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.

Copy that

A co-worker today sent around a great initiative by Xerox (yes, the copy company). They have created a website where people can select a thank-you card to send to the troops. Xerox will print it and send it to a soldier currently serving in Iraq.

It's free and it takes about 30 seconds. You select a card design, then choose the message you want or create your own message. The only personal information you include is your name, city and state so the soldiers get an idea of all the people who are thinking about them.

Please take the time to do this and encourage others to do this if you can. I hope we flood their mailboxes. We can never say enough thank you's to these guys.

Perfect timing

Sometimes, we manage to have positively perfect timing.

We've had plans to head back home for a good friend's wedding and got to add to the trip by meeting our brand-new niece! She was born the day we flew home.

It was great to see baby Abby at the hospital and spend a little time with both sets of families. Then on Saturday night, we saw a lot of Chad's friends, some he hadn't seen since high school. We even managed to get a picture of the two of us that will be our Christmas card (yes, we were getting down to the wire).

It was a short trip, but we crammed in a lot and can't wait to see everyone again when we're back in two weeks!

Two nieces made for spoiling

Chad & big sister Miriam

Holy smokes

Let me preface this by saying that Chad is a very good cook. His specialties include breakfast, grilling, chili and seafood. He loves to try new recipes (unlike me, who tends to be a tried-it-and-liked-it-so-plan-on-it-every-other-week kind of cook) and everything he makes turns out well.

Except for the other night.

Chad brought home tuna from the store, which we make on occasion. A new recipe he found called for both butter and olive oil to saute the meat. I don't know what they were smoking--maybe literally--but that combination caused one holy mess.

As soon as the butter and olive oil went in the hot pan, rolls and rolls of smoke began escaping the kitchen. We had every window in the downstairs open, plus the ceiling fan going at full blast, and still could barely see (or breathe). Lucy escaped to the basement to wait it all out. The tuna turned out really well, but it took hours for the smell to subside.

We also learned that we need a new smoke detector. It didn't go off.

Live from DC (again)

I completely forgot that I promised to do this interview on CNBC Monday night. They called at 3 p.m. to confirm and my mind was totally blank. After being at work for almost 15 hours, I assure you that I was running on pure adrenaline.

Prior to the interview, they told me to be "high energy" and I laughed out loud. I tried, though! (And no hair-flicking this time!)

Our favorite ad

No matter how often we TiVo past this ad, we have to rewind to watch it. It is just that funny.

I don't see Chad roll with laughter very often, but watching this ad is about as good as it gets!

And in case you haven't gotten enough of him, here is our little friend on the Ellen DeGeneres show as well.

Where the deals are...

Today, CyberMonday.com was named the #1 website to visit on Cyber Monday by Time magazine.

This. Was. So. Cool.

If you haven't had a chance to shop, check it out!