Friday, April 27, 2012

Random Musings Friday: ATL or Bust

As you read this, I am actually headed to the Atlanta airport to pick up the illustrious Shana of @Fumbling Towards Normalcy and Random Musings fame. It's true...she will land in the Peach state at the Buttcrack of Dawn (to me, anyway). And then we shall dine like queens and take in a few of Atlanta's historical sites before I whisk her away to men in flight suits and the occasional sonic boom. She requested a low-key, laid-back weekend in the deep south. I'll try my best, but we're all kind of hopped up on sweet tea and grits around here, so it could get a little crazy.

First...a little random for this gorgeous Champagne Friday:

I'm assuming there's a link-up for Shana's Random Musings today...but she may also not quite get around to it since I'm sure she was super busy on Thursday packing and then she flew out of NYC during the witching hour.

1. John Tesh told me about chin implants this week. More specifically, Chimplants. Apparently, they are supposed to give you a more pronounced chin and jawline and have become increasingly popular with the over 40 crowd, since that's when all of that chin skin sort of starts to droop and run together into the neck. But all I can think about is, "Won't everyone with Chimplants kind of look like American Dad?" Well...like...this:

via

However, after a quick images search on Google, I discovered that no, that is not the case and the results are so remarkable that I'm adding them to my wish list...right behind "remove the road map that is forming behind and around my knees."

2. Last night, I discovered that after Neal pats out hamburger patties, he doesn't use soap when he washes his hands. He just sort of runs them under water and then dries them off on a dish towel. As soon as I witnessed this process, I sent him directly back to the sink to try again, this time with suds. Also, I used a pair of tongs to toss the dish towel into the washing machine and placed the tongs in the dishwasher. His theory? It's totally fine...it's not chicken, after all. Mine? That's raw meat, which requires a combination of hot water, soap, and drying off on a paper towel. I'm going to need y'all to weigh in on this because there's a chance he's just lazy...but there's an equal chance that I'm being OCD. What's your vote?

3. What's a Random Musings Friday without a sweet pic of the girls? One morning this week, when the outside temp dipped unreasonably low for a Georgia spring day, I found them radiating body heat and proving that they would never make it in the non climate-controlled outdoors.



4. And on a more serious note, many of you read Brooke @ Building a Kingston Castle. This week, in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, she has effectively "come out" about her and her husband's struggle with infertility over the past year. She is being very honest about the chances her doctors have given her that treatment would work (slim) and she's learning how to live childFREE, as opposed to childLESS. I give her so much credit for the work she's doing, both in raising awareness for infertility, as well as sharing her own pain and sadness.

When you reach our age (early to mid-30's), it seems like Facebook is literally bursting with pregnancy announcements, women complaining about their pregnancies, baby announcements, women complaining about their babies, and everything in between. I get that pregnancy and having a baby is a life-changing experience. I understand that many people find Facebook to be an outlet for whatever crosses their minds at any given moment. I also understand that when you have either lost a child or are having an extremely difficult time conceiving a child, that this constant barrage of updates gets old and irritating. I hid a lot of people's updates between 2008 and 2011. But Brooke is using Facebook in the same way that I prefer to use it: as an information outlet and source. She is posting information from infertility sites...facts about infertility, what not to say to a couple who is either going through treatments or have chosen a childFREE life, and just how to be more sensitive, in general. Every 1 in 8 couples is surviving infertility. You probably find yourself in a room with 7 other women on a daily basis. That means, you know someone...even if you don't know that you know someone. Your words make a difference. Please check out Brooke's blog and say a prayer for the women whose only want in this world is what you hold everyday, often without even thinking about it.

5. Lastly, I'll leave you with this picture from the last time Shana came south. Less alcohol this time, as it's not Halloween weekend and we aren't in Savannah, but I'm sure there will be interesting photos anyway.


Cheers and Happy Champagne Friday!

7 comments:

  1. Hamburger: wash your hands WITH SOAP! There's a reason restaurant menus advise against ordering rare or undercooked meet including hamburgers. The USDA says it may contain "harmful bacteria". Taking that at surface value (and not getting into government agencies, the truths they sometimes don't tell you, and all that...) means wash your hands with soap. Bottom line: you are right. :-)

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  2. Sorry, Neal, you're seriously in the wrong, here.

    Ground beef has a higher chance of containing bacterial baddies since the surface (where most are found) is everywhere, inside and out--the process of mixing and forming burger patties just put that all over your hands and, possibly, under your nails, too. Bacterial baddies thrive between 40 and 140 degrees F and by forgoing the soap and just patting your hands off on that towel, you're giving them a moist, room-temperature environment to sit and wait until they're transferred to the next thing that towel touches.

    Always use soap and hot water after handling raw meat. I don't have quite the issue with a dedicated hand-towel versus paper, personally, as long as you know where the towel's been.

    (so says the former chef who spent a month in Safety & Sanitation class as part of her degree)

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  3. Thanks, Allyson! I have to give you a HUGE thank you for being a big part of my support system and helping and encouraging me to be "out and proud" this week. I hope you and Shana have an amazing time these weekend. Love you both!

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  4. You can eat it rare - that's on you (and I do), but you have to wash your hands. That's an order, Capt!

    The truth of the matter is that we all need to stop making comments about other women's reproductive anything. It is so easy to say the wrong thing and hurt someone's feelings and it ain't any of our business. Congratulations are fine if someone tells you they are expecting, but short of that ... zip it up! (Your mouth, that is.)

    If you and Shana need bail money, let me know.

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  5. UGH this is a hot button issue for me...I really think that speaking to a woman in her 30's (or at all, really) about her plans for children or getting pregnant in general, unless you know this person well, or they bring it up themselves is RUDE and INAPROPRIATE. I went to my SIL baby shower last month and was literally assaulted with questions about when do we want to start trying for kids, etc, etc. By people I DONT EVEN KNOW!! I wanted to ask them "what makes you think we arent trying right now? How do you know that we havent been trying for months or a year and maybe we were pregnant and lost it and you sit here and ask me such a PERSONAL and PRIVATE question like you are asking me where I plan on going for my next vacation!?!??!" It was unreal. If I want you to know what my plans are for kids, I WILL TELL YOU!!!! Its taboo to ask a woman her WEIGHT or her AGE or how much we make but people think its no big deal to comment about when we are gonna start popping out kids, like its any of their GD business!!

    Add facebook into the mix and its just ridiculous. I had 2 people OUTED on fb for being pregnant when they specifically werent telling everyone and those they told, they asked to keep it off fb, but some people just dont think. One of them had a stupid friend who added her to some group for "mommies with 2011 babies expecting in 2012!" I should point out that she wanted no one to know she was preggo because she has had complications and lost one before, and right now she is in jeopardy of losing this one and this friend made it public and now she is having people inundating her with congrats but she has to explain to them the painfull situation she is in. Its just awful and it makes me so angry!

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  6. ack - any raw meat being handled requires washing hands with soap and water and always using a paper towel! Mike is notorious for bringing back in the pan he took the meat out to the grill with, rinsing it off and then wiping it with a paper towel and taking it back out to pick up the meat off the grill. It bugs me... I've commented on it... but in his defense we have yet to get sick... *here's hoping we can keep outrunning ecoli*

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That's it, let it all out....