On a completely different note: is it strange that I've spent the last 1 1/2 hours looking at wedding dresses online? And I'm not getting married?

I think women should be allowed to have one wedding a year. That's not necessarily getting married, that's having a wedding. Just so we have an excuse to get really dressed up and wear a wedding dress. It's not just little girls that want to play bride.

Aims, your tag is resonating with me a lot right now.

It's not just little girls that want to play bride.

The strange thing is, I've never really thought about it before. But, now? I'm looking at wedding dresses and pricing how much it would be to release butterflies. I'm such a dork.

Aims, your tag is resonating with me a lot right now.

That's the song that got me pulled over for speeding.

It's not just little girls that want to play bride.

Wrod. But I'm getting tired of being asked when my daughter's getting married when I pause in wedding gown stores in the mall to consider the dresses. Still, it's better than the "How many grandchildren do you have?" question.

I'm trying to remember if it was Cook's Illustrated or the local paper or Slate that just did their article on keeping wine fresh. Whichever it was, the rubber stopper method saved wine came out on top in the blind taste tests.

Cook's Illustrated (unless Slate did their own too), and the Vacu-Vin was the only one they liked. (We have one, and I can vouch for it.) The other pumpers and the nitrogen spray thingy they tested were about even with sticking the cork back in. (i.e., vinegar after a few days.)

Cook's Illustrated (unless Slate did their own too), and the Vacu-Vin was the only one they liked. (We have one, and I can vouch for it.)

Thanks! I couldn't remember what the thing was called (and we've owned ours for a while now), or which publication talked about them. The memory, she's going.

I love our Vacu-Vin. Sadly, or perhaps not, the ability to get decent table wine in boxes now means that it's not getting much use. Or, well, wasn't, back when I was still drinking about three glasses of wine a week, which was all the way back into last summer.

Now that Paul's the only one who can drink, the Vacu-Vin is seeing occasional use again.

It's not just little girls that want to play bride.

Dressing up to the very nth degree of fabulosity is a marvelous thing. Thank God for the F2F Prom.

Which reminds me, someday I need to go back to eBay and see if anyone's selling my wedding dress in a non-weddingy color. My love for that dress is still huge, and if I could find it in red or black I'd seriously never need to buy another fancy dress again.

I have a cheap sort-of-a-rubber-cork thing, with a metal handle on it. I got it in the grocery store. I think it was a couple of bucks. It's not a pump thing, or anything high tech. It just fits back in better than the cork will, and the cork will be partially pierced from removing it, and often expands, once it's out.

The wine will keep about a week at most. Because we both like it, I don't usually have it longer than that, anyhow. And often, if it's been open for more than four or five days, I throw it in my sauce. If it's white wine, refrigerate it after opening. If it's red, keep it out of the fridge, but in a cool spot.

If your husband's medications prohibit him from drinking alcohol, you may still be able to use it in cooking, as the alcohol burns off. Check with his pharmacist. There's not much to a bottle of wine, though. If you have a glass a night, you'll be done with it in the week, anyhow.

pout

My office is laughing at me.

My co-worker has the Peter, Paul and Mary Platinum COllection CD and I borrowed it and put it in. And I'm singing along and they're laughing.

I think it sounds pretty cool the idea of some young doctor or scientist learning something important from my cold, dead ass.

Possibly some other part as well, but learning something from your ass would be coolest.