verbatim

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case 
2. Jamaica, Say You Will - Tom Rush
3. I Don't Want to Get Over You - Norah Jones/Willie Nelson
4. Ranking Full Stop - English Beat 
5. Two Dogs And A Bone - Los Lobos
6. I Dug Up A Diamond - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
7. City Of New Orleans - Steve Goodman & John Prine
8. How's the World Treating You - James Taylor & Alison Krauss
9. Calvary - Levon Helm
10. Freedom Of The Road - Martin Sexton

Thanks

How do I love Thanksgiving? Let me count the ways. I love the food—particularly the stuffing and gravy, as you know, but also the turkey and roasted veggies and squash and pumpkin bread and and and and.... I love being surrounded by family. I love that no one expects a gift. I love that there are no religious rules or rituals. I love hosting a big party at my house! And this:

I am thankful that I have enough to eat and enough to share.

I am thankful that my family comes from near and far to be together.

I am thankful that I live in peace and comfort, and surrounded by love.

And to you, all of my family members and friends and cyber-pals and readers and lurkers, I wish many reasons of your own to be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Update

Loyal Verbatim reader Katy mentioned via email that right about now she always thinks about me and my beloved bowl of leftover stuffing and gravy.... Mmm, indeed, that is what makes it all worthwhile! Today I made 6 batches of stuffing, and my house smells like heaven. Turkey #1 is brining, and turkey #2 is awaiting its turn. I will have 21 people here on Thursday—more than last year but less than my all-time record of 26. I'm most excited that my London-based nephew Al, who is starting at Berklee in January, will be here for his first Thanksgiving!

Work continues apace. I have a couple of big deadlines coming up and then something along the lines of a lull ... although the last time I said that, all hell broke loose. We'll see.

Andy is still struggling with his recovery from spinal surgery. We are in waiting-and-hoping-for-the-best mode here.

I very much appreciate all of you who continue to stop by, and I do hope to be back to normal blogging soon. Real soon.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Fish and the Bird - Mark Knopfler 
2. Fields of Gold (live) - Eva Cassidy   
3. Blow It All Away - Eilen Jewell  
4. Alabama High-Test - Old Crow Medicine Show 
5. Life During Wartime (live) - Talking Heads   
6. The Boxer (live) - James Taylor & Alison Krauss 
7. Coyote (live) - The Band w/ Joni Mitchell 
8. Ever Fallen in Love - Fine Young Cannibals 
9. Let's Go Get Stoned (live) - Hayes Carll  
10. Back of My Mind -  John Hiatt   

Wanna Get Popped?

Free snacks!

OK, did that get your attention? Read on.

I got a "Get Popped!" package from the lovely folks at Popchips, containing bags of many different flavors of their popped chips, along with a Popchip clip and some coupons for even more Popchips. So, what are Popchips? They're potato chips, but they're neither baked nor fried—they're popped! According to the package, "We start with wholesome potatoes, add a little heat and pressure, and pop! It's a chip." It's hard to describe—they're sort of a cross between a regular potato chip and a rice cake. I find it to be a very satisfying texture; they're not even remotely greasy, but they do have a nice crunch to them.

They come in many flavors—we ate them all. Some of the flavors were too strong for the kids, but there was something for everyone here. My favorite was the cheddar, Andy liked the sea salt and vinegar, Steph liked the sour cream and onion, Pete liked the barbecue, and Julie liked the plain. And there are more!

Popchips contain less than half the fat of fried chips, no trans fats, no saturated fat, no cholesterol, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. And the flavorings are all natural. How awesome is that?

OK, OK, OK, so how can you get some Popchips? Well, head to your nearest store—but first, leave a comment below telling me when you think you'd like to snack on some Popchips—with lunch? midmorning? before bed? I'll take comments until Sunday midnight my time, and then on Monday I'll pick a random winner, who will receive a "Get Popped!" package containing all the goodies I got. Yay! (Oh, and in the meantime, feel free to "friend" the Popchips folks on Facebook.)

Update 11/22/10: And the winner is ... Abby! Crunch, crunch!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Popchips and received a “Get Popped” box of Popchips and a $30 gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

What I've Been Up to on Twitter

1. C'mon, everyone, do the Public Radio Rap! (via @califmom)

2. That song on the kids' radio station 24/7? Turns out he's saying, "A-yo, gotta let go!" not "A-yo, Galileo!" (Also turns out I'm not the only one who thought this—plenty of my Twitter pals chimed in with "Me too!" when I tweeted that!)

3. All mammals menstruate. Um, eww! It had never occurred to me, and now I'm kind of wishing I could un-know all the stuff I just read.

4. Speaking of which, o.b. has discontinued (temporarily, one hopes) its Ultra tampons, much to the widespread panic and dread of many of my Twitter pals, as well as plenty of women I don't even know at all (a little Google search turns up tons of hits). And me! I have exactly one left ... I could probably sell it on eBay for a pretty penny, but I'm keeping it all to myself. If I'd only known, I'm sure I could've used that last box more wisely....

5. Wrigley's Winterfresh gum is delicious at first, but after 9 minutes it turns into a toxic chemical dump in your mouth. Please, someone, point me toward a delicious wintergreen gum that holds on to its flavor? Stride lasts pretty long but the flavor isn't all that great. I'm currently chewing Eclipse, which is the best of the lot but that's not saying much.

Friday iPod Random Ten*

1. Little Birds - Levon Helm   
2. Love's in Need Of Love Today (live) - Susan Tedeschi   
3. Free Up - Los Lobos
4. Go to Sleep - The Avett Brothers
5. Kodachrome - Paul Simon  
6. The Card Cheat - The Clash
7. I'm On Fire - Johnny Cash 
8. Come On In My Kitchen (live)- David Bromberg
9. Tennessee Jed (live) - Grateful Dead
10. Last Cup of Coffee (live) - Rufus Wainwright   

*Because I never stop listening to music, no matter what's going on—although I did have to take my iTunes off Avett Brothers endless repeat for this list. And yet they still managed to show up, yay!

Hiatus

Hi everyone,

I really appreciate looking at my stats and seeing so many people stopping by to see what I have to say -- and I regret that you've been disappointed.

Right now I have nothing to say. I am waiting for Andy to recover from back surgery, I am swamped with work, I am vaguely nauseous most of the day, the kids are passing around a cold and cough, and there are just too many other things happening that aren't worth going into here.

Please, please, please wait for me. I promise to be back soon.

Love,
Karen

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Good Year for the Roses (live) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2. Goin' to the Country (live) - Martin Sexton
3. Miss You - The Rolling Stones
4. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) - Nanci Griffith & Lucinda Williams
5. Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret - English Beat
6. Looking for a Way Out - Uncle Tupelo
7. Many Rivers to Cross - Jimmy Cliff
8. Souls Like the Wheels - The Avett Brothers
9. Up On Cripple Creek - The Band
10. Don’t Ask Why - Los Lobos  

Mid-Term Blues, Unless You're in a Blue State

Sometimes it's easy for me to forget that most of the rest of the country is nothing like Massachusetts. Last night, like many people all across the nation, I sat and watched as the election results came trickling in. And, lo and behold, everyone I voted for got in. We reelected Governor Deval Patrick and Representative Barney Frank, among others. We shot down a foolhardy ballot question suggesting that we roll back our sales tax by 3%. And everything is hunky-dory here, as usual (not always, but usually).

But throughout the country, the news was not as rosy. Voters elected politicians who would like to scrap health care, extend tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, fight Obama on everything he proposes just because he proposed it, and tell courageous and loyal soldiers that they can no longer risk their lives for our country's security because they happen to have been born gay. And more.

I think it's perfectly OK to have debates and even arguments about policy issues. That's the whole point. But filibustering does not constitute debate, and the increasing influence of the right-wing Christians ("Tea Party" my ass) scares the heck out of me.

In many ways I think this mid-term election will end up being a good thing for the Democrats' chances in 2012; as Twitter pal @ascottwhite quipped last night, "We're tired of change. We want something else now." Obama et al. will be right there to deliver it in two years, when everyone's grown weary of this latest nonsense.

P.S. For further reading, from an economic standpoint, I recommend "How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms."