The following post is a reprint from July, 2011:
If any of my children were stand-up comics, I would be giving them plenty of material to use in their act.
I used to laugh at all of those comedians who told stories about their parents and grandparents not being able to work a VCR or figure out how to use an answering machine.
.
We’re going to finish up our month of “Texas” recipes with an old standby – King Ranch Casserole. Legend has it that this recipe originated at the King Ranch in Texas – that’s what my mom told me years ago when I asked her about it.
This was a favorite of mine growing up – again, our family doesn’t care for “spicy”, so instead of the traditional can of Ro-tel tomatoes, I always substitute a can of plain diced tomatoes.
Since Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup has wheat in it, I use Progresso’s C of M soup instead and add some gluten-free flour to it to give it the consistency of condensed soup. (If I’m in a really inspired mood, I’ll make my own with GF flour, butter, mushrooms, chicken broth, and cream 🙂 )
.
Continue reading
Who let the (old) broads out?
The first day of high school (Fall, 1974), the girl sitting in the desk in front of me in my first class (German II, with Herr Suhr) turned around and said, “Hi! I’m Becky.”
Continue reading
Last year, we were having fun introducing Rebecca to a wider range of movies. Whereas before she was primarily interested in the animated flicks, last year she started developing a taste for the offbeat humor that us older folks enjoy.
One of her favorite “grown-up” movies is “Ghostbusters”, but she also took a shine to the original “Men in Black” movie. One of my favorite musical moments in that movie is the tunnel scene when Tommy Lee Jones pops a toe-tapping tune into the 8-track player.
Now, I haven’t kept up with all of the Elvis songs, so I wasn’t familiar with that catchy little number, but thanks to the internet, I took a couple of the words that I heard – “Swing down chariot” – and entered them on the Search line, along with “Elvis”.
One of the great things about having kids is that you get to watch cartoons without anyone thinking you are weird. One of our family’s favorites the past few years (it first aired in 1999) has been SpongeBob SquarePants. He’s such a sweet nerdy character, and the writing on the show is very clever.
I used to think that I was a truly odd duck – thanks to the Internet, I have discovered that there are a WHOLE lot of people out there who share my nerdy, offbeat humor. It’s been great! The best part is that I am able to surf the net and find lots of quirky stuff that I never would have known about otherwise.
I recently ran across a wonderful blog written by a delightful young lady named Vi Hart. She makes math FUN (my Aunt Gloria – a high school Calculus teacher who saw “math” everywhere she went – would have loved her). I had a great time looking through her YouTube videos, but these are extra special:
Continue reading
Our little munchkin, Rebecca
I’m not usually big on “Awareness” Days, but I make an exception for this one, because it celebrates some very special people. The date that was picked (3/21) is no accident – on this date, we celebrate those wonderful people who have 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. Life in a family with a DS member is a whirlwind adventure!
.
Hooray! The mantle was finally completed this weekend – Paul finished all of the “last-minute” tweaks, sanded it, stained it, and put a couple of coats of shellac on both the upper and lower mantle pieces.
Now they are both in place and ready to rock:
.
(And yes, Paul will be getting a TV that is big enough to fill the entire space above the mantle; that’s why we have so many plugs up there…. 😛 )
.
.
This cute song is from a live stage performance I saw on TV many, many years ago; it’s called “Your Feet’s Too Big“. I was wracking my brain trying to remember where I had seen this song.
As it turns out, that song – and the performance that I saw all those years ago – was from the Tony-award-winning Broadway show “Ain’t Misbehavin‘”, which aired on NBC in 1982 (and re-aired on Bravo in 1999).
I tried to find this version of “Danny Boy” (Garrett Morris, SNL, 03/18/78), but it’s behind a paywall at Hulu…
One of the reasons that I love Saint Patrick’s Day is because it gives me an excuse to listen to one of my all-time favorite songs, “Danny Boy“.
If there were ever any doubt about my ancestry (I’ve got some “Kelly” and “Carroll” in my family tree), the way that this tune makes me feel like I’ve “come home” puts that to rest – there is no denying that music from the British Isles is the kind of music that stirs my soul.
In putting this post together, I listened to a LOT of different versions of the song, and I ran across one that surprised me. You see, I’ve only ever known Bob McGrath as a performer on “Sesame Street” – I didn’t have a CLUE that he had such an amazing voice!
When I heard this version, I knew that I had found “the one” (I apologize for the video quality – the audio is pristine):
.
.
OK, this is great.
Warning: Be sure and pee first before you read this……
Life as a child growing up in Texas…
Author Unknown
Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a 1955 40-horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down?
Tough sumbich..
The Fat Lady Has Sung
Koch's Tour 