Swampy, a windchill in your house?!? Close the darn window, love. And put on some clothes!
Don’t be sad about ACBG going away for a couple days, just think how glad he’ll be to see you when he gets back. 
And he’ll probably bring you a prezzy, maybe more than one…
What would I do without my Rue stories? I think they’re quite good. I think Rue hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly what Mary was thinking, and all us wimmin’ folk know it.
I didn’t do anything exciting this last weekend. I picked up my new stylish new spectacle ons Friday afternoon, ordered my 10 lb prime rib roast, stood in line at the post office, took the kids to the mall so they could buy Christmas prezzies, and a bunch of other stuff. Saturday I went to my daddy’s house and spent most of the day with him, step-mom, sister and sister’s SO. We had dinner and chatted and I didn’t get home until late.
Yesterday, well, I just grocery shopped, that’s about it it.
I did get some good news on Saturday. My new furniture is being delivered this Thursday. It wasn’t even supposed to ship until today and I wasn’t expecting it until next week. So, now, I’ll have my new furniture in time for Christmas; well except for tables. I still haven’t found “the one”. The only small problem is that I put the Christmas tree where I was planning on placing the loveseat. So, I’ll really have to get creative with furniture arranging. Oh well, it’s a small price to pay. I’m just dang glad to have some nice, new, beautiful furniture.
Swampy, dearheart, I’m slightly suspicious of the frosting on the backside of your jeans. I mean, what were you doing? Rolling around in it?
Wait, maybe I don’t want to know. I’m glad you’re so happy with your sweetie!
I like this story, Rue. Funny perspective.
If you all come to San Diego RIGHT NOW you can lounge around my pool (my complex’s pool, technically). Someone was doing that yesterday. It’s hot and dry out here - about 75 degrees or so.
Somebody has been hard at the egg nog
They also would have stopped and asked for directions so they would have been ON TIME!
Thanks Taters, I was trying to get in touch with my feminine side. But she kept slapping me away, so that didn’t work out so well.
So Joe walks into the inn and says “I’d like a room for me and my wife.” The innkeeper asks “Do you have any reservations?” So Joe says “No. This looks like a fine place to stay.” Oddly, this did not help.
It’s cold and snowy here. I don’t know what temp it is other than friggen COLD! The wind is blowing and making the snow drift. Last night it was freezing rain. Then, we got about 6 inches of snow by this morning. My car has a flat tire so I took Mr. Congo’s car to work. After 40 minutes of fighting with it, I got both doors open, the wipers unstuck from the windshield, the car mostly warm, and most off the ice off the wipers. Let me tell you, trying to open a frozen car door, when you’re suffering from sciatica, is not a pleasant experience.
This weekend was cool. I got my new computer and found out the video card was too advanced for my monitor. Yay! Now I have an excuse for buying that flat panel monitor I wanted 
Mr. C got the monitor working for now and gave me my Christmas present early so we could spend the whole day playing City of Heroes together. By the end of the weekend, I was a level 10! I’ve never made it past 8 before (I didn’t have enough time to play).
Tonight - after work, I get to drive halfway across MA and back just to pick up my MRI films. That should be cool. I can’t wait to look at them. I love stuff like that.
Nuh=uh! The Wise Women would have had to stop at the outlet malls at Jerusalem. You know how big those things are. Why, there are 17 sandal and purple cloth outlet stores alone! And of course none of them would have had anything to wear, so they would have had to go shopping before they could even leave the east. You say they would have brought better gifts but they would have probably just regifted something they already had. At least the Wise Men brought stuff that wasn’t just laying around the house. Ok, the frankencense and myhhr sounds like they stopped at the seven-eleven around the corner from the inn but gold, now that’s class. Bet Mary took that gold and had earrings, a necklace and a matching bracelet made.
Taters see, the thing is I don’t know how it got there. Maybe I wiped my hands on the seat of my pants. Maybe ACBG gave me a frosted butt pat at some point during the festivities. He does like to pat me on the butt a lot.
picunurse I was just hoping he’d hang out (on) Thursday is all. I’m a goin’ away for Crimmus too. We’ll be spending New Year’s together which is much more fun anyway. We did the present thingy with the outdoor cookers already. Even helped each other put each other’s cooker together. At my house, even, cause he doesn’t have many tools. Not that we needed many tools, a philip’s head screwdriver and a wrench was all we needed but he doesn’t have a wrench. How do you live with no tools says I. I either borrow some or get somebody to do whatever requires tools for me says he. But, says I, it’s much more fun to put stuff together or fix stuff yourself cause then you get to fling tools and cuss a lot. Well, says he, since I don’t have tools I guess I get to watch you fling tools and cuss instead.
Works for me. Personally I like flingin’ tools and cussin’. Wonder if Joe taught Jesus the proper procedures for tool flingin’ and cussin’? It’s a useful skill.
[shepherd]Congratulations, Joseph, you’re a dad! Uh, what? You’re not…oh, it was… well…hey, um…good luck with the kid and all anyway. Um, wow…his dad’s who again? No kidding. Wow, um…gee look at the time. Those sheep won’t tend themselves, right? Hey, seriously. Take care. There’s always the next kid, right? I mean he wouldn’t want to have two, would he? I mean only son and all that, right? And I guess she’s still technically a…I mean, it’s not like she actually did it with him, right? So…wow. Really gotta get back to the flock. See ya around.[/shepherd]
What’s sillier than one person walking a picket line?
Driving 40 miles so you’ve got two people walking the picket line!
Yep. That’s what I did this weekend–I drove up to lend my support to some striking workers, and they had all gone home for the day! The nerve! Really, they’ve been putting in a lot of hours, and Sunday night isn’t exactly primetime for picketing, but it’s when I had time. At least with two people you can do the chants.
Also, I’ve had my first crock pot disaster. (Ex, I’m not talking about girly stuff here, I’m talking about burnt stuff). I decided to make steak and peppers in the crock pot–an easy dish however it’s made, but one that gains flavor as it simmers. I thought I’d even do it the way Mom does and add the rice instead of just dishing the stuff up over rice.
I brown the meat, slice onions and green peppers and a red pepper, mix up the an jus and throw it all in the crock pot. So far, so good. Let me say right now that I’m not much of a rice person–for me, it’s filler, a platform for other foods if you will. As a result, I most often use [gasp] minute rice or pre-flavored rice. I realize that real rice has subtle flavor differences, a better consistency, and is all around better for you, I just don’t bother with it.
But for this meal, I used regular rice. It was going to simmer for a couple of hours, so why not? Why not indeed! I put the crock pot on low–I don’t know why, you think I would have a reason for that? I checked it about two hours later (I made it late last night, intending to have it done by when I went to bed and thus providing me with a quick and easy Monday lunch, and then some). The veggies weren’t even limp! And the rice was hard as, well, hard as uncooked rice. Apparently, on this crock pot, low is just barely warm.
Well, I turned the crock pot up to high, of course, but I wanted to go to bed in about an hour. I’m hoping the rice will at least show some sign of softening (if not becoming plump with beefy goodness), and then I’d take my chances re-heating it in the morning. But nooooooooo. Rice doesn’t care that’s it been percolating softly in near boiling juices for an hour. Rice doesn’t care that after walking a picket line (in the rain, I may add), I’m tired and want to lay down. Rice doesn’t care that I need to be at work early the next day. The veggies cared. The veggies steamed and released their tasty essence, though it left them limp and pale. But not the rice. Nope, rice is less accomodating than mere veggies. Rice has its own ways.
Okay, it’s a crock pot. A slow cooker. I’ll turn it back down to low, and leave it on all night, or until I wake up in the middle of the night. Good plan. I still think it would have worked. But let me not get ahead of myself.
Four in the morning, I wake up for no particular reason. But then I remember my delicious and simple meal and I leap (okay, crawl) out of bed to check on it. Has the rice softened? Has the rice soaked up the an jus and become brown and tasty? Have the various ingredients blended together to create something greater than any one of them alone?
Yes! Except that probably happened, oh, two, maybe three hours earlier. After that, the rice continued to suck up any bit of liquid it could get its greedy little pourous membranes on, and, having accomplished that, began adhering to the sides of the crock pot like wildly passionate lovers expecting to never see each other again. The result? Burnt goo. Sticky, condensed, viscous brown goo. With festive flashes of green and red–those peppers never let you down! Lovely. Especially at four in the morning.
I decided (quite wisely) to deal with this in the real morning, but, thinking there was no need to continue to burn the ersatz meal, I did turn the thing off. From high. Not low. High. It’s not enough, apparently, to decide to turn the crock pot down to low, one must actually, physically do so. And I had not.
So I am left to wonder, if I had never turned the crock pot up to high, but had instead left it simmering on low all night, would the rice have cooked, eventually? Or would it stubbornly have refused to respond to the lower heat, leaving me with small, hard pips in an otherwise edible mixture? I have been undone by the mysteries of rice. Woe is me.
Swampy, you being a church-going kind of guy and all, I’m a bit surprised at you coming all over sacrilegious. And then bragging about your relationship. Watch out for that cosmic comeback, okay?
I have to add that I’m just tickled at your and your sweetie buying each other outdoor cookers, and then setting them up together. Happily.
Guys are just different.
Now for teasing you, I’ll probably get a grill, too.
Kalley tis possible had you turned the crock pot to low the rice would not have burned or whatever it did. I have never cooked rice in a crock pot. I’ve done steak and peppers in the pot but I’ve always cooked the rice separately. Maybe rice isn’t a crock potty thing. Perhaps others will come along to enlighten us.
Don’t you hate it when stuff doesn’t happen when you will it to? Like why didn’t your crock pot know to turn itself on low because you thought about it. My alarm clock has done that to me before. I thought about turning it to alarm, why didn’t it just read my thoughts and do it. Those darn appliances! They’ll take any chance they get to stab ya in the back, I tell ya!
Oh like God doesn’t have a sense of humor. He’s the one who put innuendo in The Bible with stuff like “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you.” Like God wouldn’t think I’d snicker over that!
Even though I have a brand new (practically) grill, I’d squeal like a 12 year old girl at a boy band concert if I got a new grill for Christmas.
I started giggling like a little girl and was unable to explain why to my coworkers.
How do you say “I just got a mental picture of a big cartoon bear in a red santa hat with cookie frosting on his butt” without sounding insane?
Well, then, Ex this oughta really send ya over the top:
I was wearing a red Santa hat Saturday night when the cookie frosting made it’s appearance on my butt.
At first I typed cockie frosting. **VunderBob woulda loved that!
I’ve always marvelled at the irony of Jesus being a carpenter and dying on a man-made wooden object. Lucky for him he wasn’t a shepherd!
Is it too late to point out that Mary rode Joseph’s ass all the way to Bethehem?
I was barely able to camoflage the sniggering by faking a coughing fit.
“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!”
[SFX]monkey wrench ricochetting off a skull[/SFX]
That Rip Torn (as Patches O’Houlihan) just cracks me right up.
Well he tried, but what could Jesus say after all?
“Oh Dad!”
or
Me!
The fires burn hot and bright in the longhouse. Outside the cold bites through the thickest furs and wind is howling like a thousand hungry wolves. And the wolves. they are out in packs searching for food. The dear and horses fall dead if left out. The cold is too great, even, to join battle with the enemy. You complain about your weather, while *we *are unable to leave our longhouse for even half an hour without falling dead from the winter’s chill.