Someone once tried to convince me that the folks who owned Michaels were avid George W Bush supporters. I figured they usually have what I want for cheap.

nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important."

Good news is, I have figured how to use block quotes. Bad news is I have a sneaking suspicion this statistic might actually be close to valid. As a teacher of college freshmen and sophomores (mostly) in our rhetoric and composition program I am continually amazed at what my students don't know when they come into my classroom. I know I am only a child of the 80s-90s but "back in my day" we took geography. . .right?

Kat, if we come westward it couldn't be until April.

My MiL is obsessed with getting things framed, but I have to say she's right. A good frame is KEY. It can make all the difference. Of course my big problem is getting all the pretty framed things UP ON THE WALL. It's a shame I'm so damn lazy.

Okay, why is it so friggin' cold today? I can't take the kids to the park, they'll freeze their asses off.

I guess I just have an overly sensitive snoot. Or perhaps an allergy to craft stores.

I'm that sensitive too. Which means I generally have a plan and limit idle browsing. Or, take breaks at the coffee shop which seems to follow every Micheal's around.

I've had a spastic sudden coughing fit the last 3 times I've been waiting in line at a Victoria's Secret. I hold my breath when I walk past the Yankee Candle in the mall for the same reason.

I probably haven't been in a Michaels in decades. I keep thinking of places but..nope that one was an AC Whatever, the other was a Hobby Lobby... I don't even know where one is.

Most awesome park sculpture evah? [link]

Now sweetie, tell Cthulu Claus what you want for the UTTER DESTRUCTION OF REALITY AS WE KNOW IT!!!!!!!

Awwwww. I think Cthulhu Claus is cute-looking.

As a teacher of college freshmen and sophomores (mostly) in our rhetoric and composition program

Where do you teach, darlini? I'm at USC, I teach upper division writing.

I've had a spastic sudden coughing fit the last 3 times I've been waiting in line at a Victoria's Secret. I hold my breath when I walk past the Yankee Candle in the mall for the same reason.

Can't go in either of those stores without discomfort, have a very hard time in Sephora, tend to sprint through the perfume part of department stores, cannot go in LUSH for more than a minute. I think I can get away with craft stores because I can go hide in the paper and fabric areas.

I love craft stores for the same reason I love hardware stores - so much possibility. So many ideas. So many fun things to do. That I'll never get to, admittedly, but still. It's the concept.

Enormous 'Devil Toad' Remains Discovered in Madagascar

Scientists in Madagascar recently discovered the remains of a giant prehistoric frog, a relative of today's horned toads, which blew away the previous record for the largest known frog, Bennicus Bleimanicus. Dubbed Beelzebufo, meaning "frog from hell," the Devil Frog had important differences from today's frogs. To begin with, it was freakin huge. Susan Evans, a researcher from the University College of London, explained that if it was anything like its closest living forebears, "it would have been quite mean." Considering the fact that it was "the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," it was probably a formidable predator for its time. Explained David Krause, a researcher from Stony Brook University in NY, "It's not outside the realm of possibility that Beelzebufo took down lizards and mammals and smaller frogs, and even -- considering its size -- possibly hatchling dinosaurs."

If someone were to breed this with Hypno-Toad, their offspring would rule the universe....