What Would Jane Austen Do?

We're going camping (in a tent this time), and we'll be back Sunday night. Have a nice weekend, y'all!

Apartment Therapy's Fall Cure starts Wednesday, September 5. Read the book this weekend and join in.

I had an AWESOME birthday! Pictured above is some of my haul: liquor, candy, flowers, sex toys, fake hair and cake. I'm the luckiest girl in the world! Thanks, everybody!

… ways you can celebrate this most auspicious occasion: MY BIRTHDAY! Avoid work Buy yourself something nice Cooooooookkkkiiiiiiieeeeeee Don’t make your bed Eat lunch with your mom Food fight! Gluttony Holler back in the comments Ice cream for dinner Jump on the trampoline Karaoke ;-) Lust Margaritas Nudity O – the big one Parades Quiet time Read blogs all day Sloth wrap a house in T.p. skip the Underwear Voodoo Wear your favorite shoes don’t do anything hard, like think of a word that starts with X harvest the blood of a Youngster Zamboni races

"So when you go out with your friends, you're the Bluto, right?"

Reading Watching (I'll see those four in Hell.) Whining about tonight: E -- the new, one-hour daily limit on video games. But that's all I like to do! B -- not being fed a saucer of milk on the floor. But I'm a kitty cat!

Okay, I'm through being sad. Here's the big big big big news: The El Orbits are going to play our Fall Festival! For free! This morning I met Tomás Escalante, lead singer of The El Orbits and owner of Sig's Lagoon (according to the Houston Press , the best record store in Houston). It turns out Tomás' kids go to school at Oak Forest, too. Can you believe how lucky we are? Gotta stop hyperventilating. *He drops his kids off at school in a tiki-themed Art Car . For reals.

So today is Becca's first day of kindergarten, which means that they are both in school now. I thought I would be happy.

Living on the Gulf Coast means living with the occasional threat of hurricanes. One way to deal with the possibility of losing electricity and running water is to stock the freezer with some essentials. Last week my grandad gave me his old freezer, which I was SO excited about. I have now put away the following items, in case of emergency: bags of ice pesto pinwheels limoncello peanut butter pie white peach purée and in the ice box: two bottles of prosecco homemade plum-ginger jam 11 kinds of mustard So I think I've got all my bases covered.

1. Benjamin Franklin was in the crowd of spectators who watched the first humans in flight when the Montgolfier brothers launched their first manned hot air balloon . 2. Pompeii was a resort town. Okay, that's it for this week.

"There is not a better sauce for fresh vegetables than 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste." Cotton Country Collection: 1100 Collected Recipes from The Junior Charity League of Monroe, Louisiana . GUH! Now, I know a lot of people who swear by this particular book. I think it probably does have some gems inside, but that quote just jumped out at me. Like Norman Bates in Psycho . image from Lileks

1. I call bullshit on dried Italian seasoning. 2. If it has more than nine ingredients, I am not likely to make it. 3. I will not turn on my oven when the air conditioner is running. 4. Letitia is never wrong about food. 5. Bacon makes it better.

I'm back, baby! New machine arrived this morning.

What Emmet is ... Reading (out loud, by himself) Playing Sister returns tomorrow as a big five-year-old girl.

Some people think Celebrity Jeopardy is rigged. Man, if you can't trust a cultural institution like the celebrity game show, what can you trust in this crazy world ?

So you know how I told you that Becca spilled milk on my laptop and destroyed it? Fortunately all was not lost: a quick-thinking Papi Chulo rescued the machine and saved the day. Until yesterday when Emmet accidentally kicked my laptop off the bed. It's really dead this time, and it's not coming back. The new one won't be here until the 22nd. I'll try to hold off on the emo bangs in the meantime, but I can't promise anything.

To Catch a Thief is such a great movie; Rear Window would be perfect today, too. I'll have to plunder John's collection. Picture source

Reading Watching Planning: birthday party number two. More cake for mamacita!

1. It's supposed to be "big" for Fall. 2. I came across this image while browsing tonight. It makes purple seem like just the right thing -- so cool and dark -- for the dog days of Summer. A nice, deep eggplant color would be perfect.

I have a sudden, overwhelming need for more purple in my life. UPDATE: I am not the only one . Synchronicity . UPDATE 2: Purple in Paris .

1. Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, advocated "a good gulp of hot whiskey at bedtime—it's not very scientific, but it helps." (He was Scottish) 2. Nigella Lawson's mother was an heir to the Lyons Company which owned, among other things, Wimpy Bars (past) and Dunkin' Donuts (present) . 3. Eudora Welty was a photographer as well as an author . 4. I missed this before: Ryan Phillippe went out with Ashlee Simpson . But I guess we did already know that Ryan Phillippe has questionable taste. 5. Arthur Miller had a son with Down's Syndrome. ( Vanity Fair , September 2007, print only) 6. Zener cards are used to determine if a person has ESP . 7. 826 Boston, another Dave Eggers project in the vein of 826 Valencia and 826 NYC, will be fronted by a cryptozoology shop . 8. The metal part of a paintbrush is called a ferrule . 9. This American Life is looking for a web manager . 10. You can get blueprints of the Brady Bunch house online .

Yesterday was the birthday of Helen Lyndon Goff, author of Mary Poppins (under the pen name P.L. Travers). I am TOTALLY making Becca watch the movie again today. I love the music in it, and I love the story of the horrible children who are reformed. A mother can dream. Here is "A Spoonful of Sugar" for your Friday afternoon. And check out this clip from the movie, where Mrs. Banks sports the very now gray-and-marigold color scheme:

I haven't posted in two days! Things have been really busy around here. Unfortunately, this might be the pattern for a while. But I promise to post at least once a day, or your money back.

I love this image (click to see it larger): via Mr. Sexy (largely NSFW)

What Becca is reading What Becca is watching Emmet is staying with Papi Chulo's parents this week. He and Mawmaw are doing some of these experiments .

So, WTF, Astros? They just announced that Saturday is "Faith and Family Night" at the ballpark (oh, just guess which faith -- I'll give you a hint, it's not Baha'i). If that weren't bad enough, there is a pregame concert featuring a "Christian Music artist" and "testimony" by Lance Berkman. How 'bout you just try to win some fucking ballgames and leave the religion business to somebody else, eh, Astros?

The new issue of Martha Stewart Living came today; it was supposed to be my last. Every now and then I decide that I'm going to exercise a tiny little bit of restraint and cancel a subscription to a magazine (I am almost as bad with them as I am with blog subscriptions). So anyway, I was all set to quit Martha (though not Blueprint or Everyday Food -- let's not get drastic here). Anyway, long story short, Martha was all "Honey Walnut Cookies" and "White Cheddar Corn Chowder" and "oh yeah -- subscribe to MSL and Everyday Food both for one year for only $30." So we all know where this led. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Martha is now publishing an ad-free newsletter all about her life, her ideas, her CALENDAR... Dammit, Martha. If you want to share in my shame, you can subscribe here (scroll down; it's on the right, toward the bottom).

Reading Watching Writing 100 times: I will not double recipes. I will not double recipes. I will not double recipes....

Cheap Ass Food , via Gawker / Gridskipper .

In case you've been singing "You're a Peach of a Savior/ You're the Apple of My Eye" all week, here is some more Nirvana, to help balance things out: However, for those of you working real jobs, here is something more upbeat to start your weekend [I didn't realize Tenacious D was in there!]:

Letitia is the one responsible for getting that damn " Father Abraham " song stuck in my head, but at least she had the grace to send along the antidote:

According to the Farmer's Almanac, this Friday and Saturday are the best days in August to cut hay. So get on that, okay?

Burgers. Just because , that’s why. A vocado and bacon B lue cheese C afeteria burgers (what the hell were those made of?) D aniel Boulud’s foie gras burger E mu F ish burgers on Friday G round beef H awaiian-style (topped with fried egg) I n-and-Out Carl’s J r. K rystal Burger L ettuce and tomato M ushroom and swiss N inja Burger O nions P atty melt Dairy Q ueen R oyale with cheese S hort Stop (holla Cayce!) “ I’ll gladly pay you T uesday for a hamburger today ” U ndercooked V eggie W arren e X tra pickles Ro y Rogers Hein z 57 sauce

Now, I didn't say "great," just "good." Thoroughly edible. And certainly easy. I'm just passing this information along, in case you had wanted to try it but were skeptical. Next time I think I'll try to make it with Guinness -- although such tinkering usually ends up a mess. Why not leave well enough alone? Because I just can't, that's why .

Reading Playing [Why are games for adults rated "mature?" That's not the word I would use ;-)]

Reading Watching Doing: Vacation Bible School. Sorry for the light posting this week; I'm kinda busy/tired with that stuff. There is only one thing that can account for the catchiness of VBS tunes: they were actually created by Satan. I'm sure of it.