And We're Off!

Hi all, I am off for some travel for about three weeks. I will check in as best I can, but until then be good!

For Spoon

Okay, so I can be brought around to the Facebooking. Today I found Spoon of the aforementioned Dante's Inferno Board Game. So Spoon, here is Olivia. She likes lots of things, Nightmare Before Christmas, the Wicked Witch of the West, lip gloss and telling me I don't know anything. Other Facebookers making their way here, welcome. Feel free to page the archives.

Tiny Dancer

So tonight I went and bought Olivia her very first ticket to The Nutcracker. We are going Christmas Eve and I am not going to lie, I cried right there at the ticket booth. i am not girly about much, but I go absolutely little-girl-sparkly-pink crazy for The Nutcracker. I dress up, I wear lip gloss and I am so thrilled to be dipping into my inner-princess with my all princess, all the time, little girl. The fact that it is going to involve dancing is merely icing on the cake. So I blew my my entire December allowance on orchestra seats, there will be a very tea and crumpets lunch ahead of time, and then my little Clara will actually get to see the dance moves that accompany the music that she has been making up her own moves to for years.

As a warm up her dad is taking her to a full-length performance of her school's dance troupe Friday night. I wish him good luck and God speed.

I am Thankful For

Getting to make a dish involving open flame; we have already decided that the ramekins will be an annual tradition. I envision souffles, mini scalloped potatoes, turkey stuffing and potatoes all in one, the possibilities are endless.



Michele and her best homicidal maniac impersonation. The new is fun, but knowing that you have great friends that are going to be there every year to do the thankless jobs are really the best part of Thanksgiving. I just wish I had gotten a shot of Ariella's pies, unfortunately they disappeared before I got to them.
The ever-growing kids table. The under two set was missing from this shot, but next year there will be three more kids and a baby in this picture. Christopher was the only kid that existed when we held the first Thanksgiving, an amazing and incredible way to mark time.




Thanks to everyone who came, helped clean up, brought extra items and watched our kid. Whenever anyone asks us if we do it all, we always say, no way. Without our friends we would never get it all done. Happy Thanksgiving!

Son of a . . .

2, 4, 6, 8 Teach Your Kids Not To Hate

Some shots from our rally. Olivia and I went together and it was a great moment for her to see people who are really affected by this and be able to to talk and listen to them. We have lots of gay friends here in Madison, but it really hit home for her to realize that it affects a lot more people than just her family and friends. Thanks to everyone that turned out and was willing to take questions from a nosy four year-old.

Today reminds me of that first day that I would come home after finals in college. You realize that you have probably been fighting off a cold for days but you have been running on pure adrenaline so you have been keeping it at bay. Then the minute you walk in your parents' door your body relaxes and every germ you have been exposed to for the last two weeks takes over? That's today. Is there some kind of virus that replaces all of your muscles with gelatin?

Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving

i peeled 15lbs of potatoes this way. The cork is soft, thank God. So for all to drool with excitement here is the final menu:

Cranberry Chutney Crostini
Cider Basted Turkey with Calvados Gravy
Three Onion Stuffing-everything is homemade down to the bread we used
Roasted Garlic Potatoes-roasted garlic paste is not fun to make
Bruleed Sweet Potatoes-in ramekins for extra wow factor, we actually are using this dish as a pitiful excuse to borrow Michele's blow torch
Corn Pudding
Spice Cake With Apple Puree and Cream Cheese Frosting

It is a toned down, traditional menu, but it is one that allowed us to be lazy bastards until today.

Thanksgiving update

So here is the what what. Chad and his army of shallots and me managing the three separate spreadsheets we have for Thanksgiving with a boatload of chutney next to me. We have totally procrastinated this year to the point that we made Facebook pages instead of working on cooking. So tomorrow and Saturday are going to be a spectacular suckfest.

Five pictures and this is the only one where we didn't have crazy eyes. How can that be?

Protesting Facebook

SO I was trying to get info about the Prop 8 protest in Madison on Saturday (12:30 Library Mall be there or be square) and the whole thing was set up via Facebook page so I finally sucked it up and made one. Facebook scares the living shit out of me. I don't get, it seems like a lot of totally superficial info screaming at you all at once and I am not totally sure what to do with it. The blog has soothing colors and it is only me screaming at you. Not other people and their pictures and people I knew in high school and haven't thought about in fifteen years.

So please inform me what I am supposed to be doing with such a thing. Then get yourself to the nearest Prop 8 rally, keep the dialog going, go to the blacklist and find out what businesses gave money to it and boycott them, put it on your Facebook page, and tell your friends. If we can elect a black president surely we can let two adults get married.

Cornocopia

So I will do my best to do updates with pictures and stuff like I did last year, but here is the sneak peek for Thanksgiving from yesterday's shopping list:

9Lbs onions
18lbs apples
5lbs corn
15 lbs potatoes
32 lbs turkey
6lbs butter
Champagne

Whole lotta yum.

Tall Tales

Olivia and I were listening to the radio the other day and I hear a local ad where the voice over is paging her fairy godmother to fulfill her greatest dream. Immediately Olivia's ear perk up, knee deep as she is in fairy tale princessness.

Then I realize that the girl is asking her fairy godmother for a boob job. Seriously?

My beef is this A) I now have to explain to my kid what a boob job is B) This is a top forty station whose listening audience is populated with mainly pre-pubescent girls. WTF?

Forget tobacco ads, this crap should be outlawed.

Out With The Old In With The ?

"President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas."

So glad that we are getting rid of Bush and all those Executive Orders we loved so much. Between this and Rahm Emanuel I am feeling decidedly less hopeful.

Land of opportunity

As we landed in Vegas yesterday I was totally struck by the fact that I can start in freezing cold farm land and four hours later be in the desert. Nothing says America to me like dramatic changes in topography, a city springing out of the middle of nothing and slot machines in the airport. I was a little disappointed to not be in Madison after election day where they, apparently, had spontaneous parties in the street. However, what better way to start the hope administration than with gambling, lots and lots of gambling.

So I am obviously ecstatic about a Democratic win. I have never loved Barack, but I was pleased by his acceptance speech because I am hopeful that he will continue his campaign for personal responsibility. Politicians always promise a lot and ask for little in return and in this era of outrageous personal debt, mortgages that people couldn't afford and otherwise gross excess I am relieved to have somebody say, we can only get out of this mess if we suck it up, pull together and stop living like assholes.

I am also just incredibly relieved that the Democrats actually managed to be disciplined and not screw it up, for once.

Won Over

I am so relieved to have the election nearly over. i have developed an unhealthy addiction to CNN. However, from now on I will be voting early because it got me off some kind of list. I did not receive a single robo-call or door knock this election cycle.

Go Obama! I have to get it all out now before I arrive at the parental unit's Republican lock-down.

Treaty

Olivia in her punk-rock princess ensemble, our next door neighbors' pumpkins and Olivia getting her make-up done by our neighbor, a professional make-up artist. Overall she had a great time, and Chad and I enjoyed what will probably be the last year that she will ask to go home because she has enough candy.

Falling For It

Though I am disappointed to not be in Madison for the election results, I am really grateful that we were here for every last minute of Indian Summer. It was pretty short this year, but it was over election day and Halloween so we really got to maximize our enjoyment of it. It is by far my favorite time of year, the colors, the perfect temps, even the light is prettier. So tomorrow when the temps drop to 50 degrees i will be in sunny Vegas pretending that my Indian Summer is lasting a few more days.