No, don’t start here – scroll down to the next post and start there. Then come back.

You know, when I sat down to write this, I knew everything I wanted to write. And then it left me. So forgive me if I ramble a bit. It might come back to me. Or not.

So, my laptop crapped out on Christmas Eve, and it wasn’t the battery or the power supply. It was something called the “dc input board”. Or something like that. it’s the part that apparently tells the battery that it’s being charged. I guess. Anyway, it took nearly two whole weeks to get that all straightened out.

But when I got it back, the very first e-mail I read was from Hootin’ Anni, telling me that I was a winner in her first blog giveaway! You know, I don’t enter most of these blog giveaways you see all over the web (except for Canary Girl when she was giving away a copy of her cookbook – which I didn’t win), but, hey! this is Anni – creative, down to earth, and deep down, a woman after my own heart. Anyway, I won one of these book thongs that she made – aren’t they pretty?

Thanks again, Anni!

Speaking of Canary Girl, I did finally get a copy of her cookbook. Bought it for MJ for Christmas. It’s beautiful! I’ve made several of her recipes – who can forget Intestines at Halloween? – but her photography, like on her website, is just stunning! I’m a fan.

So apparently, Rod Blagojevich, the now nationally famous – or rather infamous – governor of the great State of Illinois, snuck in the back door of the Illinois state legislature today to swear in the new state House of Representatives. Which promptly voted – 114 to 1 – to impeach him. Awkward. Really. What could you possibly add to that?

Nope. It’s not coming back to me. So let me end this on a bright note:

Remember Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago? You know, the company who, last month, closed down the factory on 3 days notice, tossing its workers out into the snow with no severance, no vacation pay, no nada? So the workers staged a sit-in for 6 days, refusing to leave the factory until Bank of America finally regurgitated some of the $10 billion bailout package it was gifted to pay each of the 300 workers $6,000? Remember that? Well, now there’s a construction materials company in California who wants to buy Republic! And give all 300 workers their jobs back! And you know why? Because they see an opportunity to expand their business into a new market by buying an installation that’s already in place with a well-trained workforce ready to go. And you know what makes it particularly attractive? All the machinery and equipment is still in the building because those very same workers refused to allow Bank of America to come in and liquidate it! Union! Union! Union!