Hold On Tight!!!!

This is me these past few days. The recession (read that depression) is slamming us down head first. We bounced multiple checks over the weekend and had three customers cancel this week citing the economic collapse as their reason. This is not a good time to own a window cleaning business. Its just not a priority in times of famine. I'm praying God will take us back to Israel now.

Paul Newman

I was so shocked to hear of Paul Newman's death today that I cried and cried. I couldn't handle all the "Remembering Paul Newman" things they did on the radio all day long. It just hurts to think of him dying. But, I have to pay tribute to one of my favorite actors of all time. I hope it soothes the hurt to see him in better days..

My Son and America's Crush..

Here is a picture of Huyler...

and here is the news anchor Dane's aunt thinks is his spitting image in 25 years.

I know, I know. That's Anderson Cooper. I honestly never heard of the guy until Tantie Pat told me he looked like Huyler. Then I had to look him up and felt like a n00b for not knowing who he was.

A New Classic Photo

I don't know who took this photo, or where else it has been published. I got it from Enthalpy, a blog I like, but don't know its author.

This is the memorial built for the 1900 storm that hit Galveston. And that is Ike about to hit it. Intense shot.

The New Cell Phone Rules

I recently read the new Email Etiquette posted by Catfood & Cabernet, and in a similar vein, I would like to present the Cell Phone Rules that I plan on giving to my husband as soon as he gets back to me.

1. We are currently spending $100 extra a month on your excessive text messaging, when we have FREE Sprint to Sprint calling. Why? Because you are enamored with your new touch screen phone that lets you transcribe instead of pushing buttons. So, from now on, you are forbidden to text me. I will not read or respond to your text messages. They are a poor form of communication anyway, because every time we converse via text, someone misunderstands our shortened version of the English language and I show up with Chinese food instead of the pizza you ordered. So, call me and tell me exactly what you mean and then hang up. Free.

2. I understand if you are in the middle of something and can't talk that you may push the ignore button. That doesn't mean that I never called you. Since I spend much of my time caring for our children, and since you are out driving our only vehicle around, consider the fact that I may have an important reason for calling you and RETURN my call as soon as you can. Telling me you forgot is not a valid excuse when I am calling you every 10 minutes and not getting through.

3. I hate it with a passion when you try to call my cell phone and I don't get to it in time so you immediately try the home phone. Please picture the scenario... I am cutting up a raw chicken for dinner. My hands are all slimy, bacteria infested and gross. The phone rings. I run to the sink to rinse off my hands, then turn to find a towel to dry them, only to see that the 5 year old has used it to wipe off his muddy shoes. No time to find a new one, my cell is on it's 3rd of 4 rings! I reach to my pocket, but.... where is my phone? I left it on the bathroom counter when I was wiping our 4 year old! I race to the bathroom and answer the phone just as it clicks to voicemail. So, then, I quickly hit "Call" to get you right back, and your phone goes directly to voicemail just as the phone in the kitchen begins to ring. I run back to the kitchen, tripping over the kids playing in the middle of the floor and by this point the dog is chasing me from room to room thinking it is a game. By the time I reach the kitchen phone, it too has stopped ringing. (You hung up before the voicemail picked up this time). When my cell rings again, I can be certain I will get a lecture for not answering my phone. NEXT TIME just wait to the count of 10 after you miss my cell. I will almost always call you right back, avoiding danger to life and limb on my end of the call and avoiding a pissed off wife on your end.

5. Just wait until you are past that power line that ALWAYS makes you drop a call before you even dial. Because you never remember to warn the very important client/doctor/long-lost-relative you are talking to that you are entering a bad service area, so they are always surprised when they lose you. AND you are always going to scream a profanity when you lose the call, even when the kids are in the car with you.

6. I know you can play Vegas Solitaire and Bubble Breaker on your phone. But put it down and spend some time with US.

100 Things Every Omnivore Should Eat at Least Once

This one came to me through Sarah's blog, and she evidently got it from some other blog. I am not a picky eater, in fact I am a very experimental eater, so I am interested to see what I've tried, and to try some of the things recommended.

How it works:

bold items you have eaten

strike through items you will never eat

I also asterisk** the ones I can't wait to try

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding but hated it!

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp aka bottom suckers? I don't think so

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush hate eggplant

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi That's dry curry for those of you who don't know

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses***

17. Black truffle***

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras***

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava I make my own, baby!

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi***

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail As with "head cheese" there are some body parts best left alone

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin***

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin I don't know if this is the rock or the diaffhea medicine, but either one I'll pass on

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Google-A-Meme

I stumbled across this meme and thought it was cool…

To answer each question, plug your answer into Google Image Search, and pick a picture from the first page of images from your search results.

1. Your age on your next birthday.

34

2. A place you’d like to travel.

the Italian Riviera

3. Your favorite place.

Jerusalem

4. Your favorite object.

my Bible

5. Your favorite food.

excellent sushi

6. Your favorite animal.

tiny turtles

7. Your favorite color.

kelly green

8. The town where you were born.

Santa Rosa, CA

9. The town where you live.

Prescott, AZ

10. Name of a past pet.

Patrick "Patio Furniture" Harris

11. Name of a past love.

Noah Fisher

12. Best friend’s nickname.

"Emmy's Mom"

13. Your screen name.

This one is a tie between...

and... Bouvier

14. Your first name.

15. Your middle name.

16. Your last name.

17. Bad habit of yours.

Blogging

18. Your first job.

Little Caesar's Pizza

19. Name of grandmother.

Naomi

20. College/grad major(s.)

English Literature

It’s your turn… Consider yourself tagged and comment if you run with this one.

If I were Sarah Palin's daughter...

My Palin name would be: Trowel Ogre Palin I guess its just as well I was born a Cheney girl. I'm not big on garden tools OR mythological creatures. Try out the name generator and comment with your own Palin name.

Rhettandlink.com new song

Hey! Have a listen to Rhett and Link's new song and get the free .mp3 by clicking on the right to their blog.

Entertainment Weekly's - The New Classics: 100 Best Reads from 1983-2008

Another list of awesome books that I have yet to plumb the depths of...

• bold = books you have read
• italicize = books you’ve started but not finished (abandoned)
• strike = books you read but hated
• asterisk* = books you’ve read more than once
• underline = books you own but still haven’t read yourself

1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)

3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)

4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)

5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)

6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)

7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)

8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)

9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)

10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)

11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)

12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)

13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)

14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)

15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)

16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)

17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)

18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)

19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)

20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)

21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)

22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)

23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)

24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)

25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)

26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)

27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)

28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)

29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)

30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)

31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)

32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)

33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)

34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)

35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)

37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)

38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)

39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)

40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)

41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)

42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)

43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)

44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)

45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)

46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)

47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)

48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)

50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)

51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)

52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)

53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)

54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)

55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)

56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)

57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)

58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)

59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)

60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)

61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)

62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)

63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)

64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)

65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)

66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)

67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)

68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)

69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)

70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)

71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)

72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)

73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)***

74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)

75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)

76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)

77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)

81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)

82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)

83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)

84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)

86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)

87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)

88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)

89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)

90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)

91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)

92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)

93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)

94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)

95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)

96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)

97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)

98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)

99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)

100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

I think we have a home!

We signed a (weird) contract on this house yesterday. It is a weird house. It is in the middle of a remodel and I wasn't totally sure this was the house we wanted, but the loan we needed was not offered after Friday, so we jumped on the two we found. One turned us down. This one accepted. Of course, things could crumble before escrow ends, so I am not getting my hopes up about it. I am hesitant to even say "We have a home" until the inspection is done and the papers are all signed, etc. Besides, Dane has yet to speak to the man we bought our land from and get out of that whole mess. Anyhoo... here is the house. And following are the pros and cons of this house.

Pro:

Check out the weeping willow in the front yard. There is some other awesome tree shading the front yard, too.

lots of windows, especially on every corner

big, grassy, fenced back yard - we're talking privacy fence, too.

nice big front deck

little stone terrace in the back

one car garage will fit our one car nicely

slump block with plastered inside walls

fireplace in living room plus gas furnace

big attic fan and evap cooler

hard wood floor in the dining area and nice new tile in the bathrooms

will have new carpet

refurbished original cabinets and new granite countertops

walk-in master closet

very good, older neighborhood in Prescott, close to Grammy Kathy and the Lutzes (our best friends and relatives)

Close to the reservation, so we know the nighborhood won't get much bigger - unless they decide to build the Mosher Casino next door)

A window over the kitchen sink that overlooks the back yard

Crawl space underneath and ductwork already in place

the price was right at $207,000 and the seller paying the down and closing costs

no HOA

Con:

popcorn ceilings in parts of the house

only 1 1/2 baths and a small bathtub

no appliances included

no air conditioner

the boys will have to share a room and there is no room for any MORE kids, should there be any more kids in our future - that means another move is inevitable.

an awkward hallway to the bedrooms (Dane actually got lost the first time we toured it)

my first impression of the seller, who is doing all the remodeling himself, was not very good. I'm concerned he won't get the work done in time.

no office space or homeschooling space.

the gorgeous trees block out a lot of natural light that those awesome corner windows should be allowing in.

A Visit From Israel!

I hope you have checked out the little map over there on the right side of my page. I have so much fun seeing all the places that "hit" my blog. I only get about 15 hits a day, but before I had that map, I didn't know if anyone ever looked at my blog. Today is the first time since I added the map that I saw a thumb tack in ISRAEL! Yay! Welcome, whoever it was in Ramat Gan that stopped by! I hope you leave a comment next time!

That's downtown Ramat Gan at night. Cool, isn't it? I wish I could be there in Ha Eretz!