Things I Need, as Decided on a Saturday Morning
A mortar and pestle for herbs
A berry colander, cast in purple pottery
Someone to shade and fan me at these damn soccer games
Comment On The Road
It’s soccer tournament weekend. Therefore, Lizzie and I are in an undisclosed location in Tennessee. Yesterday, as we drove past LP field in Nashville, she said, “Hey, isn’t that the Titans stadium?” I affirmed her guess. Then she added, “Yep, I recognize the trash heaps.”
As funny as that sounded to me, because we actually had to park in the trash heaps when we went to a game up there, its terribly sad that one has to drive past these huge piles of scrap in the middle of what should be a picturesque city.
What is this thing?
Is it a veggie? A root of some sort? It’s about the size of a baseball and weighs the same. UPDATED: Never mind. It is a Kohlrabi. So, my next question is, what do I do with it?
We’ve Always Been at War with Eastasia
I’ve just seen something that skeeves me out to no end. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, to most people, but it’s creepy, and downright eerie in its similarity to Orwell’s nation in 1984.
Did you Know?
The white house administration has allowed the presidential bios hosted at http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents to be augmented with additional “facts” noting accomplishments and efforts by Obama.
Did you know?
For example: “In 2002, President George W. Bush’s State of the Union was the first to be live broadcast on the Internet. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama’s State of the Union speeches were available in an enhanced live stream version that featured infographics, charts and data side-by-side in real time with the President’s speech.”
What. The. Hell.
Did you know?
“We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.”
Did you know?
It’s crap like this, combined with the likes of observation drones within our own borders, that we allow to creep ever into our lives, until we have absolutely no freedoms remaining, because we believe government wants to help us.
Beastie Glasses
One of the problem with those adorable wine charms that are supposed to tag your glass so you know it’s yours after setting it down at a party, is that one can just as easily forget which charm was chosen as to misremember what color lipstick may have left on the glass, especially if one tends to consume the beverage in said wine goblet.
I saw a crafty project that solves the problem for real: Chalkboard stems. Basically, you spray the base of wine glasses with chalkboard paint, and voila, instant canvas for writing of names and such. I had to try it.
Materials needed:
- 1 can of black chalkboard spray paint
- 1 set of 12 basic wine glasses (Believe it or not, these were on sale today at Bed, Bath & Beyond – half price, bitches!)
- 1 roll of Frog Brand Painter’s tape (I had some leftover from a paint job in the house. This is the BEST tape for a good straight paint line!)
- 1 drop cloth (again, I have plenty)
- 1 carton of colored chalk
- Rubbing alcohol or other fast drying solvent
- Razor blade or exacto blade
- I also purchased a few hi-ball glasses as well, but they won’t factor into the cost of the wine glass project. I just wanted to see if they would work.
Prep:
- Wipe the glasses with a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol and let dry. This will remove any oils left from handling the stems
- Wrap the painter’s tape tightly around the portion of the stem you want to keep free of paint.
- Make sure to press the seal around the painted edge to keep the paint from seeping up.
Apply Paint:
- Following directions on paint can, shake well, then lightly spray first coat. Let dry for 30 minutes or so, then apply a 2nd coat.
- Let cure for 24 hours before removing tape. Carefully remove tape from stems.
- If any paint did seep under your tape, gently scrape off with a blade.
I am not positive that condensation won’t cause the paint to peel off. So, I will let you know after I’ve had a chance to test the hi-balls.
Apply chalk, write your name, and never lose your drink again!
Oh, and these are definitely not dishwasher safe. Gently hand wash in cool water.
Show Me The Evidence: Updated
So, the NFL Player’s Association is pressing the NFL, hard, to present evidence against the suspended players involved in the “bounty” scandal for the Saints. So far, the lawyers say, nothing has been turned over, and the leadership of the NFL seems to be taking a “how dare you question authority” stance on the issue.
They are going to HAVE to present the evidence.
Some very interesting revelations have been made over the past couple of days about the so-called most “damning” statements from people in the know, some of which the suspensions are based on.
Forgive this twitter plagiarism, but I can’t explain it all, and this guy does a pretty good job in 140 characters or less. The following are tweets from this fellow, @ReidG75, on Twitter, and has a sports blog as well.
(1/several) Let’s keep score: 1) No knock-outs or cart-offs in 3 years; 2) Gregg Williams claims his admission/apology was “rephrased”
(2/several) 3) Hargrove’s declaration contains no admission of bounty program, and is completely mischaracterized by the NFL // Beth’s note: This is True, I’ve read Hargove’s declaration in full.
(3/several) 4) Ornstein’s email was not sent to Payton as claimed; it was sent to Bensel. One line of a long email referred to a bounty… // Beth: an email that mentioned the bounty program – it’s one sentence that, even when read out of context, appears to be a joke.
(4/5) …which Ornstein–basically destitute and incapable of delivering $$–says was a running joke since allegations against Favre in 09 // Beth: for those of you who don’t know, Ornstein was involved in the Reggie Bush stuff at USC and was in prison for defrauding the NFL.
(5/6) This is apparently the totality of the evidence used to justify suspending Payton for an entire season, plus all the other sanctions. // Beth: Not to mention the lost draft picks
(6/6) Lastly, remember that no other coach has even been suspended for one game prior to Payton’s suspension.
Now, because I really care about this situation, I have been following it pretty closely. It is starting to seem, more and more, that the NFL’s case is built on thin air at worst, on the word of felons at best. Which has this Saints’ fan scratching her head as to the Why? Why hand down such extreme sentences if you don’t have something to back it with?
“Because I said so,” only works with 3 year olds, and even they wise up to it pretty quickly.
Show me the evidence, Mr. Goodell.
—————————
Update: @ReidG75 has expanded on his own points at his blog.
Recent Photos
