Help!

Yes, I know I haven't updated in a while.

What have I been up to, you ask? I'd love to say something really important, but I haven't been preoccupied with anything too profound: primarily just some Twittering, some gardening, some baking, and now this project.

See, my pantry is OUT OF CONTROL. I have put off its reorganization week after week. The result? It's a mess.

I finally broke down this weekend and decided to tackle the chore. This picture is a shot of (almost) everything from the pantry, in the middle of my kitchen floor.

So....I've gone from one mess to creating a much larger -- and much more "in the way" -- mess. So much for organization.

I did find the weirdest things while cleaning, like two kinds of protein powder that expired in 2007. And TWO (full!) bottles of rice vinegar....Oh, and some dried apricots that look more like prunes than apricots. Yummy; well maybe not. See the result of my chaos? Things hide in dark corners and go to waste. I must try a little better. And seriously, who needs TWO things of rice vinegar??

Now the plea for help: Think some positive organizing thoughts for me to give me the strength to "carry on." With your support, I'm sure I can power through this "daunting task."


[Now, if my Mom figures out how to comment with Google "eating it," I'm sure you can expect comments like "Get a life dork..." or "You come by your pantry-clutter honestly..." or something to that effect. Cue snarky remarks now.]

Spring is here!

photo from flickr


The high today is 71. The high tomorrow will be 75, and nary a cloud in the sky.

Zicam zapped my cold. My yard beckons. Life is good.

Welcome spring!

John McCain made me angry today

I got mad at John McCain today, and I yelled at him...on Twitter, that is.

You probably think that's kind of lame, and Jon Stewart would probably make fun of it; but I don't care. It made me feel a little better at the time.

It all started a couple of days ago. Sen. McCain has been tweeting his daily "top 10 objections to pork" in the Obama omnibus (budget). On Friday, I responded to a couple of his bone-headed remarks including money for what he called "a honeybee factory." I replied to his tweet noting that honeybees are one of the most economically beneficial species in existence, and are extremely important to the US agribusiness...therefore also extremely important to the US food supply and economy. Here's my Tweet response:

@SenJohnMcCain doesn't get that criticizing SOME"pork"mks him sound ignorant. "Honeybees"=VERY impt to Agribiz &ECONOMY! Research b4 spking.

But whatever, right? "Honeybees" just sounds ridiculous and cutesy, so it's easy to ridicule. What it really shows is that McCain is out of touch and speaks without thinking first. Ugh.

Then, he follows up with a criticism of $650,000 to go toward "beaver management." Now, I have no idea what that project is really all about, nor do I really care to object OR defend. All I know is that you don't post something about "beaver management" on the internet and NOT expect it to blow up in your face. It took about 2 minutes on Twitter for lewd, crude and (hilariously) rude comments from rowdy women and lefty-commie-libruls before McCain realized he should take that Tweet down. The Tweets were all pretty hilarious, and many of them were along the lines of, "$650K for 'beaver management?' A good bikini wax from that Asian spa down the street only costs $40. " etc, etc, etc....[Shakes head at John McCain for his inability to see that one coming...]

Then today I read the Tweet that made me really, really angry. Here is what Sen. McCain wrote:

#6. $100,000 for the regional robotics training center in Union, SC - Does R2D2 or CP30 know about this?

Well Senator, that $100,000 goes toward re-training workers at an upstate NY textile plant to better prepare them for the new tech marketplace. These people work in dying industries and are being replaced by said robots because they don't possess the skills needed to compete. This program is the total opposite of a laughing matter. It does precisely what you, yourself, said on the campaign trail. It better prepares US workers to ensure that they keep jobs, rather than see them outsourced to other countries or be replaced by mechanized systems.

It was so insulting to read this tweet and the way that he belittled a program that might actually do some good. It was even more insulting to see the relatively small monetary committment to the program -- I mean, that's what he's complaining about??? How many billions in Iraq and how many trillions in debt to other countries, and you're making fun of $100,000 to re-train AMERICAN WORKERS? Come on. We deserve more respect than that.

"Does R2D2 or CP30 know about this?"

Are you kidding me?

I was incensed. Here was my initial response to Sen. McCain, as well as my follow-ups.

@SenJohnMcCain The robotics facility is to train PEOPLE & create JOBS. I respect u Sen..own yr book, like u a lot. But stop being ignorant.

and:

This is making me so angry. It's like he's trying to paint this as ridiculous and cutesy. JOBS aren't a JOKING MATTER NOW.

I got so pissed I had to turn the computer off. People tend to get so bogged down in the tedium of ideology that they faze out common sense and foresight: "He said it, so it must be wrong," and "She said it, so I take it as gospel." In times like these, we simply cannot afford the rigidity of ideology. I totally respect the ideal of sticking to ones principles, but not if its at the expense of reaching any workable solution nor if it neglects the common-sense decency of just listening to one another.

I'm not sure if he "listens" to any of his Tweets, but I suppose I'll keep sending him my thoughts anyway. It may not help, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

More SNOW!

Sorry for the overkill with the snow pictures, but it's ATLANTA! We don't get this stuff very often, and I kind of miss it.

Here are some pictures from the backyard. Daisy got very confused when I tried to play "fetch the snowball." (Oh, and I built the tiny snowman because my momma-in-law told me to.)

A Nesting Kind of a Weekend

It's the first of March, and it's snowing in Atlanta. After a 63-degree day yesterday, we're seeing some snow accumulation today. Crazy weather, huh? (EDITOR'S NOTE: As I typed this, I saw LIGHTNING, followed by thunder...with huge flakes of snow...that's what we like to call a THUNDERSNOWRM!!!)

Despite yesterday's warm temps, it was really rainy & soggy; so I spent much of the weekend indoors. I'm working on my never-ending CD to iTunes conversion, which has consumed much of my weekends the past 3 weeks. I'm up to the V's in alphabetical order, but the progress is deceptive since I have so many "Various Artists." I also went over the 30GB threshold, and I have a stack of about 40 CDs that are too scratched to properly transfer. (I'm going to try to find a friend with a CD cleaner/buffer to borrow before I give up on those CDs completely.) I hope to have the whole process complete by tonight, but I'm not making any promises.

I also am having pretty strong "nesting instincts" lately (No, I'm not pregnant, folks!). For some reason, all I really want to do is bake and "make stuff." I gave into the former desire yesterday by making some delicious red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I'm trying to convince the sister-in-law to come over and take some home. I certainly don't need 24 cupcakes laying around the house. (Seriously. I REALLY don't need it.) If she doesn't pick some up today, I'll take them into work for the boys to nosh on. I'm sure they'll appreciate it!

I also have been working on some of my paper-painting/collages, and I'm pretty stoked about my "hoot-owl" print. Tyler loved it so much that I had it framed, and it looks even better! I'm sure it will go in a kids room some day, until then it just makes me smile! Tyler's sister loved it too, so I made one this weekend that features a dog that looks strikingly similar to her dog, Playdoh. (The picture above doesn't do it justice.) I think that one will look cute framed, as well.

Alright, time to get back to my hibernating and crafting. Enjoy the rest of this crazy-weather weekend, folks.