Kara & Michael’s Blog

WoDM reminded me yesterday of these visited state sites, where they’ll color in a map of the US based on where you’ve been. It’s possible I stepped into Rhode Island on my trip to Boston, but I don’t remember, so we’re holding steady at 28.

create your own visited states
My rules for the states I’ve [...]

Let’s talk about swearing. I read this article this morning, discussing the actions of some distraught Bostonians that are fed up with people swearing within earshot.
That’s not really the problem, though. The problem is this paragraph:

They [signs discouraging profanity] are a sign of the times – of a culture of crassness that’s been propagated by [...]

I don’t often discuss entertainment news, but this piece of news is particularly enlightening on several levels. I’m linking to a Washington Post article where the author brings up two points that I also thought of while reading the many news postings yesterday about Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy at sixteen.
One – the fact that [...]

haha, it’s funny. Seriously, though, it started me thinking about the practice of new years resolutions.
Nearly every culture and most religions, have a specific new years celebration -think Chinese New Year, Rosh Hashanah, Easter (for all intents and purposes). It’s a way to look back seriously on the year past, and to [...]

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my resistance to identify as a part of any particular group. This isn’t just strictly to piss off a society. It’s a maneuver that allows me to avoid people who use those identifications as a means of ultimately dismissing anything you say.
This is why I’m an [...]

When I was in an honors program at community college, we had a special discussion of the Japanese tea ceremony, including the presentation of the ceremony. One of the things that our zen master talked about was the fact that most people who host the ceremony master making some article used in the ceremony. [...]

I really enjoy pretzels. They’re not quite junk food, but they’re not quite real food either, and a big soft pretzel makes a great breakfast. I made a batch of “authentic” Bavarian soft pretzels last night to a recipe I found online, and they turned out pretty lousy. There were a lot of things wrong [...]

I have been coming up with much less imaginative titles lately, and for that please duly accept my perfunctory apology.
I just read an article about a pair of Wal-Mart panties that parents and feminists are up in arms about.  It’s not often middle-america and the feminists choose to be on the same team, but they [...]

Seldom do I look for anything on the interweb and not find it. So imagine my shock, shock I tell you, when I could not find an adequate guitar chord chart for Nick Lucas’s 1929 hit “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” Everybody seems to have tabbed it for ukulele, probably because of Tiny Tim.
Below is my [...]

Howdy folks. I’ve been perusing the content of the lean-plate club on washingtonpost.com, in the abstract hope that a few pointers might keep me from the extra weight and eating that usually accompanies the holidays for me.
I don’t believe my habits for eating are irreparably bad. I have a sweet tooth. I [...]