Daily Hot Flash

• Tonight is Betty's favorite television night of the year. Yep, she considers this even better than the annual Christmas time broadcast of The Sound of Music in high definition. Shocking, I know, but true. This year, they're going to be honoring her boyfriend, Morgan Freeman too. It's almost too good to be true. Please, no phone calls after 8:00 p.m. EDT !

• Thinking about making a change in your appearance for the New Year? There's a fantabulous website that allows you to upload a photo and then preview what different styles would look like on you before you commit to one particular look with the scissors. I personally only have one or two good hair days a month -- which when working in tandem with the severe PMS I seem to be afflicted with means that I really only have a couple of days when I can interact with the public. A new hairstyle might be just the thing to turn it around for me.

• Here's a Cinderella who's not going to go without a fight. Hey sister! Go sister!

• A reporter is given the assignment to cover the current economic crisis from the perspective of people who've lost their jobs. And then she's finds out she's being fired as part of a big cost-cutting layoff at NPR. Ugh!

• White House Press Secretary Dana Perino went on Christmas vacation and left the interns in charge. Did anyone see the deputy press secretary give his briefing yesterday? Seriously! He looks like a junior in high school. What happened to gravitas? And does anyone know where George W. Bush is spending the holidays? I've heard it's Camp David, but I've seen no photographic evidence of the leader of the free world -- which makes me nervous because there's an all-out war going on in the Middle East. Could someone take the candy cane out of his hand and tell him to act like a world leader?

• I want one of these!

Daily Hot Flash

Photographic proof that Santa got my Christmas wish list. I wonder if George is on the nice list or the naughty list? Yeah. That's what I'm thinkin'. I've just gotta few articles of interest today. It's Monday, so I'm not quite up to speed.

• "Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window."

• This is Betty's favorite television viewing night of the year. Mark your calendars. This year's Kennedy Center Honors is broadcast on Dec. 30. Oh, and here's everyone looking all glammed up at the event this past weekend.

• Nina Foch was my acting teaching when I was at USC Film School. I was intimidated by her because I remembered her so distinctly in "An American in Paris." She never took a shine to me mostly I think because I didn't have any self-confidence -- something that she oozed from every pore. She was great at breaking down a scene, and making it make sense for an actor. A true actor's actor. The other thing she taught me was that if you want to seem sexy to a man then you should act as if you have secret. It will make you seem irresistible. I have attempted to use that technique on numerous occasions, but with little success. Nina was a bright light, and the world will be a little dimmer without her.

• Here's the top 20 trends in fashion in 2008...I doubt I hit one of them. And you?

• And they call it puppy love...home sweet home.

Daily Hot Flash

• I never wear red. Never! Until now...

• Fashion has gotten all political. I've become fascinated with the retro-classic style of Michelle Obama. She reminds me of Jacqueline Kennedy and the women who rock the world of Mad Men. This new blog follows the fashions of Mrs. O.
  
  
• Obviously whatever the boys in the band were smoking in the 70s is still effecting their ability to tell the difference between reality and La-La Land. Zeppelin without Robert Plant is just another dinosaur long-haired hippie band from Britain. Don't believe me? Listen to "Kashmir" again...that's what I'm talking about.

• Don't you want to know what books the enigmatic Don Draper keeps on the shelf behind his desk?

• Are you still trying to decide what to be this Halloween? Saucy pirate or buxom milkmaid? The Los Angeles Times has come up with a top ten list of Halloween costume ideas.

• Everything old is new again...Counting calories is back in style again. When I was little my mom had a couple of rules about counting calories that I still maintain to this day. First, half cookies do not have any calories. Second, any bites of food stolen off of someone else's plate (my dad was her favorite target) also contain zero calories. I guarantee these two rules will help make your dieting easier, if not a little slower.
  
  
• Cloris Leachman may have gotten the boot on Dancing With The Stars, but Frau Blucher could be going to Broadway.

• Screenplay by Maureen Dowd.

Daily Hot Flash

• People do good things online...

• John McCain and David Letterman kiss and make-up. Barack Obama is top cat.

• I'm speechless. Sarah Palin is charging the 'liberal media' $15 million for a peak at her emails. You can see all of mine for a dollar...

• I don't care if they repeatedly use the word 'sentimental' in the review. I read the book and I want to see the movie!

• I was born a Detroit Tigers fan. I have added being a fan of the Boston Red Sox over the last few years. If you watched last night's game, you'd quickly understand why anyone would want to cheer for those guys. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am still recovering from severe sleep deprivation and was napping on the sofa during the game. I did see all the good parts in replay after being woken up by the jubilant shrieks and jumping up and down by the Handsomest Man Alive.) It amazes me that any team would still believe in themselves enough to battle back from being behind 7-0...to win the game. Can you believe it? It is incredibly inspiring. Game Six on Saturday. Be there or be square.

• Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are selling their Beverly Hills mansion. (Click on the thumbnail photos for larger views.) Wouldn't you just love, love, love to have breakfast in that kitchen and go for a dip in the pool? Ok, fantasy time over...as my mother always says, "Yes, it's a beautiful house...but who wants to clean all of that?"

• People in L.A. like to think of themselves as trendsetters. They do hot yoga in Brentwood, naked yoga in West Hollywood. And now...Laughter yoga...you've got to be joking!
  

Daily Hot Flash

• I've had a rough week. A really, really rough and very sleep-deprived week. To comfort me, Betty sent me a link to this movie of my beloved home in Leelanau County, Michigan. It was made in 1949. I find nostalgic glimpses of the past to be almost as comforting as tuna noodle casseroles with potato chip crusts. Leelanau is my favorite place on earth...and this is my favorite time of year there. I miss it very much. Take a peek and you may fall in love too. Here's what I suggest...wander on down to your company's break room and put some popcorn in the microwave, and then hurry back to your cubicle and dim lights. You may also need some Junior Mints if your vending machine's got 'em. And then, lean back in your painful little office chair and enjoy MGM's "Roaming Through Michigan." Tell your boss that it's the best use of your time...because it is!

• One of the best things about the internet is that so many people seem to put their creative genius to work for no good purpose. With all credit to my dearest Javier, this is one of my most recent favorites. Don't stop moving around the Oval Office until you kill the deer.

• What IS she thinking? No -- not Sarah Palin. The other one.

• Here's the reason why all us gray hairs are online...And perhaps it also has to do with why we've become a little more unpredictable in the voting booth. I love to keep them guessing, don't you?

• Meet the Rumormonger-in-Chief.

• Did you know that your sign determines how your career will go? Yes, well I'm almost willing to believe anything these days.

• And finally... because we all need to believe that good triumphs over evil....that brighter days are ahead...that the Red Sox can beat the Devil Rays and get to the World Series...here's a story from a small town in Texas that will make you believe again that the world has not completely gone haywire and there are places where beauty is still measured by what you look like on the inside. And the other lesson in this story is that when you're given a tiara -- it is best to never to take it off. How else will the world know that you're the Queen?

Happy Birthday, Betty!

I'm so glad I'm swimming in your gene pool because you make 70 look so good!

FWD: Jokes From Betty

Mom's been busy hitting the forward button again this week. Did she forget that I'm currently a blonde?

From: "Mom"
Date: July 28, 2008 10:54:41 PM EDT
To: [Sarah]
Subject: FWD: Football and Blondes

Football FINALLY makes sense..........
A guy took his blonde girlfriend to her first football game. They had great seats right behind their team's bench. After the game, he asked her how she liked the experience.

'Oh, I really liked it,' she replied, 'especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn't understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents.'

Dumbfounded, her date asked, 'What do you mean?'

'Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was: 'Get the quarterback! Get the quarterback!' I'm like...Helloooooo? It's only 25 cents.'

FWD: Jokes From Betty

Every third email I get from my mom has been forwarded from one of her friends. She doesn't erase the other information that is forwarded and the joke is often found at the bottom of a long list of email addresses. I think that forwarded jokes via email have become as much a part of a retirement lifestyle as early bird dinner specials and wintering in Florida. The jokes are old and never fail to make me laugh.

From: "Mom"
Date: July 24, 2008 10:54:41 AM PDT
To: [Sarah]
Subject: FWD: Luigi

At Saint Mary's Catholic Church they have a weekly husband's marriage seminar. At the session last week, the Priest asked Luigi, who was approaching his 50th wedding anniversary, to take a few minutes and share some insight into how he had managed to stay married to the same woman all these years.

Luigi replied to the assembled husbands, "Well, I've a-tried to treat-a her nice, spend the money on her, but best is that I took-a her to Italy for the 20th anniversary!"

The Priest responded, "Luigi, you are an amazing inspiration to all the husbands here! Please tell us what you are planning for your wife for your 50th anniversary."

Luigi proudly replied, "I'm a-gonna go and get her."