December 30, 2004

All About Merri and Her Musings

I'm not the best at talking about myself, but readers have asked the all important question "who the hell *are* you and why do you have a blog, anyway?!?!?" While this entry will likely keep morphing, here's some fast facts about me and my musings.

1. I'm 37. I was, and still am, a child of the 80s. Chances are, I can tell you who sang a song in the 80s, sing you most of the words, and tell you what fashion item was in style when that song was in the top 40.

2. I was born and raised in a small town outside of Omaha, Nebraska and have never left this part of the country, although moved to the "big city" of Omaha some time ago. How did we get here? My dad was in the Air Force 21 years and had been stationed here a number of times. They decided to retire here as it was half way between Mom's roots in New Mexico and Dad's in Michigan.

3. I'm happily married for 10 years to Vinnie at Vince Aut Morire. We met on America Online, but ours is a story purely of fate. Through our happenstance meeting on AOL, we discovered we lived in the same city, same apartment complex, two doors down from one another. He's the guy I had also flipped off because he almost creamed my car in the parking lot. ...and yes, he remembered!

4. We have two wonderful children...a son who will be nine in September and a daughter who will be 5 on May Day. Our lives have never been the same, thank God! Our first-born was a preemie, but we were extraordinarily blessed to bring him home after only 11 days in the NICU. Our daughter was quite timely, born exactly on her due date! Both of them are amazing - I can't get over how smart our son is and how entertaining our daughter is. I predict, however, if there are broken bones to be had, our daugher will be at the finish line first. They are the center of my life!

5. We also have a house full of pets. Three dogs, two African Grey Parrots and two ball python snakes. Well, the snakes really belong to "the boys." Although they don't scare me. It's kind of like the Discovery Channel around here.

6. We like to go boating, tubing, jetskiing, etc. We have a boat, several tubes, but are missing our jetski, which was stolen in December. The great debate - just keep the boat or turn it in for a jetski or two? Hmmmmm....

7. We also like to take yearly vacations. We've recently (in the past few summers) been to Orlando, Vegas (hubby and I for our delayed honeymoon) and Lake of the Ozarks (in Missouri). This year we are shooting for a trip to Washington DC. We'll see how it goes!

8. I lost my mom to lung cancer a little over a year ago. She had been sick a very long time between cancer and heart disease. I miss Mom terribly. Dad, while he still misses Mom, is doing great and has even found some companionship! A lot of lives changed the day she left us for Heaven!

9. I work for a major internet company as a manager. I've been there quite a while. I love what I do and love the company! It will be interesting to see what the next 5-10 years bring. The internet is an amazing thing!

10. The internet. Why do I blog? Interesting story! I worked an alternate shift for quite a while so my kids could stay home versus daycare while they were very young. When I got a day shift, I missed my hubby as he was always reading, typing, and laughing in front of his computer. He was blogging and had met some interesting folks out in the 'sphere. In order to see what this was all about, thought I'd give it a try. I didn't think I had much to say, but really liked Rachael Ray and thought it would be fun to have a website about Rachael Ray and then I could post recipies of my own or hers with my own spin on them as needed. My first site was called Rachael Ray Redux.

11. Why the change to Merri Musings? Well, let's just say I found out that I had more to say than I thought. While I continue to talk about Rachael Ray, I continue to post recipes on occasion, there are other topics of interest that just didn't fit with a Rachael Ray themed site. Merri Musings was inspired from that. A little play on my name, Merri, and musings to represent all of the things I wanted to say.

12. What, exactly, am I passionate about? Let's see....

13. I'm Republican, although I first registered as an Independent (one step away from my Democratic parents. Heh.

14. I'm pro-life, whether you speak about abortion or right-to-life cases that we've seen within the last year. I also think the father of a child should have a say in what happens to his child. I don't think it is only a woman who should choose whether they should get an abortion or not - she wasn't the only one involved in creating life.

15. Except if you kill someone. Then I'm pro-death. While I believe in due process and a fair trial, I do think it's a waste of space to house someone who will 1) never come back into society again 2) caused another person or people to die and was found guilty (and/or admitted guilt) and 3) should be an example in an effort to deter such crimes in others.

16. I cannot stand the ACLU. The founding priciple was sound, but anyone who supports NAMbLA, hates the Boy Scouts, hates Christians and comes to the defense of sex offenders and other similar heathens has lost all credibility to me.

17. Sex offenders...rapists, child molesters. Those who end up back in society should be no where near our kids. In most cases they end up back in prison because they've harmed another person or another child. I agree with the registries, but more needs to be done. Or the penalties for the crimes should be stiffened. These people shouldn't be walking the streets.

18. Child murderers, especially those who murder their own children, should all be put to death immediately and in a fashion similar to their victims if I had my way. They do not deserve to breathe the air they chose to take from innocent kids. I personally do not care if the words "mental illness" come up. They are still dangerous and should not be given a break. You cannot tell me that a person who chooses to murder another human being is completely sane, anyway.

19. People. I'm passionate about people. I love people and at the same time many drive me crazy. Us human beings can do amazing things (cures for disease, medications to slow down cancer, take care of hurricane victims or victims of other disasters such as 9/11) but at the same time some do stupid stuff (Cindy Sheehan, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Paris Hilton) and earn lots of money doing it. This all fascinates me.

20. I'm proud to be American. I stand behind our troops during war and think the war on terror is the one choice we were forced to make in order to keep our country free ultimately. Is it an easy choice? Hell no. But neither was any other war. 9/11 will be burned into my mind forever. When you have a 4-year-old wondering who Osama Bin Laden is and whether he was going to send a bomb to kill us, it makes you solid in your resolve to purge such filth from existence.

21. Yes, I'm passionate about Rachael Ray, and cooking in general. I found her when I worked nights. I didn't have a lot of time to watch TV during the day, and there really wasn't much on, so I got hooked on the Food Network. I really like Alton Brown and Tyler Florence as well, but there were a lot of concepts I learned from Rachael Ray in order to speed up my cooking. I've cooked all of my life and she just "fit in." I also admire her as a person. Yes, there was a lot of luck and fate involved in her being discovered. But look what she has accomplished! I know some hate her, but I find it hard to understand why other than sheer jealousy. I own her knives (although her original Wusthofs are my favorite), I subscribe to her magazine, I still TIVO her shows, I own almost all of her cookbooks (a few recent ones haven't yet made it to my shelf yet) and I use EVOO, a garbage bowl *and* own her large pan. I get the most hits on my site by men looking for her photo spread in FHM. I think it's funny that some think *I'M* Rachael Ray. Boy - if only for a day...how fun would *that* be?

Anyway...that's enough for now. I may add more later. If there's anything you want to know about me, don't be afraid to ask. I may just add it here!