Bran Muffins -- yuk!

Until yesterday I had never tried a bran muffin.  When I was at Trader Joe's I saw some in the baked goods section.  They are suppose to be "good for you" and they looked good (TJ's normally has really good baked goods) so I thought they would be a nice idea for breakfast sometimes and bought 2 package, one blueberry and one mango/blueberry.  I tried a blueberry one last night and it was HORRIBLE!  It was so horrible that even my dog (who will pretty much eat anything) wanted nothing to do with it.  Is it just the particular ones I got or do they all taste that bad?  Are there people that actually like bran muffins or are they something people strictly eat because they are constipated or trying to lose weight?

Do you know what the one flaw in women is?

This was in my email box today; thought I'd share.

Do you know what the one flaw in women is?: "You've got to watch this beautiful 3-minute movie: http://www.theoneflawinwomen.com/"

More of Mel's sick ranting

Oksana: What kind of a man is that? Hitting a woman when she’s holding a child in her hands? Breaking her teeth twice in the face! What kind of man is that?
Mel: Oh, you’re all angry now! You know what, you f* cking deserved it!

Possibly I am wrong, but when a man continues to insist that a woman deserved to be hit, most especially when that woman was holding his 8 month old daughter - there is no hope for him.

It is possible, as Mel says in at least one of the tapes, that Oksana is a "gold digger."  Let's look at the situation though, Mel is what -- 108 year old?  OK, maybe not quite that old, but you get my point.  Oksana is a beautiful young woman.  Now I am not saying a beautiful young woman can't fall in love with an older man (my SO is older than me by a decade), but did Mel not consider that possibility back before he got a woman pregnant?  You know, before he destroyed his marriage with his wife that had like 8 children with him?  If he was stupid enough to fall for a gold digger (and I am not saying she is) doesn't he hold most of the blame?  Shouldn't he have just looked in the mirror and thought about how he should proceed cautiously because not only is he old, but he is also a total asshole and most women would not want to be with him?  I think so.

Then of course there are the threats of murder -- what psycho rant would be complete without them?:

I’ll put you in a f *ckin rose garden you c*nt! You understand that? Because I’m capable of it. You understand that?

What a man, eh?  Nothing shows you are a man more than threatening a 95 lb woman.

One of my favorite weird things in these new tapes is that Mel claims to have left his wife, Robyn, not for Oksana, but because they had no "spiritual connection."  Ya know, because Mel is so spiritual.  Seriously, does he not get that he is sooooooooooo unspiritual that he could not possibly have a spiritual relationship with anyone or anything?

The best thing about these tapes is that he pretty much admitted to beating Oksana and knocking out her teeth (while she was holding his baby) so it should be very easy for him to be convicted of domestic violence there in CA.

Note:  I took those quotes from the text portion because the few clips I have heard on TV were too disturbing for me and I couldn't listen to the actual recording.

Mel Gibson -- I just can't help but comment

So I decided to go listen to what was called a "racist rant" myself.  I think we all pretty much already knew that Mel was racist and that wasn't what shocked me.  What shocked me was the intensity in which he was speaking to his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, Oksana Grigorieva.  Seriously, if I were her I would be afraid for my life.  There was all this religious prudishness about how her clothes are always too tight and she is a whore and on and on.  Here is one of the quotes:

“You go out in public and it’s a f*cking embarrassment to me. You look like a f*cking bitch in heat. And if you get raped by a pack of ni**ers it will be your fault. Alright? Because you provoked it. You are provocatively dressed all the time with your fake boobs that you feel you have to show off. I don’t like it. I don’t want that woman. I don’t want  you. I don’t trust you. I don’t love you.”

I haven't seen that many photos of Oksana, but she doesn't seem to dress overly provocative to me.  Besides which, she doesn't seem to dress any differently than before he met her -- he knew how she dressed and he obviously liked that and her fake boobs at one point.

In another tape she made that wasn't on the site, he reportedly said:

"I am going to come and burn the f**king house down... but you will blow me first."

This guy has some major issues and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't eventually see an OJ type scenario play out, maybe not with Oksana, but if I were her I wouldn't take any chances.  I don't know what domestic violence laws are in CA, but I really hope they throw the book at him.

More Adventures in Grocery Land

Jim and I were just at Target. The cashier was ringing up our items, then all of a sudden she asks Jim "What's your birthdate?" Jim says, very nicely but confused (as was I) "Why do you need to know my birthdate?" She said "Because of the wine, we have to ask." (Among our items was a bottle of red Zin; Gnarly Head)  We both cracked up and I said (nicely, like anyone would know that was a needless question to ask) "That's ridiculous," but she didn't get it, in fact, looked offended. The people in line behind us were making jokes too.

At first, when she asked us, we thought it was some weird Big Brother thing, like places that ask for your zip code and phone number and stuff. It never occurred to us that buying wine would be an issue.

I understand that state law probably requires cashiers to ask someone's age if they appear to be under 25 or 30 or something. But where's the common sense? Here's a picture of my darling Jim:

Does he look like he's over 21? LOL.

In the Grocery Store: Snarky Cashiers and Grabby Baggers

There's one market we shop at every week; it's like a Whole Foods but that's not the name of the store. And like most places now, you're encouraged to bring in your own bags and get a few cents off for each bag you bring in.

Every time we go in there, we bag our own groceries. We do this because we've had such awful experiences with the people who bag; it's incredible! One of our own bags is an insulated cooler type bag; which would tell anyone with a brain that perishable items go there. But nope, they'll toss any old thing in there. They might put, say, the fish in there but then on top of that, they'll put tomato cans. Speaking of cans, they also put all the cans in one bag, all the glass bottles in another, etc.

So instead of coming off like uptight mean people, (because no matter how nicely you might say something to the person bagging your groceries, they take it the wrong way...) we gave up and just started bagging our own groceries.

A typical encounter goes like this:

I set up the bags at the end of the counter. Person comes over to start bagging, or the clerk will start to bag. I'll say, very cheerfully, very friendly, something like "Oh, thank you, but we'll bag our own stuff," and sometimes make a joke or something. Almost always, the clerk will say something like 'OH, well, by all means..." super sarcastically. I've had the baggers just stomp off! What kind of customer service is that?

To top it off, I've had baggers come over when I'm done, and I'm putting the bags in the cart, and the person will take a bag from out of my hand!!!! and put it in the cart. I'll say, "I have it thanks," but they ignore me. Ignore me! They either stomp off again, or act all offended.

I don't want to be rude but next time some clerk or bagger cops an attitude about me, the paying customer, bagging my own damn groceries, I'll tell them why it's so. Because you all don't know how to bag stuff using common sense.

More of my 80s memories -- weddings!

Yep, that is me, circa 1984 or so.

Anyhow, thinking about 1980s themed movies earlier made me think of my favorite - The Wedding Singer!  For 2 Springs and Summers, 1983 and 84, as I recall -- I seemed to attend at least 2 weddings a month.  Some of those months, especially in June, I am sure that I attended a wedding every single Saturday.  They were all very much like the ones in the wedding singer.  They were awesome!

At that time I worked at what would become Honeywell, but then it was Sperry Air Flight Systems.  I don't know exactly how many people worked there, but hundreds at least.  The thing about the 80s is that people that were pretty much complete strangers (except for working at the same place) would invite you to their weddings and the wedding dance after the wedding.  Sometimes not even their wedding, but their friend, sister or cousin -- someone you didn't know at all.  It was so sweet because you see I was still a few years off from being legal drinking age and at weddings (at least back then) nobody asked to see an ID, you simple asked for a drink and they gave it to you.  You could drink (sometimes for free) and dance all night to great music, performed by a band that looked just as you are imagining!  I have never had so much fun at a wedding since those 80s weddings, all these modern ones pale in comparison. 

A random thought on foodiness

It occurs to me sometimes that my rather unhealthy obsession with food stems back to childhood.  Not in the way most would think though.  I grew up mainly living with my grandmother, who on Christmas or Easter, could be a great cook.  However the rest of the time our meals were totally dull and easy -- some sort of meat, baked potato and some sort of canned vegetable.  To this very day -- I can't force down more than a bite of canned veggies.  This is also true -- I was around 12 years old (whenever kids stop getting kids meals at restaurants) before I EVER had a salad and only then because I was served one with a meal at a restaurant.  After that I wanted salad all of the time and this seemed to totally shock my grandmother.  There were lots of foods we just never had, like ethnic foods.  Even pasta, except for mac and cheese, was something we never had.  Once I became an adult I realized there was a whole world of food out there that I had never been given and that were totally delicious!  I blame that for turning me into such a foodie, kind of like I am making up for lost time.  :-)  Luckily, for most of my life I had an incredibly high metabolism.  I could easily out eat my sister's 200+ lbs husband without blinking an eye and without gaining an ounce -- God, I miss those days!  I know that I am over 40, but this new waistline totally depresses me at times, but at least I can blame it on Grandma.

Pregnancy and Purity Balls

I was just watching TV and an ad came on for something called The Pregnancy Line.  They give a number that women that just found out they are pregnant and don't know what to do can call for help.  So I looked them up online and the site asks for your zip code so they can refer you to someone near you, where you can hear more about your "options."  So I did that and the only clinic they gave me was something called "Care Net Pregnancy Center."  I am pretty familiar with woman's clinics here and I had never heard of that, so I became even more suspicious than I already was.  They didn't give an url for this clinic so I googled it and sure enough -- it is a fundie Christian group that puts on "Purity Balls" among their activities.  So warning to all women that really want to know your options and not simply why you shouldn't have an abortion -- stay away from something called The Pregnancy Line.

Possibly I am wrong, but isn't illegal for such groups to advertise on TV without disclosing that they are a religious group or referring people to religious groups?

Let me leave you with a couple photos of purity balls so we can all remember how creepy and incestuous they seem.

 

Rudeness is not excusable because you are a man and impatient!

Just venting -- Early this evening I made a run to the grocery store.  I always shop at this particular one even though there is another right across the street.  The reasons being -- it is normally less crowded because it is slightly more expensive, I don't need to keep track on one of those stupid store cards to get the sales price, but most of all I shop there because everyone is so nice and they all know me and talk to me.

It was around 9 pm and there was only one line open when I got in line.  There were probably about 4 people in front of me, most only having a case of beer (it is Friday night in NM).  I think one person maybe had around a dozen items.  This asshole gets in line behind me and automatically starts bitching loudly about there only being one line open.  Mind you, this is after he asked someone and they said another would be opening in a minute -- they were just counting the drawer or something.  Even this man's wife (or whoever she was) seems to get annoyed by him and she takes off and leaves him in line alone.  Then he starts griping to the woman behind him.  Two of the people in front of me have already checked out and there are only two to go.  So I say it is no big deal because the line is moving fast.  I have been in line all of about 2 minutes and already they are opening another lane which they take the person in front of me and me to.  So now he only has 1 person in front of him and he asks to see the manager!  The guy that has just opened the new lane tells him he is the manager and the guy complains about having to wait in line!   OK, so I had enough of this and I said loudly (to make sure asshole heard me) that I had no idea what people were complaining about since I only had to wait in line for about 2 minutes and they all got in line after me.  That was greeted by total silence from the line next to me.  Apparently asshole realized he had pretty much complained about nothing. 

However, the thing that irritated me even more was that although he got quiet after that he then started whining to the woman behind him that basically he couldn't help being an asshole because he hated waiting in line and is impatient and she totally excused his behavior by telling him that she didn't like waiting in line either.  Yes and that would have been fine if they had actually had to wait in a line for more than 2 minutes!  I felt as though this older woman also thought he was an asshole but was excusing his behavior because she didn't want any trouble.  I couldn't judge the reaction of any men to him, since there were none around.  The guy was kind of tall and was wearing a harley davidson jacket, but so obviously was a biker poser -- the kind that would be terrified of a real biker.

I know it is a small thing in the scheme of things that are ruining the world, but I really wish that other people would have a bit o' balls and not let people get away with rudeness.  If rude people were constantly shamed by society they would keep their rudeness to themselves.  I also wonder about this man's wife or girlfriend that was with him -- does she just ignore this crap and let him think it is perfectly OK to act that way?  Most women wouldn't put up with another woman acting that way, but many will totally let men get away with it.  That pisses me off too!