Night Kitchen 12/15 - 20

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[CO Almost Native]

Bear Woman:

Congratulations to your husband; we cancer survivors love hearing the words "normal" or "no change".  I'm doing the happy dance for you, including your sweet doggie

(Had to throw in frozen guy; -20 last night, -10 tonight (a one dog night )

[Sirenoftitan]

@ BearWoman - I'm so pleased to hear your news 

The ice storm made the news in the UK at the weekend - sounds horrendous.  I hope all of you who've been affected are keeping warm (somehow) and have enough to eat.

The weather here was cold and frosty yesterday but this morning it's relatively mild with drizzle.

My mother was released from hospital yesterday - one week after her operation - and is so pleased to be out.  She'll be staying with us for the next 5/6 weeks whilst she steadily builds up her strength through her exercise regime . 
 

[QuiltAK]

Ok, here's a great story I have to share.

My husband and daughter had dinner with Jesus Christ last night......well almost.  We have friends that work at the PAC (Performing Arts Center) who called at the last minute to offer us two tickets to last nights show.  We were more than happy to accept and decided that my husband and daughter would go and have a dad/daughter date.  So they skipped out of her Lego club early and got dressed up and headed to town for dinner and the theatre.  they went to our favorite restaurant, ORSO, which of course had an hour wait for a table so they went into the bar.  The only two seats left were at the end of a long bar in the middle that had chairs on both sides.   They sat down and had dinner.  Toward the end, everybody from the group that was seated at the bar with them got up and left except for the gentleman sitting right next to my husband.  At the same time, my daughter got up to use the restroom.  The gentleman complimented my husband on what a great young lady my daughter was and they started to have a really pleasant conversation.  When my daughter came back they continued the conversation for a while and the gentleman asked what their date plans were.  When they told him they were off to see JCSS, he said "well, I happen to play the lead in tonights show."    They had dinner with Ted Neeley of "Jesus Christ Super Star" right before the performance!! And it's so great because my husband had no clue until he introduced himself.  How cool is that?  My daughter is so excited!  What a great memory!  Turns out they were actually sitting with most of the cast but only talked to Ted Neeley.       Ok, I'm not the best story teller, but how often to you go the theater and accidentally have dinner with the cast before hand?  That was just too cool!!  

[Sirenoftitan]

That's a great story.   

Did they enjoy the show ?

[QuiltAK]

They did! 

[akmuckraker]

Off to bed at a reasonable hour! 

But wanted to post to say hooray for all those surviving ice storms, sub zero temperatures, and snow in the desert, and for all those keeping health challenges at bay, finding lost dogs, and eating at the bar with Jesus.  Wow... 
                   

[Sirenoftitan]

The most corrupt State in the Union ?

One of the more interesting things (and there were many) at the FBI's press conference announcing the indictment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was a line from one of the investigators: "If [Illinois] isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor".

Well, if not Illinois, than who? Alaska has been filled with recent scandal, as has Louisiana. Americans from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will certainly claim that theirs is the most corrupt state in the union, and all will have plenty of examples

More from the Guardian....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/dec/15/illinois-corruption-politicians

[Jamie]

   sorry, just discovering the new emoticons and I had to play! This on is great!

[Sirenoftitan]

I think this one is my favourite....

[Aussie Blue Sky]

hi Jamie, how are ya? Here's some goss before I go to bed. An interview from grandparents.com with the prospective great-grandfather. The baby's due next Saturday.

Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, are eagerly waiting the baby's arrival. In a phone interview from their home in Wasilla, Alaska, they said they're helping out their granddaughter in the days before she gives birth. They’ve received gifts for the new baby and the nursery is all fixed up — and at last indication the selected colors were lime green and yellow.

Grandpa Chuck Heath, 70, says his hope is for a "happy, healthy kid" — one who will follow along in the footsteps of this very outdoorsy, churchgoing family. He spoke with Grandparents.com about his daughter, Sarah, the impending arrival of his new great-grandson, and the whirlwind life that descended on the family during the campaign.

Grandparents.com: How's the family getting ready?

Chuck Heath: For Bristol's baby? Oh, I don't know. [There's] all kinds of gifts laying around the place — all kinds of baby stuff. I’m in a room right now just full of baby stuff — more than she'll ever use.

GP: From all over the country?

CH: All over the world. I'd say a half-dozen foreign countries. In Sarah's mailroom, there's 87 boxes — big boxes of mail that haven't even been opened. I've been answering letters all day, all week. We figure there's over a hundred thousand pieces here. And we'll never get it done. We're just inundated.

GP: This has been a wild ride for your family, hasn't it?

CH: It completely changed everything here. [We're] just a common, ordinary family — I'm a retired teacher, my wife's a retired school secretary, and I hunt and fish. And here all this comes. I'm not complaining; it's just different. ... All of a sudden [we] jumped into the mayhem. We're very supportive of our daughter and her family. Very supportive. Anything she wants to do or undertake, we're backing her.

to read the rest go to:
http://www.grandparents.com/gp/content/newsoftheday/news/article/a-chat-with-sarah-palins-dad.html


(modified by Charcoal Sniper P. to put quote in quote box, include link and cut down quoted article as per the forum guidelines)

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

CH:They don't have a name for it yet." and then  "I hope he's a normal, happy, healthy kid."

Now why on earth would they be so worried that he wouldn't be a Healthy kid?
And calling him a "it"?
There is something wrong with that family.

[Steve]

NY Times - Week in Review
Dec. 14, 2008
Illinois Is Trying. It Really Is. But the Most Corrupt State Is Actually . . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14marsh.html

Where is officialdom most crooked? Last week, many guessed it must be Illinois, after news that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taped making brazen personal demands in exchange for his selection of a Senate successor to President-elect Barack Obama.

The state's image took a hit despite its long history of producing famously principled political figures, from the bowtied Senator Paul Simon to the great man on the penny.

But bloggers from competing hotbeds of wrongdoing proclaimed that theirs were the worst officials in the land, thank you. New Jerseyans seemed especially sure that their leadership came out on top in the race to the bottom.

Not so. And not so for Illinois, either.

There are several ways to gauge levels of government corruption, all of them a bit, well, corrupt. We present three methods here in the interest of keeping the arguments going.

[CO Almost Native]

sirenoftitian:

I can't remember where I read this last week, but the most corrupt state is North Dakota, followed by Louisiana then Illinois- and finally Alaska. I think it was determined by the number of public officials in prison

(North Dakota?!  Who knew...)

[CO Almost Native]

Oops.  Should have read Steve's post- Maybe I got to the article via Huffington Post...

Thanks for including the link;  I might need some more coffee now...

[InJuneau]

sirenoftitian:

I can't remember where I read this last week, but the most corrupt state is North Dakota, followed by Louisiana then Illinois- and finally Alaska. I think it was determined by the number of public officials in prison

(North Dakota?!  Who knew...)

Actually, I think it was based on the number of convicted politicians per capita.  Therefore, ND and AK, with fewer residents than most of the rest of the states, don't actually have to have nearly as many convicted politicians to look worse on this scale.

[Rankle Hiway / Rabidkayaker..]

Palmdale, CA aka Gini:

This: "...the end of an error..." was classic. Bush couldn't have mispronounced it better himself.

[ira2]

It warmed up by 12 degrees since late last night. Wow. Heatwave. It's 12-below now, and I've been trying to shovel the truck out of its snow shell in the reckless hope that it can make it down the driveway to the street. Forgot that it needs to be plugged in awhile before I can start it up, but turning the key reminded me 

Winter, how I love thee, let me count the ways and all that - after my hands thaw and my brain cell defrosts, that is. At the current moment, the love thing ain't happenin'.
It's not winter's fault though, it's just that I have to cave in and do what I had SO not wanted to do... ask for help again. Apply for energy assistance. Get reviled propane to back up my wood heat. For days like yesterday and today, when I can't make it to the woodpile to bring firewood in because this damn old body won't play nice.
The ice inching up on the windows like a bad case of mold smashed my pride and so it goes. Humph.

Anyway. I'll go try to start the truck again now, and see if it'll make it through the snow drifts. Adventure awaits. Hope y'all are cozy and warm and safe!!

[Forty Watt]

It's not winter's fault though, it's just that I have to cave in and do what I had SO not wanted to do... ask for help again.

When I read this, it reminded me of something my son said when he was working in MN, but I thought I'd keep it to myself, because it might come over sounding preachy or tell-me-something-I-don't-know or a hundred other ways that I didn't mean it to sound.

But while I was thinking, I remembered something else he said, so I'm going to take the risk.

The first thing he said was that he met so many extraordinary older folk (he was very young at the time) many farmers and others for whom life was hard work.  He said they reminded him of his Scottish family, resilient, independent, proud, always show your best face to the world, ask for nothing, never let on things are not going well--admirable values he felt served those folks well throughout their lives--right up until they got sick.  Then he felt, the values by which they had lived let them down.

This is the second thing he said to me, much earlier, as a teenager.  "You know Ma, it's great to be a giver, but did you ever think that, in refusing to be a taker, you deny other people the pleasure of giving. And I thought, I must never forget that.

But I did, until 50 odd years later you reminded me.  So thank you for that.  But, whatever--it's not bloody easy. 

Anyway, enough of that.  Just get warm and enjoy it and we'll all enjoy it with you. 

[QuiltAK]

Good point Forty Watt...Stay warm Ira!!

[Deep Blue]

My apologies to any who strolled over to livechat tonight (Tuesday) and saw my name, then realized I was nowhere to be found...

...it looks like a bunch of members had a good chat going and I'm sorry I missed it. I got called away unexpectedly and forgot to log out of the chat.

sigh. Another time, perhaps...