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:

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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.
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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.