Happy Halloween!

As I understand it, today is a day for kids to dress up like firefighters, princesses, and ax murderers in exchange for candy from adults. Sounds like all fun and games, right? Not so! I did a little research and found out that Halloween has its origins in an ancient Celtic festival that is a celebration of the end of the harvest season. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

Now, I'm all for a good time and I'm not really bothered by the idea that Halloween's origins are rooted in a pagan celebration. After all, who doesn't want to be dressed up in a pumpkin outfit before they're even old enough to walk and then get toted around the neighborhood just so mom and dad can get some free candy? But this stuff about the boundary between the alive and deceased dissolving? And how the dead become dangerous for the living? That bothers me because I suspect it might be true. Laugh if you want. If you don't believe me, explain this:

Lucy's Picks

Happy Halloween everyone! I'll have a Halloween themed post up later today, but business first. As you might have guessed, it gets awful boring in the womb. Not much to do other than kick mom in the spine. By about month six, I was going stir crazy. But then I discovered the wonderful world of gambling. Here are my picks for this weekend:

• Take Minnesota at -4.5 over Houston. I'm looking for a big game out of Adrian Petersen and Houston is pretty much running on fumes - Matt Schaub isn't the quarterback they thought he'd be and I just don't see them coming up with an answer for the Minnesota D.


• Take Cleveland at -1.5 over Baltimore. I think this Cleveland team is finally clicking. The missing piece of the puzzle is Brady Quinn - if Romeo Crennel could just man up and bench Derek Anderson, this Cleveland team would be one to watch out for. The Ravens, on the other hand, are going in the wrong direction. They're going to drop this one by at least a TD.


• Look for Detroit to lose to Chicago, but the 12.5 point spread is a bit much. Detroit did a decent job last week against Clinton Portis and the Redskins. Chicago will win, but won't cover.


• Take Indy at -6 over the Patriots. Look, Peyton's attitude bugs me. Marvin Harrison apparently shoots people in his spare time. Reggie Wayne is hurt. Marlin Jackson is out. Mahatma Dungy may be losing this team. But Bob Sanders is back. The Patriots are up and down and I'm looking for them to drop this one big time.


• LOCK OF THE WEEK: Pittsburgh in an "upset" over Washington. It doesn't matter who they start in the backfield. It could be Fast Willie Parker or journeyman Mewelde Moore. This Pittsburgh team is going places. Last week was an aberration. Mark my words, folks.

  

What?! No solid food for six months?!

So I heard a rumor today. A horrible, horrible rumor. I heard that I won't be able to eat solid food for six months. Let me repeat that for you. SIX MONTHS. 180 DAYS (roughly). WHAT IS THAT?! A baby can blog from inside the womb, but she can't have a rack of ribs until she's six months old?! You know who I blame this on? Yep. The hippies.

Speaking of ribs, I heard about a killer recipe that I wanted to share with all of you:

• Soak ribs, either pork or beef (recommendation: pork baby back ribs), overnight in ginger ale in the fridge (should be close to 100% covered by liquid).


• Cover with foil and bake ribs, still in ginger ale, for 4 hours at 350 degrees (use disposable foil baking pans and placing them on cookie sheets for stability).


• Remove from ginger ale carefully (they'll be slough-off tender) and refrigerate for at least four hours to help them solidify before grilling. Give them a preliminary coating of BBQ sauce at this point, while they're still hot.


• Grill over med-high direct heat for about 10 minutes a side, slathering with a good BBQ sauce.


• Remove from heat, gorge yourself.

This recipe is crowd-pleaser or my name isn't Lucy _____ Perry.

My Dog

Now that you know me and my enemies, I thought it might make sense for you to meet some of my friends. A lot of kids develop stupid imaginary friends. Not me. The first friend I'm going to introduce you to is Bailey (see above) and she is very much real. Her favorite things include (i) breakfast time; (ii) dinner time; (iii) sleeping; (iv) playing with her stuffed animals; and (v) barking at strangers. This pretty much mirrors my list of favorite things, so I'm sure you can see why we get along so well. Her dislikes include: (i) boxes; (ii) the coat rack; and (iii) inflatable exercise balls. Now you know Bailey.

PS: I've been trying to come up with a clever way to sign off after each post and I need your opinions and/or suggestions. Here are my options so far: (i) Love, Lucy; (ii) Get Off My Lawn!; (iii) l8ter; (iv) FIX YO' MOUF! (with apologies to Joey Porter).

Holy Crap!

Turns out I'm going to be born early. I'm not negative 10 days old. I'm negative 7 days old. Holy crap. I aged three days in a matter of minutes! Someone call Ripley's because I just don't believe it! The news was definitely shocking. But with my new found age comes new found wisdom. The first thing I realized is that my enemy list needs to be expanded to include cats. They're sneaky little critters and not trustworthy (see above). The second thing I realized is that I will be able to watch the Notre Dame/Boston College game with my dad on November 8. This is good news because I'm a huge Notre Dame fan and I'd love nothing more than to see the Fighting Irish take down BC. I guess I've never quite gotten over that loss in 1993 that cost ND the National Championship. Also, I've never really cared for Doug Flutie as a player or commentator. The shape of his head is just weird, you know?

Hi there!!!

My name is Lucy and I haven't even been born yet, but I have all sorts of opinions about all sorts of things. My interests include Notre Dame football, film, literature, and my blanky (which I haven't actually seen yet, but I assume that I'm going to really, really like it).

You'd think that a negative 10 day old baby wouldn't have any enemies yet, but I do. In no particular order, they include: (i) George Lucas; (ii) hippies; (iii) fundamentalist christians; (iv) the entire state of Michigan; and (v) ghosts.

I'm sure I'll be posting plenty of pictures of myself pretty soon. So stay tuned! And stay out of Michigan.