1. Adverbs
It might seem like a silly part of the English language, but I care whether or not someone answers the question, “How are you doing?” correctly (the answer is “well,” if you actually are).  It also grates on my nerves when someone drops the “ly” ending of an adverb. For example: “If you look real close, you will see…” A double whammy of grammatical errors!

2. Coffee
I can trace this snobbery to the day I was made to taste Folgers coffee alongside Starbucks Kenya. I realized that some coffee tastes like cardboard and some like, well, coffee. This was in 2002. Since then I have continued to learn about coffee roasting, milk steaming, correct espresso temperature and crema, coffee oils in a french press, and the importance of the correct bean grind. I was reminded that I have become a snob about this because we are getting close to buying a new espresso machine and grinder, thanks to a decent tax return. I was intent on doing an absurd amount of research to find the right machine for us, and I have arrived at the LeLit PL041. Can’t wait for our return to materialize so I can order it!

3. The Martini
This snobbery began a few years ago when we began watching Mad Men. The advertising execs of that show drink hard liquor throughout the entire show. It is such a core part of the show that the website has a section for drink recipes. We were also living in Hawaii which has lower taxes on liquor so we could get a good deal on gin. We came to realize that a real martini is gin and vermouth. That’s it. None of this vodka mess. So when we go to restaurants with a martini menu and are presented with only vodka martinis it seems ridiculous.

4. Arrowheads
It’s not an arrowhead. It’s a projectile point.

Day 1: Light snow fall. It was a little disappointing that we could still make it out of the house without emergency provisions. Dad went to work, we went to the mall to shop and drink Starbucks.

Day 2: Heavy snowfall. We had several inches of quality packing snow. What better thing to do than go swimming in it? This has become one of our favorite “winter in Seattle” experiences. It is just awesome to swim in a warm pool with snow falling on your head. We had a mini snowball fight in the pool, and made a mini snowman that we watched melt in the pool.

Day 3: Ice storm. There is a decent coat of ice on top of the snow today. Our snowman’s hat solidified and even taking one step outside is unthinkable and irresponsible. We plan to hunker down and pack for our road trip tomorrow (by which time the roads are supposed to return to normal).

Congratulations to Clayton Ingalls of Brecksville, OH for making the Deans List at Ohio University. I’d like to think we Clayton Ingallses are a bright bunch.

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