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.

Helloes! Thank goodness for new thread. I'm still catching up in Natter 55 and I dunno even why I got behind. The painting, I guess. I'm still painting, but we are damn near finished. I'm all in a good mood today because I painted my pantry. O how I love my pantry.

But I'm at home at the keyboard because painting all day meant I came home with sore hands and tired muscles and decided I needed to crash out before the NYE party. Which I proceeded to do. The SO woke me up after about forty minutes and apparently we had a brief but coherent conversation about the football game, leading him to believe that I was awake.

I was not. He came back in, startled, to find that I was not actually ready for the party, but back asleep. Then I fell asleep again, while trying to figure out if I was going to make it to the party or not. Which pretty much meant, not.

So then he forgot to take the mozzarella prosciutto roll things to the party with him, so I ate them. (Okay, a few slices.) Yum. Now I need to find out where I left the Advil so my muscles can stop complaining at me and I can watch tv. He's at the party, but coming back early so we can spend the actual NY together.

Hot bath, Liese, hot bath.

I indulged in one earlier and slatherd myself with body butter. I may not have an exciting life, but I'm clean, refreshed and I smell good.

And I don't have to work tomorrow.