Bananas AND shenanigans, I tell you!! I'ma try really hard not to cry tomorrow.

Aw! You can cry once you're out of sight.

So I just spent a week with my family, and this evening with a variety of aunts and cousins. How I ever climbed out of that gene pool is a mystery. They are often loud and chatty.

ETA: msbelle, insent.

My family are starting to worry that my mother is losing it mentally. She's def. starting to repeat more and forget more, but she's 80, so it's hard to know. However it was my dad who picked up the TiVo remote this afternoon and attempted to call my aunt with it.

Hey Hec - it's your old pal Ratso!

Recession Hitting Puppet Economy Hard

The recession has taken its toll upon American workers of every trade but none have been hit worse than puppets.

That's right, puppets -- those cute, talking imitations of people and animals that have become staples of America's early morning television.

In an exclusive interview with The A.V. Club's David Wolinsky, Chic-A-Go-Go's own Ratso reveals just how bad things have gotten for puppets everywhere.

According to Ratso, many of the problems of the puppet economy never get highlighted because so much of the business is done underground and off the books -- at children's birthday parties, for example.

Things have gotten tight across the puppet economy, Ratso said, and puppets are increasingly picking up less desirable gigs, such as working as pot-holders and dish rags, just to make ends meet.

And unlike puppeteers, who at least have a union and are organized, puppets themselves do not.

"You know, there's a lot of tension," Ratso told the A.V. Club. "The sock puppets don't like the marionettes, the East Coast puppets don't like the West Coast puppets... We are just at each other's felt."

Ratso said things are getting so bad that humans aren't putting as much food into the dumpsters he eats from and on occasion he's even had to share his gutter with them when he goes to sleep.

"That's not cool," Ratso said. "I like my privacy."

eta: Crap, the sound of the video doesn't work for me. Anyone else have the problem?

Hey Hec - it's your old pal Ratso!

I'm glad he's telling the hard truth of the puppet economy.

The fact that I am not having (enormous amounts of) sushi for dinner makes me very sad.

Hey, makeup people: I have a question/issue. My skin is dry, and by the end of the day, it looks like I've just put powder on my face, even though I started with moisturizing liquid foundation. Any advice?

Healthcare debate makes me want to shake people. Or smack them around with Rahm's pimp hand. ARGH.

So does vaccine debates. ARGH again. (And Aimee's friend sounds awfully woo-woo and suspicious to me, as well. I mean...there's no thimerosal in most all the childhood vaccines now. Though there may be some in the H1N1 vaccines coming this fall. And there's no proof it causes autism at all. But even if they couldn't handle the mercury for some reason...it's not IN the vaccines anymore. So...why not GET them now?)

Sue, backflung.

Am I the only person who has a problem rustling up current phone numbers for three professional references?