heirloom

when my beloved grandmother passed away, she left behind a jewelry box containing diamonds and rubies, as well as a mink coat that hung in her front hall closet. i wanted none of those things...instead i asked for, and gratefully received, her cookbook. the front cover was gone, and most of the pages are loosed from their binder, but it is absolutely priceless.

my grandma was an amazing cook, as are most grandmothers, i think! i'm not sure how long she used this cookbook ~ if i had to guess, i would say she had it for at least 40 years. i know that it was written by betty crocker, and that it was published by mc-graw hill. but because of the missing cover, i can't find a copyright date.

the best thing about this gift is that it contains page after page of grandma's handwriting. she would scribble down recipes on the backs of envelopes, scrap pieces of paper, or whatever was lying around, then staple it, or tape it, or tuck it away somewhere within the book's pages.

she also made comments on recipes. (as you can see from above, the cocktail sauce is "really good".) her recipe below, for "nan naw's traditional brown pudding" or figgy pudding as we always called it, contains the reminder that it was the "traditional thanksgiving pudding at the woods'".


several years after her death, i found personal notes as well as dirty jokes (haha!!!) tucked away in the pages of the cookbook. the note below was scribbled by my mom's older brother, dale. i'm not sure when it was written...perhaps shortly after his marriage, but that's just a guess.


and i have to include this ornery "business card" i found in the "side dishes" section of the cookbook...sorry for the yellow tone of the picture. the card was terribly discolored.


the really cool thing about the cookbook is that i STILL use it. (just tonight, i used grandma's recipe for the BEST COOKIE on the planet...see the recipe below!) i feel wonderfully connected to grandma when i look at its pages...see her handwriting...and feel her personality emanating from the pages. it's been the most marvelous gift, actually. i don't think i could love anything, or anyone, more.

pineapple cookies (may not sound great, but i guarantee you'll love them)

1 cup soft shortening (i use stick margarine)
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
10 ounces of crushed pineapple WITH juice
3 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

chill in refrigerator for 1 hour
drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheet
bake for 10 - 12 minutes at 350

steve good's body double

i swear steve looks like mark cuban. don't ya think? (i wonder if steve has as much money?)

the light at the end of the winter tunnel

7 days 23 hr 33 min 22 sec until...

the cincinnati reds first spring training game.

yeah, baby.

v-day

the picture above accompanied a very "right-on" editorial piece in time magazine, written by nancy gibbs. if you have time, read the article in its entirety! until you do that, here's my take on nancy's insights into valentine's day.

when i was in high school, v-day was second only to new year's eve as being the "worst" holiday. i was every guy's best friend ~ not the chick whose bra they wanted to unhook and passionately kiss in a parked car. those girls got valentine flowers and candy and what-not. i think i got orange carnations from my dad once.

when i was in grade school, valentine's day seemed more like the event that was most likely to piss off my mom. lord have mercy, that woman was perturbed at us when we (julie and i) would ask her to help us make valentine's boxes for our classroom parties. no kidding...

"i don't even know if we have any boxes." (mom is exasperated)
"when do you need them?" (uh, by february 14)
"you BOTH need one?" (uh, yeah, if it's not too much trouble)
"we're out of glue." (it's too much trouble)
"i'll have to go BUY glue." (guilt trip)
"can't we just cover a box in aluminum foil?" (*sigh* okay)

(when i became a teacher, i promised myself that no student of mine would ever go through this drama. instead, every year i asked a local pizza shop for large white bags, and my kids would decorate them for valentine's day.)

nancy mentions in her article how "Children are expected to bring a valentine for every classmate, unlike the days of our youth, when the teachers would collect the cards in a big red box and then call out names one by one, in a public accounting of exactly how many friends each child actually had."

i think i remember this!!! for some reason, very early on, i don't think i gave valentines to everybody. later, i remember thinking (compassionately ~ wink, wink) , "i'll give a valentine to everyone, but THESE kids will get the UGLY ones because i really don't like them anyways." does this ring a bell with any of you? on the flip side, i also think i remember counting my valentines to see if i had gotten one from all of my classmates...comparing the number of valentines in my box with the amount my friends had. that's a pretty vicious popularity contest to engage in at such a young age. unfortunately, it was a sad pre-cursor to the societal norms of junior high and high school.

"True romance comes unscheduled, unruly, "a madness most discreet," quoth Romeo. Overtime, as it ripens into devotion, still it improvises, a favor rendered, a sudden kiss, a private joke, flowers for no reason."

i agree with gibbs here. the element of surprise, when it comes to love, is most convincing. in reality, any joe-schmo can buy valentine's junk for his sweetie every february 14. it's what happens the other 364 days of the year that really counts. the minute it feels like a duty, it has lost its purpose.

i'll end this post as gibbs ended her piece with the following quote by shakespeare...oh, and here's hoping all of you have a valentine's day filled with genuine smiles and affection...

"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better."

31 days of oscar

turner classic movies is currently running its "31 days of oscar", as they do every year before the academy awards. (this means that every movie playing on tcm for the month of february has either won or been nominated for an oscar.) if you dig old movies, like i do, well then ~ this is just a thin slice of heaven.

the clip below is a 9 minute montage/film honoring the first 100 years in film. (it ran on tcm several years ago, and i'm sure it's shown on there from time to time even now.) film buffs will dig it. the first 90 seconds are a little slow (covering early silent film), but then it picks up. the music is awesome too.

how would you title this photo?

ben's expression is priceless.

obama...yikes!

*disclaimer: yes, i am a christian and attend rvcc. the views represented here are not the views of all christians or people who attend rvcc. don't use my personal political beliefs as fodder for criticizing rvcc or anyone else that you don't personally know.

man, i'm really livin' on the edge with these past couple of posts...

okay, so yesterday, i asked my sister and parents who they were planning to vote for in the presidential primary. i'm leaning very strongly toward barack obama. i've watched all the debates (although i must admit, john edwards was my fav) and hillary just scares the ba-jeebers out of me. and then i heard it ~ for the first time ~ from my sister: barack might be the antichrist.

ka-boom!!!! the anti-christ. holy cow.

seriously, i had never, never, ever, ever thought of that.

this is worth investigating. i mean, for crying out loud, I AM NOT GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN DEVASTATION OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS ~at least not if i can help it.

google: obama is the antichrist. links found: hundred upon hundreds

well i'll be danged.

donald miller, of "blue like jazz" fame, had an interesting take on the "obama as antichrist"thing:

He himself claims that he was baptized at Trinity United Church of Christ. That said, he talks about his faith in a non-“Jesus told me to kill these people” sort of way. This makes him suspect. The true anti-Christ will no doubt champion peace. It’s not the “Jesus told me to kill people” crowd we are worried about, it’s the leaders who can’t hear this obvious voice of God. And it bears repeating that he is handsome. He is very handsome.

miller's next pick as the antichrist???? yep, it's bono. miller's reasoning:

Be afraid: He owns a castle in Ireland. A castle, for pete’s sake! Bono is very adept at controlling large crowds, as he does it for a living.

another site with great info (on obama) is one of my new favorite blogs, mackle. (for cred, ya gotta know that iain - aka "mackle" - is a christian worship leader who is boggled daily by grace, loves david crowder, and is obssessed with Macs ~ uh, eli and marty, were you separated from this guy at birth?).

so anyways, mackle wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece about obama being the antichrist, with resulting comments that blew his mind. these are priceless:

“isn’t it said that the antichrist will die and then come back? well, isn’t his middle name hussein???” (jodi's comment: do we christians believe in reincarnation now?)

"I never saw his face but only HEARD his words, and his voice and his tone and REALIZED that WTF this man is the antichrist. I never even knew Obama or who he was prior to that." (jodi's comment: do we christians regularly use the acronym, WTF? if so,then WTF, steve good ~ i dare you to throw one of those out next sundary morning!)

“barack obama is a wierdo!! he resembles the anti christ! is there any way we can determine if he is or not?” (jodi's comment: what does the antichrist look like? is there an artist sketch of him down at the WPD?)

okay, so here's my final deal...and i'm gonna quote from mackle here 'cause he does such a great job:

As a Christian, can I plead with the Christians on here to get on with loving God, living as salt and light, spreading the gospel and loving each other instead of getting hung up in eschatological craziness. Nobody knows who the Antichrist is - it hasn’t been revealed yet. In fact, who said it was a single person at all?? It could be a whole system, just as Babylon is a personified system. The point is that we have the victory in Christ, these things MUST happen (whoever they will involve and whenever they will occur) and calling dates, times, names and such just makes you look like idiots if you’re wrong, just as everyone who claimed to know who it was over the last 2000 years look like idiots now that it is apparent that they were talking nonsense. Enough with the wild claims, people, and concentrate on living the life God called you to.

bullseye on my back

i've had the worst week.

rather yukky events from the past month culminated wednesday with me finally throwing my hands in the air and giving up. wait...maybe "giving up" isn't accurate. perhaps i am finally choosing to accept the fact that i absolutely can NOT control everything going on around me.

while i have, in the past, chosen to not reveal everything in my posts for fear of what others may think...now i've decided, what the heck? so here's the deal...

about a month ago, two separate co-workers approached me (thankfully) with a story that was floating around. rumor was, i had an "intensely angry" meeting with my superintendent, mrs. francis, in her office. supposedly, i was complaining that my niece, taylor, was not allowed to be on quiz bowl because her basketball coaches wouldn't allow it.

this is a completely made-up story. i spoke with mrs. francis this week about this rumor, which we both jokingly acknowledged as utter rubbish. in fact, i had not conversed with mrs. francis since last summer. we have no idea how this got started...but my name is out there floating around as being a royal witch to my boss. there are a few other facets to this rumor which i also discussed with mrs. f. and were cleared up instantly.

i'm grateful that my co-workers were honest enough to tell me what was happening. but still, i had to make sure that the basketball coaches, as well as my principal, understood that the story was purely fictional.

this week, mrs. f. came to ask me about another rumor floating around about me (specifically my name had been mentioned) complaining about a decision that she had made last week (regarding a school delay). again...not true.

now to be honest, i hear a lot of complaining from all kinds of people about all kinds of things. complaints from parents and co-workers (in the junior high as well as in the other three buildings) alike. and while i hear alot, i rarely repeat. in fact, the circle of people that i trust has recently become much smaller.

so anyways, my superintendent sweetly and graciously listens as i tell her that i have not been spreading rumors about her, nor was i upset by her decision last week. and while she was receptive to what i had to say, i realized that in many ways it doesn't matter because...

for whatever reason, my name is getting tied to alot of "crap" within my district. i honestly don't know why. now, i am far from perfect, and i've made a lot of MAJOR mistakes in my life. i readily admit to that. i take ownership of that. but doggone it, don't accuse me of stuff i HAVEN'T done.

i feel like, through no fault of my own, my name is tarnished right now. and there's not a darn thing i can do about it...barring asking mrs. francis to issue a memo clearing me of all wrong doing. i can't help but think that my principal is beginning to wonder just what kind of a trouble-maker i am. and this kills me.

any of you who truly know me understand that i am an incredible control freak, who worries desperately about what other people think. yes, i am a people-pleaser. no, i don't want anyone to hate me or think bad thoughts. now i am dealing with situations that i can't control that involve people saying untrue things. i'm being double-whammied!

is this the worst thing in the world? heck no. is it wearing me out? heck yes. for the first time in my teaching career, i am not wanting to go to work. i want out of the fray.

leo said i need to decide whether i am going to lower myself and join the fray, or rise above it. this post is not meant to imply that i am joining it. i just don't know how to fight the invisible enemy. perhaps there is no fighting it at all...

*heavy sigh*