1) Regarding Rick Sanchez, you’re welcome.*  Next up, Joe Buck, whose coverage during the Eagles game yesterday made me fall so sound asleep that I didn’t wake up until the last minute of the 4th quarter.  Which may not have been a terrible thing, but still.

2) Sometimes I cook things.  This weekend it was chili.  I used this recipe from Cooking Light.  I was out of red wine (go figure) so I substituted half a beer.  Instead of a fresh jalapeno, I used some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (much better), and sausage kind of gives me the heebie jeebies so I just used ground beef.  Oh yeah, I also chucked in a can of black beans because black beans make it pretty.  And corn, too.  It’s better day 2.

3)  My daughter’s ballet teacher  [mandatory disclosure clause:she runs a very tight ship and warns us all ahead of time that she doesn't put up with any BS or lateness or, I don't know, STRAY HAIRS FROM THE BALLET BUN and does, in fact, teach discipline and good behavior and listening and the value of hard work and dedication to a craft rather than princessy, diva-like behavior] made my daughter cry last week by singling her out and making her warm up on her own essentially in a corner – the corner of SHAME.  My daughter was late for ballet because she was having some kind of an issue about one thing or another and it was, admittedly, totally her fault.  Nevertheless, I had to actually call my husband to come and stand outside the ballet studio instead of me because I refused to leave her there (even though we aren’t allowed anywhere near the room where practice takes place, there is a tiny sliver of curtained window through which I could peek and therefore give my daughter a glimpse of 1/8″ of my eyeball to let her know that I had not abandoned her in hour of need) and moreso probably because I was afraid I was going to bust through the doors and wrestle an 80 year old woman with two artificial knees to the ground with two fistfuls of her hair in my hands shrieking, “Nobody puts baby in the corner!!” like a deranged banshee.   Although it took me about two hours to get my shit together after the whole episode, my daughter, after doing her stretches in isolation, rejoined the group, kicked some ballet butt, and emerged from class smiling and cheerful and fully resolved never to be late to class again.  If I hadn’t been in the room when they pulled her out of me, I might wonder whose kid she actually is.

4) My son asked me to get him the Bone books from Amazon.  So I did.  He knows that I “care” about reading.  And by “care” I mean “am fanatical and vaguely obsessive and am convinced that he’ll end up homeless in a sewer eating old shoe leather to stay alive if he doesn’t read prolifically.”  So, of course, he doesn’t.  GAH.  When he asks for a book, he gets a book.  In fact, when he asks for a book, he gets the whole collection.  And then I didn’t see him for a day and a half.  He’s read the Bone books.  “Now what?”  He asks.  Panic ensuing here.  Anyone?  He’s 8.  Reads like he’s 10 or 11.  Likes mythology, legos, and things that blow up.

5) I miss summer.  I miss my kids, I miss my husband, I miss not having to think, “I should be grading papers.”

6)  On the other hand:  apple cider donuts, Halloween, sweaters.

*he was fired from CNN over the weekend because he finally outed himself as not just a moron but a bigot.