“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right
to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

- George Orwell

Hey, what up, peeps?

I have been doing a lot of baking, even though I haven't done a lot of posting. Sorry! I'll give you the rundown (and no, Jifufu, not the version with The Rock).

Let's see, 2 weeks ago, I made these totally awesome cookies that were posted by a fellow baking blogger. Thanks, Gino!

Along with that, I made Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes from How to Eat a Cupcake. I had made these two recipes because we were having a barbeque with a bunch of friends. The cupcakes were pretty good, but the kids at our house informed me incessantly that the frosting tasted like toothpaste. I kind of agreed with them, even though I used less peppermint extract than the recipe called for. Maybe next time I'll use even less; or none at all, and just have chocolate buttercream. Mmmmmmm...

Then this past week was poppyseed week! Orange Poppyseed cookies came first. They were completely awesome!! They are the perfect summer cookie.

The second recipe of last week presented itself to me via fanmail. (That's right, I get fanmail*.) It came from the July issue of Family Circle, and was, in fact, on the cover- Giant Lemon Poppyseed cupcakes!
I love pretty much anything lemon poppyseed, and so away I went. I did not make giant cupcakes, because I'm too cheap to order the giant cupcake pan from the magazine, but they were absolutely delicious normally sized. While I was frosting the cuppycakes, Benny was taking pictures, and kind of irking me at the same time. I chased him with my frosting knife. I would post the pics, but I don't know where the little USB thingy is, and I'm too busylazy to find out.





*Thanks, Grandma!

... AND LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that all fathers who blog within the MOB will have their children type a blog message on Sunday, June 15 titled "Why We Love the MOB and its Great Mayor" (with spellchecking turned OFF);

This is the Mall Diva and Tiger Lilly.

We love the MOB!! Seriously, it rocks.

We love our Mayor!! Long live King Banaian and his decrees (scroll down the first link above).

We love our daddy!!! He's the best daddy ever and the super-coolest blogger ever.

We also did our duty by grilling and eating a member of that sly and evil species: the ninja cow. Mmm-mmmmm!

So it was written, so it was done. Selah.

...And not just my own. I like them because I can make cupcakes with impunity.

Now, I love to make cupcakes and try out new and different things, but the problem with making them (almost) weekly, is having a whole batch of them in my house. They stare at me, calling out my name and reminding me that if I don't do my part to get them eaten within a couple of days, they'll go bad, and that's a shameful waste! So I'll eat one every day, and maybe that's okay for one week, but after a few weeks I start looking a little too good in my fat jeans.

This week was my little cousin Weston's 17th birthday, and today is Princess Flickerfeather's 19th birthday. Yay! Happy birthday!! So I made a batch of lemon curd filled vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to send to our youth group on Wednesday night, because I knew they would be celebrating. Unfortunately, I couldn't go. I think they were well received; the birthday boy said "they were way good". Yay, me!!!

This recipe was my best effort yet! The cupcakes did what they were supposed to, and were aesthetically pleasing.

To fill these cupcakes, I cut a cone out of their center after they were cool, filled them, cut the top off the little cone, and put the top back on the cupcake.





I didn't actually have one of these cupcakes. Instead I ate cupcake guts drizzled with lemon curd and topped with frosting. Mmmmmm!!!!!

I'm sorry I missed last week. There were too many other things going on, and cupcakes were not high on the list of priorities.

The Queen joined me again this week for the baking of cupcakes, and there was a certain recipe I wanted to try. This one, in fact, so I went to the store for my ingredients. I found out a couple things: #1- You shouldn't go to the store to buy pears the same day you need to use them, if ripe-ness is important to you; and #2- One vanilla bean costs $10. Yep. "So did you buy it", you might ask?

Heck no! I'm no snob, I'll even substitute imitation vanilla! And as for the pear, I bought a can of sliced pears in syrup, then drained the syrup and followed the recipe the same way. I know, I'm a genius!



Do you see how cute the frosting on that cupcake is? That's because my own dear mother bought me an icing piper! It is so awesome! Using it makes me feel like a real cake decorator!!!

They were pretty yummy, but super crumbly. That just means I get to practice more! But the problem with practicing more is that I end up with a bunch of cupcakes that I really shouldn't be eating. The way I solved that problem this week was by bringing a bunch to work with me. The ladies there mostly know about my new hobby, and for the most part are willing to support me by eating the results.



And now I'm sad to say that Chockylit, founder of the Cupcake Bakeshop is closing up shop. I'll be waiting for your next site, and thanks for the recipes!

It is a cheesecake post. Thank you, Gigi!


Yes, this is a slice of the first cheesecake I have ever made; and it won't be the last!!! It was covered with blackberry topping, and was heavenly.

So it seems that when my friends get involved with photographing my food creations, they go a little insane. First example: Princess Flickerfeather getting all touchy with how the craisins should be sprinkled on the plate, and growling fiercely if anyone got too close.
(Heehee! Just kidding. She didn't really growl, she just glared.)

Next example: Benny is on a quest for "natural light" in which to photogragh his beloved cheesecake, as seen in the picture below.


I humored him for a little while, but when it started raining I grabbed the cheesecake and ran.

What became of this now-famous little slice of cheesecake?

I'm sorry!! I didn't post cupcakes last Friday because it was much too busy a day, plus I didn't have the camera.

It was last Monday that my cousin Lindsay (that's right, the Queen), came over to bake cupcakes with me. We chose Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Marshmallow Frosting from The Clean Plate Club blog. I am quite proud to say that none of them sank. Yay, me and Lindsay!! We had a wonderful time making these cupcakes, and we brought them to our church league softball games, where they were very appreciated.

Unfortunately, there are comlpications with the pictures that were taken, so I will leave with this one until a future date, it's frosting!!!


You will also soon be getting pictures of a wonderfully gorgeous cheesecake that I made for Benny's birthday. My first one ever!!!! It was delicious.

Cupcakes!



I was volunteered by our very own Princess Flickerfeather to make cupcakes for a special, if sad, occasion. I'm in the praise and worship band at church, and we practice every other Tuesday night. This past Tuesday we had practice, but it was also a going away party for one of our band members...*sniff*. We'll miss you, Mel!

Of course, if there's a party, there has to be food! I decided to make a cupcake that the name of which I'm sure is 50 calories by itself: "Chocolate Cupcakes stuffed with Strawberry Chocolate Ganache and frosted with Chocolate Glaze and Buttercream".

Now that's a mouthful, in more ways than one! From the site that is turning out to be one of my very VERY favorites~ Cupcake Bakeshop! Give Chockylit a hand!



You may be wondering why the hack my cupcakes aren't as pretty as Chickylit's. That's because I'm a novice, and actually, I only made 4 cupcake prototypes. They came out of the oven a little sunken and crumbly and not wanting to be filled. I was distraught until my mother came in and saved the day.

"Why don't you just crumble them in to a cake pan and layer it with all the ganache and frosting?" So I did. I called it "Not quite a cupcake", and it was a huge hit. Yay! What would I do without you, Mom? Well, I'd probably serve cupcakes that were messy and not aesthetically pleasing.

Hey there, this is Uncle Ben. Diva is off in the kitchen right now, about to put the frosting on some cupcakes because it is, after all, Cupcake Friday. No word on what kind they are, but I heard some monkey shrieking so I think it might be something like banana or coconut. I'll go check!

Oh for the love of Pete. There are three women in the kitchen doing a photo shoot with cupcakes. "You've got to add some craisins to the plate for color!" "Don't you dare touch that plate or I'll smack you upside the head with this spatula!!!" "Can't we all just get along?"

Hmm, it's a pretty open question as to whether they'll ever get a photo out of this. It might just devolve into a cupcake flinging fight. Hey, now that would be cool! I'll be right back!

Rats.

...

You naughty Ben! Get off my blog! Anyway, these are Coconut Kiss Cupcakes (no, no kissing was actually involved). The recipe is from Couture Cupcakes. Enjoy!

Yay! Who's excited for today's cupcake post? I am! But, as the title states, I am on a cake tangent. So while I will be linking to a cupcake blog, the focus will be on cake in non-cupcake form. Got it?

I was browsing through Gigi Cakes, and saw her recipe for Banana Dulce de Leche Cake. I became quite excited because I remembered seeing a can of Dulce de Leche in the cupboard, and had wondered if there was anything I could use it for. This was my big chance!!!

It was pretty easy to make, and even the batter was super yummy! I have decided, though, that I'm not that into mascarpone icing, and if I make it again I might try cream cheese icing, or even no icing! The cake itself is that fabulous!

Hmmm...Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, the story that inspired part of the title of this post, which most of you will probably find more interesting than the cake portion of this blog. Spit-swapping!

So, Benny and I were with a bunch of our peeps at the movie theatre, waiting for Expelled to start. I had bought a giant pretzel, and he was helping me eat it. You know how they come in paper envelopes? Well, I had taken out my gum and stuck it in the corner of the paper. So there we were, happily munching away, when I look down and notice that my gum was no longer in its little corner. Oh no!

I made it known that I couldn't find my gum, and proceeded to search for it, first on myself, then I got up and searched my chair...it was nowhere to be found. I sat back down.

"I found it", said Benny. He sounded a little grossed out.

My gum had fallen out of its corner and onto the pretzel, and it was Benny who got a surprise with his next bite. It was so funny! Well, at least Dave and Julie (who were sitting next to us) and I thought it was funny. Benny, not so much.

Whoops! I almost forgot to post about cupcakes!

First of all, what is a cupcake?

The all-knowing Wikipedia says:

A cupcake (the common US term) or fairy cake (the common British term), is a small cake designed to serve one person, usually made in a small paper cup container. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are defining characteristics of modern cupcakes.

Cupcakes are often served during a celebration, such as children's classroom birthday parties. Additionally they can be served as an accompaniment to afternoon tea. They are a more convenient alternative to cake because they don't require utensils or dividing into pieces because they are smaller.

A simple cupcake uses the same fundamental ingredients as most other standard cakes: butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Nearly any layer cake or loaf cake recipe can be used to make cupcakes.

Yep, I think that's a pretty straightforward explanation of what cupcakes are. Fairy cake? heehee!

Let's see if Noah Webster's 1828 has anything to say on the subject...Nope. Nothing on cupcakes. Maybe fairy cakes? Nothing there either. Darn.

Well, in honor of British terms, I shall link to Airy Fairy Cupcakes.

And now, story time! Late in the afternoon on Wednesday I was at work rolling a perm for like the second hour in a row. It's not because I'm slow, it's because the lady was Chinese, and so, of course, was her hair. Meaning it was really super thick (it was also shoulder-length, but that's not because she was Chinese). We were all talking about politics or some such thing that was doing a good job of putting us in a crabby mood. We unanimously decided that we needed to change the subject. Here was my chance...

"We could talk about cupcakes!", I offered in my excited-to-talk-about-cupcakes way.

"I don't like cupcakes", said Carole, my boss's client.

"*GASP*! Carole! What is wrong with you?", I exclaimed. (Carole is a lovely lady who has been coming to the shop longer than I have, and knows I was joking.)

"Well," she said, "I just think they're too dry."

"That is terrible. I am telling your mother." (Carole's mother is one of those wonderful little old ladies that comes to the shop every Thursday to get her hair set for the week.)

The next day when Virginia came to the shop (yes, I was done with the perm by that time, thank you), I asked what was wrong with her daughter. She laughed and said "How much time have you got?"

So as of late I've acquired a new addiction. Cupcake blogs*.

It all started quite a while ago when I was on Surly Dave's site, looking through his blogroll of cooks. I found one that I absolutely love! Its Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog, run by a lady named Elise who posts wonderful, user-friendly recipes. If I'm feeling down, instead of turning to food consumption for comfort, I turn to food blogs, complete with pictures! Yay! I even got a notebook and started putting together my own little cookbook with the recipes I find there, and so far all of them have been delicious.

From that site I found another, of course. These things just tend to escalate, don't they? Anyway, the second site is Vanilla Garlic, run by one Garrett McCord, who has a thing for putting together interesting ingredient combinations and creating original cupcake recipes. So of course in his blogroll he has a category just for cupcake blogs, which of the eight listed I favorited, um.....seven. Actually, I would have favorited all of them, but one isn't running anymore.

Perusing these cupcake blogs has been so inspiring, but it took me a little while to try my first batch of cupcakes. I finally did on Monday, and the results were so wonderful!! I was so impressed with myself! The recipe comes from How To Eat a Cupcake, which is a super-fun site. Go check it out! I ended up buying a second notebook just for cupcakes. I think I shall post a new cupcake blog site every week! Bwa-ha-ha-haaaaa!

...Sorry.

So! Now you have something exciting to look forward to! Yay for you!

*Yes, there was reason behind the madness that was Benny's blog background yesterday.

You Are a Super Diva

Some may complain about your diva ways, but you brush them off. You simply demand the best - and there's nothing wrong with that. Don't stomp on the little people too much though! You still need them to get to the top.

Note: Questions may or may not have been answered in order to fit characterization.

Ok, so I tagged Princess FlickerFeather with this meme, and she e-mailed her response to me forever ago, and I'm just posting it now. I'm sorry! I know that you were all waiting very anxiously; but it's okay now, here it is in her very own words! Enjoy!

7 Things people don't know about me:
1) I couldn't sing you a Beatles song to save my life.

2) Still a teenager and already a great-aunt

3) I'm a ninja - Seriously, I can disappear for an hour or so and not have people notice I'm gone.

4) My brother talks more than me.

5) Always wished I could be a tomboy.

6) I've only been to 4 concerts in my life.

7) Wanted to be married at 18... yeah, not going to happen. ^_^

...was the scariest day of my life. So far.

It wasn't scary in the way that being on stage is scary or being attacked by sharks is scary. (Well, actually, I only have experience in one of those areas. Sharks. Totally.)

It was scary because I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but there was something that I wanted and I needed to find out if it was what God had in mind for me...and if my parents approved. I guess that was the scary part.

So, we all sat down in the living room that day - my mom, dad, me and Ben (aka "MG"). We had convened there to talk about "intentions and mushy stuff". Oh, and earlier when I said that I had no idea what I was getting myself into? Seriously, I was clueless as to what to expect, so when my father asked Benny what his intentions were and he said "...well, one day I'd like to marry your daughter...", I was a little shocked. I know. Looking back it seems pretty darn silly, like what else would we be talking about? But I had never done that before!

Well, "the talk" did go well. Benny has been spending lots of time with our family, because it is, after all, a family affair. And there is a reason for that. Joshua Harris' books I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl really helped to keep things in perspective for me, along with people around me giving me really good examples of how to behave, and really good examples of how not to behave.

My dad was right, life is highway. Or at least an old interstate in the boonies. I can't believe a year has gone by already, though its been suggested that I have a lead foot. So, we'll keep driving down this road, kind of knowing one of the stops on the way, but not sure how we'll arrive there or what comes after.

So here we are! We've come to this point in our journey, and we want you in on it.

Oh, and sorry guys. I'm taken.

Update:

If you want to know more, go here.

I've been tagged by Amanda at Within the Discord (an awesome new blog, btw. I'm so happy to have another girl on board!) with this meme: 7 things that most people don't know about me.

I think I'll change it up a little, though: 7 things that may or may not be true that most people don't know about me. Heehee! Have fun guessing what's what!

1. I used to have two black kittens. Their names were Glory and Hallelujah.

2. I talk in my sleep. One incident involved me telling my mother that I needed nine thousand dollars. I was probably five.

3. This past year I got a tattoo of a scripture from the Bible. On the bottom of my right foot it says "Whither thou goest,", and on the bottom of my left foot it says "I will go". It's super cool. It hurt like crazy, though.

4. I love football.

5. Clowns scare me.

6. Right now I'm taking a break from writing a script to do this meme. Betcha didn't know that I'm a scriptwriter, did you? Come to our Christmas program!

7. I'm a musical prodigy.


Let's see; I tag Kevi-Wevi, Princess FlickerFeather, and Tiger Lilly.

I know I've been quite absent from the 'sphere as of late, but I have a good reason!! Here it is:

So Princess FlickerFeather had this idea at the end of the summer for a Christmas program, and asked me if I would help make it happen. Of course I agreed, her being my dear friend and all. How hard could it be?

We had our first meeting toward the end of September. We had a hard time even knowing where to start, so I finaly said "OK! What is the one thing that we know for sure?" That one thing happened to be the date we were told the performance was to be. Alright! A lot to do, and enough time to do it if we are diligent.

The creative juices started flowing. We went through the ideas that she had, and have since been working endlessly to get everything together, and practicing two, even three times a week! If one of my parents asks "What are you doing tonight?" or "Hey! Where are you going?", the answer is always "Practice! What do you think?"

We've worked hard, the cast has worked hard, and everyone else involved has worked hard to bring this thing to fruition. Now its pay-off time!!! And we want you to come and enjoy the results of our toil. There will be singing, dancing, lots of laughs, and even cookies!!! Here's the D.L. :

What: Eclectica: A Christmas Program
(Directed and emceed by the Princess and yours truly)

Where: The Miracle Centre Church
125 21st Ave. S., S. St. Paul, MN 55075

When: December 16th at 6 p.m.
Cookies and other yummy desserty things to follow!!

This is your official invitation. Be there or be a shape with four corners!! Any questions, leave them in the comments section or shoot me an email. Look! We even have a logo that kicks butt! Thanks Mr. Tommy!

Hey everybody!! Do you want to make a big difference in the world?? Do you want to break into Hollywood, even if it's indirectly? Have I got the opportunity for you!

My good, good friend, Princess Flickerfeather, has written a song that she would like to get into the upcoming "Batman, Dark Knight" movie. Right now it is up on her myspace; its called "My Twisted Humor". Her goal is to get 1000 friends and have the film people notice. It absolutely kicks butt; I was there when she recorded as the Q.C.

What can I do to help?
Be her friend!

What if I don't have a myspace?
Ha ha, funny joke. Everybody and their dog has a myspace.

No, seriously.
What? You're serious? Well, if you don't have one, get one! Then add her to your friends list and tell every single person you know about the song. Let's prove that we can make a difference!

Thank you for your support.

P.S.~ There is also an official website that is in the works right now. I will keep you updated.

I saw this bumper-sticker today:

"The road to Hell is paved with Republicans"

My reaction:

"So, you've been there?"

...just another service he offers.

Ahh, the Crooked Spoon. We were hungry after a long hike. My feet were tired. My mom, sister, and I had left my father at the bar down the street to watch the game end. Sitting at our table, I tried not to fall asleep. We perused our menus and decided what we wanted. There were only a few people in the restaurant.

We didn't have to wait too long before my father walked in. He seemed to be in a rather jovial mood. We ordered our food and then he shared his story of the man who had "played football before" and the other who was giving himself a pedicure at the bar. *Shudder* Anyway, after a while our appetizer came. It was goat-cheese-and-spinach dip (sounds great, no?) with pita bread. Our pita bread ran out before our dip did. We asked for more pitas, but that took forever, so we were eating the dip with our forks. When our bread finally came, there pretty much wasn't any dip left...except what my dad had scooped onto his plate earlier. My mom tried to take some, which resulted in my dad getting territorial. Like an animal. Actually, like an ape. "Ooh ooh ooh!" (How do you spell what an ape says, anyways?)

My mom was taken aback, but my sister and I started laughing. She should have told us not to encourage him, because he kept it up all through dinner- playing with his food, beating his chest and scratching his butt like monkeys do. Well, maybe he didn't really go that far; but whatever. He was scaring the other customers, alright? Because by this time, the restaurant was full. I saw the people behind my dad glance over a couple times, wondering what the heck was going on. I just kept laughing. I was tired, it was funny! We were really starting to wonder just how many beers he'd actually had beforehand.

That is one family vacation memory I will not forget. I'm scarred for life. Darwin would be so proud.

...is my cousin!!!!

Yes, that's right. Tonight, for the first time in 25 years, Inver Grove Heights has crowned a queen for itself. I went to the coronation, the audience of which was largely made up of Lindsay Irish supporters. Who's that you say? Oh, why that is just my cousin THE QUEEN.

You know, coronations are actually pretty boring except for about the last eight minutes. Then it's nail-biting suspense, and then either a sharp sense of disappointment and loss or one of overwhelming and exceeding joy and excitement; and all just for a (very, incredibly) sparkly crown. It almost makes me want to run. Almost.

Here we are, the two/thirds royalties:

She also won the community award. Every candidate had a box that their constituents filled with non-perishable food items, and the candidate with the most non-perishable food items won. Yay for the constituents!! I think she should also get the award for the loudest cheerers (read: screamers). The MC told her "Wow, it sounds like you brought your whole neighborhood tonight". Heck yeah. And I can say I knew her way back when:

*Sniff, sniff* Now I probably won't see her for a whole year, til the next coronation when she does the crowning.

Need I say more?

Last Saturday the Princess took me to see "Hairspray". It was absolutely adorable. And hilarious. I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard. It's probably on of the best musicals ever.

Nikki Blonsky does a great job as Tracy Turnblad, who knows she was born to dance, even if she doesn't fit in with all the skinny girls. She is a funny, out-going force to be reckoned with; and she teaches us that dreams really can come true! (Okay, that was a little sappy- *gag, gag*) Anyway, while she fights for her chance to prove herself, she also fights for the equality of her new negro friends, even to the extent of her "assaulting" a police officer! Yup, a great family film.

Zac Efron plays Tracy's love interest, Link Larkin, who is a lot cuter than- and not nearly as annoying as- he was in "High School Musical" (another movie the Princess made me watch).

Oh, and John Travolta makes a pretty good mom.

Watching this movie will most likely make you want to dance and sing- it's so infectious! I can't wait to buy it.

Hey, peeps! I may have been silent, but I AM alive, and did indeed have a birthday. Many thanks to the people who noticed and even posted: Uncle Ben and Dan Stover (such as it was).

It's been a big year. I had my first anniversary at the salon on July 8, and things have been going well. When I tell people what I did on my birthday, they tell me that I'm really an adult now. Want to know what I did? I worked.

I went to work at 9 on that icky-looking Saturday morning with three appointments on my book. Within the first hour, the first two had cancelled. So. It was my birthday, I was stuck at work with nothing to do, and I had left my book at home. Arrgh!

My boss came in at 10 and felt so bad for me, she let me foil her first client. Yay! I had something fun to do! She went to Caribou to get a coffee and was gone for longer than normal. When she came back, I was lamenting to my client about the dissolving of my day and she said "Don't you have faith that you'll get some clients?" Mostly I thought she was just teasing me about my name. Soon after that, my third client cancelled. Yup, that made my faith real strong.

A while later the two ladies who own the bakery just down from us came in. One needed her hair colored, and they had brought me a cake!
*Sniff sniff* That's why my boss was taking forever!! She wasn't just buying coffee, she was pulling clients out of the bakery- cake and all! And it was a good cake. Then a few minutes later, Will from Caribou came in with a big fat cup of some hot, sugary, syrupy, coffee drink! Guess what I had for lunch?

I felt so loved. And after that, I felt like a small neurotic dog on speed.

That night, we had dinner at Olive Garden and then my family came over, bearing gifts. And my loving mother had also baked me a cake. Not a bad birthday at all.

Kingdavid has tagged me with a meme:
"Songs that I've made a happy fool of myself singing along to."

This is going to be hard, because I pretty much sing along with any song I know the words to, and quite a few songs I don't really know the words to. How long can my list be? And where do I begin?

I'll start with a classic:

1~ "The Hampsterdance" by Hampton the Hampster
Yes, I spelled that right. This is one you really need to crank up, let loose and rock out to. Especially in public. It even instructs you on how to do the Hampsterdance! And by the time you're done with that, this song will come in really handy:

2~ "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol
Oh oh ohoh!! Need I say more?

Oh oh, I know!
3~ "Believe" by Cher
I confess I've always liked this song, though I thought it was sung by a dude until someone told me otherwise.

And now for something completely different!
4~ "Witness" by Nicole C. Mullen
Ooooh yeeeah. I betcha didn't know I could rap, didja?
Holla!

And speaking of rapping:
5~ Every song on my Group 1 Crew cd. They are brand spankin' new (pretty much) and absolutely kick butt. Even live! I saw them at Club 3 degrees with Princess Flickerfeather and her cousins.
Holla again!

6~ "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" by Big and Rich
Yup, I've made a happy fool of myself singing along to this and the parody my sister made up. She likes to do that.

Speaking of parodies...
7~ "Oh! Gravity" by Switchfoot
This cd rocks, and both the original version and the Tiger Lilly version are fun to sing and head-bang to.

8~ "Man, I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain
Of course.

9~ "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service
One of my absolute favorite songs, along with:

10~ "Far Away" by Nickelback
So beautiful! *sniff*...

Here's one for my dad:
11~ "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" by Warren Zevon
Ha ha!

And here's one for my mom:
12~ "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor

Here's a fun one!
13~ "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin

14~ "Flower Duet" by Charlotte Church
Almost everybody who tries to sing along with this will make a fool of themself.

15~ "Wordy Rappinghood" by Tom Tom Club
Yes...I've sung along to this.

Ok, just one more:
16~ "Sly" by the Cat Empire
Super fun!!!

Anyway, there's a list for ya. It's in no way an exhaustive list, but it's cool.

Peace out, homeslices!

"In the world it is called tolerance
but in hell it is called despair.
The sin that believes in nothing,
cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing,
enjoys nothing, finds purpose in nothing,
lives for nothing
but remains alive because there is
nothing which it would die for."

~Dorothy Sayers

I just read an article about a study that shows religion is good for kids:

"John Bartkowski, a Mississippi State University sociologist, and his colleagues asked parents and teachers of more than 16,000 kids, most of them first-graders, to rate how much self-control they believed the kids had, how often they exhibited poor or unhappy behavior and how well they respected and worked with their peers."

I stopped reading after a couple of paragraphs just to throw in my un-biased 2 cents worth of pre-conceived notions. First of all, I think that the word "religion" is sort of a cop-out for people who don't feel that they need The Relationship. Religion is just the kind of nicey-nice safe sounding generalization that one can throw into a conversation to make themselves feel like a good person while sneakily getting away with not really beieving in anything. It's also kind of similar to how people use the word "spiritual" or "spirituality". Sure, one can claim an experience as "religious" or "spiritual" and then write it off, thinking that they've done their duty or filled their goodness quota; but if it never reached their heart or renewed their mind or made them strive after reconciliation with the One who gave them life- what is it good for? That's right- absolutely nothing. Onward...

"The researchers compared these scores to how frequently the children's parents said they attended worship services, talked about religion with their child and argued about religion in the home. The kids whose parents regualarly attended religious services — especially when both parents did so frequently — and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents."

I think it comes down to faith. The "religious" parents believe in something, and put that faith into action by going to church with their families (and hopefully not just attending, but actually getting involved somehow) and also discussing what it is that they're learning, and how it applies to their lives.

These parents realize that there is something bigger than themselves in this world, that they are not the be all and end all, that they are being held responsible for their actions, and that they had better live accordingly. If this is indeed what they believe, than a big part of the actions they are responsible for are their children. In the case of my own parents with me and my sister, they are responsible to "raise us up in the way we should go...", ultimately teaching us that there is Someone bigger than us, that we are not our own, that we are on this earth for a purpose (not our own purposes), and that we, too, are being held responsible for our actions. We are ultimately here to glorify the Lord, not ourselves. It might not sound appealing, but I have seen examples of both, and I know Who I would rather glorify.

Are the non-religious parents giving their kids anything to live for — besides themselves? I'm not saying they don't want what's best for their kids, but what do they really have that they can give them? Money can't buy love or salvation. Maybe they let their kids do anything they want. Sure, it sounds like more fun — and it probably is; but only for a little while. There is nothing fulfilling or satisfying about living for yourself. I know that lots of people trick themselves into thinking there is, while turning a blind eye to the wretched emptiness of their own soul.

At this point you might be wondering what this has to do with the study at all. Actually, it's everything. What I believe in has an effect on every single thing in my life, from my attitude and my friends to my grades and habits. I am definitely not perfect in any way, shape or form; but why try for something impossible? I would rather strive for excellence — which I know is attainable — in my job, in school, and in my life.