okay then

When I first started blogging one of the most followed bloggers in my state was a guy known as South Knox Bubba. An employee of some big bank related corporation, he was, and I presume still is, a liberal like myself and quite vocal about politics and local news plus big orange sports. Dude's blogroll included too many links to click, but I always enjoyed visiting there for my daily dose of "kickass." Bubba got "outed" to his employer and lost his job because of it. This was during the time that big banks were handing out money to everybody and their brother even when they knew we couldn't pay, so his political views didn't set well with corporate. He wasn't Dooce by any means, but close. It is because of him that I am aware of the corporate greed that is rampant in East Tennessee. See: BCBS mansion in Chattanooga. And like TVA...ya'll better stop me now because I'm about to rant.

There is rarely anything more interesting than the obits or somebody's kid playing soccer in our local paper. Yesterday while slaving away at the sawmill browsing their online edition, I noticed a piece about our local power board calling TVA to task for putting a large surcharge on our utility bills, which they must pass on to customers. It began in April of '10 I believe, and is significant enough in the summer that I have to split my bills to be able to pay, which they allow twice a year. Executives of this giant company who have charged out the ass to "recover costs from flooding, twisters, ash spills, yadayada" were awarded nice bonuses for the holidays, and that just sucks a big one right now, ya know? In an economic atmosphere where solid middle class citizens with good jobs like myself have to borrow from friends to survive, something is wrong. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not really good with finance, but I've worked long and hard enough to be able to get a decent raise when that kind of shit is going on. I am eagerly awaiting TVA's reply to our locals. Make it sound good, ya'll. Umkay???

We made mama Staff's cutout Christmas cookies last night and the table was still covered with flour and sprinkles when I headed in to start the great cleanup. Conner and his girls came over and we whipped up the butter cookies and iced 'em. Anybody who feels froggy might want to try this simple recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 1/2 cup AP flour

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift flour into butter mixture and stir well. Chill dough for one hour.

Roll out thin on a floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for six to eight minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. Remove to rack for cooling and decorate to your heart's delight.

The tree still isn't up...in fact the floor hasn't even been swept. We're waiting for the repo man to show up any day now for BG's car. But you know what? I believe.

^j^