Made Lemon Mousse today. Good, but not precisely what I wanted. But worth making again I think. Next recipe to try will probably be the summer lemon cheesecake.
Also…
Addictive Ranch Dip
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp dried onion
2 tsp parsley
1 to 2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic power
dash salt
dash pepper
Whisk together. Refrigerate overnight.
Try not to eat the entire bowl in a single sitting.
I’m still playing with the proportions, but this stuff is REALLY good.
Remember: Sour cream has calcium, so it can’t be all bad for you!
yestreen n. Scots
Yesterday evening
zedonk n.
The hybrid offspring of a male zebra and a female donkey
The Indiana House voted late Thursday to approve a bill mandating the historic (Daylight Savings) time change.
I hate Daylight Savings time. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
Indiana is moving in the wrong direction, they should be pushing the rest of is to get rod of daylight savings time, not joining the crowd!
Grrr….
Paper: Done.
Presentation: Done.
Only thing left is my final. Next Friday. At 3:00. So I have it hanging over my head ALL WEEK.
This is absolutely fascinating–you can look at names and track their popularity through time. My name went as high as 4 in the 1970s (surprise?) but has declined since then. I found out that my great-grandfather’s name was quite popular at the turn of the last century, and then dropped off the map.
I hate waiting and doing things at the last minute. Hate it. If it’s a project I want it finished weeks in advanced.
It’s even worse when the last minute rush isn’t my fault. Then I’m irritated, but have to pretend not to be, just to be polite.
Happy TV Turnoff Week!
I’d have mentioned it earlier, except that since we don’t watch TV, I hadn’t been paying attention. I do have to admit, however, that this year we have been watching Star Trek on DVD. So I’m not TV free, although we are free of having to turn on the TV at a specific time for a specific show. And it’s not that hard to go for quite awhile without opening up the TV cabinet. (We’ve been watching DVDs because it’s easier to watch 45 minutes of a DVD for relaxation than to try and put down a good book at the end of 45 minutes. Good books can cause me to stay up past my bed time.)
I can, however, tell you that as someone who doesn’t have cable, it’s not that hard of a thing to do–not watching TV and getting rid of cable. My friends and co-workers only mock me a little bit, and we discover that there are, in fact, other things to talk about than what was on TV last night.
So go ahead and try it. After all, better late than never.
That Susan did, in fact, come to Morgantown.
Plus, a road sign outside Pittsburgh warning of the Moon Beaver. Coming the other way it tells of the Airport Beaver.
And yes, that is, in fact, snow in a picture that was taken the 24th of April.
“What is officially deemed overweight these days is actually the optimal weight.”
Okay, it’s just a single study, but still it’s nice to see some focus on weight and health that doesn’t stop at “overweight is bad.”
(B)eing very thin, even though the thinness was longstanding and unlikely to stem from disease, caused a slight increase in the risk of death
The take home point–as always–is that weight shouldn’t be the only thing we consider as far as health. Fitness is a far more important issue, yet it is the thing that most people try to ignore.
It is far easier to buy carb-smart ice cream, or lowfat cookies than to get yourself to the gym every morning, but it is the exercise that is going to improve your health, not artificial sweeteners and the artificial fats.
So I think that if taken the right way, this is a good message. That those who exercise and are careful about what they eat, but can’t seem to lose weight, are not necessarily damned to a life of ill health. And that being thin is not the sign of health it has been taken for in recent years.
Eating well and exercising are far more important than the number on the scale.
We saw Varekai last night with my parents and Susan and Erin and her friend Ivy.
I wanna go back and see it again! I wanna go to Las Vegas and see the Cirque shows there! I want MORE!
A company in South Africa has found a way to harness youthful energy in solving the perennial problem of water supply in rural villages.
It uses a playground roundabout to power a borehole pump.
What a fantastic idea–take a children’s toy and apply it to provide for the community.
The website, Roundabout Outdoor has a small video you can watch.
Elephants, Yeah!
To understand why I like this so much, you have to understand that growing up we received gifts from the Birthday Elephant, the Christmas Elephant, the Easter Elephant, the Valentine’s Day Elephant…
(via Making Light)
A visit with Susan. Vacation Time. Cirque du Soleil.
Blogging will be erratic for the remainder of the week.
For the curious, the BBC has a nice article on the history of papal conclaves.
I kinda like the bread and water rations idea.
ADDENDUM the First:
I take it back. Give them yummy food and comfy chairs and maybe they’d have thought about things a bit longer.
So the big news today is that the GOP is going to try and “bully” Senator Byrd out of his seat in the next election.
And then there’s the Ku Klux Klan. Critics rarely pass on a chance to recall Byrd’s 1940s ties to the hate group. One columnist recently referred to him as ”the Imperial Wizard of the U.S. Senate.” Hostile bloggers call him ”Sheets.”
So Byrd has publicly apologized for actions taken more than 60 years ago, and publicly stated how he realized he had made a mistake, yet the GOP is going to insist that is the standard we should use to judge his character, while Bush took illegal drugs, drove drunk, skipped out on his guard duty, and has refused to even acknowledge his mistakes no less apologize for them, but we are not supposed to judge him upon those actions taken in the past. “What I’m going to tell people is that 20-30 years ago I made mistakes.”
I don’t get it. We’re supposed to forgive and forget every single mistake the Bush has made, both in office and out, yet at the same time we are to be outraged by actions that Byrd took 60 years ago and has since then publicly renounced?
I don’t think so.
Listen to the Fresh Air interview with Senator Byrd.
A Wolf at the Door (2000) edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
I love folk tales and fairy tales, and I love the idea of stories that have been told and retold, and then finally captured on paper. The problem of course, is finding an author who is good at translating something that from an oral tradition into something that works well in words.
There’s also something wonderful about a well-told short story, and I think that the best short stories in the world are folk and fairy tales.
Read more about A Wolf at the Door
How to destroy the Earth
Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.
You’ve seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You’ve heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.
Fools.
The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you’ve had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.
Go there and read some more.
My Bleeding Hearts are blooming.
I moved them last year, but it didn’t seem to hurt them at all.
The ultra geeky: Binary translator. I may soon need this to talk to my husband.
I’ve been saying for years that
Microsoft Grammar check is pretty worthless.
(both via
Making Light)
And you really should read
this post from Michael Berube about his son.
In my rural elderly class today we received a list of
Warning Signs for Older Drivers. Not only do I recognize some of these in my dad, but I think Michael qualifies for a couple as well.
Easily distracted while driving (Find me a modern driver who isn’t distracted by kids or a cell phone or both.)
Increased agitation or irritation in driving (Increased? If I were to get any more agitated while stuck in traffic I’d probably have an instant stroke)
Failure to notice important activity on the side of the road (Look! A burning sofa!)
Driving at inappropriate speeds (Michael drives the speed limit on the beltway. That’s pretty inappropriate.)
Confusion at exits (I do this every time we go back to Cincinnati.)
Stopping in traffic for no apparent reason (This actually sounds kinda fun)
The thing that I noticed is that a some of these would depend upon where you are used to driving. I have decreased confidence when I’m driving on the beltway or in a big city, because I don’t do it often. Driving at inappropriate speeds is something everyone does when they’re driving to an unfamiliar place.
Seriously though, there are people that don’t belong on the road, and it’s up those friends and family members to notice the warning signs and tack action to keep our loved one and others safe.
Blues legend Johnny Johnson, who was born just up the road from here, has died.
For the past several years, Fairmont has had a Blues and Jazz festival in honor of Johnny Johnson.
Wow, it’s possible that there may be a worse paper than the Diminishing Pest.
However, the Diminishing Pest has had years to convince me how terrible it is. This is only a single story.
Not quite a fresh coat of paint, but similar.
I’ve redone the main page to the site. Enjoy the pastel goodness while you can, it certainly won’t last long.
Today’s news quiz was “Which senator holds the record for most votes cast?”
Easy!
Robert C. Byrd
