Baa Baa Knit Stitch

>Can you help my friend Jen?

>Jen is one of my dear friends from Ravelry, and she’s doing something very big here…

See, Jen suffers from MS, which thank goodness, seems to be in remission right now. I have another dear, dear friend with MS, so this cause is particularly close to me.

Jen’s doing a walk to raise funds for MS research, and I’d appreciate it if you could support her if at all possible. The link to her personal fundraising page can be found here.

She’s got two of the cutest kids on earth, and they need their mommy healthy and strong to play with them as they grow up…

Jen’s retired Navy, and her husband’s currently on active duty, so they’ve given a lot to our country. I’m proud to be able to give something to them.

Even if you can’t make a donation, please leave her some words of encouragement on her blog! And tell her Jean & Oscar sent ya. 🙂

>I’m going on a rant

>So the new administration has taken over, and so far, two Cabinet level nominees have had tax problems. One was a senator; one previously worked for the Federal Reserve and is going to be the Secretary of the Treasury, in charge of tax collections and the IRS.

Seriously, is it too much to ask that people who make the tax laws for the rest of us to follow pay their tax liability? I don’t care what your party affiliation is… Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Devil Worshipper… Pay your freakin’ taxes if you want to be in charge!

I mean, I’m not buying this “honest mistake” crap. I haven’t met an IRS auditor yet who is gonna let that excuse fly. And there’s a word for that much unreported income. It’s called “evasion”. Or at least it used to be.

I spend a significant portion of my time every year doing tax returns for honest, hard-working people who pay their fair share. They grumble. They complain. They ask me to do the best I can within the law to minimize the amount they have to pay. But they pay it.

I believe anyone who governs us should do the same. And if you fail to do so, don’t blame it on Turbo Tax or your accountant. Seriously, dude. Write the check. When you’re supposed to. The rest of us have to.

Or maybe our new Secretary of the Treasury will give us a new “honest mistake” box on the 1040. Yeah, right.

>Nerd, Geek, or Dork?

>Thanks to The Magic That Is Heather for the meme.

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test…

Modern, Cool Nerd

70 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 48% Dork

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at HelloQuizzy

>A Box?

>For Me?Hmmm. Sure looks like it’s addressed to me. I don’t remember ordering anything. Mom took the credit card away after that last ugly incident with PetSmart.com…Needlecraft Corner, eh? Looks like some of Mom’s silly cross stitch stuff. Why on earth is it addressed to me? Obviously this requires some closer inspection.Now… if I can just get this stuff out of there… darn this lack of opposable thumbs! What?? Looks like cookies!!! For me!!! Finally someone’s realizing who really runs this place!Cookies! Glorious, wonderful cookies! Yummy cookies! Must get them out of the bag and have one now, now, now!!!! (Patience is not a dachshund virtue, you know.)Oh so yummy! They’re so good I had to bury some for later in my fleecy blankets on the sofa (don’t tell anyone).

Thank you Aunt Drema, Aunt Kathleen, and most especially Amber!!!

>Some thoughts on the inauguration

>We approach on Tuesday something magnificent here in our country: the peaceful exchange of power that happens every 4 years. Considering the political unrest in so many parts of the world and our changing times, it is truly amazing to realize that the system men put together over 200 years ago still works, and still works well.

Now, I’m gonna be up front about something: my candidate didn’t win. Most of you who know me in real life aren’t surprised about that revelation. However, having said that, I do wish Mr. Obama well. While I don’t agree with many of his ideas and a lot of his proposed policies, I hope that he is able to look to God for guidance and to use that guidance to do what is best for our country, and not necessarily what may be most expedient. He has the most powerful and the toughest job in the world.

I understand for a lot of people, the inauguration of an African-American president is a big deal. But honestly, I’m not seeing it. Now, before you lambaste me for being callous or unfeeling or racist, let me tell you why…

I’m a child of the Deep South, born four years after Brown v. Board of Education (look it up, if you don’t know what I’m talking about). I distinctly remember the day at the end of my first grade year, when the teacher explained that “little boys and girls who looked different from us” would be in our school the next year — that’s how desegregation was explained to 6 and 7 year olds.

But you see — I don’t see others as African-American, or Asian-American, or whatever other hyphenated designation you want to give. I see everyone as people. I strive daily to treat people by the Golden Rule and do unto them as I would have them do unto me. I really don’t care what color they are.

So when I look at Mr. Obama, I don’t necessarily see an African-American man… I see a man who is about to become president. I will make my judgment of him and his actions by the “content of his character” rather than the “color of his skin”, to paraphrase a famous speech.

Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be?? Wasn’t that what the civil rights struggle was about?

May God Bless America as we face the challenges in front of us.

>An Anniversary of Sorts

>My dad passed away seven years ago today. In some ways, it seems like such a short time ago, but in many, many ways, it seems like forever.

There are many reasons why I’ll never forget that day. But one big one stands out in my mind: it was the day that God sent angels to take care of me, my mom, and Richard.

Not angels like the ones you’d think of traditionally – the ones you see in drawings with wings and harps — but angels here on earth that He knew we’d need. People who all showed up right when we needed them, and too many of them to be coincidence.

The first one is my mom’s minister Horace. I was outside the hospital making some calls, and when I came back in, he was waiting at the elevators and we went to the room together. When we got to the room, we found out that Dad had passed — quietly, because he had been in a coma for a few days prior. Horace was able to be with my mom while I went to the nurses station, and he stayed with us for hours afterward.

The next angel who came is my friend Linda. She arrived right after Dad passed and stayed with us until we got everything finished up at the hospital and got back to my mom’s house. I don’t know if I ever told her how much I appreciated what she did for us that day and what she and her husband Jim and son Mark did for us by staying at the house with Oscar during the funeral, but (since I know she reads this) I am now. Thanks, sweetie, and much love.

The other two angels are our choir director Jerry and his wife, Charlise. Dad passed about 4 on a Sunday afternoon; evidently Jerry looked at Charlise about 4 and told her “We need to go to Rome.” They showed up an hour later as we were making arrangements with the funeral home and it was such a blessing to have them there!!

So today is a bit of a somber day for me. Life changed radically when Dad died, and the adjustment has been hard. I miss him so much every day. I want to tell him that I accomplished the goals that he wanted for me: I got my CPA license and I now own my own business. I know he’s watching me from heaven, and I hope he’s proud.

>In case you were wondering…

>…what happened with the Caps for Connor, please go to Beth’s blog for a full wrap up!!

I managed to get two knitted… many others knitted many more.

Thank you to everyone for their support

>What Kind of Sports Car Are You?

>

I’m a Dodge Viper!

You’re all about raw power. You’re tough, you’re loud, and you don’t take crap from anyone. Leave finesse to the other cars, the ones eating your dust.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

>Is this really necessary?

>A bath? Really? How humiliating.

>Culinary Misadventures

>Those of you who know me know that I refer to myself as “home-economically-challenged”: that is to say, I’m not really at home in the kitchen. Unfortunately, when I do decide to try to cook something, I have this annoying habit of picking something that’s not the easiest for a beginner. It’s the same way I approached piano lessons as a child. I’d get a piano book and immediately turn to the back and learn to play the last piece in it. Then I figured I was done. The other piddly stuff in there was bor-ing. So we’ll say that working up to a skill set is not my strong suit.

I found a recipe for sea salt caramels. Looked good. Looked reasonable. I assembled ingredients: cream, butter, sugar, Karo syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt. Check. Recipe called for a large stock pot and a candy thermometer. I grabbed the largest pot I had out of my cookware set and broke the seal on the candy thermometer package and went to mixin’.

Cook for 10 minutes on high heat and bring to a boil while stirring to melt butter and dissolve sugar. Check.

Reduce heat to medium high and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, till temp on thermometer reaches 248. Check.

Except…well… nobody told me what happens when cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup start simmering. Things expand. In spite of every blasted chemistry and physics class I’ve ever taken, this thought never occured to me.

And when Mt. Vesuvius blew up all over the stove, I realized their definition of “large stock pot” was “bigger than the pot I had”. Exhibit A:Note the caramelly goodness all over the sides? Yeah. Mt. Vesuvius erupted. We grabbed the pot off the burner and tried to get things calmed down.

So I think… well, I’ll keep a better eye on it next time… so I put it back on. Alas, I’m a slow learner. The same bloody thing happened again. Exhibit B:See Richard’s hand cleaning up caramelly goodness from the eye of the stove? At this point, I fear we’re going to have to call in someone to repair the stove as that particular eye will no longer light of its own volition. Exhibit C:I like to call Exhibit C the “cha-ching for the stove repair people shot”. Note that this shot was taken in mid-cleanup. Caramel makes very quickly when the mixture lands on a hot stove-eye (just in case you were wondering).

So we figured that the volume of the goop we were working with was greater than the volume of the container, and we’d better take some out if this experiment was ever going to succeed. Richard diligently ladled out caramel mixture, and we resumed simmering for what seemed like an eternity at that point.

But the temperature finally reached the magic 248 and we poured the mixture out onto well greased parchment paper and left it to set. I had no idea what it would taste like, considering all the consternation, but actually, it’s some pretty tasty caramel.

It oughta be. I have a feeling it’s gonna be some very expensive caramel when everything’s said and done!