Calling all cooks -

[kyburg]

Get your mac n cheese chops out, Tillamook is having a contest!

You wanna enter. You know you do. I have a ton of really GOOD mac n cheese recipes in my memories from waaay back - it's ubiquitous. Everyone has a good one tucked away somewhere.

*taps chin* Something with chicken and apple sausage, maybe curried. Hmmm.

...

catsonmars pointed this little bit of information about John McCain at me this morning. Go take a look -

As the widow of a Type I diabetic who would not leave her husband and "get on with her life," I find this appalling. And not a good indicator whatsoever. Two cents.

...

I got the pictures back from the high school reunion - and while they are good pictures, I'm not entirely happy with how I look. I should have put on more makeup, and laid a good moisturizer underneath - it shows that badly when I skip steps in my toilette these days. Not. Happy. Maybe I should start spending a ton of money on my face like Sis does. Or just stop looking in the mirror or at pictures. I do not feel as old as my pictures are looking - and it's not getting better. Developing a sense of vanity at this point just pisses me off as well. Crap.

...

Earworm department: The "Thunderbirds March" and the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown from the top of the show, were adopted by the British band Level 42 for its live shows, as captured in the video release of its 1987 performance at Wembley Stadium in London. An updated version, blended with the opening fanfare to the band's own hit "Heaven In My Hands," kicks off L42's concert gigs to this day. Similarly, the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown has been used by the Beastie Boys for its subsequent live shows; one instance of this is the Live Earth concert in London in 2007.

I WANT. NERD ALERT.

Comments

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm#definition

In case you wanna know what happened here yesterday.

(Although people locally are screaming that it was a tornado and that the above thing is "made up"... *rolls eyes*)

C.

[magaliiiii.livejournal.com]

My mom's best friend died from Type I. She agrees with your sentiment wholeheartedly.

Then again, most decent human beings would... at least I like to hope so.

[dracowayfarer.livejournal.com]

The "Thunderbirds March" and the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown from the top of the show,

Now I have Europe's "The Final Countdown" in my head. Thanks.

*cues it up on iTunes*

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I always got nice comments on the mac & cheese I would bring to pot lucks at work and stuff. Two boxes of store-bought, plus one of those little round cans of ham and an ounce or so of reconstituted minced onion. I'd keep it warm in a crock pot and add more cheese just before serving -- cheddar.

Who knows. Maybe they were just being polite. It certainly didn't compare to Dave's chili.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

I make awesome mac and cheese. Sadly, it features gruyere rather than cheddar (my husband jokes that I think I'm too good for cheddar). Everyone who's ever had it always asks for seconds, even my mother, who is not a mac and cheese fan.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

Gruyere mac and cheese is the best though!!!!

McCain

[djdig.livejournal.com]

I knew this tidbit about McCain because my grandmother, who usually votes republican, told me this is why she refuses to vote for McCain.

This line says it all, ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Re: McCain

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

Except the article also states she refused to let the doctors contact the military so they could get word to McCain that his wife was severely disabled, essentially hiding it from him for three years. He went through hell, and was not allowed to brace himself mentally to the fact he would not be coming home to the same situation he left. What she did was downright cruel. At least she was able to prepare for the fact he was coming home a changed man. He wasn't allowed the same courtesy. Also, when he started to stray, she didn't do a thing to save their marriage and even told people she was ok with it. She chose to play the role of the martyr rather than fight and stand up for herself.

It takes two to make a marriage work AND to kill it. She did just as much to end it as he did. Not only that, she still relies on him for support rather than sever ties completely and take care of herself. If he didn't care about her and was a scumbag, he wouldn't be paying her bills even now almost 30 years later. That's a hell of a lot more than most ex-husbands do for their ex-wives.

For the record, I went through a divorce under similar circumstances as John and Carol. In my case it was thyroid cancer and lingering injuries and disabilities from a motorcycle accident on my part. John may be no saint, but neither is Carol. I am sorry their marriage ended, but I don't feel sorry for her situation.

Re: McCain

[moropus.livejournal.com]

The first Mrs. McCain refused to let the Navy tell McCain she was disabled so he would not worry about her while a POW being starved down to half his average weight. She was trying to protect him by not giving his captors something to torment and threaten him with.

She was trying to be a hero and spare him. Maybe it was a bad idea, but she was trying to not give his captors something to hurt him with. If she still has feelings for him and he's not a scumbag, why are they divorced and why was he chasing pretty women while they were still married? And as far as him taking care of her medical bills, I've heard of stranger things to come out of a divorce.

McCain's offical biography on his webpage does not include the children of his first wife, the children he adopted. I'm sure there's a perfectly good resason for him to do publically dishonor his adopted children, we just don't know what it is.

McCain's friends didn't even approve of his womanizing.

Many women would be too proud to publically castigate their husband for womanizing and draw even more attention to the fact that he can't keep his pants on. He pays her because the judge makes him. He's a wealthy man. He can afford it.

McCain wasn't just horrible to his ex, he wants to cut veterans' rights. As a disabled vet of 2 wars, that bothers me. He also approves of torturing POWs. Since he was one, I just don't get that at all. Its just more proof of his wonderfulness.

Re: McCain

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

I never said McCain was wonderful. Good lord knows he's not the innocent one in that divorce. I was just saying his ex isn't exactly the innocent victim she's portrayed as in the article. It's not as cut and dried as "John Bad! Carol Good!"

She could have requested the military not tell him until after he was back in safe custody. And if they did tell him while he was in the POW camp (VERY highly unlikely) maybe his captives knowing what happened could have led to him being released early out of compassion? Who knows? Either way, It was a severe shock to him when he was already in a delicate mental state and he could have been given more advance notice.

And no, if she was truly proud, she would not accept the money and would have put up some sort of a fight or tried something to save her marriage. There's being proud, and being a milquetoast. She told her friends she was okay with his running around. Carol didn’t fight him. She felt her infirmity made her an impediment to him. She justified his actions because of all he had gone through. Her silence during everything that was going on told him that how he was acting was okay.

It's hard to feel sorry for someone who martyrs themselves.

Re: McCain

[moropus.livejournal.com]

Ok, She's a self-made martyr. She's also dumb enough to still have feelings for him. That doesn't mean people won't feel sorry for her.

I suspect you don't have any first hand military knowledge or real information about how this whole POW thing works if you think they would have let him go if they found out his wife was handicapped.

There's little point in fighting the activity of somebody running around like that. What was she supposed to say? I suspect she wanted the martyr angle for the divorce, even if she isn't a natural born martyr. Besides that is the way the women of her generation were raised to act. They didn't have feminism. they were raised to be passive and clean up the mess he made while denying there was any mess at all.

Re: McCain

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

Of course they wouldn't let him go. The likelyhood of his captors letting him go are the same as the odds that the military would have found a way to tell him about her accident while he was in an enemy camp. True, I don't know much about the military, but I know that much.

Little point in fighting the activity? Spoken like someone who has never had to deal with a cheating spouse. There's plenty to say and do. When a guy strays its because he's not getting something he needs from his current relationship. This isn't a feminist issue, this is a commitment issue as old as marriage itself. Had she even made a half-assed attempt at saving the marriage, or hell, even let HIM know how his actions were hurting her rather than putting on 'a brave face', then I could feel sorry for her and empathize more. But the second it came out he was cheating she threw her hands up and quit. Lack of communication and failure to meet halfway on -both- sides ended their marriage. Even back then that was not the way to deal with it, passive upbringing or no.

If she was indeed using the martyr act as an angle, that still doesn't make it any better. I do agree that women of that era were raised to be passive. The men were raised with the notion that if they weren't getting what they wanted at home they were to go find a mistress. It was almost expected of men in high standing or with any money to have a few women on the side. So you can't pity one and vilify another for doing what society 'expected' of them. Besides, history has proven that a man's philandering ways and personal skeletons don't always mean he'll be a crappy president or a bad person. John F. Kennedy anyone?

The point I'm trying to make is that she left the marriage with as much (lack of) grace and dignity as he did. And it's true, sometimes marriages just end, even under the best of circumstances. They both went through way more than any couple ever should have and both reacted badly to it (him by straying, her by bottling things in). There is no clear victim and bully, though the article tries its best to make it that way. That's just the way our media is. Hell, I'm willing to bet money that if it was Obama and not McCain with a disabled ex-wife he cheated on, he would have simply been a misunderstood guy way over his head in a situation he couldn't cope with at the time and made 'an honest mistake'.

I'm not voting for McCain, and I don't think he's a saint or the right man to be president. But damn if I'm not sick and tired of the constant media and political assassination attempts always being directed at him while Obama keeps being touted as ready to walk on water any day now, especially when he's just as flawed and human as McCain is.

(frozen) Re: McCain

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

And I do believe we have found the motivation for the word count.

It's not a matter of making Obama look better by comparison. ANYONE looks better by comparison to this.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

I saw that article about two weeks ago, and while I didn't see the pictures (someone sent it via email with the source), it really did change my view on McCain forever. It's bad enough that he called his wife (was it the current one?) a c*nt, a word I that shall never be uttered in my house. This was just so sad. It really shows how shallow and womanizing McCain is.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Wow.

Excuse me. I need to go make sure McCain loses the vote of every even mildly disabled person in this nation...

Remembering a good moisturizer is good for your health as well as your vanity, even if you skip the makeup. I'm trying to train myself to treat the basic beauty regime on the same level as other physical health stuff, because it is better for me and I feel much better when I do it. Like exercise.

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

Between Newt and McSame, I think that the Republicans ought to start a "Smacked Ass Husband of the Month Club".

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

The mac n cheese contest sounds fun. I need to tell my friend Wolfy about it. He makes a very sinful M&C using a blend of various smoked cheeses. One time he used a onion-infused cheddar cheese in it that was heavenly!