Calling All Pet Lovers

I am openly soliciting discussion and advice on a topic I know very little about:

Pet Insurance.

Is it a scam? Or is it a worthwhile investment in the healthy future of a beloved member of the family?

Trusty cat Cleo has always been a very healthy girl, but she is rapidly approaching her 10th birthday. As she gets to be a middle-aged kitty, I've been thinking about whether I need to do more to plan for her future.

I was brought up to be a firm believer in the quality of life as a major factor in determining any long-term care decisions, for people as well as pets. I do think there is a tipping point between keeping a loved one alive for themselves versus for the family, whatever the reasons you might have for not wanting to let go. So I know that when Cleo's time comes, as painful as it may be for me, the last thing I would ever want is to force her to linger if she's suffering.

All of that being said, there are quite possibly many good, healthy years left for her - there better be! - and there is an infinite variety of things that just may happen that would require veterinary care. And the last thing I would ever want to have to face is being torn between making a decision on a procedure or a treatment that would help her, but that I can't afford. I mean, heck, even a simple, routine teeth cleaning sets you back a few hundred dollars! (Though with my vet, it's almost worth the price to see the ridiculous logo-printed bandanna they dress her in while they have her asleep...I giggled for hours at her indignity!)

So that's what brings me back to the question of pet insurance. Does anyone out there have a pet policy? Or have any advice about the good, the bad, and the ugly associated with the idea of pet insurance?

I mean, come on, just look at this face.... wouldn't you want to take care of her, too? :-)

Speedy Delivery!

I have entered into a whole new world of ease and convenience through online shopping. Today, I had groceries delivered! Woohoo! I love the Internets!

Being carless, I usually can't buy a lot of groceries at one time. I have to use the basket, and I only get as much as I can carry. That means I can never get any of the bigger or heavier stuff, and I can never buy in bulk. I usually only get enough stuff for about 5 days at a time, which means I don't ever stock up on staples. So I end up buying heavy stuff like cat litter downstairs in the convenience store in my basement, which has jacked up prices. I've never really minded because it does makes things easy, but if I can get things cheaper through delivery then I can change my ways...

Last year, I used Zipcar a few times to drive out to a huge, gleaming superstore in MD. I would get about $150 worth of stuff, which would be great, but I'd also have to pay about $30 for the time with the car. And I eventually stopped doing that because I didn't want to have to pay all that extra $$$.

Now, with Safeway's home delivery, I can point and click my way to a full kitchen in no time! Check out how awesomely full my fridge is:

I can still get about $150 worth of things I really need, delivered to my door, without having to pay for a car rental on top of it. Oh, this is potentially dangerous! I think I have to limit myself to about once a month, max, but it's just so darn much fun to add new items to my cart. The only thing missing from shopping in a real store is bad muzak on the radio.....

Now I have some cooking to do! :-)

Yummy!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I was able to share in the bounty of Eat with Me and Footnotes for the third year in a row, which is how this is rapidly becoming one of my favorite days of the year! Scotte, Dancer, Joyous and I spent the whole day grazing, drinking, sharing, and just plain relaxing. Heck, when you have a holiday gathering of fundraisers, we're really good at giving thanks! It is our job, after all.... :-)

You should really check out Scotte's site for full details of the tasting courses, the meal itself, and this year's special surprise dessert, but I'll share with you my pretty dinner plate:



Great food, good friends, lots of wine, a little Valley of the Dolls and a special "Grey's Anatomy" - that's all you need for a perfect holiday!

PS - Scotte, I'd love to see the recipe for the pumpkin pudding. So delicious - and fat free! I need to make that for myself!

Four Thumbs Up!

Our book club met tonight, and I'm pleased to share with you all two very strong recommendations....

....first, our book was great. This month we read The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. She is a journalist who spent three months living with a traditional family in Afghanistan in the spring after September 11, after the Taliban fell. It's a fascinating yet surprisingly controversial view into a culture that has an incredibly rich history that has survived through several tumultuous decades of political upheaval. The stories of this family are very real, showing the role of women in Afghan society, the sacrifices that people have made in times of war and poverty, and the hope that people have for being able to take over their own destiny again. You may not love the patriarch or other members of his family, but this book provides gritty insight into a very different culture than our own.

....second, we went for an authentic meal by venturing into Woodley Park and the Afghan Grill. This warm, intimate space was the perfect setting for our discussion, and the food was fantastic. Lamb, beef, and chicken kabobs, potatoes simmered with tomatoes and spices, light aromatic basmati rice with raisins and carrots, and a surprisingly delicious pumpkin-with-meat-sauce appetizer. All of it was wonderful, and we seriously all cleaned our plates. If you're looking for a new restaurant to try out, you should really add Afghan Grill to the top of your list!

Happy reading, and happy eating!

Fight or Flight?

As I am rapidly approaching my 32nd birthday (holy crap! how'd that happen?), I like to think that I have grown into a fairly confident, independent, self-assured young woman of the world. And most of the time that is what I am. Except every once in a while, my not-so-confident inner self emerges to wreak havoc on my day. (The farm girl in me calls it my "inner chickensh*t self", for good reason.)

Case in point: Today, when I totally ruined my own lunch plans.

I had an agenda for my lunch hour, as I wanted to go to a quiet place nearby to buy my lunch and sit and read, as I'm woefully behind in the book that I'm leading the discussion of tomorrow night. I thought I could probably get in a good 50 pages at lunch which would keep me on pace to finish in time.

So I headed to this quiet lunch place feeling all happy and ready to have an hour to myself. Then, from outside I could see in to one of the tables. And I wasn't sure, but I *thought* I might have seen a Very Important Person from the Past sitting alone at a table. I have not seen VIPP in person in a very, very long time. In my mind, I've built it up so that whatever this first chance encounter with VIPP will be should be one in which I am fabulous and happy and not stressed or wind-blown or carrying a dorky book bag at all. You know what I mean. I was really not ready for this first encounter to take place today.

I was pot-committed, as I'd already walked up to the door, so I did go in to the lunch place and faked quickly surveying the menu, and kind of looked around in a different part of the store for a few minutes hoping I could then make a clean exit. At this point, I still wasn't sure if this was VIPP or not. But I didn't want to stick around long enough to find out.

Just as I was about to make my break for the door, maybe-VIPP got up and started to exit as well. So I was a freak and turned around again quickly pretending to be eyeing something on a shelf. Hi, Dork, party of 1, your table is ready!

~VIPP left the place, and I waited about 2 minutes and then exited myself. Why? There was no longer any danger of the nervous chance encounter! No need to worry about the awkward conversation! But still, the whole place felt tainted and I had to go.

So I went to a totally different lunch place, got something to go, and just went back to my office. I prompty marched up to 2 Office gal pals and said "I am chickensh*t!" and then proceeded to explain the whole story. I had bailed on my own lunch plans, which I had been looking forward to, just to avoid a possible encounter with someone who may or may not have been VIPP. At this point, I'm leaning towards not, that it was a total stranger. What?!?!?

Now, both the Office gal pals said they would have done the same thing, and that "run away!" is the appropriate response in such a scenario. But I can't help feeling like a big loser -- like maybe I need to give myself that "you are a strong, independent woman" pep talk that I often dole out to others.

My Tour of Lowcountry Cuisine

My trip to Charleston was one of those great vacations that gave me the opportunity to really sample a wide variety of regional cuisine. Mmmmm. I arrived armed with some great restaurant recommendations and an agenda of eating as much seafood as possible. Let the games begin!

Our first night, we did the obligatory tourist thing and ate at Hyman's Seafood. We lucked out and got there pretty early so there was not much of a wait - but throughout the weekend we saw the lines grow and people were waiting for an hour or more for a table at the extremely popular place. I sat in the same seat as Cyndi Lauper, according to the little plaque on the table! Mom and I dug in with our first seafood dinners of the trip - I ordered a cup of regional favorite she crab soup, then a garden salad followed by broiled tilapia with a baked sweet potato. She crab soup is pretty damn good - it's a creamy soup with lumps of crabmeat, sherry, and crab roe. Very rich, and I don't even want to think about the fat and sodium content. And the tilapia was amazing - light, just slighly crispy with a little bit of lemon juice drizzled on top. And this meal reminded me that I really need to bring more sweet potato into my life. It's just the best tasting thing ever. This sweet potato with a little butter and cinnamon sugar could've been dessert all on its own. Mom ordered a cup of gumbo, the broiled red snapper with a sweet potato side, and bread pudding that we split for dessert. Yeah, full and happy.

The next day, dinner was at A.W. Shuck's, which we found while exploring the Market, and I really have to thank Special K for this tip. I believe I texted that night saying something like that place had "rocked my jambalaya world." Mom and I ordered the same thing that night - a cup of she crab soup and the jambalaya. I think this was the best of the 3 she crab soups I ended up trying - it was a little thinner, less creamy and with more sherry. But really, that jambalaya was almost enough to make you believe God is a foodie. It was a huge, deep-red masterpiece on a plate. Lots of chorizo, shrimp, chicken and these amazing spicy chunks of tomato all over a huge bed of rice. There was so much depth to the flavors, and the spice was smoky and perfect. I really almost wanted to weep - first, because it tasted so good, and second because I got full pretty quickly and only ate about half of the plate. (For the record, Mom ate every bite of hers!)

Our third day started with breakfast at Diana's, a cute little place down from our hotel. Mom went for a great-looking fruit, yogurt, and granola parfait, and I opted for their "specialty omelet." This was really tasty, and very savory - a large omelet covered with sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, and spicy pepperjack cheese. Mmmm. I'm not used to eating breakfast with a little kick, but it was a fun change!

Lunch that day brought us to 82 Queen, which was recommended by Faith, our "Charleston Strolls" tour guide. This ended up being our favorite place on the whole trip! Mom and I both wanted to go a little lighter with this meal, and the lunch menu was really great. I had my third sample of she crab soup (always good) and a gorgeous, fresh mixed greens salad topped with blackened grouper. Delicious! Mom ordered a roasted tomato stuffed with corn, eggplant and mozzarella over marinara sauce and she couldn't stop raving about it. We then split a divine slice of pumpkin cheesecake which came with cinnamon ice cream. Mmmmmm all around!

We ended up walking around the Market area again that afternoon and stopped in at T-Bonz Gill & Grill for dinner. We weren't up for anything fancy and just wanted an easy dinner, and that it was. First of all, huge props to T-Bonz for bringing out *warm* bread with *warm* butter - just such a pleasant way to start a meal! I ordered a steak and Lowcountry deviled crab cake dinner with a salad and baked potato, and Mom went for the 3 crab cakes option. Here's my only disappointment of the culinary tour - I think I've been spoiled by living in this area, cuz I've really come to love Maryland crab cakes. The spicy "deviled" version in SC just wasn't as appealing to me. Mom liked them better than I did. But the steak was tasty - hooray!


Sunday brunch gave us the opportunity to check out Poogan's Porch, a restaurant we'd heard about from several people. This extremely charming place is named after the beloved and much-missed dog Poogan who helped "oversee" the restaurant's renovation and used to greet guests from his porch. There were lots of pictures up showing the actual Poogan, and it was all very sweet. Here's where I finally tried my very first fried green tomato - Paula Deen would be so proud! I had the eggs benedict with fried green tomato and applewood smoked bacon. Very tasty! And the tomato added a really fun tangy snap to the whole thing. They also had warm buttermilk biscuits with honey butter, divine. Mom had a huge order of French Toast, and she ate every bite so it must've been good!

For our last dinner in Charleston, we returned to 82 Queen. Dinner was just as delicious as lunch had been! And their outdoor courtyard ambience was really charming, with little white lights strung up along all the trees. It's a perfect date place! This time, Mom and I both sampled their soup of the day - pumpkin bisque. Truly delicious. Then I sampled a menu item that I'd never even heard of until we went to Charleston - Frogmore Stew. This hearty "boil" includes shrimp, corn, sausage, tomatoes, peppers, and okra all in a spicy-sweet tomato stock base. Wow, was this delicious. The ingredients are all largely intact, so you can enjoy huge chunks of veggies with the shrimp and sausage as the tastes blend together in their most basic forms. It reminded me of jambalaya, but without any rice. This was really a surprise treat! Mom ordered lamb, which is always her favorite, and so we were both really pleased with our 2nd visit to 82 Queen. For anyone heading to Charleston, put this restaurant at the top of your list!

Our last meal of the trip was breakfast on Monday, and we went to a cute little place on Meeting Street called Joseph's. We'd spied their menu early on, and I was really looking forward to ordering their sweet potato pancakes. And wow, were they tasty! Thick, rich, with that wonderful sweet potato taste all covered in pecan butter and maple syrup. It was like I'd died and gone to heaven, and in heaven it was always fall. Mom had an egg white omelet with fresh herbs and muenster cheese, and she was totally happy with her meal too.

Overall, I think we did pretty darn well on finding some of Charleston's best meals. Every place we went was relatively inexpensive and casual - we avoided the fancier stuff because we're not really a family that "dresses for dinner" - and the meals were all fantastic. I would love to go back! But first, I need to spend about a YEAR eating just fruits and veggies to make up for this 5-day feast!

Charleston's Treasures

Mom and I spent a lot of time walking around historic Charleston. The whole area was just so amazingly beautiful, it was almost impossible to believe. Imagine an entire neighborhood that looks like a postcard!




And I can't even imagine the millions of dollars that people pay for these properties, and the millions that go into historic preservation and creating showpiece homes and gardens.... What more can I say about a place where people pride themselves on living Slightly North of Broad, and calling themselves SNOBs? And, of course, they're not to be outdone by those living South of Broad, the SOBs!


We took a walking tour, and a carriage ride, and both of our tour guides were great. We learned a lot of interesting stories about the history and culture of the Lowcountry. But my favorite times were just walking around with my Mom and the camera, exploring on our own and finding great hidden treasures like these.

I'm home!!!!

Hey kids, I'm back from my vacation in beautiful and historic Charleston, SC. I got in several hours later than planned, so it will be a day or so before I start posting stories from the trip. But watch for details on Fort Sumter, on gorgeous architecture and historic houses, on my tour of an actual plantation, and on all of my sampling of Lowcountry cuisine. I'll spare you the horrific details of why I'm getting home so late. But trust me when I tell you it will be a cold day in hell before I fly out of Dulles again.

In the meantime, enjoy just a few of the many, many photo memories I'm bringing home with me...

I Do Plan to Keep Watching

*SPOILERS AHEAD ON THE LOST MINI-SEASON FINALE*

Phew. For a few minutes there, it looked like I was going to have to give up watching LOST. "Gasp! No!" You say. Whatever could make me stop watching LOST???

One thing: If they dare to kill off Sawyer. I mean, seriously, look at this guy. How could you kill him off?



Simple answer: You can't. But tonight, for a few brief but shattering moments, it looked like Sawyer was about to join Mr. Eko, Libby, Ana Lucia, Shannon and Boone in the great island graveyard.

But -- good news! He didn't! In what I have to admit was otherwise a somewhat disappointingly slow-paced episode, Jack surprised us all by out-maneuvering Ben and Juliet and taking control in the Hydra Hatch. With Ben's life as a mighty bargaining chip, he tipped the balance of power (a theme for this week???) and set Kate and Sawyer free.

Or did he? Either way, we're now set up for a February premiere that finds Sawyer and Kate now on the run on what we all know is a separate small island, and Ben's life ticking away. And it appears that we are finally going to learn more about what's going on over on the main island. It looks like Desmond is going to get pretty darn cool, I hope. I'm all for him kicking Charlie's a@@ like it appeared in the trailer.

This mini-season has been interesting. Tonight is the first night, though, where I agree with the haters who say the pace is off. This felt like a long filler in between Eko's shocking (if you didn't see spoilers) death and the outcome of the power struggle at the Hydra Hatch, which won't come 'til February. This episode could have been a lot shorter.

But it did finally give us a little skin-on-skin action as Sawyer and Kate got their groove on. Watching this, I couldn't help but feel that the Others were manipulating our survivors yet again. During the sweaty-in-a-cage scene, I texted a friend saying "I think this is all in the Others' plans. Dance puppets dance." And my friend wrote back "Who cares. It's hot." So true - those are some fine-lookin' folks.

So tonight was a little too much about the love triangle of the 3 characters who've emerged as the series stars. But I'm hopeful that February will bring us some major action, some resolution to the ongoing questions, and hopefully some exciting new developments that will kick-start 4 months straight of all new episodes, no repeats. Bring it on!

Faith Rewarded

HOORAY!!!!

This has gone way beyond even my best expectations! For the first time in 6 years, I have a new spring in my step. Even though some of those ballot initiatives are heartbreaking (except SD - booyeah!) and there's still a major race to be decided, which I would love to see stay tipped one way rather than the other, I'm so proud and hopeful and happy with what's already happened that I am not even banking on more. But I'd take it! :-)

So now we have the opportunity to prove ourselves, to show that we're not just a reactionary, "lesser of two evils" option. It's time to show what we are really made of, why we believe what we believe, and what we have to offer the American people. I hope the new House leadership handles their power responsibly, because if we help put things on the right track we could fast-track our candidate for 2008, whomever that ends up being. But if we go in with guns blazing, much as I'd like to see it, we may just hurt ourselves. So let's have purpose, let's have a vision, and most of all, let's remember to serve the American people.

The clock starts now.


And for fun, here I am sharing Election Night with my boyfriend:

Does Anyone Else Still Watch?

Desperate Housewives is starting to get really good again! If you gave up during the 2nd season, like I did for a while, now's a good time to come back. Marc Cherry has his eyes on the prize again, and the ladies are charming, funny, emotional, tragic, and just a teensy bit crazy like they should be. Best of all, they finally have all the ladies together again, just like they would be as real friends and neighbors.

And after tonight's grocery store hostage standoff? Well, heck, just hand Felicity the Emmy right now!

I finally saw it...

and it totally lived up to the hype! For your viewing pleasure, here's our very own Representative being interviewed by Mr. French Vanilla:



Remember to get out and vote on Tuesday! We've got to get Eleanor back on that show!

The Cost of Living on LOST Island

There has been a lot of talk lately that people feel disappointed in this season of LOST, because the pace is different or the storyline has bifurcated, or whatever. I don't understand that school of thought, because I still think the show is fantastic. There is drama, tension, action, terror, supernatural mysteries, intrigue, passion, faith, humor and politics all wrapped up into the finest damn hour of television. And tonight was no exception.

SPOILERS AHEAD, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

Eko's Last Stand:
Tonight we saw LOST's most towering figure face his redemption only to refuse it, but then suffer the consequences of his fate. We learned more about his past mistakes, the choices he made in order to survive. Was Eko a bad man? I think society would deem him so. But in his mind, I do think everything he did stemmed from his early role as both protector and provider to his little brother. Yemi was the good brother, and Eko did what he felt he had to do to keep him that way. A bad man, but with his own justifications.

And the island demanded his sacrifice. Tonight we saw the (triumphal?) return of Smoky the Monster, at least in the form we know it best. This time, Eko did not face down the monster and live. But what is that monster, exactly? Now I feel sure that the producers' hints that we've been seeing Smoky all along but didn't know it means that the monster has somehow been taking the shape of the visions our castaways keep seeing. How else to explain not-Yemi's devastating line "You speak to me as if I am your brother." ??? Which, by the way, now gets my vote as the best LOST line of the season. My jaw actually did drop. The monster has claimed Eko, thus giving him the redemption he ultimately sought, but what of the warlord-priest's dying words to Locke, "You're next" ????

The New Triangle:
Things with Jack, Juliet and Ben just keep getting more interesting! Ben gave up their plans for Jack, their intention to psychologically break him down to win him over, and asked him instead to save his life. Ben had some of the best dialogue of the episode, said in his eerie, squinty-eyed way: "Do you believe in God? Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. If that's not proof of God, I don't know what is." Perhaps Ben is a man of faith after all.

But now, the wild card is Juliet. She has a secret plan to secure Jack's help in staging a coup, of sorts, by killing Ben and making it look like accidental complications from surgery. I couldn't help but feeling throughout the whole scene that Juliet may actually be the bad guy here. She's incredibly manipulative and seems to have earned Jack's trust - will she use him to settle her own score with Ben and take over the leadership of the Others herself? I do believe Sawyer had her pegged, from one con to another. I don't trust her at all. Will Jack?

Meanwhile....:
Back on the beach, Locke gladly asserts himself into Jack's role and points out his own, different style of leadership. Hurley's reactions are priceless. And while I still think Paolo and Nicki suck,, they did give them a little more substance by hinting that they've been bitter about not being part of the lead clique all along. (I've been saying for a while that's the only exposition that would make any sense in introducing those two. I'm just sorry it took 5 episodes to get there.) Sayid is still a lead presence, but the man seems to be faltering in his comm skills. Come on, how did they not think of turning on all the tv's from the start? And I have a feeling Eyepatch is just a tease that we won't see again until February.

Parting Thoughts:
1. I think I want to avoid spoilers this time around. I had read several over the past week so I was 99% sure it was going to be Eko who died. And that does take away from the enjoyment, and the suspense, of watching an episode.

2. Note to the cast of LOST: Don't get picked up for DUI. It's a guarantee you'll be written off the show.

3. I really liked Eko. I hope he still shows up via flashbacks or visions in future episodes.

4. Seeing the trailer for next week has me on pins and needles! SO MUCH could happen, and it looks like Pickett is going after my beloved Sawyer, and what will become of Ben and his surgery?, and is Locke in danger too? I can't take it! The waiting is going to drive me nuts! Can we just fast forward to next Wednesday???