I wonder where my diploma is? Probably under a bunch of paper.
Drae, didja get the shoes?
So tired. I think I’ll go to bed really really early. Mika, I’m afraid it’s a crime not to like at least half the desserts you listed. On the other hand it leaves more for me.
Hey, I never told you guys I wasn’t weird! There was once an e-mail forward going around, which said something like it would judge my personality by which dessert I liked. There were like 10 desserts. You guessed it. I didn’t like a one, and was forced to choose. Bleh. But like **Lissa **says, more for you guys!
Seriously, if you guys every tasted my apple cake, you’d give up on all those. Well, maybe not, but you’d add a new taste sensation to your list of wants. Spats, perhaps I’ll bring you some next time we meet.
Hey, it’s raining today. I didn’t order rain, so could you please stop it.
Anyway, our first holiday today. Keep in mind most of these holidays will be North Indian and some specifically Punjabi (from the State of Punjab) because, well, that’s what I am. I know other Indians on the boards could tell you about ones I’ve never heard of.
The link tells you plenty, but basically this is our bonfire and thank-god-the-sun-is-coming-back-we-are-saved festival*. It’s held in mid-January, when the days start getting noticeably longer again.
Basic facets: You light a big fire in your street, and everyone comes around and sings and dances around it.
It’s a big deal if there’s been a new event in the house, such as a wedding or a new baby.
I note the website does say the same holiday is celebrated throughout India, with different names.
This is also the day Hindus bathe in the Ganga, to wash sins from last year.
Personal experiences:
The only time I was ever in India for Lohri, I was 15, and (of course) unwed. So I was dancing for a while, and may I flatter myself by saying I was rather attractive back then, and rather fair and light-skinned compared to the natives. Anyway, my auntie noticed all the men were gawking at me, so she (very gently) told me to sit down and not dance anymore.
I also went to the Ganga a few days earlier or later, can’t remember which. We all swore to bathe in the Ganga but it ended up being only me and my (male) cousin, Kapil. Oo! That water was cold! I remember scurrying in and then practically leaping out, both of us did so. Brr! But I always keep the moment in my memory, clear as day.
*Damnit, i forgot to translate the star. Why don’t we have a bonfire festival in the States, around January? I know lots of people do light fires, but it’s not a custom and we all just sit around freezing our asses off.
I’d love to try some, thank you. 
This Lohri seems like a jolly good time. Food, fun, dancing, and fire. What more could anyone ask for? We should definitely have one of those in America, but you’d have to be careful about starting it; there are all sorts of laws about when you can start big fires. I look forward to learning more about Punjabi culture.
And of course silly ol’ me forgets to welcome back our very own Overlord. Glad the trip went well, FCM! It’s good to have you back with us.
Must take care of hungry college student. Hasn’t been *that *long since I was one.
I think maybe that’s at least part of the reason why, that we’ve become such a sue-happy culture, and there are laws about everything. oh well.
Hello, all–2 pages and it’s only Monday! Wow.
I am back from work and I took my letter down to HR and asked that it be put into my file. My NM is not happy about this–too bad. 
I am not one to keep a fight going etc, but I wanted something on file from my POV. I think a paper trail is wise.
My dining room is a wreck! All that rain has ruined the plaster ceiling and one wall and the chandelier and the wallpaper. And it reeks of mildew now. ugh. Roofer comes tomorrow–and I pick out my cabinets and decide my floor and countertops! Hey-it’s only money, right? :eek:
I am not sure if Mika is human–she might be part Vulcan or droid, but not like brownies? That’s un-American! 
Hello to the rest of you–I am tired and off to bed.
Hello, all–2 pages and it’s only Monday! Wow.
I am back from work and I took my letter down to HR and asked that it be put into my file. My NM is not happy about this–too bad. I am not one to keep a fight going etc, but I wanted something on file from my POV. I think a paper trail is wise.
My dining room is a wreck! All that rain has ruined the plaster ceiling and one wall and the chandelier and the wallpaper. And it reeks of mildew now. ugh. Roofer comes tomorrow–and I pick out my cabinets and decide my floor and countertops! Hey-it’s only money, right? :eek:
I am not sure if Mika is human–she might be part Vulcan or droid, but not like brownies? That’s un-American!
Hello to the rest of you–I am tired and off to bed.
Ok, ok, I get it! I’m not human! Sheesh!
Thanks for sharing, Mika (well, not the dessert thing so much, but the info about Lohri). I like to think I’m relatively well informed about other cultures, but there are some big gaps in my knowledge.
Gotta clean and gotta finish off a paper for my boss… Also gotta figure out what I’m taking to a pot luck tonight. Either a salad or a dessert. Actually, I’m thinking I might take the salad I took for Easter… It’s easy, tasty (assuming you like avocado), and quick to put together.
But…other ideas are welcome of course…
GT
Fetch has forbidden flowers! It said so right there in that linky thingy!
Steak is good. Real good. Dang good. I discovered that again last night. It was a good evening. Good friends, good conversation and did I mention, good steak.
I have a dental appointment today at 2 P.M. ICK!
Welcome back FCM. Funny how that lottery thing works isn’t it? They just insist you buy a ticket before they’ll tell you whether or not you won.
But what about pecan pie? Everyone likes pecan pie.
Um.
This from someone who likes peeps. PEEPS, for goodness sake! Though your liking for cheesecake makes you tolerable, at least. If you’re a cheesecake junkie that is. If you’re one of those cheesecake dilettantes who can pass up cheesecake when its in front of them, I don’t want to hear about it.
Elanor, paper trails are always a good idea in situations like yours.
Somewhere between the weekend and this morning, according to my admittedly dodgy bathroom scale, I lost about 8-9 pounds. I full expect to have it back by the weekend.
I wasn’t feeling too hot yesterday and hardly ate a thing. Had a biggish breakfast this morning and my stomach is gurgly again, so we’ll see.
I think Drae got sucked up in the Great Target Void. Or at least semi-permenantly lost in the shoe department. hee hee.
I went through an emotional roller-coaster last week and part of the weekend. I was asked if I’d like to go to a conference for work … in ORLANDO FLORIDA, home of, as you might have heard, Disney World. Now, for my entire life up until last Thursday my mantra was **I will never go to Disney. I hate Disney and all it represents. I hate manufactured entertainment. I will never go to Diseny. I hate Disney and … **
So anyway, when this conference was offered up it was along the lines of, “and it would be great if you could go and take a week and take your kids!” So I thought, “Wow! I don’t ever want to set foot in this accursed place but if the trip is paid for why the hell not!”
So I’m all euphoric thinking how thrilled the kids will be and … Oh. The kids. Which includes one little bitty kid in particular. A kid whose idea of a Big Thrill is to go up and down the stairs (for hours at a time) without holding on to the rail. Jesus, Mary and Joseph: what am I going to do with a pint-sized tornado at Disney? Mom.
Mom. My mother is retired and game for anything. She’ll come with us! Help with the baby! Help my husband when I’m at the conference! What a great idea! Mom, will you come? “Sure, Ellen, I’m game for anything.” See, told you.
So they’re paying for our hotel room for four days, and will contribute at least some money toward getting there. Probably the amount they’d pay to fly me. (This proved correct.) So if we drive …
Drive. 15 hours in the car with one particular itty bitty kid. (See above.) Darling Mr. Baby Cherry can be counted on to be at least reasonable for the car ride between here and North Carolina, about a 5-hour trip. Holy Mary Mother of God. I don’t know if I can stand hours and hours and hours in the car with a human tornado who just wants to run.
So, up and down I go. When it’s all said and done, I figure Disney is One Expensive Proposition, even if work is kicking in a few hundred bucks. If my mantra quells in the next few years and I can actually be talked into going, I’d rather do it when human tornado boy is of sentient age when he can actually enjoy it and it’s not 110% work for me, even with “I’m Game for Anything” Grandma along.
So … we’re not going and my God am I ever relieved
[QUOTE=welby]
But what about pecan pie? Everyone likes pecan pie.
[quote
Nope. You’ve now met someone who doesn’t.
Oops. D’oh! And the only type of cheesecake I turn down is all-chocolate type cheesecake. See above about all choclate things.
Besides, I’d say Peeps are exotic. I mean, they’re certainly not normal.
And now to the issue of peeps…
I like doing deviant things to Peeps, that is, I like to read/hear about such things. I thought for old times sake that I would eat a Peep this year.
I almost threw up. It is pure sugar, encrusted with sugar. Blech.
So, not sure where I stand on the sophistication scale, since I love hot fudge sundaes (but almost never order them or make them–hmmm. Perhaps I should). I dislike most pie (except lemon meringue, pecan and maybe cherry), most cakes, any nouvelle cuisine raspberry pompous chocolate smear and petite fors(sp?).
I like rich, fudgy brownies, chockful o’ nuts, chocolate chip cookies (with nuts) and ice cream.
Yes, I’m 10.
Roofer come and gone–Approx $1000. Not a good time for me to walk away from a job with high principles etc, but I am still looking --I have 2 possibilities to explore. (I just mean I can’t just up and quit w/o another job to go to).
It feels like Monday here.
Sadly, Drae didn’t make it to Target yesterday, but that’s my lunchtime plan for today. There’s a movie I want to buy, too.
I don’t like pecan pie. Stay strong, Mika!
Hit Submit because someone Important was coming, but I had more to say. So there. 
(My homage to swampy.)
Ellen, be prepared to have Baby Cherry resent you later in life. I was four years old when my family went to Disney, and I didn’t remember a darned thing. I forced my parents to take me back just before I graduated high school. I’m sure they were thrilled. :rolleyes:
Neither did anybody else. Next drawing Wednesday night…$82 MIL!
I gotta put together a presentation for Cancun (new client). I mean I just gotta do the slides. That will keep me busy today. Back later.
Tupug
I will give a good home to all the pie and cake that Mika cruelly rejects. Also the lovely pecan pie that Drae won’t eat. I am very altruistic.
I was in bed for twelve hours. I feel better, but I think I ned three cups of strong tea and a hearty breakfast. Unfortunately I am pinned down by a cat.
For the crafty MMPers- Generation T just came in at work. I looked through it yesterday. It’s about how to turn t-shirts into other things. The braided rug idea was clever, but a lot of the suggestions seemed to produce a look we decided was “80’s Rocker Hippy”. Many crafty things that would only look good on fifteen year old models. Worth flipping through, but not buying.