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28 January 2009
2009 Resolutions
1. Read another 50 books. I am proud of myself for getting through that many books last year. The goal definitely kept me reading more and watching TV less. I want to continue that. Included with that goal is that I want to read more of the books I already own. Not sure if I will track that, but maybe I should.
2. Stay on top of my inbox. I tend to let my email inboxes get ridiculously long and crowded -- especially my work email. This year I am determined to be more diligent about deleting or filing emails as necessary because half the time when I look back at emails I can't even remember why I kept most of the them.
3. Cook. No, not cook more, because I don't really count microwaving or heating something up in the toaster oven as cooking. I want everyone in my house to eat healthier meals. I try to buy good food, but we also tend to go out a lot. So, my goal is to cook one dinner per week. I've cooked 2 dinners so far in January. Nothing glamorous, but they were hot and they got eaten. Also I have a great source of inspiration because Becky, knowing of my secret intentions for this year, gave me a fantastic cook book for Christmas. I haven't gotten past putting post-it notes on the recipes I want to try because I think I am a little intimidated, but I am looking forward to giving some of these recipes a shot.
4. Try doing more sports and outdoor activities. I'd like to really get in skiing and ice skating this winter. In the spring I want to go hiking and take some tennis lessons. Not sure yet about summer and fall since those tend to be my most active times anyway, but I will think of something to do. Maybe more of the same. Whatever it is, I want to do more of it.
5. Get rid of the clutter. My house isn't severely cluttered, but we've been living here almost 6 years and stuff builds up in all the hidden places like the closets and the cabinets. When I set up my home office and had to move a bunch of stuff around I realized how much clutter had build up. Main goals are the kitchen cabinets and the upstairs hall in the alcove that has the desk. Not sure anyone has a clear idea of the full inventory of those areas, but they are not being put to their best use right now.
So, I'll check back in 12 months and let you know how it goes...
26 January 2009
Maybe it is because work is busier than ever, maybe it is because I am still adjusting to working from home or maybe it's just all a coincidence, but I am just feeling like I can't get a handle on things and I can't get ahead. No amount of to-do lists, getting up early, or staying up late seems to help. And I feel like I am constantly complaining which is probably true since that is clearly what I am doing right now!
So, this morning when Zoe woke up with a fever and an earache my first reaction was less maternal concern and worry and more total annoyance combined with a dash of anger at the fact that I knew there was no way Rob would stay home to take her to the doctor and I would have to rearrange more meetings, get a lot less work done than I hoped, AND cancel my dinner plans with Heather who I have been trying to have dinner with since November. Had Rob not been home at the time, I am sure I would have taken out my frustration on Zoe instead. It was not my best Mommy moment and I am not proud of it.
I did get over myself and manage to make all the necessary adjustments to my plans for the day to accommodate Zoe. Poor, sick, Zoe who burned with fever all day long and lay on the couch like wet dishrag barely making a peep after we returned from the doctor. She called for me to come snuggle with her around 6:30PM which I gladly did, but as I was holding her, I could feel her heart pounding in her chest and it freaked me out. It was as if she had just been running around like crazy, but I knew she was just laying there ad had been for hours. I called the doctor's office and left a message and was ready to rush to the ER by the time the on-call nurse called me back (about 6 or 7 minutes later).
The nurse kindly explained to me that her increased heart rate was a normal side effect of a high fever and quite expertly calmed me down without making me feel completely foolish. She suggested I give Zoe Motrin rather than Tylenol and give her a cool washcloth for her head and feet to help bring the fever down. When I hung up the phone I shed a few tears of relief and then took care of Zoe, got her fever down a bit and got her into bed and finished up some work.
And now here I am grateful that something is not really wrong with Zoe, where I hoped to be with work stuff, and even though I am still missing Heather, I feel like a real selfish bitch for my earlier behavior. I think maybe tonight was the check I needed to get things back into perspective.
21 January 2009
This is how old I am
I saw the original Broadway production of "Annie" with Andrea McCardle and after the show my father bought me the cast recording of the music. It was a vinyl record, of course. I played it endlessly on my record player and memorized every song. That is probably when I fell in love with theater.
Speaking of vinyl, I can remember buying the 45s of "Pop Muzik" by M and "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. Also committed those songs to memory. I think I can still sing them word for word.
I remember when Dr. Scholls sandals were all the rage. They were banned from my elementary school because a girl broke her ankle in them -- or so we were told. I had blue ones.
The first VHS movie I ever watched was "Death Race 2000" at my California cousins' house. The VHS machine was as big as my printer/scanner/fax is today and the "remote control" was on a long wire.
I was at sleepaway camp when Diana Spencer married Prince Charles. One of the counselors snuck me into the counselor's cabin to watch. I also saw the movie "E.T." while at sleepaway camp on "lifer's night out." (A lifer is someone who goes to sleepaway camp for all 8 weeks.)
I waited in line to see "Star Wars."
I watched Luke and Laura get married, but I never thought Luke was good looking. That perm was hideous to me even then.
My best friend and I used to pass notes back and forth on actual paper. Sometimes we'd decorate the notes with stickers.
I wore stirrup pants and thought they looked good. Considering how young and thin I was at the time, they probably didn't look that bad, just not great.
I cried at the last M*A*S*H episode.
The first computer I used was running DOS and the first time I used an Apple I saw the light. I have been a computer lover ever since.
Our first home printer was a dot matrix printer and it was so cool. We were one of the first people I knew to have a printer at home. I used to love to tear the edges off the print outs and decorate with them like streamers.
I only knew 2 people in college who had their own computers.
The first president I was old enough to vote for was Bill Clinton.
I was married in the previous century.
20 January 2009
This is the day!
In celebration of today I have made my very own Obamicon!
(Great big thanks go out to Charlotte for sharing this on her blog last week.)
16 January 2009
You'll Flip for Zoe
Zoe's Little Gym performance
P.S. Of 6 posts this month 4 of them have had photos or video -- can you tell I got a new camera for Christmas???
12 January 2009
More life lessons from Zoe
Sunday afternoon we took Zoe sledding on a big hill in a nearby park. Zoe can be pretty fearless so she was raring to go when we got to the top of the hill. Rob and I were both a bit nervous about pushing our little girl off down a hill that steep, but we were there and she was ready so we put her in the sled and off she went laughing the entire time. She practically ran back up the hill.
On the third run down Zoe's hat came off when she was almost at the bottom of the hill. After she reached the bottom she headed up the hill to retrieve it. There were a lot of people on the hill so what happened next wasn't even that surprising. A sled loaded with 2 kids and a Dad hit her and knocked her right off her feet. It was one of those moments where time just stops.
Rob and I ran down the hill as quickly as we could. I thought she had to have either have a concussion or a broken bone. It was a nasty looking hit. We looked her over carefully. She had a cut on her nose and a scrape on her forehead, but otherwise, miraculously, she looked OK. She stopped crying as we headed back up the hill, but when Rob and I headed toward the car rather than heading back to the sledding she started to cry again.
"We don't have to go home now, do we?" she cried. "I want to do more sledding!"
We decided that if she felt up to it than she must be OK and a huge smile spread across her face when I said she could go down for a few more runs. And she was off and running again, smiling, laughing, slightly more cautious, but just as enthusiastic.
Zoe has always been like that. I think of her as being "unsinkable." When she wants to do something, go somewhere nothing stands in her way. A little thing like being tackled by a sled wasn't going to ruin her day of sledding.
Makes me think there is a good lesson in there for me too. I can't let the little setbacks ruin the big picture. It is so easy to fall into that, but life is so much happier when you don't.
11 January 2009
Asking for what you want
Zoe, on the other hand, has absolutely no fear or issues with asking for what she wants. She usually orders for herself when we're in a restaurant and she is never afraid to ask a question of anyone. Several months ago we were at Danbury Mall and Zoe wanted to go to Claire's. I didn't know where Claire's was in the mall so I told Zoe we'd have to find a directory. That wasn't working for her so she marched into the next store and went right up to the counter and asked "Where's Claire's?" I was amazed. Of course she got the directions and we were able to head right to the store. Where did she learn to be so fearless about asking for what she wants? Then I realized that a better question was "what exactly is my problem?"
Since that day I have been making an effort to ask for what I want and it is actually working. Just this past week I was able to get the cost of shipping for my new desk refunded to me because of poor customer service. The store didn't offer it to me, I spoke to the store manager and asked for a refund and it was granted. That felt really good. Last month when I was going through my job change my original offer letter had a title that I felt was a demotion so I asked for a different title -- and I got it. That was a tough one for me to do despite the fact that I was able to handle it via email. The old me never would have done that.
I spend so much of my time with Zoe teaching her how to do things or how to behave, showing her new places, giving her new experiences, but every now and then she has a lesson for me. It takes me by surprise every time -- especially because it turns out to be so helpful to my life.
07 January 2009
Dancin' to the 80s
Dancing ensued.
05 January 2009
The Tooth Fairy comes tonight!
We were starting to lose hope, but at last it has happened -- Zoe lost her first tooth in school today. She is so excited! At least I know I will be able to get her to sleep tonight because, after all, the Tooth Fairy can't come if you're not sleeping.
Personally I hated losing my teeth. The feeling of a loose tooth grossed me out and I hated that feeling of no tooth being there. Also I was a little afraid of the Tooth Fairy reaching under my pillow. But Zoe is excited about losing the tooth and can't wait to see what the Tooth Fairy brings.
Now I just have to figure out the going rate for the first lost tooth.
01 January 2009
2008 Books Read
1. Mansfield Park
2. Love, Rosie
3. Lost and Found
4. Firefly Lane
5. Cotillion
6. Tom Jones
7. Bringing Home the Birkin
8. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
9. Venetia
10. On Chesil Beach
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
12. Gossip Girl
13. Imagine Me and You
14. Bringing Down the House
15. Don't Make Me Think
16. The Wonder Spot
17. Interpreter of Maladies
18. The Big Sleep
19. The Unknown Ajax
20. Not Another Bad Date
21. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
22. The City of Falling Angels
23. Love the One You're With
24. An Assembly Such as This
25. The River King
26. Second Chance
27. Dirty Girls On Top
28. Things Fall Apart
29. The Beach House
30. Digging to America
31. Pretty Little Mistakes
32. Replay
33. American Wife
34. The Sari Shop
35. Duty and Desire
36. These Three Remain
37. 24-Karat Kids
38. Vanity Fair
39. My Best Friend's Girl
40. When You are Engulfed in Flames
41. Born Standing Up
42. The Uncommon Reader
43. Rocket Man
44. Blink
45. Night Fall
46. The Outcast
47. The Last Summer (of You & Me)
48. Dog Handling


text:
This class focuses on "Roger Malvin's Burial." Prior to class, students read "Roger Malvin's Burial" independently. Alternatively, the class can read portions of the story during class together.
Common Core Objectives
- 1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2--Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- 2
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3--Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
- 3
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4--Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Last week we talked about the differences between a nation which put liberty ahead of equality, and those who put equality ahead of liberty. This week we will discuss more from de Tocqueville and what he had said on the differences between Americans and Europeans as well as the gap between rich and poor
Then too there is the assumption, blithely accepted by the party of economic equality, that the gap between rich and poor—or even between the rich and the middle class—self-evidently amounts to a violation of social justice. Yet far from being self-evident, this assumption stems from a highly questionable concept of social justice—one that rules out or minimizes the role played by talent, character, ambition, initiative, daring, work, and spirit in producing unequal outcomes in "the pursuit of happiness."
Furthermore, both the assumption and its correlative concept of social justice run counter to the American grain. As study after study has shown, and as the petering out of the Occupy Wall Street movement has recently confirmed, what Tocqueville observed on this point in the 1830s remains true today: Americans, unlike Europeans, he wrote, "do not hate the higher classes of society" even if "they are not favorably inclined toward them . . . ." Which is to say that most Americans are not prone to the envy of the rich that eats away at their self-appointed spokesmen on the Left.
Nor are most Americans subject to the accompanying passion for economic egalitarianism that made for the spread of socialism in other countries. What explains the absence of that levelling passion is that it has been starved by the opportunities America has afforded millions upon millions to better their lot and the advantage they have been free to take of those opportunities—which in turn explains how unprecedented and unmatched levels of prosperity have been created here and how they have come to be shared more widely here than anywhere else.
Tocqueville also put his finger on a second and related reason for the persistence of this particular feature of American exceptionalism: "The word poor is used here in a relative, not an absolute sense. Poor men in America would often appear rich in comparison with the poor of Europe." A story I was once told by a Soviet dissident provides an amusing illustration. It seems that the Soviet authorities used to encourage the repeated screening of The Grapes of Wrath, a movie about the Great Depression-era migration of starving farmers from the Dust Bowl to California in their broken-down pickups. But contrary to expectation, what Soviet audiences got from this film was not an impression of how wretched was the plight of the poor in America. Instead they came away marvelling that in America, "even the peasants own trucks."
Tocqueville further observed that in America, "the poor, instead of forming the immense majority of the nation, as is always the case in aristocratic communities, are comparatively few in number, and the laws do not bind them together by the ties of irremediable and hereditary penury."
One thing I had found interesting is what de Tocqueville observed in America, as he wrote in the last paragraph, that the poor are "comparatively few in number, and the laws don't bind them together by the ties of irremediable and hereditary penury." Looking at America of the 21st Century you would have considered de Tocqueville crazy for writing that, but if you look at some of the plantations in the South, as well as some of the homes in the North, during the times before the Civil War you would think different. Actually, it was AFTER the Civil War (or the War Between the States, the war of Southern Independence, whatever you want to call it) where you see the lack of the nouveau riche and the sophistication that was popular before 1861. Keep in mind the South was in a total state of disarray and their main lifestyle was almost obliterated. The South had to rebuild somehow during reconstruction, but the economy had undergone a change in the south, and as such the poor (not only in the south but in the north as well) began to form the immense majority of the nation.
And if you look around the world, this is what Socialism and socialistic policies bring about as well. I am thinking Podhoretz is warning against this in the article, and if we fail to heed his words, then we will wind up like what we had read and seen in Atlas Shrugged.


text:
Someone in this family ate an autism sandwich for breakfast yesterday as well as one this morning. May G*d help us all...esp. the poor teacher!!!~Cheryl
Two poems by KA
Autumn By KA
Two rabbits, you can see,
Jumping high into a tree.
Weeks have passed, so far I've seen,
Leaves, the color of red and orange, not green.
Another week passed and a warm day arrived,
Bees are filling up their hive.
Another week has passed, say, look at the bottom,
Hey, I know this season, it's autumn.
A flock of geese,
flying south, not north, not east.
When you go into the woods,
be sure to wear a jacket and hood.
Creepy crawlies, so drab and ugly,
turn from hideous into buggly.
Every day the leaves fall down
wolves howl like dogs in a pound.
People, we can see, pull off a leaf,
because they smell so very sweet.


text:
Now my friends at the Lou Lou girls had this over a winter greens. Kimberley's son Zac brought this to their blog and I share it with you!
I had a small twist and made it over Asparagus. Mainly because I forgot to pick up the greens but also to share that changing or altering a recipe is always fun and totally acceptable!
1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 Tablespoons of chopped Parsley
2 Tablespoons of Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Mustard. Dijon or Honey works best
1/4 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
4-6 Oz skinless Pacific Cod, Fresh or Frozen
1 Small bundle of fresh Asparagus
Pinch of salt
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Place the Asparagus on a tray and drizzle with olive oil back and fourth. Don't coat each one fully but make sure you all have a bit on them . Then sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over and put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes depending how well done you like your Asparagus.
In a bowl mix your mayonnaise, mustard and garlic powder in a bowl.
Season the cod on both sides with salt and brush the of the cod with the mayonnaise mix
Press the fish on the Panko breadcrumbs, repeat on all sides.
Coat a cooking sheet with a bit of olive.
Place the Cod on a sheet and place in the oven.
Set to Broil and cook until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.
Watch carefully when the Panko breadcrumbs brown and about 5-7 minutes take out. Take our the asparagus and place on a plate, lay the Code over and garnish with lemon and serve.
Please feel free to add any other seasonings or spices to your mix and always remember cooking is fun so have fun doing it! This makes a great quick and easy dinner! If your family loves fish or is just starting to get into eating fish this meal is perfect! It is also healthy and a light meal to eat.
Thank you Lou Lou Girls for the Recipe I have changed it a bit from what they posted but for their version please check out their great site! Their dish is a bit different but I altered it per what I like and you can to!
Lou Lou Girls site!
Cooking Should be fun, so have fun doing it!


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Blog Archives
Pile of Projects
The birthday season has started for us, for some strange reason all of our friends and family were born in the months February to June. This means lots of projects on the way, both in and out of the kitchen. Even though I like shopping for presents and make it a point to not give anything boring I also like to make something, be it a cake or something else, to add to the purchased gift. This also means that I will be doing much more nails then expected, aside from the orders there is a little rasta project for a good friend of my husband and cupcakes for a new friend in our circle. I thrive on days like these, when I am preoccupied with only fun things. It's so easy to find joy in something beautiful and I hope the recipients will be pleased. I sure was when I was making it.
Avengers Assemble
The weather is still extremely horrible, to say the least. We have a saying here: April rears it's ugly head, and it's very true. Tonight the temperature will drop below zero and I'm not liking it one bit! Nevertheless I managed to have an extremely productive day. Not only did I get birthday presents for my sister in law ready for next week, I decorated them too with some horrible glitter flowers that are sure to make her scowl at me for a good few minutes. I cannot wait to be very honest ^^ The afternoon was filled with packing layers and layers of polish on my new sets and I'm happy that they turned out the way they did. I still need to find some small and thin brushes, going to try to find those this weekend.
My superhero collection is almost complete ^^
Funky Easter
Oh boy, we have a busy week up ahead! Not only do I have a good 30 eggs to prepare but I promised to manage some cakes for dinner and brunch. Yikes! The weather also did a full 180 on us with strong winds and lousy, lousy temperatures. Yuck! Bring back Spring please. To keep myself busy while one cake was baking I splashed on some colorful nail polishes to test out and decided to leave them there. I just love these colors so much and with the dots it's like I'm wearing tiny Easter Eggs. Trying to find the fun in everything ^^
It's a big, big day!
In a galaxy far, far away
After a good week of anticipation finally my nail sets arrived! Bless eBay and it's various sellers where I found these and I'm grateful to my friend in the UK who forwarded them to me. I had so much fun with these already, my first creation is the infamous galaxy nail art that I found online, especially the one done by cutepolish ( that is one talented lady, I'm telling you!)
It took no time at all and I'm so pleased with the results. I will donate this pair to a friend of mine but I'm pretty sure she will get asked about them so will make more in the weeks to come.


text:
True Believer (Reissue Edition) by Nicholas Sparks
As a science journalist with a regular column in "Scientific American," Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural--until he falls in love with the granddaughter of the town psychic.
September 13, 2016; Trade Paperback; $15.99; 9781455571666
A Bend in the Road (Reissue Edition) by Nicholas Sparks
Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. As deputy sheriff of New Bern, North Carolina, he not only grieves for her and worries about their young son Jonah but longs to bring the unknown driver to justice. Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews, Jonah's second-grade teacher. A young woman recovering from a difficult divorce, Sarah moved to New Bern hoping to start over. Tentatively, Miles and Sarah reach out to each other...soon they are falling in love. But what neither realizes is that they are also bound together by a shocking secret, one that will force them to reexamine everything they believe in-including their love.
September 13, 2016; Trade Paperback; $15.99; 9781455571635
Private Paris by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
When Jack Morgan stops by Private's Paris office, he envisions a quick hello during an otherwise relaxing trip. But Jack is quickly pressed into duty after getting a call from his client Sherman Wilkerson, asking Jack to track down his young granddaughter, who is on the run from a brutal drug dealer. Before Jack can locate her, several members of France's cultural elite are found dead-murdered in stunning, symbolic fashion. The only link between the crimes is a mysterious graffiti tag. As religious and ethnic tensions simmer in the City of Lights, only Jack and his Private team can connect the dots before the smoldering powder keg explodes.
September 6, 2016; Trade Paperback; $15.99; 9781455585144


text:
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Entry #34
by Veronica Purcell
I know it was stupid of me to work outside today, and should've checked the sky and see if it was still mourning the loss of the world. I stepped into puddles and allowed its shit to rain over me anyway. Besides, who else is going to lug those maggoty baggies into the cauldrons? I don't see God doing it anytime too soon, especially when the damned fires took longer to kick in and the corpses slower to disintegrate. The flies are only interested in making my chores more miserable. Bastards!
Does God care that I almost did a Russian-Roulette this morning over weak coffee, tasteless bread and stale gossip? I know Mickey's Dinner has a reputation to uphold but honestly... Luckily, I had the ole Lotto Cat to reassure me. Its numbers promised a better tomorrow.
Lunchtime was a better impression. I ate acrid bagels whilst watching the usual bird silhouette picture and its soars through the grey skies with an impression of ease. I debated whether it cared to see colour again. The debate left me hollow and saw the bagels creating Jackson Pollack impressions on the floor. I decided to leave the artistic mess for tomorrow. No one's going to care.
So for today, I go to sleep grateful to God for my survival. I suppose I should say the prayer for today's dead.
"God above, give these baggies rest in peace, and hello to Michael J."
Peace out.
28 comments:
- Sarah Laurenson said...
What a picture you paint. Brilliant and so very sad.
- January 07, 2010 10:15 PM
- pjd said...
A little bizarre. I admit I don't really get the thing about the baggies. I'm guessing it's post-apocalyptic, but I'm not sure I read it right. The reference to Jacko at the end has a sort of satisfying incongruity to it.
- January 08, 2010 1:14 AM
- Aniket said...
Ditto Pete.
Not sure I catch all the references, right. Will have to dig up.
Loved the narration!
- January 08, 2010 1:26 AM
- Lena said...
This evokes a feeling of hopelessness in me. So sad. But greatly put into words.
- January 08, 2010 2:10 AM
- Bernita said...
I take it "baggies" are body bags?
A janitorial figure after a nuke holocaust is my take.Very well done.
- January 08, 2010 5:37 AM
- SzélsőFa said...
sounds quite dystopian to me, too. nice visuals with the Pollack and all the food gone crap. kind of makes me want to throw out. i think this was the writer's best intention. she did it very well.
- January 08, 2010 11:43 AM
- JaneyV said...
I'm guessing the title is an homage to I am Legend and that baggies are the dead bodies. I imagine that the clothes become quite baggy as they decompose. I think Bernita has it again. A Janitor for the Apocalypse. I love his madness. Bleak yet thoroughly enjoyable.
- January 08, 2010 1:05 PM
- Meghan said...
I agree with JaneyV. I also find this piece bleak and yet enjoyable. Well done.
- January 08, 2010 1:14 PM
- Leatherdykeuk said...
Bleak but amusing -- I love the Pollack vomiting!
- January 08, 2010 1:18 PM
- Preeti said...
Sigh. All in a day's work. And what work it is? Damn.
There is a machinic, droll faced approach to the piece added to which is a certain slobbishness and inertia.
It all sums up to a narrative that left me gaping at the screen. I thoroughly loved reading it.
- January 08, 2010 1:27 PM
- Four Dinners said...
An apolyptic mortuary attendant?
This is bloody good stuff Veronica!
Bloody good!
- January 08, 2010 1:33 PM
- Craig said...
Strong piece. He seems like he almost doesn't care anymore and that doesn't bother him even though it should. Perhaps he is just nitpicking the small things because the big stuff is just too much to deal with. Thought provoking
- January 08, 2010 5:50 PM
- Chris Eldin said...
I understood body bags for baggies. I was totally drawn into your dystopian tale. Is this part of a larger writing? I really liked it.
- January 09, 2010 8:21 AM
- Amias said...
Interesting, but I got a little lost, still I understood it was about life and death. Will miss MJ.
- January 09, 2010 1:50 PM
- Kartik said...
Two reads later, I'm still not sure about the post-apocalyptic theory. It sounds like a mortician going through a tough time for sure though. But I like the ambiguity that this piece has created in its interpretations :)
- January 09, 2010 3:11 PM
- laughingwolf said...
so mote it be, veronica...
- January 09, 2010 8:11 PM
Sorry, but being honest, this confused me. I didn't get many of the references. Like, for instance, fallen bagels creating Jackson Pollock impressions on the floor... just couldn't see how.
Plus, if it's apocalyptic and the mc is one of the few survivors (as hinted by 'who else would put those maggoty baggies in the cauldrons?), I wondered who put the dead bodies in the baggies in the first place, and seeing as they're infested by maggots, not too well either.
- January 10, 2010 8:23 PM
- Terri said...
I think the opening line is great:
"...should've checked the sky and see if it was still mourning the loss of the world"
Definitely post-apocalyptic, to me. I also am lost with a few minor details, however the strong, bleak voice makes it not matter to me.
The scene is vividly written, great use of words.
- January 10, 2010 11:15 PM
- austere said...
An undertaker at the end of the world?
I'm lost.
- January 11, 2010 7:00 AM
- Laurel said...
Bleak. So nearly hopeless except for the prayer at the end. This really creates a mood! Good work.
- January 11, 2010 4:07 PM
- catvibe said...
It's amazing that this person has faith at all given the circumstances. Bleak and bleaker. Nice imagery.
- January 11, 2010 9:00 PM
Being that the stories are only 250words, I thought I would keep my comment to a minimum. I'm sorry that my previous comment "huh?" (previously removed) was lacking - what I meant to say was I had trouble following what was happening here and I found the story just a little bit confusing. I think if the story could have been expanded more, I could have gleaned a better understanding of all that was going on, and possibly why. Besides that, I do enjoy off-the-beaten-track stories, and the subject here concerning society thrust into the gutter sets my mind wandering into "what-if" mode. Thanks for the insight.
- January 12, 2010 1:04 PM
great twist on the end of the world scenario.
- January 12, 2010 2:25 PM
- McKoala said...
I'll admit to coming to the comments for some clarification on this one - I didn't follow it very well at first. However, I was intrigued enough to want to follow up, because there were some lovely touches in here.
- January 17, 2010 12:47 AM
I guess the end of the road is nothing more than a dump. Plastic doesn't break down and is very menacing. Your setting has left these images slushing around in my head.
- January 17, 2010 5:26 PM
I love the way you took the grand scope of a post-apocolyptic world down to such an individual level. The MC's voice really came through.
- January 17, 2010 6:01 PM
- V.B. Purcell said...
Confusion is there because you are glimpsing at a piece of a puzzle. It would seem I haven't written this piece's purpose clearly. Then again, revelation is not necessarily made known through clarity.
I'm glad people have pointed out what I had hope were obvious elements (apocalyptic tones etc). There are also a lot of underling tones that connect to other moments not revealed. I believe this is lends toward questions.
Thank you for reading and for your comments. They were what I had hoped for.
- January 18, 2010 8:29 PM
Dear Entrants #1-105,
I have read your pieces so that I can fairly participate in the Readers' Choice vote. (I read all of them through last week, before I started commenting.) I will be coming back around to offer my keep/tweak comment, but I didn't want anyone to snark.
Aerin (#236)
BTW, it's perfectly fine if you still want to snark, but this way you can choose a more appropriate subject, like the new Starbucks paninis or the people over 35 who are exclusively on MySpace
- January 19, 2010 5:08 PM


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Tissue paper (7"-8")
pipe cleaners or floral wire
1. Lay your tissue paper in the color order that you want for your flower to look. For example: if you want your flower to be lighter on the inside and darker on the outside make sure your darker tissue is on the bottom.
2. Fold the tissue paper back and forth like an accordion (approximately 1/2 inch in length).
3. Loosely wrap the pipe cleaner or floral wire around the center of the tissue paper and secure it with a twist.
4. Cut the ends of the tissue paper to give your flower a rounded or pointed edge.
5. Open the tissue paper on both ends and gently lift the first layer of tissue paper so that it is separated from the rest of the paper.
Not a Member of the Red Hat Society? There's Only One, Join the fun!
Ready to attend the greatest, most joyful event for women in the world? Let this serve as your official invitation to join us in Indianapolis, Indiana for the 2015 International Convention.


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The Road
IMDB rate: 7,3
I found this an amazing movie, which is kinda terrifying and touching at the same time. Nobody in the movie haves a name, even when you search for it, the actors will be named as 'the boy' or 'man'. Man is played by Viggo Mortensen, and the boy is played by Kodi Smit-Mcphee, these were the main characters of the movie. Both played their roles very well.
Man and the boy are walking through a burned world, filled with ash and with no sun shining through. They are in search of food while they keep walking towards the sea. While they are walking, they need to be careful for cannibals that are even more desperate for food. They see a lot of terrifying things but they keep holding on. I won't give out any spoilers, because that will probably ruin the movie, but I definitely recommend this movie!
I haven't read the book yet, but I will definitely buy it when I come across it, quite curious because many people think the book is way better and the movie is kinda disappointing compared to the book. Anyway, this movie is absolutely for people who are interested in apocalyptic genres with a bit of horror/thriller. I was quite impressed by it and I definitely recommend this one. Don't watch this if you don't like dark and sad movies.
My personal rate: 8/10


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I was wondering well I really wanna know where the best place to find a siple vale and stone blocks/ Money to buy them for my crafting quest also where can i find a recipe vender who sells stuff for deaths wizards??? (I'm death level 37)
Hi Wildrose! It sounds like you want to know where to get a simple vial? You buy those at a vendor in Krokotopia for 40 gold each. This guy right here sells them:
His name is Al Saf'wan and he looks mean, but he's really quite quiet. I do like his book collar he's wearing in that picture. I want a book collar like that.
It also sounds like you're searching for stone blocks as well. You can find those all over the place from Krokotopia to Dragonspyre. This thread at central is one that I've contributed to before. You'll find all kinds of good information about where to find those crafting Reagents. At level 37 . . . hmmm. Knights Court might give you an opportunity to get some scrap metal while you're farming stone blocks.
Keep in mind that the best way to farm reagents is to run a path that's rich with nodes, jump to a new server, and run the path backwards, jump to a new server, and wash rinse repeat until you've gone through all the available servers.
The last part of your question seems to be asking about who sells good recipes for death wizards. Here's a short list of them for you:
1- Mortis, the death tree in Nightside--he sells all your treasure cards.
2- Zam Fir in the Karanahn Barracks of Krokotopia
3- Darcy Holdstock on the Scotland Yard Roof in Marleybone
4- Yao Fan in the Ancient Burial Grounds of Moo Shu
5- Nada Sunderblade in the Necropolis of Dragonspyre
The best place to find all the vendors of all crafting recipes is this thread at central.
Hope that helps with your crafting endeavors!
Happy Dueling!


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Athlete Guide for 2018 will come out around one month before race day.
Important that you planing for the mandatory race briefing that is on Thursday before race day!
Download the Athlete guide for 2017 below.
It is essential that you read the Athlete Guide carefully and understand the requirements of the event and the timetable for registration, racking and the race.


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UKSG is an international association that exists to 'connect the information community' and 'encourage the exchange of ideas on scholarly communication'.[1] The name UKSG originally stood for United Kingdom Serials Group, but the association is now known simply as UKSG as it has expanded beyond the UK and beyond serials to include e-books and other electronic resources.[1]
UKSG's 500 or so member organizations include libraries, publishers, information suppliers, intermediaries and technology vendors from around the world. Membership of UKSG and associated benefits cover all employees within an organisation. Individual membership is also available as is free membership for students over 18. UKSG is a registered charity[2] led by a main committee of volunteers (three Honorary Officers (Chair, Treasurer and Secretary), nine elected members and up to six co-opted members) who work in a variety of capacities within the scholarly communication industry.[1]
UKSG works to facilitate discussion, stimulate research, support the professional development of its members and disseminate information about the scholarly communications sector. It runs an annual conference in the spring and a One-Day Conference and Forum in the late autumn. It also runs regular seminars, webinars and training courses. It supports an active email discussion list, lis-e-resources: a forum in which members can exchange and discuss industry news and developments.
UKSG publishes the open access, peer-reviewed journal Insights: the UKSG journal (ISSN 2048-7754) (formerly Serials, ISSN 0953-0460),[3] containing the latest research in the field of scholarly communications and insights into the work of all those employed in the research information chain. It provides members with a fortnightly email newsletter, UKSG eNews (ISSN 2048-7746), which provides news of current issues and developments within the global serials industry. It also publishes The E-resources Management Handbook.
Work on knowledge basesEdit
In 2006 UKSG commissioned a research report[4] that identified and described issues affecting the efficiency of OpenURL linking. One of the key issues identified was the exchange of metadata in the supply chain and the need for more common formats to aid the transfer of metadata from content providers to link resolver knowledge bases. As a result, in 2008 UKSG and NISO set up a joint initiative called Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) [5] to make recommendations for the transfer of metadata. The first set of guidelines was published in January 2010 as a NISO Recommended Practice.[6]
The UKSG Research and Innovation Subcommittee was at the forefront of the Transfer Code of Practice and the Journal Usage Factor (JUF) project and, with the support of Jisc, partnered with LISU to carry out the research project "Assessing the Impact of Library Discovery Technology on Content Usage" which was delivered in 2013. The UKSG Research and Innovation Subcommittee welcomes new ideas for research projects from the community.
- ^ a b c "About us". UKSG. Accessed: 2012-03-24
- ^ UK Registered Charity Number: 1093946
- ^ UKSG http://uksg.org/insights Accessed: 2012-03-24
- ^ UKSG. 21 May 2007. Link Resolvers and the Serials Supply Chain uksg.org Accessed: 2012-03-24
- ^ KBART, the Knowledge Bases And Related Tools working group of NISO and the UKSG
- ^ NISO Recommended Practice niso.org


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Hi all,
One of my good old friend recommended me a tool which measures any angle without re-measuring it over and over. Well that sounded perfectly for me as I do house work on weekly basis.
I don't need professional tools, but I'd also rather not waste money on really terrible ones. Therefore, I took my friends advice and bought the measuring template tool.
And it actually did a good job. I didn't had to re-adjust everything every single time (like you would do with any other tool).
Anyways, I just wanted to share my little experience with this tool and if any of you are interested into trying it out, you can find it here:
Thanks for reading!
A few different options and prices for us this side of the pond - I've only linked to a few of those that appear on Amazon - tried to hit the low and high priced ones - with a few in between:
Curious - what makes this so useful vs a simple angle finder?
I've always used a bevel gauge fro transferring angles and sometimes a Starrett protractor head when I needed to start an angled line from scratch. I'm not sure how Janisbeitans (who posted about this) is using it - but I guess you can set it up to draw many different 3 and 4-sides shapes. It might be a useful tool or just a dust collector - but at $3.28 - not a very expensive one
That looks a pretty useful one based on its flexibility.
Then there's this angle transfer device by festool. Different design, mainly to use with their Kapex miter saw. https://www.amazon.com/Festool-494370-Miterfast-Transfer-Device/dp/B0036V4LIC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499001552&sr=8-2&keywords=festool+angle+finder Only $171.00
I got the Bora which is similar. Paid $21 at woodcraft closeout section, so I thought I'd try it. I've used it a bit with my Hitachi chop saw which cost (on sale/damaged box) about half of what the Festool angle device cost. I will use it whenever I do baseboards, etc. There are other ways to do things but this speeds it up once you get the hang of it. https://www.amazon.com/530401-Duplicating-Duplicator-Measuring-Transfer/dp/B01J7KWMEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499001552&sr=8-1&keywords=festool+angle+finder I watched the Festool videos to figure out the principle, though.
Also this one from Nobex:
or if you are on the other side of the pond:


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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says it is increasingly concerned about the fate of thousands of displaced Dinka tribes people trying to return to their homes in Sudan's Bahr El Ghazal province from South Darfur. The IOM says the Dinkas are stranded on the southern banks of the river Kiir, in the locality of Kiir Galama.
Spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration Jemini Pandya says IOM, with the assistance of community leaders in Kiir Galama, have registered about 4,500 stranded internally displaced Dinkas. She describes their living conditions as desperate.
"They have got no potable water, enough food or any health care, nor do they actually have any money in order to help make the final leg of the journey back home," she said. "And the situation is about to get worse as more and more people are arriving at the location and who are also unable to move on."
Pandya says the Dinkas are part of a much larger group of tens of thousands of fellow tribes people who fled conflict and drought in South Sudan. Many have been in South Darfur for 19 years. In 2003, she says they were displaced again when conflict erupted in Darfur.
The Sudanese government and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement signed a peace agreement in January 2005 ending 21 years of civil war. Since then, more and more internally displaced people have been returning to the homes they fled in South Sudan.
Pandya says this group of Dinka is part of this spontaneous return movement. She says these people are particularly eager to get out of south Darfur which is being ravaged by war.
"These Dinkas have no possessions," she added. "They already lost what they had when they were displaced 19 years ago. Whatever they had managed to accumulate since then and up until 2003, they lost again when they were displaced in that phase of the violence. Their journey to Kiir Galama, the ones who have actually made it there, has been extremely long and difficult. They have had to sell whatever possessions they have had to pay for train or truck fees and whenever they have had no money, they have just had to make the journey on foot."
Pandya says this long, tiring journey home is particularly difficult for women, children and elderly people. She says the IOM is organizing several road convoys to help some of the most vulnerable people get home. The organization also has set up a way station in South Kordofan province that is providing clean water, sanitation, shelter, hygiene and emergency health care.
Pandya says time is running out for these people to get home. She says they have to complete the journey before the onset of the rainy season in May when the roads will become increasingly impassible. If they miss this narrow window of opportunity, she says they will have to wait until next year to resume their long trek home.


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Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys have a new video out featuring a song from their upcoming album "Release Your Shrouds" scheduled for release JUNE 25, 2012!
The band's Joshua Rilko sent us a note asking us to share it with you and we're pleased to do so. The song was performed LIVE at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI by Big Foot Media.


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Jesus, I pray that in the midst of trials and struggles we are experiencing right now, that we will look to You to be our strength and refuge until these calamities have passed by (Psalm 57:1).
Only You know the depths of pain, fear, anger, sadness, and hurt. Only You can save. Only You can make all things new. Only You can heal hearts.
I put my trust in You, Lord, and believe that You are in this. I know You have a plan and it is for good. Help us to focus our eyes on You.
Place a hedge of protection around our household and keep us safe from evil. Give us wisdom as to where You want us to be, and what actions we need to take. Guide our every step and help us to choose love in all things.
Thank You for Your grace, mercy, love and forgiveness.


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Sunday, August 30, 2009
Warm Croissant Pudding
What you need:
3 croissants – crunchy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside. We bought these at Daily Bread.
200 gms caster sugar
60 ml water, to caramelize the sugar
125 ml full cream
125 ml full fat milk
60 ml bourbon. If you're unfortunate like us, and don't have this, use rum. Like we did. It works well too. (if you think you'd it a little stiffer, go ahead and indulge yourself ☺)
1 egg, beaten.
What you need to do:
First of all, preheat the oven at 200 degrees centigrade for about 15 minutes. While that's getting done, roughly tear the croissants and place the pieces in a baking dish.
In a saucepan, put the caster sugar and 60 ml water and stir (without heat) till the sugar has dissolved almost completely. This took longer than we anticipated, and I can safely say my right arm was well exercised. Then put the mixture on a medium to low flame and allow it to caramelize. This should take about 5 minutes or so, and the mixture should turn relatively thick and amber in color. At this point, we have to say, our concoction didn't turn amber as expect ☹ it was just thick and whitish-gray, but that didn't deter our enthusiasm. We went ahead with it anyway.
Once caramelized, add the full cream, ignoring all sputtering and splattering, while you continue to stir steadily.
Then quickly add in the milk as well. Next goes in 60 ml…ok 120 ml of rum. Make sure you're stirring it the whole time or the mixture tends to solidify around the edges and this is not what you want. Especially after step 1 didn't go as planned.
Continue to stir till the mixture turns into a toffee kind of slurry. Again, we must stop to mention that our mixture didn't turn into "toffee" as we know it. That's probably because the sugar didn't turn amber either. But it did SMELL deliciously toffee-like, so we went ahead nonetheless.
Take the saucepan off the flame and add the beaten egg, while stirring it in. Make sure it doesn't scramble too much, as it would tend to.
Next you simply need to pour the mixture evenly over the pieces of croissant, and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes, at 200 degrees centigrade. It's ridiculously simple, and smells heavenly as it bakes.
All you need to do next is swoon as the warm rummy, toffee smells waft from the oven. And wait in anticipation.
When done, take it out, allow it to cool slightly but enjoy while sill warm.
We imagine: it would taste even better if you drizzle some Kahlua or Irish Cream over it. YUM!
I'd like to thank VC for being such a sport. For being ever ready with his camera to go click-clicking whenever I'm in the mood to experiment. Also, I thank him for being my eternal guinea pig, and bravely tasting almost everything I make.
PS: You need to click the pictures to view them enlarged, becuase otherwise its just no good.
Acknowledgements by VC:
• Aditi for letting us waltz into her kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, and make ourselves at home, and turn it into a laboratory/photo studio yet again.
• Reva for her enthusiasm to make something again.
• Nigella for her lusciously lovely recipes that whet Reva's appetite and curiosity enough to tempt her to give it a try.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Gooey Apple Cinnamon Cake
You will need
- 2 apples
- 2 apples
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder (cinnamon sticks can also be ground into this)
- 1 cup sugar
- A handful of brown sugar
- Quarter teaspoon salt
- Unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup regular flour (maida)
- 1 cup wheat flour
- Curd
- And an oven
You will also need the basic other stuff like bowls, cutlery, plates and a baking dish.
If you have a tablespoon of cinnamon power, great. If not, take the sticks and grind them. Remember we're aiming for a tablespoon of powder, not chunks or pieces. So you will have to grind this and then use a strainer. Once that's done…
Take the two apples and skin them. We don't want the skins because they kinda ruin the taste. Also, skins are waxed these days to make apples look shinier. We don't want that. So we discard the skins.
Take a big mixing bowl and add one cup of regular flour,one cup of wheat flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, the tablespoon of cinnamon powder and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt. Make sure you mix this well so that all four ingredients are evenly distributed.
Next, take the unsalted butter and cut away a generous piece. Then chop it to shards. Ideally you should be using butter which is at room temperature, but we being amateurs, we pulled it right outta the refrigerator and decided to make it work instead of waiting for it to warm up. We're aiming to get half a cup of unsalted butter. We then have to cream it. Creaming essentially means that you need to use a fork (probably works best) and kneed it till it looks like whipped cream. It needs to be a nice thick substance, rather than lumps of butter we started out with.At this point, set the oven at 220 degrees centigrade. The reason we're doing this is because the oven will have to be preheated for 20 minutes before we put the batter in. It should take us roughly 20 minutes to get it ready from this point.
Then take a cup of sugar and put it in the blender. When it becomes powdery fine, add it to the butter and continue kneading. Make sure it's mixed well. Ideally you should use a fork when mixing, but if you're slightly short on patience, feel free to get your hands in there.
Add in an egg, and beat. Then add in a bowl of curd and beat again. At this point, make sure you don't over beat after adding the curd. (If you over mix, the curd will cause the mixture to curdle). So do it quickly.
Great, now once that's done, add the mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix again.
Remember, your skinned apples are still lying on the counter. Chop it up into chunks and add that into the batter. Then mix. Your batter is now ready. Go ahead and try it.Pull out your baking dish, grease it with butter and line it with flour. Again, this is important simply because you don't want the pie to stick to the dish when you pull it out of the oven.
Put the batter into the baking dish, spread it out and sprinkle some brown sugar on it.If 20 minutes are done, stick the dish into the oven.
We had to pull it out coz we realized that the oven was not switched on. We just set the temperature and forgot to switch it on. This time, we switched it on and made sure the red light came on.
After 20 minutes we stuck the dish into the oven again… and prayed. Even our granny joined us. After all, we hoped that we didn't screw up.After 10 minutes of baking, lower the temperature to 220 degrees centigrade and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. Once done, pull it out.
Now cut it up and serve. We had it with Vanilla ice cream but I've been told, it tastes yummmm with custard as well. Trust me, our prayers worked. It was gooooooodddddd…
- Reva again for baking it just right.
- Reva again for baking it just right.
- Aditi for letting us use her kitchen again, and this time, remaining completely calm during the whole process.
- Shanta and Leela for helping us cut and pound when we were not doing it right.
- Dodda for praying.
- I know I should be thanking someone here for the recipe…..humm…oh yes… smittenkitchen.com
- Reva said that I should also credit the photographer as well. I will do so by thanking myself here.
Until next time, STAY HUNGRY AND EXCITED!!!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Oreo Fudge Brownies
This is a dummies guide to making great chocolate brownies. Mushy at the core with little lumps of chocolate and crunchy on the surface.
I've never stepped into a kitchen.But this an easy tutorial. A step-by-step procedure,supplemented with pictures, which I will follow.
Lets get started. This serves (I would like to think 1) four healthy people. You will need the following…
- 400 gms - Cooking chocolate. You will get slabs of these in any super market. You can even use dark chocolate. We went with regular to be safe.
- Cooking butter also known as unsalted butter – also available in any super market.
- A box of Oreo cookies
- Sugar
- A food processor (for those who don't know what a food processor is, it's one of those things that convert lumps to powder, popularly known as grinders). See, this really is a dummies guide.
- Three eggs
- A tablespoon of vanilla essence
- Baking powder
- Some basic stuff that you would find in a kitchen, like bowls, a stove and some cutlery.
- Some non-basic stuff that you would find in a kitchen like an oven and a food processor.- And if you really wana have some fun making your brownies, get amacbook and play some music on it.
Great, so once that's organized…Take the slab of cooking chocolate and cut it up real nice. Pound on it, slice it up, do whatever you have to, but break that big slab into shards. We used a knife and a cutting board, which will also work just fine. Please understand that we're not cutting it up for fun. We're cutting it up so that it's easier to melt
Once that's out of the way, pick up a big bowl and put 6 to 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter in it. Then add the chocolate shards in.
Now this is tricky so pay attention. You have to melt the chocolate and the butter until it becomes a thick, liquidy, and heavenly substance as seen below.
But make sure that when you melt it, you use two bowls. This is very important. Keep the outer bowl directly on the stove and fill it with water (refer the picture below). Then keep the smaller bowl, which contains the chocolate shards and the butter inside the larger bowl containing water. The idea here is to gradually heat the chocolate; otherwise you may end up burning it. So effectively, the water gets hot, and in turn the chocolate and butter melt. Oh before I forget, keep stirring this slowly with a spoon till you get the above results. If your forearms start hurting, switch hands.Now spare a moment to take a whiff. I can promise you, it 's one of the best smells ever. I love the smell of petrol and make it a point to take deep breaths whenever I refuel at a station. I can proudly say that this smelt marginally better. Keep the chocolate aside for a bit (it needs to cool down).
After you're done taking deep breaths, if you can get yourself to stop, get one and a quarter cups of sugar and throw that in your food processor. (Just the sugar, not the bowl).You need to turn those granules into powder. So fine that you should be able to inhale it.You can also manually grind this with a pound. But you will have a lot more difficulty inhaling, if done this way. WAIT. DO NOT INHALE. That was just to give you an idea of how fine it should be.
Great, now put that into a big empty bowl and add three eggs to it. Crack the eggs open with a fork or a knife. Do not squish them with your bare hands (even if you think that's more fun).
Grab a fork and start beating (Make a quick clockwise rotation with the fork) until mixed thoroughly.Now add one tablespoon of vanilla essence and beat again. Take a moment to smell the vanilla essence. Not as good as the petrol smell but still worth it.
Now take both of your greatest creations, combine them and stir (also known as "folding") well.
If it looks somewhat like this, you're on the right track.We're still not done. Another 40% to go. Add in 1 cup of flour (popularly known as "Maida" in
Phew, when it looks something like this (below), add one tablespoon of baking powder. Then "fold" again.
It's time to rip open the box of Oreo biscuits. Break the Oreo biscuits into small pieces as shown below.
Now add a little flour to the broken Oreos. Half a cup should suffice. Mix them up with your hands. This is to ensure that the Oreo biscuits are lined with a layer of flour so that they don't stick to the chocolate immediately.
Throw in the Oreos as well and... "fold".
Doesn't that look nice and lumpy? Smell it some more. Aaaahhhhh... does anyone remember petrol anymore?
Now find a baking dish or a baking tin. Grease it with butter and line it (also called "dusting") with flour as shown below. You want to make sure you do this. If you don't, believe me, the baked brownies will stick to the base of the baking dish and will not come out unless scraped.
Now transfer the mush into the baking dish. All we need to do now, is to shove it in an oven. You need to pre-heat the oven for 30 minutes at 150 degrees centigrade. This means that you should have done this 30 minutes ago. Then shove the mush in for another 35 minutes. DO NOT open the oven before time.
After 35 minutes, open the oven and stick a toothpick into the brownie. If the toothpick comes back out clean, its ready and you can safely pull the brownie out of the oven. If the toothpick comes out with come dough stuck on it, you've messed up big time. Stick the dish back into the oven and continue to bake. Repeat the toothpick test process every 10 minutes. If the toothpick doesn't come out clean after 5 attempts, book your losses, quit wasting more time on it and start all over again. This time, pay more attention.
On the other hand, if all goes well, (J) it should look like this (below) when you pull it out from the oven.
Cut it into pieces, force it out of that dish and sprinkle powdered sugar on it. Enough time wasted. Sink your teeth in.
Best served with vanilla ice cream, but feel free to get creative.
Reva for her willingness to make me these brownies.For having the patience to tolerate my camera and for being hungry and excited.
My mother-in-law (below) for losing it just ONCE when we were busy messing up her kitchen and more importantly, when we almost broke her baking dish.
Praerna Arora for sharing this recipe with Reva and inspiring her to try it at least once so she could discover her domestic side.
Lastly Oprah, for sharing this recipe with Praerna through her website.


text:
Springfield, MO (PRWEB) August 15, 2014
Now with an even wider selection of polo shirts for both men and women, Express Press is adding the Nike Golf Dri-FIT series to its array of shirts available for custom embroidery. The Dri-FIT series, according to the Nike website, is a "high-performance, microfiber, polyester fabric that moves sweat away from the body and to the fabric surface, where it evaporates. As a result, Dri-FIT keeps athletes dry and comfortable."
- "Dri-FIT's Body-Mapping fabric construction features strategically placed ventilation zones to allow air to flow and cool the body where you need it most.
- Dri-FIT UV works double-duty by also providing minimum UPF 30 ultraviolet protection so you can focus on your sport, not your sun care.
- Nike Pro apparel features durable and comfortable four-way stretch Dri-FIT fabric to move moisture away from your skin, helping you stay dry, cool and moving freely."
Express Press offers Dri-FIT polo shirts for both men and women in an extensive selection of sizes and colors (including, but not limited to, Black, Chlorophyll, Fair Blue, Midnight Navy, Orange, Urban Haze, Varsity Red, Varsity Royal, and White) and as well as a large array of other brands, such as Gildan, Anvil, Hanes Stedman, Canvas, and Bayside.
Express Press also offers an incredible collection of graphics to choose from to have custom-embroidered on any of these polo shirts, and if the graphics don't suit the client, the company's expert graphic designer can work with the client to create the perfect design.
About Express Press
Express Press is a full-service screen printer that was founded in 1981. They print on all apparel including T-shirts, aprons, hoodies, hats and specialize in custom baseball shirts, custom basketball jerseys, and custom embroidered polo shirts. Their professional staff of 18 will take a custom idea and turn it into a reality with their free graphic arts department. They have no minimum order requirements and no limitations to what they can help you achieve. Express Press offers competitive prices and fast service to their valued customers. They serve the Springfield MO metro area including Ozark, Nixa, Republic, Battlefield, Rogersville and Strafford.


text:
Poet & Poems
"is the author of six books of poetry, several translations and two collections of essays. Her most recent volume After, on being published in both the US and UK, was nominated for the UK's T. S. Eliot Award and named one of the Washington Post's best books of 2006. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, the Academy of American Poets and the National Endowment for the Arts; other awards include the Poetry Center Book Award, Columbia University's Translation Center Award and the Commonwealth Club of California Poetry Medal.
Her work gravitates toward the point where the philosophical, emotional, and sensual realms intersect...." See HERE.
I like to read poetry, I do not like, as much, to read about poetry. I think a poem (or a poet) can be done to death by over analysing it and over-interviewing her/him. There are numerous interviews and articles about this poet online. I'll leave it to any interested reader to Google for 'em. I tried to glean enough for a post from one or two, but soon found them a tad irritating. Sorry. I'm sure Ms Hirshfield, and all of her interviewers, would find my views equally irritating!
There could be some astro-irritability here for me - though I'm not sure from whence it could come. Her natal Sun is less than a degree from my natal Jupiter in Pisces. There are other conjunctions too her Aries Mars conjoins my Saturn (maybe this!) Her Venus is close to my Aries Moon, Her Moon and Uranus in Cancer are close to my ascendant. She doesn't have much Earth - only Jupiter in Taurus and it's close to my North Node of Moon. I think the irritation factor must be her Pisces Mercury irritating my more down-to-earth Capricorn Mercury. I'll leave it at that.
I do like this poem of Ms Hirschfield's though:
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs–all this resinous, unretractable earth.
And this one:
A Person Protests to Fate
A person protests to fate:
"The things you have caused
me most to want
are those that furthest elude me."
Fate nods.
Fate is sympathetic.
To tie the shoes, button a shirt,
are triumphs
for only the very young,
the very old.
During the long middle:
conjugating a rivet
mastering tango
training the cat to stay off the table
preserving a single moment longer than this one
continuing to wake whatever has happened the day before
and the penmanships love practices inside the body.


text:
2011-05-25 / Front Page
I.S. 204 Wins Basketball Championship
Coach Thomas Carroll with Oliver Wendell Holmes Intermediate School, I.S. 204 of Long Island City basketball team, which won the 2011 New York City Middle School Basketball League Championship on May 14 at Truman H.S. in The Bronx. I.S. 204 finished first out of 72 middle schools throughout New York City.


text:
I'm so excited that my burlap pillow made it into the CSI Project's Top Ten this week!!
It's doubly exciting because the Martha Stewart Crafts Department themselves were the judges!!
If you guys haven't heard or seen the projects from this past week, check it out here!
There were some amazing projects and I'm so honored to be among some of the top ones.
Check out the talent and enter in next weeks yourself!
These challenges are so fun!


text:
South Australia
The Branch meets regularly at the UNAA Office at 81 Carrington Street, Adelaide. Some members attend meetings while others offer support financially and promote WILPF through their networks by spreading news about WILPF's international, national and local campaigns.
We organise a diverse range of activities to promote peace such as photographic and historical exhibitions, book launches, guest speakers on current topics and participate in many international peace campaigns.
In July 2015, the Branch made a submission to the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.
On 21 September 2014, we hosted a UN International Day of Peace with 19 local organisations updating everyone on their current campaigns. In April 2014, we rallied in support of the Global Day Against Military Spending (GDAMS).
Leonnie Blumson at Global Day Against Military Spending 2014
Some branch members also regularly broadcast on the University of Adelaide's Radio Adelaide network (101.5fm) on a weekly peace program A Peace of the Action which WILPF helped establish seven years ago.
WILPF works closely with the United Nations Association of SA, the UN Status of Women Committee, the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan and many other local peace groups.
We welcome new members who may like to take a lead in a specific project or campaign, attend to learn more about peace activism and current issues, or just be a WILPF supporter in general.
For further information contact :
Ruth Russell at Global Day Against Military Spending 2011
Sue Gilbey at WILPF Conference 2011