MerrinDonahue.com

And Facebook. Those two things are really the reasons that I’ve been so absent here lately. Believe me, it’s not that there isn’t anything going on; quite the contrary. I *knew* that once March rolled around that time would start to fly by, and boy, has it ever.

Kevin had his one year check up at the cardiologist, and he’s doing better than we could have ever hoped for. He’s not only officially as good as new, he’s actually BETTER than he was before his heart attack.

Oliver continues to be a little monster, but that’s one of the reasons we love him in the first place. Just since April, we’ve had to replace two phones, one remote, a Kindle, countless socks, and three pillows. He’s a special little beagle, but he’s so cute that we continue to let him get away with murder. That, and Kevin ADORES him.

I spent a week in Texas visiting with the Coopers for The Boy’s fifth birthday….and I STILL can’t believe he’s FIVE. We started our adoption journey a little over three years ago, and that, too, seems like yesterday (at least some days it does; others, it still feels like an endless wait).

We’ve been to Kentucky twice in the last two and a half weeks. Sadly, the second visit was for the funeral of Kevin’s Uncle Bill. Bill and his wife, Virgie, have always been dear to me, and Bill will be missed more than I can possibly say.

We leave in just over three weeks for Africa. This, too, is completely surreal. We started dreaming about this trip a year ago, we’ve planned for countless months (just ask Kevin….the man spent 11 months researching pants, for crying out loud), and now that I’ve lost all control of time, it’s finally here. Life’s funny like that; long stretches of nothing much followed by bursts of HOLY SHIT I HAVE NO TIME.

Even so, though, we’re ready with the right meds (no malaria, here, yo), we’re geared up with super-cool safari wear (I’ve been DYING for an occasion to wear a hat I bought 3 years ago, and this is the perfect excuse!), we’re swimming in memory cards for the Nikons, and the brand new shiny Kindle (courtesy of Oliver), is loaded with reading material.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to not blogging. If you miss me around here, don’t forget you can find me on Twitter (@merrindonahue), Facebook (Merrin McCallum Donahue), FriendFeed (MerrinDonahue), and plain old email. But seriously….I might have time in about, oh, three months to start hanging around here regularly again.

My Miracle Frooties came!!! Actually, they actually came while we were out of town. As soon as I got the mail today, though, I was ready for a little taste-tripping action. After the pill dissolved, I immediately sliced up a lemon, and I was ASTOUNDED that it wasn’t sour AT ALL. It tasted just like lemonade. Chocolate was SUPER-sweet, and straight balsamic vinegar tasted like it had reduced for hours—-just syrupy sweet.

To be honest, I didn’t really expect much; I’ve read varying accounts of success with these pills. If you’ve never heard of them, you’re not alone. Doctors, however, have started using them with chemo patients and diabetics, as they make sugar-free foods taste awesome and reduce the metallic taste that a lot of chemo patients suffer. The pills themselves are a powdered form of the miracle fruit, and it takes about 5 minutes for a half a pill to fully dissolve. It’s important to roll it around all over the mouth so it has a chance to turn all your tastebuds upside down. The effect only lasts for 20 minutes or so, which is probably for the best, since I think I’d be eating everything in sight otherwise, if only to see how it all tasted.

I got mine here, and she got them to me in no time. I’m going to try not to use them all at once, but I have a feeling I’ll be ordering more, just because it’s frickin’ WEIRD to eat a lemon and not pucker.

So Much WTF

I’m pretty sure I’m going to have nightmares of this guy eating my soul. Still and all, though, it’s entertaining.

Nine years ago today, I married my best friend. I love you baby. Happy Anniversary.

I can’t believe that Oliver is a year old today. I fell instantly in love with him when Kevin brought him home, but it took Kev a little more time to come around. Clearly, he’s come around now Somewhere along the line Oliver stopped being my baby and he’s now fully Daddy’s boy. He’s a good little beagle (most of the time), and even though he’s still a puppy, he’s calming down quite a bit (at least in comparison to what he was when he first came home). There is no way we would ever trade him in, and I think he likes us okay, too!

I wouldn’t recommend the beagle for everyone; he’s a lot of work, especially now that he’s growing into his nose. But if you have a WHOLE LOT of time, patience, and love, then beagles are a great addition to your family. They LOVE people (kids especially), and are definitely pack animals.

We’ve had a whirlwind three days at Disney World, and I think it’s a hit with The Boy. Tower of Terror was his favorite today, and he got to meet Woody and Buzz! Yesterday we went to Epcot, and Soarin’ was the big hit. Friday was Magic Kingdom, and I think EVERYTHING was the fave, including Space Mountain!

I’m sure I’ll have a recap at the end of the week (tomorrow is the ginormous Lego Store), but for right now I’ll just say that we’re all having a blast!

Extreme Sheep LED Art

This just may be the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.

Excited enough to read Hemingway. There are two American authors that I simply can’t stand: Faulkner and Hemingway. Reading Faulkner is like watching paint dry, and Hemingway’s ego consistently gets in the way of his writing. It’s no secret that I think that “The Old Man and the Sea” is one of the most overrated books of the 20th century.
Our safari company has provided us with a suggested reading list for our upcoming trip, and while I’ve read a few of the books on there, I hadn’t read “Green Hills of Africa” (because, helllloooo? It’s Hemingway), but I needed something to read on the Kindle today while I got my nails done. I managed to plow through about half of it in the two hours I was getting manicured, pedicured, and waxed, and I have to say, my initial impressions hold firm. Hemingway has a HUGE ego, and so far most of the book is his obnoxious whining about almost everything (his wife’s feet hurt, the other guy shot a bigger rhino, it’s hot….blah blah blah). Once you get past that, however, there are flashes of poetry in the descriptions of landscapes and the native people of Kenya.
Because I have a hard and fast rule that once I start a book I have to finish it, I’ll slog through the second half of this one. I wish I had bought a hard copy, though; not because I think it would make an invaluable addition to my library, but because of those one or two brilliant lines I’d like to underline and revisit. Bottom line? Unless you’re a die-hard Hemingway fan or you’re planning a trip to Kenya, skip this one. Read “Out of Africa” instead.

Since Kevin is out of town this week, I thought I’d take the opportunity to test drive some new recipes. I’ve been addicted to Foodgawker for a while now; it’s become my go-to destination for finding new stuff to stuff into my mouth. Even though I have a core collection of 31 recipes (yes, I’m a big old dork who doesn’t like to eat the same thing twice in a month) that are already Kevin-approved, I feel like I’ve been in a food rut lately, and my usual online recipe haunts just weren’t helping me out.

The best (worst?) thing I’ve done in a long time was adding Foodgawker to my RSS feed. Now I see every single thing posted, and believe me, I have a backlog of stuff I’m waiting to try. Homemade oreos, anyone?

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Part 2

And part two, in which he will explain how it all went straight to hell.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

This is the simplest and most direct explanation of the credit crisis that I’ve seen. Sure, it’s not Robert Krulwich, but it IS informative!

The details of the stimulus have been released, and as an informed American voter, I have read (and I understand) the plan. Let me tell you something: I feel like I got screwed. Big time. We qualify for exactly *one* thing: If we buy a car in the next calendar year, we get to write the interest off on next year’s taxes. The only problem with this is that we’re not buying a new car, because we don’t want to have one more car payment. We’d rather save that money for things we need.

I’l be the first to admit there are things we could cut back on—the unnecessaries if you will. We have cable, we have cell phones, we go out to dinner once a week, and we have pets. Thankfully, we don’t have to pay homeowner’s association dues, so at least that’s something. We also don’t go out with friends (we have them over, if we do anything at all), and we have free passes to Disney, so that’s free entertainment. I clip coupons, and I get giddy each week when I save more than $10 at the grocery store. I only buy things on sale (the last shirts I bought were $1.60 a piece, and I stocked up. I wear these shirts every day).

The stimulus will be paid out to eligible Americans at the rate of $15 every other week, which evens out to $7.50/week. This is less than it costs for two people to eat at McDonald’s (even when one of them is a kiddo). So people who really need the rebate (and don’t mistake it for a refund) aren’t getting a whole lot of extra help here. People who don’t pay any taxes, meanwhile, are still seeing something, and I don’t agree with that. And keep in mind that this accounts for only $116 billion of the stimulus.

So while the FIRST $700 billion went to the banks who spent it on God knows what, I’m now expected to suck it up and shell out my share of the NEXT $800 billion. While I CHOOSE to have certain things, I certainly didn’t choose to foot the bill for people who don’t pay taxes (and some of those people also have cell phones and cable TV). I’m not saying that there are not people and organizations who need a little help right now; there ARE. And I’m happy to make private donations to my favorite charities (we like March of Dimes, Komen, and the American Red Cross). I’m also happy to donate time, since that ’s absolutely free. But I really don’t think that this stimulus is the answer for MOST Americans. That’s just my opinion.

Oy vey. I’ve picked up a very bad verbal tic (and no, it’s not “oy vey”). I am (probably) overly sensitive to people’s verbal tics, so it’s something I tend to notice in myself. (Thanks, Caroline Kennedy, ya know? And you betcha, Sarah Palin). I’ve run the gamut, too: “Jeez” made an appearance for a while, “Oh My” was on the list for a couple of months, and of course, the usual “God”, “Woah” (a la Joey), and assorted other phrases have worked their way into my vernacular. The most recent one, though, is even annoying to me.

I’ve started saying “Yikes”. A LOT. I’ve noticed myself saying it out loud to no one in particular in reference to just about everything. Bad hair day? Yikes. Noisy dog? Yikes. Too much junk mail? Big yikes. I realize that everybody has their own personal go-to phrase, but most people mix it up a little. I’m in desperate need of a new phrase, because if I continue down this path, I’m gonna punch myself in the face. Yikes.

So it seems that the mother of the octuplets has six other children. That’s right: SIX (she’s a single mom who lives with her parents, by the way….with her SIX other kids. It’s hard enough to raise one kid alone, let alone 14). My question is this: At what point did she, or her family, think it was a good idea to undergo fertility treatments? I’m reminded of the line from Juno: “They’re just greedy little bitches”.

You have SIX children. You really don’t need another, let alone EIGHT more. I understand how difficult it would be to face the decision of selective reduction. And that speaks volumes about the doctor who implanted the embryos in the first place. Eight at a time is excessive by any stretch, and certainly so for a woman who already has SIX children (did I mention she has 6 kids?).

And that brings up the next issue: It’s going to cost $2.5 million to provide these 8 kids with just the basics. That doesn’t include things like education or Christmas presents or specialized medical care which some of those kids will most likely need, either, just food and diapers and clothing. And, oh yeah, she still has those other six kids to worry about, too. Who’s going to finance that? And more importantly, how is it going to affect the quality of life for those kids?

I honestly don’t believe she’s choosing not to speak to the media because she’s trying to protect her privacy; I think she’s rightfully afraid of the public backlash and ensuing ethics discussion. I’m not bashing her right to have a family; God knows there’s nothing I want more than to be a mother. And this isn’t sour grapes, either. We’ve chosen a path that’s right for us. But I really want to understand what her doctors were thinking when they implanted 8 embryos into a uterus that had already birthed six other babies. A woman who lives with her parents. A woman who plans on bringing those babies home to a three-bedroom house which will seem pretty small with 17 people living in it (and I’m pretty sure that violates some zoning laws).

Vagina: It’s Not a Clown Car.

Oliver has been entered in the Bissell MVP contest. Go vote for the cutest beagle ever! He appreciates it!