I've been recharging.

Seriously. I got home last night around 6:30pm, sauted some pierogis and baked some chicken for Justin and I, watched the end of a Tivoed "Newlyweds", and promptly fell asleep at 9pm. On a Friday night!

Justin and I both slept until 5am this morning. We woke up, and still groggy, watched "50 First Dates," which was stupid, but very bearable because of the cast.

Then we fell asleep again. Or at least I did. I slept until 1pm. What is going on?!?

I must bet getting old.

Shine up your silver platters!

They did the dance, they want the head:

Family Advocates to Bush: Don't Relegate Marriage to Back Burner

What do you get when you mix misguided "edgy" marketing with a behemoth corporation sure to get your ad on every 10 minutes?

Answer: a horrible poetry-slam-ish McDonald's commercial with a "guess-my-ethnicity" girl riffing on salad.

It puts chills down my back. Bad ones.

"My moooooood--(LONG PAUSE)--is...lushandgreen..." Ack! Shoot me now.

Apparently, the American Family Association holds a fundamental belief that children can't be trusted.

Okay, I'll admit that the little scamps plot and scheme from birth to slam their noggins against the rough edges of furniture--I mean, when ARE we going to be able to have nice things, Clancy? When?--requiring us to fit those edges with rubber covers. And I'll admit that kids can't be trusted to stay in the backseat when a driver slams on the brakes...the little con men MUST be held down by seatbelts, a little ritual that, if those kids could just be trusted to stay put, could shave seconds off of every commute.

So, it's no wonder that children are going to Kmart to buy pornography. Their prurient minds are insatiable and, despite a child's good upbringing, they just can't be trusted.

Which is why we need labels on the CDs; that much is clear. And an alarm that goes off when an aurally pornographic CD crosses a cash register scanner, because you never know what kind of things that kids, despite good training and a close relationship with their parents, will try to get away with.

This is necessary because we know that no amount of parenting could ever cause a child to stop and think before buying something. And we know that buying an Eminem CD is not so much an opportunity for a parent/child talk than a travesty that requires a grassroots boycott.

What're the schemers going to do next? Buying Cosmo at 7-11 can't be far behind.

I'm quite proud of my little southern state with the initials F and L.

We got down to 30 degrees this morning! A pretty hearty feat, considering the disappointing winters we've had for the last decade or so.

I remember standing outside of my house when I was in third grade, waiting for the carpool to pick me up, searching for ice patches on the driveway to skid across.

Whenever I've recalled that memory to others, even longtime Florida residents, they look at me as if I said I saw Bigfoot doing self-checkout at the grocery store.

Ha! It DOES get THAT cold in FL. And it's great! Bring on the sweater weather...