Celebrity fit club

I don't get too involved in celebrity fashion. Nor do I get too involved in the conversations that start with, "Did you see what she was wearing?" And I've generally been known to defend celebrities when they get taken to the cleaners over gaining a bit of weight.

But Jessica Simpson is really starting to make me crazy.

About a year ago - was that a year ago? - there was a whole controversy of Jessica and her "mom jeans." Very high-waisted and just not cute. They made her look...well, bad. Let's call it what it was: a poor fashion decision.

Part of my irritation with Jessica Simpson is that she complains when people "objectify" her and make derogatory comments over whether she's gained weight - when she literally made a name for herself many years ago in her career by wearing short shorts and skimpy outfits where her top was falling out of her shirt. She seems to want all the great press but none of the bad - and it doesn't happen that way, honey.

No matter what fashion craze is hitting the runways, every curvy woman out there (myself included) just knows that sometimes things don't work with your body type. That's ok! And you can't blame it on your stylist. Every woman I know checks herself out in the mirror at least once before leaving the house, right? If you look like an idiot, well, it's your own fault.

Bottom line: Jessica and her complaining about the mom jeans and placing blame on her stylist and badmouthing the media for talking about her figure - when that's how she's made her living - makes my head spin.

So then tonight I'm on People.com and I see this:

Not. Cute.

Seriously. You'd think Jessica would have learned from the last unflattering, high-waisted, overprinted, pocketed ensemble, wouldn't you?

Full circle

Virginia executed the DC sniper tonight. I followed the whole trial and I knew it was coming, but I still felt this sense of sadness when I heard about it.

The DC sniper incidents began the week I moved here. At the time, I was getting used to a different city and trying to find my way around town, so everything was new. (In fact,when I heard on the news that there was a shooting near an elementary school in Montgomery County, I couldn't figure out why everyone around here was so worked up, thinking that Montgomery County was in Alabama...not a DC suburb.)

During those very surreal few weeks, I do remember - as do a lot of other people - looking around when filling up for gas, rushing a little faster through parking lots, or keeping an eye out for a white van (even though the vehicle didn't turn out to be white...or a van). The worst night was when I played in a softball game and stood outside in a yellow fleece jacket in the middle of center field by the interstate all by myself - I was sure a target was on my back that whole time! On the one hand, I was so nervous I kept bouncing around so I'd be hard to hit -- a great workout. On the other hand, I saw it as a personal sign of defiance that I refused to change my life because of one crazy person.

One night, as the search for the sniper was in full force, we got stopped by a road block of police when going out with friends. And we drove right by one of the final murder locations just hours before it happened on our way back from a weekend away. (Coincidentally, it's the Home Depot we go to all the time now. That incident in particular still haunts me.) Then, as abruptly as it started, the whole thing ended with a relatively calm apprehension in a rest area parking lot.

For all of the victims of this tragedy, who I sympathize with and my heart breaks for, I understand why tonight's execution might bring closure. But I still feel this funny sadness because I really do think that this guy used to be good--I think everyone used to be good at some point in their lives. So I suppose I mourn for the person he used to be or could have been versus the person he chose to be. I wish somehow I could have changed this so that it all could have been avoided in the first place. Does that make any sense?

Financial meltdown

Every now and then, this blog is like therapy. But cheaper.

And right now I need cheap. (Chad might argue I need therapy, too.)

It's not that I don't mind spending money; in fact, it's sometimes kind of fun. (See "Trip to Paris," August 2009.) But it's the unpredictable, expensive things that all seem to spring up at once that really make me frustrated. Here's a list as of late:

• Injuries are not cheap. Chad is now going to physical therapy twice a week at $25 a pop. That's $200 a month. And once the surgery is finished, and Lord knows what that's going to cost, it will increase to three times a week ($300 a month). I'm starting to realize how mad people get about health care, and we have pretty good coverage!
  
• This injury happened right at the beginning of the season, so we still had to pay for all of Chad's fall leagues. Goodbye to a completely wasted $145.
  
• Last month, Chad's car needed $500 of work. Now the "service engine soon" light is on again. And property taxes are due. And the registration is due for my Jeep ($45), but we can't pay for that until it passes an emissions test ($20) and inspection ($15). Oh, and my "service four-wheel drive" light just came on too. I don't even use that!
  
• Last night, as a final nail in the coffin to all things money-related, the dryer went out. I took two loads of wet laundry over to Janice's for drying at 10 p.m. and I'm pretty sure steam was still coming out of my ears when I made it up her three flights of stairs.

I considered throwing myself a pity party, but I don't want to spend the money.

Not their best "Self"

On Monday, I read an article about an interview with and cover shoot of former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson in September's Self magazine. Clarkson, who has always had a love/hate/hate/hate relationship with weight, looked good and I remembered thinking she must really be working out.

So today I come to find out in another article that people are livid because her picture was retouched. And I don't mean "retouched" as in they took away a pimple and made her teeth whiter. I mean they Photoshopped the living daylights out of this picture, as is evidenced by the before-and-after shots. It reminds me of the brouhaha over Katie Couric's photo "retouch" a few years ago, also another brilliant example of "photojournalism" at work.

The magazine's excuse? Kelly's picture was "altered" to "make her look her personal best." What a joke. I guess even a publication that claims to embrace healthy lifestyles, eating right, exercise, and, well, "curves," still needs to sell magazines. And apparently Kelly was just too chubby for them. Glad I already canceled my subscription.

Plunk this!

I am not the one in our house to talk politics. (In fact, I avoid the topic when at all possible.) But this is so cool I just have to share.

Background: A Republican has not been elected to the Alexandria City Council in six years. No matter your political persuasion, I think we can all agree that a little political "balance" is a good thing, right?

Granted, there are some things the city does that I don't agree with, but for the most part I have no complaints. Alexandria is clean, the schools are good, traffic is manageable, crime is virtually nonexistent...what is there to complain about? Doesn't matter to me that it's been entirely run by Democrats. I don't really concern myself with city politics and I don't believe in voting for people or issues unless you're informed, so I've never voted for City Council before.

Until this year.

In February, I got the real estate assessment for our house and the value went down about six percent. (No, that's not bad compared to others and I'm not complaining, but it still went down for the first time since we owned it.) And what did the City Council do as a result? They raised taxes to compensate for the declining home values! So instead of paying, oh, about six percent less, I'm actually paying...more! That got me fired up, along with apparently every other fiscally-conservative person in this town. (In the case of proper political timing, the actual bill did not arrive until today -- the day after the election -- though I was paying attention enough to know what was coming.)

At any rate, about a month ago, we got a letter from one of the Republicans on the ballot letting us know he was running and asking for support - monetary or otherwise. We didn't send a check but did make a mental note to vote for him. Then a few weeks later, we got a letter from the Alexandria Republican Party (Chad's registered so he gets all this stuff -- I think I'm officially an Independent) with the scoop on their strategy:

There are six seats on the City Council and all were up for re-election. Up for election were six Democrats, two Republicans and two Independents, one being a Republican who can't say she is because she works for the federal government and can't "identify" herself with a particular party. Even though we technically could vote for six people, they said, vote only for the Republicans (and the one Independent). It's apparently called "plunking," also known as "bullet voting." Statistically, it's really smart: Vote only for the few you really want to win and let the Democrats, or whoever else is on the other side, cancel each other out...and things could get interesting.

So, yesterday, on the way back from the gym, we went to our polling place, voting for only three candidates--even though we could vote for six. It was kind of fun and I felt empowered. For the first time in my life, it seemed, my vote really did count for something.

And today, I open the paper to find...two of our people won! Papers are calling it an "election shocker" and even our über-liberal Washington Post conceded it was a "sign of resurgence" for the Republicans.

This was so fun, I think I might do it again sometime. Here's hoping my taxes go down first.

The state of...something

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s State of the Union, or whatever it was:

• Michelle Obama looked awesome. She has great arms and I loved the shade of purple she was wearing. (It's the color I thought she would wear to the Inaugural Balls...good to know I was just "off" by a few weeks.)
  
  
• Nancy Pelosi looked horrible and she couldn’t sit still—always fiddling with something. If I was doing that, my grandma would have told me it looked like I had ants in my pants. (And dad would have told me not to look smug, which Pelosi also did.) The first thing you should learn when on TV is not to fidget. Every millimeter of movement counts. Someone needs to get that woman a good consultant.
  
  
• So much for today’s Congress not wanting to pass along this gazillion-dollar deficit to the next generation. I’m the next generation and I’m going to end up paying for this mess. Thanks, guys. And I don’t buy this 95%-of-Americans-won’t-pay-more-taxes baloney. That sounds like a “Read my lips: no new taxes” campaign nightmare just waiting to happen. There is no way you're going to get out of this debacle without raising taxes. On everything. (Well, there is a way, but that's not a route that this Congress and this President are going to take.)
  
  
• The fact that parents need to raise their children first, then send them to the education system was the smartest thing Obama said all night. I’m tired of the thinking that the educational system needs to provide everything. Amen to that.
  
  
• I loved seeing Chad's boss nudge Orrin Hatch when Obama said his name. It was subtle, but I laughed out loud.
  
  
• You can’t guilt people in to giving away money. It’s so cool that the bank CEO gave away $60 million, and good for him, but that shouldn’t be a requirement. I pay the government taxes and that's not an option for me, but they don't need to dictate who else I give money to, or how much I "should" be giving.
  
  
• I spent the entire hour completely uninspired. It was totally forgettable. The Republican response was equally awful. Bobby Jindal sounded like a car salesman.

What's wrong with this picture?

I subscribe to an email listserve of several thousand homes in our neighborhood. It's a valuable resource where people share recommendations on everything from restaurants to dentists to churches, post questions or tips on childcare and home improvements, complain about people who don't pick up after their pets, inform neighbors about "suspicious activities," etc. The listserve has become extremely valuable to me and, in fact, it's where we got our roofer, our auto body shop, and our accountant.

Sometimes, though, the posts just crack me up. Let me preface this by saying that some of the people in our neighborhood live in very nice houses and have quite a bit more money than we do. Still, how out-of-touch is this person?

We are changing our decor and no longer have a place for the 1920s Camelback sofa we bought from Random Harvest a couple years ago and had upholstered with fabric from Mastercraft Interiors - blue and white stripes with a thin gold line accent. The sofa was located in a room that doesn't get much traffic so it is practically like new, probably used (sat on) less than half a dozen times. Photos are attached. We paid $1,980 for the sofa + $878 for the fabric + $395 for the upholstery labor for a total of $3,253 but are willing to sell for much less. Contact if interested.

I honestly did not know that it was possible to spend so much money on an ugly couch. If, in the unlikely event I was going to spend $3,200 on a sofa, I'd be sure it was comfortable, attractive and something I'd use more than "half a dozen" times!

Venting

I have been looking forward to Friday night all week. My dinner menu was all planned and the evening was shaping up nicely. Or at least it was until about 4:30, when Chad said he might be late--again--because the Senate is trying to pass the stimulus bill. It's after 8:00 and he's still there. I was just told there is no end in sight so I'm going to go have leftover chili for dinner. Again.

Let's be honest: if they had the votes, this thing would have passed last night, when Chad was at work until 9:00. Or this afternoon, perhaps. But, because they don't have enough votes, hundreds of staffers are hanging around on Capitol Hill doing nothing except watching C-Span and trying to figure out what's going on. Meanwhile, hundreds of spouses and kids and whoever else are sitting at home waiting for their weekend to start, or at least trying to figure out when to start supper. I don't care if it's republicans or democrats in charge of this nonsense; it's irritating. And I know it's "just politics" but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Even if they do find the votes and pass this bill tonight, it's not like the economy is going to magically repair itself this weekend. I would imagine this can wait until Monday, especially since I don't know if I agree with it in the first place.

As I write this, I realize I'm venting. We're lucky to both have jobs and have a lot to be thankful for. I don't complain very much, or at least I try not to, but I really hate when something messes with my plans. This is why I did not marry a farmer! (No offense, Dad, I love you...)

Cookie catastrophe

I had a brilliant idea at the end of last week to make some fire engine and fire hydrant cookies for a party we were having for our friend Nick, who just graduated from the fire academy. I was sure that this was going to put Martha Stewart and me on the same level.

So, I found the cookie cutters, bought all the ingredients, rolled out the dough, cut the cookies, baked them, frosted them, decorated them...and four hours later, I was wondering where my evening went! (To be fair, Janice helped--and we did enjoy each other's company at least.)

To make matters worse, the cookies got fat in the oven and didn't even resemble fire trucks when we took them out (see below). As a final touch, in my failed attempt to make the frosting a little redder, I added a few drops of blue in the hopes that it would darken. I must have missed the day in third grade where I would have learned that red and blue make...purple. Though they did at least taste good.

I have no idea how people have the patience or the skill set for this. "Cookie decorating" is going on the list of things that I do not plan to do again. Right after making another meatloaf.

My favorite things

It's time for me to post an update of my new favorite things. I've done this once or twice before, but I've started to notice lately that there are quite a few products I'm starting to wonder how I've done without. Among them:

Emergen-C: I got hooked on this stuff while I was back in Illinois. I swear it works. It's got 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C, lots of B vitamins and other minerals and vitamins too. It comes in individual packets and dissolves quickly in about six ounces of water. And it doesn't taste like chalk or glue like some of those other "powders." I've tried tangerine, but I see they have raspberry, which might need to be next on the list.

Case in point: I woke up this morning feeling like a little cold was coming on and took some of this stuff and I feel fine. It's either great medicine or a placebo. Either way, I don't care. It works.

Lamp timers: Whoever thought of these things created one of the best inventions of our time. Or perhaps of all time. I got one of these for Christmas (because I had been complaining about forgetting to unplug the tree), plugged it in a few nights ago, and now our living room light turns on at 5 p.m. and off at midnight.

When I come home the lights are on (both good for crime prevention and so Lucy isn't sitting around in the dark), energy-efficient since it doesn't have to stay on all day to accomplish those goals, and I don't have to remember to turn it off at night or in the morning. Plus, they're easy to use and cheap. As in less than five bucks. How cool is that?

SIRIUS: This is my new guilty pleasure. Our Jeep came equipped with a satellite radio and we decided before I drove home for Christmas to explore how much it cost to actually activate the thing. (Turns out it's just a few bucks a month.) I still stick to a small group of music channels, but it's so nice to be able to listen to the radio without commercials or all that jibber-jabber of the morning talk show hosts.

On the way back to DC, I kept myself awake from 11 p.m. - 2 a.m. with the 90's channel while Chad slept. Then he listened to the "all AC/DC station" while I slept--or tried to. It paid for itself in about fifteen minutes, as far as I'm concerned. I can't imagine going back!

Christmas chaos

I feel really behind this year and think I will blame the five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas that I've been talking about all season long. After all, it can't be because I've procrastinated or been too busy with other holiday festivities to get my act together. That doesn't sound like me at all!

So it's the day before Christmas Eve and I've spent nearly all of my waking hours finishing up my shopping and wrapping presents. All was going along quite swimmingly until I opened a box of gifts I had ordered and had shipped to my parents. I do this on occasion when I buy online because if it's going to be given in Illinois I might as well not schlep it here from Virginia.

In the box were three items...instead of four. I hurriedly looked for my shipping label, thinking perhaps the gift was coming in a separate order that was on its way--after all, they promised delivery by Christmas. Instead, I found a note saying something like this: "the item that you ordered is currently out of stock and will be shipped when available." Great.

Now look, if you have a few things that are back ordered because there's been a huge surge in demand, fine. And if you can't get your act together enough to have any real-time inventory system on your website so that I couldn't have ordered it in the first place, I understand that too. But at least send me an email instead of just telling me when I get the rest of the order. Don't make me wait until two days before Christmas to learn that I'm even more behind than I thought!

Fortunately, it's a really small gift and somewhat easy to recreate. (And it was from Stupid.com--the irony is not lost on me.) But it's no wonder why people go crazy at this time of year. Even if you think you're in good shape, you're not.

Fair trade

This whole Blagojevich thing just baffles me. I don't have enough time or space to pontificate on it tonight, but wanted to include this great cartoon from the Chicago Tribune to sum things up.

What an idiot.

Swing state

The outcome of the Presidential election in Virginia is up in the air and it's made living here this last month almost intolerable. Coupled with the fact that we're so close to DC and in a swing state, the election has been everywhere: people trying to talk up one guy over another, signs all over the place, messages left on the answering machine while we're at work... And of course people at work are another story, as everyone has their pet issue that they're sure the next President will make his #1 priority.

I've been lobbied so much for and against certain candidates that it almost makes my head spin. And it's divisive enough that I've passed more than one yard with both a McCain and an Obama sign in it.

I was out walking Lucy several weeks ago and literally passed four different people who were going door-to-door campaigning (the northern part of VA is mostly liberal, so they were all out for Obama). I applaud their fortitude and enthusiasm, but don't bug me when I'm trying to watch football on a Sunday, ok? And don't leave crap hanging on my door or send me junk mail either. Your "clever" t-shirts and bumper stickers knocking the candidates insult me and your rhetoric about how the sky will fall if someone loses makes me roll my eyes. Enough, already!

One of our friends got so sick of people coming to the door in support of the candidates that she put a sign out front that said, "don't bother knocking--we've already voted." (In Virginia, it's really easy to vote absentee and a lot of people did, including Chad.) Why didn't I think of that?

Regardless of who wins--and I do have a preference--I am most excited for Election Day to be o-v-e-r. When I voted this morning at 7 a.m., I closed the book on the whole thing.

Now, if I can only get past Inauguration Day.

My two cents about John Edwards

Former Presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted that he had an affair.

...but he did not love the woman...
...but he did not father her child...
[and my personal favorite]
...but his wife's cancer was in remission...

As if THAT makes it all ok.

I do have to give him props for making this announcement on the opening day of the Olympics, while no one in America is paying attention. (And giving an exclusive to ABC, no less, which does not have the contract to cover the Olympics.) This is further proof from my June post that all news that people want to cover up gets announced on Friday afternoons.

Home Alone 2008

The 1990 holiday hit "Home Alone" has come to life almost two decades later. An Israeli couple boarded a plane this weekend (to Paris, no less) and accidentally left behind one of their five kids in the airport. I'm not kidding--it's in the news today. Fortunately, all ended well and the three-year-old was found wandering around the terminal and reunited with her parents several hours later.

Personal diatribe: I don't have one kid, let alone five, so I'm probably not the best judge on this one. But the parents were on a chartered jet (ie: it was just them and their family), and they didn't know that one child was missing until they were informed by the cabin staff after 40 minutes in flight. How hard is it, when you're the only ones on a plane, to realize that there are six of you and not seven?

A better way to save Starbucks: spend

Many people were not terribly surprised last week to hear that Starbucks is closing 600 underperforming stores across the country. While I do love my skinny cinnamon dolce latte on occasion, I do think that having three Starbucks within a six-block radius of my office is overkill. (As a side note, the brand-new Galesburg location that just opened last fall is on the list. What a waste of money--and another abandoned eyesore on Henderson Street.)

So, now there's a campaign to save Starbucks, encouraging people to sign an online petition and to share their thoughts on how this is just a horrible situation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the best way to save a struggling business by spending money there? Starbucks is not an entitlement, it's a company. If some stores are not making money, it's time to close them. Period.

God bless the Midwest

I just watched the most hilarious interview on Fox News. They were talking about the flooding in the Midwest and interviewing an older man who owns a building on the river in Burlington. (This is about 45 minutes from where I grew up.) I felt a bit uncomfortable for the reporter, who was clearly trying to get the man to whine and moan about how awful this was and how they all needed help. But this man was not taking the bait at all.

While this guy is no doubt a bit optimistic, slightly kooky, and definitely minimizes the amount of damage, I have to say that I admire his attitude:

When New Orleans flooded and homes were damaged (and, yes, I realize that was a bit different in that it was a hurricane and came more suddenly...), it was like people were absolutely oblivious to the fact that they chose to live near water.

The Midwest's attitude is that they'll deal with it, they'll clean it up together, and it will all look really nice until it floods again in two decades or so. You don't hear any of them complaining about how the Corps of Engineers screwed up their levees or that no one in the country is helping them out. While I certainly wish they weren't in this situation (and remember quite well the Flood of '93), it is refreshing to see people who realize that this is just something that happened that is no one else's fault and that they'll get through it by banding together.

A different kind of workout

I was working out in the gym this morning minding my own darned business when I noticed a guy out of the corner of my eye. He looked nice enough. T-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes...just what you'd expect to see at the gym. Until I noticed that his shirt said "Run Against Bush" and was from a coordinated event aimed at taking down the current President.

Look. I don't care if you vote for someone because of who they are (in fact, I hope you do), but don't vote for someone because they are not the other guy. Besides, I think his shirt was a little out of date, considering the website no longer exists. And Bush isn't running in November.

I am already sick of the Presidential election. Can we just fast-forward to November 5?

A few (more) of my favorite things...

Here are a few things that I'm loving right now.

1) Fiber One bars. Other than the fact that they are a bit sweet for the first thing in the morning, they are an awesome dose of fiber and keep me full! Except on days that I work out. Then they're more of a snack.

2) American Idol! I went to college with Luke Menard and am hoping that he can make it through to the top 12. He's a really nice guy and I'm rooting for him! And the Australian guy, and the guy who looks like Justin Timberlake...

3) Second chances. I have my new phone in my possession. It is currently charging. Here's hoping that I'm able to keep it around a bit longer than 24 hours.

These are a few of my favorite things...

1) My new favorite snack: sugar-free Jello with Cool-Whip. Believe me, when you have cut back on your sugar intake, even things with a little bit of sweet taste good.

2) Da Bears. Even though they lost yesterday to San Diego. The Chargers are a good team.

3) March. That's when my hell-on-earth work schedule is going to be over. Oh, if I can only make it til March.