Really, Andy Rooney???

To steal a line from Seth Meyers of SNL fame…”Really??” 

Really, Andy Rooney????  Really?

I usually try to keep this blog fairly light and “substance free”….choosing instead to load it with funny and cute pictures of family and friends and hopefully a funny story here and there.  And by no means is this particular post “heavy” but some may consider is a post with some substance…..some may not……

Last night I was watching 60 Minutes for the first time in YEARS!  Quite by accident, and only because I stumbled across their segment on the failing steel industry and what the SASB (an acronym stolen from my friend Alexis…Shitty Ass Stimulus Bill) would mean for the steel industry.  I wont even get started on that segment, because I am really here to post about Andy Rooney…but at least now you know why I was watching 60 Minutes in the first place. 

As soon as Mr. Rooney stepped off his soap box, I remember why I choose not to watch 60 Minutes anymore (and most Prime Time news programs in general….)  Andy’s segment is simply an opinion segment….not a lot of heavy facts included, it seems.  Last night, his topic was about urging the newspapers to dumb down headlines regarding the financial state of the economy.  Number 1 – I dont think that Americans need dumber newspapers….how insulting….and while some Americans may not understand a headline, if they’re interested and/or concerned about the economy, they’re going to go ahead and read the article in full to understand what the newspper is trying to tell them.  Number 2 – The examples he gave we HIDEOUS….most of them we’re simple enough and I don’t really know how the papers could have dumbed the down any more.

Some of the Headlines Any Rooney took offense to:

“Bank Bailout Plan Revamped” – he took issue with the word revamped, claiming not to understand what revamped meant.

U.S BANK BAILOUT TO RELY IN PART ON PRIVATE MONEY

‘VULTURE’ INVESTORS EYE BAD ASSETS BUT WARILY

Andy is stumped by these two and says that he doesn’t know what the headlines are talking about.  Well, Andy, I would suggest reading the entire article and not depending on just the headline to determine your knowledge of what is going on in the world of finance rather than encourage the Newspapers to dumb it down for the American People. 

This was my favorite….”YUM PROFIT FALLS 12% ” and then Andy asks “Does everyone know what a “YUM PROFIT” is?”  I’m pretty sure that this is referring to YUM, the corporation that owns fast food places (I think Taco Bell, KFC, and Burger King – but I could be wrong about the chains…) But seriously, wouldnt you encourage Americans to read an article in full rather than get discouraged by not totally understanding a headline rather than request that the Wall Street Journal Dumb it Down?  …and by the way, Rooney, I kind of think that “Yum Profit fallls by 12%” is about as dumbed down as that headline could get…..and Really, those who choose to read the WSJ probably have a good grasp of the meaning of these headlines anyways….it’s not like US Weekly is the one posting the headline of  ”BHP EARNINGS DECLINE 57% AS PRICES, DEMAND SLUMP”.

Really, Andy Rooney?  Maybe you should just grab a dictionary, google it, or possibly read the entire article rather that request it be “dumbed down”.  Ugh.

Baby Shower

For months, I have been meaning to upload photos from jodi’s baby shower.  It was a jungle theme, and she didnt know if she was having a boy or girl.  it was at her house in Dallas.  If you have ever been to a baby shower that I have hosted before, you’ll notice, I only seem to have one set of tricks up my sleeve, so some of this may look very familiar….

Jill, Me, and Kerri

Cute personalized Napkins

the suckers are shaped like jungle animals!

rell’s 30th

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I was able to pull off a surprise party for Rell for his 30th birthday….I must say, I am pretty pleased with myself that I was able to do it without him finding out.  It involved a bit of trickery, some stretching the truth, and some actual all out lying.  The biggest part of the surprise was that Terry, Leslie, Russ and Erin all flew in from Texas for the party weekend.  That was probably the best part!

The deception all started when I had our friend, and hair stylist, Audrey reschedule rell’s hair appointment for Friday night.  The plan was for Rell to get his hair cut and then we would go out for dinner.  Audrey was in on the plan, so she cut his hair, taking as long as possible, because the Texas folk didnt land until 5, and then had to make the hour and a half drive up to Dewey.  After the haircut, Rell and I headed out for drinks and Audrey headed to our house to let everyone in.  the whole time I was secretly communicating with the Texans to check in their progress.  I kept delaying dinner with Rell (Because there was a ton of food at our house!) tellign him that I wanted to enjoy the night out and draw it out since we never got to go out anymore!  However, once the Texas crew sent work that they were abotu 15 minutes out, I suddenly got sick and we had to go home right away!  I was expecting Rell to throw a fit about having to go home since we never go out in Prescott anymore…but he was a good sport about it.  The new plan was to go home and get a pizza delivered!

We got home and walked in the door and SURPRISE!  Not only were all of our loca friends there, but he was blown away by our Texas friends……and now, he wont trust anything that comes out of my mouth, because apparently, I am a really good liar!

Totally Shocked

Awesome red velvet cake made by our friend Chelsee

lots of friends, food and drinks!

Nothing Exciting to Report

Not too much fun and exciting going on in the life of a Salome as of late.  Earlier this week  I was in Dallas to see Jodi and her new (ADORABLE) baby, Cooper.  Wow, what a cute and well bahaved baby.  Hardly cried, and had lots of smiles to give out.  He even had to have his two month shots while I was there, and he hardly seemed phased by them.  I also got to see a few other good friends while I was there, briefly, for dinner one night.  It never seems like there is ever enough time to do what I would like to do when I am back in texas…I never get to see enough people.  However, I did get to eat Tex Mex three times while I was there (yippee!) not an easy feat considering I was only there three nights.  Thank you Jodi for giving into my queso and Margarita cravings!

Next trip is a week in Waco in April, and after that, I probably wont be back in Texas again until Christmas….which will probably be the longest I have gone without going home since we moved here.  It will be hard…..but I will extend the invitation now, if any of Texas wants to come out here, y’all are more than welcome!

Speaking of visits from Texas, Brooke was out here at the end of January.  She had some business in Phoenix and then came up and spent the weekend with us.  We had a great weekend of doing pretty much nothing!  I little shopping….a little (ok a lot) eating…and of course, some wine and porch time, which is my favorite activity with Brooke…and really, one of the ones we are best at!  It’s kind of challenging and takes some practice to be good at….it consists of sitting on the porch, gossiping, drinking wine and/or other tasty beverages.  Brooke and I have had lots of practice…we’re champions!

Nothing else really new or exciting here.  Thought I would post some random photos, since most of my recent posts have not had pictures (and really, aren’t the photos the best part????)

Tickie and a very happy Will

Swimming Will

Cutie Cooper

Little Longhorns Ava & Lilly

Ava Beans!

So smart Already!

Lily, Payton, Ava, & Brady

Brooks Family Christmas

Hey That’s Mine

My cousin makes these adorable wine charms….I thought they were so cute and different…especially the ones that wind up that glass.  thought I would share…this is her site….

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6668187

Cake Wrecks

I just spent like an hour on here….too funny…..

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com

HOOKMMM

Years ago…probably like 10 years ago, my brother got me an awesome Christmas present.  Personalized license plates!  It was right after I got my Explorer and so lots of my gifts that year were car related. Since I was a student at UT at the time, he bought me the UT license plates, which, in and of themselves, were awesome, but he also paid for me to personalize them.  We tried ALL sorts of combos to come up with a cool UT related license plate, but as you can imagine, in the state of Texas, that was hard to come by.  He finally came up with AGIHTR, which we thought was hilarious!  (Agi hater)  Which of course, I am not a hater of aggies, but it worked for me!  Those plates sparked a lot of interesting hand gestures on IH35 between Dallas and Austin.  I even drove the car to College Station once…..very brave of me….but then prompty hid it behind my friend’s house.  Since then, and even now, the car was affectionately referred to as the AGIHTR.  I kept the plates on the car long after I moved to Arizona, but finally had to get rid of them in favor or Arizona plates…..the police were cracking down and issuing tickets.  It was a sad day when the AGIHTR plates were retired….even moreso when we finally sold the Explorer about a year ago.

License plates in Arizona are expensive!  They base the registration cost of your car on the value of your car…whereas in Texas, it is a flat fee…and then personalized plates are a bit more.  I guess in AZ they feel a little guilty about gouging you on the price of registration, so you can personalize plates for only $25 more.  I guess that is why there are so many people out here with personalized plates.  I just couldnt do AGIHTR…first of all, I dont think anyone out here would ever get it!  Plus, I am saving AGIHTR for my return to Texas.  It was surprisingly hard to get a good UT related plate.  There are longhorns everywhere i guess!  This is what I ended up with….

I’m pretty pleased with it!