–1– Store brand cereal names. When I was little, manufacturers of generic food didn’t bother trying to snare the thrifty shopper by putting grinning strawberries or wacky breakfast raccoons on the box — it was just a white box with black letters, stating the legal nomenclature of the grain product you were about to consume. Today, however, they try and make it sound like it’s some kind of close cousin to the Real Thing, without infringing on any copyrights. Some... Read more
It’s November, it’s dark, I have to scrape the effing windshield to drive to the dump, and life is only just barely worth living until March. So let’s talk about books. I’m just coming off of a long, ugly stint with Taylor Caldwell’s ridiculous novel Answer As a Man. Oh, that woman is embarrassing. What a waste of plot! I think she took a writing class called “Show, don’t tell,” but someone told her it was Opposite Day. I’d show... Read more
Apparently it’s a whole other day today, and yet I haven’t posted anything yet. The main reason is because I’ve been spending a lot of time in here lately: But I’m working on an escape plan, and hope to be much more charming and prolific tomorrow. Read more
I have this newspaper picture framed: The article, which I believe ran in what was then the Monadnock Ledger, went like this: Junkyard owner Daniel Kingery can strip used cars, but he can’t host strippers, according to zoning board members. The board on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Kingery, who sought to run a strip club in his junkyard by calling it a “cultural facility.” He had been told by the town’s code enforcement officer to close his club on... Read more
This post originally ran about three years ago. This year, our house will be launching the following into an unsuspecting world: Harry Potter, Aphrodite, a cat, the grim reaper, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, a Pink Mummy Ghost (this is a costume which started off weird and gets more confusing each year), Ming Ming, and a confused and angry baby. You can see by the preponderance of trademarked characters that, in the three years since I wrote this piece, my... Read more
. . .what English sounds like to non-English speakers. Now, I’m not sure I know (I found the repeated use of the word “ciusol” somewhat less than convincing), but I certainly have seen something I’ve never seen before. And it’s only Wednesday. (thanks to my little brother Izzy for the link, even though he should be doing his Existentialism homework or something) Read more
Trick-or-treaters might be coming around with UNICEF donation boxes. Don’t give ’em a dime — UNICEF pushes for abortion and sterilization as part of its efforts to improve the lives of women and children. Beyond the immediate irony of that idea, it’s not even good policy. According to CatholicCulture.org (emphasis mine): Pro-family UN watchers are concerned that [UNICEF’S] disproportionate focus on unsafe abortion, based upon questionable maternal mortality figures, detracts from addressing the major health risks to pregnant women in... Read more
“How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?” Happy anniversary to us. Yes, it’s our 13th anniversary today. We celebrated on Saturday, but I can’t really go into a lot of details because (a) it was so lovely and romantic, any descriptions would totally destroy that “second-rate slob who can’t do anything right” cred, and (b) this is a family blog. Well, no it’s not, but never mind. *sigh* It was a very nice anniversary. How often can you look... Read more
1,2 button my shoe pain don’t hurt don’t sit on god big fat ladies moron inside judy drench god’s feet with eyes horshack horshack Horshack horshack lori petty Homer Price have you ever seen such cruelty “comments closed” keanu reeves fat let god decide how many children we have the movie dont start till i sit down awesome van should i be concerned about my son wearing horshack turtle joke ah ha horshack please dont hurt my arse movies lori... Read more
There is an interesting conversation going on at Inside Catholic now, stemming from the “Down Syndrome Couples” post. I just left a comment which I thought was (like everything else I’ve ever said) pretty important, and something which I did not always realize or internalize. This is what makes our beloved Church so very different from every other Church, and so durable. I don’t mean to pile onto Jason Negri — I really don’t. It’s just that the Church’s teaching... Read more
I Have to Sit Down
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