15 posts from April 2008

Some of my plants didn't survive without me.  :(  Unfortunately I'll have to replant my Italian herbs and mint- but that which did survive is doing MARVELOUSLY. Look, look!

Rabbit of APPROVAL?

An approving Rabbit?  Truly?

I'm doing my first open forum on WordPress.  Feel free to go there and explain whether or not you believe homosexuality is a sin and why.  Any comments that attack other people will be immediately deleted.  I just want a polite, moderated discussion about belief.  I feel it's only fair that people be given the right to air their opinions without being reprimanded or attacked.

Especially since on my last few posts I've seen good people whom I like go for each other's jugulars, which is a shame.  There's nothing wrong with holding a belief as long as you don't use it to marginalize and belittle others.

So- go to the Open Forum on Homosexuality and comment if you so desire, and trust that if anyone attacks you I WILL delete it.  No bleeding, just sharing.

(Note:  for those who aren't aware, I have "open comments" on my wordpress blog.  You do NOT need to be a member of wordpress, and your email address will be kept viewable only by me.)

No matter how wild and insane the kids are, if I put a plate of steaming spaghetti with meat sauce in front of them, there is instantaneous silence.  It's got to be the good stuff, though.  Ragu doesn't have this power, only the stuff I make.

So, since I am sometimes asked how I cope with four kids underfoot, I thought I'd share one of my tricks.  Grandma's magical meat sauce!

You will need a large sauce pan, a wooden spoon and the following ingredients:

1 pound of hamburger
4 cloves of garlic
2 16 oz cans of tomato puree (or four cups pureed tomatoes, or 7-9 roma tomatoes, minced)
2 tsp basil (fresh- less if dry)
1 tsp each oregano and thyme (fresh- less if dry) (or substitute these spices for a little more than a tablespoon of Italian mixed spices)
a few pinches of onion powder
salt & pepper to taste

This recipe is also really good with all Italian sausage or half and half with the hamburger.

Heat up your pan and cook the meat until it is JUST brown, breaking apart the bigger chunks with your spoon (but you do want it kind of chunky), then drain off the fat.  Add in the garlic and spices and cook until fully browned and dry.  Pour in the tomatoes, turn down the heat to low and simmer for a half hour.

Serve over pasta of your choice or on bagels (I don't know why the kids like this, but they do) and I promise, you will have silence until it is gone.

And for the record, homosexuality isn't bestiality.

I would blame Toe-Knee but the truth is, I've lately been seeing a very strong reaction and hurt as a result of people's saying that gays being wed will lead to people marrying their pets.

You will need:

Dishes about 6 inches in diameter and four to eight inches deep

Soil

Seeds of your choosing (any herb)

A water pitcher (full)

A water bottle (also full)

Fertilizer (optional)

Okay, this is what you do.  You fill your containers to the brim with dirt, literally.  You then pour water around the edges until the soil starts to rise, kind of like milk making cereal rise.  Carefully press the soil down into the water.  Water may start to come up between your fingers- that's fine.  Now, if you want to fertilize spread your fertilizer.  (If it's a water mix, you should have done that in the pitcher or spray bottle.)  Now, take your seeds in one hand, pick them up and spread them evenly in the container with the other hand.  Take another fistful of dirt and spread it above the seeds until it refills your container.  It should be about a quarter to half an inch thick.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO OVER COVER YOUR SEEDS.  Herbs sprout very small.  While a tomato or corn will push up through over an inch of soil, herbs can't manage more than a half inch.  Now, rather than pressing this earth down, simply spray it with the spray bottle.  Every morning and evening until your herbs sprout (4 to 20 days, depending on the herb) you will want to spray the earth again to be sure it stays moist.  Simply poke your finger in it to see if it is dry.  If you can poke your finger in to the first knuckle without feeling moisture, it's too dry.  If there is standing water, it's too wet.

You'll want to continue the spray method of watering until your herbs are tall enough to not be drowned by pitcher watering (a few weeks) but don't worry- it will take a while for them to dry out the soil in the first place.  Once they are tall, maybe an inch to two inches, you may want to thin them out by pinching off the weaklings.  Most herbs don't like to be too crowded, they like having a few inches of space to themselves.  Some things, like chives, can be bred pretty close as long as they never get too tall.  If you grow chives, give them regular hair cuts.  Just eat the trimmings!  :D

Herbs aren't hard.  Really.  Anyone can do it, as long as they remember to keep them moist.

Other than TeamVox, who was the first person you added to your Vox neighborhood? What made you want to be their neighbor?
Submitted by TheFiercestCalm.

shellakers, who added me first, by what my uncle would call "Divine coincidence".  We were meant to know each other.  She has been an incredible friend and inspiration, and I feel honored to be allowed into her life.

Show us the most important thing on your desk.
Submitted by BlackLime.

Whose your buddy?

My pocket-size Savior, of course.

Bet THAT got your attention.

Now go visit my WordPress blog.  The top post is about sex, go down one and you'll find gays.

Again I disappoint by not making a gay sex bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich.  Apologies to those who like that kind of thing, but I'm about as heterosexual as they come.  (Although, I must say, for those who watch Torchwood- how hot is watching that man kiss anybody, male OR female?  Yeow.)

Got to go now.  Running REALLY late today.  Stolen internets are SLOW...

Which popular slang expression drives you nuts?

Well.  "That's so gay," and it's lame-brained first cousin, "that's so hot."

It annoys me not just because anyone who says either of those two things immediately loses IQ points (in my eyes, at least) but because both of those things so utterly lack imagination.  If you want to insult or compliment someone, do it with at least a halfway original thought.  If someone is acting like an imbecile, don't say, "dude, ur so gay", say something like, "even a dachshund with a lame leg could get it's work done quicker than you."

Laugh at how long it takes them to work out what a dachshund is and why it's having a lame leg would matter before they manage to get angry at you.  Trust me, it's worth it.

Oh, and have I mentioned the fact that I have no internets is making me cranky?