Well, two of Michelle’s cats, Anubis and Momma Cat, have decided to occupy the end of the bed this evening.
They are currently displacing two of our other cats, Pepper (Sarah’s cat) and Freckles (my cat), who normally perch there.
We shall see what happens when the legacy cats confront the interlopers….
Yes, I’m a geek – I bought this for Rachel several years ago.
She’s a geek, too – she loved it….
(Okay, I bought myself one as well – couldn’t be letting her have all the fun!)
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It wouldn’t be Pi day without a recipe to fill that cool Pi plate, so here is my absolute, all-time favorite pie recipe, courtesy of my dear, sweet mother-in-law (you will definitely want to double it, because it is just that good!):
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Buttermilk Pie
(Makes 1 pie)
1 C. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Flour
3 Egg Yolks ***
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted
1 tsp. Lemon Extract
2 C. Buttermilk
1 pie crust
Mix all ingredients together and pour into an unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees until firm (approximately 45 – 50 minutes).
Easy AND delicious – does it get any better than that?
Bon Appetit!
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*** The original recipe calls for meringue on top – I assume that the egg whites were held in reserve to make it. Other recipes for Buttermilk Pie that I have seen call for the entire egg to be used in the filling. While I have not tried this personally, I would imagine including the whole egg would not be a problem – this recipe is a little “runnier” than most; adding the egg whites would probably help firm the filling up a bit.
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Today is my Dad’s 87th birthday. I can’t tell you how very glad I am that he is still here to celebrate with us – Paul lost his father a few years ago, and it is a loss that he feels every day.
A couple of months ago we received a bill from the IRS for ~$8500 from our 2017 tax return because our parent loans for Michelle were discharged after her death, and the amount which was discharged was considered “income” by the IRS.
We received a call from the IRS last week expressing their sincerest condolences for our loss. We were also told that they have closed our case and that we do not owe any of that money.
Yeah, I cried.
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My dad sent me this a while back; since today is Texas Independence Day, I wanted to share them with you:
Due to the popularity of the “Survivor” TV show, Texas is planning to do one entitled: “Survivor – Texas-Style!”
The lucky contestants will all start in Dallas, drive to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, then over to Houston and down to Brownsville.
They will then proceed up to Del Rio, El Paso, Odessa, Midland, Lubbock, and Amarillo.
From there they will go on to Abilene and Fort Worth.
Finally. back to Dallas.
The cutest thing happened last night.
Paul, Rebecca, and I were all sitting on the couch. I was talking on the phone with Rachel, Paul was playing on his Kindle until his turn to talk to her, and Rebecca had her headphones on, watching something on her Kindle.
I became aware of Rebecca reaching for my right hand and Paul saying something to me about Rebecca wanting both of us to put our hands on our hearts for some reason.
Well, I looked over at her Kindle and realized that she was listening to a piece of music from an album of patriotic songs. The piece of music?
The Star-Spangled Banner.
So there we all sat, hands over our hearts until the song (which only Rebecca could hear) was over.
I couldn’t stop laughing over the cuteness and the sweetness of it all.
And it was yet another reminder of how blessed we have been to have a child with Down syndrome in our lives. How many other 17-year-olds would just matter-of-factly make sure that everyone paid respect when the National Anthem – unbeknownst to them – was being played on a tiny device in their living room?
For us, it was just another day with Rebecca 😊
I’m going to say my piece (peace?), so please bear with me.
If ANYONE on either side of the political aisle tries to tell me that “Jussie Smollett is just a confused kid”, or that “we should cut him some slack”, or that “we don’t understand what it means to be a gay black man in a country steeped in White Privilege”, or ESPECIALLY that “he was just trying to open up a dialogue about what a racist, homophobic country we live in”, well I am afraid that I am just going to start screaming in people’s faces and using some words that my momma isn’t going to like.
This entitled little snot is the one who is racist, and I hope that they throw the book at him.
With malice aforethought, this man deliberately lied and lied and then lied some more. He made the worst sort of assumptions about several groups of people (namely whites, heterosexuals, and Trump supporters), and then had the audacity to accuse those people of the very things that he himself PAID other people to do.
This is just the latest in a long line of hate crime hoaxes, and each time one of these is found to have been perpetrated by the very person who initially claimed to be the victim, the rest of us are the ones who get lectured about what WE are doing wrong.
ENOUGH.
No more believing all victims. I’m sorry, but these people have brought it on themselves. They have cried “Wolf” for the last time.
We told them that they were not going to like it when the rest of us decided it was time to start playing the game by their rules, but this is what it has come to. They have no one to blame but themselves.
I want to see Jussie Smollett in jail, and I want him to be given a sentence which will make it much less likely for the next person to lie for their own gain.
And I want him to be charged with a hate crime.
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Just a couple of kids…..
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It all started in a lecture hall at Texas A&M University in January, 1979. Yours truly was a freshman who started out in Pre-Med, but after one semester – and a tearful call home – I had decided to change my major to one which involved more math – Civil Engineering.
Well, the powers that be in the Engineering department told me that the Calculus class that I had placed out of as a Science major wasn’t really “the same as” the one they wanted Engineering majors to take, so I had to start all over again. I hadn’t changed my major until the spring semester started, so I missed the first “official” day of that class.
The next time that class met, I was sitting in a seat in the lecture hall, feeling quite lost since I didn’t know the professor’s name, office hours, etc. Some guy came in a little late to the class, looking all harried, and sat down in one of the few empty seats – right next to me.
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Because today is a day of romance, I thought I’d share one of the best renditions of “My Funny Valentine” that I’ve ever heard – Michelle Pfeiffer’s version from the movie “The Fabulous Baker Boys”:
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Hope you have a great day with the one you love!
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Well, I went playing on YouTube again, and this time I ran across several versions of one of my favorite orchestral pieces, George Gershwin’s quintessentially classic American composition, “Rhapsody in Blue“.
Rhapsody in Blue premiered in an afternoon concert on February 12, 1924, held by Paul Whiteman and his band Palais Royal Orchestra, entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which took place in Aeolian Hall in New York City. The version that was heard then was for a 24-piece jazz band, not for full orchestra. This was the original arrangement of Gershwin’s masterpiece.
Gershwin had agreed that Ferde Grofé, Whiteman’s pianist and chief arranger, was the key figure in enabling the piece to be successful, and critics have praised the orchestral colour. Grofé confirmed in 1938 that Gershwin did not have sufficient knowledge of orchestration in 1924. After the premiere, Grofé took the score and made new orchestrations in 1926 and 1942, each time for larger orchestras. Up until 1976, when Michael Tilson Thomas recorded the original jazz band version for the very first time, the 1942 version was the arrangement usually performed and recorded.
I, too, had only ever heard the big symphonic version but a few years ago, I ran across an amazing Big Band arrangement that brought a big smile to my face. And a couple of days later, I ran across the “original” jazz band version, which I found I like very, very much.
The complete piece is 16 minutes long, so if you don’t have time, don’t feel that you have to listen to all of them; you might want to sample a bit of each one and come back to them later when you have more time. I think you will probably find that, like me, you end up enjoying all of them on their own merits.
The Fat Lady Has Sung
Koch's Tour 