Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The First 2011 Alphabet Meme

Cheers to all of us thieves!

A is for Age: Old. Older than dirt. Older than Methuselah. I'm talkin' old here, people!

B is for Beer of choice: Miller Light

C is for Career: I write

D is for favourite Drink: Coke

E is for Essential item you use everyday: Internet

F is for Favourite song at the moment:




G is for favourite Game: Canasta

H is for Home town: A certain toddlin' town

I is for Instruments you play: None. I am painfully non-musical.

J is for favourite Juice: Orange

K is for Kids: Yes, it is. Do you have a question?

L is for Last kiss: And here is to EDDIE VEDDER ...



(thank you, Miss Silver!)


M is for marriage: I'm single.

N is for full Name: The Gal Herself

O is for Overnight hospital stays: I had a uterine fibroid embolization back in 2004. Do you really want to hear about it? I thought not.

P is for phobias: Flying

Q is for quote: "East is east and west is west. And if you take cranberries and stew them applesauce, they'll taste more like prunes than rhubarb does." Groucho Marx

R is for biggest Regret: I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

S is for sports: Chicago Cubs baseball

T is for Time you wake up: 6:00 AM. And yet I still manage to be late for work most mornings.

U is for colour of underwear: White.

V is for Vegetable you love: Corn

W is for Worst Habit: Laziness, sloppiness, sloth ...

X is for X-rays you've had: Annual dental x-rays and mammograms

Y is for Yummy food you make: Apple Banana Cake. Here is the recipe ...

Wet Ingredients

* 4 cups of peeled cored and grated apples

* 2 mashed bananas

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

* 2 eggs

* 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans (optional)

Dry Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 cups sugar

* 2 teaspoons baking soda

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine all the wet ingredients in large bowl and mix well.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well.

4. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

5. Pour into an UNgreased 9"x13" pan.

6. Bake for 1 hour.

Z is for zodiac sign: Sagitarius

My heart and head hurt

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is fighting for her life as I post this. She was shot this morning at a "meet-and-greet" at a grocery store in Pima Co., AZ. Targeted and shot in the head.

Eleven others are wounded and six are dead. Dead.

At first I thought this was random lunacy. Then I learned that Giffords was "targeted" on Sarah Palin's website with her "Don't retreat -- reload!" rhetoric and cross-hairs graphics, and her office was recently vandalized. Her sins? Backing "Obama Care" and immigration reform.

This is all so chillingly familiar.

Excerpt courtesy of Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic:

In that third year of the Kennedy Presidency a kind of fever lay over Dallas County. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed “Impeach Earl Warren.” Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas. Fanatical young matrons swayed in public to the chant, “Stevenson’s going to die–his heart will stop, stop, stop and he will burn, burn burn!” Radical Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy’s name was booed in classrooms; junior executives were required to attend radical seminars. Dallas had become the mecca for medicine-show evangelists of the National Indignation Convention, the Christian Crusaders, the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry societies . . .

In Dallas a retired major general flew the American flag upside down in front of his house, and when, on Labor Day of 1963, the Stars and Stripes were hoisted right side up outside his own home by County Treasurer Warren G. Harding–named by Democratic parents for a Republican President in an era when all Texas children were taught to respect the Presidency, regardless of party–Harding was accosted by a physician’s son, who remarked bitterly, “That’s the Democrat flag. Why not just run up the hammer and sickle while you’re at it?" - William Manchester, Death of a President.

Attention Must Be Paid

Upon his death, Rolling Stone called him "the only King we have ever had." And so, on the anniversary of his birth, this loyal subject gives him his due. Here's to the genius, and the kitsch, that still make Elvis irresistible.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Closer to Home

1. Where did you grow up? Where do you consider home? I grew up in Brookfield, IL, a village 13 miles and a lifestyle outside of Chicago. I live in Oak Park and work in Chicago. I consider either/both "home."

2. If you could paint your car any color with no loss in value, what color would it be? I don't have a car. But if I did, I'd have a hugger orange Camaro. My cousin Rose had one and it was not only way cool, it was always easy to spot in even the busiest parking lot.

3. What do you think comes after death? Heaven. It's one of the few things about our existence I don't question.

4. Name a TV show that should NOT be renewed for another season. Jersey Shore

5. If you could have a free subscription to any online service, which would you like to have? One of those that lets you check databases for lawsuits, marriage licenses, bankruptcies, etc. No reason, really, except I read a lot of mysteries, and it seems that private investigators have so much at their fingertips and I want it, too.

6. Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now? I never thought about myself as this old. Sad but true.

7. What did you want to be when you grew up? A great singer. Being tone deaf got in the way.

8. If you were to suddenly become famous, and were forced to change names, what would you choose as your stage name? Julie Hughes. I like the assonance.

9. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?