Misquoted
Posted: November 24, 2008 Filed under: War and Peace 6 CommentsYesterday in church the first speaker gave what I’m sure would have been a great talk had he not ruined his credibility in the first two sentences. The talk started something like this:
“Maybe I’m dating myself here, but there used to be a bunch of commercials with this dog named Scruff McGruff, who warned kids to stay away from crime.”
Everyone likes Scruff McGruff! And in fact, he’s still around, with his own website and even a blog.
Remember this guy?
The speaker continued, “Scruff McGruff said something at the end of every commercial that I think is really worth mentioning: ‘Knowing is half the battle.'”
…
…
…
You see the problem, right? Seriously, I thought everyone knew that it was the G.I. Joe cartoon that always ended with “Now we know, and knowing is half the battle!”
The real source of the quote.
It doesn’t even make sense for Scruff McGruff to say that “Knowing is half the battle.” If you know what things are criminal, you can avoid doing them? I dunno. Seems shady to me.
Thanks, older brothers, for watching the G.I. Joe cartoon so that I could feel smug and superior during church yesterday!
More on Cup Pies
Posted: November 24, 2008 Filed under: James and the Giant Peach 3 CommentsThe first time we made cup pies, they were apple. Delicious. So delicious. We put a crumb topping on them (really simple – just flour, sugar, and butter), for extra tastiness. And we used a homemade piecrust, which turned out perfectly.
To save time and energy, we bought Pillsbury piecrusts this time. Here’s my verdict: while infintely easier, the Pillsbury crusts just don’t taste as good, and I did that math to calculate that 14 cup pies for $2.25/box of Pillsbury crusts doesn’t quite compare to 17 cup pies for $1.50/ingredients for homemade crust.
So here’s the recipe for you. I borrowed it from my cousin Jennifer, who was given the recipe by her mom. It really is easy as pie.
Pie Crust
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
Combine the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening. In a separate bowl, combine the egg and milk; add to the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened – do not overmix. Roll out on floured board. Makes 2 9″ piecrusts or about 18 cup piecrusts.
Enjoy!
P.S. I want a pastry cutter. And there are pictures of the cup pies now, in the original post. Yum.
Hogle Zoo 2008
Posted: November 21, 2008 Filed under: War and Peace 5 CommentsFor our nephew Brandon’s 2nd birthday, the Romgi and I thought it would be fun to spend a day at the zoo. Brandon is one of the most adorable little boys I know, and usually one of my favorite people to be around. This day at the zoo convinced me that I really, honestly, truly do not like kids.
At all.
It seemed like a good idea at the time to go on “Boo at the Zoo” day – the Saturday just before Halloween, when the zoo invites kids to come in costume and get candy at a bunch of different animal exhibits. We managed to find a parking spot after about 10 minutes and then entered the line to buy tickets. Somehow we ended up on the side of the ticket booth that had only one window open, and we stood for about 30-40 minutes slowly inching up towards the ticket window.
Brandon removed his costume after approximately 2.25 minutes in line.
We were almost up to the window, with only a few people ahead of us, when this guy at the front of the line decides that now is a good time to apply for a zoo membership. He spent a good 10 minutes filling out the paperwork. Why didn’t the cashier have him step aside to fill it out? I was really grouchy by that point. Really grouchy.
Brandon inside the zoo - no costume.
Swans and ducks aren't exactly interesting first exhibits.
Next were the Navajo sheep.
Then we saw wild turkeys. What kind of zoo is this? These are animals I could see driving around Utah! And where is the candy? Oh - by that really long line.
Brandon did enjoy the monkey house, once we showed him where the monkeys were hiding.
Free candy (for a 20-minute wait in line) or an ice cream cone (for $3)? Not a difficult choice to make. That is me in the background, being pregnant and grouchy.
Unsure why they had a bunch of cornstalks, unless it was for Halloween, but Brandon was happy hiding in them. And the Romgi was happy taking pictures.
This is the gorilla exhibit, which had no gorillas - only a black cat. Quoi?
And this is me making Brandon cry. It was not on purpose. Seriously.
I'm not a terrible person...really...
The Romgi gave Brandon candy to make me look even more like the bad guy. It calmed Brandon down, and we went on a train ride. So nice to sit for a few minutes!
The train ride took us through all the boring, non-animal parts of the zoo. Why are there teepees?
Ok, admittedly, the buffalo were kind of cool.
After that we took Brandon to the gift shop and let him pick out whatever he wanted. Of course, we only directed him towards budget-friendly items, but I’m sure he had fun grabbing things off the shelf. I would.
We did finally make it back to the car, about two and a half hours after we first got in line to buy tickets. Here’s the conclusion I came to: Roni needs more sleep before going on outings. A lot more. The Romgi had a good time, and Brandon apparently did too, and the further we get from the trip the more I think it might have actually been a tiny bit fun.
But I probably won’t be going back anytime soon.
Jarom
Mika
hilleries 