Comfort

When I say I wish I was at home in my slippers right now, I really mean it. They came to me all the way from Churchill, Manitoba thanks to Jillian, and they are pure comfort. I even brought them to Portland with me, and I predict I'll bring them to Saskatoon for the holidays.

When I first received them, I thought the polar bears would suit a reenactment of this scene in Me and You and Everyone We Know:



Today, the bears are getting along, but if I wear the slippers on opposite feet (or cross my feet) it's hard to ignore the tension. Anyway. You get the idea.

While I was looking for that movie clip, I found something else to share with you (isn't that always the way?). It's a Blonde Redhead video featuring Miranda July and some high-waisted pants. Can you resist? Can you really?



I have some things to tell you about, including my successful transition to a credit union, so stay tuned in the coming weeks. I promise I'll only get distracted by YouTube a little bit.

Fatherhood and Divorce

I've never hidden my love for Alec Baldwin (even though I've only paid him minor tribute on this blog). Still, I never expected that my affection would encourage actual Alec Baldwin gifts (now that I know different I'm going to talk about him even more).

I just recently left one government job for another (which is why I took a little break from writing), and one of my coworkers bought me A Promise to Ourselves as a goodbye present (I owe you a Christmas gift Vitaly. Do you like Alec Baldwin too?).

You should have seen my jaw drop when I opened the gift. I never planned to buy the book (since I'm neither a parent nor a divorcée), so my excitement took me by surprise. I actually have tentative plans to read it (starting with the chapter Leave a message after the tone), but for now I'll just admire the cover. He's really wearing a lot of make-up, isn't he? I prefer his look on 30 Rock.

If you don't buy the book yourself, you can learn why girls like me love Alec by reading this New Yorker article: Why me? Alec Baldwin's disappointment undimmed by success. I just want to give him a hug!

Making pumpkin cookies again

I'm always open to suggestions, so I tried my hand at the cookies that Lydia recommended after my last foray into the pumpkin cookie world; that is, I made the Pumpkin Butterscotch-Chip Cookies from Chow, but I used chocolate chips as per Lydia's instruction.

They were pretty good, but I think I might be sick of pumpkin cookies. Both recipes were a little too cake-like (I know, how is that a bad thing?). Of the two, I think I prefer the first attempt, but that's because I'm a sucker for icing. If I tried this recipe again, I would use both chocolate and butterscotch chips to shake things up.

Even though I've had my fill, I should tell you that these cookies went over really well at the meeting for which they were made. I'm pretty sure more than a few of those in attendance came for the food and not to discuss car co-op business, and they left satisfied thanks to this recipe.

Steve Martin and Me

I want to say several things quickly. Most of those things have something to do with Steve Martin and/or tentative plans.

First, I don't know what's up with Steve Martin. I want to love him, but I have a hard time making it happen. I didn't really like his over-the-top performance in 30 Rock last week. It was too much! Most of his recent performances have been too much! I remember loving him dearly, so Michael and I have tentative plans to watch L.A. Story to see if we can rekindle the feeling.

Second, I was thinking about The Jerk (starring Steve Martin) because Zoe and Dan were talking about it, and that reminded me of the song You Belong to Me. I tracked it down and I thought I would post the clip here because it's my dad's birthday and he loves this song too. Don't you want to gobble up Bernadette Peters? And what about the trumpet? And Steve Martin's reaction to the trumpet?



Finally, while I was looking for that song, I found this:



It looks like I'm going to learn how to play the ukulele from a teacher named boozelele and it's all thanks to Steve Martin. That's the tentative plan anyway.

Change of heart

Remember how I said I was done with posters? On Tuesday? I take it back. I was just reading the Dec/Jan issues of ReadyMade, and I came across some beatiful posters that are available for free (including the one by Nick Dewar, pictured here).

The posters address current issues in a style inspired by American Depression-era posters. You can see the originals in Posters for the People: Art of the Works Progress Administration.

Now I need to find something along these lines so I can put an end to the reign of the ineffective thumbtack.

No more posters

I love Todd Oldham. We've been looking for new things to hang on our walls, and I'm pretty sure I need one of his Felissimo plates to display in a shadow box. I'm fond of the bird, the kitten and the bun. I would love to buy all three, but I think they would clash.