What Would Jane Austen Do?

... Onomatopoeia Ack Boom Click Drip Eek Fizzle Gulp Hiccup aIiiieeee Jingle Kerplunk Lug Meow Neigh Oink Pow Quack Ribbit Splash Tweet Ugh Vroom Wham Xcksh (yes I made that up) Yelp Zap

Reading Watching Adhering to (whatever the hell that is)

Reading "The boy rides up. The boy rides up and up." That brings back memories... Watching Playing

One of my very favorite writers. Some quotes: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. There used to be two kinds of kisses. First when girls were kissed and deserted; second, when they were engaged. Now there's a third kind, where the man is kissed and deserted. If Mr. Jones of the nineties bragged he'd kissed a girl, everyone knew he was through with her. If Mr. Jones of 1919 brags the same everyone knows it's because he can't kiss her any more. Given a decent start any girl can beat a man nowadays. In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day. The victor belongs to the spoils. Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues. I hear you were seen running through Portugal in used B.V.D.'s, c...

Intriguing . (be sure to read the comments) hat tip: not martha

Reading Watching (do not EVEN get me started) Listening to (involuntarily -- why is this song on heavy rotation?)

Reading Playing Listening to

Read ye the full text of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island , available online. Read ye more on Blackbeard and the Queen Anne's Revenge . Cook ye some pirate victuals . Aye, there's even a song (MP3) and videos . Watch as Monty Python unfurls its Expedition to Lake Pahoe: But best of all is me hearties Eric Idle and George Harrison:

Pirate Sayings Aye Avast Alow and aloft Ale Boatswain Blades (bad men) By the powers of … Coxswain Crew Clapped eyes Dash Doubloons Dog Devil to pay and no pitch hot Even keel Flotsom Grog Guineas Hearties I’ve a mind to… In irons Jetsom Keel Lad Larboard Lubbers Matey Nay Old salt took to it like Pitch double Quick Quarters Rolling in a coach Starboard Shipshape and seaworthy Sponging for rum Shiver me timbers Talon Tack about Unfurl Victuals Walk the plank Weigh anchor X marks the spot Yarn Ye Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum Zounds!

Reading Watching Playing with

Well, we can't go a whole day without a food post, can we? I decided that I wanted to feed the kids eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. That's when Letitia told me about egg muffins, which I found a recipe for at Kalyn's Kitchen . I liked the idea of egg muffins, but not the rigamarole of baking and then freezing them. As I may have mentioned (endlessly), I don't use my oven on days when we're running the air conditioner. [Yes, this amounts to 6 months of the year.] Also, Kalyn's recipe just seemed like it involved extra steps -- after all, eggs cook well in the microwave. So today we gave it a shot. First I sprayed a silicone muffin pan* with Pam. Then I scrambled some eggs and poured them into the pan and added cheese, turkey lunchmeat and chopped green onions. I nuked the muffins for 3 minutes. The result was pretty good. I still need to tinker with cooking times, because some of the muffins cooked much faster than the others. If you try it, be su...

Reading Watching Listening to (thankfully, not while I'm around)

I'm afraid my dear friend Letitia is suffering from a disease called bentomania . In the last two days she has purchased bento boxes for herself, her two children and my two children. Check these out -- and be sure to tell me if bentomania is contagious. Hello Kitty bento box, which Letitia bought for Becca at Dollar Tree. Blue Dragon bento box , which Letitia should buy for her boys. And the ever-resourceful Letitia found this Lock & Lock beauty (w/o bag) at Target. Bento enablers: Lunch in a Box Flickr Group: Bento Boxes J-List In related news: I seriously need a rice cooker.

Watching (as ever) Reading

Reading Newly obsessed with Listening to Are you impressed with my hip tastes in music yet?

Today is the 100th anniversary of Neiman Marcus! To celebrate, I think you need to check out some Helen Corbitt recipes. How about monkey bread with strawberry butter, orange s oufflé , or poppy seed dressing? Nom nom nom.

Superbad

From an article in NYT on philanthropy: At the other end of the political spectrum, Grover G. Norquist, whose Americans for Tax Reform lobbies for lower taxes, suggests taxing nonprofit hospitals that cannot demonstrate that they provide significant care for the poor. “I’m not aware of anything they do that a for-profit hospital doesn’t do in terms of providing free care,” Mr. Norquist said. [Once again, politics makes for strange bedfellows.]

Via Kottke (welcome back, Kottke!) comes this chart at BenFry.com comparing major league baseball teams' total payroll versus team performance this year. Big winners include Cleveland and Arizona; the biggest loser so far is the White Sox. The Astros are definitely on the losing side. I'm not clear on whether the payroll figure is just team salaries or if it includes front office folks. I can see where it would cost more just to staff the New York and Boston teams, though perhaps not enough to make a statistical difference?

So it turns out that Target is a great source for fuck-me pumps. Check out these: Or, if you don't want to talk about fucking (hi Cayce!), check out these:

Listening to Shaking his head about

Hurray, it's fall (technically)! This is what I'm looking forward to: going to a high school football game Rosh Hashanah -- Sept. 12 or so (I can't figure out which day is for the eating ) corduroy all the apples at Central Market temperatures that only reach the high eighties new episodes of 30 Rock (season premiere October 4) Oak Forest Fall Festival -- Oct. 27 Halloween and our Halloween party Nonnie turning 30 on November 3 Thanksgiving, but especially the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Anything you would add?

Playing Reading Reading ( Uncle John introduced The Boy to the wonders of David Macaulay for his birthday)

Reading Drinking the last of Trying to recover ... my old iTunes. Any advice?

1. Presidential pocket knives (Still available: Zachary Taylor) 2. single tennis shoes 3. leather necklaces with enamel Confederate flag charms 4. the largest toenail nippers available outside a hardware store 5. decoupaged, wood-mounted portraits of Elvis and John Wayne