What Would Jane Austen Do?

But really, any excuse to watch Diamond Dave is a good one.

Today is Go Texan Day throughout the city as we celebrate the kick off of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo . The Rodeo is really something else -- it completely takes over the city for three weeks. Last night started a three-day barbecue cookoff that is one of the most coveted tickets in town. Today 15 trail rides will arrive in town with hundreds of riders on horseback (rendering traffic completely FUBAR, but it's a small price to pay for such a big party). The scope of the whole event amazes me -- check out that Wikipedia entry : 19,000 volunteers, 2 million attendees, hundreds of millions of dollars spent. It seems like everybody in town participates in some way, either by dressing up, attending the events, volunteering, etc. Not to mention those two little cowpokes above.

Things My Boyfriend Says My Life as a Hot Woman , by A.J. Jacobs

...because today I conducted a junk food taste test just for you . Here are the results: Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookie Peanuts are grown in dirt, I believe. The "homestyle" element of this cookie comes from its distinctive dirt taste -- fresh-picked flavor, as it were. But what it lacks in taste, texture and nutritional value it makes up in size. It is a very large, bad cookie. Hostess Jumbo Honey Bun Tastes sort of like putting a cigarette out in your mouth. A sticky cigarette. Not recommended. Hostess even disavows them by not putting a photo on their site. Oreo Cakesters Easily the best out of this bunch. Like a Little Debbie Fudge Round, with more intense chocolate flavor in the cake part (and, obviously, white "cream" in the center instead of chocolate). Nice and chewy; a substantial snack. The package says, "three servings," which I would normally counter with a hearty "ha HA," but in this case, it is at least 1.5 servings, e...

Reading Watching

Daddy , originally uploaded by houston mamacita . Daddy was in town this weekend keeping the city safe from clay pigeons. Thanks, Daddy!

Picture via People 1. The Fug Girls wrote a book . Sorry, that's all my brain could manage this week. Fingers crossed for some awesome Fug tomorrow night!

Tina Fey is hosting Saturday Night Live tomorrow night! Thanks again Park Bench

White Whine , where white people lodge complaints. Chuck Norris Facts : "Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open."

Reading (highly recommended) Listening to (in honor of Presidents Day, naturally)

1. Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl's mother wrote homemaking books . 2. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day . 3. St. Fiacre is the patron saint of gardeners and taxicabs . 4. Francoise Gilot married Jonas Salk after she split from Pablo Picasso. ( Pink magazine, not online). 5. Billy Joel's wife is a cookbook author. (And, OMG, you should see her closet.) ( Town & Country , not online) 6. The Valentine's Day Massacre remains an unsolved mystery . 7. "I did not have 3,000 pairs of shoes. I had 1,060." -- Imelda Marcos (also from Pink ). 8. In New York, clothing and shoes under $110 are not subject to sales tax . 9. Audrey Hepburn's singing was dubbed in My Fair Lady . 10. But Rex Harrison recorded his songs during the regular filming -- not in the studio beforehand .

Valentine's bouquet , originally uploaded by houston mamacita . Emmet and Becca picked it out -- it's very pink.

Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle . (it's funny -- keep hitting the page reload button to see more of them.) via Kottke

I hope your box is full! Photo: Emmet's Valentines box

I am so scared of having teenagers. via Boing Boing

Go visit our friend SGM and play along in the Lucky Spring Shoe Guide caption contest. Here are some of SGM's entries:

There are two things I need to get off my chest: 1) The word "gift" is not a verb. It is a noun; it cannot be conjugated. Say it with me Oprah, "Gayle gave me a candle." "We gave the guests a party favor." 2) It is not within human power to "bless" anything. Humans may ask the blessing of God (or whomever), but they cannot do the blessing themselves. Let's all work together to eliminate this insidious bad grammar before Mamacita completely LOSES HER SHIT on somebody.

Watching Reading

I've been collecting these for a while -- just some fun stuff for kids online. Category I: Rube Goldberg Machines Emmet is totally obsessed with Rube Goldberg machines -- you know, those elaborate, nonsensical contraptions where one action sets off a series of other actions. HEMA -- Dutch department store website. Let the page load and you'll see all its tricks. The Cog -- a Honda commercial on YouTube Category II: YouTube Pancakes -- a longtime favorite Feist: 1-2-3-4 -- music video with great colors and dancing Lucy and Ethel at the Candy Factory Mary Poppins ' Spoonful of Sugar Also, Sweet Juniper has a good list for the preschool set. Category III: Interactive Bembo's Zoo -- making animals out of the alphabet Faces in Places -- the Flickr group's blog (that's my contribution above) Lunchtimers -- a game to play with letter magnets Jackson Pollock -- make your own Jackson Pollock design coloriage -- coloring with the mouse If you have more, leave the...

Julie has decided on a winner in our Sock Contest; actually, she renounced her own socks and chose two winners. Step right up, Uncle Miles, who suggested "Tubthumping," and Letitia, who suggested "Dancing with Myself." However, we also have an honorable mention in SGM , who suggested "Gold Digger." Furthermore, Julie needs to learn not to renounce nice things that are rightfully hers. So, lordy, that's four pairs of fancy socks. Contestants not appearing on stage receive ... my hearty thanks! Sorry, no, you cannot trade it in for a box of Rice-a-Roni. Thanks also to sweet little Julie for letting me exploit her pain. You rock, Julie!

1. There is a method to the madness of naming items at IKEA . 2. People who lose their sight sometimes have vivid hallucinations . 3. Robert Frost spent winters in Florida . 4. Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son, John . 5. Frank Woodruff Buckles is the last surviving American World War I veteran . 6. The Palace of Brussels features a mosaic composed entirely of beetles . 7. Some guy was planning a Super Bowl massacre . 8. Dwight Yoakum has his own line of chicken nuggets . 9. Kool-Aid has a line of tennis shoes out, complete with scented liners . 10. Jack Johnson recorded a song with the Black-Eyed Peas.

The trailer for the new Tina Fey movie is out! Hat tip to my new favorite blog The Park Bench ("a gathering place for nerdy women").

So today is Mardi Gras, Pancake Day and also World Nutella Day. To celebrate Mardi Gras you could make jambalaya -- below is the recipe I used on Sunday. I will be celebrating pancake day, myself (the one good reason to show up at church). If you are so inclined to celebrate Nutella day, you could make Uncle John's most excellent Nutella Cookies , too, but you'd better hurry up and eat them before Lent starts. For more Mardi Gras goodness, I suggest you visit Bayou Contessa for pictures and New Orleans Cuisine for recipes. Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya 1 pound andouille, sliced into rounds 1 onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced 5 celery stalks, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 cup rice 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained seasoning mix* 3 c chicken stock 1 pound peeled shrimp** *For seasoning mix, combine ¼ tsp cayenne, 1 tsp kosher salt, ¼ tsp thyme, ½ tsp sage, ¼ tsp dried basil, ½ tsp black pepper, and 3 bay leaves. **best to buy the shrim...

Reading Planting daffodils photo by Flickr user Sandi Marie

Quick video -- check out this high school wrestler's backflip. HT: Lady Andrea

My friend Julie is going through a break-up right now, and is in search of a Theme Song to cheer her up. I'm not really up on my music -- nothing in the Andrews Sisters' catalog seems quite right -- so I'm asking for an assist here. Any ideas for my friend? Now this has to be a kick-ass song to get her through the rest of the winter and, you know, that holiday that comes up later in the month... So let's make it a contest! Whoever finds a song for our friend will win ... the cutest pair of socks in the world! Seriously, no matter how rainy it is this spring, how could you not be happy in these rainbow striped knee socks? They're from Alex Kabbaz of CustomShirt1.com . Alex is a friend-of-a-friend, and sells the most delicious socks in the world. He sells men's socks , too, and could probably ship them to you in time for that Mid-February Holiday. If you choose the winning song, you can pick black or white, ankle- or knee-length socks. Anyway, contest...

1. Chef MIMAL resides in the Midwest: look at the outlines of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana and you'll see the chef in profile. (HT: Papi and Neogaf ) 2. Sesame Street has won 109 Emmys . 3. Nine-party coalitions are fragile . 4. The word robot is Czech . 5. Jackson Pollock studied under Thomas Hart Benton . 6. Congress paid $23,950 for the 6,000+ volumes in the Thomas Jefferson library in 1815 . 7. San Francisco used to be called Yerba Buena . 8. Sound waves can extinguish flames . 9. Scotty from Star Trek (James Doohan) was in the Normandy invasion on D-Day with the Royal Canadian Artillery. 10. Only the U.S. and the Philippines have commercial bail bondsmen . Image: UC-Denver

starring the Andrews Sisters! For Uncle John .

George Clooney , originally uploaded by houston mamacita . Yowza -- I doubt I'm up for this, but maybe you are: AMC is having a special on February 23 where you can watch all 5 of the movies nominated for "Best Picture" for only $30. You also get a large popcorn for free and free refills all day on drinks. In those halcyon, pre-child days I would have been all over this. Here's a picture of George Clooney. I think he might be in one of those movies. Whatever.

This time they had 200 people freeze in place at Grand Central Station for a full five minutes. They did such a great job -- I don't know if I could stand so still for a full five minutes.