The Glass is Half Full

If you can never bring yourself to love chicken fried steak, you can at least embrace the free re-fills on your ice tea.

Dallas Delicacy

Frito Pie

Take a single serving bag of Fritos and cut a hole across the front.

Ladle in chili.

Enjoy.

(As always, not making this up)

Resigned to Consign

Dallas has a lot going for it. The free parking is phenomenal. Another big plus in Dallas is the plethora of consignment stores. Consignment thrives in Dallas without the stigma attached to it in other cities. No, consignment in Dallas is a high end affair. Most of the clothes you will find in these places are by major designers and many come with the tags still attached. You see, Dallas is the land of shopping for sport, shopping to alleviate the boredom of the hours between the gym and the next benefit. So much of what is purchased isn't really needed, so, to alleviate guilt, Dallas gals bring their haul to the consignment store.  I decided that I needed to get in on the action.

Upon arrival, you hang up all of your "like new" items and wait breathlessly for the ladies to sort it and say yes or no to your offerings. It's sort of like auditioning your closet. Imagine my pain upon being informed that my chic choices were not high- end enough. At that low moment, I did what any self-respecting Dallas gal would do: checked my lipstick in the rear view mirror and made for another consignment store down the street. The one I like better anyway!

Success! They loved my collection and accepted almost all of it. In a month, I will get a check from them which will represent at 60-40 split in the sales profit.

I have become a gleaner of Dallas retail. The spoils of the shopping wars are amazing. I'm now sporting Armani at Marshalls prices. 

What's not to love about Dallas?

Di's Dallas Diary

Today, we drove South to a State Park known for dinosaur fossils. Just outside the park, I spotted a sign that read, "Creation Evidence Museum". It was very small.

The Pits

Okay, folks, it's time to talk frankly about natural deodorants:

THEY DON'T WORK. And let me preface this by saying, I have never had a particular body odor issue until I began using natural deodorants. I kept wondering,
"What's that funny smell?" and then I'd realize,
"Dear God, it's me!"

Having read vague reports about the dangers of chemically based(dare I say, effective?) deodorants, I made the switch to several different natural versions. The ones found at Whole Foods and Mrs. Green's Markets are made with lovely natural stuff like lavender and hops. Lovely ingredients perhaps for a bar of soap or a keg of beer, but utterly ineffective under your pits.

After a few months of smelling like downtown Milwaukee on a humid July afternoon, I wondered where these clinical studies linking deodorant users with breast cancer came from and were they, in fact, valid? What I discovered is that maybe ten years ago, an urban myth was circulated on-line linking deodorant use to breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute (part of the National Institute of Health) has this to say:

• There is no conclusive research linking the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants and the subsequent development of breast cancer
• Research studies of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants and breast cancer have been completed and provide conflicting results

To read more go to: http://wwwicic.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo

We all have to make our own decisions about these things. As for me, I was so relieved to buy my Secret Platinum 24 Hour Protection at CVS yesterday. I'm enjoying watching my popularity soar!

Shoeless in Suburbia

Have you noted the trend toward the "take off your shoes" home? What is this about? Have we adopted some sort of upscale Japanese suburban ritual ? I mean, I could understand if the kids came in with muddy feet, but since people don't let their children play outside anymore, I don't think this is about mud. Nor is it about children. Because no one, no matter your age or personal wealth, seems to be exempt from this new fetish. Is it about germs? Are people worried that the pesticides they continue to pour onto their perfect lawns may make their way into the house via my smart but never pretentious shoes?

My friend Kim says it's not about dirt or germs. She says it's about power. By making you remove your shoes before entering their Beverly Hillbillies foyer you are being told (no matter who you are) that you are now playing by their rules and your filthy, thoughtless bohemian ways must be checked at the door.

I've also noticed that many of the children who live in these homes have allergies. Their are no cats languishing in the sun on the back of the sofa, no guinea pigs kicking up sawdust in their catalog worthy bedrooms. Maybe a little dander and dirt is actually what makes a house "homey"?

I just want to be there the day someone asks my Dad to remove his shoes before entering their home. He'd do the right thing: turn around and not come back.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I love Christmas!

There. I've said it. After years of repressing my Christmas glee in the name of an inter-faith marriage, I am outing myself. I'm running around with a red scarf around my neck, cheerfully doing errands and handing out homemade marmalade to everyone I meet. I even say "Merry Christmas" which is so not PC.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It is a MERRY time. Be MERRY. Not a concept most of us get to practice in the hurry-up 21st century.

How can I be merry? There's so much to get done!

Take a minute to remind yourself: it's all fun. It will all get done. The line will move forward. The traffic will subside. Dinner will get on the table. The gifts will get wrapped and you will make some people happy. Others will never be happy no matter how mighty your effort. Remember: we can't change our families, only the way we respond to them.

We're having a party tomorrow with booze and food and music and singing. I like to think of us as 21st century Fezziwigs--any ghosts peeking in the windows will smile and nod and say, "They're keeping Christmas very well...but where's the tree?"

There's still no tree in our inter-faith home, but you can keep Christmas very well without one. The mantels are decked with greens and holly and pine cones (horizontal Christmas trees!). And if you look out the back window, the holly tree is bursting with crimson berries proclaiming the solstice to be here.

Merry Christmas everyone! Oh, and Shabbat shalom.