Sunday mish-mash - only one day to go!

Big big week coming up.

1. The last day of NaBloPoMo is TOMORROW!!! Gaaack - I know you'll miss me!

2. doing a lot of walking this week since one of our girls is on vacation. I had been kinda looking forward to it, and then Friday was my first day of it and it did NOT go well. It wasn't a disaster or anything, but it was just really exhausting and I'm over it.

3. taking Osha to the vet on Tuesday - he periodically gets congested and sneezy, and we usually give him some baby Benedryl and it clears up in a couple of days, but this time there appears to be no end in sight. Not to gross you out, but tonight he sneezed out a booger/snot mass bigger than I've ever seen come out of a human. So, we'll head to the vet and see what she can do for us.

4. Countdown to vacation is at 50 days!

5. Tonight is Amazing Race and Dexter. When did Sunday become my favorite TV night? I'm not sure, but it is! Dexter was so friggin' good last week I can't wait to see what happens tonight.

I'm glad NaBloPoMo is done tomorrow - not because I haven't enjoyed writing. It's actually been much easier and more enjoyable than the last time I did it. But this week is going to busy and exhausting and I know odds are I would have forgotten to post at some point. That would suck, so I'm glad tomorrow is my last official posting day. But I think I will be around a lot more than I used to be.

NaBloPoMo Random part II

I saw a baby Bernese Mountain Dog today, walking down the sidewalk with his owner. He was so fuzzy and roly-poly that when she got him to sit at the curb he almost fell right over. ~sigh~

In other news, man yesterday really kicked my ass. Every muscle in my body is killing me. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but I better figure it out because our employee is going on vacation starting next Friday, and she will be gone for a week. If I can't make it through one day without feeling like an 80 year old, how will I last a week? Yikes!

Is anybody watching Survivor this year? It's freaking insane, first of all because of Russell being ridiculously devious and awesome, but mostly because of Shambo's hair. Are you kidding me?

And it just gets bigger and bigger by the week. Maybe instead of cutting my hair off I should get a perm and a bandana....Hmmmm.

Ellen on Oprah

Today on Oprah her guest was Ellen Degeneres. Usually I can take her or leave her - I don't watch her talk show anymore as the novelty has kinda worn off, but I do think I would like her on American Idol so may give that a go when it comes back on.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the portion of the show where they interviewed Ellen and her wife, Portia de Rossi.

On the one hand, they are adorable. They gush over each other. They almost went so far as to say they complete each other. They showed film from their wedding, and I was tearing up because it was so beautiful, and they both had the stupid silly grin that I know I had on my wedding day.

On the other hand I remember what seems like not so long ago when Ellen had a similar relationship with Anne Heche, and I wonder if she really learned anything from that experience. They gushed, they swooned, and that ended so, so, so badly. And the whole thing in the public eye with lots of scrutiny and disdainful messiness.

And then on a third hand (or foot, or other appendage) you have to applaud them for taking the opportunity to flaunt their beautiful, beautiful marriage in the faces of the hateful, hateful people of California who voted against legalizing gay marriage permanently.

So, basically, the episode left me smiling like a fool, cringing anxiously, and shaking my fist at California. Did you see it?

Jon and Kate

Anyone else feeling train-wreck syndrome when it comes to these two? I have always watched - even though I'm not partial to children I find that most of theirs are cute, and they do funny things. In seeing the two of them interacting you could tell that problems would eventually brew (I'm actually surprised they have lasted this long) and I'm kinda anxious to see if the whole thing was totally blown out of proportion for ratings reasons or if they have genuine problems.

The worst part about that whole thing is the whole reason I began watching was the kids, but now we are going to have to suffer through all this relationship stuff. Although I am interested to see how Jon reconciles his resentment for being in the spotlight with his wife's seemingly greedy and egomaniacal need to be famous.

Anyway, I'm watching the marathon that TLC has been running all weekend, and it's the episode where they got the puppies. I cried when the big mama dog was playing with the baby puppy at the breeder's.

Snapshots from my week

1. I am in love with HGTV and the Food Network. I have always loved watching them like on a Sunday or something, but lately I've even been watching in primetime. I can't get enough Flipping Out, Location Location, Relocation Relocation, Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant Makeover etc. I wish there was a live feed of Jeff Lewis's life. I wish I could be best friends with Kirstie Allsop, that crazy Brit from the Location Location show. If I could marry one of the HGTV guys, it would be Igor from Restaurant Makeover - he can fix everything and cracks me up.

2. Thinking about going back to Bikram classes - they opened a new studio down the street, so it's much more convenient, plus I have been running and am in better shape to start out so can kinda jump in (hopefully) with less recovery time between classes. I love the way that Bikram changed my body the last time I was a "regular", but even more I loved the way it improved my mood, which is something I could use these days.

3. I think my neighbor is conducting kick boxing classes in the condo above us. I hear what sounds like banging and hopping around all day long. Dude, the floors between us are concrete - what are you doing that makes me able to hear you? and why are you doing it every day?

Just asking for a bloody nose

I watched the most bizarre show last night - I am still trying to wrap my brain around it.

The show was on TLC and was called The Running of the Brides. It was basically a show about the annual bridal gown sale at Filene's Basement. Filene's is a store similar to our Winner's, where brand name labels are sold at super-reduced prices. The gowns they were selling were designer gowns, for example one Amsale was regular priced $3000 and sold for $500.

Okay, so people want a bargain. Totally understandable, and so I see the original motivation.

The brides start strategizing way ahead of time, and they organize "teams" - one of the teams featured had between ten and fifteen people, but most brides went in with 5 or six close friends and family. In spite of the advanced planning, no one really has an original strategy, they all basically do this:

a)get there early to get a good spot in line
b) when they let you inside, bride grabs an area that will be the team's territory
c) team members grab as many dresses as possible and bring them back to the territory (all of the dresses had been removed from the racks within less than two minutes - literally - this time I am not exaggerating)
d) team members are then delegated as things like dressers, protectors, barterers. Some team members were wearing bike helmets, and everyone wore their hair pulled back just in case the elbowing and hair pulling got out of hand

The bride strips down to the least amount of clothes she feels comfortable in (most had on tanktops and biker shorts, but some were in bra and panties) and the dressers pop the dresses on them one after the other. They decide very quickly whether it's yes, maybe, or no. Yesses and maybes are kept aside, and noes are sent out with the barterers to trade with other teams. Protectors have to make sure no one is sneaking in and stealing any of the "yes" or "maybe" dresses, or worse any of the dresses that haven't been tried on yet. All of the women featured in the show had not only tried on about 50 dresses each in less than two hours, but had also chosen "the dress" in that time.

Am I nuts? Nothing about this is appealing to me, except maybe the discount part. Being half naked in public. Sorting through stacks and stacks of satin and tulle and giving each dress about one minute of consideration. Plus, one of the teams had flown in from Jacksonville, Florida (the sale was in Boston. That eliminates the entire "bargain" aspect of the entire exercise!

I want my dress-buying experience to be relaxed. I want a large, roomy dressing room and I want people to bring dresses to me. I want lots of choice, but I don't want to try on a hundred different things. I want the sales person to know what they are doing and be able to intuit what I am looking for after just a few tries. I want people I care about with me and I don't don't don't want to feel rushed.

Is that crazy?

Oh, and I want the dress I finally choose to be on sale. Please.

Internet TV rocks

For the past week I have been embroiled in the roller coaster of emotions that is The L Word.

Who else watches this show?

It is so fantastic - really funny, and smart and thoughtful. Very sexy too - probably as close as I will ever come to being a lesbian. I had never watched it when it was on TV because of scheduling, and now due to the miracle of the internet I am able to watch pretty much any show I want whenever I want for free.

So, I started two weeks ago with Season 1 and was instantly hooked. I just finished the last episode, and now I'm sad that I will have to wait til next year for the final episodes to air. I won't give anything away plot-wise in case there are people out there who have never watched it and now will because I'm recommending.

For anyone who does watch - who is your favorite character? Who do you hate? Who do you have a crush on?

Strike TV is actually not so bad

Before this season of LOST began, SB and I sat down and watched the entire 3rd season in two days. 23 episodes. We both had Couch Cramp (I'm currently working on trademarking that term). Now we are both even more hooked than ever on that damn island. And this season is completely blowing my mind. Last season was slow-moving, and hard to watch from week to week, and then a big giant gap in the middle of the season (watching it all at once was amazing). But this season, you spend a whole week trying to figure out WTF????? And then they blow your mind again the next week.

I'm actually watching Grey's Anatomy now because I didn't watch it all season (it doesn't fit into my Survivor/CSI/ER Thursday) and they are showing the repeats on Fridays.

Big Brother is kinda not holding my attention the way it usually does. The premise is actually cool (they are playing as couples, no individuals, so it add a whole new dynamic), and the characters are colorful (one guy has done gay porn. But he's not gay. And his "occupation" is cycling around the world. Hmm.), but I'm just not as into it as usual. I still watch, but I don't really know anyone's name

And also, we are getting a (censored) view of Dexter on CBS. I have seen the first episode and am in love with this show. But, I'm thinking of buying Season 1 and bringing it on our trip to Paris for the nights when we are exhausted, or the rainy days when we don't feel like schlepping. Plus, I kinda just want to see it un-censored. Because changing "motherfucker" to "moron" usually just gets on my nerves.

Did you see it?

Anyone else catch that new show quarterlife the other night? No? Apparently not many people did. Hmmm.

The show is based on an actual vlogger who had journal videos on youtube. Apparently her youtube stuff is quite popular. The show is not.

I think what they are shooting for is a My So-Called Life for those of us who watched that show in the nineties, trying to connect with those of us actually going through our quarter-life crisis. It focuses on a group of friends, some of whom live together, many of whom are dating or have dated or want to date someone else in the group. All of them have hopes and aspirations, most of which are creativity-related, so of course they also all have day jobs that they hate. Except for two of the guys, who are film-makers trying to strike out by making car commercials - these two are partners, but of course one of them is the true artist, and the other has a moneybags dad who has funded their start-up. Conflict ensues.

I feel like this show should be a good idea, and should be interesting. It has been a while since there has been a show that is really great that is just about people - not centered on where they work (hospital, courthouse, crime scene lab), but on the people and their relationships. Think thirtysomething.

But this show just seems trivial. I'm not sure if I've ever seen quite so many cliches packed into one hour of television. To be fair, generally the first couple of episodes of any show feel a bit contrived, so maybe it will improve, but so far I would give it a D.

Fred Thompson and Dick Wolf can kiss my tush.

I love all Law and Order. Regular. SVU. CI. All of them. I have plans to name future furry children after some of the characters. I'm pretty sure I have seen every single episode of each of the series. I am hardcore.

However, I am a bit dismayed over a little development they snuck in to last week's episode of Special Victims Unit.

Because Fred Thompson is running for president in real life, Arthur Branch cannot be on TV in any new episodes. They delayed the return of Law and Order, presumably to see what would happen in the primaries, and maybe Branch would be back. At least this is what I assumed. Then last week, what slips in the conversation between Olivia and Casey? That Casey has a new boss. Jack McCoy.

I am stunned and offended by this development. Jack McCoy is not the boss. He doesn't have to make the hard calls. Jack McCoy is the rebel, the stick-to-his-guns and his unpopular but correct views man. He bucks the norm. He laughs in the face of authority. How can one laugh in one's own face? One can't.

I am interested to see if they will actually stay true to the character and keep him liberal and slick, or if he will turn into a hardass towing the line to keep the voters happy. I truly hope it is the former, because Jack McCoy is anything but The Man. Anything else would be a lie.

Possibly the best profilactic ever

Does anyone else out there watch this John and Kate Plus 8 show? It is one of those shows that manages to fascinate and horrify me in equal doses each and every week.

It is a reality show on TLC about a couple who had trouble getting pregnant so they did IVF, and then they had twins. After the twins, they decided to try for one more baby, and succeded in getting pregnant with SIX babies. SIX HUMAN BABIES. That's a LITTER for crying out loud.

They are really cute kids - even when they are screaming and biting and beating on each other. I love to watch the general chaos that occurs each and every week. The mom is pretty much anal OCD woman, and I think that is the only reason the entire house doesn't get ripped apart by those children. And it blows my mind that the parents don't have perpetual migraines. I can see how it is not the life they would have necessarily planned for themselves, but they really are making the best of it.

Anyone who knows me in real life knows I am not a huge fan of kids - babies in particular freak me the fuck OUT. So I am thinking of making a video of the John and Kate Plus 8 show. And if ever I lose my mind and think, "maybe having just one kid could be fun..." I will put that tape in the machine, and will be able to get back to my regularly scheduled life.

The best film that I forget that I love

There is something at work in this universe of ours, that knows what I need and when I need it. Or at the very least knows what movie I need to be watching because I am down.

We have had The Movie Network for several years now, and sometimes I get downright frustrated with the selection provided by these fiends. I pay $20 extra per month - why should I ever need to use my video on demand? For a while we had it just for The Sopranos. Then Big Love. Also Six Feet Under back in the day. Now it's Flight of the Conchords and Entourage.

Anyway, even though it's frustrating 98.7% of the time, it always seems to know when I am feeling low, or sad, or down, and you know what movie it plays then? Elizabethtown.

This is the best movie I know that can let me wallow in whatever melancholy I am feeling, but still leave me with a very good feeling. But I forget how much I love it until I start watching, and each part gets better with each viewing. It's one of the rare films that I actually enjoy seeing Orlando Bloom in. Kirsten Dunst plays much as I imagine her to be in real life. Susan Sarandon cracks me up every time with her tap dance. I love that the dad always said "If it wasn't this, it would be something else." I think I would be friends with him in real life. I desperately want someone to make me a very unique map, and desperately want the time to be able to follow said map.

I always gasp when he sees the photo of his mother (Susan Sarandon) when she was young. I always laugh out loud when she talks about Boner Bob. I always nod my head to the beat (who are we kidding, I full on rock out) while Ruckus plays Freebird. I always giggle when Bloom dances alone in the field. I always cry each time he lets go of another handful of his father's ashes. I always hold my breath when Bloom searches for the girl in the red hat.

I have seen this movie in its entirety at least 10 times. I can't even count the number of times I have watched only part of it for a little pick-me-up.

This weekend, I watched it again. It was the first time SB had watched it. It still makes me feel better.

Digging in to the routine

My sister left this morning after ten days visiting. We had loads of fun - did tons of shopping, mostly, but she was also jonesing for a ton of relaxing so of course I was game for that. However, after all that relaxing I feel completely behind in my work, even though I'm not really, but you know that sinking feeling that you know are forgetting something......

While visiting, my sister took advantage of us. For our cable. She doesn't have cable. I know, I know, I almost asked for a DNA sample to prove we are related before feeding her when she arrived. She says she is not home enough to pay for it, and that she gets free movies from work anyway, so if she will be home she just brings a few with her. Meanwhile I can barely survive 8 hours of sleeping time without TV. It's on constantly - even if I'm not paying attention to it, I like to hear it as background noise. It was especially fun for her that there was a marathon of LA Ink on yesterday.

I've been able to catch a few of the new shows in amongst my routine of old ones, and I have to say I have been overall pretty pleased with the new, and underwhelmed by the favorites. CSI premiere was a little un-forensic, ER was a little too ER not enough character stuff. Law and Order SVU was a bit too dense - they tried to jam a two-part episode into an hour. However, I am totally in love with Dirty Sexy Money (maybe because I have a major hard-on for Peter Krause), and surprisingly charmed by The Big Bang Theory. It was friggin' hilarious. I highly recommend it if you like sarcasm, nerdy humor, and sarcasm. I wasn't impressed at all by Big Shots - in fact I could only make it through about 10 minutes before switching over to Without a Trace. And that is saying a lot, because I could have easily caught the re-run of Without a Trace on Friday night. I'm very sad, because I have also been known to have a hard-on for Michael Vartan. Maybe if I watch it with the sound off or something.

A girl just needs her MTV

When we moved almost two months ago, we switched from Starchoice satellite to Videotron, our local digital cable company. I was very sad about the switch, because Starchoice had always been very good to us - great service in general with very few interruptions, fantastic customer service when we had questions or problems, and it was just a very good experience in all. But, cable was cheaper for almost all the same channels because we bundled it with phone and internet. When I called to cancel our Starchoice, Eric said it sounded like I was breaking up with someone. And I felt like I was.

Our new cable company has been pretty good so far too - our last experience with cable was terrible, but at that point it wasn't digital groovy cable, it was just regular plain old cable. Programming-wise, we no longer had time-shifting, the Documentary channel, or MTV. Halfway through the first month, I was annoyed that a lot of my shows were conflicting, so I called and signed up for time-shifting for $3 a month. Then all the shows were done, and time-shifting wasn't useful anymore.

But you know what is useful? All the time? Especially on Saturday and Sunday when you are doing laundry and chores and like a little background noise that is actually entertaining?

MTV!!!

I SOOOOO missed MTV for the past two months. I especially love the MTV Canada VJs who crack me up, (especially Jessie and Dan). And the Real World. And My Super Sweet Sixteen. And Run's House. And....... Everything!!!

So I finally went online (now that we finally got a bill with our account number on it) and dumped stupid Time-Shifting, and added back MTV. And I also threw in the Documentary Channel so SB would stop whining.

Hopefully this will make Saturday Chores more palatable.

All hail the Queen of Craigslist

I love craigslist. In the past week I've sold two sofas. And now I have offers on a dresser I posted two hours ago. It's pretty fabulous. I think it helps that we have some pretty great stuff to get rid of, and we take pretty good care of it. I haven't even had to negotiate at all, they just take my price and go. I love it. I'm thinking of selling The Woodge.

We have painted our dining room/hall and our living room. All that's left is the kitchen. But I've had enough of the priming and taping and rolling and removing the faceplates, then replacing the faceplates, and the cleaning of the brushes. So I told Eric he is solely responsible for the kitchen. I'm sure at some point I'll break down and do it myself, since he's been so busy lately with work.

Saturday we bought all the flowers and plants for our patio and potted them. I'm not so into plants, but Eric let me buy a bunch of herbs and tomatoes and stuff, and I find those interesting enough. I hate plants with no flowers, so that was another requirement. Once we have finished installing all the pot-hangers I'll take a photo to share.

Completely unrelated, there is a TLC marathon of Little People Big World. I can't look away.

The worst part is that during all the painting and crap, it was beautiful and sunny outside. Then yesterday we took the day off, and although it turned out okay, it started with a deluge.

Sweaty and disappointed

That pretty much sums up my Sunday.

SB and I spent the WHOLE DAY painting - and we have only finished the hall and dining room. I hate masking tape. And I hate cleaning paint brushes. And I hate teetering on a kitchen chair trying to reach that one little spot with a brush that's a bit too big, but if I just bend my body in an ess and reach my arm up over my head like that I will be able to reach just right......ah crap, I got paint on the ceiling. And the sweating - bucketloads. Even with the air conditioning on full-blast. I must say, I was very pleased with the behavior of our pets, though. Nary a one of them stepped in any paint tray, nor did they rub their head/ears/butt/tail on the walls. Simon hid out most of the day, Gabby cowered in fear in the bedroom, and The Woodge (aka Charlie) relished in state-sanctioned time on the bed. I peeled off the masking tape this morning, and re-installed all the switch plates. There are a few touch-ups here and there, but overall I think we could start our own painting business. If doing so wouldn't cause me to have a full-on nervous breakdown.

Now that we no longer live out there, you know, on the East End, where no one goes, ever, people are around us and our pets more often. And they ask, why do you call Charlie "Woodgie". The answer: we aren't really sure. We used to call him Woofie, because when he woofs it's really deep and obnoxious. Then it just morphed into Woodgie. And I love to call him The Woodge. So, you may be seeing his name as The Woodge.

Last but not least, after bathing myself, we watched the final episode of The Sopranos. I, like pretty much every other human on earth, was pretty disappointed in the finale. I, also like every other human on earth, thought the cable had cut out, and I already had my pen out to write a strongly worded letter when the credits started to roll. WTF? I was so ticked. Thank goodness I had SB, who, in a moment of clarity, became extremely philosophical. "Well, Tony just said we need to look back on the good times...so no matter what happens, ever, we need to see that his life won't ever change. He'll always have to be looking over his shoulder, dealing with this crap. Right?" Oh, SB. I love you so. I'm still not happy, but I feel a bit less ripped-off. Things I did love:
1- Phil getting whacked
2 - Tony trying to get a free psych visit out of AJ's therapist
3 - Paulie and the cat
4 - Tony visiting Uncle June - loved loved loved this scene.

So now we wait for the movie - it took 19 months at a time between seasons, so I'm sure by the time I'm 87 it will come out.

Ever the optomist

This morning is Regis and Kelly's Mom's Dream Come True show. Total tear-fest - sad stories, hardships, reunions, community activism, etc.

While enjoying my coffee and fighting off tears (two people deployed to Iraq miraculously brought back to thank their sister for taking care of their little boy for over a year while they are fighting a war - come on, who can keep a dry eye for that?), there was a story about a woman who has adopted 8 special needs kids.

Not like missing a toe kids, kids who are in wheelchairs for life, with severe brain damage. Blind kids. Stuff like that.

And while her town was following her around as she picked up all her gifts from Regis and Kelly, I found myself thinking "She must get a giant benefit cheque from the government..."

This leads me to believe two things:
a) I am going straight to hell
b) I watch WAY too much Law and Order

Things I hate about the Food Network

1 - Rachel Ray's accent - it's out of control. She moved from the midwest like ten million years ago - that accent should be fading out by now.

2 - Ina Garten's breathing - I know they keep the mikes really sensitive on these cooking shows, so you can hear all the fun food sounds (which also gross me out - especially when they are mixing up really gloppy foods), but I really could go without hearing the Barefoot Contessa's heavy breathing while still reaping the benefits of learning how to make a great rack of lamb.

3 - Giada DeLaurentis' giant cranium. Can that girl's head get any larger? really? She's like a Barbie doll, or no, one of those Bratz dolls that they have now. Tiny little mini-body, HUGE GIGANTIC HEAD.

A friend of ours

Things are moving into second gear in the whole "moving" thing. We picked up some boxes on the weekend, so I can start packing up (yay!), we did our home inspection on Saturday, which let us know that a) our place is too new to have any problems and b) our place was constructed well, so there are no foreseeable problems other than normal wear and tear. Last night SB met with our landlady to let her know we will not be renewing our lease - she was actually really sad and said that we are her best tenants.

Trying to decide now what furniture we will keep and what we will sell. Anybody wanna buy a Leksvik 7 drawer chest? $100.

I haven't had much time lately to think of things other than work and moving, and I know TV is not much more exciting to hear about, but YAY the Sopranos are coming back in two weeks! I've been watching the re-runs of part one of season six, and I know it didn't air that long ago, but I had totally forgotten all of the crazy stuff that happened at the end of Part I. I think I was so sad that we were left hanging that I had totally blocked out the good stuff.

- Phil Leotardo is in the hospital with a heart attack and Tony goes to him for a truce - SO HUGE
- AJ starts a relationship with a Puerto Rican who has a kid. And he's working in construction. Before he met the girl, I thought it was only a matter of time before he got mobbed up. Then when he started seeing her, I thought he was safe. Then at the end, when he's talking to them about buying her necklace at the mall and Christopher is like "you should have asked me, I know a guy" I was like - yikes, AJ is totally getting made!
- Meadow is in California - something bad has to happen, because she is altogether too happy, and Finn is the one who ratted on Vito and I think that will end up coming back somehow.
- Carmela's spec house is supposed to distract her from searching for Adriana, but I think she is going to find out that Tony had her whacked.
- I WANT FURIO TO COME BACK

So much stuff! anyway, if you've never watched before, then I guess it's kinda late to get into it, but I highly suggest getting all the DVDs and watching.

More fun with Christmas commercials

Has anyone seen the new World Vision Canada Christmas ad? They now have a catalogue of items that you can purchase on behalf of your gift receiver. So you give this stuff to people in Africa in the name of someone here, in your family, etc. It's a really great idea, but I'm so not into how they advertise it. I've searched YouTube and can't find it on there, which was very disappointing.

It starts with a bunch of kids singing a version of the 12 Days of Christmas, talking about getting three hens for Christmas, two milking goats, and 1 dairy cow. Then the pretty blonde lady talks for a few seconds about giving the gift that keeps on giving, allowing families to thrive, etc, etc. She says something like "how thrilled will grandma be to see you gave a chicken in her name?"

I think they have taken a bit of a light-hearted approach to famine and drought this time, a take off from their "So This is Christmas" ad which makes me cry everytime I see it, almost as much as those WSPA commercials about the dancing bears do. I'm not sure they're tugging at enough heart-strings to get much out of it, which is sad, because like I said, I think it's actually a really great idea.

But, it has left me with a new holiday motto. I swear to you I am not making this up, it is actually in the commercial, but it is officially the response I will give to anyone who asks my advice about buying gifts for people. I will say:

"Why not give a goat?"