More specifically, old STUPID habits die hard. Back in my younger days, I used to hang out with a bunch of beer-swilling, hot pepper-eating tough guys. Okay, the "tough" part is making me laugh out loud. The beer-swilling & pepper-eating are true enough, though. Anyway, due to an overwhelming lack of self-esteem I felt the need to keep up with (and occasionally outdo) their antics. I was never one to turn down a dare and they knew it and took full advantage of it. The low point was doing a shot of Tabasco Sauce (yes, a full shot) on a dare. That was preceded by several shots of Ouzo, which obviously impaired my decision-making abilities.

Many years later, I have given up the alcohol but still possess a fondness for spicy food. MF, Beaker & Boo (MF's two girls) went with us to Buffalo Wild Wings for supper last night. Before our delectable selection of chicken wings/tenders smothered in hot sauce, we indulged in ultimate nachos, complete with pickled jalapenos (my favorite). MF was impressed with my ability to suck down the jalapenos without any outward signs of fiery, smoldering pain - no sweating of eyeballs, fanning of flaming lips, furious gulping of Diet Coke, etc. I told her my penance would come later and sure enough, I was up at 5:00 this morning (a travesty on a school holiday!) with flaming butt syndrome. (BA, I'm sure you're familiar with this since you are one of the aforementioned beer-swilling friends.) If you are not aware of it, I'm not going to explain.

Hmmm, my children appear to have come to life finally. Grover has been reading along and wanted me to tell you that the children were loud last night. That's just another reason I love BWW - it's already loud in there so our yelling, screaming children fit right in. Plus, they were showing the Green Bay/Minnesota game which, might I add was not available on any cable channel I currently subscribe to, dammit. Luckily, my husband has a subscription to some online NFL thing where we can listen to all the radio broadcasts of the games, so I sat in front of the laptop listening intently as the Packers whooped up on the Vi-queens. Okay, so they barely won, but it's still a W in the box score and it made 3 in a row for the Pack.

Speaking of yelling children, Grover is now running in circles around the house yelling at the top of her lungs. Why? No idea. Probably for the same unknown reason Ollie is howling like a wolf and pounding on me like a drum.

So much for this post. Gotta go...

The pink was just gross - I don't know what possessed me to do that. Too much of Grover's influence, undoubtedly. Her absolute favorite color is pink and she lets everyone know on a regular basis. I like this one much better. It's much more "me". Plus, it goes spectacularly well with Munch's 'The Scream' which is my new (and highly appropriate) icon. However, if you find it distracting or hard to read, I suppose I could tone it down. Or you could just find another blog.

Okay, it's not really news, just my opinion which is just as important. If you like Lord of the Rings, children's movies and talking vegetables (and who doesn't?), then I strongly encourage you to watch VeggieTales' Lord of the Beans. It is the utterly hilarious story of a young Flobbit named Toto Baggypants who sets off with his wise friend Randalf and several brave protectors - Earo'corn, Legolamb and Grumpy - to find the true meaning of the magical gift he has been given. The Bean of Power gives to whosoever holds it the ability to have anything he wishes - fame, fortune, clothing, small kitchen appliances. The crew travels over the Mountains of Muchsnowia to the Land of Woe, meeting many strange characters along the way. Finally, Toto discovers what he must use the Bean for... but for that, you'll have to watch the movie.

Our local newspaper has finally dispensed with archaic comic strips like Hagar the Horrible and Wizard of Id in favor of more hip fare. Most of them I don't really care for, but that's not important. What is important is that there is someone at the N&O who recognizes comic brilliance when he/she sees it. They've finally started carrying... drum roll, please... my favorite cartoon - Pearls Before Swine.

I'm so happy!