Pepsi Forever

Here is a wonderful fake article about the "Pepsidebility". This is a very serious condition affecting many adults around the world.

P.S. I believe this is my first ever post from my new laptop.

Smiles

One of the reasons the angel is one of my most favorite people: she's the only person who smiles every times she sees me. All I have to do is walk into the room, and her face lights up in the prettiest 1-year-old smile the world has ever seen.

An Irish Toast

This is one of my favorite Irish toasts:

Here's to me and here's to you
And here's to love and laughter
I'll be true as long as you
And not one moment after

Feel free to add your own. There are plenty more good toasts out there, though not all of them are lucky enough to be Irish. :)

Leftovers

Last night, I made corn chowder out of leftover corn and boiled potatoes. It was easy and delicious. I hope to find more creative things to do with leftovers besides soup and meat pie.

Websites

I've taken over my sister's website. This is my second or third attempt at website building/managing(I did two Star Wars fan sites simultaneously, so I don't know if they count as first and/or second).

The site has a built in FTP, which took a little getting used to, but it's going better than I expected. I don't like having to mess with the html code. That is a big pain in the neck. It hasn't beat me yet and I think the site looks fairly decent.

Anyway, you can click here to see my work. Please let me know if anything is broken. Thanks.

Thanksgiving

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. I started my morning by sleeping in until 8:00. Then I fed the children their breakfast and started baking pies. I prepared the crusts last night to save time. I baked one cherry pie and two pumpkin pies.

Then I gave the angel a bath and tried to get her down for a nap, but she had no intention of sleeping on her first Thanksgiving.

Around noon-ish, we loaded up the kids, one of each kind of pie, and the cranberry-orange relish I had made on Tuesday, and headed for the in-law's house, where we ate in the garage so we'd have enough room. Their garage is plenty big, so even with all of my husband's family there, we didn't seem like a big group.

All-in-all, it was a good day. The angel didn't like the turkey, and stubbornly refused to eat anything but a roll and drink her formula. I had several good conversations with my mother-in-law, and even one with my father-in-law -- a good step toward my goal of improving in-law relations.

Now I'm up way too late and it's almost tomorrow. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, reader. :)

Raj for Congress

Fans of The Apprentice will remember Raj Bhakta from the second season. Kind of a ladies man, he wears bow ties, red pants, and carries a cane. Memorable, to say the least. I've been following his campaign for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania. I don't know if he'll win, but he is fun to watch and he has a good message. I wish there were more young politicians like him.

There are several YouTube clips of his campaign. You can watch the first here.

Awesome Violinists

Those of you can can watch videos on YouTube, check these out. Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ROriAM_gUY&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGg_4Zd2vI&mode=related&search=

Boring TV

There is never anything good to watch on tv on Saturday nights. Out of boredom, I watched baseball. It wasn't even good baseball. It was Dodgers vs. Mets. How did they get to the division series anyway?

Sunday nights aren't much better, though football is back on NBC. The Broncos weren't playing, so I watched baseball again. I usually only watch the World Series. The Cardinals and Padres are more fun to watch than the Dodgers and Mets. I don't much care who wins the penant this year, as the Yankees aren't playing, but I'll probably watch the Series anyway.

"Heroes" and "Studio 60" are on tonight. Hurray for Mondays! NBC finally has some good new shows.

Dentist

We had a family trip to the dentist yesterday, all of us except the angel(baby), who stayed with her Grandma for a few hours. Nobody had any cavities. I haven't had a cavity in three years. So, brushing my teeth on a semi-regular basis has paid off.

In other news, the angel can climb stairs and pull herself to standing. She's ten months old already. And she has another tooth.

Funny Quotes

I got these in an email today.


1) When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep Not screaming like all the passengers in his car."

--Author Unknown

2) Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children."

--Author Unknown

3) "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

--Drew Carey

4) "The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."

--Jeff Foxworthy

5) "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base."

--Dave Barry

6) "Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp."

--Bob Ettinger

7) "My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'"

--Paula Poundstone

8) "A study in the Washingt on Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh."

--Conan O'Brien

9) "Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God.... I could be eating a slow learner."

--Lynda Montgomery



10) "I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it! just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"

--Richard Jeni



11) "If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."

--Johnny Carson



12) "Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."

--Paul Rodriguez

13) "My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."

--Jerry Seinfeld

14) "Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?"

--Warren Hutcherson

15) "Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same."

--Oscar Wilde

16) "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.. But I repeat myself."

--Mark Twain

17) "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan."

--A. Whitney Brown



18) "You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'"

--Dave Barry



19) Do you know why they call it "PMS"? Because "Mad Cow Disease" was taken.

--Unknown, presumed deceased



20) "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."

- W. C. Fields

9-11

It seems every generation has a tragic, monumental event to remember. We've gone from "where were you when Kennedy was shot?" to "where were you when Challenger blew up?" to "where were you on 9-11?"

I'm sure most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard about or witnessed the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Septmeber 2001. I was in my kitchen, having breakfast with my husband, who had just come in from the barn. He turned on the television and we saw the fire in the first tower. We knew a plane had hit it and we thought it was a tragic accident and wondered what had happened and how many people had died.

We were watching live when the second plane hit and at first we weren't sure what had happened. Then it dawned on us that it was deliberate. We stared in shock at the television. "Who would do something like that?" we wondered.

We still wonder at the senselessness of it all. Why do people think that violence solves problems? Why would anyone think it ok to murder thousands of people?

My husband and I handle 9-11 quite differently. He reads every article, every website, every theory he comes across. He watches videos and listens to 9-1-1 audio and watches all the Dateline specials.

I try to avoid most of that. I watch an occasional tribute and listen to the President's speaches. But when I think about what I was doing that morning, I have to take a minute to regroup. I still sit in stunned silence as the images play over and over in my head. I'm not trying to foget; that would be impossible. But I'm not trying hard to remember either.

I hope and pray the War on Terror will be successful and we can help end the bloodshed and fear they have brought to the world over the centuries. Someone needs to stop them. This is a fight to the end. The end of terrorism, I hope. Then end of everything, maybe. But we can't just let this continue. It's about time the world stood up to Al Qaeda. Enough is enough.

Quadruple Stuf Oreos

Today is my wedding anniversary. My wonderful husband bought me the most perfect card in the store(he has a knack for picking good cards), and presented me with two packages of Double Stuf Oreos. I love Oreos and especially Double Stuf. He only likes regular Oreos, so we don't get Double Stuf too often.

Of course, I can't eat Double Stuf Oreos without making at least one quadruple stuf. For those of you who are unaware of this wonderful treat, here is how to make them:

Carefully twist open two Double Stuf Oreos, leaving all the cream on one side of each cookie. Eat the leftover chocolate parts, or throw them away if you like. Lick the cream on one of the half-cookies and stick cream sides together. For a better seal, run the tip of your little finger around the edge of the cream(licking it works, too). Enjoy.

It's a great way to overload on the best part of the Oreo: the cream filling.

Never-ending Fanfic

I have written over 100 pages of fanfic in Microsoft Word and I'm far from being done. Over 40,000 words in one fanfic alone. Wow.

I guess I won't have to worry about being able to write enough words for a novel, several of which I have planned out or started. I think I'll celebrate page 100 by starting yet another novel. This one is science fiction and I've had the idea for a while now. In fact, I have two unstarted science fiction stories, one of which will will likely be a short story. Wish me luck, Reader.

This Guy is Funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYP3jhqUC3I

Tubby Tragedy

The kids and I were watching clips of cartoons on youtube.com and came across a Teletubbies slide show. At the very end was somebody's sick drawing of Tubby death. Sick bastards. Our 7-year-old told our 4-year-old that the Teletubbies were dead. She believed it and kept talking about it and even shied away from toy Teletubbies. I explained to her that they were ok, but she wouldn't believe me until I went to the PBS Kids website this morning to show her. Poor kid. Just so you know, the Teletubbies are just fine. They're not dead, they're not sick, they're ok. I'll have to preview everything from now on.

Fiesta Time

Hello, reader. It's Saturday again. This afternoon, we are off to my in-laws' for a "Mexican Fiesta". There will not be any Mexicans there(I asked), nor will there be anything even remotely Mexican besides the food(which itself is reason enough to go - Mexican food is awesome).

I am making this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexican Chicken and Rice

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can(8 3/4-oz.) whole kernal corn, drained
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon chili powder(opt.)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, saute chicken, green pepper and onion in oil until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp-tender. Add corn, broth, salsa, salt, chili powder, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice; cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I use maximum cheese, if not extra. I love cheese. I have no idea where I found this recipe. Either the internet or a cooking magazine. It's delicious. Definitely worthy of a family fiesta.

The Invisible Parent

My husband has a superpower. He can become invisible to children. If they need something, they can be standing right next to him, but for some reason have to come and find me to solve all of their problems. It's like they don't see him. I sure would love to borrow this power for a while.

Saint Soapbox Debate #3

Well, it seems participation has dropped. Debate #2 was awfully short. Here's a nice controversial topic for our third debate:

The War in Iraq

Is the war in Iraq a legitimate part of the War on Terror?

Lost, but not quite...

Have you ever gotten lost in a place you know you should know your way around? That happened to me today. There's a little lane out in back of the barn that leads through the fields and to a back road. Easy enough to see where it goes from this end, but I've never taken the lane coming back by myself before.

I was bringing the 4-wheeler back from the neighbor's along that back road and I couldn't find the far end of that little lane. It should have been easy to find, but it wasn't. I could see the barn from where I was, but I couldn't find my way back to it. I found what I thought was the lane, but then I found myself sourrounded by corn and soybeans and figured it was the wrong way. I did know where I was, so rather than drive around like an idiot in full view of other neighbors, I took the long way home, which brought me around the in-law's place down the road, and a half-mile stretch of highway. I think I might have run the 4-wheeler out of gas, cause when I stopped, it did too.

I really need to learn how to navigate around my home.

Something to think about...

I used to be a very quiet person. For the first fifteen years or so of my life, I hardly said a word. Then for some unknown reason, I began to talk. Since then I have this odd combination of shy/quiet in person and talkative online.

Sometimes, I think I should go back to being quiet and especially apply that to the Internet. Why? Because I usually end up saying something stupid, thoughtless, and/or downright embarassing. There are many times I am thankful for having kept silent because I found out later that I misinterpreted something and really would have made a fool of myself.

Saint Soap Box Debate #1

Since I haven't yet got suggestions to choose from, this week's debate topic will be Blogger's Choice.

And the topic is:

Paparazzi: celebrity vs. privacy

Should being famous include sacrifice of privacy?

Let the Debate Begin....

This is a brand new feature here at the soap box. I will host weekly debates, to be conducted in the comments. The debate will go on for one week only, after which time, the comments will be turned off and we will move on to a new debate. Please keep your arguments clean and try to stay on topic.

What would you like to talk about? All suggestions are welcome. At the beginning of each week, I will choose a suggested topic at random.

Comments

I just realized that I failed to enable the comments option on every single post I've made this year. So, I have gone back and republished all of them.

Words of Wisdom from Me

Life is a journey back to our beginning, a great ride on God's boomerang.

Happy Birthday, America!/Pizza Hut sucks!

Happy Independence Day, reader! It's America's birthday! Or, as my 4-year-old says, "Makaka bothday". She asked me if "Makaka"(America) could have a cookie. Isn't that sweet?

We went to the small parade in a town about 4 miles from here. This year's parade ran a little longer than usual. We decided to leave a little early, so I gathered the children from the roadside where they were catching candy(with supervision) and there it was. My dream car. The most heart-stoppingly beautiful automobile ever manufactered. And I was close enough I could have reached out and touched it. Awesome!

Then we met up with the in-laws again at Pizza Hut. Keep in mind the building number is 666. This particular Pizza Hut is plagued by lousy waitresses. The service sucks and always has. Every Independence Day, my husband's family eats lunch at Pizza Hut. Every year, they debate returning. I guess this year's experience was the final straw. The local Pizza Hut has officially lost their patronage.

The place wasn't especially busy. There was only one other table occupied when we arrived. We waited twenty-three minutes just to get our cheesy breadsticks. It took thirty minutes to get our pizza. While I don't mind the seven minute interval between appetizer and entree, the overall wait was ridiculous. This wasn't just a random occurance either. This happens almost every time we eat there.

I picked up a few of those "how are we doing" cards and passed them out to various family members. The customer service department will be hearing from us.

But, it's still a good day and we have lots of leftover pizza.

Names

Naming trends are something I just don't understand. Some celebrity makes it big and suddenly a significant number of newborns are named after him/her or the character he/she portrays. Are their parents under some strange assumption that the babies are somehow connected to their namesakes? Or did said celebrity simply remind America that the name existed?

One of my favorite names is Caitlin. Thanks to the soap opera Sunset Beach(brought to us by the late Aaron Spelling, may God rest his soul), we now have several second graders named Caitlin. One local teacher complained because she had four Caitlins of various spellings in her class at once. Seeing as how most Caitlins are now 7-8 years old, we need a new crop, so come on, America. Bring on the Caitlins!

Then there are mysterious names, such as George. I, for one, have never met nor heard of a child named George. There are, however, many adults named George. Where did all the Georges come from? Are they born fully grown? Do they grow up using nicknames to keep the true number of Georges a secret? This George conspiracy must be exposed!

Blogs

I know what you're thinking, reader. Two posts in one day. It doesn't happen very often. Banner year for the soap box.

As I sit here, sipping my seasoned(read "day-old") coffee, I am surfing the internet, reading other people's blogs. There are some really fascinating ones out there.

For a fun blog-reading experiment, I started following links from blog to blog. I found quite a few that were more interesting to me than my own, but perhaps I am ill qualified to judge my own blog, as it's all old news to me.

What is it that we find so fascinating about reading other people's thoughts, stories, experiences, etc.? Is it the comfort of connecting to another person without the responsibility and emotional risk of a two-sided conversation? Or am I overthinking this?

What do you think, reader?

The Wonderful World of Fanfiction

Fanfiction(fanfic), for those of you who don't know, is fiction based on characters of television, books, or movies. It is just for fun and nobody makes any money from it.

I started writing fanfic about 7 years ago, but gave up on it, leaving a great cliffhanger ending on my story. I still haven't finished that one.

This year, I started writing again and I had forgotten how much fun it can be. I write my stories in installments, which I post on a web forum. I write short installments, so I can stay ahead of the postings(I only post one part a week).

Feedback is the best part. It's so much fun to be able to interact with my readers.

Fanfic is great practice for those with serious literary aspirations. There is little pressure. Your readers don't expect your work to be good or even necessarily believable, but they let you know when they really like it.

I highly recommend it as a writing exercise or a relaxing hobby.

We Are Running the World???

My mom talks about how the "grown-ups" are supposed to be running things, not people her age. Now I know what she's talking about.

Now people my age are doing important things and helping to run the world. It's kind of scary. When did this get dumped on us? We shouldn't be running anything. We're the kids.

I can't even begin to imagine my children being old enough or mature enough to do anything as important as running the world, but it's not so far away.

All you parents out there, remember that you are not raising children, you are raising future adults. Those cute little kids will one day be making important decisions that will affect everyone and everything.

Funny Names

This site has a list of names(some of them clever) people have used.

http://members.aol.com/pinjunkie/

Super Mom to the Rescue

This morning I had a crash course in speed baking. The kids with summer birthdays have assigned "birthdays" during the regular school year. Yesterday, my 3rd-grader found out for sure that hers is TODAY. I had to bake cookies.

I decided to bake sugar cookies. I got the dough all mixed up and realized it had to chill for two hours! This is one of the reasons I never bake sugar cookies. It might help if I read all of the directions first though, huh?

So I wondered if maybe I could chill it faster in the freezer. I didn't get to find out because I subsequently forgot about the dough and went to bed.

I woke up this morning, hit the snooze button, then remembered the cookies. (This "Oh Crap" moment brought to you by tired mothers everywhere.) It was almost 6:00 a.m. and I had to wake the kids up and the baby was crying. This was a job for Super Mom!

I had about 45 minutes to bake cookies and get kids off to school. Chocolate chip cookies to the rescue. I could practically make them in my sleep. I'm not talking "break-and-bake" wimpy stuff. I mean real cookies. [I would like to take this moment to thank God for microwaves, babies who decide to go back to sleep, and ovens in which you can bake a dozen and a half cookies at once.]

The dozen came out nicely, but the half dozen were overcooked a bit(read darn-near burned). So, I figured some poor kids would just have to be satisfied with smallish extra-browned cookies. Luckily for them, I managed to get another dozen baked and cooled enough to replace them before the bus came. The day is saved!

Now I shall hang up my Super Mom cape for the day.

Breaking News!!

I was out for a walk about an hour ago and I heard a few sirens, which isn't all that unusual. I was just headed for the house when I noticed that two fire trucks were up the road at the neighbor's house. That was the entire local fire department!

Our neighbor to the south likes to rebuild and customize classic automobiles. He was driving this nice black something-or-other(sorry to disappoint any enthusiasts with my lack of knowledge here) that he drives quite frequntly. When he got near the house of our neighbor to the north, his car caught fire.

Nobody was hurt, except the car. They put the fire out, coasted her down the hill to Neighbor South's driveway, and pushed her into the garage.

Hopefully, that is all the excitement for tonight.

Crazy Drivers

A post on Mike D.'s blog got me thinking about rude and/or crazy drivers. I happen to know one. He can't stand people who drive too fast, drive too slowly, cut him off only to turn a few blocks ahead, slow down way before they need to turn, and the usual: no turn indicator, practically stop in the middle of the road, won't stay in their own lane, refuse to yield to merging traffic, etc. He'll swear, honk, and sometime swerve at drivers who tick him off. He's likely to provoke road rage as retaliation.

It's funny how he doesn't like people who drive too fast, as he drives too fast himself. One time he got into a race with his sister. They were racing on the highway, taking turns passing each other. He says his father and grandfather used to race each other home from church. What a wonderful example they set.

He is actually a very good driver, just not a very safe one. Hopefully he'll grow up before he meets someone like himself on the road.

Tricks Babies Do

My 5 1/2 month-old has perfected a trick whereby carrots can go into and out of her mouth simultaneously. This makes for a very messy(and very orange) baby. She also insists on sucking her thumb between spoonfuls. Maybe I should invent a feeding smock. Otherwise, we'll be starting a new baby fashion trend of one orange sleeve.

When it gets a little warmer, I suppose I could feed her without her clothes. She is washable, after all.

Fun With Words

I got this in an email:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Cheeshead Mantra

It's really fascinating the way people talk. Language varies greatly from one region to another and every region has it's quirks.

For instance, the local chant: ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It seems that everyone around here says this. Is it a Wisconsin thing? Is it the mantra of the Cheesehead?

At first, it seemed to be something uttered when searching for the right words. Then I heard people using it in the middle of their sentences. It's Wisconsin's version of the "like" phenomena that hit California. You can make "um" every other word of your speech and still sound normal. We should put it in the state motto. "Wisconsin: Um, cheese!"

Does your state or community have it's very own chant?

Bug Season

Ugh! It's bug season again. So far I've found two wood ticks on myself and one on the baby. I just killed a mosquito on a window.

I really like Spring, but I hate bugs. I still haven't figured out what their purpose is besides feeding spiders. Maybe it's just to annoy people.

Little Known Artists Revisited

Hello reader,

Do you remember when I tried having a Little Known Artist of the Month? That didn't last too long did it? I think maybe I'll try Little Known Artist of the Year. Or I could just do random reviews on whatever I feel like....

Jesus Did What?

It seems every year around this time, there is a new shocking book about Jesus. Funny how people can keep coming up with "new" controversies about things that happened a millenia ago.

It's quite obvious to me that these scandal-monging authors are just out to make money. The problem is that some people will acutally believe what they say in their books. It amazes me how there is always someone willing to believe every new idea thrown their way, yet obsitnately refuse to believe something that has been said without waivering for over 2,000 years. For goodness sakes, people, at least try to find a balance somewhere.

Domino Trees

I just cleaned mud off the coffee table and dirt off the living room rug where my 4-year-old was "planting" the dominoes in a little cup of dirt. I explained to her that dirt stays outside and that dominoes will not grow into domino trees if you plant them.

I think she may be ready to help plant the garden this year.

Let it Snow

I have just finished shovelling six inches of God's dandruff off my front steps. It's still snowing as I type, in what may be the last big snowstorm of the year, but considering I live in Wisconsin, probably not. It's perfect snowman snow, but I don't have the energy to build anything now. It is pretty to look at, though.

Chocolate Ingots

Ah, the forgotten blog! Let me sweep out the cobwebs here a minute.

Here is a pointless rambling to take up space on the already crowded Internet.

I'm having trouble with visualizing ingots. I've read the word, but not bothering to ever look it up, I didn't know exactly what an ingot was. Sounds like it should be something very small. Then I finally caught on to the fact that bars of metal, such as gold, are ingots. Can't quite wrap my head around that one. It doesn't fit with the vague image I had created in my head.

Bar-shaped ingots are the same shape as Kit-Kats. I never realized before tonight that Kit-Kats are just chocolate/wafer ingots. I'll never look at a Kit-Kat the same way again.