Standing in line at Harris Teeter...

I came across this book....... I'm pretty sure that's all I need to say.

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Super Week!

Wow, what a lot going on this week. It kicked off with the Superbowl and tomorrow is Super Tuesday. I'll leave politics for Wednesday, so today let's talk Superbowl.

I, like many half-hearted football fans, didn't really have a favorite going into the game. I heard a clip on NPR about New England's near perfect season and while I usually default to the underdog, I was hoping the Patriots would get their final win. Good thing I am not a gambler!

We enjoyed the game and of course the commercials. I have a list of favorites that I thought were memorable:

- The one with the screaming animals was the first one that made me laugh - in that haha animals who think they're people kind of way

- The Macy's Parade where Charlie Brown wins the coke was just downright touching. In a world where Peanuts are all but forgotten, the context of football was the best place for CB to finally win.

- The E*Trade commercial with the talking baby. The first run was amusing, but the 2nd was downright FUNNY

- I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Will Ferrell Bud Light commercial. Will does his best Will and that's all I need.

- Another Budweiser commercial, this one with the Clydesdales. Specifically, the new kid on the block who gets trained by a dalmatian. I think Jerry teared up.

We spent the evening at Kim and Reid's and we had a great time! Lots of food, good friends and football. Who could ask for a better evening? For a full write up on the Superbowl commercials, check out the NY Times. And to view them and vote for your favorite, check out the Wall Street Journal!

Which one was your favorite?

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Bags. BAGS!

You might be wondering where Jerry and I stand on the whole paper vs. plastic vs. reusable bag issue. Well, I'll tell you. Basically, we would love to rely completely on reusable bags and we are pretty good about it to a degree. However, we do have a dog to clean up after so I usually get plastic some of the time to keep them in stock at the house. But as we all know, they are a pain in the neck to keep up with and after several solutions, we finally found one that works for us.

Initially, we had a hand-made bag holder similar in shape to this one. Not as tacky as this, but I couldn't resist adding that picture. We didn't care for it because it was the wrong colors and we tend to like things to be nailed down. So the cloth bag just swinging around wasn't cutting it.

Lucky for us, we found the SimpleHuman Bag holder. We were SO excited about it and couldn't wait to put it up. However, it was a disappointment in the end. We had a hard time getting the bags in and out without having to wrap them very tightly. No big deal except then you don't have much to grab onto when you want to retrieve one. We mounted it vertically and if we were going to continue using it, I think I would put it up under a cabinet or something. It never really felt secure.

But then we went to IKEA. We had no intention of changing out the system so soon, but we came across the Rationell Variera Bag holder for only $1.99 !!! We thought we should try it for such minimal investment. Well, that was the best $2 we've spent in a LONG time! It's perfect! As you can see you can add and remove bags just about anywhere and it's so lightweight that mounting it was a snap and it can stand up to the constant manipulation of stuffing and pulling.

We love the bag holder and we hate to admit that we still feel that we need these pesky plastic bags. But everything is a process and for now, this is working :-)

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