What the What?

Questions Answered, Miracles Explained.

Q: Who?

A: Woman. Canadian. Loudmouth. Child-bearin' hips. Rock Band legend. Wise acre.

Living in a house. In a city. With a guy and a pug

Q: Why do you call your recipes "At Least I have My Cooking"?

A: Years back, I was having a rough Christmas season. Several close friends were moving away right after the holidays, I felt trapped in a retail job, I was living at home while many friends were having adventures abroad or getting their Masters or what have you. I had a little break down over the phone with TB. "I just feel like I'm stuck," I sniffed, "like everyone else is growing up and moving on and I just have nothing to contribute, like I'll never get where I need to be."

And TB made soothing noises while I silently hoped he'd say something to ease my mind, something to comfort me and make me feel like I wasn't hopeless. There was a long pause and then he said "hey, at least you have your cooking!". And I burst into full, wrenching sobs. I should point out that at no point in our relationship did I really prove myself as a proficient cook. I made a stirfry here, and an omelette there but, to this day, I'm not sure where he got the idea that my gift to the world was my culinary skills. It still makes me laugh when I think of it, and I use the phrase all the time whenever things seem grim. "The sewer pipe burst? Well, at least I have my cooking!"

Q: Why "Wearing the Wig" - Do you wear a wig?

A: Nope. I have a lustrous head of hair myself. The name comes from an episode of Wheel of Fortune I was watching with my sister and The Boy. It was military week, and all the "toss-up" categories were inspired by military actions, inspirational quotes, mentions of bravery, etc. A puzzle came up that looked like this:


_  E A  _  I N G   T H E   W _  _

One of the contestant buzzed in and, in a loud, confident voice shouted:

"Wearing the Wig!"

The buzzer sounded sharply and Pat Sajak shook his head "no, sorry". Laughter broke out through the crowd, both in the studio and in our living room. The next player buzzed in with the right answer, which was, of course:

L E A D I N G   T H E  W A Y

For some reason, though, we couldn't let that first, mistaken phrase go. Why was he so confident that it was a saying? Had he ever heard anyone say it before? Did it mean something?

As time went on, it became our mantra, a multipurpose phrase that can be applied to a myriad of situations.

As a synonym for "manning up" :

"I'm scared to go into that basement filled with spiders!"
"Well, you're the only one that's small enough to fit. You gotta wear the wig on this one"

As an expression of contrition:

"Who would've let all those spiders into the basement?"
"Sorry, I had the window open. I'm wearing the wig on this one."

As a declaration of intent:

"Well, someone's got to clean the spider carcasses out of the duct work then"
"I'll wear the wig."

It's perfect for just about anything, really. And beginning to blog again after years of spotty attendance on previous blogs? You can bet I'm wearing that wig right now.

We could never find a clip of that particular show or even a screencap, leading me to believe I may have been Zsa Zsa'd but it's referenced on this Army page, so we good.

May you all find occasions to Wear the Wig in your own lives.

1 comment:

  1. Had to find out what the name was all about... was not disappointed.

    ReplyDelete