The Thursday Three

What's a holiday without cookies? What's a Thursday without T3? And thanks to Susan, aka My Two Cents for the idea of combining the two.


Favorite Holiday Cookies (and a recipe or two)


#1. Shortbread. This recipe came from my friend Monique a long, long time ago, and it's still my favorite shortbread ever. Absolutely delicious. And easy. Did I mention easy?


Monique's Scotch Shortbread

5 oz. softened sweet butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour

Mix. Press in pie pan. Prick top all over with a fork. Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Cut warm. Sprinkle with sugar. Eat the whole pan. (Oh, alright. I added that last part).



#2. Pfefferneuse. Well, specifically Trader Joe's Pfefferneuse. For years, we would get care packages from my mom -either through the mail or in person. The Pfefferneuse season at TJ's usually runs from right before Thanksgiving to New Years. I don't know what it is that makes these so good, but for the entire month of December my family runs around with powdered sugar rings around our mouths. Not this year, though. In the great TJ's Pfefferneuse shortage of 2008 (why would I expect anything less this year, seriously?) they changed their packaging and ran out almost immediately. We have a recipe to try at the lake next week. Cross your fingers.



#3. Gingersnaps. We all love gingersnaps, and these are the best I've ever had. The fact that they're low-fat is a complete bonus. We don't normally dip them, but if you have the desire, it just makes them twice as good. We made a batch of these this week and Gumby and Surfer Dude took them in to class "just because". Surfer Dude was thrilled when his teacher threatened him with repeating sixth grade unless he brought in more cookies.



Funny aside about these cookies. I use a lot of spices in my cooking and have a pretty comprehensive spice cupboard. The turnover is pretty high, since I believe what I read about spices losing their flavor over time. But I had bought a restaurant supply size bottle of ground ginger which continued to smell and taste just fine. I used it rarely, because with most things needing ginger I used fresh. Well, we used the last three teaspoons of it in these cookies - and it was the end of an era. We had moved this bottle of ginger to Kansas with us...in the summer of 1999.


That's some seriously potent stuff.

The Thursday Three

Perhaps you all overlooked my plea last week for Thursday Three ideas? Hmm? Oh, well. You're stuck with this today. Consider it incentive for next week.



Three Things I (Stupidly) Refuse To Spend Money On Unless I Absolutely HAVE To




1. Parking. I have a parking meter aversion that I can't seem to shake. Unless the weather is horrific or I have a whining kid in the car, I'll park blocks away to avoid a meter. (Or a funky ankle, but that's another post). This meter phobia was a lot worse in LA, but is still something that I have to deal with in Liberal Collegeville. What makes this just plain stupid is the fact that you can park downtown for two hours for fifty cents - not a sum that is going to break the bank.Even my bank.


And if your meter runs out and you get a ticket? Two dollars. The first time I got one, I swore until I saw the amount. I looked for extra zeros. Then I laughed out loud. Two dollars. That's not something you'll see in LA. Maybe two dollars a minute.



2. Stamps. Almost all of my bills get paid on-line or by automatic withdrawal, both to save time and money. Most of my personal correspondence is done by e-mail or on the phone. And although I aspire to sending personal little notes and cards by mail, I almost never do. So I very rarely have stamps in the house, and hate buying them with a passion. Like the meters, forty two cents is not a big deal, so I don't have a clue what my problem is.


Unfortunately though, there are things that can't be done on-line or in person - things like legal documents and medical bills. For those things you need stamps, so I'll bite the bullet and go out and buy them. But only the amount I need. (This is especially stupid because I keep extras of everything on hand. I hate running to the store for every little thing. Evidently, this doesn't apply to stamps).


Today, however, I had to mail two things and I bought six stamps. Woo Hoo. Maybe she's finally seeing the light, folks.




3. Bagged Salad. We eat a lot of salad. For a long time we couldn't find the lid to the salad spinner. And I hate wet lettuce. This is a bad combination all around. The obvious answer was to either buy a new salad spinner or bagged, already washed, lettuce. Well, lets go for the not obvious. I kept buying lettuce (romaine, our very favorite) and washing it. Then I would struggle to get it dry enough to make me happy - an impossibility. I would think of this every time I passed the pretty little expensive bags of salad in the produce aisle, but I still wouldn't buy them. (I buy bagged spinach every week as part of my "staples" list. I have no idea why I consider that different). Finally last week I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down and bought a new salad spinner.


And a big head of romaine.



Your turn.

The Thursday Three

Let's do a down and dirty Thursday Three, shall we? Because I've just worked three (coincidence? I think not) in a row, and if there's anything functioning properly on my person, I can't think of what it is. Not only can I not think straight, but my whole body is revolting as the result of a very ill-thought out trip to the gym after work last night. I looked like an Ibuprofen commercial getting out of bed this morning.
And it's almost as bad tonight. So - I'm looking for easy.

Favorite Condiments.


#1. Salsa. Love it. The spicier the better. Red, green, chunky, smooth. Chipotle, lime, corn, fruit. I'm all over it. Yum. Not only on Mexican food, but also baked potatoes, as salad dressing and on scrambled eggs.


#2. Mustard. Again, I'm fairly Catholic in my tastes. Hot, sweet, spicy, dijon. However you want to use it, I'm a fan. As far as I'm concerned, no sandwich is complete without mustard. (Tuna and PB&J most certainly excepted).


#3. Blue Cheese Dressing. I cannot tell a lie. I could drink Blue Cheese dressing out of the bottle straight. I usually don't, but I could. I think a salad with really good BC dressing is about as good as it gets. But I also love it on sandwiches, as french fry dip and, to totally defeat the healthy purpose, on rice cakes.


And one I can't stand - mayonnaise. Except on tuna or in cole slaw. Or tomato sandwiches, for that matter. Which is even more weird because if you're going to have a tomato sandwich it needs to be on white bread, which I'm also not a fan of, but on a tomato sandwich I'll overlook both of them. Why ask why?


Wanna play no-brainer T3? Go for it.

The Thursday Three

It has definitely been a little wacky around here this week. Blame it on the full moon or something, but I have to confess to some




Very Out of Character Behavior




It would be very nice if anyone else is having the same problem and wants to fess up. I might feel a little less alone. That's a hint, in case you didn't notice, and a pretty desperate one at that.




#1. I bought a new computer. A good one, as a matter of fact. The stars kind of fell in line on this one, and when it happened it happened fast. Like in a matter of hours. Let me speed walk you through how this happened, because I normally don't make big ticket purchases quite this fast.

a. Our computer died.

b. I was about to have to start making payments to the FX for the dead computer. (Long story, but he's not the bad guy here. It's just a comedy of errors and would take a whole post to explain. It's not nearly interesting enough for that).

c. We've had several missed homework assignments because a. Our computer died.

d. When we were at Best Buy last Friday buying the Video Game Release of the Century (gag) for Sasquatch, I started looking at computers. Then I noticed that they were running a special until midnight Saturday for 18 months financing with no interest. I thought about it and then two hours later, still dragging kids, went back and bought one. A good one, as a matter of fact. (I have to keep reminding myself of this). So for not much more than I would have had to pay the FX anyway for a piece of merde computer, we have a brand new computer system that makes every single person in this house very, very happy. Myself certainly included.

At least until the first bill gets here.




#2. I got written up at work. Not by anyone in my department, but by someone on another unit. I forgot to do something before I transferred a patient to the med/surg floor, and the nurse on that unit reported me. It wasn't anything major, and I had a perfectly good reason, but the bottom line is that my boss had to follow up with me and write an incident report. And as much as she rolled her eyes and told me not to give it a second thought...I do. It's the first time I've had an incident in this job - and only my second one ever. (Coincidentally, the first one was also on a patient I was transferring to another floor, but my old boss wasn't so nice about it. She was even less nice when I was able to prove - several weeks later - that I had done exactly what I was supposed to do according to their own policy manuals. But by then, the write-up was in my permanent record and she refused to take it out. Clearly, from here on out I need to refuse to transfer patients to other floors).




#3. I made fried chicken for dinner tonight. And while this might be common place for some, it most certainly is not for me. In the first place, I don't fry anything, except about twice a year when I cave in to kid pressure and make a huge tray of tempura. This isn't about health issues, either. It's about having a southern grandmother who could fry your shoe and make you weep with delight, a grandmother who fried everything - in lard no less - until the day she died. My mother got a wild hair and decided years ago that she was going to make fried chicken at least as good as her mother did, and after years of experimenting she nailed it. So now I have two of them to live up to. Call me a quitter, but I refuse to even try.



And just to prove that I'm not even in the game, I made oven fried chicken.(And oven fried fake chicken to drag my karma down even further). And oven fried okra. (The rumbling you hear is my grandmother spinning in her grave. Oven fried. What a joke. They'll run you out of town for crap like that in the south). The big bowl of cole slaw might have passed muster, but I doubt it. It had almonds in it.



It's the full moon, right?

The Thursday Three

This time it's back for good. I promise. (If you hate T3 I promise to make it up to you the other six days of the week. Well, I promise to try. I hate making promises I can't keep). But I've missed doing this, so...back to the drawing board. If anyone has ideas for future topics, give me a shout. I'm always looking for ideas.


Hmmm. What should we talk about? How about



Three Things I Should Have Done This Week (but didn't)



The problem here is going to be narrowing it down to three. There's so many to choose from.



#1. Get the cast off of Surfer Dude's arm. I told him the appointment was today, but then I looked at my calendar and realized it was next week. He was really disappointed because he's seriously ready to get rid of this thing. (So am I. He's still coming in to my bed at night sometimes, and you haven't lived until you've had a hard plaster cast flung across your face in the middle of the night).

Imagine my dismay when we got a call today from the Ortho office wanting to know where we were. The appointment was today after all. Oops.



#2. Make an appointment to discuss taking out Gumby's tonsils. He actually came up to me and asked me if we could do this, and I know it's a good idea. He has never had tonsillitis, but he's a mouth breather and he snores. He also smacks his food when he eats, which I suspect is because he can't breathe unless he does. The other two had theirs out when they were much younger, because they needed to. Their adenoids were huge. Well, he doesn't need to, but he really should while he's still young. But oh, how I hate the thought of actually doing it. Ugh.



#3. Buy long sleeved t-shirts for work. I've been freezing at work lately and for some reason I only have one long sleeved t-shirt to wear under my scrubs. I went to Target the other day and picked up a couple in basic black, white and blue, but then I guess I put them down to look at something and walked out of the store without ever buying them. If I had half a clue, I'd be dangerous. At least I'm not hard to spot at work. I'm the nurse walking around with the warmed blanket around my shoulders. Aaahhh.



What did you forget this week?

The Thursday Three

Let's go with Angela's idea and talk about


What to save if the house is on fire?


Given that all living things - two and four legged - are out safely, what would I pull out of that burning building? Alright, here's my list. I do want to say though, that I would have a really hard time narrowing this down to just three, so here are the ones that pop into my head immediately.


#1. My laptop. Duh.


#2. Three pictures. The only two pictures I have of me with both my mom and dad. One is an 8x10 color studio photograph taken when I was about five(??) and the other is a faded black and white candid polaroid of us all on a couch when I was two and a half. And the third is another black and white polaroid of my maternal grandmother and I fishing when I was about seven. I have lots of other pictures of her, but this one is my very favorite.


My grandma died in 1999 and my dad in 2002 - so I have to hold on to what I've got.



#3. A book. A cookbook to be exact. But not just any cookbook - a very, very personal one. (I don't know why I'm on a theme with my dad, but here I go again). I've briefly touched on this before, but my dad was Iraqi. Both his ethnic background and his religion (Catholicism) were in the definite minority, and a huge percentage of them left the country and came to the US, where they promptly invaded Detroit. (And I do mean invaded. You can't fling a falafel without hitting a slew of them).


I grew up on the food and cannot get enough of it. But it's impossible to get in a restaurant unless you're in Detroit (and it's not all that easy there either, since they're all eating mama's cooking at home). When I was a teenager, one of the women wrote a cookbook that I think had about a hundred copies printed and my step-mother, who was tired of cooking for me, got me one, complete with the author's signature.


It's one of my greatest treasures.


What are some of yours?

The Thursday Three

Suggested by pixelpi and Jo, today the topic is


My Very Own ER Experiences


I've actually had more ER visits than these, but they weren't terribly exciting. I missed a big chunk of my ninth grade year because of a temperamental appendix that turned out to be something completely different, I've had more than one serious dog bite, I pulled a sliding closet door off of the track and onto my poor little foot...the list goes on. I'm sure my mother will remember things I've totally forgotten. I don't think I was terribly accident prone as a kid, but I guess I was accident prone enough.


But in the interest of keeping things lively, the three I'm picking are a good cross section of my life. One embarrassing, one stupid and one having to do with a kid. Ladies and gentlemen...this is my life.


#1. The embarrassing one. When I was in college the first time, I was a waitress. I was working full time and going to school full time and my social life was...full. I was exhausted most of the time, but was too stupid to cut back on anything. When I caught the really nasty viral bug that was going around, it never occurred to me to call in sick for my ten hour Friday night shift, since that's where the tips were. And it certainly never occurred to me to turn down the coffee cup full of kamikaze the lecherous bartender gave me to "help me feel better".


I was about three hours into the shift when I keeled over and bought myself the only ambulance ride of my entire life. I made quite a sight being taken out of a full cocktail lounge on a gurney, maroon dirndl uniform all askew. And while I can't absolutely prove it, I'm pretty sure that in an old hospital chart in Pasadena, California I have the words Alcohol On Breath on file. And the fact that the virus laid me out for over three weeks didn't make me any less humiliated.



#2. The stupid one. I had been married two months, and one of the wedding gifts was a wonderful set of carbon steel knives. One morning, in my usual start of the day fog, I was feeding my Amazon parrot before I raced off to work. I was in a hurry to fill his fruit dish and I somehow managed to cut through a jicama toward myself and through my left hand. The knife went into the fleshy area between my thumb and index finger all the way to the bone, where it stopped, leaving my thumb pretty much blowing in the breeze.



This episode really is a blog post all its own, but it can be summed up this way: four hours of microsurgery, almost two hundred stitches, two days in the hospital and the inability of my entire family to keep a straight face whenever they hear the word "jicama". Or "carbon steel knives" for that matter. In ER terms, this was the first (and only) time the triage nurse has ever jumped up as I walked through the door and taken me back immediately, leaving a trail of blood in my wake.


(I still get a lot of mileage out of this story at work. My hand never hurt until after the surgery, not even the tiniest bit. The surgeon explained to me that hands usually don't hurt after massive trauma because there are so many nerve endings that the endorphins fly out of the gate pronto. I always ask people who have hurt their hands and the answer is almost always the same: no pain at all. It's really interesting).



#3. The one having to do with a kid. I was in my last semester of nursing school and one of our final assignments was, of all the ridiculous things, to observe for a day at a day care center. My best bud and I had signed up for the same day and I ended up driving in with her since my car was in the shop. It had been drilled into our heads that this was not something that could be rescheduled or not completed. (Nursing school is all about mental games that leave you slightly traumatized and not a little feeble minded).


While we were having our lunch halfway through the day, I checked my phone and found a message from the school nurse. This is how NOT to leave a message for a parent: RC, this is the nurse at Surfer Dude's school. He's had an accident. CALL ME. My next message was from the FG whom she had called next, saying they were on the way to the hospital but that Surfer Dude was (mostly) okay. And the third message (also from the FG) was that he had a broken clavicle from showing off and turning somersaults on concrete during reading circle.


And I couldn't get there. I was stuck in a stupid day care center, without a car, while nursing students from another school took care of my baby in the ER where I would eventually work. By the time I got home, he was already in bed, knocked out from the percocet. It absolutely and totally sucked and I hated every minute of it.


Well, there you have it. Now it's your turn. We want to hear your ER stories. Pretty please?

The Thursday Three

Maybe it's been American Idol, maybe it's the fact that my iPod has been running constantly lately, maybe it's even the Paul McCartney/Heather Mills financial judgment, but whatever the reason I've had the Beatles on my mind lately.


I adore the Beatles and always have, so this is not a bad place to be. Some of my very favorite songs ever are Beatles songs, and god knows there are enough amazing ones to choose from. Seriously, what percentage of their songs is considered "classics"? Very, very high. Which makes me a complete misfit to list


Beatle's Classics I Don't Really Like


1. I Want to Hold Your Hand. Love the sentiment. Love the message. Just don't like the song. Don't know why. And it's not that I don't like their bouncy, upbeat songs, because I do. Just not this one.



2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. There are so many other songs in this collection that are, to me anyway, so much better (She's Leaving Home, A Day in the Life). I realize this is an iconic song for an entire generation. But I'm still not crazy about it.



3. Yesterday. Please direct all hate mail to my email address rather than showing up on my front doorstep. I'm well aware that this is one of the most beloved Beatles songs around, but it leaves me cold. They did so many really poignant things that didn't seem to be trying quite so hard. It's pretty enough, I guess. It just doesn't move me.


Which Beatle's songs don't move you?

The Thursday Three

I have to thank you all again for the fun Thursday Three ideas you gave me a couple of weeks ago. I'm all for anything that keeps me from having to think too hard at the moment, so let's run with one of them. Kindly contributed by Angela at the Lurchers, let's talk about



Favorite Pizza Toppings



I have this vague idea that I've done something a lot like this, but so what? I can talk about pizza all day.




#1. Veggies. Name the veggie and I'm all over it. Except for eggplant, which for some reason I can't stand. Peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach, zucchini...yum. Especially the mushrooms. If they're wild it's even better.


#2. Feta cheese. The best pizza I ever had in my life was a thin crust feta and shrimp in San Francisco and I still think of it from time to time. I don't do the shrimp very often, but I do like feta. There's a place near us that does a killer feta and spinach pizza. I could eat the whole thing.


#3. Artichoke. Are you sensing a theme? I don't like pepperoni or sausage or ham. So that leaves me with limited options. But I love every one of them. Artichokes and mozzarella - double, even triple mozzarella. Throw on a bunch of red pepper (on any pizza I eat) and life is good.


Let's hear about your favorite pizza toppings. And I promise that by next week I'll be back to my usual smart ass self. Scout's honor.

The Thursday Three

Well, thanks to the landslide of ideas last week, I'm not going to run out of T3 topics for quite a while. I loved the variety and can't wait to get to them all. But to illustrate a list no one brought up (Three reasons why I'm a pain in the ass), I'm going with something that's been running through my head lately.

Don't ask me why. I have no clue.


Best Chick Flicks Ever



Those of you who have been around since the beginning (all four of you) will recognize this as recycled. As a matter of fact, it was the very first Thursday Three ever and I was thrilled that it got two comments. I'm hoping we can top that this time. You can go back and read the original if you want, but the three I picked then were Dirty Dancing, Working Girl and Notting Hill. I had a terrible time narrowing it down to three, so I don't feel at all bad about doing another set.


I love chick flicks. Love. Them. In my book they're better than xanax and chocolate combined in terms of sheer mindless escapism. And who doesn't need a little mindless escapism?



#1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I can watch this movie over and over again. It cracks me up, because it reminds me so much of my middle eastern family on my dad's side. All that yelling and head slapping brings back lots of memories. John Corbett is certainly easy on the eyes. And it is hysterically funny on top of everything else.


My one quibble with this movie is that it doesn't have what I call the chick flick payoff moment. You know, the point where boy met girl, boy and girl got along, boy and girl hit adversity and then, right before happily ever after, comes the payoff moment. In Dirty Dancing it's "nobody puts Baby in the corner". In Notting Hill it's the press conference where Hugh Grant calls himself "a daft prick". The payoff moment is a big deal. And My Big Fat Greek Wedding doesn't have one. So it's not perfect. But it's darn close.




#2. Moonstruck. This is an older chick flick and if you haven't seen it you need to rent it. Now. Cher won an Oscar for it and totally deserved it. It's formulaic chick flick, but written so cleverly and acted so well that it's an absolute joy. This movie has the extra added bonus of making you crave Italian food. Grab some red wine and enjoy the surprisingly touching payoff moment, as witnessed by the entire family.

If you're a woman of a "certain age" it's even better.





#3. When Harry Met Sally. Possibly my favorite movie in the world, chick flick or not. I love this movie with a white hot intensity. Nora Ephron, the writer, is possibly the funniest woman in the world and she was robbed of her screenwriting Oscar here. I don't think there are too many people who don't know about the infamous "I'll have what she's having" scene, but the whole movie is that funny.


The cast is amazing. Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. Directed by Rob Reiner. I hate the word perfect, but sometimes you have to make an exception.


Just in case you missed it -



Alright, people. Let's hear yours. Can we top two comments?

The Thursday Three

I've been trying to come up with a Thursday Three idea all day and I'm totally stuck. Everything I think of seems kind of stale or stupid or I'm afraid I've done something almost exactly like it already.

It's tempting to recycle some of these topics now that there are so many newer people reading, but I feel like that's cheating in some way.

So, I need some help. I need topic ideas and I'm willing to bet that you bunch can come up with a pile of them. All ideas happily accepted - the wilder and wackier the better. Cool and calm is fine, too. I've never been called picky before and I don't plan on starting now. (Okay, I have been called picky before, but I won't be now. I promise).

It's been a crazy week. By the time it's over I will have worked five out of six days. Surfer Dude is in the final throes of rehearsal for his play, so there's a lot of late night carpool pick-ups. (And cranky kids from not enough sleep. Adults, too). I need an indwelling caffeine IV.

That's why I'm calling my lifeline. That's you.

The Thursday Three

This week's Thursday Three is going to break from the norm a little bit. And it's not because I can't think of a list topic or a good idea to make everyone jump in with an opinion. Honest. It's not. It's just that this is a perfect time for the blogging firm of Grovel, Acknowledge and Glee to make an appearance. Ready?



#1. Grovel. I'm taking the easy way out here, because I'm tired of writing a gazillion comments on all your blogs saying "I'm catching up. Sorry for my absence. Nothing personal. Love you loads" - over and over and over. (And I'm still trying to catch up). A lot of new people have popped in here lately and, even though I always make it a point to personally say "Welcome!!" - I haven't. I even got the first comment ever from Graham Cracker, who I know for a fact has been reading since Day One - and I never even acknowledged it. A fellow blogger whom I adore sent me an email asking for a favor (that I absolutely intended to do) and I totally spaced out on it. And am too embarrassed to even contact and apologize. Bad RC. Bad! My mother raised me better than that. I really am sorry.



I'm sure most of you have figured out that there's been trouble in my paradise. Gee. And that makes me so special. In my regular blog surfing there are people going through all kinds of crap on a daily basis. Premature babies in the ICU. Health worries. Job security fears. Teenage children trying to take out their parents on a daily basis. Marriages in crisis. Derelict dogs. Name it. We're all going through something.


Maybe I should follow my own advice and Get Over It.


I'm going to be fine. Life really does go on. Bless all of you for caring.


I'll stop whining now.




#2. Acknowledge. When I posted those wonderful headers of Carolyn's yesterday, I never imagined the response. It was amazing. As soon as I get a chance I'm going to sit down and make a little tally of the choices. Stay tuned for the final answer.


I was particularly pleased with the opinion that I couldn't lose no matter which one I picked. Because that's certainly the thought that I had. It was like an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet. How can you go wrong with that?


And even though Carolyn tells me no thanks are necessary, I have to say it one more time. You should all go over and check out her blog. It's beautiful and fun and she always has interesting sites linked that I would never find in a million years.


I also have to thank Jackie at mother's pride for giving me permission to "nick" the fabulous marriage graphic above. She comes up with the most fabulous retro graphics - just the sort of thing I adore - and she's very generously sharing. If you haven't checked her out yet I highly recommend it. Mwah!

So thank you all. Acknowledgments complete.



#3. Glee. If anyone remembers the two installments of RC/RN, I mentioned my best friend from nursing school in passing. We met the very first day of anatomy class and, like some freakish beacons of type A angst, bonded immediately. And permanently. On paper we couldn't be more different. In spirit we were twins. She was a major factor in my survival during that three years.


We always said we would work together, but it never happened. She signed on at her local hospital and I went to the Trauma Center grail that I had been after. She always said she wanted to be in ICU. I said I though ICU would be dull and boring. I coveted ER. She thought ER would be chaotic and out of control.

I became an ICU nurse. She became an ER nurse. Should have seen that coming.


I switched hospitals. She stayed put. But after I switched I started a typically subtle campaign to get her to make a move. I begged. I argued. I probably even whined. And to be fair, she wanted to be at the hospital I'm at. But there were no openings with the hours she needed. Until last month.


So today something is happening that I have fantasized about for years. When I walk onto my unit for my shift - she'll be there. Scrubbed and ready to go. After living in each other's pockets all through school we finally get to work together as professionals. For years we told each other that if we could just survive we would be fabulous nurses. And now we get to do it together.


I give her a week to get used to the layout. And then I'll be eating her dust.


I can't wait.

The Thursday Three

Well, well...it's February 14th. It's a perfect day to talk about


Holidays I Just Don't Get


I know I'm out of sync with a lot of things. I don't care for football, I've never seen Grey's Anatomy and I don't understand certain holidays. I mean, I understand them. I just don't get them.


#1. Valentine's Day. Surprise! It's a day that is manufactured to make you feel like crap, in my opinion. If you're in the first bloom of love, there's huge pressure to make it spectacular and special. If you've just broken up, it's guaranteed to make you miserable. If you're married, it's just one more day that society tells you to buy flowers and prove how much you love someone. Well, hell, if tulips could do that we'd all live in Holland.




I guess I have issues with holidays where we're all supposed to "prove" how much we love someone. If you really love a person that much don't you try to prove it everyday?



#2. New Year's Eve. Not my holiday at all. Maybe it started all those years ago when I was a cocktail waitress and this was the holiday from hell. There's a reason it's called Amateur Night.
Or maybe it was all those years we lived on the formation route for the Tournament of Roses Parade and couldn't get in or out of our street without going through a police checkpoint. Puts a damper on celebrating in the traditional way, let me tell you. (Although it was pretty funny when we totally spaced on that one year and had (or tried to) a New Year's party. No one could get through the checkpoints and we never tried that again).

I love the New Year idea of taking stock of your life and getting a fresh start. I just don't know why society expects me to be hungover when I'm doing it. If I make it home alive in the first place.


#3. Mother's Day. Okay, hear me out before you start throwing things. I'm a mother, for god's sake. And I'm a daughter. And a daughter-in-law. And I still have issues with this holiday.


This goes hand in hand with #1. I don't like feeling like I have to go out and buy something "meaningful" just to prove how much I love my mother. I adore my mother, which I think is a matter of public record. And I'm a crappy present buyer, which makes it even worse. As far as my own kids and what they get me for Mother's Day, well...it feels a little forced sometimes. Sure, it's nice to get things they've made for me, but they do that anyway. Breakfast in bed is always a treat, but lately Surfer Dude has been bringing me coffee in bed every morning just because...and I want to kiss him to smithereens when he does. He's doing it because he wants to, not because Hallmark told him to.


Okay, people. Let's hear your two cents.

The Thursday Three

I don't know what it is about winter and food. But when it's cold and gross outside, food takes on a whole new meaning. Comfort. And what's more comforting than pasta? But, like the basic black dress, it's all about what you do with it.


Favorite Pasta Sauces


I'm not sure you can do much wrong with pasta, but here are my favorites. I'm not mentioning marinara, my all time fave, because it's a little plain jane for T3. (Even though it's what I eat 95% of the time!)



#1. White clam. I love white clam sauce on linguini or fettucine. I used to have a really fast five minute clam and lemon sauce recipe that I loved, but it never really flew with the kids and got ditched as a result. I should really track it down because it was really easy and really good.



Like the good coastal raised girl I am, I have to mention that anything with clams is twice as good with scallops. In Kansas, however, I'll stick with clams. Canned.







#2. Puttanesca. How can you not love a sauce named for hookers? Really? This is a very spicy sauce, loaded with capers, olives, red pepper flakes and (don't gag) anchovies. For someone who is as squeamish about meat as I am, I have no rationale for why I love anchovies so much. Oh, well. Predictable is not my middle name.

















I almost never make this at home, but I do a down and dirty version without the anchovies. It's still pretty good. If I do say so myself.



#3. Mushroom. My mother's mushroom sauce. The one that I cannot seem to pull off. I've watched her a zillion times and still can't do it. I'm convinced that she sends me out of the room on a fool's errand and then throws in something bizarre like pineapple juice or ketchup behind my back.





















It looks simple. Melt some butter and olive oil together and throw in a bunch of garlic. Saute for a minute and toss in a huge pile of sliced button mushrooms. Cook 'em down for a sec and then add a bunch of broth and let it simmer. It's a really soupy sauce. Pour it into a bowl over some pasta. Grate some cheese on top and slurp it down. Let it settle for a few minutes and go back for seconds. It's that good.



Alright, I'm done. I'd like to hear about your favorites.


And I promise next week's list won't be about food.

The Thursday Three

If you're going to be surrounded by something frozen it should at least taste good.


What are your



Favorite Ice Cream Flavors?




There are a lot of flavors that I like depending on my mood, but these three always (but always) hit the spot.

#1. Mint Chocolate Chip. My very favorite flavor. I try to not buy this because I have such unlimited capacity for it. Baskin Robbins is my favorite, but I'm up for any of it. Perfect on its own, but if you pour some hot fudge on top of it, it transcends description.






#2. Peanut Butter Cup. I think I've been pretty open about my peanut butter addiction. If Skippy ever starts a 12-step program, I'll sign up immediately. Or maybe the next day. This ice cream is so good because you get swirls of peanut butter and caramel (another of my favorite things) in each bite, but then you have frozen Reese's Peanut Butter cups to make it truly decadent.





#3. Heath Bar Crunch. I love toffee. It's just like hard caramel. Only better. This ice cream has swirls of caramel (are you sensing a theme?) and big chunks of Heath Bar toffee all jumbled in. At Dairy Queen my favorite Blizzard is a Heath Bar Blizzard. Mmmm. Toffee.



As much as I love chocolate I don't like chocolate ice cream. The only exception to that is the best ice cream flavor I've ever eaten, which I don't think exists any more. At least not in California where I had it to start with. It was at an ice cream store named Swenson's and the flavor was called Swiss Orange Chip. It was dark chocolate ice cream with orange flavored chocolate chips in it and it was to die for. Before they opened a store in Pasadena, my main reason for wanting to get my driver's license was to drive to West Hollywood and get a Swiss Fix.


Ah, to be seventeen again.

The Thursday Three

I'd be lying if I said I was a huge Heath Ledger fan, but the idea of someone so young and full of promise dying bothers me enormously. And since we live in a society that often appears to be driven by Hollywood, this story is simply everywhere. Of course, the fact that it was so unexpected just adds to the emotion. It has made me think about


Celebrity Deaths That Hit Home


I'm sure my shallowness will show here, too, but I don't remember any big political assassinations - they were before my time (or at least my memory). So, while I suppose you could make the argument that my choices are all fluff, I absolutely disagree. I was completely beside myself when all three of these very special people died.



#1. Diana, Princess of Wales. Might as well start out big. Like a good chunk of the world I spent a week in front of my television sobbing. It wasn't just that she was a princess, or beautiful, or the most photographed woman in history. It was the fact that even with all the adulation she was a human being with very human problems. And it was also, for me, a weird kind of alternate parallel.

We were born almost exactly two weeks apart. We were both the product of early divorces. We were both nail biters. We both bore sons. And other than those similarities not one thing was the same, except that I can immediately place what was going on in my life by simply referencing hers. I watched her wedding from a place in my life that was pure chaos. Her life began to (publicly) unravel right when mine started to stabilize. Her boys were teenagers when she died. I had just given birth to my third child. Her death devastated me. I have trouble even now just watching The Queen. And I still think there are some people (who shall remain nameless) who need to be slapped.




#2. John Lennon. I was in college and a friend called hysterical, saying that John Lennon had been shot. Pre-internet, we all turned on the radio to hear Imagine on half the stations in the free world. (The other half were playing Starting Over). I watched the candlelight vigils and listened to people singing outside the Dakota with tears running down my own face. It was awful.

I'd always been a Beatles fan and I'd always loved John. And George. I was never much of a Paul girl and I'm not even going to get into the Ringo argument. But John was cool. He was witty and opinionated and willing to stick up for his beliefs. I loved the post-Beatles work he had done and, being too young to really get the whole Yoko thing as it was happening, thought they had a wonderfully intense relationship.

I remember my barely reformed hippie Journalism professor coming to class sobbing and telling us all to expect a "rock and roll royalty funeral." But of course there wasn't one. That just wasn't what Lennon was about.




#3. Steve Irwin. Yes, the Crocodile Hunter. You have to remember that I have three boys, and I have spent an enormous part of my life living through their various phases. Some (Barney, Teletubbies and Power Rangers) are best forgotten as soon as possible. But others, like the Crocodile Hunter, I really enjoyed. He was so joyous in what he did that he was infectious. Yeah, he was kind of a hyperactive dork, but in an incredibly skillful way, he was able to take something totally foreign and make it accessible.

And of course, being an animal lover, his message of wildlife preservation was one I agreed with one hundred percent, even if it was easy for me to agree with - not having any crocodiles or pit vipers in my own backyard. The fact that he married an American woman who was just as accomplished and adventurous as he was made me very happy. And I totally credit him with giving me the courage to face up to my reptile fears, a feat that has made my last ten years much easier to deal with. We've had assorted lizards and geckos, although I still draw the line at snakes. Let's not take this tolerance thing too far, okay?

I think the world is a lot less enthusiastic without Steve Irwin.

The Thursday Three

Time has been a major issue around here lately. As I'm sure most of you know all too well, sometimes it's impossible to catch up, much less get ahead. I had a lot of time to ponder this Wednesday at my regularly scheduled six week hair appointment. As I sat wrapped in foil I thought about


Indulgences


My definition of this is a little on the loose side. I mean things that you really love, but that come with some sort of a cost - either financial or time or health or any number of other things. They're usually worth it, but sometimes you have to think hard to remember why.



#1. Color weaves. My big indulgence. Maybe it's because I've hated my hair most of my life. Maybe it's because I'm grey before my time. Maybe it's because I've finally started to really like my hair. Whatever the reason, I spend a lot on my hair. My hair is medium brown with streaks of copper, butterscotch and cinnamon and I love it.

What I don't love is the time involved. I'm on a six week schedule - one short appointment and the next one long. Some days, like yesterday, it's time I don't have, and there are a million things I really should be doing instead.

And yet there I sit, with my foil covered head...not giving a damn.

(this is not my hair, by the way).




#2. Fresh flowers. I like fresh flowers. My mom always has a house full of them and I'm a little spoiled by it. But year round flowers in Kansas is a different proposition than year round flowers in California. We're talking pricey.


I do buy them, just not all the time and not as many as I'd like. The FG has been known to show up with an armful of them just because (like earlier this week, as a matter of fact). He banks these Brownie points for a rainy day.


And you know what they say about rain and flowers.





#3. Non-local produce. On one level I really love the idea of eating locally as much as possible. And we do. But the thought of giving up certain things makes limiting myself to only local things impossible.


Meyer lemons
Persimmons
Avocados


I bought a bag full of Meyer lemons last week. They were only slightly less expensive than my haircolor.

But, man, they were out of this world.

The Thursday Three

Well, it's a New Year and you know what that means...


New Year's Resolutions!


Yeah, yeah, I know. Most well-intentioned resolutions last about as long as celebrity rehab, but still. Hope springs eternal and all that jazz. So, as a cockeyed optimist, here is my list for 2008. If things go well I'll keep you all updated. If you don't hear another word about any of these things, well...there's always next year.



#1. Be a better me. Get healthy. Lose weight. Remember to take my vitamins and put on moisturizer every day. Take a little more care with my appearance so I don't look like ass half the time. (Three quarters?) Try to not leave the house in my pajamas. Grapple with the fine art of moderation. Laugh more and worry less. Live in the moment. Enjoy every day. Or at least most of them.




#2. Step out of my comfort zone with my writing. I'm not entirely sure what I mean by this, so I suppose the first step is to figure that out. But I do know that somehow in the last year I've gained some confidence in my writing. Now I just have to see where it goes - if anywhere. Starting this blog was a huge step out of my comfort zone. Now I'm going to push the envelope. Somehow.






#3. Landscape my yard. Not the whole damn double lot, but at least start the front. Expect lots of cussing and crying, because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. But I'm going to learn, and I'm going to do as much of it myself as I can. I can't afford to pay someone to do it and it isn't something the FG has the slightest interest in, so that leaves...moi. All advice gratefully received. If you have a curse filter on your computer, install it now. You'll need it.



What are your resolutions for 2008?

The Thursday Three

This week it's all about the

Eye Candy!!

You all know what I mean. The films that please the eye just as much (and usually more) than should be legal, no matter what the rest of the film is like. Some might call these Chick Flicks, which just may be my favorite genre. But they don't have to be. I'm sure men have their own versions of eye candy movies. (My husband's include anything having to do with Ellen Barkin, for instance).


BUT...all of the movies on my list are actually decent movies on their own. The visuals simply make them better.



#1. Pirates of the Caribbean (either the original or the sequel). Orlando Bloom. Keira Knightly for those who like female eye candy. And...


Johnny Depp. Sigh. Normally I wouldn't go for a guy who looks better in eye makeup than I do, but this is no regular guy. He can borrow my mascara any old time he wants to.


Johnny Depp. Sigh. I don't know how anyone who looks that skanky can look that good. Anyone see Chocolat? The man doesn't have a bad angle on him.


I have to stop now. The room is spinning.


When the first movie came out my mom and I took my kids to a multi-plex theatre to see it. (One of the few "kids" movies I've actively promoted going to see). At the last minute Surfer Dude decided it would be too scary and that he didn't want to see it. As luck would have it, Mr. Bean (with Rowan Atkinson) was playing at the same time and that's what SD wanted to see. Well, he was too young to go alone and he wanted me to go with him. My mom took the other two to see Pirates and I went to see...Mr. Bean.


If that isn't mother's love I don't know what is. And don't think I've ever let him forget it.





#2. The Italian Job. I would be hard pressed to think of a movie I sat down to watch with lower expectations that I enjoyed so much. This is a really fun film and I highly recommend it. It's fast, it's clever and it's pretty funny to boot.
It's also absolutely beautiful, both the locations and how it's shot. (That's the Mrs. Film Geek opinion anyway).

And then there's the cast. Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and Seth Green (who may be my favorite in the whole thing, because we all know that I have a taste for nerds). To even it all out and bring in the other demographic there's Charlize Theron.
To say that she holds her own against a testosterone charged line-up is an understatement.


This movie even provides a hint of what Keifer Sutherland will look like in a few years, thanks to a small role by Donald Sutherland. (I think I prefer him now, thanks).





#3. Love, Actually. Right. Like this is a surprise to anyone. Just so we're totally straight on this - I actually love this movie. Not just like, not strong affection. I. Actually. Love. This. Movie. It is the perfect Christmas film.

Okay. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the candy. In a nutshell here's my opinion - if you can't find someone in this film who moves you somehow - you're dead. This is a classic example of something for everyone.

It's hard to know where to even start. Colin Firth. Liam Neeson. Alan Rickman. Swoon. Laura Linney. Keira Knightly. Emma Thompson- who I might even switch teams for. Amazingly enough, this is just the A-team of actors in this film. There are many more still to come.


And Hugh Grant. Don't even start - you've all made your opinions very clear to me on this, especially you British babes. But I can't help it. It's a sickness I can't get rid of. (Not that I want to, as much as I love you all and respect your opinions). He pretty much hits all cylinders in my book, although I could certainly do without the dancing. But still...


I'm now pausing for a short break in this Thursday Three to say that from here on out I'm through apologizing and I'm PROUD of my unpopular little fixation. So DEAL WITH IT!! Ahhh...I feel better now.










































Just disregard the bottom one, okay? 'Kay.

Now...back to the original topic...














Then there's the rest of the cast. Eye candy across the board. The actor who plays Karl, the art director that the Laura Linney character lusts after? Pictured ever so sweetly above.

Grrr..... Brother? What brother?

This is the one bad part of the film, because I always shout at the screen - TURN OFF YOUR PHONE!!!! It's painful to watch. The scene. Not him. He looks just fine. Doesn't hurt my eyes a bit.



And just for laurie, who commented "oh, and the only eye candy for me? Ciaran Hinds. you'd better post a big picture of him with your thursday three. hopefully, wearing that gigantic and absurd hat he wore in "persuasion," the best chick flick of all time bar none. in my book, you only need a thursday One this week. persuasion."

Couldn't find a shot with the hat, but I may have to check this movie out. If the picture is any indication...