A Charlie Brown Christmas

 

Recorded this tonight cuz I went to cheer on our Portagers in their first home game...am home now and am watching.
The beginning is the same as I remember, the commercials are different.

I remember it always on a weeknight, at either 7 or 8 in the evening on one of the three networks (at the time). 'Do you think you have pantaphobia?'

'Tens and twenties? Augh, even my baby sister!'


'Man's best friend :['




In spite of my outward appearance, I shall try to run a neat inn.

I'll give you five good reasons...1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Those are good reasons.



Besides, I think it needs me.





Interesting, on 27 June 2012 I was cleaning out old drafts and found this one and it stopped here... I will keep this and finish one day. 'And there were in the same country shepherds, ...'

Merry Christmas!!

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace

Last day of school before Christmas break...

and the perfunctory rites were all attended to: Daily Problem, Rudolph from videotape (and Frosty, as time permitted), breakfast for the first 20 or so customers, Let It Be on the piano.
No practice tonight, no nothing except the Volleyball banquet.
Listening to Classic Christmas on Pandora; been playing lots of classic Christmas on the piano.
My wife calls me a crazymaker.

Super Chocolate Cake Balls

Prep time: 20 minutes.
Idle time: one hour of waiting for the cooling of the cake and overnight for the balls to get hard so you can dip them in the chocolate.

Begin with two or three Natty's. Then put together one Betty Crocker Super Moist Devils Food Cake from mix, following box directions precisely, although the timing on the mixing process doesn't seem to matter. Crisco an 11x15 cake pan in anticipation of the gooey mixture's return.
Spatula the mix into the cake pan; bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.
While you are waiting, discuss black hair-streaks, the remaining Cake Ball process, the feasibility of combining the baked cake with Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting, other flavours of frosting, the Spanish directions on the Betty Crocker Super Moist Devils Food Cake mix box, the price of chocolate chips and walnuts, favourite nuts in general, the fact that after 30 - 35 minutes of baking we then need to let the cake cool, the identity of the sender of surprise text messages, and the delectable aroma.
Then, while the cake is cooling, participate in various outdoor vehicular endeavours, discuss women*.
Crumble the cake up into a mixing bowl, add the can of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting. Fold everything in and you are ready to start balling up this mixture. Ball it well, into about i inch diameter balls. Place in tupperware or other plastic storage container and cover with foil or the lid. Place in freezer overnight so the balls get ready to dip into the melted chocolate.






*and our supreme lack of understanding regarding this topic

Subbing

My most recent Google query was 'things to do when you're a sub and the class is on task' and boy, did I get alot of suggestions.
I ignored them and just wandered out in the hall, schmoozing with the cool high schoolers that were out of class for one reason or another (not at all like the un-cool middle schoolers I was connected with during this fifty minutes.
Kids give me pizza all the time.They know I love it, and they know their fractions because of pizza-examples: If I have my pizza cut into four slices and I share none of it, how many fourths does Skyler get?
Exactly.
Also, we have a gas station right down the road from school that sells pretty darn good slices...wrapped in tin foil no less. My favourite slices are always wrapped in foil. Why, I remember Toaraminos in Detroit with the hugest round pizza slices I've ever seen...and were they ever good?!?

Miss you, flower.

In the autumn of 1991,

Ghoti Hook consisted of bassist Christian, singer Joel, cousin guitarists Conrad and Jamie, and drummer Adam.

Gotta do, should do, could do, wanna do...

... Oh so I don't always do what I should do or want I need to do...more often its what i want to do that is what i do. Just caught the end of Scrooge and now TCM is continuing its Dickens theme with Oliver Twist from 1948

Another weekend has passed away...

...and it was a good one, to be sure. Friday night played tons of table tennis. Slept in Saturday and watched some cooking shows and movies. Barbecue chicken dinner was great and then two good games of Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary Edition (c. 2002) before bed. To-day, there was much football to watch; also Jonah Hex, The Book of Eli, The Adjustment Bureau, and Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan from 1945.
Warmer to-day; looks like forties and rainy all week...cooler and cloudy for the weekend.
My beloved parents have offered to collect and deliver me to my house for the CHRISTmas holiday.

God bless us, every one.

I like...

...beating my landlord at table tennis, hugs from kindergarteners, extra credit pizza, washing dishes after dinner so the kitchen is clean in the morning, making my bed in the morning so the room looks clean when i come home from work.
I like when kids say, ' ahhh now i get it', 'thank you, sir', and 'i had some trouble with the homework problems' (means they're trying!).
I like fires in the fireplace, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and watching our kids on QuizBusters.
I like seeing my boss in the hall and smiling at her, I like the taste of that first cup of coffee in the morning (when I really, really need it), and I like when the Ricoh does all the three-page copies correctly with proper stapleage (-8.
I like Handel's Messiah and Les Miserables, Inception and Knight and Day, Cheap Trick and Green Day.
I like cinnamon vanilla candles in December, snow-days in January, and Scotch whiskey in February.
I like going to bed early and sleeping in, bacon and eggs in the morning, and picking the scabs off my arms and legs from my crazy adorable playful kitten.
I like hearing my sweetie's voice first thing after wake-up and last thing before night time; I am starting to like Scrooges other than Alistair Sim.

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow; Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

Ding a dong, merry throng, ring a ding my hearties
Like to eat, like to drink, I'm mighty fond of parties!
Hey there now, merry doll, derry dol my darling
Feed me now, any how, and I'll not be snarling!

Old Tom was not quite the rhymster I am, I can tell you. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day I can tell you.


Thank you lord for a warm bed to sleep on, thank you for the food we are about to eat, thank you for a roof over our heads on cold nights such as this, thank you for companionship in hard times like these, Amen.

To-day

To-day the rain falls, I had a bloody nose. I have eaten a cheese omelet with just a bit of Montreal steak seasoning and taken my insulin. Yestreday's clothes are on the floor in a bunch, there is a blanket on the rocker.

Morning Routine

Keep in mind, this is what I do after getting into my room at work, the other morning stuff will suffer another post...
Log into Lenovo desktop
Check phone for messages
Turn on hp Elitebook and log in
Open Smart technology, find current saved week
Open Mozilla browser with tabs for email, calendar, grades, web for homework assignments, attendance, youtube
Attend to parent email correspondence
Power up Smart projector and document camera
Fill coffee cup (ahhhhhhh)
Collect books and folders with to-day's lessons
Re-position items hidden for afternoon classes in my room: in-basket, paperclips, seating charts, pens, pencils, ...
Plug in CHRISTmas lights
Call/text my sweetie
Greet students
Help students with math's problems as they arrive and are in need

Oh, excuse me, call me Sam

Papa, you haven't touched a morsel, I'll have to take this suit in, ... eat!

Dear Father,
Thank You for bringing us once again to this time of year. Thank You for a beautiful fall, and for G.F. Handel. Thank You for gorgeous evening skies and my beautiful wife. Thank You for shelter, food, clothing, our jobs, our truck. Thank You for calling me into Your kingdom, for Your love, peace, and joy in our lives.
Please be with Nathan and his family, heal him, my LORD.
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Every Who
Down in Who-ville
Liked Christmas a lot...
But the Grinch,
Who lived just North of Who-ville,
Did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his shoes,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos,
Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew every Who down in Who-ville beneath
Was busy now, hanging a mistleoe wreath.
"And they're hanging their stockings!" he snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...
...All the Who girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!
And THEN
They'd do something he liked least of all!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!
They'd sing! And they'd sing!
AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!
And the more the Grinch thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop Christmas from coming!
...But HOW?"
Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE GRINCH
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!
"With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"
"All I need is a reindeer..."
The Grinch looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grinch...?
No! The Grinch simply said,
"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"
So he called his dog Max. Then he took some red thread
And he tied a big horn on top of his head.
THEN
He loaded some bags
And some old empty sacks
On a ramshakle sleigh
And he hitched up old Max.

Then the Grinch said, "Giddyap!"
And the sleigh started down
Toward the homes where the Whos
Lay a-snooze in their town.
All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care
When he came to the first house in the square.
"This is stop number one," The old Grinchy Claus hissed
And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.
Then he slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch.
But if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little Who stockings all hung in a row.
"These stockings," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"
Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!
Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!
Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Grinch, "I will stuff up the tree!"
And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small Who!
Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.
The Grinch had been caught by this little Who daughter
Who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Grinch and said, "Santy Claus, why,
"Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?"
But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why, my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.
"So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."
And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head
And he got her a drink and he sent he to bed.
And when Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup,
HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!
Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some wire.
And the one speck of food
The he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.

Then
He did the same thing
To the other Whos' houses
Leaving crumbs
Much too small
For the other Whos' mouses!
It was quarter past dawn...
All the Whos, still a-bed
All the Whos, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mount Crumpit,
He rode to the tiptop to dump it!
"Pooh-pooh to the Whos!" he was grinch-ish-ly humming.
"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
"The all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!"
"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch,
"That I simply must hear!"
So he paused. And the Grinch put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow...
But the sound wasn't sad!
Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!
He stared down at Who-ville!
The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
And what happened then...?
Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch's small heart
Grew three sizes that day!
And then the true meaning of Christmas came throu
And the Grinch had the strength of ten Grinches plus two
And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he...
...HE HIMSELF...!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer
Cheer to all Whos far and near
Christmas day is in our grasp
As long as we have hands to clasp
Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we
Welcome Christmas while we stand, 
Heart to heart and hand in hand

Jake and Meghan's Summer Wedding

Meg and Jake's Wedding 2011

Come back, so we can be young men together again

MSU

Spartans lost last night on the carrier but won to-day on the gridiron. Michigan is handling Illinois and are continuing a pretty impressive year.
Penn State lost a close one to-day and a Huge One this past week. Father, forgive us our sins, for the sake of the Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Come, Holy Spirit,

...and fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we will be created and You will renew the face of the earth.
Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful. grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise, and ever rejoice is His consolations.
Through Christ our LORD, Amen.

whatEver...

When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there
Crazy little thing called love
Hocus Pocus

My kick-ass spaghetti that we're warming up again tonight to bake as goulash:

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
6 fresh Italian sausages
2# ground venison
2 medium onions, diced
1 green pepper, diced
5 or 6 cloves garlic, minced
pinches of:
oregano
thyme
rosemary
onion powder
ground black pepper
garlic powder
pasta noodles of your choice


2 bay leaves crumbled
4 cans (14.5 oz) tomatos
2 cans (14.5 oz) tomato sauce
2 cans stems and pieces of mushrooms


Fry sausage in half of the oil, onions, and garlic til almost done. Let rest.
Into 6 quart slow-ciooker dump tomatos, sauce, green pepper, bay leaves. Add sausage to slow-cooker.
Reheat original fry pan with oil, garlic, onion and venison. Cook until meat is almost done, add to slow-cooker.
Allow to simmer for at least two hours. Cook pasta according to directions. Serve sauce over pasta with some good-ass garlic bread on the side.
Enjoy.

what's your name
what's yours
claire
claire?
it's a family name
it's a fat girls name
i'm not fat

bring out the gimp
the gimp's sleeping
well i guess your'e gonna have to wake him up, now aren't ya?

so, what's your poison? ... what do you drink? ... ok, forget i asked
vodka
vodka? when do you dronk vodka?
whenever
alot?
tons

what happend to my honda?
Sorry baby, i had to crash that  honda
...
whos motorcycle is this?
its not a motorcycle, its a chopper
whose chopper is this?
Zed's, baby
who's Zed?
Zed's dead, baby.

Monday, Monday...

Landlord got a pingpong table this weekend and boy can you really work up a sweat engaging in that pasttime?!? We played all day yestreday (except for sandwich breaks). 
We start a new quarter at school to-day; grades were in by 8 this morning; everyone has an "A" right now!
I'm listening to CHRISTmas music on Pandora right now. I'm sold on Pandora. I listened to Slacker.com for years. They do everything they can to get you to subscribe to the upgraded version but Pandora plays artists/genre I want without bullying me into anything!
Youtube is still the best for individual songs I want to hear (except, of course, the first version I ever heard of Rufus Wainright singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which even they don't seem to have). But I thank God for the sound of music.I"ve listened to Handel's Messiah so many times already this fall I could sing the whole thing by myself (except, of course, the Aire for Altos, which I typically have a hard time with :-).
I worked through three sections of Advanced Algebra this afternoon, graded a quizzie, planned a pre-calculus lecture, and began  (finally) a project my principal asked me to accomplish. 
Heard from my buddy Roger (his real name), who lives in OhiO (northeast area, near Canton, not by THEEEE Blobbety Blob University).
And speaking of the Big 10, we've got a kid at school who just moved here from Urbana, Illinois, the home (or neighborhood anyway) of the Illini University of Fighting Illini, where my Big Brother lives. 
OH, by the way, it was both fun and exciting to watch MSU win AND U-M lose during the same early-Saturday-afternoon time slot, literally within a few minutes of each other. Man that's good!

Friday evening...

A gorgeous day to-day, almost 60 degrees and sunny, but we're losing the sun quickly. Tomorrow we set our clocks back an hour (are we switching to Daylight Savings Time or coming off Daylight Savings Time?) and both Michigan and Michigan State are playing at noon tomorrow!

I know tha my redeemer liveth

My video by Sylvia McNair, The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner conducting.

http://youtu.be/QyHeUdBQDxQ