And winter is peeking around the corner.

And that means it’s now officially sweater weather. Yippee! Sweaters were pulled out, and shorts and short-sleeved were put away. Plus, I pulled out the down comforter. I think snuggling under a down comforter is definitely one of the better things about winter.

The down side to this was I spent the entire day washing bedding. Not just the bedding that was put away for the winter, but also our blankets, and the blanket and comforter on Grandmom’s bed as well. Plus the normal assortment of sheets and such. Let me tell you, there is little more boring than spending the entire day at the beck and call of laundry.

On the bright side, however, I had leftover pizza and apple pie for lunch. Yum!

Sorry. Nothing of interest in my yard, other than dead leaves, and they’re just not inspiring me to go outside and take pictures.

On the bright side, my Christmas Halloween Cacti are budding already.

I have to admit that I was very disappointed with Colin Powell’s time in the Bush administration. I felt that he could have tried to stand up more for what he felt was right. But then I’m not him and I wasn’t there and I don’t know what he did and did not try.

Regardless, I was delighted by Powell’s statement this morning. Particularly the following.

Powell said he was also troubled that some members of the Republican Party — not McCain — have said, “‘Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’”

“He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian,” Powell said. “But the really right answer is ‘what if he is?’ Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no.”

And if anyone has had the misfortune to have heard what Rush Limbaugh is saying, I’d like to quote Al Franken here and just say that “Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot.”

ADDENDUM the First:
See also: Eric and Anne.

For those who are not part of the UCF, you may not know about the brouhaha going on over at Refugees from City.

Walter Wagner, a complete idiot, who has no credentials continues to waste taxpayer’s money by filing idiotic motions to stop the Large Hadron Collider has been attempting to defend himself, yet has been unable to provide any credentials as to why we should believe him, other than the fact he was a lab tech in a physics lab in college, graduated from an unaccredited law school, and worked as a Radiation Safety Officer.

With qualifications like that, it’s hard to understand why anyone would doubt Walter Wagner, isn’t it?

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll notice that Jim Wright, for whom I have a great amount of respect (despite the fact he’s an asshole), finally jumped into the fray.

Thus it was with great amusement that I discovered one of the search terms that lead someone to my blog yesterday, Jim Wright’s Idea of Civility:

So there you are Jim. You’re now famous for your ideas of civility. Enjoy your fame, and use your power wisely.

Homemade pizza! Yum!

Homemade apple pie! Yum!

Leftovers for tomorrow!

YUM!

Most Fridays we get take out from Flying Fish. Grandmom always tries to pay for dinner.

Grandmom: How much was dinner?
Michelle: A millions dollars.
Grandmom: Well, that sounds fair.

Once again, the Kat is strangely attentive. However, I’m pretty sure that two weeks away in less than two months has something to do with it.

(more…)

As I walked up the stairs to work this morning, the smell of fallen leaves was in the air. There were no leaves to crunch underfoot as I walked, because they clean the sidewalks continually here, but that brief whiff of fall brightened my morning.

Grandmom: You know, I didn’t put my hearing aid in today.
Michelle & Michael: WE KNOW!

When we teach, we request that the students fill out an instructor evaluation, so we can learn from their comments areas where we might need to improve our teaching, as well as areas where we performed well.

I got the BEST evaluation ever today. In the comments it said, “She’s chipper.”

I pinned it to my bulletin board, because it simply makes me happy.

Since my days (and most evenings) were free while Michael attended his conferences, I spent most of my time in San Antonio walking along the Riverwalk, either eating or taking pictures. Or sometimes both.

I spent most of my time, in fact, on the Riverwalk, primarily because it was much cooler than it was at street level. I did go elsewhere, but the Riverwalk was much cooler for walking.

I went to the Alamo several times, but I found myself more impressed with the gardens than with the Alamo itself. Probably because work had been done on the Alamo, so what we were seeing was not what existed during that time. In other words, I felt no sense of history from the area.

That said, it was a nice trip, I enjoyed going to the spa.

Here are some of the more interesting pictures I took.

(more…)

We don’t need your help.

Really.

We don’t need some script writer to completely lie about the state just because they think it will make a better story.

I mean, when everyone who was there–including the Syracuse players–say events didn’t happen as depicted in your film, and when you couldn’t even bother to get the year of the game right, you’re really not making a movie, “based on a true story,” anymore are you?

Dick Easterly, 69, of Tampa, Fla. was the Syracuse quarterback that day, when Davis rushed 14 times for 125 yards before a sparse crowd of 20,000.

Easterly saw “The Express” at a critics’ preview last week in Tampa.

“I apologize to the people West Virginia because that did not happen,” Easterly said. “I don’t blame people in West Virginia for being disturbed. The scene is completely fictitious.”

My thanks to Dick Easterly, even though he has nothing for which to apologize.

Too bad the individuals who insulted WVU and West Virginia–the script writers and film makers who saw nothing wrong with making out West Virginians as a bunch of ignorant, violent, racist hicks–will never say a word to us.

Anne took some interesting quizzes, so I figured they’d make a good lunchtime first-day-back-after-vacation break.

(more…)

Main Entry: canoodle
Pronunciation: \k?-?nü-d?l\
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): ca·noo·dled; ca·noo·dling Listen to the pronunciation of canoodling Listen to the pronunciation of canoodling \-?nü-dli?, -?nü-d?l-i?\
Etymology: perhaps from English dialect canoodle, noun, donkey, fool, foolish lover
Date: 1859