We're putting this blog on a diet!

We know y’all were expecting a Hunger Games post today, and we’ll get to it, eventually (probably) but after over a month of daily posts we’ve realized that in addition to our real lives and stuff, that trying to post something entertaining every day has just gotten to be too much.

So, instead of just putting out crap every day to keep up with the blog, we’ve decided to scale back a bit and stick with the parts of the blog that everyone seems to enjoy the most.

We’ll still swap recipes and music, and you Nosy Nellies will still get a peek into our lives. We do reserve Wednesdays for something else if the fancy strikes us. We will be able to talk about a certain tv show or movie or maybe an outfit we need to put together. It’s going to be our random day. Friday will be our new food day, and it will pick up next week with Sass telling y’all about a recipe that Snark sent her.

So join us back here on Monday when Snark reviews some music Sass sent and all will be right with the blogosphere again...only lighter.

Photo taken from nataliedee.com

Take a Peek, Above the Sink, the mediciiiine cabinet*

Today we're giving y'all a glimpse into our medicine cabinets. You know...those things you peek in when you're visiting friends. Nah...don't claim that you don't. You know you take a little looksy. We decided to save you the guilt and shame and freely show you what's in ours.

Sass: We actually have 2 medicine cabinets in the Sass household, so you get a peek into both. Here’s the first one - it sits above the toilet.

There’s really no rhyme or reason (or organization) to the cabinet. The top shelf has an array of things from baby powder to a squeeze tube of allow to homeopathic teething tablets (that nobody uses anymore) to a minty face mask and poison ivy lotion.


The second shelf houses Q-Tips, deodorant and all my hair stuff. We’re partial to Tom’s of Maine deodorant in this house - in a variety of scents. As for hair stuff, both Mr. Sass and I use hair elastics on a daily basis, so we have a huge bag of those. In addition, I have tons of hair clips, scarfs, etc... for all my fancy hair needs.


The bottom shelf doesn’t have any doors to close in front of it (and yet still, not organized!) This one contains a whole slew of stuff. A funky clock that shows the time from the shower so we can make sure we’re not running late, my “beauty products” aka my face cream, toner and junk. My glasses, some hair clips and various lotions all also reside there.


Here is cabinet #2:

This one has mirrored doors (cut into thirds, which kind of annoys me) and sits above the sink. Again, no real organization at all going on here. The top shelf houses make up I haven’t touched since probably 2006, some hemmheroid cream (which I haven’t touched since I was pregnant. Fun times) and some Compound W (I’m still trying to figure out who in my family had warts...).


The second shelf is full of band-aids, more baby powder and some Gold Bond (can you tell somebody’s a sweater...here’s a clue - it’s not me!).


The bottom shelf holds our toothpastes - Tom’s of Maine - mint for us and silly strawberry for the kid, some rubbing alcohol, fancy mouth wash we got from the dentist and a junk load of bug spray. It gets buggy here in the summer.

Snark: I have one actual medicine cabinet, but I have another cabinet that I stuff with more crap. I seem to end up with a lot of things that I never use. Just take a look at the picture below.

I use the toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, headache medicine, Qtips, face wash and that’s about it. Everything else is just... there. I mean, sure, I might need some a bandaid or take some allergy medicine, so I’ve got it. I should probably throw that fake tan stuff away though since it’s rather old. Let me go do that now.

This cabinet houses washcloths, tampons, razors, hair products that are rarely used, a tissue box crocheted cover I got at an estate sale, nail polish remover, a hair brush. On the top shelf, maybe you can see the sugar scrub I made myself. I think I’ve used it once. What a waste of good olive oil.

We showed you ours, now it's your turn...What’s in your medicine cabinet?

*Snark would like to note that the blog title is a play on the theme song to the 80s kid's show classic, Reading Rainbow. Sass would like to note that she still gets down to that theme song every now and again.

An Apple a Day...

So, I don't know if y'all have figured it out by now, but I'm no gourmet chef. I know, I know, you're surprised. This week I try my hand at baking a pie.

FROM SCRATCH!

I have never, ever done this. Have I made pies? Sure. We're the crusts pre-packaged and frozen in their pans already? Of course.

This time, I did it all, and I made a rather delicious apple pie. It all starts here:

Well, really, you make the crust first, as I learned today when I finally read the directions, but the apples were how this all started. Sass and I live in total opposite sides of the country, so we have a lot of different food choices. Something normal for me would be very unusual for her. Like, Sass goes to the orchard and picks apples. Yeah, I don't do that. Last week, she mailed me some of those apples, and then she sent me this.

Ingredients

Makes one 9-inch pie

· 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

· 1 to 1 1/2 recipes Deep Dish Pate Brisee

· 1 large egg yolk

· 1 tablespoon heavy cream

· 3 pounds assorted apples, such as Macoun, Granny Smith, cortland, Jonagold, or empire, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

· 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

· 1/4 cup granulated sugar

· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

· 1/8 teaspoon salt

· 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

· Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one pate brisee disc into a 13-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. With a sharp paring knife, trim dough flush with the rim. Freeze again until firm, at least 30 minutes.

2. Roll out remaining 2 discs of pate brisee to about 1/8 inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes. Remove from freezer; using a 2 1/4-inch leaf-shaped cutter, cut out about 65 leaves and place them in a single layer on baking sheet. Place in refrigerator until firm.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and heavy cream; set aside. In a large bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Remove pie shell from freezer, and fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter.

4. Remove leaves from refrigerator, and score with a paring knife to make veins. Lightly brush the edge of the pie shell with water. Brush the bottom of each leaf with water; beginning with the outside edge, arrange leaves in a slightly overlapping ring. Repeat to form another ring slightly overlapping the first. Continue until only a small circle of filling is left uncovered in the center.

5. Carefully brush the top of the leaves and pie edge with the reserved egg wash, and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar. Freeze or refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

6. Place pie plate on a baking sheet, and bake until crust just begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. If the crust begins to get too dark, drape a piece of aluminum foil over the top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

BRISEE (Fancy word for DOUGH)

Ingredients

Makes enough for one 12-inch deep-dish pie

· 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

· 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

· 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

· 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

· 3/4 cup ice water

Directions

1. Place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; process to combine. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube with the machine running, just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds. Test dough by squeezing a small amount together; if it is still crumbly, add a bit more water.

2. Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Press into a flattened circle, and wrap in the plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.

Read more at Marthastewart.com

Well, y'all know I always have some mishap. This time, I couldn't work my new food processor because I'm dumb. My friend got it to work like THAT. Anywho, I couldn't work it, so I had to use a fork and my hand to mix in the butter... it took awhile. Then, you have to roll it out. That's when I realized I don't have a rolling pin. Doh.

You see that water bottle? Well, I considered using that as a rolling pin. lol. Yeah, um, not my smartest idea. It definitely didn't work.

So I just smooshed it out on my countertop and then wrapped it in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour. During that hour, I cut and peeled seven apples and rushed around like a mad woman to finish cleaning my house before my guests came over for pie. I also, during that time, texted everyone so they would come thirty minutes later.

Once that hour was up, I smooshed it even flatter and put it in the pan. I cut around the excess and then smooshed that all up together and tried my best to flatten it (I was not very successful - you'll see). I then had to stick it back in the freezer for thirty minutes. It was about this time I was starting to really not like making crust from scratch. I don't want to do things in steps with waiting in the middle. I want it all done right away.

I took that time though to mix up the stuff that goes on the inside of the pie.

These ingredients plus the lemon in the first picture with the apples make this:

Then, I also had to make an egg yolk, whipping cream combo to put on top of the pie. It was easy, but I really need to find a better way to get the yolk out of an egg. I ended up with it in my hand. Don't ask me how that happened. I'm still not sure.

Then, I had to take the dough out of the freezer and fill the pie pan up. Easy enough. The problem now was that my top layer of crust was really thick, but it was too cold to smoosh further with my hands, and I didn't have enough time to wait. So I just put it on top, cut off the excess and mushed it a bit around the edge. I remembered some slashes in it from the picture, so I cut it with a knife. The directions above are actually for that criss-cross strip crust thing, and I was not all about that. Simplicity is key. For real. I rubbed the egg yolk and whipping cream mixture on top of the pie (because I don't have a brush) and then stuck it in the oven.

And, somehow, I didn't burn it.

It's definitely not winning any pie contests based on looks, but it smelled and tasted delicious. Everyone enjoyed it very much. We had it with french vanilla ice cream, though, Sass swears I have to try it with cheddar cheese. I totally forgot to buy cheese at the store, though, so I will have to save that weird combo for next time.

The pie was cooked to perfection, the crust flaky and brown, the apples soft and juicy. The only thing wrong was that damn top crust. It was comical thick in some places of the pie.

Despite the crazy crust, this was very, very good. I think Martha and I need to give ourselves a big pat on the back. 

Waiting For The Party To Start

Over the weekend Snark sent me a bunch of songs by the band, Bloc Party. I have to admit that I've never heard of them before, so this was my first time giving them a listen. Snark let me know that this was "her band" during college - the one she'd listen to driving around being a general badass.

I downloaded all the songs, and let iTunes do its thing while I answered a few emails and caught up on blogs/websites that I read. The first song that came on, Like Eating Grass, wasn't bad - it started off kind of funky and had a nice beat to it. I found myself bopping my head along, but wasn't too distracted to not be able to continue doing my other stuff.


'

I felt the same way about a few of the other songs... They were nice to have as background music, but I didn't find myself really getting into them or really wanting a closer listen. I could see how this would be good driving around music for sure, and can picture young Snark driving around in her car, windows down and Bloc Party blasting.

I'm not sure, however, that Bloc Party is the band for me. I don't really see adding them into the mix of music I play, but I wouldn't necessarily change the channel if I heard them on the radio...

I'll let Snark hold on to this band as her own, and maybe go play some Dr. Dog...

Playing Dress-Up

Sass: I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m pretty fashion fail for the most part. I mean, sure - I can get it together enough not to wear pajamas to the grocery store (which is not to say that I don’t want to wear pajamas to the grocery store), but when I have something specific I need to get dressed up for I go into near panic mode.


Snark: You should NEVER EVER go to the grocery store in your pajamas.

Pshaw. Anyway, I have a wedding to go to next week and I am all stressed about what to wear. Here are the deets: Backyard wedding at noon on a Sunday, and....GO!


Oh? You need more to go on? Okay...I’ve narrow it down to two choices.


First up we have a dress I’ve had for a while. It’s a dark plum color...sheer, patterned material over a slip.


(for the record, lets forgive the horrible quality of the photo and my Sears catalogue posing...it’s hard taking a picture of yourself!)

Ok, so I’m thinking I look a bit hippy in this dress (and not in the peace/ & love kinda way...)

You look fab. Don’t let her convince y’all that’s she’s not a super hot mama.


I like this dress, but it’s going to be cold, right? I mean, it wouldn’t be that cold down here in October, but you could freeze.

A quick check of the weather informs me it will be in the mid 60s. For us hearty New Englanders, that's still shorts weather!

Same dress, but now with tights and boots (and less hippy? hmm...)

Ah, tights! I like it better with tights, but I’m not sure about the boots just because the length of the dress. Ooh! You know what you need here? A belt! You should totally Estate Sale shop for that. Oh, and you know what? I have this book that shows you how to make this belt with tape and ribbon. It sounds janky, but it’s cute. I’ll share if you want. Seriously, my motto right now is, “If you like it, then you should put a belt on it.” Sang in the key of Beyonce. So oh oh oh lame, but it’s true.

I’ll...consider the belt idea. I’m always afraid belts accentuate my bum. I’ll give it a shot though. What color would you suggest?

Hmm... I would say black or brown, either one would work. If you could find one with a cute gold buckle, that would be even better. Like these!

Belt #1
Belt #2

Yeah, I'll get back to you on the belts...


Dress #2 - I picked this on up the other day at Urban Outfitters - It’s short, but with tights it makes me look like less of a floozy.


I think.

I adore this dress. Just so all of y’all know out there in internet land, Sass and I went through a lot of dresses on UrbanOutfitters.com to find the perfect dress. She went to the store and got in on sale. I think it’s so cute. It makes you look all boobylicious as well! (And, she plans on wearing a cardigan, so I think it will be not floozy at all.)

And with black tights for contrast:

THIS IS IT! WEAR THIS! I love it with black tights. I would rock this look so hard.


I think I like dress #2 better as well, but I'm not sold on the black tights...I still kinda dig the gray ones. What about you? Pretend I'm your own personal Barbie (but please don't make me do the depraved things I made *my* Barbies do) and tell me what to wear! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or in the poll below. I'll post a pix in a couple weeks from the wedding and let you know what I chose.

 Which Outfit Should Sass Wear?

• 
  
  Longer dress with wedges
• 
  
  Longer dress with boots
• 
  
  Shorter dress with gray tights
• 
  
  Shorter dress with black tights
• 
  
  Find something else

view results
Free vote poll

The Opening Ceremonies

Well, hello there, wonderful people who we hope read our blog. I know yesterday it was mentioned that we would be talking about The Hunger Games today, but we made the sound decision not to...

We are going to talk about the first book... next week. This way, if you want, you have more than enough time to read them and join in on the discussion. Next Thursday, we're going to dive a little deeper into The Hunger Games and it's characters, talk about what we want to see in the movie version and also give you some pictures of who we see playing each role in the movie.

We are looking forward to it!

Tomorrow, we're going to help Sass pick out an outfit for a wedding, so come along and bring your opinions.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car...

Sass: Remember that MTV show Pimp My Ride? I wonder if they ever pimped a Mazda Protege, because I think my ride could use a little pimping.

I mean, it’s a fine ride, easy on the upkeep and gets me to where I need to go, but...it’s beige. Actually, I believe the official color is something like “Sand Mica” but really, that’s just fancy talk for “sort of shiny beige.”


We’ve had this car since 2002 and have done a fairly decent job of taking care of it. Despite a few dents, knicks and crappy rims, it hasn’t been in any major collisions with other cars or grocery store shopping carts.


Inside, however, is another story.

We have a toddler, so our car tends to not be, well...clean. I debated cleaning it up to take pictures for this blog post, but ended up being too lazy, deciding that it would just end up messy anyway, so why bother. I know, my ability to rationalize is truly a gift.


Anyway, The backseat is stuffed with all sorts of stuff, the biggest being my kid’s carseat. Looking at that picture I see a book, some papers, pens, blocks all on the seat. What you can’t see if a huge red stain that is in fact, melted crayon. If anybody has a supersecret tip for getting melted crayon out of car upholstery, I’m all ears!


There’s also a large picnic blanket, mini basketball, a stuffed turtle and apparently the top of a bowl of nuts. No clue where the actual nuts are. Let’s just assume they’ve been eaten.


The front seats are a bit better:

CDs get shoved into the side of the door along with maps, tissues and the occasional snack. I really do try to clean out the car every week or so, but it feel fruitless when it easily returns to this state within minutes of cleaning.


We are a one-car family, with our other modes of transportation being...our bikes! I strap a kid seat onto mine and haul the kiddo to run errands, take him to school or just putter around town. Mr. Sass takes his bike to work everyday.

I have to say...My bike is all sorts of sassy...and I love it.


Snark: I love your bike, too! I have a red cruiser that I need to get out of my parent’s garage. I’m just not sure where I would put it at my apartment. There is barely any room.


Anywho, that is a boring story for another day. Today, we’re talking cars. Here is a pic of my beauty:

Oh, now, I know y’all are jealous of 2008 Pontiac G6, but that’s okay. Everyone feels that way. (Not really)


Seriously, though, I like my car. Before the G6, I had a car that BUSTED on me at 60k miles. I think it was a lemon, and it was sour as hell if you know what I’m saying. My whole last year of college, I was dependent on other people to drive me places. Thank goodness my sister lived practically next door, and I never felt bad about asking to take her car. That’s what sisters are for, right?

So, when it came time (read: when I was actually able) to buy a car, I wanted something new and with a WARRANTY. If something broke, I wanted a guarantee that it would get fixed. I got a good deal on it too. I mean, it doesn’t hurt that I work at the dealership...


But, what do I do with a brand new car? I proceed to scratch it, dent it, back into things, etc. etc. I never hit anything in my old car, but with a new one, I’m like Monster Trucking it through Target’s parking lot. It’s quite sad.

That picture is proof -- my pathetic side mirror. What’s REALLY pathetic about it is, that is not the original mirror. No, I knocked the original mirror right off, backing out of the driveway. I hit the garbage can. In my defense, I was looking at traffic not the driveway, and the garbage men didn’t put it back in the right spot. They couldn’t wheel the damn thing two feet over! Sorry. What was I saying?  
Well, after paying $120 or so to get it replaced, I then hit it on the side of the garage when I was backing out. I broke a piece of the mirror off as you can tell from the picture.

Then, I have a picture of the inside of my car. It’s not too messy right now. There is a cardigan and a book in the passenger seat, some bracelets on the shifter, my iPod connector. My iPod isn't even in the car, though. I keep it inside becuase I have XM Radio and that's all I listen to practically. There is also some trash and receipts and such, but I don’t think that’s too obvious in the photo.

Well, that’s it for this Wednesday. Join us tomorrow when we shut off the television and crack open a book. It’s time for The Hunger Games.

For Whom the Bell Pepper Tolls

When Snark sent me this recipe, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I had leftover roasted chicken and some peppers, and needed something interesting and tasty to do with them. Okay, I might have said, “Hey, Snark. I have leftover roasted chicken and peppers. Make sure your recipe to me this week uses those. kthxbai.”


So, she sent me this recipe for stuffed peppers. I’m 99% certain she just google “chicken, peppers” but either way, I’m more than happy with the results.


I’ll be honest - I used the recipe as a blueprint, and kind of built it up on my own. I had one leftover pepper, but needed to get more and headed over to the local food co-op with the kiddo. We left with 5 different colored peppers.

I also put up some brown rice, even though the recipe didn’t call for it. Whenever I’ve eaten a stuffed vegetable (pepper, cabbage, etc...) there is always rice involved, so I decided to include some here. While the rice was cooking I worked on the rest of the filling. Now, this recipe says to chop up onion and garlic and stuff it raw into the pepper. That didn’t really sit well with me, so I ended up sauteing it a bit first. Also, when I sliced the tops off the peppers, I chopped them up and added it to the pan - no sense in wasting perfectly good pepper!

I added some tomato sauce and shredded chicken to the onion/garlic/pepper mixture and then went to get my paprika. That’s when I realized I was all out. I’m really bad at ensuring I have all my ingredients before settling in to cook. So, I improvised and tossed in some chili powder. By that time, the rice was done so I added that to the man and mixed it all up. I stuffed three different peppers and then sprinkled some cheese over them (instead of mixing it all throughout) and then popped them into the oven to bake.


They came out beautifully.

And, what’s more...they were super tasty as well. It was just the kiddo and me for dinner, and he gave it a raving review (despite 15 minutes later claiming that the onion in the dish caused his back to hurt. We later discovered that it was actually caused by the rug burn his uncle gave him during an exciting game of “dino-ball.” yeah. I still go by his earlier review of “Yum!”).


So, even though I totally bastardized the actual recipe, I’m okay with it, because the stuffed peppers I ended up making we’re pretty damn delicious. 


*Blog title "borrowed" from Snark.

The Evolving Hair Do Known as Ani DiFranco

Snark: Well, y'all, it's the beginning of the week again, and it's my turn to have a nice Music Monday. You know it's my turn because I am super super late with posting. 

Um... my bad. 

So, this week, it was Sass's turn to share music with me. If y'all haven't guessed by now, she's into some hippie dippie stuff, so I'm always curious about who she's going to rec next. This week the artist she had me listen to is Ani DiFranco. 

Now, I'm going to admit something. I, of course, have heard of Ani DiFranco, but I've never listened to any of her music. I felt like I should have listened to her before, like it was something I should have done already, so I was happy to give her a listen.  

I don't know what I expected with Ani DiFranco, but she's a lot happier than I thought she'd be. Her songs are upbeat, and in every video, she was smiling and seemed very gracious. Her personality shines through her work. I don't think I would be apt to buying her collection of work, but if it came on the car, I wouldn't mind turning it up and rolling the windows down.

This is one of the YouTube videos she sent me. I enjoy the song and the video is super cute. Seeing all the smiles behind the scene, makes me smile.




I found the second YouTube video on my own. I like this song. I LOVE the message. I also adore the pictures which give you the evolving hair styles of Ani DiFranco. She's DEFINITELY had some do's... and don'ts.


What do you think of Ani DiFranco? We'd love to know.

Any Which Way You Paint It...

Well, today is Friday, so that means we’re going to talk something fashion. We have been posting pics of celebrities and judging, but today, we shall judge ourselves...


Hmm, yeah, I don’t think that works, but we will be talking something that every female has (a lot of men too) and that’s nail polish. Also, obviously, I've been ungrounded for not participating yesterday. lol.

Snark: I love nail polish. I have it it on my fingernails and toenails pretty much all the time. I enjoy changing it for a fresh, easy new look. I like buying nail polish at Ulta when it is buy 2 get 1 free. That way three bottles of OPI is only $16. Yikes, I know, still expensive, but nail polish lasts a while, so we can look at it as an investment. Right?

(That’s what I’m going with)

Here are a few of my favorites:

(I like how my name is in this picture twice)

We actually started talking about nail polish because I was super excited about the nail polish that I blended the other day. I was reading in some magazine how a brownish-purple would be the new fall basic color. Well, I had an old tan I wasn’t using because I bought pretty much the exact color recently without realizing I had that color already and I have a dark purple. I thought to myself. I can make that color! So, I did. All it took was a few drops of purple into the tan.

Then, I took a picture of my nails with the color I made on them. Don’t judge my chipped polish. I painted them about a week ago.

Sass: That is a pix of the kiddo’s toes. I took one of mine, but you can see the totally amateur hack job I did...polish everywhere! But...when I go to nail salons, they *always* comment on how super teeny tiny my toes/toe nails are. It’s enough to give a girl a complex. I did, however - go with a lovely shade of metallic silver. 

Please note the immense collection of “Wet & Wild” polish that I own. I pretty much won’t pay more than $1.99 for a bottle, and am pretty sure that most of those are at least 2 years old...so, yeah.

As you can tell, we had some fun with photobucket today, and we jazzed up our pictures.

Tell us, what’s your go to color?

I'm a Gleek.

I’ve been waiting all summer for the return of this show and this past Tuesday couldn’t come soon enough. I’m not under the impression that Glee is some heady, thought provoking piece of television. In fact, I watch it for the exact opposite reason: It’s an hour of fluffy fun, speckled with guilty pleasure sing-a-longs.


I may have actually spent most of the summer listening to my Glee soundtrack so often, that my kid can now sing the “Da Da Song” (aka Don’t Stop Believing) by heart. Just saying.


The start to the show, where student-blogger Jacob goes around harassing the Glee Club members and Mr. Schuester was a great way to lead into the season. They took actual criticism of the show (Matthew Morrison’s blatant white guy rapping, overuse of the auto-tune feature and showtunes as well as others) and played up the jokes, while giving the audience a laugh. It could have come off as too self-referential, but they didn’t dwell on it - just allowed us to laugh along with them and then moved on.


Thankfully, the show did not compromise any of my favorite characters, including coach Sue Sylvester, played by the incomparable Jane Lynch. With gems like “First of all, female football coach, like a male nurse, sin against nature.” how can you not love her? Her witty barbs and spot on comic timing are part of the reason I keep coming back to the show.


Coach Sylvester doesn’t disappoint, ripping into post-partum cheerleader Quin and Santana with the new boobs. Also, her revenge tactic of serving the new football coach poop cookies had me laughing like a twelve year old boy. Apparently I’m a sucker for potty humor.





I enjoyed the music for the most part this episode, tapping my toes along to the easy sounds of the Glee Club members doing Jay-Z’s New York State of Mind and the Bieberlicious new kid’s rendition of Travis McCoy’s Billionaire.





I could have done without the Broadway tune Rachel belts out at the end or the audition song Sunshyne goes with, but that’s just personal taste and nothing against the actresses that play either of these ladies, because when they broke out into Lady Gaga’s Telephone in the girl’s bathroom? I may have almost peed myself. I kind of have a not so secret guilty obsession with the Gags, and these ladies did a fab job of representing.





I know I didn’t really talk much about plot, but for me...it’s about the snark and the song and I can only hope the rest of the season plays to those strengths!


Oh, you may have been wondering where the heck Snark is today. She promised me she was going to watch Glee so we could talk about together...and then she apparently had better things to do and didn't get around to it. So...she's in time out and *might* be back tomorrow. We'll see...

It's In the Eye of the Beholder...

Sass: The other day I had my yearly eye check up where I learned that (at 30) my eyesight is *still* deteriorating, my retinas are thinning and on top of all that, I got the “present” of some astigmatism in my left eye, which resulted in a new prescription and contacts. Of course, I came home and bitched about all of this to Snark. We then commiserated about our crappy eyes together.

I first got glasses when I was in ninth grade. There’s really no better way to say “Hello High School!” then with a brand spanking new set of shiny braces and goofy glasses. When I look back at the almost John Lennon style of glasses that I wore, I cringe and thank heavens that my sense of style has slightly improved, (despite my vision having only worsened).
Normally, I wear contacts, finding them to be a better fit for my daily life. My vision is really sucky - I can’t see more than a foot in front of my face without it being incredibly blurry. But, when I wear glasses, I totally rock them. I’ve got a hip pair of midnight blue Calvin Klein glasses with a chartreuse lining.  

If they didn’t make my depth perception all wonky, I’d wear them more often and fulfill the sexy librarian stereotype.
Ah well...sorry nerds.

(I have to step in and say I love that you put your glasses on top of HP7 and that I'm not ashamed that I knew that book without it's cover)

Oh, and since it’s always sunny in Philadelphia (not that I live there or anything. No, really...I don’t), I usually rock my (non-prescription) sunglasses as well. These puppies were five bucks at the local “cheap crap” store, but have been shading my peepers for almost a year now.

Snark: Woohoo for bad eyesight... right?

Well, I got glasses a little bit earlier than Sass. I think I was in fourth grade when I got my first pair. Remember how the nurse would come by and check your vision and hearing? Well, she sent a note home to my mother, informing her that I needed to go to the eye doctor.  


I was amazed by what I had been missing. Traffic lights weren’t fuzzy colors and people had freckles. I remember wearing them and annoying my mom at the grocery store by all the little things I could read from all the way across the store!


Well, even though glasses were amazing, there was a problem. I hated them. Actually, I hated every pair of glasses I had up until high school, I believe. They were big and dorky, and I was angry that I had to wear them. I remember in fifth grade (new school), the nurse repeatedly asked me if I had gotten new glasses (since I lost the ones the previous year). She would keep coming by, but being me, I hadn’t told my mom I’d lost my previous pair. Until high school, I think I “lost” four pairs of glasses.  


Needless to say, I ended up with a new, nerdier pair. In Middle School, even though I KNEW I could see better with them, I wouldn’t wear them. I would copy off friend’s papers when taking notes, or I would ask to copy right off the projector. I took Discoveries as an elective in middle school, and I had the same teacher all three years. She would ask me daily where my glasses were. I always had an excuse.

Looking back, I can’t even imagine how I got by because my eye sight is about the same and without my glasses or contacts, I’m hopeless.


Well, in high school, I realized that my teachers probably weren't going to let me stand next to the overhead to take notes, so I took to wearing my glasses in the classroom. I would then take them OFF to walk through the hallways to my next class. It was pretty ridiculous.

I also got contacts about sophomore year in high school, but by that time, I was a full-fledged glasses wearer. I wore them pretty much all the time all the way through college. They fit me. I never felt dorky for wearing them because I had frames I liked.

These are my newest frames:

 

They're maroonish with gold arms. I mostly wear these on days when my eyes are tired. I wear my contacts pretty much every day these days, but I like to take them out and slip on my glasses when I'm at home. I went to cheap Vision One for my last frames purchase, so I got two pair for like sixty bucks.

These are my other glasses, but they feel crooked on my face, so I don’t wear them that often. And, yes, that is cheetaesque print on the arms. Don't make fun.

Ooh, then we have sunglasses. I love these. I got them at a vintage store in Austin for about $15 which is pretty much the max I’ll spend on sunglasses. I’ve had them for about a year.

So do you wear glasses or are you one of those freaks with 20/20 vision? Let us know even if your sight is perfect. We won't hold it against you... much.