I did have a pair of beyond-smelly chinos. (Not the fault of the Maytag: I think they were somehow a casualty of last summer's seashell incident. They smelled fishy enough that Andy didn't want to wear them, but they were brand new—he'd worn them exactly once—so I couldn't bear to throw them out. I guess I was sort of hoping the odor would fade after a decade or two.) So, with nothing to lose (except for the stench of rotten fish), I gave them the Smelly Washer treatment. Reader, they have absolutely no odor to them anymore. None. At. All.

I hope none of you have a smelly washer, but if you do, you've got to try this stuff. If you order a bottle from the website, you can get 10% off by using the promotional code "verbatim" (clever, eh?). Or, if you're feeling lucky in addition to stinky, you can leave a comment below to be entered to win a free bottle of Smelly Washer right here. I'll take entries until this Friday night, November 13, at midnight Eastern time. Please make sure you leave your email address so I can reach you if you win.

[Update 11/14/09: And the winner, courtesy of the Random Number Generator, is Commenter #11: Marcie!]

In case anyone from the FTC is reading this: I did not receive any money for posting this review. I received a free bottle of Smelly Washer and was told that I could offer one of my readers a free bottle as well. FTC employees are welcome to enter the giveaway if they have smelly washers too.

Making Progress

Steph's Bat Mitzvah invitations came in! They're pale pink with dark brown print, and we are both pleased with how they turned out. Now to just finalize the guest list and get all the labels printed out.... I have to get stamps soon too, or else I'll end up with Christmas trees or Jesus on the cross.

Did I mention that we also found Steph a dress? It wasn't the one I had in mind, but it was one she liked best, so that settled that. It's also pink, but more of a dusty rose color. Julie and I still need dresses.

I also finally got off my duff and called the caterer; we're going to set up a meeting to start talking about the menu.

I guess we're going through with this thing after all.

Photo Phinish

Remember that yummy pasta dish I made a couple of months ago? Well, I made it again tonight, and this time I remembered to take a photo:

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Spirits in the Night - Bruce Springsteen
2. Down to the River to Pray - Alison Krauss
3. Blue Highway - Eilen Jewell
4. Prison Girls - Neko Case
5. Rock 'n' Roll Doctor (live) - Little Feat
6. I Fought the Law - The Clash   
7. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers
8. Rainy Day Blues  Willie Nelson & Johnny Lang
9. Girlfriend Is Better - Talking Heads
20 Love Is the Seventh Wave - The Duhks

Paper Towels, I Wish I Could Quit You

I try very hard to be as "green" as possible. Sure, there are certain conveniences I will never give up, because the environmentally friendly alternatives are pretty distasteful (reusable tampons, I'm talkin' to you!), but for the most part I do all the right things. I try to buy products with minimal packaging, I reuse bags and plastic containers as much as I can until they're dead, I recycle everything I possibly can (about this I'm downright OCD, salvaging every tiny scrap of paper and bit of aluminum foil), and so on. I am lucky that my city picks up pretty much all glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, and paper. Plastic bags that are no longer usable get taken to the recycling bin at Whole Foods.

Lately I've been keeping an eye on what ends up in the trash every day. Some things are unavoidable: packaging on meat products (foam trays, butcher paper, plastic shrinkwrap), non-disposer-friendly food (meat bones, banana peels, peach pits), nonrecyclable packaging (empty toothpaste tubes, candy wrappers, those mesh onion sacks), miscellaneous items (used tissues, burnt-out lightbulbs, dried-out markers), and lots and lots of paper towels.

I'm trying so hard to be better about the paper towels. The first proactive step I took was to start buying those rolls where the perforations divide a standard sheet into thirds, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I rarely need more than one third of a sheet to do whatever wiping job needs doing. Next, I started using a cheapo dishrag for meal prep—for mopping up spills or wiping my hands—and then tossing it in the laundry. I do keep a sponge (which, granted, is pretty skeevy when you think about it) for minor spills, and I just put it through the dishwasher* whenever I run it. I eventually end up tossing the sponges, though, whereas the dishrags last nearly forever—and then get to spend the next chapter of their little textile lives as household cleaning rags. 

I will always reach for a paper towel to wipe up greasy kitchen messes, scoop up cat puke, or squish bugs, but I've already noticed that I'm buying fewer rolls since I cut down on towel size and frequency of use. That of course means that I'm putting less paper in the landfills, although it's not really noticeable in terms of my own trashbag volume. Well, it's a start.

How about you? Does your community have a good recycling program? What ends up in your trash?

*I know that some people put their dirty sponges in the microwave to disinfect them, but they don't come out clean! Perhaps all the evil bacteria is killed off, but they're still covered in tomato sauce or beaten egg or whatever it was you were mopping up. The dishwasher does a great job.

Where Did the Fall Go?

I just realized that Thanksgiving is THREE weeks from tomorrow, and I haven't done a thing about it. I do happen to know that we'll be down to 17 from the usual 26, which might mean that I can get away with one turkey instead of two—whattaya think? Although a bunch of my Twitter pals just invited themselves, and you never know when people are serious or just joking around by the way they type....

I wish I could just skip right to the leftover stuffing and gravy the next day.

The Future Is Now

If you had told me just a few years ago that I could elect a black man (with a strange first name) as my mayor, my governor, and my president, I would have rolled my eyes and snorted. But as of today's local election, it's true.

My mayor, Setti Warren:

My governor, Deval Patrick:

 

My president, Barack Obama:

 

My kids don't know what the big deal is. Isn't that great?

Just for Fun

1. "What's the weather, what to wear? Obama helps you everywhere!" The prez suggests I bring my umbrella tomorrow.

2. Speaking of the Obamas, did you see how magnificent Michelle looked as Cat Woman on Halloween?

3. Just the other day I told you about the clever tweets coming my way via @FakeAPStyleBook; now the guys behind the tweets have been outed.

4. That post would have been a good place to include this review of a grammar handbook that has been revised numerous times over the years and is still full of really bad errors. Don't believe me? How about this one:

SUBJECT	PREDICATE
My	word!

Oy!

5. And here's a spelling test from the Times. I didn't get 'em all, but I did very well. How about you? (via Nancy)