EY's Rants and Raves

Where have all the cookies gone? I ate the ones I made, but the ones from my PC seem to be gone as well. Sites I visit regularly and have stored user id/pw info on suddenly "don't know me". I suppose it's not a bad thing, but for other sites I rarely visit, I have no idea what my ID or password is. Yes, I'm a lazy security professional. I shouldn't rely on any of those to remember me.

Sorry Giants fans. I know your boys played a hard game against the Pats. I just wanted to see what was going on....twice. Yes, the Pats have some back and won every game they've been behind in. I've tried NOT to watch them and I just can't leave well enough alone. Sorry '72 Dolphins....I should have thought more.

It just doesn't feel "football-y" today. I don't have to worry about my fantasy team, I should be able to just "relax" and enjoy the games. There's even a doubleheader.

As much as I love Christmas decorations, that's how much I don't like taking them down. Ornaments off the tree yesterday and I'll take down the other living room stuff today. Might leave the Santa nightlight up for a bit.

New Year's Eve isn't always my fav holiday. For many years, The Boy and I did separate gigs. For the past few, we've done NYE together and I like that a lot better. This year, just like last, we'll have an early dinner out at a fav restaurant and a party at friends. This particular couple throws a nice party. Good mix of people, good music, good nibblies (not that I'll need any) and I know we'll have a good time. Will likely be hard to get up for the 10:30 am start time of the Cotton Bowl, but I'll put the black eyed peas (the food, not the group) on when we get in from the party, so they'll be ready. A quick sautee of greens and a pan of cornbread when The Boy gets up and we'll start 2008 looking for luck!

Not a "hater"....hate is a strong word. The Boy loves brussels sprouts. Frozen, fresh, whatever. So does my Mom. I have tried numerous times in my life (some willingly, some not) to share their appreciation. I love many odd veggies and have for years (I loved canned, yes canned, spinach as a kid), so you'd think I could find it in my palate to give the humble sprout some love. Not so much. Covered with cheese--tried it, no go. Covered with a buttery sauce--tried it, no go. I've read many recipes where fresh sprouts are roasted with olive oil, garlic and other delish things and dislikers were converted in multitudes. Would this work for me? On Christmas, I tried.

Bought fresh, lovely sprouts at the not-quite-local upscale store. When I was prepping them, I noted that they really are lovely little things. A cute little cabbage. And I looooove cabbage, so what's better than a cute little one? Put them in a bowl with salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and chopped proscuitto. Heck, a rock, a block of wood or even a carpet square would be good dressed up with all that stuff. Roasted them until there were crispy bits all around. The Maillard reaction never fails. They looked really good. The smelled really good. Mom and Boy were delighted. Me, not so much. There is another bag of sprouts in the fridge, so I'll give these another try and maybe roast them longer. I so wanted to dig these. Maybe one day, I will.

I'm not really sleepy, but I don't know the alphabetical way to signify laziness. I suppose anyone that interested is probably too lazy to develop one. The past few days have been so activity-filled, so "EEK! there are still 5 things on my list I haven't done yet" that now, I don't feel like doing anything. I have another blog entry rattling around in my brain, but it's not quite ready yet and I'm to unintersted in doing anything to help it along.

Maybe later......

I love making cookies. Chocolate chip and molasses spice today. The spice cookies are from the folks at Cook's Illustrated, so I'm sure they'll be good. The house smells wonderful and the oven actually cooperated on the second batch.

Mmmmm, cookies.

Busy busy day. Hair appt at 11, lunch with a friend at noon, supposed to meet another friend at 2. Second friend was running late, so I spent some time at a Wild Oats/Whole Foods. Found broth on sale....really on sale and really good stuff too. #2 still late, so I went to my favorite Wine and Spirits Emporium. Bought a couple of Christmas presents and picked up some bubbly. Do I NEED bubbly? Everyone needs bubbly. I decided to strike out for #2's house and she confirmed she was on the way. Traffic was thick, but I wasn't in a hurry and didn't worry about it.
I made a Christmas CD earlier this week. Charlie Brown Christmas, Yule Be Bopping, some choir and orchestra music, my favs from the Nutcracker and just to keep it fun, the soundtrack from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Perfect music to take your mind off all the other cars around you.
Spent some quality time with Friend 2 and her 2 little ones. Son was tired and slept almost the whole time I was there. Little One wasn't about to nap. I hung out for a bit, then headed back to the Smaller Town. Ended up having dinner with the Mom-in-law and her brother. He's really a nice man. I wish we saw more of him.
The Boy put the tree up, which was very nice. I fluffed and separated branches for a couple of hours once I got home. Put on ornaments and put the presents under and around, best I could. The tree's branches are quite low and with the tree being rather wide, it was hard to walk around. But a little hopping around and a little patience and the tree is lovely. If it weren't after 1 am, I'd turn off all the lights but the tree and have some bubbly (see...what did I tell you). Maybe tomorrow night with The Boy.

If you watch much American TV, you might think that every woman on the continent, AK and HI was an aging troll. "Look 10 years younger", "love the skin you're in" etc. Granted, I spend some cash on taking care of my looks too, but on the whole, there's not a lot I'd change about the way I look. Could I be in better shape from an exercise perspective? Yeah. But I do try to eat more veggies than anything else, try not to load up with processed foods and chemicals and eat reasonable portions.
At times people don't believe I'm the ripe old age of , so looking "10 years younger" just isn't appealing. My face is an instant read thermometer of what's on my mind. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not. Still, I'm not sure I want to semi-permanently freeze it with an otherwise deadly toxin. Would I love to be rid of the double chin that I can't shake, even when I'm skinny to the point of bones protruding (many years ago...really....I can hardly remember back that far, but it did happen)? Yep. After Kanye West's mom's lethal but routine plastic surgery, am I rethinking that? Yep.
Is self-acceptance a sign of being old? More so than gray hair, wrinkles or eating dinner at 5 pm? Is thinking that normal for you is OK not normal? I'm sure I'll still be given to the odd "oh my goodness, I look like a hag" days. Being OK with yourself isn't a shield against the whims of vanity and advertising. On the whole, I look in the mirror and think "you know, toots, you're not half bad".

# posted by EY @ 10:38 AM 1 comments

I was out of town when the Mitchell report studying steroids in MLB came out. My first reaction was "Duh". If your sport is so corrupt, so willing to look the other way when they KNOW something is amiss, what do you expect a decent investigation to turn up? Where there's THAT much smoke, there's a raging fire and this was a skyscraper afire from basement to penthouse.

What surprised me less than the "discoveries" of juiced players is the reaction that players were somehow treated unfairly. However damning Mitchell's report is, it's hardly investigative journalism at its best or even surprising. If MLB were really interested in finding out how pervasive drugs are in the locker room, it could easily institute a drug testing policy and see. The player's union would howl, but at the end of the day, it's fair for the commish and owners to say "look, every whisper about how we're a bunch of juiced up 'roid ragers damages the product we're selling. If you'd rather skulk away, there are probably retirement options in your contract, but we're cleaning up this game and we're doing it now. You can be a part of that or you can find another job."

Would it be uncomfortable for a while? Maybe. Would it restore the faith of every fan or near fan? No. But would it be the best thing for the game, long-term? Depends. If MLB wants to sell a product the fans can believe in, then the answer is yes. If they want to they can say "Folks, we're all about home runs, record and stats here. If it takes players drinking HGH smoothies for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a double shot of any other drug they think will help at happy hour, so be it. What we want to be clear on is that MLB will administer the drugs, so you can feel safe." I won't watch either way. Baseball had its chance with me.

And this weekend pretty much confirms that I probably never will. Babies that is. Visited the new nephew (Mr. EY's brother's son) in Chicago this weekend. He's 3 weeks old, irritable (or at least rarely content), squirmy and I hate to say it, not that cute. Granted, I don't normally find babies to be all that cute. I SAY I do so that I don't offend their parents, but I rarely ever think it. I think Young Henry is great, mostly because his presence and him being a him means that Mr EY's "family name" will carry on for a little while longer.

I didn't hold him, mostly because there was always someone else around who wanted to hold him more than I did. Once the grandparents showed up on Saturday, there was little chance of anyone but Mom getting him back. We had a good visit with parents and YH, I suppose. My Bro-In-Law and Sis-In-Law seemed a little ragged, but were generally in good spirits about it.

But still I wonder, why do this to yourself? Why do something that is going to destroy your sleep for a few months, prevent you from eating more than a snack at a time, shorten your shower to just barely getting damp? All for a pinky-red, squriming, grunting, tiny thing to be unhappy with you? I realize that babies are helpless creatures, that they require care, that they lack advanced communication skills, but they also seem like a lot of trouble for nothing. I've heard countless parents say "but when they give you that look...." Ummm, babies can't focus their eyes very well and I'm not sure they can distinguish faces. I don't know what look of love and you're supposed to get from an infant.

So for the 10,000th time, I don't understand why anyone would want to be a parent. I suppose that if my biological clock goes off, I'll get it. Or I might do what I do to my alarm clock every morning....ignore it.

# posted by EY @ 7:58 PM 0 comments

Pittsburgh, you can't dance with a 13-0 team, you have to knock them out. I applaud you going for 7 on 4th a minute ago, but Tom and Wes Welker are killing you with the screens up the middle. Granted, you're not the first team they've killed like this, but you're about to be the next.

I have a new piece of plastic and metal to carry around in my mouth to re-align my jaw and fix my TMJD. There are several side effects, not all of them unpleasant. My dental hygiene is going way up since I brush my teeth 4 times a day, minimum. Another side effect has to do with my eating. My teeth only touch on the mid-side of my mouth. Not in the very back, not in the very front. Sandwiches, and anything else that requires you to bit it with only your front teeth, are out. Salads are difficult since most lettuce is small enough to skip through the gap in my back teeth.

Eating with the new orthotic also makes me eat more slowly. Anyone whose eaten a meal with me probably can't believe this is possible. I am a slloooooowww eater. Well, now I'm more so. With my decrease in speed has come a decrease in what my stomach will hold before I'm full. I'm probably taking far more than the 20 minutes I need for my tummy to get the message.

Today, I had fried rice. It's impossible to get a "normal" serving of fried rice and today's restaurant held to the trend. I "made" myself eat a tad more than I cared to, mostly so I wouldn't be hungry in an hour. Almost that time has passed and I'm still full. REALLY full. If I can keep up the not eating much, I think I'll be happy with the results.

To the Ravens, especially Ray Lewis, I apologize. To the Ravens fans, I apologize. For all those waiting for New England to trip up, I apologize. Last and certainly not least, I apologize to Don Shula and the 1972 Dolphins.

Why all the concern? If you're reading this blog, you probably know that I am a tremendously superstitious sports fan. I wasn't home most of last night, so twice, I checked the score of the game from my phone. Both times, the Ravens were ahead. Not drastically ahead, not blowing the Pats out, but ahead. On the way home, I turned to a local sports station that airs Fox Sports at night. They were essentially doing live play by play. I got greedy and wanted to listen in. In the 2 minutes (real time, not clock time) that I listened, the Pats went from 4th and 1 to 4th and 6 to 1st down and during that run, Baltimore's coaching staff called a timeout, stopping the clock, which could only work in New England's favor (BAL still ahead at this point). I never should have turned to that station. The first down play saw Tom Brady run for 12 yards. Tom Brady has rushed 24 times this year, some for negative yards. He's not a statue in the pocket, but he's not a running threat, either.

So I did turn it, but by this time, the damage was done. New England scored a touchdown a few seconds later. When I got home, I figured the game would be over, so I turned to ESPN to check the score. Another mistake. With seconds left, Kyle Boller launches a nice pass. Mark Clayton catches it. Where on Earth were his TEAMMATES?!??! He was covered up in Patriots, all of whom were in on the tackle to prevent him from making the 2 yards to the end zone.

Yes, Gentle Reader, I do realize that none of this was directly impacted by my watching or not watching, listening or not listening. However, sometimes, it certainly doesn't seem that way.

I love the holiday season. I used to decorate my cube with lights, candy canes, etc. I have Christmas shirts, sweatshirts, used to have a bell on a nice cord (I think someone threw it away in lieu of killing me with it), socks, tennis shoes. I love decorating the house, a tree, singing carols (which I hope to do tonight), baking cookies, adopting an Angel from an Angel Tree, eating things I don't get to eat any other time of year (like dressing, broccoli cheese casserole, my Mom's Parker House rolls, ham from a big bone-in ham), Christmas parties with my friends, "the Hen Party" (which I'll have to miss this year because we'll be visiting Henry), seeing my in-laws (yes, you read that correctly; my in-laws rock. The Boy's are questionable....keep reading). I'd love to have a Christmas open house or cocktail hour or something like that, but I never have time. And I love, love LOVE Christmas lights. I'm already planning a time to drive around with a thermos of hot chocolate.

I could really be an obnoxious Christmas nut very easily. Seriously. The kind of person you look at and say "boy, she's lost her mind". One of the reasons I don't is because the holidays are never easy.....

I hate the holidays. I hate the feeling of dread I have, knowing that my Mom will be calling any minute to demand our exact schedule for December. Even if I happened to have it, it won't be what she wants since in no year will it EVER involve us spending the entire month with her. I hate how trying to get us here, there and everywhere drives The Boy and I nuts. We each so dislike my Mom's attitude that I am reluctant to bring it up. It's less than no fun bringing up a topic that will stress both of us out. I still don't know what we'll be doing this year.

The Boy and I will miss the annual Christmas with Dad's side of the family because we'll be out of town seeing our new nephew. I honestly don't care that we're not going. I've never been close to anyone on that side. Another sense of dread there since I never know when the discussions will turn political, racist, sexist and/or homophobic. We're always the odd ones out there and it's an uncomfortable situation. My "higher minded self" is always tempted to say "look folks, I will not sit here and listen to this. If we can't change the subject, I'm outta here". However, if I did that, I may as well plan to never see any of them again as those are minds that ain't changing. No big loss to me, honestly, but it would mortify my parents. So I sit, try to talk to someone else about something else, breathe deeply to keep the blood pressure in check, try not to clench my jaw.

Now that there are kids (5 of them), the inevitable "so when are you going to have one?" comes up. Since The Boy still holds this fantasy of what children are like (no work all fun...one of the major reasons they're not an option...I'm not doing all the work so he can have all the "fun"), he always says "oh, I'm not the one who doesn't want them". So now, I'm some freak of nature who not only won't "give my parents a grandchild", I also won't "give my husband a child". If I could find somewhere that I could get to let my parents/hub play with a kid until they get tired of it, take care of kid in the meantime and I didn't have to be involved, heck, I'd do THAT in a second. I'm sure it would be hella expensive, but if they were all that interested, they could kick in some cash.

So as usual, I'm of two minds about the holidays. I'd like to only think of the good and ignore the upcoming bad, but I know that will only make the issue worse.

Happened to me. And to Ron White, who I stole that bit from. I submitted my FFB lineup early last week because we weren't going to be home on Saturday. So this week, I figured I was back to normal on my Saturday routine. Except that the NFL wasn't on it's usual routine. Packers and Cowboys on NFLNetwork Thursday night. I somehow remembered about the game AFTER while simultaneously forgetting that I hadn't submitted a lineup. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one. I feel pretty sheepish and I'm guessing he does too.

So no rambling about how poorly I did this week. I'm on zero and will be no matter what.

Labels: football