Only in my house...

The trip to Pier 1 and Home Depot got shunted aside - our son had some time this afternoon and came over to hang out and play with his niece. I don't see him very often, and neither one of those stores are going anywhere, so that errand will keep for later.

After a marathon session of Chutes & Ladders, they moved on to Thomas the Tank Engine Bingo. In this version of the game, geared to four year olds, you roll three dice. One has the characters, one has the border colors, and one has the background colors. When you have the combination that is rolled, you put a chip on the square, and a tic-tac-toe wins.

Zoe rolled, and her Pop-Pop called out "James All-Red...Gloria's brother," at which point our son cracked up. Then the topic somehow became the editorial page at the New York Times, faster than you could connect Kevin Bacon to Kenny Loggins. Son asks Dad if he read the Applebee's faux pas in David Brooks' column earlier this week. Before he was finished speaking, the weekly dose of all things Brooksian started on NPR, and Zoe pipes up and says "Shut up David Brooks, you nimrod!" (I wonder where she could have heard such a thing?)

Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy that little slice of life from Casa Blue Girl. If you got a chuckle, all the better.

~~BG

Happy Birthday, Chev!

In about six and a half hours it will officially be my oldest daughters birthday.

As I am one of those lefties who considers family values through the "I value my family" lens, I'll be busy the rest of today and most of tomorrow. I will make sure the roundup and the quick hits get done, but it might be Monday or Tuesday before I get to one of the five (or is it six?) GAO reports that are sitting in my in-box.

Thanks for being patient. We are no longer a workstation down, now we are just busy.

Have a good weekend and our regular blogging schedule will resume on Monday.

In the meantime, you can enjoy some of her favorite music after the jump...


Rock on!

Led Zepelin - Goin' the California



Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better



Ghosty - I Won't Be Stopped



--BG

It was too pretty outside to politic (that is indeed a verb) today

The Westport Statue on Broadway at Westport Road -
that's Alexander Majors, John Calvin McCoy and Jim Bridger -
the men who really opened up the western frontier - in heroic scale.

Some days you just have to go outside and play.

I never had a home town before, so now that I have adopted my husbands, I am really getting in to calling Kansas City home. A Brat could do a hell of a lot worse than to meet in college and marry a bootstrapping Airman from Westport (not Connecticut) and continue bouncing around for a couple of decades.

I had a tough time at first. Kansas City was like no place I have ever been. Pretty soon, it finally sunk in. That's what makes it so fucking cool.

This place has something for everyone. If you are a no-nonsense, common sense, loafers-and-sweater-vests, Volvo driving liberal, you live in the northland. If you are a Hispanic community activist, you can be found on the west side or at 18th and Central in KCK. If you are a neo-yuppie banker-type, you live on the Plaza or in the River Market area. If you are a hipster DINK couple, you live in an Urban Couer development loft in the Martini Corner area. If you are an effete Hummer-driving snob, well, we have Johnson County for people like you - although I have good friends over there fighting the good Democratic fight. If you are a lesbian or gay performance artist, you are gonna find a home in the Crossroads. Every kind of freak you can imagine - even Chiefs fans* - is welcomed with open arms in Westport, so long as they are not a danger to anyone else.

I moved to KCMO in 2001. I have never lived seven consecutive years in any one place any other time in my life. I have never spent seven consecutive years in one time zone before. Let alone two adjoining zip codes. So when I finally adjusted, and appreciated what I had, I took to it.

Kansas City.

Who knew???

Part of me wants to be the biggest cheerleader for this place that the world has ever seen.

But then I remember this: I've been to Tokyo.

While I wish you all could share my good fortune, I gotta say, from a perfectly selfish position, and even though city officials probably disagree with me: Feel free to visit, but I think we are just about the perfect size.

Now, I'll go go catch up on what happened in the world in this 24/7 news cycle we live in while I was outside getting fresh air (Times Square!) (sorry - inside joke) and sunshine - and get back to work.

Hope your Saturday rocked, where ever you are.


(*I'm truly sorry, but I will forever be an outsider here. I. Just. Don't. Get. the adoration for a losing football team, and I never will, apparently. My husband has been trying to make me understand for almost 27 years, and I still fail to grasp it. I must be really awesome, because he still loves me in spite of this tragic personal failing. At least I have the decency to put this blasphemy in Red, so maybe I won't get pelted with overripe produce next time I stick my nose out the door.)

Year-end housekeeping update

[UPDATE: The changes I have made so far look terrific in Firefox. Anyone running another browser, Safari, IE - I would appreciate it if you let me know if it looks good, or if it's a garbled mess? But then again, if it's a garbled mess, you can always download Firefox for free...]

If you have any powers of observation at all, and you have been here before, you know that the blog has been tweeked over the last day or so. However, yesterdays changes were subtle - today's, not so much. I'm going to be doing some more housekeeping, both here and at WTWC between now and some time tomorrow. There is a handful of stories that have been stuck in my inbox for a while, and I intend to address them before the year rings out. We also lost a few icons I want to take a moment to remember. Molly Ivins, Kurt Vonnegut and David Halberstam leap immediately to mind.

And here is a teaser for ya: I have selected a video to close out the year that I will be posting right before midnight, and a few minutes after, I have one selected to start off the new year.

You may have noticed that there are several new additions to the blogrolls on the right, and there is a completely new blogroll on the left that lists this years recipients of the much-coveted Golden Monkeyfist Awards. (I'm still in shock. My jaw hit the floor so hard that I thought I might set off the New Madrid Fault.)

As I stare down the beginning of a new year and look back at the one that is drawing to a close, I realize that the True Golden Monkeyfist Award is a huge red cherry on the triple-scoop sundae of a damned good year for me. Before that, I got tagged twice for blogging circle awards, first as a Thinking Blogger, and again just last week with a Roar for Powerful Words.

I also went to Federal Court - and won. And I wasn't even a defendant!

That led to an interview with the New York Times (who I'm mad at now...) and that NPR interview I've already mentioned this week. And something of a snap-fight with a Kansas City Star political reporter over pseudonymous blogging. (I won that one, too.)

Anyway, I have set a pretty high standard over the last year for myself to live up to in 2008. I'm terrified of the sophomore slump. I want to start the new year fresh and focused and do more at Show Me Progress. In preparation for the new year ahead, I am cleaning my physical house and both of my electronic ones. I don't know if I'll post again before tomorrow afternoon or not. Maybe my gallant horseman will ride to the rescue and put up a powerful post or two. In the meantime, keep an eye on the sidebars for changes and spiffy new widgets, and perhaps the occasional update!

I need your help!

I just got another award!

I have been awarded a Golden Monkeyfister, and that puts me in league with some pretty damned impressive company!

Here is what the inimitable MF had to say about our little 24-hour coffee klatch:

And finally, but certainly not last....

The True Golden Monkeyfist-- To Blue Girl, Red State for most exemplifying the spirit of living in a state, in a district where there is no Democratic Representation. Blue Girl refuses to bend, refuses to yield, and keeps the ideals of America, Democracy, and the Human Spirit alive. This award has not been given out before, does not get given out lightly, and certainly not often. Reading BGRS over this past year has been very re-affirming to me-- stuck as I am in a similar situation. I consider BGRS to be my Sister-Site in spirit. Thank you for your warrior spirit, Blue Girl. Readers should bookmark her site, and read it regularly.

Ah, but with great honor, comes great responsibility...

In other words, there is a catch, my Lovelies....

I'm sure you all followed the link and read MF's post, so you know that all of the winners are supposed to submit the names and URL for three more smallish blogs for the Au Peer Award, and the sites will be evaluated and debated in comments at a location somewhere in Blogtopia™ (yes!! skippy - a 2006 winner btw - coined that phrase!) and those nominees will be debated and evaluated in comments. Then, one lucky winner will be chosen from the three submissions that are offered by each of us.

So here is what I need from you, my Darlings...Gaze to your right (I know - looking to the right is an utterly unnatural proposition for many of us - but do try) and carefully consider my sidebar. Note who is listed there, and click a few links. Look carefully at the blogs that I have linked, especially the "Compatriots, Cohorts and Interlocutors" and the "Courtesy Link Exchange" blogrolls, and leave your favorite one, or two, or even three nominations in comments, and over the next day or so, we will have a little prelude to the big show, right here in the comments section of this post! (Prefer to make your nominations in private? Send me an email at bluegirl-dot-redstate-at-gmail-dot-com.)

Thanks for your help guys! I am certain I can count on y'all to help out here...I mean, you folks are the best looking and smartest people on all the web! (And it goes world-wide, you know!)

I'm so excited! This is every bit as good as that time I was interviewed on NPR! About political blogging!

So I took this quiz...

Shortstop, who comments from time to time and guest blogs at WTWC sometimes took a "What Supervillain are you?" quiz and sent me her results (She is Poison Ivy) and the link. I took it, and I am rather happy with the results! I can deal with being Mystique!

First of all...She's blue. And she has red hair.

And how many supervillains have a core of decency that gets 'em honorary X-Men status? Huh?


You are Mystique

Mystique 77% Poison Ivy 76% Venom 71%

Sometimes motherly, sometimes a beautiful companion, but most of the time a deceiving vixen.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz


So take the quiz and tell us in comments..What supervillain are you?

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Twenty-five years!

Wow!

It has been an adventure and we have had more fun than the law should ought to allow.

We raised three kids to responsible, respectable adulthood, and for the most part, we were working without a net. Usually, we didn't even have a relative in the same time-zone, let alone a Grandma down the street.

I would not change a thing!

We agreed going in on the definition of "family values" - i.e., we were going to have a family, and we would value it ourselves, and no one else needed to worry their pretty little heads about it.

Now, before I go focus on him and ignore y'all the rest of the day, I want to take a moment to doff my cap to the long marriages I am aware of in left Blogtopia (y! sctp)...

Mr. & Mrs Skippy: 23 years

Mr. & Mrs. Shortstop: 18 years

Kevin and Marian Drum: 16 years

Mr. & Mrs. Steve Benen: 15 years come January

Other long-term leftie marriages include Atrios, Digby, and Mr. & Mrs. Brad DeLong. Know of others? Leave them in comments.

Now, if you will excuse me, it is my anniversary!

All good things must come to an end

Even time on The Hill.

This is the place I said "What the hell?" and went ahead and fell in love with my husband of 25 years (next week). He brought me here on our summer break - we were both answering to Uncle Sam all through the school year back then, albeit through different mechanisms - and our summer breaks were precious.

He brought me to this place (and back then it had no running water) in the middle of an oak-hickory ecosystem, in a clearing, at the end of a 3/4 mile gravel driveway, that you will zip right past on the two-lane blacktop if you don't know where you are going. His dad had bought the place 25 years earlier, after coming home from the Korean War to find his ticket punched and a cushy defense contractor gig that would run 30 years. Good on him. When we retired, we were bestowed with 40 acres of timber, and we now have a cozy little half-earthen, 1250 sq.ft. windmill-powered, zero-footprint get-away.

This is the place that I can best call home. As far as roots go, the only ones I have are about 13 miles from here. Via one grandparent, I myself go back six generations in this county.

We came home two weeks ago to take the actions to change our voter registrations so we can vote for Kay.

We also harvested a couple of deer, pulled the rest of the onions, dug the rest of the potatoes, picked the last of the tomatoes, and commenced with the final canning and freezing spree, finishing on the last day of summer.

And on Sunday, the first day of fall, we started cleaning - ten days of canning and freezing and cooking like a mad woman - coupled with every fucking bow-hunter on this side of the river traipsing in here to use the bathroom or charge their cell phones or just drink coffee and bitch about Bush, I had plenty of cleaning to do. Anyway, every surface needed washing. So I commenced with the proper cleaning.

Gawd am I tired!

We will leave in a day or two, lock this place up tight, and go back to the city. We will put the Escape back in storage, and not drive again until we come back up here for rifle season in November. And maybe, just maybe, when we come up here next time, it will be a permanent shift. This will be home and the co-op in the city will be the get-away.

That's kind of the goal...

I owe Nora Ephron an apology

I was most unkind when she wrote that catty piece about Nancy Pelosi’s haircut last winter.

Well, I got a haircut yesterday evening.

It’ll look good in two weeks.

Sunday Morning Spiritual: Sunday Afternoon Edition

You thought I forgot, didn't you?

Honestly, I was going to skip it today since I am using dial-up this weekend - but then this morning the sun rose red in the east from where I was watching, and I thought of this song immediately. It is short enough to download even on dial-up, so now it can be stuck in your head, too.




I'm staying up north an extra day - last week was a hell of a week and I am still processing it all. Snarky blogging to return say - late tomorrow, perhaps Tuesday? (Although I am working on a post for WTWC that should be up later today.)

In the interim, you know what to do...Rock on!!!

Yeah, yeah - it's all well and good to fight for the First Amendment - but when will snarky blogging resume?

My day in the sun is over – the headiness of yesterday and adding a punctuation mark to history has passed, for the most part. But let me say this – if the opportunity ever presents itself for you to take a stand for the First Amendment – do it. Not just because it is a gratifying feeling to fight for what one knows to be absolutely, unequivocally right – that’s just gravy – do it because it’s the right thing to do. Do it because nine-times-out-of-ten, when the situation calls for standing up, nine people out of ten will look for a seat in the corner. Or for a way to backpedal, spin and have it both ways.

Today dawned and I still need to get to the salon for a haircut, the floors still have to be swept, the laundry still needs to be done, Zoe still needs her oatmeal for breakfast and a proper raising, the chimperor still needs to be foiled, and this clusterfuck of a war still needs to be stopped.

So back to work with me already, right?

Final Phoebe Catblogging

Phoebe, Mouser Extraordinaire
January 2000 - March 2007

When I went to the kitchen this morning to make coffee and feed the cats, something didn't quite seem right. All three cats appear magically when the coffee-grinder starts, and I quickly realized I was missing a kitty. I fed Buddy and Charlie and went to see if my closet-dwelling cat had gotten shut in one of them overnight.

Sadly, no. She was on the futon in the spare room, and looked like she was sleeping. She had passed away in her sleep.

She was a great companion and we will always be grateful for the time we had her, and the memories of gifts of dead mice - and even squirrels - and the tussle with the possum - will live on forever in our family lore.