Well-Mannered Frivolity

I did it!

Somebody give me a cyber-high five! I survived National Blog Posting Month. 30 straight days of pure, unadulterated drivel. I'm going to celebrate by taking the whole month of December off. Just kidding. I'd hate to let down my 10 loyal readers ( hi mom!).

Totally unrelated story- Will has two imaginary friends--Jeff and Peacock. The other day he was playing basketball with them in the driveway. I asked him what they looked like. He replied, "It's like this, Mama, Jeff is a regular guy, and Peacock is an actual peacock." 

As I was typing that James informed me that when he grows up he is going to have 2 wives because, "you never know when you will need an extra wife." Good advice indeed.

I highly recommend life with 6 year old twin boys.

Wendy

Sunday Salon 11-29-09

Not much reading this week. I blame it on the codeine based cough medicine. It addled my brain to the point that I couldn't concentrate on the written word. And it didn't do too much for my cough either. I'm on my second round of antibiotics. Maybe by next Sunday Salon I'll be back in fighting form.

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi I was a little hesitant to read this books since I am not a big fan of the graphic novel format, but I'm glad I did. It was hilarious. It was about a group of Iranian women talking about men and sex over tea. My favorite story was about a woman trying to fake her virginity to her new husband. She brought a razor blade to bed with her with the intention of making a small cut in her thigh. In stead she ended up cutting her new husband in a very private place. I can't wait to get started on Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by the same author. Marjane Satrapi may have just converted me into a graphic novel fan.

A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media by Bernie Goldberg was the other book I read this week. It was pretty much just preaching to the choir, if you know what I mean. Going in I was already aware of the love affair the media have with the president.

Wendy

10 reasons why Chavo is so angry

a guest post by Katherine about our bearded dragon, Chavo

1. He's ugly

2. He doesn't like people

3. He doesn't like cats

4. He doesn't like it when people are happy

5. He doesn't like his artificial sun

6. He doesn't like eating bugs

7. He doesn't like being trapped in a glass box

8. He doesn't like the color of his sand

9. He doesn't like it when it is sunny outside

10. He's ugly.

Katherine

Thanksgiving

People for which I am thankful

1. My parents. My parents have been married to each other for almost 48 years. They provided me with a fun, stable, and happy childhood, and modeled for me how to have a happy, successful marriage. They are fun, funny, hard working, persevering, and a great team. My parents are the best parents are in the world. And they are even better at being grandparents than they are at being parents!

2. My brother. My dad is in a wheelchair and my mother had back surgery 3 months ago. My brother, David, dropped everything and moved in with them to help take care of them. He is kind, patient, caring and compassionate. And he is a great uncle. And he is a computer genius and a Farmville tycoon.

3. My husband. Bill puts up with a lot from me. And I do mean A LOT! He works hard and takes very good care of us. Even though he works long hours he still pitches in and does more than his fair share of the house work. He keeps me grounded when I'm coming unhinged. He is my buffer between me and the world. He is the bestest, greatest man I have ever known.

4. My children. I have got 5 great kids. I have found out that the terrible twos are more like the terrific twos and that teenagers can be a great pleasure to be around. My children have cause me to stretch and grow in ways that I didn't imagine possible. I love nothing more than to just hang out with them.

5. My small group- And this includes you, Christy. These 3 ladies have seen me through thick and thin. We have celebrated together, we have cried together. I trust them with my deepest, darkest secrerts and they love me in spite of it :). They've got my back, and I can count on them for anything.

6. God. God takes care of me. He lets me roam away and gently pulls me back. He listens when I rant and rave, when I rail and cry. He listens to me even when I don't listen to Him. He is my rock and the guiding force in my life. He has blessed me abundantly.

I have so much to be thankful for. I am richly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wendy

A message for Democrats and Republicans

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

 

It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons: 

• The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775.  You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke. 
• Social Security was established in 1935.  You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.  
• Fannie Mae was established in 1938.  You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.   
• War on Poverty started in 1964.  You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
• Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965.  You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke. 
• Freddie Mac was established in 1970.  You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke. 
• The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.  It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before.  You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure. 

 

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Wendy

This was an email I received from my dad.

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The dog growled and continued to tug, snapping up more fabric, pulling Martin even closer, and more fabric in its jaws, Martin felt his airflow begin to constrict. He wondered if Cujo might choke him to death before the dog ever managed a bite.

Something Missing: A Novel by Matthew Dicks

Wendy

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Make this cake and your family will praise you at the gates. They will rejoice at your feet. They will declare their undying love. They will spontaneously do chores. Okay, I'm lying about the chores part, but it really is a fantastic cake. The recipe was at the end of a book I just finished reading called The God Cookie by Geoffrey Woods. The recipe calls for a dark chocolate cake mix, but I used a fudge flavored one. My darling husband has no love for the dark chocolate. I also used 1 1/2 tubes of cookie dough. Of course, I had small people stealing raw cookie dough from. You may not encounter a problem such as this.

Audra's World-Famous Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake

1 large tube Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

1 bag Nestle Chocolate Chips (The recipe says you can sub butterscotch chips, but I think that sounds gross)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2. Blend the dry mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl until moistened (about 30 seconds)

3. Then after you've greased your Bundt pan, mush the cookie dough in an even layer around the inside of it--almost like a pie crust--but mushed all around.

4. Stir the chocolate chips into the cake batter

5. Pour cake batter into the cookie-lined Bundt pan.

6. Cook at 350 degrees 45-50 minutes

7. Let it cool for 30 minutes or you'll flub the flip. After cool, flip it out on a cake stand or plate and voila!

Enjoy,

Wendy

Sunday Salon Feeling Under the Weather Edition

I have bronchitis this week so my reading has had its ups and downs.

Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel by Audrey Niffenegger Not sure how I feel about this one. It's by the same author that brought us The Time Traveler's Wife, which I greatly enjoyed. Her Fearful Symmetry was just odd. It was about ghosts and twins and twins who become ghosts and ghosts who become twins. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson  I really want to like like this book. I love Bill Bryson, but this one is falling a little flat. First off we get it--you hate Republicans. Fine,  I can deal with that, just quit reminding me every other sentence. Second, why are you writing a book about America if you seem to hate America so much? I've set it aside for now, but I will pick it back up again in a few days. I'm willing to give Bill a second chance.

Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel  by Jonathan Safran Foer. Another book I really wanted to like. Good story. Good concept, in theory. It's told through the voice of a Russian translator who has had 2 years of English at college. It's like reading a book narrated by Yakov Smirnoff. Got old after about 40 pages. I won't be picking this one back up.

the god cookie: a novel by Geoffrey Wood I almost gave up on this one. Too much dialog. It was like reading a Vince Vaughn movie. I'm glad I stuck with it, though. It turned out to be a pretty cute story. It had a cake recipe in the back that I am baking as I type. You line a bundt cake pan with refrigerated cookie dough then you mix up a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix according to the directions on the box and add a bag of chocolate chips. You pour the cake mix into the lined cake pan and bake for 1 hour. If it turns out correctly it will be a chocolate cake inside of a chocolate chip cookie. YUM!

Juliet, Naked: a novel by Nick Hornby This is basic Nick Hornby--A neurotic guy obsessed with music in a bad relationship. Only difference is this time the story is told from the point of view of the girlfriend. Very much worth reading.

Wendy

I just can't get enough of this

Wendy