Dogpile in the Sale Room

I'm talking about the kind of pile that a dog makes, literally. I work about 5-10 hours a week in a retail store. It was supposed to be a lot more when I was hired, but this recession caused large payroll cuts and therefore if I get scheduled at all in a week's time, I'm quite lucky. Anyway, I was actually called in to the store last night. At one point in the evening, I was running clothes back to the sales room, and it smelled downright nasty. I thought it was coming from the restaurant next door and I made a mental 'note to self' to never eat there. Every time I went into that room I smelled it, so then I was sure it was coming from next door and not from a customer, since the room was clear of bodies. It was awful. Next thing I know, people are scurrying about with paper towels in their hands. Turns out that a customer had brought her little dog into the store to go shopping with her and the dog had an accident. Only...my guess is that he had an accident way before the owner knew of it, or he had more than one accident and the first one went unnoticed. Next thing I know, the dressing rooms are now smelling nasty and people are complaining. Well, guess what...I guess several women unknowingly stepped in the 'accident' and tracked it all through the store. One of the managers found a trail and had to go clean that up, and the whole thing caused a little bit of an uproar for a while. One of the male associates said, "Proves my point; women are willing to step in crap if it means finding a good bargain!" Please, people...could you possibly leave the dogs at home when you go shopping??

Today was my big day.....an interview in the morning, followed by a civil service test in the afternoon. Only, the interview never happened. I guess this winter blast shut down the offices in parts of middle Tennessee, because I drove the 35 minutes to my interview only to find the office lights out and the door locked. No one bothered to call me to tell me not to come, but they surely did not show up. I waited in the parking lot in my car, right outside the office door, for over half an hour. Nothing. Well, so much for that. I still have to learn how much panic a few snowflakes causes around here.

The afternoon's test went well and I scored high, and now I just have to wait to see if anything happens with that. There was quite a crew there today, taking the same test. One man said that he lived near the border of two different counties, could he list both counties in his address? The proctor basically told him to just guess and pick one. It's also amazing how few people actually pay attention to directions. The test proctor read the directions in very clear terms, then went over them again very carefully, and immediately afterward the majority of people (out of about 20, at most) did not follow them at all and were totally clueless about it. For instance, he said several times that we needed certain forms of I.D. for verification purposes, and to place them on the table next to us. Half the people acted quite surprised when he approached their seats and asked for the I.D. Either they ended up not having it with them at all, or they just never took it out of their wallets. This type of thing happened throughout the entire testing period. It was just amazing to me. I looked around the room just a little and thought, "If some of these people showed up at my door for any reason, I'd bolt all the locks and run the other way!" Reminds me of a joke I heard today, completely unrelated, so don't leave comments of anger (dogpiling) and don't feel insulted...just so happened to pop into my head at this moment...but here it is:

Two reasons why it's so hard to solve a Redneck Murder:
1) The DNA all matches,
and
2) There are no dental records

Along those same lines, did you catch American Idol at all last night? You have to feel bad for some of these contestants, especially when their ambition in life is to have nice floors in their house one day (11 years from now, to be exact), preferably marble floors. Well, if that's all it takes to make that one guy happy and content, then that's great. Maybe it'll make up for the fact that he has no chance of a career in music. Makes me wish I could buy his marble floors for him right now.

Hey, I learned a little piece of Nashville history today! Being the newbie that I still am, I was very excited about this -- albeit tragic -- little piece of history. The worst passenger train accident in U.S. history occurred in Nashville in 1918 at Dutchman's Curve, which is located on White Bridge Road near the intersection of Harding Road. More than 100 people died. I always passed the marker on the road but never stopped to read it until today. Very interesting. Also, something else I find interesting and curious -- a couple of days ago, one of those 'sign guys' was standing in front of the Wendy's on White Bridge Road, near the traffic light, holding one of those 'Going Out of Business' signs. He wasn't just standing there holding it, either; he was making a career out of it, a little sideshow. He was spinning it really fast like a propeller. Well, today, all that remained in that very spot was the clothes he was wearing. Seriously...in that same spot, in a pile, was a pair of jeans, a shirt, and some other articles of clothing. Curious....

That's all I have for today, folks. Just let me remind you that these things are the extent of my excitement these days. Dog piles, no-show interviews, imploding sign guys, train wrecks, and redneck jokes. That's all I got. So, until next time...watch where you step, even when you think it couldn't be safer.

The neighborhood where I live has suddenly been hit with a rash of solicitors. Despite the fact that a sign is posted at the entrance to the subdivision, which clearly states 'No Solicitors', they're just piling on in, anyway. As if the daily knock on the door isn't bad enough, they all have the same basic opening line. Last time it was, "Are you the lady of the house? I'm going around the neighborhood giving out free gifts to all the nice ladies today." Right. The gift was a set of tealights, which he actually ended up taking back! Yup, took them right out of my hand before he left. I guess he decided I wasn't nice enough once I told him I couldn't let him in my house to see my 'high traffic zones'. Today's solicitor had a very similar line: "We're giving out free gifts to nice people today. Are you a nice person?" I should have simply answered "No. No, as a matter of fact, I'm not," and saved everyone's time and energy. If I had indeed been a nice person, today's gift would have been a bottle of Palmolive dishwashing liquid. I'm sorry, that's just not a high enough price to get me to be a nice person these days.

Due to my current leisurely lifestyle of eating bon-bons and watching daytime television, I was able to catch 'The Bonnie Hunt Show' this afternoon. (I hope you're reading this, Bonnie!) She had a guest on there who has become well-known for his website. Young guy, possibly a computer geek type, but he's obviously become successful since he was a guest on the show today. His website is called "Cute Things Falling Asleep". He rates each video clip for cuteness, as well as sleepiness. And for this, he has become somewhat of a celebrity and a successful entrepreuner. He said one day he came across a video clip on the internet of a kitten falling asleep and decided to build a website around that. Now, as of today, he has launched a second website, and this one is called "Cute Things Laughing". Imagine that. He has an agent and everything. Huge success. The rest of us are obviously doing something wrong. Well, more power to ya, Nick Malis! I have to admit, the video clips really are cute!

Yesterday I said how I've been living life in the slow lane lately. It's a combination of empty nest, unemployment, penny-pinching, and being new to the area. If I were employed full time I'd not only be meeting a lot of people through work, but I'd actually have the means to go places and do things. I haven't even been going to any parks lately because it's been too cold to really enjoy them. Since I've been here I haven't even been able to recruit any piano students and teach, which is something I've enjoyed a lot over the years. Life has been unusually quiet lately, but it's sort of a nice change for me. I'm sure that, before long, everything will be up and running again and I'll go back to my 'normal' that I'm used to. In the meantime, the pace is like molasses in January. Maybe I should just enjoy it while it lasts.

I hope to update my resume before my interview on Wednesday, and I also have to take that civil servant test that afternoon. We're supposed to get some form of an ice storm, so I hope they don't shut down the city, close the test center that day, and postpone the test. I'm sure there won't be all that much ice, but it doesn't take much around here to cause alarm. The 'brine' trucks (a/k/a salt trucks) are already out doing their job. Good, I can sleep soundly tonight now, knowing it's all being taken care of.

Oh, I have to wrap it up now. Such an exciting day I've had, too, but....American Idol is on! I can't miss that! It's the highlight of my day...! Maybe we can talk about it next time! Until then...

Life in the Slow Lane

Life in the Slow Lane...that's me right now. And what better place than Nashville to be living it? First of all, let's get literal about this for a minute. Back East, if you had two traffic lanes both going in the same direction, one was meant for slow moving vehicles and one was for faster moving vehicles. Apparently the rules of the road are different in the South. One lane is for slow moving traffic, and the other lane is for slower moving traffic. There's no such thing as a fast lane, or a passing lane. Slow and slower, take your pick.

Now to the figurative use of the phrase, 'life in the slow lane'. Let's see...I'll recount some of the highlights of my weekend, which would be some other people's lowlights. I spent my Saturday night at a birthday party for a 13-year old. By 9:30, I was so exhausted I couldn't see straight and had to get home to go to bed. My Friday night was so thrilling that I can't even remember it at all. Tonight, Sunday, I headed out to East Nashville to try out a new church. Got to the address and all the lights were out. I ended up driving around East Nashville to look at the quaint homes, then up Gallatin Pike to see what was up that way, and the highlight of my night was stopping at a drive-thru doughnut shop to order an apple fritter. They were all out of apple fritters. I replaced it with something that tasted just like those ice cream Drumsticks you used to get at the school cafeteria. I didn't like them then, and I still don't like them. I had ventured out tonight with higher expectations all around, and let's just say that none of those expectations were met in the least. I drove home sorely disappointed thinking that I should have either just stayed home, or called a friend to hit the town with. Huge letdown of an evening, all my plans were foiled. I think I won't let that happen again.

On the job front, I have an interview on Wednesday morning. I don't get my hopes up anymore. The last job interview I even was able to obtain was back in December, and after the interview I was told that it was between myself and one other woman. Then the board had their budget meeting for 2009 and it was decided that there was not enough money to fill the position at all at this time. Each time I've gotten excited about something, it has just fallen through. I'll go to the interview and will just not have any expectations one way or the other. If I hear back, great. If I don't, no surprise. I also am taking the civil service test that same afternoon. I surely hope I hear something as a result of that. Again, I won't be holding my breath, though!

I look forward to starting a new week tomorrow. I am not a 'New Year's Resolutions' type of person, but I do plan to attack this new week with a renewed vigor and outlook on life. I'm going to make some changes, 'delete' some things out of my life in order to better pursue happiness and health, lower my expectations in certain areas but raise them in others, remind myself that people are people and you cannot count on them and it's just your own fault if you do, and I'm going to 'clear some clutter' -- do some housekeeping -- in my life. Once that clutter is out of the way, a nice, new path to better things will have been made! I actually really look forward to it.

So, this entry is a bit on the more sedate side this time. But that's what you get when you live Life in the Slow Lane!!!

Facebook, the Social Utility Network

Today, while working on finding new places to send my resume, I got a bit distracted by Facebook. My Facebook account is set up so that I receive email alerts every time someone has posted something to my wall or inbox, or continued a thread of comments in which I was a participant on someone else's wall. So, while looking through my emails to see if I had received anything job-related, I saw that I had Facebook messages. I replied to them, then went back to my emails. I ended up spending the morning toggling back and forth between emails and Facebook, cell phone and web browsing. I found that I was quite adept, if I do say so myself, at juggling several screens at once, and I managed to get quite a bit accomplished with no major screw-ups. I think there should be a place on a resume to highlight all that proficient multi-tasking. If I were an employer, I'd hire me.

I reconnected with a few old friends today from my college years through Facebook. One friend had posted several old photographs from the good old days. Several of us were making our contributions by naming faces in the pictures, the ones she couldn't remember. This caused a big Facebook party to take place. Because of all those old photos and the comments people were leaving, old friends were re-connecting with other old friends and sending to each other the Reader's Digest condensed versions of the past 25 years of their lives. We learned who is no longer in our midst (permanently), or who just moved away. Which couples are no longer together. How many children people had. It was actually a big, fun reunion of sorts! I have to confess that I did not accomplish nearly as much as I had planned on as far as the resume contacts today. It was really nice to have a bit of a break from that, though.

After the Facebook party ended, my son stopped by for dinner. Somehow I was under the false impression that he was coming for a visit. I didn't realize he was just appearing as non-paying diner in Doree's Kitchen. He wanted to watch television while he ate, so I apparently was not thinking too clearly when I thought we might have a little dinner conversation. I guess the clock was ticking somewhere because he basically did the old dine-and-dash, and ran back to his college campus almost as soon as he was done eating. Next time, I'm charging a 25% fixed gratuity for parties of one or more. For more on the joys of parenting, visit my other blog at: http://theemptynestparty.blogspot.com/ and you'll quickly understand why I named that blog what I did.

I wondered today about talk show hosts; how DO they do it? Day after day, week after week... where do they get their material? Their ideas? Their topics? Do they have a team of writers? Do they ask people to write in with suggestions? What about the days when they're really tired and just don't feel like talking much? Or the days that they're feeling under the weather and have almost no energy? It all led me to decide to ask YOU, the readers, to leave suggestions in the 'Comments' section of this blog on things you'd like me to ramble on about. Or start separate blogs about. Other than my Empty Nest blog (the link I gave you above), I do have one more blog that I just recently started. It's specific to Nashville residents, though. It's on being frugal in the Nashville area and where to go in order to do just that. That website is: http://thepennywisepurse.blogspot.com/. However, please do leave your comments and suggestions on topics you'd like to see for this blog or new blogs. Any advertising on each particular blog will be specific to that blog's content.

I think I'm coming down with something myself. Must have been all that Facebook partying I did today. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and achey. Chicken soup and sweet tea welcome!

By the way, the weather today was around 60 degrees. I had my doors wide open letting in the beautiful, fresh air. Let Soccer the cat outside to enjoy it, but she ended up getting into a rumble with another cat from the 'hood and had to come back inside. I tried to cook up some cat treats -- turkey giblets and livers. Found out the hard way that microwaving them is not the best method to use. It only takes about 45 seconds for them to explode into smitherenes all over the entire interior of the microwave. Who knew.

These are some of the highlights of the day for the unemployed. Participating in Facebook parties and blowing up livers. Don't be too envious.

You Yankees Don't Know What You're Missing!

Today it was sunny and bright and in the 50's here in Nashville. Beautiful day! After the cold snap that's been present, and the dusting of snow that closed down the Nashville schools for at least a day, this pleasant weather was welcome! The task force that kept our streets plowed and salted during the snow flurries which brought an eighth of an inch accumulation really needed a break. The past few days were really rough on the natives.

The Tennessean, the state's big paper, proclaimed headlines of semi-nude protesters from PETA. They are trying to bring attention to the lives of the circus animals who are part of the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, which is coming to Knoxville. The article goes on to say that Ringling Bros. described elephants as 'respected and revered members' of its family. The article also mentioned that the circus will be in town Thursday through Sunday. Whether it was referring to Ringling Bros. or the protesters was unclear.

On the subject of circus animals, the local television news this morning declared that Kelli Pickler has adopted a pet monkey which weighs, I believe they said, 5 ounces. Just the right size for her pet python to swallow when no one's looking.

Other than all the animal hullabaloo today, it was a pretty uneventful day. Well, the Nashville 'English Only' measure was defeated, allowing Nashville to continue to be the welcoming, diverse city that stands by the principle of liberty for all. (It will also save the city tons of money that they'd lose in business and lawsuits.)

Today I emailed Bonnie Hunt and asked her to pleeeeease read my blog. I tried to entice her into doing so by letting her know that her name was mentioned on it. I'm sure that'll do the trick. She'll undoubtedly be so fascinated by it that she'll ask me to be on her show. In fact, I'll bet that she even cuts out the "Ask Alice" segment of the show (that's her mom, by the way) and replaces it with "Ask Doree". Or maybe just "Listen to Doree", no question-asking involved. Perhaps "Listen to Doree Ramble", then. Yeah...I like it! We can have our matching Anthro mugs next to each other on the desk, sipping Green Mountain coffee out of them, and I'll bet that Bonnie Hunt only uses real cream in the show coffee, too. No scrimping for Bonnie and Doree! They'll bring us crumpets....actually, I think those go better with tea...so maybe they'll bring us cashew biscotti to go with our coffee. Or Mandel bread with dried cranberries in it....and almonds......

OK, I seriously think it's time for me to go to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow's blog will be a little more exciting. Good night!

Forget the Cavatelli; Just Tell Me Where I Can Find a JOB!

Yes, as much as I've been in pursuit of cavatelli here in Nashville, I'm putting that on the back burner for now and making the pursuit of employment my primary quest! I've passed out about 500 fliers for teaching private piano lessons, sent out about 500 resumes and cover letters, contacted employment agencies, applied to retail stores, answered ads about childcare or housecleaning (or a combination thereof), am on all sorts of employment websites every day...zilch. Nada. Zip. Zero. I'm about to take the coffee mug I received for Christmas and head downtown. I'll just stick it out and point it at passers-by and hope for the best. Or I could become one of the scam artists downtown, like the guy who parks himself on a sidewalk bench right in front of a public parking lot. He approaches people who pull into the lot and pretends to be the parking attendant. You can just pay him directly instead of the machine -- he'll even give you a discount out of the kindness of his heart -- then he'll hand you this bogus little white cardboard square to stick in your windshield. It's supposed to be your parking 'ticket'. Of course, he just pockets your money and disappears, because he has no affiliation with the parking lot whatsoever. But gotta give him credit for coming up with a pretty bold scheme.

Speaking of downtown, one of my favorite spots there is the pedestrian bridge. I love to walk it at night, when it's all lit up and reflecting its lights below on the Cumberland. It's just that if you venture the walk at night, you sort of have to walk a bit gingerly around the many bodies that are littered along the walkway. Make sure to keep your eyes on the path and not get distracted by admiring the view of the river at night, lest you stumble over a sleeping bag packed with an indigent. I have to say, it really is a choice spot for spending the night in Nashville; you have the beautiful night sky overhead, the peaceful river below...maybe a gentle breeze in the warmer weather...in fact, I just might ask one of those sleeping bags to move over some night. Actually, if this unemployment streak continues for much longer, I may not have a choice! Several of them have guitars by their sides, so maybe we could all gather 'round in a circle, hold hands, and sing a bluegrass version of "I've Got Peace Like a River".

I have to tell you about an entrepreneur I really admire. Have you heard of the guy who balances his pets in a pile and walks them down the city streets? If you haven't seen him, here's a video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1u4wBoErL0&feature=related He's been so successful that he had to upgrade from a coffee cup to an entire coffee pot for his tips! Apparently, he even travels now to different large cities with his little sideshow. I wish he'd come to Nashville. Now that's creativity...and a lot of patience and perseverance. Sometimes, he even uses two rats. It's simply amazing. He's now one of my all-time favorite people. I thought of trying this, but I only have two cats, and they don't get along well enough to do something like that. Also, there's no way they wouldn't eat the rat. Guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

A year or so ago, there was a news documentary about a NYC street vendor who became a millionaire over the years with his entrepreneurial skills. He actually lives on Park Avenue and wears custom-made Italian designer suits, and he still sets up his stand every day on the streets. He taught his daughter everything he knows and she has followed in his footsteps and is also living quite high on the hog. I wonder if he has internet. Maybe I could become his chat buddy and he could teach me a thing or two.

I guess I better get back to my quest. Once I find a job, though, I'm returning to my pursuit of cavatelli!

Obama, Man After My Own Heart....

Let me start with this: after this morning, I am totally impressed with Obama. Not because of his simple and straightforward, unassuming speech; not because he showed his human side by stumbling over the words of the oath he took; but because he did not face the public until he first had his morning Presidential cup of coffee!!! Now I know that he's a man after my own heart! His priorities are obviously in correct order, and I have a fresh new confidence in him and in his leadership. Do nothing before coffee! Do not start the day, do not go out into large crowds, do not attempt lucid conversation before that morning cup of coffee. Everyone was gathered outside the Capitol, waving their little American flags, and where is Obama? According to the news commentator, he was inside having his Presidential coffee. Right where he should be. Let's start this Presidency out right! I truly do have a new admiration for him now. Now all he has to do is find me a job, and I'll be his BFF.

I won't ramble on about the historical milestone that this is. That's obvious. I won't ramble on about how great Michelle looked, or any of the other fashion statements made by some of the other attendees. That all speaks for itself. I won't go on about his speech, because either you already heard it for yourself, or you can listen to it later tonight. So...let's talk about...oh, I don't know....let's talk about... oh, ok. I have one. Let's talk about how happy my son said he is that I am blogging now. Not happy for me, but happy for himself. He says now I have a new place to vent all my ramblings, and I won't be calling or texting him 20 times a day. (That's such an exaggeration! Besides, when I come across something really important like the YouTube video of 'Elephant and Dog are Best Friends' from the Elephant Rescue right here in Tennessee, I have to share that!) I started this blog 3 days ago. The nether regions must have frozen over (well, there was snow in Nashville yesterday, so...?) because my son actually called me for once! During our conversation, I told him to check out my new blog. He said, "Oh! That explains it! I actually called to check up on you! I thought you were dead. You haven't called or texted for a couple of days, and now I know why! You found a new outlet!" Then he said how happy he was -- for himself -- and actually thanked me. Nice, huh? To quote Lillian Carter, mother of Jimmy Carter (in honor of the inauguration), "Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have remained a virgin."

I've decided to further contribute to my son's happiness, as any good mother would want to do, by starting a couple of new, additional blogs. One on being frugal, maybe one on recipes, maybe even one on parenting (just don't expect to be getting any good advice there). Or maybe I'll combine all three somehow. Once they are up and running, I'll include the links to them in this blog. Oh boy, aren't you excited???! First, snow again this morning in Nashville, then the inauguration, then the announcement of new additional blogs by me!!! Could this day get any better??!

I will leave you now on this 'high' that we're all feeling from so much excitement packed into one 24-hour period, and I'll be joining you again tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this elation while it lasts. Clouds eventually turn into rain somewhere, even Cloud 9. Pack your umbrella.

It's Snowing!!! Lorelai Gilmore would take this as a sign of a miraculous day in store...

and since I love Lorelai Gilmore (of Gilmore Girls...yes, I'm a groupie), then a wonderful day must be in store!! I've already received a phone call that was good news, AND I received an email offering me a free sample of Oreo Snacksters! Well, I could get them only if I filled out about 200 pages of surveys first and again, I'm just not that ambitious! I'm awaiting a very special phone call, one that would be asking me to come in for an interview on a real, full-time job! Will it come today? Was waking up to a beautiful, fluffy snowfall my 'sign'? We'll see! Now, the icing on the cake would be that someone would email me to say, "I found a place where you can buy frozen cavatelli, RIGHT here in Nashville!!" That would truly be a miracle. I finally found my favorite coffee, at least...they sell it at, of all places, Staples! Yes, Staples -- the place where you go for printer ink, copy paper, office supplies...and now, apparently, great coffee beans. OK, whatever. I guess in a place where I can go buy gas, a cowboy hat and boots, beer, and buckshot all at the same register, I shouldn't be surprised that I can find the best coffee in the world at Staples, the office supply store.

I'll tell you one thing that has me feeling a little disturbed; my neighbor told me last week to beware of the coyotes, that maybe I shouldn't let my cats outdoors. If the coyotes don't get them, the hawks will! So, now I'm just a little paranoid. I've noticed some super freaky roadkill here in TN, I can't even begin to try to figure out what it once was. One thing looked like a miniature bear (I know, I know...my son was quick to inform me that would probably be called a 'bear cub', rather than 'a miniature bear'), and most of them just look like some sort of mutants out of a sci-fi film. I honestly don't even want to inquire as to what kind of wildlife may be lurking in the woods, based on what I've seen dead on the sides of the roads.
Back to coffee for a minute -- I absolutley love my mug from Anthropologie. It's their monogrammed mug, their signature coffee mug. They have the mister and the missus mugs, and the mister ones are wonderful and sturdy and just the right weight, holding just the right capacity of coffee. In fact, I've noticed that Bonnie Hunt's latest coffee mug that is on her desk every day is the Anthro coffee mug. You can even see it in the photos on her website. By the way, she's a VERY funny woman...and her mom is the best! If you've never caught the show, it's worth a peek!

Well, since I'm expecting some more wonderful things to come my way today, I better go prepare myself for their arrival! But first I want to go watch out the window some more, this beautiful, fluffy snow fall......

Leaving Great Italian and Chinese Food Behind in NJ...

One of the few drawbacks of leaving New Jersey behind was -- and this should be an obvious one -- the FOOD. I lived in northern NJ in an area that had a very large Italian population. In fact, the house used as Tony Soprano's house was a couple of miles away. Every other store front on the main street was either an Italian place, a Chinese place, or a nail salon. The best pizza came from -- well, let's just say that right before I moved, the best pizzeria in town burned down with the owner tied up to a chair inside. Don't worry, he lived; in fact, turned out to be an insurance scam. He had the co-owner tie him up, set the place on fire, and run....as soon as he alerted the fire department, that is. I heard it reopened, but I wonder if the pizza and the garlic knots are still the best around. Now if you wanted great gourmet pizza, you went to Forte's. Forte's also had a couple of strokes of bad luck, when a drunk driver crashed through their store front in the wee hours of the morning and the car burst into flames. As soon as the place was all rebuilt and reopened, someone else went and crashed through it again! Now there's a guardrail...as well as a brand new Italian Village practically right behind it, which houses yet another Italian restaurant/pizzeria, bakery, wine shop...well, either way, I really miss the best pizza around! Speaking of Italian food, no one in Nashville seems to ever have heard of cavatelli (pronounced 'gah-va-deel') and they sure don't sell it anywhere around here!!! That just truly breaks my little heart!! Broccoli and cavatelli was a favorite dinner at home. And please do not send me your recipe for making fresh, homemade cavatelli. I'm just not that ambitious. Nor am I Italian. As for the best Chinese take-outs (and CHEAP!!)....I don't think I'll EVER get over that one!! Take away the snow, take away Dunkin' Donuts on every corner, take away cavatelli...but I can't live without the great Chinese take-out!! I went to a good Chinese buffet on Nolensville Pike, but... it still ain't take out! All this Southern cooking of deep-fried this and that, and cooking vegetables in bacon fat (!!), and sausage biscuits, hash browns, cheese or cream cheese smothering whatever isn't cooked in bacon fat...I can't believe that anyone here lives past the age of 40 or has any teeth left after eating pecan pie all their lives!! Please don't pollute my own personal arteries with all that... I'll settle for fresh sushi, fruit and produce from Trader Joe's (for $15 you can take home a bag of healthy foods that will last you a week!), and that Chinese Buffet once in a blue moon. If that's what kills me, well at least I'll die happy. If, in the meantime, you ever come across some cavatelli anywhere in the Nashville area (fresh or preferably frozen), please let me know where!!! And remember, pronounce it 'gah-va-deel'!