It’s that time of year…You know, where you can hear Big Tex calling out “Howdy, Folks!”, you can see the lights of the Tilt-A-Whirl twinkling, and you can smell the aroma of…..grease. Lots and lots and lots of grease. I have been spending more time than usual on the treadmill these days, but it was all for one purpose: Fair Food.
Some of you may not be aware of this, but each year, the Texas State Fair gives out awards for the best fried food. There are numerous categories, such as most creative, best tasting, etc., but it has to be fried. Thank God for the State Fair. This year, the roundup included Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Banana sammies, Fried Mac and Cheese, Fried Roasted Corn, Fried Cheesecake, Fried Cheese on a Stick (not what you think it would be…oh, no), and Fried Coke.
Here’s the breakdown: The Fried PBJ&B was the tastiest thing I have ever put in my mouth. Melty, gooey, peanut buttery goodness. Battered and deep-fried. Oh, yeah. The Fried Mac and Cheese was really tasty, too, but it didn’t come close to the PBJ&B. The Fried Cheese on a Stick was not your typical fried cheese. Picture a corn dog, if you will. Now replace the dog part with cheesy goodness. That’s right: it’s a vegetarian corn dog. Yummy!
Since even I have my limits, I will have to make a return trip to sample the Fried Coke (although I did see it, and it looked pretty good), Corn, and Cheesecake, but I have to say: This year’s offerings were truly spectacular. They put the Fried Snickers and the Fried Oreos to shame. Not candy-ass funnel cakes for me, no sir. You can keep your turkey legs and your sausage on a stick (although I did actually have sausage, too). Give me the weirdest fried crap you can think of, and I’ll eat it. Now, back to the treadmill (and it should be mentioned that we’re having really bland Poached Chicken tonight).
Suck it Trebek! Starting November 8, Celebrity Jeopardy is baaaaaccckkk!! Sadly, Sean Connery will not be participating.
I am the only person I know who can fall asleep while getting her eyebrows waxed. Seriously.
Following last week’s big announcement, I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with something to occupy my time. Alas, I have absolutely nothing in my head except adoption stuff. I’m fairly certain that’s normal, but still. I really, really, REALLY need to get a hobby that will allow me to get my mind off the seemingly endless wait. Somehow, All My Children and the residents of Pine Valley aren’t going to be enough to get me through.
In other news….oh who am I kidding. There IS no other news. I’ll just be over here, twiddling my thumbs and waiting…..
I’ve been debating for a while whether or not to share some information with the internets, but today I decided that, since it’s official, I can “go public”, at least a little bit. Deep breath. Here goes:
Kevin and I are having a baby. Some of you may know that I’ve had some struggles with fertility, and as such, we have decided that adoption is the best course for us. That’s right: no epidurals or episiotomies for me! Seriously, though….I’m not planning on discussing it here, but today, I’m just too excited to keep it in. I can’t say when, exactly, we will be able to bring our little angel home, but I can say that we’re both over the moon about expanding our family.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
September brings me many, many little joys, especially this week. Sunday marked the kick-off of premiere week on the major networks, which means no more re-runs for me. Hooray for Oprah! Hooray for Survivor! Hooray for The Amazing Race! Hooray for Rachael Ray!
On a side note, how did we ever survive without the ability to pause live TV? What did we ever do before the advent of Tivo? I grew up without cable TV, but I think that was my mother’s critical downfall, because now, my Tivo gets an extensive workout, and I can’t get enough of all the television goodness that’s out there. It keeps me up into the wee small hours of the morning, but that’s ok. I need stuff to keep me busy right now.
Or, if you live in Milan, never trust a non-anorexic model. Madrid stirred up some controversy this week by declaring that they would turn away “models whose body mass index, based on weight and height, falls below a certain level”. Good for them, I say.
Unfortunately, the fashionistas in Milan disagree with this policy, even going so far as to say that “anorexia is a rare phenomenon in the fashion world”. Uh-huh. Riiiiiiight.
We’ve heard for years that heroin-chic is out, but we have yet to see real-sized women on the runways. I personally don’t really care who is wearing what, but I think it’s high time that somebody in the fashion world made a real statement, and it seems that Madrid is doing just that.
Bottom line? Hooray Madrid. Boo Milan. And last but not least, hooray for Dove.
Let’s make sure we’re teaching our girls that curves are cool. It’s blatant drug use and anorexia that suck.
My thoughts are with your family tonight. You inspired more than you could ever know.
It’s sooooo frustrating that all but one of my friends have jobs. That means that they’re not home during the day. That means that when I have REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD NEWS I can’t call them up and tell them.
To the rest of you, stay tuned for updates, because at the end of the week, we’re gonna have a HUGE announcement.

It’s hard to believe that five years have passed. It was difficult for me to turn on the television this morning. I had to steel myself against the barrage of images I knew were waiting. No matter what your political affiliation (and believe me, we’re pretty divided in my house), no matter what your opinion is on global affairs, one thing is constant: We’re all still devasted by what happened on that September day five years ago.
They say that memory dulls with time, but I have yet to experience that particular phenomenon as it applies to such a significant event. I will never forget the sight of the towers collapsing. I will never forget the icy feeling of shock and helplessness that I felt. The world has changed an awful lot in the last five years, but one thing has remained the same: No one ever wants to feel that way again. Public opinion and support (or lack thereof) of various political agendas is all over the map, but at the end of the day, I’m pretty sure we all want the same thing.
“General opinion is starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignifed or newsworthy, but it’s always there: Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge, but were all messages of love.”
—from Love, Actually
Or is it? Anytime there’s a billboard advertsing an opportunity to “Tube the Hootch”, you know you’re in for a fun-filled vacation.