Notes

Getting up from the dinner table -- we had Meatballs in Stroganoff Sauce, with rice; yum -- I realized that I didn't feel a twinge from my leg as I did it. Don't get me wrong, I still get plenty of them -- just the other day, I was one-stepping down the stairs, and thought I wonder if I can do two steps? (the answer can be deduced from the fact that I thereafter immediately stopped dead on the stairs and said rapidly Don't DO that! Don't DO that! Don't DO that!) So I'm a ways from anything like being healed. But still -- I think it's starting. Two weeks after the accident, that's a good thing.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try making this:
Pop Up Pancake - makes 24 muffins or fills a 9×13 baking pan

* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup flour
* 6 eggs
* 1/4 cup melted butter
* dash salt
* Preheat oven at 400*

Blend all the ingredients in a blender.
Grease your muffin tins or baking pan.
Bake them for 15 minutes, or until puffy and golden on top.

Toppings: syrup, powdered sugar, fruit, jam, honey


We are still taking Christmas decorations down. The garland over the front door, we might just let wither and fall off, but the garland on the front railing, we'll take down. I finally brought in the lights from one of the front bushes. We'll probably take down the artificial tree that sits in the kitchen nook, tomorrow. That, I'll miss. It's so nice to see, early in the morning (the timer flicks it on at six for an hour, then at 430 for five hours). When we get the lamp post either repaired or (more likely) replaced, we're going to try to put a non-switched electrical socket in there with it, and if we can, we'll put Christmas lights on the lamp post, next year. I was thinking about that, the other day; I was mulling over having a low wall put around the lamp post, until I realized that if there was a wall there, I would have not whacked the lamp post -- but I would have put a decent dent or two into the van. I guess I choose the way things turned out.

Playing to my love of simple answers, as I watch company after company fail, fold, merge, lose money, and fire people, I wonder: where the hell did all of these financial problems come from? I understand that there are four or five likely candidate sources, any or all of whom are the mustachio'd villains, but what started it? What induced it? Were these problems lingering around for a long time until a normally resilient economy could no longer support the conditions needed to keep them from erupting? And, who's going to jail, other than Bernie Madoff? (Like I really believe he will. Yeah. Right. He'll be in the AIG wing.)

Speaking of locking people up, I understand that people are making an 'unprecedented' level of threats against President Obama. An article on CNN says that people have been locked up for it. I am delighted that the scrutiny is there -- if anything could make me like Homeland Security et al, keeping Obama safe would do it -- but I really hope they're not just locking them up for making a threat. That's the kind of stupidity that makes TSA such a PITA. Yes, these people need to be watched -- but in a way thats consistent with the America that Obama represents. (And yeah, I recognize how ironic that is. )

Our daughter is contemplating dropping down a level of intensity in her science class, next year. She's currently taking level 1 in all subjects, which is the most difficult. Level II is average, and Level III is basic. She's doing okay, but not particularly great. At my suggestion, she asked her science teacher if she should try for level I next year, and he said she should. Thinking that this might just be a pep talk, we asked, and he said, after hesitating, that she could do it, he just wasn't sure she had the desire to do it (meaning, it would take more work than she might be willing to put into it). I am not an overachiever, but I know I'd be happier if she was being pushed and challenged. Of course, that could also be a mistake.

Still looking at DVDs of Boston Legal. It's not consistently good, but its not at all bad.