Photo of the Day

Riley stopped by to visit after her pediatrician appointment this afternoon. It was the first time I'd seen her in weeks. I got to witness first hand what I'd been hearing: Riley hasn't met a jar of fruit or vegetables that she doesn't love. And she loves her bottles. Given her mom and dad are both tall people it shouldn't be shocking that she's in the 95th percentile for height.

Let's just say, this is no petite 6 month old.

I took a bunch of photos, narrowed it down to a few on my Flickr page or Facebook, but I think these two are my favorites.




What a little stinker.

The Weekend We All Became Plumbers

The faucet has been leaking for a couple of weeks so Saturday, after a marathon mall to return something at Old Navy-car dealership for my new license plate-Starbucks for iced pumpkin spice lattes-and Moes for yummy queso session my mother and I hit up Home Depot to find a new kitchen faucet. And the supplies to replace it ourselves.

Today the four of us and Jack set about the task of changing it:


The new faucet requirements were as follows: tall enough to easily fill pitchers and stock pots, 2 handles for hot and cold instead of that singular thing we'd all come to hate, and that it not be too expensive, nor so cheap it'd break in 6 months.


2 hardware store trips, 5 hours and a bag of stuff that has to be returned to Home Depot later, I think we succeeded.


Bonus Photo: what happens when you leave a basket of warm towels sitting around at my house:


I'm just going to say it, I think chihuahuas get a bad rap for being yappy purse dogs. Because seriously, I can't imagine a life without one of these in it. In fact if I had to compile a list of reasons to own one I believe it would go as follows:

*great baby substitutes for the childless. They require just as much attention (they love to be swaddled) and they never grow up. Aka, you'll never have to pay for college.
*they could easily play the Baby Jesus in your next live nativity. Or a shepherd. Or a wise man. Basically...get one and put it in a costume, you'll see what I'm talking about.
*better guard dogs than big dogs. Seriously, Jill will cut a bitch. I'm just sayin'.

I could go on, but a dog that makes a great baby Jesus? I rest my case right there.

Quote of the Day

What we are talking about here is access to healthcare. We are talking about mothers and fathers losing their homes and their life savings trying to save their children. We are talking about families helping a loved one to fight cancer. We are talking about people suffering with diabetes, asthma and AIDS. We are not talking about death panels and for God’s sakes we are not talking about Nazi Germany. We are talking about tending to the sick and the poor… does that sound familiar to anyone? You Value Voters out there claim to read the Bible. Maybe you should crack the cover on that one again. You are so damn worried about who is marrying who and what immigrant is getting the best shift at the Taco Bell, but God forbid someone’s suffering doesn’t come with a price tag. Honestly, if I could , I would put the entire Republic party over my knee and give them a good spanking. What does it say about our country if the biggest debate of the decade is no longer about the two wars we are fighting but rather about preventing children and families from having access to affordable healthcare? I’ll tell you what it says to me. It says the Christian Right never really was and Value Voters aren’t very valuable.

--Margaret and Helen

Of Workout Clothes, Mexico and Health Care

My Old Navy order. Isn't that pathetic? I know that it seems frumpy. I know. But I promise, I broke all of my workout clothing this summer and had to replace it all. Amazing how actual working out in yoga pants, rather than just lounging, will wear them out so quickly. All these years...I had no idea.



Friday I brought home Mexican cokes. Special because Mexican cokes are still sweetened with real sugar, not the high fructose corn syrup that seems to have invaded America by storm years ago with no real plans of ever leaving. Jonathan had never had one. The bottle is perfect and slightly retro. We're both hooked for life.



I think it's safe to say I successfully grew pumpkins and gourds.

And finally, a special comment:

If you had a baby recently and were assisted in paying to have said baby by passport and then got WIC after the baby arrived and you are on food stamps I'm going to just say it: YOU HAVE NO RIGHT IN THE WORLD TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT SOCIALIZED ANYTHING. OKAY?

And another thing: if you don't think we need health care reform I don't think you should be allowed to complain about your co-payments, your high deductibles, or being denied for some service you think you deserve. It just makes you look like a gigantic hypocrite. If you're happy with the status quo then I think you should suck it up and act like it.

VMA Wrap Up

(remember when I used to blog with actual words of my own? yeah, me either)

The Queen of Pop paid tribute to the King. This was amazing. Madonna is amazing. And the similarities in their life stories is eerie. *chills, chills, chills*

MTV Shows

And then the MJ tribute. I loved the way this was done. Michael and Janet never did 'Scream' live, which is such a shame. But Ms. Jackson brought it for sure. Nicely done.

MTV Shows

And then of course there was the Kanye-Taylor thing. It was unfortunate. But I now love Beyonce a heck of a lot more than I did before:



B's 'Single Ladies' and Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' were also amazing. My favorite performance came from Pink...whose album I just can't get enough of lately. And Lady Gaga is weird...and not in that Britney/Madonna good way either.

In non-VMA-related news, I made cupcakes this weekend.



For no other reason than to test out my new huge wilton 'coupling' and 'tip' for frosting. Those delicious mounds of buttercream made my life.



Finally, I just can't get over how awesome Michael was looking again in the 'This Is It' trailer.



/sad

Very Important Radio Talk

Scene: The weekend, in Louisville, where sometime over the last few days 100.5 Louie fm became Louisville's GEN-X Radio.

Louie was decent, I didn't remember to listen to it all the time, but enough that yesterday when I flipped it on during a car ride with Jonathan I immediately realized something was different. I hadn't recalled Louie playing Jay-Z or Michael Jackson or Lauryn Hill or freakin' NSYNC.

Later at home I googled it, as I do with most of life's ponderings and found this article which says:

Clear Channel/Louisville is launching what Senior VP/Programming Jon Zellner calls a "completely new concept" of attracting 30-somethings. It's called "Gen X Radio" and it rolls out September 8 on WLGX-FM. It replaces Classic Hits WLUE "Louie 100.5." Gen X features music from the 80's and 90's and crosses cultures with hits from Grunge, Hip Hop, Hair Bands, Boy Bands with music by U-2, Eminem, Dave Matthews, Madonna and Pearl Jam.

Market Manager Bill Gentry said, "Gen X Radio is not a typical radio station. It's focused on a musical experience. Our entire product team is extremely excited and focused on making Gen X radio the best choice for Louisville."

Zellner added, "[Gen X] captures how 30-somethings listen to music and ignores genres and categories. Simply, this is the music that shaped a generation of pop music fans and we believe every song in the library will strike an emotion while generating fans, not listeners.

I'm not 30 something, but you can listen for yourself. I do believe this is what having the songs of your youth turn into 'oldies' must feel like...I kinda like it.

Further google searching led me to a FB page where I find Louie fans are terribly upset about this switch, further scrolling leads me to someone who was happy an earlier morning 'triple play' included 'All Summer Long' on Louie. To which I say, whatever:

90s pop music > Kid Rock

Am I right?

P.S. I've listened to the livestream during the making of this post and recalled all of the words to songs by the Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, U2, No Doubt and Coolio. It was like I was 12 and watching MTV at my grandma's house all over again.

P.P.S Remember when MTV played music?

P.P.P.S And just now: Dave Matthews Band followed by Wreckx-n-Effect. Need I say more?