Before I go to bed, I'm going to post a few polls pertaining to my previous entry, just for the heck of it. Hope you participate!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Law And Order Criminal Intent
NEST HEADS by John Allen
©2007 Copley News Service
This is usually me -- I'd rather be reading than watching TV. I am still exposed to a lot of TV, living in a house with a husband and two kids. But there are very few shows for which I will switch on the television. I like (but don't watch every week) Numbers, Monk, CSI (original), and NCIS. I also occasionally watch Cold Case and Without A Trace. Last year I enjoyed a new crime drama called Close To Home. But I will make the time to watch Law and Order Special Victims Unit and the newer Law and Order Criminal Intent.
I liked the original Law and Order and used to watch it most of the time. When the spin off SVU came on the air I enjoyed it even more. But my favorite of the three has to be Law and Order CI, for various reasons, not the least of which are the acting abilities of Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe. CI starts its new season this Thursday on the USA Network, and this weekend they have been showing a CI marathon. I have indulged myself! I even stayed up way later than I should have last night watching episode after episode.
I think it is a very intelligent, sophisticated show, but I particularly like the acting and the way the main characters mesh together. Vincent D'Onofrio has played very diverse roles over the years, and I find his character on this show, Bobby Goren, fascinating -- the way he uses his hands when he talks, the way he sits close to a suspect he's interrogating, casually propping his chin in his hand and closely studying the suspect's face, his speech cadence, even the movements of his head and neck are just fascinating; I can't think of any other word to describe it. His character is Holmes-like in his deductive powers, Columbo-like in noticing and zeroing in on the smallest detail, and a genius who is on that borderline between sanity and having a total nervous breakdown.
Erbe's character of Alex Aemes is perfect as a foil for D'Onofrio's character. She is calm, reasonable, smart, and she understands Gore and his methods and deals well with his quirkiness. She also isn't afraid to rein him in when needed. I also like seeing this kind of female playing the senior officer.
Last year the other CI duo were Chris Noth playing Mike Logan, a bit of a hothead with a good gut instinct, and Julianne Nicholson who played Wheeler, the new kid on the block. This year Nicholson is being replaced with an actress I'm not familiar with, Alicia Witt. I liked the combination of Noth and Nicholson and hope Witt's character meshes as well.
So, here I have given you an entry the likes of which you won't often see from me. I rarely go ga-ga over an actor or performer of any kind, and I don't usually tout TV shows or specific actors. But I am rather infatuated with Law & Order Criminal Intent.
Left to right: Julianne Nicholson, Chris Noth, Vincent D'Onofrio, Eric Bogosian, and Kathryn Erbe.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Marcel Marceau Dies
Earlier this week the famous mime, Marcel Marceau died. I never knew it, but he had quite an interesting history.
Jogger's actions when confronted at gunpoint leads police to wanted felon ~~
Click for the full story: "There wasn't anything that was going to get me in that car," she said.
This was a really cool story. This lady was a quick thinker!
Speaking of Chickens . . .
In that same letter Barbara also sent me a clipping from the police logs in their local newspaper, The Herald News:
This struck her funny, and she knew it would amuse me, too. As she said in her letter: "If those chickens separate it's going to be hard to identify the ones that don't limp."
"Confusion Now Hath Made His Masterpiece!" ~~ Macbeth
My darling mother has come up with another gem. I got a letter from my sister Barbara, and she closed it with something my mother said. My sister wrote:
"This is from Mom when she started canning grape juice and got her first inkling of just how much it would make. 'We might have looked at our chickens before they were even eggs!' Ever done that?"
I just love my Mother!
In her defense she'd been making and canning grape juice for almost two whole days!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Y'all Come
Barbara at Life And Faith in Caneyhead did an entry on an AOL article about Southern drawls. It was a very enjoyable entry.
I'm from "the country" in Northern Kentucky (North Central Kentucky, which is a completely different animal from North Eastern Kentucky or North Western Kentucky) There was quite a bit of diversity just within my own family and my parent's families when it came to speech patterns, vernaculars, drawls, etc. Neither of my parents had/has what I'd call a drawl, and definitely not a Southern drawl. But my mother used to say dreen instead of drain (as in "letting the dishes drain), and warsh instead of wash. I've always had an ear for language and a somewhat fanaticism for the English language being used correctly when at all possible, so even before I was old enough to have been taught any better I knew certain words weren't right -- like dreen and warsh. (But I also learned early on that you didn't correct your mother's language!) And as I've said before, I was an avid reader of varied genres, and a child in a family of avid readers whose vocabularies reflected that. I can remember being asked by a classmate when I was an eighth grader if I was from Louisville because I didn't talk like I came from Breckinridge County. I think that's funny, because I know some people from Louisville who talk with more of a Southern drawl or a country accent than almost anyone I've ever known from my home county.
I had a brother-in-law who would say "clumb" instead of "climbed" and "reched in" instead of "reached in". His son, my second-oldest nephew, has the only really slow, country drawl of any of my nieces and nephews. My eldest sister, Dennice, is the only one of us seven who has a slow, country drawl, but none of her children has one. Well, I take that back. Her daughter does slightly, but she has lived in Florida for the past 20 years, and her accent sounds more Floridian-country than Kentuckian-country.
We have a good friend who is originally from Missouri (the hills of Missouri) who has a completely different slow, country drawl than my husband's family who live in Alabama. And actually I have met some of my husband's family from Alabama who don't have what I would call a Southern accent at all.
And though I'm usually careful about how I pronounce my words, I do adopt some country colloquilisms simply because they feel right. For instance, I do say y'all (pronounced yawl). I don't say you-all, or y-all. And if you are from Louisville, Kentucky or have lived there for years, or if you are from anywhere in Kentucky, you will probably pronounce "Louisville" as "Loo-uh-vull". You may pronounce it "Loo-uh-vil", but it is not Looey-vil or Loo-us-vil. Pronounce it one of those two ways, and you're giving away that you aren't from Kentucky!
Go to the hills of Eastern Kentucky and you get into an entirely different dialect. I worked with a girl from Winchester who said "are" instead of "our", as in "are house" and "are car". I loved hearing her talk, actually. When I was in high school I sold Avon, and one of the ladies on my route was originally from Eastern Kentucky. She would say "hit" instead of "it". I loved sitting on her front porch and just listening to her talk about her childhood.
When I was about three years old my paternal grandmother would come to our house to stay during the day while her son (with whom she lived) was at work, so my mother could look after her. She was in her 80s and her health was bad. One day a friend of ours dropped by, bringing with her some visiting friends of her own. This friend of ours was just as country as we were, but her visitors were city-folk. When the visit ended, my grandmother, who had been dozing on and off during the visit, stood and walked them to the door.
"You well'st to just stay the night. We can put a pallet on the floor."
Our friend politely declined, explaining that her friends had to get on their way back home. She told us later that the visitors had asked her after they'd left what she meant by "well'st" and what was a pallet? She explained that "you well'st" meant "you might as well", and that in offering them a pallet, she was offering to make up a bed for them so they could spend the night, even if it was just a "pallet" -- bedding -- put on the floor. They were charmed by it.
We're just a big old mixing pot of different languages and dialects. I hope y'all enjoyed this entry.
A Cornbread and Cabbage Day
Well, we finally did get a good shower. I hope we get more.
When Eler Beth first started home schooling she asked if she could make dinner on Wednesdays. I thought that would be a great idea, and we could use that time as a cooking lesson. There are all kinds of things we can incorporate into that -- from measuring, nutrition, and food groups all the way to aesthetics of serving colorful meals, and proper table settings!
Most of the time she decides the menu and then preps and cooks everything under my supervision, doing most everything that needs to be done. She has always been a natural observer, and since she was very little has always helped me in the kitchen. I can remember one time when I was sick she helped her dad fix dinner one night, and he told me she corrected him on just about everything he did because she knew the way that "Momma does it", and apparently Dad was doing it wrong.
Last week she decided she wanted pork chops, mashed potatoes, green peas, and applesauce for dinner. "But I don't want them fixed that one way you fix them sometimes. I want to bread and fry them." So we didn't broil them, we had them the more fattening (and very tasty) way. (And we even made gravy to boot!) She did a great job of everything, too!
Well, today she said she didn't know what she wanted for dinner, so I could choose. I said, "I'm in the mood for cornbread and cabbage."
She wrinkled her nose. "I like cooked cabbage, but that's not all we'll have, is it?"
"Why not? I can make a meal out of cornbread and cabbage. And I know your dad can."
"Well, I really think we ought to represent all the food groups, don't you?"
Well, I couldn't argue with that.
My suggestion of corned beef and cabbage didn't go over well (I'm the only who likes it.) So I told her that a day like today was a good day to pull out something that we'd cooked ahead of time and frozen or that was left over from a previous meal. Then while rummaging around in the freezer we found some kielbasa, which is good with cabbage and which the kids like as well, so we're going to have that. Then I suggested homemade macaroni and cheese. We'll not worry about a yellow vegetable tonight. Hopefully that will all go over well with the menfolk, and we do have each food group represented.
Two weeks ago we made homemade cookies for dessert on Wednesday. This is my mother's scratch-cake recipe that I cut in half and thicken to a cookie-dough instead of a cake dough. I don't roll them out and cut them, I just drop them from a spoon onto a cookie sheet. They're quick to make, buttery, sweet, and very, very good. The first time I ever made them for Thomas he called them tea-cakes. He said down South that's what they would have called them. I used to (before we had kids) get up at 4 in the morning and bake him some fresh to take to work with him. (Prepared the dough the night before)
Anyway, Eler Beth made them that day with my directions. The next day she was busy in the kitchen on her own for awhile, asking me not to come in until she called me (that's always a scary thing for a parent, when their child asks them to stay out of a room!). When I was allowed to enter my kitchen she showed me a new "recipe" she'd come up with. She'd remembered the directions to make the "scratch" cookies, and she'd added two mashed bananas to the mix. They were very, very, good banana cookies! I was impressed!
Tonight I think we'll have the rest of a pineapple/orange cake that I bought a couple days ago, along with ice cream if anyone wants it. Some day she's going to be so good in the kitchen, that she can handle Wednesday dinner without any help from me at all, and I'll be able to kick up my feet and enjoy the results without any of the labor. Sometimes it's good when they start to grow up!
Taking A Break to Journal
I have been writing a lot lately, but not here in my journal. Over the past few days I have tried to get by to visit everyone and leave comments.
Eler Beth was in an extremely good mood today. The bacon with her breakfast this morning was the "best" she'd ever had! And the ice tea she had with her lunch was the "best" she'd ever had! I hope the rest of her day is the "best" of everything as well.
She got an offer in the mail today for a book club called PONY. I'll probably subscribe to it for her. I would have wanted it when I was her age! The mail offer came with a scratch-off card to see if she was eligible for a free gift. She was so excited as she scratched off all six squares. "Look Mom! I got three carrots! That means I get the free gift!" I was suitably impressed. Then she was quiet for a few minutes. "You know," she said slowly, with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I bet everyone gets three carrots. That's how they convince you to order the books." There are no flies on my girl!
I have been interviewed by Mary Jo, so I really need to get those questions answered and post them. I've just been super busy with other things.
On the first full day of Fall our temps hit 99* here in town. We were supposed to have had scattered thundershowers yesterday, today and tomorrow. We just had a little cloud cover yesterday. Today we've had a few sprinkles so far. I really wish it would rain and cool off a little. I just don't want it to get cold too quickly.
Well, I will be back later today. I think there are several things I've wanted to write about. I hope everyone is having a good week.
Monday, September 17, 2007
My Nephew Jacob
I recently saw a commercial for the next season of Survivor: China on CBS, and it made me remember something that I wanted to write about. I am not a fan of Survivor (have never watched it), but this season I have a personal tie to the show. My youngest nephew was an assistant cameraman!
My sister, Dennice, has three children, and the youngest is just short of 22 years old. From the time he was in middle school he had an interest in sound engineering. All through high school he worked with one of his teachers, doing sound for school events, county events, and even events taking place in other nearby areas. After high school he graduated from a school in Florida that is tops in the field. He served a short internship, working with a company that is hired by a lot of musicians. He worked on various music videos and at least one independant movie (and took the female lead out to dinner after work one day!).
He told his mom that he went to an interview once (one of the first ones after his internship) for a job doing sound on a yacht for some reality music show, and the man interviewing him told him that he could only pay him $400.00 a day. Jacob told his mom that he stayed professional, kept a serious look on his face and told the man that would be fine, but inside he was jumping up and down and shouting "$400.00 a day!!"
So anyway, a few months ago he called his mom while he was in China, and she asked him if he were anywhere near the flooding. He said, "There's flooding in China?!" I guess that was a "no." He said he'd taken the assistant cameraman job because there weren't any sound positions open, and you didn't turn something down just because it wasn't your field if they offered it to you -- it was good to be able to work with different production companies. Actually they asked for him. This isn't the first time he's been asked for by name, so apparently he's getting quite a reputation. He said that assistant cameraman basically just hauls around equipment for the first cameraman, but it was better than nothing. He said the first cameraman dropped a several-thousand-dollar piece of equipment in some water they were crossing and ruined it, so he was glad that wasn't him.
So anyway, I am going to have to watch at least one episode just to see if his name is credited. I don't know if it will be or not. I thought that was pretty neat. He has gotten to travel and visit a lot of interesting places, and this is just the beginning for him. Tags: Survivor China, Jacob F. Smith
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
If You Need A Smile Today
I received a link to this video from more than one person and decided that I'd share it here. It is so well done. Please give it a listen.
I also received this in another email today, and think that of all days, today is the day to share it as well (if you haven't already seen it). If you need a good smile and a happy feeling to close out this day, this video will give it to you!
That Fall Feeling
Even though Autumn is still a couple of weeks away, our weather today was so Fall-like I decided to use this beautiful graphic that Donna did this week. I think our high today was only around 70* which felt wonderful. Now if only we'd get a little bit of rain!
We had a fairly quiet day. I watched some of the 9/11 tributes and commentaries, but I just can't bear to see or hear too much. It just breaks my heart all over again.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
"I Don't Know" if this is going to work!
Check this out: Russian Mayor Bans Phrase "I Don't Know"
Could that work at home? Just imagine... (insert floaty harp music here)....:
Who left dirty towels on the bathroom floor?
I don't know.
Wrong! You're fired!
Honey, why don't we get away for the weekend?
We don't have the money.
Wrong answer! Go to the back of the line!
Son, would you start that load of laundry?
It's not my job!
Bzzzzzt! Wrong! Suspended without video games for three days!
Hmmmmm.
Polls
Thank you for indulging me! I just wanted to see how easy it is to put a poll in my journal. But I couldn't think of anything to poll about!
It was very easy.
Liver And Chocolate
Paula at Country Tales and Other Thangs did an interesting poll yesterday -- about liver. Go visit and vote. I happen to love liver. I love beef liver and onions and gravy, and I love chicken liver, breaded and fried. I know, even as a kid I was thought strange because I liked liver. Both my kids like it, too. I even did an entry a while back about waking up craving chicken liver one morning and fixing it for my breakfast. I was rather gleeful that the "love it" vote was leading the poll, but now that I have mentioned it here, Paula will probably get a lot of "hate it" votes! lol (Paula's feelings on the subject are apparent from the title of the entry -- "Yuck") Anyway, I thought that was a cool idea for a poll. (I actually did know that there was a new update taking place Tuesday night, so I assumed that the "add a poll" feature was part of that. But it was still surprise enough to give me a title and a lead-in to my entry yesterday.)
And now on to a more serious subject --
Chocolate Gravy.
Have you ever heard of it? Had it? Made it? And if so, can I have your recipe? How do you serve it?
I have always assumed chocolate gravy was just a chocolate sauce, because gravy and sauce are just two words for the same thing, after all. When I think "chocolate gravy" I picture hot fudge sauce poured over white cake.
When Thomas and I first moved to Jeffersonville we got in touch with a teacher that he had in high school. She was in her 70s when we moved here and still substitue teaching. Thomas had gone to school with one of her sons and had always thought a lot of her. We would call to check on her, go by to visit, and if she needed something done around her house she'd call on Thomas. She passed away a couple years ago, and I still miss her calls.
She was a heavy smoker and had that smoker's voice. I'd answer the phone and a deep, gravelly voice with a country accent would say, "Hey, Lori, what are you up to? How's that Thomas? Still working all that overtime?" And we'd have a nice half-hour conversation. One time when she called she asked me if I'd ever fixed chocolate gravy. Her daughter had told her that she knew someone who made something called chocolate gravy and put it on her eggs in the morning for breakfast. Mrs. T and I both agreed that if that were true it sounded perfectly horrible. Mrs. T didn't believe her daughter knew what she was talking about.
Anyway, something brought her to my mind this morning and I got to thinking about chocolate gravy, so I thought I'd throw it out there! (The subject, not the gravy!)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Shall I Take A Poll?
Why there's a new tool button on my "Add an Entry" page! Has it been there all along, or is it new? It seems to be an "Add Poll" button. Please tell me it's new and hasn't been there for ages and that I'm not just now noticing it!!
Makes me wish I had something on which to poll everyone! I know! I could take a poll to see if anyone else noticed a new "add poll" button!
I think I made my way around all the journals I normally read yesterday, and I even commented in most of them. I was sick all weekend with some kind of allergy crud. You know the kind -- starts out with itchy eyes and nose and throat, stuffy head, sneezing your head off all day long, leading to a sore, blistered throat. I treated all the allergy symptoms, drank lots of orange juice, ate soup, gargled with warm salt water, and slept and slept and slept.
Yesterday I felt much better, but not altogether well. Right now I'm awake because Thomas just left for work, and the strange sleeping pattern I've had for the past few days seems to be keeping me from going back to sleep right now. So I'm brewing some coffee, and I actually think I could eat breakfast right now, as early as it is. I have a feeling I'm going to have to go to the doctor; otherwise I think this is going to turn into a sinus infection if it hasn't already.
And I wasted a really great weekend. Andrew was gone practically the whole time, camping out with friends. Thomas and Eler Beth spent quite a bit of time fishing, and I could have had the house to myself for most of two days out of three. Think of all the reading I could have done, or computer time I could have logged, etc. And I had to spend it sleeping or sneezing or disinterestedly changing the TV channels, not really wanting to do anything.
Yesterday Eler Beth had an easy day of school work, because I just didn't feel like doing much. She did a lot of reading and some math games on the computer. She may just have an easy day today, too!
I had all kinds of things I was going to write about last week but didn't get around to doing. I hope I can remember what they were! If I do, you may see another entry from me today.
I hope everyone has a good hump day!
Shall I Take A Poll?
Why there's a new tool button on my "Add an Entry" page! Has it been there all along, or is it new? It seems to be an "Add Poll" button. Please tell me it's new and hasn't been there for ages and that I'm not just now noticing it!!
Makes me wish I had something on which to poll everyone! I know! I could take a poll to see if anyone else noticed a new "add poll" button!
I think I made my way around all the journals I normally read yesterday, and I even commented in most of them. I was sick all weekend with some kind of allergy crud. You know the kind -- starts out with itchy eyes and nose and throat, stuffy head, sneezing your head off all day long, leading to a sore, blistered throat. I treated all the allergy symptoms, drank lots of orange juice, ate soup, gargled with warm salt water, and slept and slept and slept.
Yesterday I felt much better, but not altogether well. Right now I'm awake because Thomas just left for work, and the strange sleeping pattern I've had for the past few days seems to be keeping me from going back to sleep right now. So I'm brewing some coffee, and I actually think I could eat breakfast right now, as early as it is. I have a feeling I'm going to have to go to the doctor; otherwise I think this is going to turn into a sinus infection if it hasn't already.
And I wasted a really great weekend. Andrew was gone practically the whole time, camping out with friends. Thomas and Eler Beth spent quite a bit of time fishing, and I could have had the house to myself for most of two days out of three. Think of all the reading I could have done, or computer time I could have logged, etc. And I had to spend it sleeping or sneezing or disinterestedly changing the TV channels, not really wanting to do anything.
Yesterday Eler Beth had an easy day of school work, because I just didn't feel like doing much. She did a lot of reading and some math games on the computer. She may just have an easy day today, too!
I had all kinds of things I was going to write about last week but didn't get around to doing. I hope I can remember what they were! If I do, you may see another entry from me today.
I hope everyone has a good hump day!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Registration for Journals Tournament V
Kellen is ready for anyone interested in competing in the next Journals Tournament to register. What is Journals Tournament, you ask? Click here for a detailed explanation from Kellan, our Tournament Questions Overlord.
I competed in Tournaments III and IV and really enjoyed it. I won the Third Tournament (see my trophy in my sidebar!) and was part of a three-way-tie for first in the fourth one. Kellan gave us orders to write a Haiku to break the tie, and Krissy was the winner. If you have never participated before, check it out! It is a lot of fun and the questions are usually very taxing (in a fun kind of way!).
You can register between now and Sept. 16. Instructions for registering are here, as well as a list of previous winners. Drop by and sign up to give it a try!
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