Frankenberry's Profile

Since no one else asked ... where is the tablecloth from? I love it.

This cracked me up. My Craigslist rule is that everything described as "beautiful" is so ugly it's painful, and that goes double if they write BEAUTIFUL.

Hostesses? I just got invited to a cookie swap hosted by a guy.

We have been eating green tomatoes all week. We made green tomato salsa, green tomato chutney, green tomato fritters and my favorite recipe of the week, this green tomato soup (we subbed fake ham to make it vegetarian):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Tomato-Soup-230446

That depends. Is it just about the food, or is it a symptom of a larger divide between the two of you? (For example, you being a more adventurous person in general while he's content to sit at home in front of the TV with a PB sandwich.) If it's just about the food, maybe he'll get more into it over time and if not then you could just chalk it up to different interests. As someone who's been married a few years and with my husband for 10, I can say that having separate interests is not a bad thing, as long as you have stuff in common too. It gives you a chance to go out and explore stuff on your own, hang out with friends, recharge.
On the other hand, if he's a picky eater and won't ever go out to restaurants with you or eat what you cook, it might drive you crazy. I have a foodie friend who once dated a guy who only like three types of food (plain steak, potato chips and I can't remember what else.) They ended up breaking up for other reasons, but it was really annoying to her throughout their whole relationship. I wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as she did.

I wonder if people griped when stye icon Jackie Kennedy went sleeveless:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/06/dressy-jacqueline-kennedy_n_172468.html

I say it is refreshing to see such a beautiful, elegant, graceful First Lady in the White House.

Am I the only person in the universe whose family did not talk over dinner? Oh, our family of four ate dinner at the table, but we never talked. (At least that's how I remember it.) It used to drive me crazy. My dad would say a long prayer, then my family would eat really fast, and I'd always be the last one left still eating while they all started clearing away their plates, which I thought was really rude. I always fantasized about having the kind of family that would actually talk at the table. From reading these comments, it seems everyone else's did!

Now, my husband and I try to eat dinner together at the table every night -- and we talk about our days, politics, books we're reading, just the same random stuff we always talk about.

Re: "Neighbors who communicate through public servants are not neighbors."

I have to disagree on this one as well. I guess it might depend on who your neighbors are and what your neighborhood is like, but I definitely don't feel bad about calling the police, codes department or animal control on certain neighbors. (Though I definitely would not call the police etc., or would communicate face-to-face with those neighbors I have a good relationship with or haven't had problems with.)

But, our next-door neighbors have an adult criminal son who is out on probation and who has harassed me before, and whom the parents continue to coddle and provide room and board and free babysitting for his kid, despite my husband's complaints to them about the son's behavior. The son has retaliated by stepping up harassment after my husband complained, and I carry full-strength pepper spray, at the advice of a neighborhood officer, in case I should ever encounter him while I'm alone. The same family also has major codes/health issues in their yard that they said they were going to fix five years ago and never did, and I finally called codes on them. (The problem is hideous, probably unsanitary and they know it's a problem ...) Also, our across-the-street neighbors regularly hold 4 a.m. drunken screaming parties where guns and knives are present. (In fact, one gathering resulted in a stabbing.) These same neighbors handle their domestic disputes on their porch at full, screaming volume about once a month. You'd better believe I will never nicely knock on either of these neighbors' doors and politely ask them to keep it down.

On the other hand, the very cool and friendly couple who live a few doors down from us sometimes get carried away with their partying pretty late at night, and we usually just try to get to sleep in spite of it. We would never call the police on them.

I think neighborly behavior has to be earned, and safety has to come first.