Sugar plums, etc.

Gingerbread cookies are so Christmas. Here are the vegan ones I made last week... I'll spare you the recipe because I think mine still needs some work, but they tasted pretty good and looked pretty pretty... especially compared to my embattled sugar cookie cut-outs (that's right, this a-hole isn't the only one who can be "embattled"), which were a complete disaster. I'm through with cut-out cookies! They're an enormous pain in the rear, and their dough is infuriatingly sticky, and 75 percent of the time they don't even taste good. So I'm done with them. Forever! Ben reminds me that I say that every December, but this year I mean it!

Palin's big recital

Did you see the glazed-over expression on Sarah Palin's face last night? The expression one wears when reciting something long and fatiguing one has learned by heart? (The Preamble to the Constitution, for example, which I had to recite in high school--or the entirety of "The Raven," which was a little more fun.) She's like a pull-my-string Chatty Cathy doll, except Chatty Cathy was able to retrieve several more phrases than Palin seems to be able to.

I don't think memorizing the answers and then reciting them, unable to deviate from the script, is "straight talk." It's not even really talk; it's a recital. Personally, I would have rather seen her sit down at the piano and bang out a clunky rendition of the Minuet in G Major.

Her plasticity, the colloquialisms ("you betcha!" and "doggone it" and "hecka" are the ones that make my brain explode a little), her total lack of adequacy, and, you know, all the fkg lies are what really get me about Sarah Palin. And, as my friend Tiffany begs, do we really want a VP who has to cram before a debate like it's a Poli Sci exam?

P.S. The photo above makes me laugh really hard (through my fury). I think the best part is how McCain is grinning and pointing like an asshole at somebody out of frame. I'm so glad they didn't Photoshop him out.

My civic duty

Al Franken won the DFL nomination in the primary!

The note Ben left for me on the mirror this morning

All is well

On Saturday, Ben and I participated in our city's anti-war march and rally. In these photos from the Silent Majority blog, we're the ones with the "all is well" sign.

Ben's only complaint about these protests is that the chants are always a bit trite for his nuanced anti-war position. To use his subsequent words, we'd both be happier with something like: What do we want? An evaluation of policy as well as a strategic redeployment of troops to key Iraq sites to prevent civil war! When do we want it? Gradually!

Personally, I'm fond of a nice vague chant--multi-purpose and inspiring. My favorite has always been "the people/ united/ will never be defeated!" (In one variation, the last word is actually "divided"--unrealistic, but it rhymes!) Other popular chants are less successful, I think. What are we really supposed to do with blythe platitudes like "hey-hey, ho-ho, this occupation has got to go?" I mean, really. Still, I'm always glad when Ben and I have the opportunity to join with other citizens to register our dissent over this endless war.

A loppet and a caucus

Having attended both a loppet and a caucus this week, Ben and I are going for a record: highest number of strangely-named events in a four-day period.

The loppet, which is a cross-country ski race, was held by candlelight on the icy surface of a frozen lake near our home. There were a couple of ice spectacles (not sculptures exactly--think pyramid of ice bricks) and, allegedly, free coffee. We couldn't locate the latter, but it was still fun. Some bad photos of the Luminary Loppet can be seen here.

Caucus is a Latin term meaning "totally disorganized." Just kidding, but our caucus was all but mayhem. The doors opened twenty minutes late, they ran out of ballots (which, by the way, were basically yellow Post-It notes), and the ballot box itself was a copy paper box with a hole cut in the top. The Dems, God bless 'um, were completely unprepared for the unprecedented caucus turnout in Minnesota.

USA! USA!

Our good friend Becca came all the way from Wisconsin to stay with us and bake cookies. We spent a lot of time listening to the New Hampshire primary results (which were pretty inspiring) and lingering at the art museum.

Our old yellow dog, pictured below, was as sorry to see her go as Ben and I were.

Resolver

Since we're already kind of moody about a) the flaws of the early primary system and b) the results of last night's Iowa caucus, why not tunnel further into despondency by taking down the Christmas tree and making new year's resolutions?

They might not be as far-reaching as my husbeau's pledge "to stay awesome" in 2008, but here are mine:

To scream and swear less when I bump my head, break a dish, burn the banana bread, or accidentally drop a bag of garbage all over the just-mopped floor (all events that have occurred in the last ten days and that are very, very common in my life).

To really try not to be such a klutz. No kidding, I injure myself or break something or burn stuff in the oven almost every single day. I'm irritated by these accidents (because what am I, a gangly thirteen-year-old?) and also by the childish overreactions to them that my gentle husband has to endure.

To print a new issue of my little zine.

To stay awesome.