Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Climate Changes

Only in Vermont could we start out the month near 60 degrees and then end up with morning temperatures of 18 below. This morning was very nippy! I have this thing with going outside to wait for the school bus while I can feel my nostrils freezing together every time I try to inhale--not that my lungs appreciated my trying to inhale at all!

While we really haven't had that much of a winter this year, I am ready for it to go away. Walking on snow at 18 below zero makes for some nasty sounds. If you've never experienced it, imagine fingernails on the chalkboard with every step. The styrofoam squeak that occurs is plain annoying and feels odd too. It does feel like you are on hard styrofoam.

With this said, if anyone in the warmer states would like to get a fan big enough to blow some of their warm air up north, I'd really appreciate it!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Morning Coffee

It's Sunday. I'm up far too early. It's a balmy three degrees. All I wanted was my cup of coffee and then to attempt to get some work done. Weekend mornings at this hour suck!

Why get up so early? It probably has everything to do with my pesky cats who pawed open lower cupboards in search of their kitty high. I'd bought a new bag of catnip for them and they were determined to find it. Unfortunately, our younger cat is all too clever at opening cupboards and she found it. I came downstairs to find a torn apart bag of catnip all over my floor and two very stoned cats attempting to look innocent.

Once I'd cleaned the gritty mess off the floor, I gave up on any thought of returning to bed. Instead, I decided to try the latest coffee in a round of tests...

Years ago, I stopped drinking items with caffeine. It was felt that my anxiety, besides being genetic, might be related to caffeine intake. I stopped drinking coffee and discovered it made a big difference. Any coffee addict who has given up caffeine knows that decaf coffee can be horrendous! I've spent years going through brands that are worthy of purchasing.

Dunkin Donuts - one of my favored caffeine brands - makes a lousy decaf usually. The coffee definitely has bitter, almost sour, after tones. Unless you ask them to make a fresh pot from freshly ground beans, don't count on a good cup of decaf.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is what I drink the most - Paul Newman's blend is the best to me. I want to say it is called Special Roast decaf - but it is his organic blend of decaf. The price, however, is a bit of a pain. $6 for a 12 oz bag.

My sister-in-law started drinking decaf a few months ago and swears by a newer VT company - Vermont Coffee Roasters - out of Bristol, VT. It is expensive stuff. For the price you pay, it should be liquid gold! For Christmas, I splurged and treated myself to a pound bag of their decaf Columbian. $13 per pound. How disappointing! While the coffee tastes okay, it isn't as good as Green Mountain. Worse yet, I find that if you do not double the amount of coffee, you get a weak tasting pot. For a pot, I tend to use between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups of beans (estimating my measurements, I really fill the beans to the top of my grinder's metal rim and then grind away) and then grind them up. With this Vermont Coffee Roasters, I grind one batch of coffee beans, pour them into the filter, and then grind a second batch. So I'm using double the amount of beans to get a normal pot of coffee. That makes it a wasteful coffee to me.

Starbucks - not a big fan of their coffee - the decaf is bitter. Speeder and Earls (another local company) is another of my favorites! It's a little pricier, but definitely worth it.

Yesterday, I decided to try Costco (Kirkland's) decaf arabica. I purchased the three pound canister for $8. Usually, I'll buy the whole beans, but I felt it was a better idea to spend less and see if it is worth it before investing the additional $6. I guess I'm more comfortable throwing out $8 worth of coffee over $14. I did realize that being pre-ground, it might be the best coffee, but I want something that tastes like coffee without the bitter aftertaste. This Kirkland coffee isn't bad. Very smoky and better than some of the other coffees I've had. I can't wait to try the whole beans!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

American Idol

My husband, daughter, and I always watch the opening shows of American Idol. Year after year, I am continually amazed by people who show up for auditions and then sing their hearts out sounding more like a monkey on crack than a human. I'm sorry, but some of these people just CANNOT sign. Last night's show, in Seattle, leaves me with a lot of questions.

1. People continue to rant about how mean Simon is. Okay, first the taping takes place over an entire two day period. Two DAYS are turned into two HOURS. You know for ratings that the show is going to cut everything except Simon's comments, Paula's saccharin attitudes, and Randy's "Yo Dawg" garbage. It was very nice to see Randy show a little backbone and tell someone that they sucked. It was just as nice to see Simon rub it in a bit and fire the lousy singer up. I'd really LOVE to see Paula come right out and tell someone that they suck at singing and dancing. For the most part, I agree with everything Simon has to say. Though the Indian girl and her younger brother, while I agree he is the better singer, she did a great job too. It wasn't just okay.

2. I want to know how many of these people watch the taping of their audition and then cringe. I would hope that the majority are forced to watch it and then apologize for all the f-you Simon's. That guy who sang Unchained Melody last night. I had to mute the TV - his performance was brutal. I realize some people are tone deaf, but please. Perhaps you should go to some karoake bar first and see how the crowd reacts before you embarrass yourself on national television.

3. When you've been told you suck - why do some insist on ignoring the judges and sign even more. I couldn't stand the song that girl (the blonde who was her mom's twin - the only difference was age and hair color) did -- the "Dontcha Wish Your Girlfriend was hot like me...". I don't mind that song, but her rendition was horrifying. To then try to do Sweet Home Alabama. I was cringing.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Damn... School Systems Today

My ten-year-old recently informed me that she refuses to miss another day of school. She's missed one this year and I had to fight her to stay home that day -- fever of 100.8 and she was fighting me every step of the way.

Anyway, a situation came up this week where it would have been beneficial to me to have both kids take the day off from school on Friday so that we could travel to the other side of the state, only my daughter burst into tears at the thought of missing school. It took me three days to get her to explain why -- especially when she announced that she wish it would snow so that she could have a snowday. (Vermont has been virtually snowfree all season.)

Last night, she finally told us why she doesn't want to miss school. Now, the school and I have battled on things before. I don't blame the teachers fully, I know a lot of today's problems lie with "No Child Left Behind." However, until school systems put their feet down and tell the government to get real, nothing is going to change. I'd love to not pay my taxes, but one person is not enough - the entire country needs to revolt and demand changes!

As it turns out, if a child here misses a day/days of school, they are not allowed to have recess until they have caught up on all their work. They are sent to another teacher's room (like detention from my day) where they have to catch up on all they missed before they can return to recess with their class. So in my daughter's case, she would typically miss her math chapter for the day, spelling work, short story writing, and whatever history/science they did while she was out. When I made her stay home in the fall, she wound up missing recess for three recesses (days).

This leads me to question:

1. why are we punishing kids for staying home sick???
2. Why not send the work home as homework?
3. Why are we send a message to kids that NO SICK days are allowed without punishment?

I don't know about everyone, but my friends, family, and husband are all given at least three sick days per year paid. Teachers that I have questioned admit that they get 10 sick days per year and those can be accumulated.

So if teachers are allowed to be sick without punishment, why are we sending the kids a strong message that if they skip school, they will be punished. It's wrong!

The state of the school system is depressing. I wish something would change and soon!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Better than our local weathermen

Our weathermen have been off the mark pretty much all season. Take today - they said a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain. It warmed up a lot last night, so we are dealing with another round of rain. It's absurd - VT and it's January and to date, I've seen a maybe 3 inches total land in my yard. We've had three "storms." One barely left a dusting. The next left half an inch. The other left about 2 inches tops. Saturday's mix of sun and clouds and 60 degree weather had the birds singing their springtime songs. My white lilac trees have budded. My pink sedum is up out of the ground.

For Christmas, my younger brother bought my husband this indoor/outdoor thermometer. My husband LOVES it. What I've noticed is that the barometer aspect that tells you what the weather will be like in 12 to 24 hours has yet to fail us.



Friday before I went to bed, I glanced at it and it showed the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Now the weathermen were saying rain tapering to showers by late afternoon. Sure enough, Saturday afternoon the sun started to come out. The barometer function was once again more accurate than our weathermen. I am thoroughly fascinated by it and wish we'd bought one a long time ago. Now if I really truly understood how barometric pressure works and is calculated....

Thursday, January 04, 2007

The Chicago Manual Of Style



For years, I have wanted to buy myself a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style, but the high cost has been rather off-putting. My younger brother (I like to call him my little brother, but he's now a foot taller, so "little" doesn't quite fit anymore) surprised me with a copy this Christmas.

If you do any writing, I do have to admit that this book is a fantastic resource. It delves into the current rules on punctuation, grammar, and even publishing. While it may seem rather dull, I found myself actually enjoying sitting down and reading through the book when time allows. I can actually see myself working through this book from cover to cover just to have an idea on what has changed since I had grammar drilled into me by my shorthand teacher. (I still thank her to this day for all she taught us!)