Day 38 - Glad I am not Known as Steak

When a baby comes into your world, a parent  instinctively feels that the child is the most beautiful, will become the most talented and will be loved more than any other child has ever been loved before. I get it. Every parent feels that way. And every parent wants to pick the perfect name for their precious bundle of joy. In the past it wasn't unusual to have sons named after fathers, thus becoming Jrs. Many kids were named after the favorite aunt or uncle, and many were named after war heroes or even the celebrity du jour. Now fast forward to the the 21st century, and baby names, especially those given to celebrity children, seem to have taken a turn to the exotic. To say a few of these names are "out there" is being kind. Robert Downey Jr. just named his son Exton, Beyonce named her daughter, Blue Ivy and Jermaine Jackson named his son Jermajesty. I think these folks make Gwyenneth Paltrow's naming her baby Apple, sound almost sane.
I feel bad for kids with wierd names and I am always hopeful that someone in school will give them a nickname. When I was a kid, there was a boy in the neighborhood whose first name was Hedley. And his mother would hang out the front window of her apartment and scream at the top of her lungs,"Hi - Ho - Heeeeeeeeeedddddddddddlllllllly" when she wanted him to come inside. I guess she needed to scream at him like that so that all the other Hedleys in the neighborhood wouldn't come running. Later, when he went to school the kids nicknamed him Stinky, I'm betting that he liked it more than Hedley.
It's tough being the kid with the weird name. Whether it is just plain odd, or whether it has a strange spelling, like Ving Rhames name for his daughter, Reignbeau, there is always going to be someone who is going to mispronounce it, or think the name is for a boy when it is a girl. If you were a teacher and the first name of the child was Suri, would you look for a boy or girl? Suri is the name that Tom Cruise gave to his daughter.
I think life is tough enough with a semi-normal name, these made up, one of a kind nonsense names just make things tougher. I thank my lucky stars that my parents were not avant-garde when it came to naming their children, I would have hated to be named after one of my dad's favorite things, Steak!

February 7, 2012: Herb tea makes me happy.

Day 37 - In Other Words

Euphemisms, we use them everyday. Just today I was reading the Reader's Digest, and the editor started her column with the following, "I lost my father this year...", and I know she meant that her father had died this past year, however, when anybody chooses this euphemism, all I can picture in my mind is that there is an old man wandering aimlessly somewhere, and is lost. Why didn't she simply write, My father died this past year? I guess it has too much of a finality to it, easier to say lost.
In general, I think Americans choose to use a lot of euphemisms. If a man is short of stature, we can say that he is vertically challenged, and if he happens to be balding we may describe him as follically impaired. People no longer get fired, they have been let go, or downsized. And if you are fat in America you would most likely be known as being big-boned, pleasantly plump, husky, plus-sized or heavy, no one wants to say fat. And no one calls a drunk a drunk. They can be soused, three sheets to the wind, tipsy, polluted, hammered, plastered or under the weather but never just simply drunk.
English is an ever evolving language, and as we continue to strive to be politically correct, I am sure the list of euphemisms will continue to grow. Who can forget Roger Clemens being brought before Congress and when blatantly caught in a lie when he denied his steroid use, did he admit to the lie, nope, he just invented another word for lying, he mis-remembered. No one lies, we fib, we put a slant on things, or we might embellish the truth, but lie? Never.
I admire all non-English speaking people who attempt to learn and understand the language. Just when they think they get it, they run into the euphemism. Picture a group of folks whose 1st language is not English, and what do you think they would envision if told the Powder Room is just down the hall and to the left?
When I was a kid growing up in Boston, all the bathrooms were in the basement of the Margaret Fuller Elementary School, and when you needed to go, you eagerly asked to go to the basement, which as a small child I interpreted as what you called a bathroom when you are in school. Once we moved away from Boston, and I asked a teacher if I could go to the basement, she gave me the oddest of looks, that's when I learned another name for the bathroom - the rest room. Years later I learned it is also called the john, the loo, the toity, the head, the boy's room or the girl's room. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it would have been much easier for me if we just called the bathroom a bathroom.

Day 36 - In Praise of the Potato

My heritage is Irish, and I love the potato. I think it is the most versatile of veggies and has been much maligned since the advent of diets such as South Beach and Atkins.  It really has taking a beating, bearing the brunt of the carbo - hating crowd. Today I sing I am here to sing praises to the potato. Let us not forget, it is a vegetable and it does contain great amounts of potassium, proving its nutritional value in addition to its versatility. It is the perfect accompaniment to meat loaf, when mashed, and what better complements a steak than the ever perfectly baked potato? When there is French onion dip around, who doesn't want to grab the biggest potato chip and just dig right in? And when left unpeeled and cut up into quarters then baked with bacon bits, green onions and cheeses topped with sour cream, doesn't  it make the superb appetizer known as potato skins. And who doesn't like the potato sliced thin, with onions cheese and cream served as scalloped potatoes with all its ooey-gooey delicious-ness? My mom made the best beef stew and when guests unexpectedly would show up, no worries, to make the stew go further, she would just add more potatoes. I must admit, my favorite is the mashed potato whipped light and covered with gravy, especially the turkey gravy served on Thanksgiving. And I just visited a joint that served Irish Nachos, potato chips with melted cheeses and sour cream with green onions. A remarkable veggie - the potato, it really brings out the Irish in me!

Day 35 - It's Aladdin for the Umpteenth Time

One of the most wonderful things about being a grandmother is that you get to see movies that your grand kids want to watch, but secretly you adore them more than they do. Tonight I got to watch Aladdin ( for the umpteenth time) and loved it all the more as I was watching it with my grand daughters and watching them laugh out loud, is one of the most joyous sounds on the earth.
I love being able to show my grand kids something for the first time, or listening to them as they tell me something that is so exciting to them that they stumble with the words as they try to get their thoughts out. I love watching how their minds work, and each one is uniquely their own person. No clones in this family. Each special personality makes me swell with pride, and I wish only the best for them in the future.

February 4, 2012: This small plaque in my family room always makes me smile: Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your kids.

Day 34 - Creme de la Creme of Crappers

We are learning way too much about the players in this year's Super Bowl. Probably because both teams are required by the NFL to spend long hours answering mundane questions from the legion of media that has thronged the Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium floor, home to the Indianapolis Colts. Wes Welker, a favorite receiver of quarterback, Tom Brady, shared that it was good to be Tom Brady, and reporters asked why? He responded saying that he loved Tom Brady's toilet, in fact he loved his entire bathroom, sharing that the toilet had awesome bidet features. He was referring to what is known as the Creme de la Creme of Crappers, the Toto Washlet Perfomance Toilet. And for this particular porcelain potty, of course you need the seat of champions, which by all accounts does not come cheap. (see below)

And if you wonder why Wes would be so enamored of Brady's bathroom, below is the description of said thrilling throne, taken directly from the Toto website.

Designed with ease and convenience in mind, the Toto Washlet Performance toilet uses a streamlined wand that extends to provide a soothing warm flow of aerated water for complete and total cleansing. And as if that weren't enough, the Washlet also offers a soothing warm air drier, an air purifying system, heated seat and automatic soft-close lid. To ensure the utmost in cleanliness and sanitation, the Washlet toilet nozzle also automatically cleans itself before and after every use.

I wish I knew about all of this sooner.  We just replaced our toilet seat  - went to Home Depot - no sprays, no remotes, no driers, it's a Bemis, and it was under $20.  I don't think Wes Welker would have any reason at all to linger in my powder room, but I think he is right about Brady's bathroom, now that would be something to experience. Somehow I do not think this is the kind of thing the NFL thought might be shared at Media day, but damn, I enjoyed it!

Day 33 - It's All About Trust

I was just reading the news story about Pfizer mis-packaging birth control pills, some prescriptions may have nothing but dummy pills, OOOOOOOPS!
I am sure that the women who use Pfizer's products are irate upon hearing about this. They trusted Pfizer to provide them with a product that did what it said it was going to do. This got me to thinking about other things that I inherently trust.

• Electricity - I trust every morning that when I get up, the lights will turn on with a flip of my wrist and I will be able to make a pot of coffee - this past summer when we experienced a bit of a hurricane and lived without it for 5 days, made me appreciate it all the more.
• Water - I trust when I turn the faucet, that water will come out.
• The Nightly News - I want to turn the TV on at the same time each night and see the same anchorman telling me what happened today.
• 60 Minutes - I know that every Sunday, at 7 pm that the clock will start clicking.
• Ben & Jerry's Phish food Ice Cream- I trust that this will taste just as delicious as the first time.
• Toilets - I expect them to do what they are designed for.
• Cars - I trust that they will start when I want them to start,and when they don't, I trust that AAA will show up.
• Spring Bulbs - I trust that they will bloom, in spite of the squadron of squirrels searching for them. (this one may be a reach - realist in me)
• Wonder Bread - I trust that it will be the same squishy white bread with no taste and little nutritional value that I always had growing up - still tastes especially good when making turkey/stuffing/cranberry sauce sandwiches
• Toasters - I trust the little knob on the front to help me avoid burning toast.
• Recipes - I trust that I will produce something that is akin to the beautiful picture - some recipes, in my experience, are not at all trustworthy -
• Shawshank Redemption - I trust that I will root just as hard for Andy to make an escape from that hellhole of a prison as I did the first time I watched this, about 50 times ago.
• Dove Dark Chocolate - I trust that these delightful pieces of heaven will end my craving for a sweet - and they do, after partaking in enough of them.
• Pinot Grigio - I trust that I will enjoy this each and every time I take a sip, so much so that I will most likely have another or two just to trust my instincts.

February 2, 2012: Happy today that my flu symptoms are finally on the way out, especially happy that my back and knees allow me to bend again! I missed that.

Day 32 - Pink Goop Now Missing from Burgers

I am thrilled that Chef, Jamie Oliver's non-stop crusade against McDonalds has finally paid off. The substance called pink goop that they have been adding to their hamburgers for years has finally been eliminated.
I wonder when they started using it? I started eating hamburgers and fries at McDonalds when then entire meal (including a coke)  could be bought for 45 cents, and I loved every bite of it. I don't remember just when I stopped eating at McDonalds, but  I do remember why, I always felt sick to my stomach after eating there. And I always blamed it on the fries, saying they just didn't settle well. I could never have begun to imagine that this company was adding meat by-products infused in an ammonia compound to their burgers. And that the FDA said it was OK for human consumption. Just thinking about this makes me sick! I am wondering how much of this pink goop was added, was there ever any beef? Definitely makes that old "Where's the Beef"  ad from one of their competitor's more relevant now, doesn't it? Makes you wonder what that competitor knew way back then. Removing the pink goop from the burger isn't going to make me run out and go to McDonalds, but if ever I do, I think I'm going to go with the McNuggets, staying away from the burgers and that kind of suspect square fish that they also have on the menu.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10282876-mcdonalds-drops-use-of-gooey-ammonia-based-pink-slime-in-hamburger-meat

February 1, 2012: I am thankful that the flu is on its way out.