The week before Christmas

Actually I guess this is the week of Christmas. I have to be honest: I like Christmas for only one reason- I make a lot of money pet sitting over the holiday weekend. Truthfully Christmas annoys the hell out of me. I feel obligated to buy or make people stuff because they give me stuff. I'm not speaking about close friends or family with whom I love to give things to, but about those random folks- the ones who I work with who I am not that close to, the white elephants, and the like. I enjoy white elephants but also think that I am essentially spending money for myself to get some random gift that I am probably not going to like. The main reason I am not a fan of Christmas is because every person automatically assumes you celebrate Christmas. It is rather annoying when people ask constantly "what are you getting for Christmas", "where are you going for Christmas", "what are you doing for Christmas" and on and on and on. Not everyone celebrates it so why do people continuously say Merry Christmas over and over again. I know some say that it's not about a religious holiday but about being in the spirit of things. Ummmm.. not really. Christmas may be more about materialism and commercialism now. Agnostics and atheists alike may celebrate Christmas for this reason, but it still stands for something. It is the day that the Christian messiah was born- that is the purpose for the holiday. Despite what people say in order for them to enjoy it, that is the purpose. If the purpose was shear commercialism why don't we pick some random day and change Gift and Light day to something else. I wouldn't have a problem with that. I would say happy gift, light, and holiday day to anyone I came across and not have a chip on my shoulder. Instead I get to hear people say Merry Christmas to me and " what are you getting for Christmas". It gets a bit old. I think that if some of these high and mighty times that love Christmas so much walked in my shoes they would be a bit annoyed too. When you don't believe in something, having it shoved down your throat gets old. Anyways this is my rant for the day. Reading over this I have to be honest. The biggest thing that annoys me is the prayer before our holiday parties at work. Despite the fact that all the people I work with know that I am Jewish, whomever recites the prayer before we eat always adds in "in jesus's name". They can't just omit those 3 little words? It makes me a bit bitter and actually it doesn't just take place at our Christmas party. They also do it at our Thanksgiving party and our Easter ( but not called that) party. Let's just say it makes me a bit irate. Yet people don't think that anything is wrong with that. GRRRRRRRRRR!


**I would like to apolgize to anyone who takes offense to this rant. This is my opinion and how I feel. Try imagining being in someone else's shoes while reading the above argument. That person's shoes would be made by a local shoemaker vs a pair of Nikes. Think about that before you get pissed off.

Poor Bullet

Bullet had to go back to Lifeline b/c Hobie is coming to stay for the holidays. As much as I love dogs I am not sure I could handle 3 crazy dogs in my house for the next month. That being said I did tell a friend I would keep his dog right around Christmas but hopefully it will be short and sweet. It will be nice to get the Hobster back; Bella and I miss him:( Funny thing I never told y'all... Hobie is a rather chunky yellow lab or he used to be. He was a chubster when he came to stay with me all summer but despite me feeding him less that normal he gained another 10 lbs at my house bringing his fattiness to 100 lbs- more than Bella the great dane weighs. David picked him up, took him to the vet, and found out he has hypo thyroidism (or perhaps hyper; can't really remember now). He was put on this crazy small amount of food and started taking pills so that he would lose the weight- very important since he already has arthritis at age 4 and extra weight makes the pain worse. While he was on this insanely small amount of food he came to stay with me for a week or so. During this time he ate a couple of atypical things; Bella's hemp collar which I found out he ate after he puked it up on my floor in the night and the book "The Botany of Desire" which was lent to me by a friend. I found the book the next day when he was shitting out readable pages. Apparently now that he has lost 20 lbs ( YAY Hobie!!!) and is back on a little more food he has stopped eating crazy things but here's to hoping.



** I should also mention that when Hobie was a puppy he hardly chewed anything- very shocking for a lab. The only 2 things we ever found him chew was the cord to a lamp I owned and my book "Memoirs of a Geisha". Let me ask you a rhetorical question.... Why in the hell did he only chew on my shit; he never once touched anything of Davids but only picked out my things? Is that odd?

Anyhoo I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoyed this rather pointless story;)

To post or not to post

That is the question. I don't have much to tell y'all other than things you already know- I am cool, hip, and personable as hell. Just kidding. Tonight I am hosting a crafting shindig at my house. I love the fact that I can actually say "hosting" and "my house" in the same sentence. No longer do I have to be ashamed of my abode- now I can embrace my hizz and it's ability to seat more than 4 people. Anyhoo the crafting shindig is happening tonight and then we are going to the Cabbagetown Artists Market at the community center- I hope I won't spend too much:( I wish I could tell you what I am making but I can't. However as soon as I finish making all the things I need then I will post some pictures. It will be after the Holidays though. The sad thing about my house is that I was thinking about what to do when people come over. Food - check. Decorative bowls for food - check. Beverages - check. Beverage glasses - check. Wine - check. Wing glasses - chhhh, fudge. No wine glasses. Oh and while we are at it- no kitchen table, no blinds in the bathroom, and no dishwasher. Mmmhhh I think I need to start shopping.

Book Signing last night

I had an interesting time last night. I have a blog I love to read- Pioneer Woman (fabulous food and photography sections as well as great writing) - and she happened to come in to Atlanta last night for her cookbook signing. From what I read on her website the book signing was supposed to start at 7:30. I think to myself if I get there at 7:30 maybe I will wait in line for about an hour or so; that is all it should take. Umm.... oh so wrong. I got there at 7:00 and walked in to Borders - they were handing out wristbands. My wristband color was green H. The lady says they are on Orange C so look around it will be a little while. I go upstairs to scout things out and realize that the place is packed at with fans. I also notice that tons of people have on orange wristbands "Ruh Roh". I grab a seat and observe. What I observe is not good. Ree was awesome and talking to every fan- fabulous but that line was moving oh so slow. Time went by fairly fast after I saw some people I new and talked to them for a bit. I realized it was now 9:30 pm and they were only at Orange G ( going up to I). Wow- maybe it will move quicker I thought. Nope. By this time I was in it for the long hall. I had already spent hours waiting, if I left it would be all for naught. I stayed only to get my book signed at 11:45. Wow- never knew a signing could be like that. The crazy thing is that Ree came in early at 6 pm and started signing. The poor woman had to be worn out. I could only imagine how bad her hand was cramping, signing all those books. I just remember when signing my life away on my house my hand being worn out and I only signed about 50 times or so. I think I noticed her take one break the whole time.. and if she was like me she never had dinner. When I finally met her it was pretty quick- I forgot my camera so no picture and I just spoke with her for a moment. She was very nice in person and despite her not digging the brown hair- I thought it looked great. I wound up bringing her the last of the Atlanta-specific photo coasters and a jar of pepper jelly. Unfortunately the coasters were the first batch and we have since figured out how to improve upon them. I feel bad that she got the shoddy project ones- oh well. I also feel sort of weird because I gave her the skyline, the Varisty, the Fox Theatre, and the Clermont Lounge ones. I am sure she will probably trash them but I thought the Clermont is much a part of Atlanta as the Fox Theatre and she can always pass the "racier" ones on. All in all it was a good time and went by semi-quickly due to meeting new people. I met a woman who had kids my age and I gave her advice based on her children's perspective on things. I also met some girls from Tennessee who had driven 4 hours to see PW just to drive back that night in order to take final exams today - Craziness. The thing that angered me was seeing men sit in the rare chairs and bench's that were about. There were pregnant women, mothers, and older woman all over and these men just sat there in their chairs not offering their seats. I am all for feminism but isn't it proper for a man to always give up their seat for a woman? or am I just old fashioned in that regard?

Since I have no pictures of the night, instead I am going to post pictures of life in Atlanta. PW lives on a ranch and constantly documents that life. Since I live in a big city I will post some pictures that document my um-PW like life.

Krog Tunnel- near my house

Artists flock here since it is an open canvas

Lots of homeless hang and beg in Little Five


Just a random person walking through Piedmont Park (on Sundays you see a lot)

A bystander at the Peachtree Road Race

My brother and nephew walking through the zoo

The train tracks near my house. MARTA, our local public transportation is the top line.

A random cow on the side of the road in Alabama

Mmmhhh- fritos feet

Bella, my one and only pupperoni

Virginia Highlands' unofficial dog park- a daily haunt

Action shot of Bella and Jack- when you live in an apartment you have to let your dog get out and stretch it's legs

Random road side trash

Funny things

I decided to go to a bar last time and get some food to go; I was feeling too lazy to make dinner after slaving away at crafts all day. So this is a Sunday night at around 8 pm. I sit down and peruse the menu. While doing so I notice this guy sitting 2 chairs over checking me out. He strikes up a conversation. I am bored and he seems nice so I talk to him while waiting for my food. Well he is a little drunk, actually a lot drunk, and very flirty. During the conversation I ask him where he lives and he says he's from Canton, Ohio.

I said" oh, I've heard of Canton, not sure I've ever been there though. Do you go near Canton when driving from Michigan to Georgia?". Simple question , yes or no answer.

The guy looks at me, puts his hand on my shoulder, and says "you may be very pretty, but you are awful at geography".

I look at him and say "really? I am awful at geography because I don't know where Canton is in Ohio"

and he says "it's okay, you're pretty so you don't need to know any geography".

I just laugh and say " Do you know what I do for work?".

"No", he says."

"I am a GIS analyst- I make maps". I also find it funny because I have a Geography degree.

Odd that because I don't know where the fuck po' dunk Canton is ( FYI I know Canton is a large city ) he automatically assumes I don't know shit about geography. I do, I just could give two shits about Ohio geography. However London, Oh is a very nice and quaint town;)

On to Hanukkah Shrubs and taking pictures on a frigid, windy night in the city with no gloves or warm clothes on to keep me warm. It was beautiful on Peachtree Street near the Fox Theatre with the snow flurries coming down. Here are some pictures of each.

My Chanukah Shrub

Peachtree Street

Peachtree Street

Faster than a speeding Bullet...

...not so much. Here's a picture of my new fabulous foster dog: Bullet!! He's a 1 year old shepherd/pit mix who loves to smile when he is happy. He was a former tied up dog who some how managed to get shot with a shotgun. Due to this unfortunate incident he has multiple small holes in his face and body and he has a broken leg due to one of the pellets. Poor boy. So far he has been good with Bella and really wants to play. Not so fast Bullet. Anyhoo if you know anyone who may be interested in a super cute, super sweet, pitiful young man like Bullet here contact Lifeline Animal Project ( http://www.atlantapets.org/)

Charlie Brown Tree

Update: I am no longer referring to my "Hanukah Bush" as a "Hanukah Bush" because I feel that it brings up an image of something that shouldn't be imagined when thinking of the Festival of Lights. So I am now calling the faux tree my "Hanukah Shrub"- better, right? I know. Anyhoo I didn't take pictures last night because it was cold and I am lazy. I did however put all of my slip-covered sofa's slipcovers in my new front loaders. That's right folks, I said FRONT LOADERS. These bad boys are bad ass. Well only for their fabulous ability to get things unbeliavably clean with not a lot of water. The only negative I have to say about them is that the time given is always wrong. It always has time left posted yet that changes constantly b/c the washer tests the water constantly to see how clean it is. If its not clean it will put a little more water in. Last night at 9:30 I checked the time left and it said 26 minutes. At 9:45 I checked the time and it said 24 minutes. WTF!!!!! Oh well at least I know that my couch will be clean enough to eat off of and that is good enough for me. Oh I should probably mention that I have not had a washing machine/dryer in the house with me in about 2 1/2 years. That is a long time having to use the laundromat and friends/fam for all your washing needs ( thanks friends and fam!). Let's just say that a lot of shit got thrown out when it took awhile for me to take it in and wash it. Okay so if you want to own my badass washers you need to go pickup an Amana front loader washer and dryer from Home Depot. Don't forget the stacking kit bitches.

For Tres

This post is for my friend Tres- who today asked my why I haven't updated this bad boy. Honestly, I haven't been updating it due to the lack of news in my life and the fact that I didn't think anyone actually followed it:( Oh well- I do have big news- a brand new house in the Big C. Just moved to a cute 2 bed/1 bath 1920's bungalow behind a huge mill-turned-loft in downtownish Atlanta. I finally have a kitchen that more than 1 person can stand in together and a backyard. I will post pictures some time soon. The house needs a bit of finesse but other than that it's pretty damn cute. Oh and yesterday I put up a Hanukkah bush ( formerly known as a pitiful Christmas tree). The "Bush" is very Charlie Brown Christmas in appearance but is not quite so scraggly. I will try and take some pics for you tonight. I will try and keep more up-to-date on things, if only for Tres checking in on my random mumblings. Anyways- have a fabulous day y'all. Oh and let me put the recipe to this delicious Kale, Mushroom, White Bean, Potato Soup. Made it last night and it was the bees knees- this coming from a woman who HATES cooked greens. Anyways I will try and talk to you peeps soon as well as post some newer and better pics.

Kale, Mushroom, White Bean, Potato Soup ( just call it KMWBP)

1 lb kale chopped (or if you hate kale, another leafy green)

3 onions chopped

about 2 lbs mushrooms sliced

6 cloves garlic minced

8 cups bouillon of your choice (or canned/boxed broth)

1 - 2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 can white beans, other beans also work

2 potatoes grated

freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp fresh thyme - lemon thyme is great in this

Put the kale in the bouillon and simmer about 20 minutes. Add the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes and simmer until the kale tender. Add thyme, beans and potatoes and simmer another 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and serve.

Congrats Matt and Tracey Leff!!!