Drunk Mommy

So I am fuming about having to take a completely unnecessary early blood glucose test because ONE of my poo-poo head doctors is shocked that I am actually gaining weight during this pregnancy. Yes, I make a big deal that one of them (at least) is a poo-poo head because I actually have three doctors.  "Why, you must be super rich like Beyonce or or that Snookie?" you say.  No, quite the opposite.  Rather, I have 3 frickin doctors because the bumpkin office I go to thinks you get better care being passed around like a drunk college freshman than you do being nurtured and looked after by a single care-taker. 

As I am fuming about the whole damn thing, I am reminded of a time around a year and a half ago when I was too-big-to-see-my-crotch pregnant with Mini Monkey and had to rush out to Walmart. Yes, I said Walmart.  See, the little bumpkin town I live in doesn't have much in the way of options. And to be honest, going there makes me feel better about myself and my life. Anyhoo, I'm in the freezer section and reach into my front pocket, or attempt to.  See, as I was rushing to get pants on my gianormous self, I managed to put them on backwards.  Big old ass pockets in the front and crotch pockets in the back.  Even at Walmart that ridonk is not good. And no, I didn't leave in a hurry like most sane people would.  I just kept on truckin' looking like happy drunk mommy, giggling to myself the whole time. 

So when I go to take this useless, waste of time, waste of money test on Monday, I'll be sure to wear a dress, because although I know they already think I am a fat, pregnant cow, I certainly don't want them to get on my ass about being a fat, pregnant, drunk cow.  I get enough of that from Mr. Martini.

BEST of the Web... KIDS CRAFTS!

So if I were a good mom, I would totally be doing these crafts with my kids.  Instead I am busy making sure my basement doesn't smell like a barn.  Long story...

But in any event, these are the five coolest crafts for kids I found this week. I hope they inspire you to bust out some paint and glue.

Crazy Crocs from bubble wrap

 Positively Splendid

 

Love, love, love the Positively Splendid site... I'll be going back there often, if only to make myself feel inadequately crafty with my kids. But seriously, it's awesome!  

 

 

 

Boris The Bull Bank

 ZiggityZoom

 

 

 

Snow White Mirror

 Make and Takes

PineconeThanksgiving Craft

 Best Home Decorator

 

Glitter Spider Web Halloween Craft

 Craft Jr.

 

 Have a craft project you've done recently, or just something you've seen that has inspired you to take out the Elmer's and the construction paper?  Add a link to it and it will automatically be added to our Best of the Web Kids Crafts post.  Just click the blue frog below.  

Bacon Burger with Horseradish Sauce

Bacon Burgers with Horseradish Sauce

Photo courtesy of Rachaelray.com

I've been trying to figure out the best way to include some kind of meal planner, or menu planner on this blog and have come to the conclusion that there are simply no good widgets out there.  Bummer man.  I guess I wanna eat what I wanna eat, not what some app tells me to eat.  So, I'm doin' it from scratch! 

In the meantime, it has given me reason to ogle over some of my favorite recipes that have gotten a little dusty over time.  And I do ogle.  Food to me is like diamonds to other girls.  I wanna touch it, smell it, look at it... I'd wear it if that Lady Gaga didn't ruin it for me with the meat dress (and now a meat corset, I mean eewww!).  Anyway,  I love food!!

Many of my favorite burgers are inspired by Rachael Ray... and this is the first one I ever tried.  SO YUMMY! A little spicy, a little crunch... mmmmm burger! I have modified the original a little bit.

LET'S GET COOKING!!!

Bacon Burger With Horseradish Sauce

8 sliced smoked bacon
2 lbs. ground sirloin
1/2 cup or so breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
salt and pepper
8 ounces sliced extra sharp white cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup chives, finely chopped **Green onion works to if you can't find fresh chives
4 crusty rolls, split
1 bunch watercress or arugula

SERVES 4
Cook bacon to preferred doneness. set aside on paper towels.
In a medium bowl, combine sirloin, Worcestershire sauce, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Form into 4 burger patties and heat your grill to 350-400 degrees. Cook to preferred doneness. Add 2 slices of cheese to each burger a few minutes before done to melt.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine sour cream, parsley, chives, horseradish, and pepper.
Place the watercress on the roll bottoms and top with a burger and two slices of bacon. Slather the roll top with horseradish sauce and place on burger.

EASY PEASY AND SO GOOD!!  I will say this, although I am all about recipe modification to suit your budget and convenience, try to find the sharp white cheddar... it really does make a difference ;)

What's your favorite burger recipe?  Or even just burger concept?  I'm kind of a burger recipe collector; I have a list of about 35, so I will surely be sharing those soon!

Media Bias: A Bottom Up Perspective

My facebook BLEW UP last night during the presidential debate, and it is during these times that I am reminded of why I left my former life of academia.  The academic political arena, like politics as a whole is certainly a fiery place that can be intensely vitriolic, scathing, and often condescending.  Ideally, shouldn't we all be able to live and let live?  Upon further inspection I wonder if we are getting farther and farther from that ideal and closer still to a country divided by ideals. 

On one hand, I see this passion as evidence that not everyone is apathetic, as the media would often lead us to believe; which of course is a good thing.  On the other, it raises concerns that those in the Ivory Tower with whom I once roamed, can't see out their windows or past their own deeply ingrained beliefs, leading one to question the value of their expertise.

Why is the question of value important?  Because these are precisely the folks that the media look to as experts, and to a large extent these experts help shape the national conversation and at least in part determine what should be of the utmost import to regular folks like you and me, and perhaps more importantly, to policy makers and political insiders.  One would assume a political expert should be able to check their own deeply ingrained beliefs at the door when making "analyses" (a term I will use loosely, as that is often not at all what we get) of the political world, and I am just not sure that this is a reality, let alone even a possibility given the contentious nature of the field.  And the semantics matter here: analysis is too often confused with educated opinion when talking about politics and political experts. The former assumes unbiased review, while the latter clearly does not.  

Just yesterday, Mike Wagner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Go Badgers!) wrote an interesting article addressing the issue of expert bias in political media, using political campaign contributions as an indicator.  He writes, "...reporters and readers, but especially reporters, should take the time to try and find a way to judge the expertise of their academic sources before using evidence of a political donation to write them off. Have they published in the area about which the reporter is seeking a quotation? Do they have a record of being unfair to one or more sides of the political aisle? Are the experts referring to published evidence when making their claims? Are other experts who publish in that same area chomping at the bit to refute your source’s arguments as the ramblings of a crazed-partisan? Google News, Google Scholar, and a few phone calls would be all most reporters would need in most instances to be able to make a reasonable judgment in most cases."

Now I would never argue that mainstream media are simply conduits through which information (biased or not) is transferred.  The current popularity of and almost certain future shift to exclusively highly partisan media outlets certainly suggests otherwise.  However, to say that a good reporter should easily be able to tell if their "expert" source is giving them a biased "analysis" by taking note of whether they have published in the area (i.e. what would make you an expert in the first place and has nothing to do with potential for political bias), or if they refer to published evidence when making their claims, assumes that the field itself is unbiased, to which Dr. Wagner himself concedes, it is not. 

So the question becomes, who gives a rat's ass if the information passed long by political experts is biased?  Well, in short, we all should if we are looking for clarity in a nebulous political vacuum; if we are looking for analysis as opposed to educated opinion.  But I'm not sure that is what we're looking for.  If it is the media's objective to tell us what to think about rather than what to think, (a mantra that is beaten into your head as a student of the study of media and politics) then these biases that come from the experts would be the fundamental flaw in our media system.  But perhaps that theory is showing it's age as evidenced by the aforementioned popularity of highly partisan news outlets. Perhaps the bias, and with it all the vitriolic, venomous, condescension that often comes with it is exactly what political man is looking for.  And I'll be damned if the media doesn't have an incentive to give it to him.

So what does this all mean?  That perhaps one shouldn't be concerned that the experts in academia can't isolate and pack-away their own political biases, because when it comes to politics we aren't looking for anything more than educated opinion anyway; and an educated opinion that supports our own at that.  The question shouldn't be whether the media are biased; they are, and are becoming increasingly more so by design.  And the question isn't what is the source of this bias, because who cares?   Political media is biased, not because the experts are biased, but because that is what political man wants.  What this means for the future of our civil society is perhaps the question we should be asking.  But if we asked it, what would the value of the expert's opinion be?