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| Friday, December 25th, 2009 | |
america_blog_2
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1:41a |
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| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 | |
america_blog_2
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9:59p |
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| Friday, December 25th, 2009 |
the_odd_one
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12:28a |
Family <3
LOL I LOVE MY FAMILY. Candlelight Church went well. At one point during communion, I turned to look at my brother and he had a candle lodged in each nostril walrus-style. I doubled over in the pew trying desperately to stifle my laughter. On the way home, we cranked up "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys and rocked out. We all did the robot and/or air turntables. I hollered the "Like a pinch on the neck from MR. SPOCK!" line really loudly. My mom yelled back, "YOU GO, SHELDON" (re: Big Bang Theory.) I love my family. Anywho, SANTA CAME! So it's time to open presents. Current Mood:  amused |
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biblegtewy_votd
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5:13a |
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| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 | |
america_blog_2
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7:13p |
Koukla
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/b-s1zbTfknw/koukla.html  She's my parents' dog. Drives me a bit insane as she has that yappy dog thing going on. She's certainly better than she was at the beginning, but still, the dog simply must be around people, or she loses it. She's part Maltese and part, well, I'm not sure - possible Yorkshire, and a year old. She's smart, and well-mannered, other than the barking and the incessant need to lick you, and also just a bit annoying with the constant need for attention. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln! My favorite trick of hers is how she drags her bed over to the center of the room, so she can look out the grate my parents put up (last photo below).  
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the_odd_one
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9:35p |
Christmas Eve!
Christmas Eve! HOORAY! It's only about halfway over, too. The morning was spent with TV, coffee, and gradual getting-ready. I made my appetizers, helped mom with hers, got dressed cute, and we were good to go by 3:00, when the cousins were due. They showed up in shifts. AJ and Caryn, then Michelle, then my Uncle Brian. My Aunt Cathy was a no show. I'm only partly surprised. (She and Mom have been having this stupid drama. Whatever lady. It's your loss. We all had a good time with good food and relatives. If you want to chicken out and stick your head in the sand, be my guest. I'm sick of these shenanagins. So are my cousins, it seems.) ( Some photos of the night! )We spent the times between food watching The Big Bang Theory off the DVR and Star Wars on Spike or G4 or some Guy channel. It was a good time! I'm SO FULL OF SNACKS. I have yet to get ready for church. Gotta look pretty to do my reading, yaknow. While we're there, SANTA WILL COME! So we'll come home, get cozy, and open presents. Tomorrow, the other side of the family comes around 2. Also, Mom's birthday! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! BE SAFE! BE MERRY! Current Mood: cheerful |
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theonionfeed
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8:56p |
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america_blog_2
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5:03p |
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icdedpeople
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3:50p |
politics
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.
-- Anonymous |
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america_blog_2
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3:11p |
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talkngptsmemo
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9:58p |
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america_blog_2
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1:09p |
Yawn...another investigation into Wall Street fleecing customers
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/SdOyC362zRc/yawnanother-investigation-into-wall.html And surprise, surprise, another tie to the new Obama team. This same old story gets increasingly old during this administration that talked so much about change. It's the same old problem involving the same old people who are working as deeply with the Obama administration as they did with the Bush team. Maybe even deeper. Does anyone have much of an appetite for these horror stories? If Washington couldn't grasp the moment during the peak of the crisis, how can anyone have any confidence that they will take serious action now? Let's face the facts here: Washington - Republicans and Democrats alike - is owned by Wall Street and will consistently act in Wall Streets best interest over the rest of us. Until we see otherwise, let's stick with that assumption. Ohhh, Wall Street must be shaking in their boots with this news. While the investigations are in the early phases, authorities appear to be looking at whether securities laws or rules of fair dealing were violated by firms that created and sold these mortgage-linked debt instruments and then bet against the clients who purchased them, people briefed on the matter say.
One focus of the inquiry is whether the firms creating the securities purposely helped to select especially risky mortgage-linked assets that would be most likely to crater, setting their clients up to lose billions of dollars if the housing market imploded.
Some securities packaged by Goldman and Tricadia ended up being so vulnerable that they soured within months of being created.
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bonsaye
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12:47p |
Christmas realism
The world around me makes it easy to intellectually acknowledge, but yet disregard Jesus's humble birth. I think about who he is in heaven, sitting in glory and honor as our advocate and intercessor at the right hand of God, more than I think about him as a man growing up in the turn-of-the-millennium Middle East, in a land of dust, political turmoil, and hard work to scratch out a daily living. But this is part of his experience as well... This painting of the angel Gabriel's appearance to Mary was pointed out to me today.  Typically, artists clothe Mary in sumptuous and costly fabric and surround her with grand architecture. Not that they actually thought a first-century Jewish girl wore such clothes or lived among such buildings. Rather, historical realism was not the driving motivation. Because they painted the woman who would bear the Son of God, artists throughout the ages depict Mary with great dignity and honor -- at least according to their own conception of those terms.
But Tanner clothes Mary in simple peasant fabric and places her in a room with rough-hewn stone flooring and ugly, cracked plaster. Even the vase in the background is of the common ceramic variety with no adornment. While other artists depict Gabriel coming to Mary while she is reading, thus showing her industry, intellect, and piety, Tanner's Mary seems to have been doing nothing -- just sitting on her bed. Look closely and you will even see her bare toes. How shocking!
Take note how the simplicity of the scene conveys serenity, matching the humble submission to God’s will expressed on Mary’s face. Though no shining aureole hovers above this peasant girl’s head, we cannot miss her special status as "the favored of God." Excerpt from The Annunciation by Henry Tanner, by Scott Lamb in WORLD Magazine. Hail Mary, by James Martin in Slate Magazine. |
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talkngptsmemo
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7:49p |
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america_blog_2
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11:12a |
It's Christmas cookie time!
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/h0MwNJcXJFI/its-christmas-cookie-time.html  As we've done every year since the 1960s, last night was Christmas cookie making time. As I've written before, every Christmas we make cookies, using an old recipe my mom got in the 50s or 60s, to make Christmas cookies that we then decorate and hang on the tree. This year they won't be going on our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, as Koukla will likely pull the entire thing down. From my Googling, it looks like the "hanging cookies on trees" tradition began in Germany a long time ago. And since I usually get asked, the recipe is at the end of the post. Every year we like to ask you guys to share any particular family traditions you have this time of year. Feel free to share them in the comments.  More pictures, and the cookie recipe itself, following the jump.
cream together:
1 c butter or margarine
1 c sugar (regular old granulated sugar)
to the creamed butter and sugar add:
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
in separate bowl, mix well:
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar
Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients, blend well (on low mixer speed, otherwise it's a mess).
Now comes the hard part. Telling when you have enough flour. Some years, I've had to add a good extra cup (or more) of flour to make the dough the right consistency. Basically, and this is difficult to describe, but the dough should be a nice thick consistency, almost like play-dough (but not as thick as that). It should not be super soft and gooey, it shouldn't really be sticky at all. You want something that you're going to mold into cookies, so it has to be pretty firm to start with.
Once you get the right consistency, chill the dough in the fridge a good hour, to thicken it. Then take it out, spread some flour on your counter or wherever, roll the dough flat and thin (hard to say how thing, really depends on your cookie cutters, but don't go too thin) and start (you really need a rolling pin to do it right), then cut out your cookies. Transfer them to a baking pan (spray the pan if you like), decorate them with colored sugar, chocolate chips, etc. Move any excess sugar away from the side of the cookies, or it will melt and stick the cookie to the pan. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the top of each cookie (and once it comes out of the oven, poke the hole again).
Then bake 8 to 10 minutes at 375F until slightly brown. Take out, let them cool a good ten or 15 minutes before you try to move them. They last for literally weeks, no kidding.
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tokimi
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11:42a |
Merry Christmas~
 Current Mood:  cheerfulCurrent Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - O Holy Night |
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talkngptsmemo
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6:53p |
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wilwheaton
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10:40a |
Christmas Wishes from Steve Martin, and Me, Wil Wheaton
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwdn/~3/DndSmVk6cGc/christmas-wishes-from-steve-martin-and-me-wil-wheaton.html Steve Martin has a Christmas wish to share with you:
(If you can't see Hulu videos, or just want the audio, YouTube has you covered. It's a Christmas miracle!)
And here's my holiday wish, which isn't nearly as funny, but is at least (if not more) sincere:
Whatever you choose to celebrate this time of year, I hope it's filled with all the stuff you like, none of the stuff you don't like, and that you're surrounded by people you love, because that's how I'm doing it, and it rules.
Happy and Merry, everyone.  |
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talkngptsmemo
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5:48p |
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talkngptsmemo
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5:40p |
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asdotcom
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5:56p |
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talkngptsmemo
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5:17p |
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america_blog_2
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8:55a |
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theonionfeed
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11:08a |
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talkngptsmemo
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5:06p |
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