Steve went into Scrooge McDuck mode this weekend and spent a couple of hours pouring over the financial situation on Quicken. Apparently, we've been very good this year and saved a little pile of extra money. What to do with it? We debated about knocking off one of the student loans, putting it a CD, putting it in the market, or buying something. Interest rates are so crappy, and Steve's very pessimistic about the stock market doing anything for a long time. It might be better to knock out debt right now, rather than invest. Steve would love to get one of these, but the pile ain't that big.
Question of the Day: If Great Aunt Mabel kicked the bucket and left you $10,000 tomorrow, what would you do with it?
Oh, dear. The kitchen quizzes keep coming.
Apt 11D Quiz - Who is this and where's the kitchen?
Maureen Dowd disapproved of the Oval Office makeover.
I'm happy with the beige, but the room looks to informal for the Oval Office. I would like those sofas in my living room, but they don't look very stately, do they? I just can't imagine the Joint Chiefs of Staff using the throw cushions to support their back as they discuss the latest causality numbers in Afghanistan. All this room needs is a wii remote, and it would be my house.
Question of the Day: What do you think of the Oval Office.
Natalie Angier talks about the politics of polite and the division over whether being call "ma'am" is respectful or an insult.
Still, if you’re a woman born any time before the Clinton administration, chances are you’ve been called ma’am on more than one occasion — by solicitous waiters asking whether you were “Done working on that, ma’am?” and hovering store clerks wondering if they can “help you find anything, ma’am,” and traffic cops telling you to “Move your car, ma’am, this isn’t a parking lot,” and the perky, hardworking fellows at the farmers’ market who see you week after week but will always cram so many ma’ams into every transaction that you realize there’s no turning back, you’ve been ma’amed for life.
I'm very much in the ma'am-is-an-insult camp. I mean you might as well call me "grandma" or "wrinkle-face" or "too old to be seen in public." I hate it so much that if a waiter calls me "miss" rather than "ma'am," I'll give him a better tip.
I also hate Mrs., though not quite as much as ma'am. When kids call me Mrs. McKenna or even worse, Mrs. Husband's Last Name, I grit my teeth and tell them to call me Miss Laura. I'll even accept being called "Jonah's mother" over Mrs. McKenna.
Question of the Day: Is ma'am an insult?
According to the New York Times, "in 2009, 1 in 15 New Yorkers had bedbugs in their homes, a number that is probably higher now."
Argggggg!!!!! I had two New Yorkers over to my house this weekend. I better find the Lysol and decontaminate their chairs.
I stayed in three different hotels this month. Arrrgggg!!!!
Question of the Day: On a scale from 1 to 100, how would you rate your bedbug paranoia? (I'm at a 92.)
In a cute interview with the cute Katie Perry, Perry has a very cute response to a question from a Times reporter.
What would her 15-year-old-self, the one whose teenage dream it was to be a gospel star, think of her life now?
“I think the 15-year-old me would be excited and flabbergasted,” Ms. Perry said, “and also say, ‘Put on some clothes.’ ”
My 15-year old self would scream, "how did you turn into Mom? And what's that stuff on the bottom of your arm that wags when you wave?" There would be lots of retching noises about living in the suburbs and having kids.
But then I would tell my 15-year old self to buzz off, because she thinks that cut-off sweatshirts and day-glo green are cool.
Question of the Day: What would your 15-year old self say about your life?
I'm ticking items off the vacation to-do list. We're heading down south next week, and we need new luggage. Our old K-Mart duffel bags disintegrated, so I just ordered some better ones from LL Bean. Hopefully, we can convince Ian that he's too old for his beloved Thomas the Tank Engine suitcase on wheels.
I would love to leave for vacation with four tidy duffel bags in the trunk and nothing more. No random plastic bags of last minute toys and sneakers that wouldn't fit in the bags. Yeah, that's not going to happen.
Question of the Day: Are you taking a summer vacation? Where are you going? (Or where did you go?)
Change is Good
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