Archives for January 2008

Sorry. I realize that title makes no sense at all.

But after a morning of listening to the little man scream that very phrase AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS, it’s the best I can do right now. I am embracing my limitations, if you will.

So.

How are you?

I have spent my morning on the telephone trying to get information about a yellow fever vaccination, and if that tidbit alone doesn’t tell you that my life has taken a bit of an unexpected turn over the last two or three months, then I don’t know what would. Because, oddly enough, yellow fever vaccinations are not really required when you spend the bulk your time happily ensconced in the suburbs of a large Southern city.

But as it turns out, I need me a yellow fever vaccination. Oh yes I do. And on Monday I’ll have more details than you ever wanted to know about why I need me a yellow fever vaccination.

I’m sure you’re trembling with anticipation.

Or, you know, ambivalence.

Whatever works.

And also.

I don’t know about y’all, but we were riveted by the Iowa caucus coverage last night. RIVETED. My husband is a bit of a political podcast junkie anyway, so he added some mighty fine color commentary as we watched.

And while I will probably never discuss my personal political views on this blog because WHY WOULD I DO THAT, WHY, THAT WOULD BE SO STUPID, I can tell you without hesitation that the English major in me absolutely loved listening to Mike Huckabee’s and Barack Obama’s beautifully crafted speeches.

Oh, the abundance of parallel structure and repetition made my little geeky grammarian heart sing.

(sidenote: There was a point in my life – probably after I watched The American President for the sixty-third time – when I dreamed of being a speechwriter.)

(But then I realized that I have absolutely no grasp of foreign policy, and besides that, I really doubt that any serious political contender would benefit from a speech that recounts Martha’s most recent Steinmart(s) excursion.)

(Because, say, a “Points of Light” metaphor isn’t quite as effective when the beacons are clearance racks.)

(And alas, my dream did die.)

Have a great weekend, everybody.

p.s. TRANS-FORRRRRRRRRRRRRRM!

p.p.s. I’m so sorry. It’s playing on a loop in my head.

p.p.p.s. The joys of motherhood, they know no bounds.

Today I took a little road trip BY MYSELF, ALONE, WITH NO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE CAR, BECAUSE YOU SEE IT WAS JUST ME AND NO ONE ELSE.

Not that I’d been looking forward to a little solitude or anything.

(A brief aside: you know those personality tests? That determine if you’re an introvert or an extrovert? I’m always right smack dab in the middle. Which pretty much means that I get so energized from being with people that I can’t wait to be by myself and channel that energy into cleaning or writing or catching up on DVR’d programming or whathaveyou. And then I get so energized from alone time that I think, “HEY! WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE? I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEM NOW!”)

(Oh yes. I am a veritable barrel-o-crazy.)

So I took a little road trip to see some of my oldest and most favoritest friends: Merritt, Liz, Melissa, Tracey and Elise. Tracey and Elise didn’t even know that I was going to be in their neck of the woods today, but they are such good friends that when I called and said, “Hey! I’m in town!” they replied with “Hey! Come on over!”

And so I did.

It was such a great day. Sweet mercy I love those girls.

I won’t bore you by sharing all the things we laughed about that no one else in the free world would find even remotely amusing, but I do want to share about, well, food.

Shocking, I know.

Liz, our own little Martha Stewart in the making, fixed a delicious lunch for Merritt, Melissa and me. She made chicken salads that were absolutely beautiful (and healthy, too), and she made two huge trays of Parmesan Crisps, one of which I’m pretty sure I ate all by myself, because I can always be counted on to negate any benefits of healthy eating by singlehandedly putting away AN ENTIRE TRAY OF CHEESE.

I’m a nutritional inspiration, really.

Anyway, since I’d already eaten that entire tray of cheese, I really didn’t feel too guilty about adding a little sugar to the mix. Liz always has great dessert treats at her house, and today I think I had my very favorite Liz dessert ever: Symphony Brownies.

Do you people know about these?

And if you do, WHY HAVEN’T YOU TOLD ME?

According to Liz, they’re super-simple to make – as I’m sure I will discover the next four or seventy two times that I make them. You prepare your favorite brownie mix, pour half of it in the baking dish, top with Hershey’s Symphony Bars with Almonds and Toffee, pour the other half of the brownie mixture on top of the candy bars, and bake according to package directions.

Then eat, praise Jesus, and repeat.

Also: even though we had a lovely lunch at Liz’s house and I had a large Starbucks once we left Tracey’s, Elise still managed to convince Merritt and me to eat some of her homemade gumbo around, oh, four in the afternoon. Because apparently we felt we needed a light snack.

I mean, it just made good sense to re-fuel after all the talking we’d been doing.

And then, when I got back to Mama and Daddy’s around 7:30, I felt the need to pay tribute to my time with my college friends, so I had Popeye’s for supper.

I even thought about taking my tribute to the next level by lighting some candles around my plate of fried chicken.

But ultimately I decided against it because I didn’t want to risk the grease fire.

I am nothing if not practical.

Hope your Thursday is filled with sweet friends, great conversation, and lots of laughs.

And chocolate.

And Starbucks.

And, well, gumbo.

And maybe even a little fried chicken, too.

Alex and I are at my parents’ house for a few days so that I have a chance to catch up with some of my favorite friends in the whole wide world.

Not to mention that Alex needs to catch up on his caffeine and sugar intake. Which he’ll get to do first thing in the morning when Daddy takes him to McDonald’s for pancakes and Coke.

I believe that’s what people in health and wellness circles refer to as The Breakfast of Champions.

Anyway, Daddy and I are watching the Sugar Bowl, something that we’ve done at least twenty or twenty five times in my life. And as always, we’re cheering for the SEC team, which in this case happens to be the Georgia Bulldogs (not my usual brand of Bulldogs, mind you, but a fine brand of Bulldogs just the same).

But tonight, there has been a Sugar Bowl first in this house: I have uttered the phrase “Bless their hearts” more often than I have cheered for the SEC team.

You see, the game has been a bit of a mismatch; Hawaii has struggled like crazy against a mighty fine Georgia team. And when the Hawaii quarterback was sacked in his own end zone, I kind of wanted to cry a little bit.

In fact, I’m very tempted to go into the kitchen and make a big ole batch of brownies. Not that the brownies really have anything to do with the Sugar Bowl, of course. But nonetheless, I am very tempted to go into the kitchen and make a big ole batch of brownies. Because they would be delicious.

And saying “Bless their hearts” is much more effective when one’s mouth is filled with delicious chocolate-y goodness.

So.

Somehow I’ve managed to turn a post about the Sugar Bowl into a post about, well, sugar.

Totally planned, of course.

Ahem.

I do hope you’re not blinded by the rays of my blogging brilliance.

And when I say “blogging brilliance,” what I mean, of course, is “food issues.”

Happy New Year, y’all.