Lots of Recaps

Life Recap:

I have to order a leg of lamb. I also have to find the really spectacular menu that The Spouse and I developed for Carnevale, which is Saturday night. Yum. There will be 15 of us around the table. That's a big lamb.

This week is Catholic Schools Week, which for The Child means all sorts of dressing up and hooha. Today, for example, is Pajama Read-in Day. Everyone, even the teachers, go to school in their jammies, bring a pillow and stuffed animal and they spend most of the day on the floor reading whatever they want. (Harry Potter II in The Child's case, fyi). Yesterday was Laffy Taffy Day, where everyone was supposed to wear as mismatched and crazy an outfit as they could manage. This is what The Child looked like:


SOTU Recap:

Obama wore a gray tie. Bold move. I was surprised, but I liked it.

Clinton never once cracked a smile that I could tell. She looked very unimpressed.

Nancy Pelosi's hair is AWESOME. Have you seen her new do? Golly Moses, she looked hot. I wonder if she discovered my perfect little hair person. I wish she woulda flipped her hair last night.

Dick Cheney gives me the pips.

No one got bingo...came close but I'm a stickler. If the card reads "stimulus package" and the President calls it a "growth package" it's a no go. Same with "global warming" vs. "climate change". Oh well. It was fun and the best part is that it engages The Child. I think it is very important that she listen to the State of the Union address. It's part of being an informed citizen.

Even if you hate the person delivering the speech, even if it sounds like a fairy tale, you gotta do it. (And wasn't it a fairy tale? I kept responding, "That would be so awesome if any of your policies actually went toward accomplishing that". Idiot.)

But hey, you know what the really good news is? That is the last time we ever have to listen to a SOTU by Shrub. And next year, when the Sergant at Arms announces, "Madame Speaker, members of Congress, The President of the United States", the person who walks down the aisle to the rostrum is going to be a Democrat. I just feel it. And probably best of all, the person seated next to Madame Speaker is NOT going to be Dick Cheney. What a relief.

Dream Recap:

Last night I dreamt that I flew really close to the moon and could see the space station sitting on it. It was so cool, until I woke up and realized that there isn't a space station on the moon.

Brain Tumor Recap:

It's gone. Thank you for your concern.

Birthday Recap:

The High School Musical party was a smash. Hotdogs and chips for HSM I,and ice cream cake for HSM II

The HSM messenger bag was a big hit. We're getting her a laptop. She cried.

Hard to believe The Child is 14. And yes, she's still The Child. No matter how old she gets, she's still my baby and nothing will change that. This is a lesson I learned early, long before I was a mother. Once I was visiting my Grandma with the folks. Dame Judi had been out in the garden with her dad. When she came into the house G'ma called out, "Did you wipe your feet, Judi?"

I looked at my mother with astonishment. Here was a grown woman, mother of 4 grown children, a grandmother herself and G'ma asked if she'd wiped her feet. "You're always your mom's child, aren't you?" I asked. "Yep," DJ replied. So there you have it. Years from now I'll be vlogging about her wedding and still be calling her The Child. That's just the way it is, my puppies.

Addiction Recap:

I have been playing Sims2 like a crazy person. I have this one family, the Patton-Eisenhowers. They are amazing. 4 kids and Elinor is pregnant with their 5th. Meanwhile, their eldest, Jacqueline, has become an adult, got married to Kennedy Obama-Clinton and just gave birth to baby Erin. Meanwhile, both Bradley and Elinor are about to turn into Elders, which scares me because then they'll die and I've become very attached to them. Plus, Caroline is about to turn into an adult, with Julia not far behind. I'm afraid that Bradley and Elinor will die before little John has become a teenager, not to mention what's going to happen to the new baby (who will probably be born today).

You don't care, do you. Pft.

Multi-media Alert:

Tonight is the premiere of the Iwanski/Winter show over on Bosky Radio West. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it. It's gonna be huge, people, and finally the name of Iwanski will be a household word, as well it should be. Tune it, 7pm Central time. Show the Iwanski some love.

SOTU Recap

Best line of the night:

"I'm one 'Iran' away from bingo", uttered by The Spouse, who did in fact win. The Child and I tied for second. No one got a blackout.

The President looked like a deer in the headlights coming down the aisle. Then the talking heads pointed out that he usually speaks to friendly, hand-picked audiences. Having to address a majority of Democrats would have been a little nerve-wracking.

He gets snaps for so graciously congratulating Madame Speaker Pelosi. It was very lovely. It might have been nice if he'd gone one step further and acknowledged that she succeeded in accomplishing, with sterling bi-partisan effort I might add, the "First 100 Hours Agenda" that she'd laid out:

Ethics reform
An increase in the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years
Enactment of the 9-11 commission's recommendations
Expanded stem-cell research
Government negotiation of prices with prescription drug companies
Student loan interest rates cut in half
The elimination of billions in subsidies for big oil companies

But you take what you can get. Interestingly, one of the words that he never did actually use was "bi-partisan". I fully expected him to make a much bigger deal of working with Congress but not so much.

For obvious reasons, however, he devoted the first half of the speech to domestic issues and programs which Dems are jiggy with. He left out a few things, like when he was talking about tax breaks for people who pay for their own insurance or don't have any. He failed to mention the part of his plan wherein insurance paid for by an employer will be treated as taxable income. Details.

It would also be nice if when he called on Congress to re-authorize "No Child Left Behind" he had pledged to fully fund it...something he still hasn't done. But again, details.

The second half of the speech was about foreign policy. That was infinitely more disappointing, given how he clings to his failed policy in Iraq. "Fear, fear, fear. Is that all he's got?" muttered The Neighbor. Yes, yes it is. Not that it's working anymore. With only 18% of the population still supporting the war, it's clearly not working. People have finally wised up to the fact that the "war on terror" is something altogether different from the mess in Iraq. I really don't understand how someone can hold so fast to such a bad idea, an idea not even supported by most Republicans, by most of the military and the vast majority of the people. How many kinds of wrong does one person have to be before he wakes up and smells the java?

But Sen. Jim Webb, who gave the Democratic response, delivered a fine smackdown. He spoke of the military service of his father, himself and his son, who is in Iraq as we speak. Then he said,

"We owed them (our leaders) our loyalty, as Americans, and we gave it. But they owed us ­ sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare, a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay in defending it.

The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others with great integrity and long experience in national security affairs. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable ­ and predicted ­ disarray that has followed.

The war's costs to our nation have been staggering. Financially. The damage to our reputation around the world. The lost opportunities to defeat the forces of international terrorism. And especially the precious blood of our citizens who have stepped forward to serve.

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq".

You go, Jim!

I only yelled at the President a couple of times (it's what I do). Laura Bush looked like a doll next to that big huge basketball player, who was the first "ordinary citizen" that was recognized. (Never heard of the guy because I don't follow the NBA. Also had never heard of the chappie who saved that guy on the NY subway. I have, apparently, been living under a rock. But I always think those little acknowledgements are kinda nice. Corny, but nice.)

So that's pretty much my take on the SOTU. What did you think?

4th Tuesday of January

It's time again to play State of the Union Bingo!

The Neighbor is joining us for sausage risotto (get it...risotto, SOTU...just me? 'K) and the game.

I always watch the State of the Union address. It isn't always easy, of course, especially when it means listening to W. But for some bizarre reason I feel like it's my duty as a citizen to subject myself to 40 minutes of lies, justifications and obfuscations. It's the American way. Plus, it will be kinda fun tonight because there will be more Democrats in the chamber than Republicans. Which means fewer standing ovations and interruptions for applause. Probably won't even take 40 minutes, considering that.

I'm making our cards for the bingo game. (I found some on line but I had better words plus I factor in camera shots. Look for shots of John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I still remember fondly 2 years ago when there were about 3 different shots of Ted Kennedy just sitting there shaking his head in disgust at what he was hearing. Good times).

For some reason, maybe because I was thinking about words, I started picturing this video and it seemed appropriate somehow.