wtf alex trebeck! leave the girls alone

many years ago, i watched the national geographic society's geography bee on pbs hosted by the jeopardy host alex trebeck. after a few rounds, a very disturbing pattern began to emerge - his "chatting" with the participants took two totally different tones with the boys and the girls. comments such as "this is an easy one" were more than not directed to the boys while things like "this happened way before your time" were told to the girls. IMMEDIATELY you could see the shadow of self-doubt begin to cloud the girls' faces. some to them stammered, some of them paused before answering and many times, they froze - i could see how just a few words, a phrase, made this already nervous girls LOSE IT; their confidence literally slipping away before my very eyes. i wanted to scream! and if they did give a wrong answer, he would say 'tsk tsk' and shake his head.
it illustrated two major points - the POWER of words and the SEXISM that is still very rampant in our society. i hope that my daughter never lets that happen to her and i hope my son never demeans his female peers that way. i guess only time will tell if any of my 'positive' preaching got through their thick skulls LOL
"what i've learned?" - well alex you need to learn NOT to discriminate against females.......

bathers on christmas morning

on a very clear, sunny but cold christmas morning, well, more like 11ish, max and i set out for our daily walk to the river. i guess the outside temperature was around the mid-40's at that time - so picture this, i'm on the bank of the river with my hoodie under my longcoat, gloves and hat, and there, in the river, are close to a dozen swimmers! now, at 70degrees year round, the san marcos river sees kayakers, snorkelers and swimmers all 12 months BUT usually we only see the swimmers in december during a "heatwave" say it gets up to 70 or 80...this is central texas, it could happen and has. anyway, most of the crowd quickly make their way up the grass and disappear into the parking lot. left in the water are two men and a teenage boy. the boy is jumping off the rope swing i'm sure at the urging of the other two. a women in sunglasses and a gray hoodie stands and waits patiently on the rocks. out comes an camera and pictures are taken of the bathers as well as the water falls. i suddenly feel very self-consciencous of my long winter coat, hat and gloves........i secretly wish i could dive into the beautiful clear water but decided walking home in wet clothes would not be worth the quick thrill of the water. alas, i know now that "i am a magnet and you (the water) are steel". did i mention that my children cannot come within 20 feet of a body of water without getting wet???? i now know they inherited the water-gene from me!

busy time

this week has been busy with shopping, wrapping presents, baking and cooking. poor max! my daughter and husband have been nice enough to walk him for me. i still have one last stop at target and then i should be completely done with christmas shopping. i know, i wait til the last minute. its seems my list was not as complete as i has once thought. hopefully i will have time to blog some more soon. falafel to fry up!
mary

for the love of chocolate

my husband and i both love chocolate however we have opposite reactions to it. if there is any chocolate in the house, my husband will eat it, every day, until it is all gone. i however, will eat it, savory and enjoy it, and my craving, wanting for it is satisfied. the bowl of chocolate is there but i feel no need to eat as i have been satisfied and it will be several days until i want chocolate again. for my husband, it is different - he has some chocolate and it only awakens his hunger for chocolate and the more he eats, it seems the more he wants.

no christmas vomit here!

earlier i was at a holiday luncheon with co-workers when someone complimented me on my "tasteful" christmas sweater. her EXACT words "it doesn't look like christmas threw up on it"!!! best quote yet i have gotten on anything i've worn!

our Christmas movie list

The following is our library of holiday classics-
The Polar Express
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Elf
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Cricket in the Hearth
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Frosty the Snowman
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
The Little Drummer Boy
Frosty Returns
Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold
Pinocchio's Christmas
The Stingiest Man in Town
The Year Without a Santa
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Frosty's Winter Wonderland
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July

and believe it or not, there's a few important ones missing, like A Christmas Story

pasta salad

i made a bunch of macaroni and then prepared 2 different pasta salads; one vegetarian and one with ham. i don't have exact measurements - i make big batches for potlucks and small for eating at home

for both salads you will need -

pasta* of your choice, salt and pepper to taste
one green and one red bell pepper,diced
several green onions or 1/4 of a red onion (more or less depending on your taste)
frozen peas, thawed in fridge
olive oil vinegarette dressing (i really like newmans' or you can make your own)

for the traditional salad you will also need
diced cooked ham
mayo

for the other salad you will need
olives (i like green so i use green you can use black)
diced cucumber


prepare two cups of pasta of your choice according to package directions
note: as soon as you drain your pasta, put it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and to avoid over cooking, drain after a few minutes

divide up the pasta, peas, bell peppers, and onions into two bowls
cover lightly with dressing
into one bowl add ham and mayo, and toss

in the other bowl, add the olives and cucumber and a little more dressing and toss

keep in fridge until ready to serve


*i've used the macaroni but the tri-color bowtie pasta is another good choice