Dear Ticketmaster

I would have more respect for you if instead of an $8.75/ticket "convenience" fee you just called it profit, overhead, jets, genital waxing.... whatever it is you do with the money.

Because frankly I cannont fathom just who exactly you're conveniencing with this crap.

Bravo Post-its

I live in a townhome and in August 2009 the association did some painting and made some repairs to the siding. This meant we needed to remove our house numbers for a few days. To ensure my pizza and UPS deliveries still arrived on my doorstep I wrote my house numbers on Post-it note and stuck it on the vinyl siding. The work was completed by the end of September but I was not ready to reattach house numbers that I never really cared for. I took this opportunity to find some that I really liked.

After shopping around, on foot and on-line I found some house numbers I really liked but then the busy holidays were bearing down on me, and then the Christmas super-storm, and then that long and brutal cold snap. I was in the thick of winter and there was not enough daylight much less warmth to undertake this exterior project. Heck, there were days it was so cold I’m pretty sure the juice in my level would have froze. Never fear, my address Post-it held strong.

The snow stopped in February and March brought a slow steady thaw and longer days with warm sunshine. Just before Easter, when I resolved to take down my Christmas lights, I installed my new address numbers.


That little square of paper with the removable sticky held up through a Minnesota fall AND winter facing rain, sleet, snow and wind. However, a note to my friends at Sharpie… I did have to rewrite my house numbers three times.

Bubble Pizza

I owe this recipe to my dear friend Deena who I used to share a standing Wednesday night dinner with in the good ol' days of 90210.

There are many different variations to this comfort food gem. I'll start with the original and then highlight variations at the bottom.

Barbecue Chicken Bubble Pizza
3 tubes regular size refrigerated biscuits.
1 18.5 oz bottle of barbecue sauce (I like Ken Davis)
4 chicken breasts, roasted on the bone
1/2 red onion sliced thin
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Tear each biscuit into thirds and roll into a ball. Mix in a bowl with barbecue sauce. Pour into 9x13 cake pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Remove cooked chicken from bone and dice. Spread over biscuit/barbecue sauce mixture. Sprinkle onions and cheese over top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes.

Delicious variations:

• Taco pizza style: substitute 1 1/2 pounds cooked ground beef for chicken and Ortega taco sauce for barbecue sauce. Use cheddar instead of mozzarella. Service with fresh tomato, black olives, salsa and sour cream.

• Bacon Spaghetti style: substitute 1 1/2 pounds cooked ground beef for chicken and add half about diced cooked bacon, Hunts traditional spaghetti sauce for the barbecue sauce. Use white onion instead of red. Stick with mozzarella.

• Meatball Sub style: substitute 1 1/2 pounds cooked meatballs for chicken. Use marinara sauce instead of barbecue. Use provolone instead of mozzarella.

Because of the blue Sharpie

Because I haven’t blogged in almost three months.
Because one of my favorite office curmudgeons asked about my blog today.
Because I was on a spectacular roll in November with ‘30 Days of Thankful.’
Because I am a congested mouth-breather no longer.
Because I had a moment today that warrants tapping out a few lines...
Because I have sensitive skin and a weakness for high-end beauty products.
Because I am on the downhill side of my 30’s.
Because the cold dry winter has driven me to a richer, evening facial moisturizer to replenish.
Because I am brand loyal, I bought something from the maker of my day-time moisturizer.
Because both products are from the same maker the packaging is identical.
Because when I wash my face in the evening I do so on auto-pilot.
Because I cannot be bothered to read all the little words to know I am selecting the P.M. product.
Because I am a nerd who knows what poka yoke means and how to error-proof a process.
Because the blue sharpie was in tucked into a note pad on my nightstand.

I colored the end of the tube dark blue—as in nighttime.
Yeah, this is my life and I'm back at the keyboard.