The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[catmom46]

But isn't that what makes you fun?

Yes, it's exactly why we love Buddy so much!

 

[Songbird76]

Also, eavesdropping on a Spanish speaker's conversation when they think you don't understand them is heck of a lot of fun...especially when you join in...

My husband and I always speak English together, and I mostly speak English with the kids, so when we go into a store, the cashiers always hear us speaking English and some of them aren't proficient in English so they kind of panic at the thought of having to speak English to us...and then we switch to Dutch and you can just see the confusion and then RELIEF wash over their faces. It's amusing.

 

[Gabe1]

It's probably a sickness but I find it amusing how stressed people get at this time of year for no good reason. We willingly went to the mall yesterday to let the kids use the gift cards they got for Christmas. It was pretty civilized but people were impatient, pushing by people. I just kept humming Christmas carols every time someone bumped into me.

My DD and I tend to get out of the way of twits trying to squish us. We are both small and we always get clobbered. I had one woman push through a clump of people at a craft fair and I had just opened a soda which went up in the air and onto the floor. No sorry, excuse me, let me help you clean that up. She did look back and I wished her a Merry Christmas.

 

[Songbird76]

And sold! We might have the Golden Four.

Aw....am I too late? Perhaps I can be a neighbor who comes over for cheesecake.

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

My DD and I tend to get out of the way of twits trying to squish us. We are both small and we always get clobbered. I had one woman push through a clump of people at a craft fair and I had just opened a soda which went up in the air and onto the floor. No sorry, excuse me, let me help you clean that up. She did look back and I wished her a Merry Christmas.

I love it when people use politeness as a weapon .

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

Aw....am I too late? Perhaps I can be a neighbor who comes over for cheesecake.

No cheesecake for me then

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

So I managed to get tickets for some sci fi film tomorrow night. Star Trek or something like it

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

Currently watching "The sound of Music,Live "

 

[Songbird76]

My instrument...good question and a topic of discussion here a year or so back. Main instrument would likely be considered piano, but I play almost as much bass guitar, euphonium and trombone. And every once in a while I get a tuba or trumpet gig. I teach high school and am quite proud of the jazz program that I have (and was at my previous school as well). In fact, we have a outdoor Christmas gig at noon today!

Hope the gig went well. I'm a singer and I play a TINY, like MINICULE amount of piano and flute, but not at all proficiently. I wish I could play better.

 

[Gabe1]

That was very thoughtful of you to send them packages.

I genuinely loved sending care packages.

When my DS was in the college program at WDW we were there for Thanksgiving but not for Christmas. His role the entire area closed for all major holidays and was closed for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day where his friends had to work long hours that day but had a fireworks reservation at Cali Grill. I knew it would be a long 2 days for him. I packed up a big box, a box in a box in a box for the 12 Days of Christmas. Each Box had a different dollar amount of cash in it and a DTD store name attached to the cash. I had taken out my Birnbaum book and picked out the stores he liked the most.

The package arrived 2 days before Christmas and on Eve he asked if he could open. I said no. It had to be Christmas morning but to hide it well in the apartment as it was very valuable and to call me on Christmas Morning when he woke up to unwarp. First he had his stocking filled with the usually yumminess. The box and box. He read the instructions to head to DTD and shop for his Christmas Presents and to send us pictures of what he bought throughout the day. And he did. The bonus was as a CM back then it was the month of 40% off so he managed to get even more stuff for Christmas. It filled his Day with an adventure and purchased many things he had wanted but hadn't bought.

Best Care Package ever!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Really? Do you at least no White Christmas and Annie Get Your Gun? Hugely popular musicals and movies. Berlin was one of the founding fathers of Broadway. He wrote much of the popular music of his time too, recorded by people like Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streissand, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, etc. Do you know "God Bless America"? He wrote that too. He was an amazing cat.

I think you forget Cesar is from Mexico.

 

[Songbird76]

Been watching Mary Poppins. One of my favorites. It really could have been edited a bit more though. Dear Lord that roof top dance sing a long goes on forever.

I had nightmares about that as a kid. I loved the movie, but that scene scared me and I dreamed they were popping in and out of chimneys and they took my mom and I was trying to follow them, but couldn't. I couldn't have been more than 4 because I remember waking up screaming and my mom came in and it was definitely my room at the ranch, and my mom moved out with us when I was 5. No idea what scared me about them, but I think it may have been thinking you'd get stuck in a chimney or end up somewhere completely different and never find your way home?

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I've been waking hours before the Sun has come up the last 3 days. Annoying.

Ditto!

 

[Songbird76]

Thought I'd give you all an easy X-mas recipe.

Monkey Bread

Quick and dirty, and awesome with Gingerbread French Press Coffee (which I'll include as a later recipe)

Ingredients
3 12 oz tins of Buttermilk Biscuits (I wanted Pillsbury, but couldn't find them in that size, so I got Publix Brand...first time using Publix Brand, but they turned out just fine for this! I like the 12 oz cans for reasons related later, but you can use the larger ones if you prefer Pillsbury brand (understandable))
1 cup of sugar
3 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of margarine (unsalted butter is fine, but I actually think margarine works better for this, I've tried it with both)
1 bag (1 cup) of crushed pecans (optional)
1 bag (1 cup) of crushed walnuts (optional)
6 boxes (however much that is after nibbling some) of snack size sunmaid raisins, approx 1 cup)
1/2 box of Butterscotch Pudding Mix (the cook and serve powder kind)

Step 1) Preheat the oven to 350. Chop or crush the nuts into smaller pieces.


Step 2) Spray a bundt pan down with nonstick cooking spray or rub with butter flavour crisco.

Step 3) Sprinkle some of the crushed pecans in the pan. Then some raisins. Then some walnuts. Then sprinkle evenly with butterscotch pudding mix.


Step 4) Mix the cinnamon and sugar into a container, and add the biscuits. This is one of the reasons why I like the 12 oz container size. The biscuits are the perfect size for this, so you can just separate them as you normally would. Shake and sprinkle the sugar onto the biscuits to coat.




Step 5) Arrange the biscuits, slightly overlapping, but still with gaps, in a layer.


Step 6) Repeat step 3, creating another layer of nuts, raisins and pudding mix.


Step 7) Repeat Step 4 and 5, creating another layer of biscuits. Push any remaining biscuits into place, but don't close all the gaps.


Step 8) Sprinkle any remaining raisins and nuts, as well as another sprinkling of butterscotch pudding mix on the base.


Step 9) In a saucepan, melt the brown sugar and butter together over medium heat, stirring often and breaking up any clumps. After it comes together, allow it boil for a minute or so. Then stir again to recombine and pour it evenly into the pan.








Step 10) Bake for 35 - 40 minutes.

Step 11) Remove from the oven, then let it stand for at least 10 - 15 minutes to cool.


Step 12) Turn it out onto a serving dish.


Step 13) Serve. You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top to make it all "fancy" if you like, but there's really no need! Also, no need to cut, the bread pulls apart as smaller biscuits and is made to be eaten with serving forks, or if a big happy family, fingers!

(side note...if it falls apart, specifically the top layer...as you shake it gently out of the pan onto the plate, that's fine. Just turn the pan back over, stay calm, and use a spoon to pry out the pieces and put it back together. There will be enough nut/caramel combo to hide any spots. Mine often fall apart...with the top layer liking to stay in the pan in pieces, including this one...can you tell?)







DEVOUR!

Yum!! Makes me wish we had buttermilk biscuits and butterscotch pudding here! Though it's probably better for me that we do not.

 

[Songbird76]

Still very much catching up to do. Don't know if being sick is helping or hindering. I have more down time, but I'm needing it to sleep. On the upside, I got all my Christmas presents wrapped today while the kids were at Oma and Opa's and daddy was watching the new Star Wars at the brand new Imax theater.
I've switched to paracetamol now as ibuprofen wasn't helping my headache or bringing my fever down, and it seems to be working on both, but the ibuprofen works better for the overall achy-ness, but I can deal with that better than the loopiness and headache, so I'll stick to paracetamol. Hubby tells me I'm absolutely not going to work tomorrow.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I guess I'm not seeing how I'm wrong. This seems to affirm my point...which is, when the Wiz originally came out, it wasn't concerned with being politically correct. You have posted an excerpt about the recent adaptation, which may very well be a different kettle of fish and it's too bad that they wuzzed out. (But I did enjoy it.) Brown was not trying to be P.C. when he wrote the book nor was Smalls when he wrote the musical. Are you saying I'm wrong about that? Because that was my total point. The Wiz was meant to be political and wasn't concerned with who it offended...this is the opposite of politically correct.

I was talking about (and everyone else was) talking about The Wiz Live which is different than the original. I understand you were talking about the original. But hey, it's Christmas and this is supposed to be a light-hearted non-confrontational thread (read The Mom's first post) so perhaps if you feel the need to debate someone you should PM them. And I'm not talking about debating me because we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I love it when people use politeness as a weapon .

Kill 'em with kindness

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Been watching Mary Poppins. One of my favorites. It really could have been edited a bit more though. Dear Lord that roof top dance sing a long goes on forever.

I just found out my best friends are taking us to see the Mary Poppins musical as our Christmas present.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Let's let the stroller ECV subject die, as those threads wind up getting shut down

Amen.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

For @Cesar R M I think I mentioned before I saw POTO years ago and Paul Stanley (from KISS) played the Phantom. Did you know Paul was born deaf in one ear?