A Very Planit Halloween

It's mandatory to dress up for Halloween, and being at an ad agency, people REALLY get into it.
This year, I'm Puss in Boots... here's a picture of me and Sarah Palin:

Speed Racer:Figure skaters: The Blues Brothers and Maverick:

Campfire and The Little Mermaid: Donatella Versace:

Amy Winehouse:

Zoltar (remember "Big"??)

Shark bite and Medusa:

Hahahahaha

Does it make me a bad person to be terribly amused that someone backed into the Inner Harbor this morning? I could see the whole commotion from our office windows, looking over Pratt Street.

(Photo from 600Block)

Tom Tom

Today, Matt ordered our Thanksgiving turkey. I say ordered because I insist on having a free-range, hormone-free, antibiotic free, heritage turkey, NOT a Butterball and DEFINITELY NOT a store brand turkey.

Pretty much all the turkeys sold in grocery stores are Broad Breasted White turkeys, which were bred to grow large breasts in a short period of time. They get to “market weight” quicker and often are not raised in humane conditions, so they are much cheaper to grow. Now they are intensively farmed, and so inbred and fat and stupid that that they cannot achieve natural fertilization.

Seriously. Look it up.

Then there’s the fact that their by-products – even their feathers – are often ground up and fed to them. Inbred, cannibal turkeys who might never see the light of day, and are pumped full of growth hormones to make their breasts even larger, and antibiotics as a preventative measure because they live in conditions gross enough to almost guarantee illness. I’ll leave out some of the other details; I gave you enough to think of while you are carving your turkey.

Even if you ignore the cannibal-druggie part of the White, the fact that it’s the only turkey available in stores is nuts. You can find several varieties of apples or oranges or pears in your grocery stores, but only one kind of bird.

Heritage breeds have pretty much been dying out, and will continue to do so unless the demand for heritage turkeys increases. Our provider, Carriage House Farms, raises Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red, and Narragansett turkeys. Being free-range, our turkey will have been able to munch on fresh grass and insects (rather than his brother), get some exercise, maybe even get laid. I’m just saying. The proprietor assured Matt that our turkey will be more moist and flavorful due to their more diverse diets and longer life.
He even said we can come visit our turkey if we want. I’m thinking about visiting the farm, to see for myself where a turkey SHOULD come from (though I don’t think I’ll want to have my turkey pointed out to me), and maybe to get some fresh eggs and honey.

I think it would be a great place to take kids, too, so they can see that their food doesn’t grow in the store.

Fall Sleepover

Friday, I left work almost an hour early to pick up mom (who can’t be bothered to drive herself to Baltimore!) to spend the weekend with me. Good thing I left early, too, because she called at 6:30 to ask why I wasn’t there yet! Fortunately for her, I was pulling into her neighborhood by then. Saucy minx.

Anyway, we drove north to my house, had dinner, stuffed her Mother Bear (see below), watched a little TV, and went to bed.

Saturday, we tried to go to Miss Shirley’s downtown for breakfast, but that location isn't open on weekends; we headed to Morning Edition instead. Mom was introduced to the ghetto and brie, and seemed to have a preference for the latter. Imagine that! Not only was the food very good, but THE WAITER SMILED. (This place is known more for the dicey location and great brunch rather than for friendly or prompt waitstaff.) After we gorged ourselves, we went to Lovelyarns and dropped off our Mother Bears. It was really nice; we overheard the proprietor admiring our bears, and I had to let everyone know it was mom’s first knitting project, and that we’d be back soon with more. In return, she let us know that we’d likely see our bears hanging on the wall before being boxed and sent to Mother Bear headquarters.

On the way back out, we stared longingly at Dangerously Delicious Pies and made a pact to stop there during the next sleepover. And when we passed the SPCA, Mom wanted to know if that’s where we are going to go adopt her a kitty whenever Bob (who’s allergic) moves out. Mom, who always said she didn’t like pets. She just has to be shown the light!

Next, we went to Target to buy Halloween candy, then Matt dropped us off at the movies. We saw Nights in Rodanthe, which was sappy and teary, but entertaining. Afterwards, he picked us up at Barnes & Noble. How’d he know to find us in the knitting section?!? That night, I made spaghetti with what will likely be the last home-grown, home-made sauce of the year, then we put together baggies of Halloween candy for mom’s trick-or-treaters while watching Chicago, then Mom went to bed with her new Nicholas Sparks book. (I wish I had have bought the Alison Weir historical fiction; maybe Santa will remember me. But I have plenty to read right now.)

Sunday, Matt made pancakes and eggs, then went to the Ravens game with his cousin. I took mom home, then did housework: dishes, laundry, ironing, changing the sheets, pulling up some of the dying herbs and stuff from the back yard, etc. until Matt got back home.

The plan is already set for Mom’s next visit: she’s due to come over again the first week of December, when Matt and I should (!) have some Christmas decorations up, and we’ll go see a holiday movie, eat breakfast at the other Miss Shirley’s, 34th Street should be decorated, we can drop off our latest bears and get a Dangerously Delicious Pie, and – best part? – watch the Ravens vs. Redskins game that Sunday at Mom’s house. (NO PIZZA, MOM! Pizza and pie sound gross together!)

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown!

Last week, I finished my Mother Bear. I loved this project! He was super simple to knit: you just do one leg, then the other, then knit across both to join them, knit straight up his tummy and face, down the back of his head, his back, then one leg, then the other. Then you fold him in half, seam the sides of his head, do his arms, seam his sides, stuff him, seam his inseam, and give him a little scarf. And voila! A bear.

It really felt good to make him, knowing he’ll be given to some child in the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or wherever, and will really be appreciated and loved. And, bears are coming in from all over the US, Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Scotland, Australia, Japan… young people, old people, novice knitters, expert knitters, all of them giving their own touch to their bear project. The pattern dates back to World War II, which adds to the feeling of being connected to a long line of warm-hearted knitters doing a little something to make a small impact somewhere in the world.

And my mom knitted a bear, too! “Slim” was her first knitting project besides a scarf, and she did a great job. (They offer a crochet pattern, but she couldn’t stand the idea of me being able to knit if she can’t, so she taught herself.) This weekend, Mom and I took our bears to Lovelyarns, wrote our names on nametags which will be attached to our bears’ arms, and dropped them off to be sent to Minnesota where they will be inspected and earn their red felt hearts before going to their new homes. And I’m already working on a sister to Leroy Brown Bear (as he was named by one of my co-workers)!

Question 2

Of the ballot questions in this year’s elections, the one I’m undecided on it Question 2. Even though I don’t have kids, I’m all for bettering schools (and hopefully, bettering our next generation… the one that will take care of us in our old ages!). But there has been some controversy about how much of the slots revenue would be spent on education; the ballot lists the primary purpose as “raising revenue for education of children in public schools, prekindergarten through grade 12, public school construction and improvements, and capital projects at community colleges and other higher education institutions.” Note the word “primary.” So I searched for a breakdown of how slots revenue would be distributed. The largest proportion will indeed go to education… but it’s less than half of the revenue:

• 48.5% to an Education Trust Fund, supporting “Bridge to Excellence” (or “Thornton”) funding, as quoted above.
• 33% to slots operations, a low allocation by industry standards. Prospective slots operators must bid competitively for a license and pay an initial license fee of at least $3 million for every 500 slot machines at a venue. These fees would go to the Education Trust Fund. License holders would be required to pay $425 per slot machine per year to fund a hotline and assistance programs for problem gamblers.
• 7% to a purse dedication account, 80% of which will go to thoroughbred racing purses and 20% to standard-bred purses.
• 5.5% to local impact grants for jurisdictions where slots are located. Of that, almost 18% would go to Baltimore City for community revitalization in Park Heights and other Northwest Baltimore locations. The rest would be divided among all jurisdictions that have slots, based on gross revenue generated in each.
• 2.5% to a racetrack renewal fund.
• 2% to the lottery commission to cover costs of governing slots operations.
• 1.5% to an account to provide investment capital and loans to small, minority- and women-owned businesses.

It seems to come down to a “not in my neighborhood” feeling, and if I don’t want it in my own neighborhood, I don’t like to vote it into others’. I don’t know… how will YOU vote on this issue?

(Source: “The unvarnished facts about how slots revenue would be used” commentary by Donald C. Fry. Maryland Daily Record. 10.23.08)

Friends and Food (or, "heaven is still underfoot")

Stine and I had an interesting conversation today about paycheck envy and living on less. As some of you know, Matt and I have been hit by the bad economy and expect our household income to decrease a bit. So this weekend, when we went out to a haunted house with Ed & Jen and Bob & Shannon, we did something unusual for us: we let Bob and Shannon pay their own way. Bob, being my much-adored baby brother, usually gets treated by his big sister, but those days have come to a sudden halt. And he seems to love me anyway. Go figure.

After the haunted house, instead of going out for a bite to eat or something, the six of us went back to Ed’s, ordered pizzas, played video games, watched bad 90’s movies, and hung out until an insanely early hour. In case you are wondering: I really suck at Guitar Hero, but I’m willing to practice. Oh, and in case you are wondering further: we paid for the pizza this time. Old habits die hard.

Saturday, Jeff called saying he and Lacey are free of kids and able to come over. Matt and I weren’t completely wiped out of food, but close to Ramens. But I turned my stubbornly growing tomatoes into sauce and made meatballs and tossed it with spaghetti, and they brought a movie and we had fun, even if Matt and I weren’t doing high entertaining. I even told Matt we should have pasta and friends night more often. Jeff, let me know when you have a sitter!

Sunday, Matt and I walked to the Mars and got a paper and I spent the afternoon determining who had the cheapest Halloween candy by us (Giant) and who has sales that might help out with getting a jump on holiday shopping, and (heaven help me) I clipped coupons and wrote down what is on sale at Giant. Pasta, 10 for $10. Though I’m not buying it if it isn’t whole wheat.

And the Ravens, Redskins and Rams all won their games, so me, Matt, Mom and Bob are all happy.

So anyway, Stine and I have been IMing a bit this morning and again this afternoon (her afternoon and night), and we talked about how the middle class sometimes stays in the middle because they don’t hoard their money, but might pay for their brother’s admission or buy a round of drinks for another couple or put together a nice meal for a friend, while we can’t think of anyone in the upper class who does those things. Not that I’ve seen, anyway. Stine’s line was, “It’s expensive to be poor.”

And I’m certainly not going hungry, nor will I. But it does renew my belief that there is enough wealth in this country for every person to live comfortably, but that it will never happen and wealth will always be concentrated in the hands as few, and they shouldn’t be forced to (nor will they) share. It reminded me of a speech by the flamboyant senator Huey Long (not that I think he was a paragon of politicians, but even a broken clock is right twice a day):



Wealth, poverty, and food. Stine said she wishes she could bring me a homemade meal and a nice Chianti, which was funny because I was thinking that’s what I would do for her – or anyone else – were the situation reversed.

I forgot to mention: the tomato plants yielded another basket full of tomatoes over the weekend, and I think I’ll give them a few days to ripen, then maybe invite someone over for a pasta dinner. It’s not fancy. But still, I’m feeling a little generous.

How to Eat

This week went by sort of slowly, and I amused myself by opening a Facebook profile (mainly to see Dan & Kim's photos from Spain), starting a Mother Bear, working on my sock, trying to think of Halloween costumes, and moving horror movies to the top of my Netflix queue (we watched The Mist last night... it was pretty good).

This week, I also heard from a friend who is having relationship problems, and tried to give the most honest, actionable advice I could. I really hope it works out for the best in the long run. But I know how hard it is to keep moving forward when you just want to get to your happy ending.

After work today, Matt and I went to Ukazoo, where we tried to trade three boxes of Mom's old novels in. For whatever reason (maybe they had them all in stock?) they only took two books. The good news is that they had a softcover of Nigella's How to Eat, which I quite gleefully snached right up. I'm looking forward to flipping through this. Nigella is my favorite celebrity cook, and I love her writing... you can imagine sitting in her kitchen, having a glass of wine and watching her cook.

So tomorrow, we'll have breakfast, maybe take out the Halloween decorations, try another used book store, go to dinner with Jeff and Lacey, maybe watch another horror movie. And maybe I'll see if there's anything good for dessert in that cookbook. Yum!

Love, Lucy

My latest read was Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball. It was a superficial but quick and entertaining read, the type that got me into reading biographies when I was younger and celebrity gossip was nothing like it is today. The book was had apparently been recorded years earlier then put aside and forgotten about, and was published posthumously. The book covered her early life, her modeling, stage, and movie careers, her struggle to have children, her meeting, elopement, fights, work and divorce with the younger Desi Arnaz, accusations and acquittal from the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and her relationship with her second husband, Gary Morton. (They were married 28 years by the time she died, eight more than she spent with Desi.)

It was interesting in its detailing of old Hollywood, and for the other famous people she knew, such as Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Ginger Rogers, whose mother was a huge influence on Lucille. Ball seemed very self-aware, from her desperation for acceptance to her fiery temper. The book was conversational, and the tone was very mild, likely as not to hurt those who were still living at the time of the book’s beginnings (and even though Desi’s drinking and indiscretions with other women were widely known). There were several references to I Love Lucy but the book wasn’t really about the show. Although, there was a good bit of info on their “firsts” … use of real film for a television program (which is why the episodes survived to this day), the idea of reruns, using a three-camera setup for filming, showing a pregnant woman on TV, having a woman be head of a production company (she bought her ex’s shares in Desilu), etc.

This was a Freecycle book, and so I’ll be passing this along to my grandmother next, or trading it in at a used book store… Matt and I are supposed to go to Ukazoo this evening to trade in two or three boxes of mom’s old books. Time to go treasure hunting!!

The Vice Presidential Debate

I could, of course, poke fun at both vice-presidential candidates. I mean, Biden did have a little renewed bout of his childhood stuttering, didn't fully squelch his tendency to say anything that comes to mind, and referred to himself in the third person. But he HAS been in the Senate for longer than I've been alive, and he isn't worth millions of dollars, and he's not as funny as our girl Sarah.

I have to say, while I'm pretty left of center, I DO believe in going across the aisle and not voting according to party. But what I'm seeing a lot of, and what I don't like, is that many people seem to vote Republican because of cultural issues like religion, patriotism, family values and (Matt's favorite) gun ownership. And it bothers me because religion shouldn't be a part of government (I'm fine with taking "In God We Trust" off the dollar), Republicans don't have the market on patriotism or family values, and with the country in the state it's in, none of these issues should trump economic ones.

And, while people may be able to relate to Sarah Palin (who, by the way, IS a millionaire... so maybe she's not as close to Joe Six-Pack as she'd like you to believe), I gotta say I don't want the girl next door to be second in command as far as running the free world. Especially with McCain as old as he is. I'm just saying.

And, on the subject of patriotism, I'm tired of hearing about how other countries hate us because we are free. The Iraq war (once we had to admit we couldn't find any WMDs) was then justified by a "freedom" agenda. Um, okay. Then why don't these countries hate Canada? Probably because a lot of our talk about freedom and democracy is rhetoric and we're more concerned with hegemony. (Look it up.) Other nations willingly admit that, so why can't we? Partially because the flag-waving crowd might not like it.

Anyway, back to the debates.

They were better than I thought they'd be, and better than the first presidential debate. The candidates were personable, well informed, and skilled at twisting the truth on some of their stats. It will be interesting to see whether the presidential candidates are able to be more affable during their next debate. Maybe they can use Sarah's flow chart to prepare:

Almost as funny as this one.