Honestly, Cass, I realized how judgy my post sounded as I got all high horse about Heaton. But in reality, I like Albertson's less than I did when they were Luckys, but more than Ralphs.

The red velvet cookies we made are sub par.

So, my stupid DVR only recorded the last 16 minutes of Swingers. Annoying!

sarameg, those teeny bowls could be individual butter dishes. Some china have those as part of place settings. Very pretty, too!

There is a Planet of the Apes marathon on AMC tonight.

I dislike Albertsons even as I patronize them. They are the only grocery store within walking distance so unfortunately they're going to see a lot more of my business as I strive to walk more in the new year. I think the best thing they ever did was install automated check outs so I could do all my shopping without talking to anyone. The store does look cleaner but the people are more helpful which means my non-interactive shopping experience has gotten a lot trickier. Maybe I should see how long it takes to walk back and forth to Trader Joes. Which is hilarious because everyone at trader joes is talky but coming from Albertsonians it's robot may-I-help-you talk and coming from the Joesies it's I'm-really-glad-you're-here-so-much-so-that-I-can-tell-you-in-my-own-words type talk.

Well, yeah, jesse, especially as the last 16 minutes are NOT the business!

sarameg, those teeny bowls could be individual butter dishes.

How fawncy! But they are adorable. And have butterflies in the bottom, in addition to the parakeets and flowers around the outside. The larger dishes have those, more elaborate butterflies, hummingbirds and wren and sparrow like birds. I told my mom that since I wasn't planning on doing anything marriage/wedding like, this would be my choice of "china." And she obliged! Hell, each plate is probably more expensive than usual plates. But I figure in a long, long while, I'll inherit her more traditional wedding china (which is just lovely and I've not seen its kind since: pale cream bone, with a matte black inch wide scallopped ring around the outside and the edge is silvered) and my grandmother's, so...

Albertson's is about the only grocery store besides WalMart in my home town. There's Fiesta Foods, but if that's a chain, it is a small one: only one store. There used to be a lot more before WalMart invaded.It really blitzed even regional chains.

So not money! Back to L&Os for me...

I found this at Patricia Heaton's Wikipedia page:

In October 2006, Heaton appeared in a commercial opposing a Missouri state constitutional amendment concerning embryonic stem cell research, which subsequently passed. The ad was a response to Michael J. Fox's ad supporting the amendment and the election of Democratic Senate hopeful Claire McCaskill. Appearing with Heaton were actor Jim Caviezel, Jeff Suppan of the Milwaukee Brewers, Mike Sweeney of the Kansas City Royals and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, formerly of the St. Louis Rams. [5] Heaton later said she regretted doing the ad and sent an apology to Fox saying she wasn't aware of Fox's ad before she did hers.[1]

Heaton has also been an advocate for several other organizations, including Heifer International, a nonprofit world-hunger organization, and World Vision, a Christian relief organization.

Weird photo manips of people's faces across ages: [link]

the best of the fairly middling

Every December, a year's worth of hype surrounding hit songs, bestsellers and blockbuster films culminates in a glut of magazine-ready lists naming the 10 Best This and the 10 Worst That.

23/6 wouldn't deign to foist our opinion on you like that. It's time to ease up on the hard sell and go gently into 2008 by honoring the things that were simply okay. Today, we salute the books, movies and music of 2007 that were perfectly middling.