Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

Adventures in Baking

September 1, 2008Humor of the Day, Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

For those of you who don’t know, I have issues with food. Not only do I have issues with food, but I am not a very domestic female. However, for people whom I love, I will venture into the kitchen occasionally. 🙂

This latest foray is to bake a cake for our pastor at St. Anastasia, Fr. JJ. His birthday was actually last week, but he asked that I delay a week, so that he would have the cake when he was entertaining his parents for the Labor Day holiday.

So, being me, I avoided any planning of the cake until the last minute. I knew he wanted a chocolate cake with white frosting, but I hadn’t looked up any recipes until the 9th hour. Armed with my trusted web browser, I Googled it (as any wise cooking-impaired person would do), and found this recipe at All Recipes. For the frosting, I found this one, at the same site.

I was pretty excited, because although I do not have a very well stocked pantry, I did happen to have all the ingredients for both recipes on hand. That was amazing. The only thing was that I didn’t have the required 3 9″ baking pans. So, (I *did* say this was a last minute thing, right?) I headed to Meijer’s at 11:45 pm Saturday night for the proper dishes. While I was there, I picked up some white fondant (because it looked amusing and I’ve never worked with fondant before), and some cake decorating thingys (what is it? colored frosting?).

The cake portion went very well, and I was pleased with their outcome. While they were cooling, I decided that since it was already 1 am on Sunday, and my race day had begun (more on that later, maybe), that I would start my 10K now (since I only had to log it electronically with my nifty little Nike+ shoes, I could race any time of the day). So, I ran my 10K and got back home at about 3 am (yes, yes, I know…my time sucked).

I decided then to head to bed, since Fr. JJ had the 10:15 am Mass. I got up early (well, okay about 8 am) and started making the frosting. I don’t know if it’s something about the recipe, or something about my execution of it, but I couldn’t seem to get all the little bits from the milk-and-flour mixture to get smooth, so there were little bumpies in the frosting. Maybe next time, I’ll whisk the flour into the milk before I start the burner; or put the mixture into the rest of it before it cools, since the cooling made a kind of hard crust on the top; or maybe I’ll put the whole thing into the blender after I’m done with the mixer. I’m not sure, but there has to be a solution.

So, now I have frosting and 3 cakes. And while I did buy an additional cake-carrier while I was at the store, I realized that it still would only allow me to carry 2 cakes — I couldn’t squeeze a third, not even onto the larger carrier. Hmmm…. What to do?

Well, I took the one cake and frosted it as I was going to, and stuck it on the smaller carrier. Done. Excellent. Then, I had a thought. (Yes, be scared…. It’s okay.) Why not try to make a layered cake? So, I put one cake down, slathered it with the remaining frosting, then put the remaining cake on top. Like this:

Then, a horrible thought occurred to me:
“I’ve just made the world’s largest Oreo!”

And, you should know, I’m scared of Oreos. Especially of marshmallow fluff, but Oreos are terrifying themselves.

And this sucker was huge! See:

So, I decided to hide its Oreoness with the fondant. The fondant was…interesting. Doesn’t taste like anything, really, but it does cover the cake well. Next, I tried to “decorate” the cake. Let’s just say that I’m not going to quit my day job. So, I added a little disclaimer, right on the cake itself. In blue. At the bottom. And the final product turned out like this:

I am so glad that Fr. JJ is such a kind man, since he seemed to be happy for them, even though they were not the most elegant things in existence. 🙂

Ah, well. It was a labor of love, and not a display of skill. 🙂

100 Books Meme

August 29, 2008Meme, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

I stole this from The Ironic Catholic, who I think stole it from someone else. Ah, well, that’s the nature of these things. 🙂

Bold–I’ve read it.
Underlined–I want to.
Nuttin’–I don’t care.
Dripping with blood–you give it to me, I’ll burn it instead.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (AP English)
6. The Bible (Working on it….)
7. Wuthering Heights –Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman (Although, maybe I’d peek at it, just so I can argue against it.)
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (Read a tiny portion, then got bored.)
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (Select things — some sonnets, some plays, etc.)
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger (Can’t remember if I read this in AP English, or if it was just presented by a classmate — memorable book, evidently…. 😉
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife –
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald (AP English hits again!)
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (At the husband’s suggestion, this and the other Adams books.)
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (I liked Steinbeck.)
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (I’ve read the first 1.5; I’ve had the complete set for years and years.)
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
37. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (I liked the movie.)
39. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne (Saw the moviesssss….)
40. Animal Farm – George Orwell
41. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
44. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
46. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy (My husband had this book. Never managed to read it.)
47. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
48. Lord of the Flies – William Golding (AP English)
49. Atonement – Ian McEwan
50. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
51. Dune – Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (I think I read this in grade school.)
57. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (Of course, I would read this one.)
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
61. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (I kinda liked this one, despite its gruesomeness. I liked her personal story, Lucky, too.)
64. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
65. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
68. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
69. Moby Dick – Herman Melville (Started it, didn’t finish.)
70. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
71. Dracula – Bram Stoker
72. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
73. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses – James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal – Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession – AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
81. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
83. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte’s Web – EB White 🙂
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Started it, didn’t finish.)
89. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery (Read it, in French.)
92. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
93. Watership Down – Richard Adams (For some reason, I loved this book.)
94. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
98. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo (I want to read it, both in English and in French.)
99. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
100. The Outsiders

Guess I’m just not all that well read when it comes to “the classics.” 🙂

On Random Chance and Achievement

August 21, 2008Jennspeak, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Sometimes I wonder about the different things that go swimming across my brain….

Okay. So, during a walk at work dropping something off for Radiology, I had a thought. Shocking, I know. 🙂

An atheist/Darwinian/Big Bang theory of existence position states summarily that the universe exploded in a Big Bang, eventually planetary systems as we know it coalesced from the debris, the Earth was formed with the ocean, eventually molecules formed, maybe lightning or something struck, and these molecules evolved into replicable sequences of amino acids. As time went on, these amino acids would replicate, occasionally there would be changes in the base pair sequences and this would either beneficially affect, neutrally affect or negatively affect that sequences ability to replicate. If it was beneficially affected, then that sequence had a competitive edge, so to say, in propagating its genetic code into future editions of itself. If it was negatively affected, then this capacity for replication was reduced, or even eliminated — possibly terminating that cell/organism line. These errors in base pair replication — mutations — would add variability to a population of organisms. As environmental conditions changed, some of these mutations would give reproductive benefit to the organism, making them more likely to be able to reproduce under certain conditions over others. For example, if I were fish, and I had some mutation occur in my genes or in the genes of my fish-partner, and my fish-children happened to have longer fins, then perhaps they would have an advantage (compared to the other fish in the sea) of being able to swim faster and escape being eaten by predators. So, they would perhaps have a greater chance of being able to live to a nice adult-fish age and have nice, little fish-children of their own — passing on their mutated long fins to their kids, and thus the reproductive advantage.

[Not to say that fish developed longer fins SO THAT they could swim faster and escape predators. It doesn’t work backwards like that.]

Okay. That is all nice and makes sense somewhat. Biology lesson ended. Now, back to my main thought — all those minutes ago.

If it truly is the case that there is no God — no divine plan, no intervention of any nature to explain our existence or sentience, nothing except random chance — then, what is the point?

There is no point. It was all a fluke. And perhaps statistically repeatable given enough permutations. So, there is nothing special about me. I am just a random collection of molecules like any other random collection of molecules. And, possibly at some point, another sequence of base pairs may occur having the same pattern as mine. Currently unlikely, and we prefer to think of ourselves as unique, but it is not out of the realm of possibility of occurrence.

If my existence is an accident or a fluke, and if I am not necessarily unique, and if I am certainly not the end of the evolutionary chain (since there will always be the possibility for further beneficial mutation), why then would I struggle to achieve anything other than the proliferation of my specific gene set? What would be the point of doing anything to maintain or improve my health after my child-rearing years? What would be the point of competing to see who is faster, stronger or smarter after one has secured a mate?

And what are we doing searching for meaning in life? Didn’t we already answer that? There is no meaning. No ultimate goal. No reward for doing a great or a lousy job. In the end, does it really matter if our particular genetic sequence is continued? Not really. If our line dies out, there will be other lines to continue. If humans as a whole die out, then some other species will continue to evolve. If we destroy the planet with pollution and global warming and all the other things that people are worried about — so what? Organisms will either adapt to the altered environment and pass along their genetically beneficial genes to their children, or they will not. If all life on the planet ceases, then there’s still always the possibility of amino acids forming in some other part of the universe, being struck by lightning and eventually evolving into sentient beings.

But what if there is a God? What if we are made in His image and likeness? Suddenly, then there is absolutely a reason — every reason — for finding out why we were made and what we were made for. Why do we compete athletically? To revel in the bodies that God has made for us and in their symmetry, form and amazing capacity. To form bonds and relationships in the struggle and the teamwork. Why should we live holy lives? To, hopefully, go home and live forever in communion with He who created us.

Not only does what we do matter, but we matter. Individually. We are unique and special to God, and are utterly irreplaceable. So each human life is precious and worthy of our concern, help, and protection. A person’s value is not determined by how well he or she passes on his or her genetic code. A person’s value is determined by the sheer fact that he or she was made by the Creator.

So, if we have intrinsic value, do we need to achieve? Well, no. Not per se. There is no benchmark of accomplishment to get into Heaven (as far as I know….).

But….

When we struggle and suffer — somehow — God can unite that suffering to Jesus’s suffering on the cross for the benefit of others.

When we achieve, we can inspire others to grow themselves, to be more fully human, to interact, to live, to wonder at the creations of God, to want to get to know God more intimately. Achievement is always communal, never isolated. How can you achieve without a benchmark? How often is achievement recognized as such because of the notice of others? Ours is not to sit idly by and drift in the wind. Ours is to form relationships — with God and with others. And that requires interaction.

It is in our nature to question things, to seek answers, to strive in some way. And why? Certainly, there doesn’t seem to be an answer to that question if there is nothing to us besides some random chance. But if we were created, and created for love — then, there is all the purpose in the world. For each of us.

Olympic Fever!!!

August 8, 2008Olympics, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Whoo-hoo! Time for the Olympics! Watch Jenn turn into the most rabid sports fan ever! I love-love-love the Olympics!

Here is the Olympic Quote of the Day, thanks to NBC Olympics for the original article:

Phelps and many of the other top swimmers will don a version of the revolutionary suit that has rewritten the record books. Swimmers wearing the suits that can take up to 20 minutes to get into have set 47 of 51 world records this year.

But Markus Rogan of Austria doesn’t give all the credit to the suits.

“I tested it. I threw it in the pool and it didn’t move at all,” he said, “so I’ll still have to swim.”

Just like the rest of life: God gives you grace, but it’s up to you to do something with it.

The Most Awesome Blog Post in a Long Time!

August 6, 2008Humor of the Day, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

I just had to re-post this — I nearly choked laughing so hard! Thanks to Ironic Catholic, who originally posted this here:

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Brett Favre Playing for Vikings?: Parish Prays, Promotes Local Cause for Sainthood

Minneapolis, MN: For some Minnesota Catholics, this past week has been supernaturally sweet.

It’s one thing to watch Green Bay fans writhing and gnashing teeth over the retirement and reinstatement of star quarterback Brett Favre. But it gets better: he may play for the the Packers’ arch-rival, the Minnesota Vikings.

The little known cause of this windfall, according to St. Aloysius Catholic Church, is deceased parishioner Emilia Neibuhr.

Emilia died ten years ago and was beloved by her family and parish. “A holier woman you never saw…she really was a kind, gentle saint,” said her son, Max Neibuhr. “But she had one attachment to the world: Minnesota Vikings football. She never missed a game. We think she’s behind all this.”

This isn’t wishful thinking. Her grandchildren have been actively promoting her cause to sainthood by encouraging parishioners to pray to Emilia to intercede to God, asking for the retired Favre to play for the enemy Vikings. “We wanted something the Vatican couldn’t dispute as being a miracle, and this was it,” said granddaughter Catherine. “I mean, Favre was the King of Green Bay. This is like seeing the Pharaoh in Exodus repent and give the Israelites run of Egypt! Grandma’s holiness is pulling big strings behind the scenes, you betcha.”

Her former pastor, Fr. John Billington, seems to agree, already calling Emilia “servant of God”.

“As a priest, I cannot express my personal opinions on so heated a political topic…I can only speak to the principles within the controversy,” he said. “But everyone knows that community-owned team in Wisconsin is a pack of commie socialist cheeseheads who hate subsidiarity and Pope Leo XIII. So… let your conscience be your guide.”

“Ya, I’m rooting for Emilia,” he smiled.

Favre could not be reached for comment.

Meme from Katie, et al – One Word Replies

July 30, 2008Meme, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

1. Where is your cell phone? Bed

2. Your significant other? Unknown

3. Your hair? Brown

4. Your mother? Energetic

5. Your father? Interesting

6. Your favorite things? People

7. Your dream last night? Absent

8. Your favorite drink? Starbucks

9. Your dream/goal? Heaven

10. The room you’re in? Hot

11. Your church? Catholic

12. Your fear? Many

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

14. Where were you last night? Bed

15. What you’re not? Healthy

16. Muffins? Whatever

17. One of your wish list items? Books

18. Where you grew up? Troy

19. The last thing you did? Typed

20. What are you wearing? Shorts

21. Your TV? Off

22. Your pets? Underfoot

23. Your computer? Plural

24. Your life? Content

25. Your mood? Sick

26. Missing someone? Maybe

27. Your car? Dented 😦

28. Something you’re not wearing? Make-up

29. Favorite store? Nope

30. Your summer? Short

31. Like (love) someone? Many

32. Your favorite color? Green?

33. Last time you laughed? Hours

34. Last time you cried? Days

35. Who will re-post this? Nobody

Facepaint

July 23, 2008Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Facepaint

Originally uploaded by CadyLy

Priorities

July 21, 2008Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

Yum!

Independence Day – A pictorial review

July 6, 2008Paroxysm of Giggles, PhotographyCadyLy

We ate yummy food:

We played in the pool:

There were pretty flowers:

There was the usual cast of characters:

We played bocce ball:

(Sorry, for some reason, most of my favorite pictures today are of Alexa….)
We took rides with our drinks in hand:

We gathered to eat:

We sat around looking cute (Haha):

We made a mess:

And we watched pretty fireworks:

Hope you enjoyed the show!

I Thought They Loved Me – Updated

July 4, 2008Humor of the Day, Paroxysm of GigglesCadyLy

My cousin, Anna, had left a message on my voicemail earlier in the week to let me know that she was going to make tie-dye T-shirts with the kids on the 4th, and to bring a white T-shirt if I wanted one too. This sounded like fun. On Thursday after work, I called Sandra and found out she was free; so I drove out to Tecumseh to pick her up. She would spend the night, we could celebrate the holiday, then I would take her back in time for work on Saturday. We watched one of my brother’s movies, Serenity. Friday morning, I took her with me to morning Mass. Sandra’s not Catholic. 🙂 See how mean I am? I could have not gone – but, no. We had breakfast in Plymouth, did some shopping, then headed over to my parents’.

Things were pretty normal until the tie-dye event. We spent some time rubberbanding swirls and stuff into the shirts. Then came the time to dye them. (A funny quote from one of the kids, “Is it time to dye yet?”. Reply, “No, I think we will live for at least a little longer….”)

I should have been warned when Anna asked if I would be the one to dye the shirts. Especially when she said she wasn’t going near that stuff and, when I volunteered, asked me if I was sure. This should have been a clear warning to me, but I sadly lack that self-preservation gene.

Things started to go wrong when I realized that the dye bottles tended to squirt haphazardly. And again, when I noticed some dye getting on my new shoes. I took off the shoes and continued. Unfortunately, some dye got onto my shirt. The gloves which I had been wearing didn’t fully protect me and, in the end, my fingers were completely green and my wrist was red.

I went to wash up and quickly realized this wasn’t coming out at all! Not even a little bit. Not even a glimmer of hope that if I scrubbed enough, this stuff would come off me. Then, I remember Anna saying that this was *professional strength* dye. Uh-oh. Seeing my dilemma, she offered, “Oh, well, you can just use gasoline and this will get it off your skin.”

Because it was funny, I showed my problem to the rest of the people there. Actually, I went and hugged everyone with my extremely colored self and rubbed my hands on their shirt. Of course, they all recoiled — thinking I was about to ruin their clothing, but it got them to realize the seriousness of my dyed state quickly! Oh, great. I leave for Australia in a week. Hey, at least if someone asks where I’m from, I can…um…hold out my hand and they will see the red, (skin), and green of…Italy?

Then, a more terrifying thought:

Would I be able to receive communion if my hands looked like THIS?!??!??!?:

So, I went to my dad and told him of Anna’s recommendation. He suggested that I try the lighter fluid that he had in the garage. Okay.

Hey! Wait a minute! It’s getting a little late, at this point. Are you telling me that just minutes before we break out the sparklers and stuff, my family wants me to marinate in gasoline and lighter fluid ?!?!?!?!?

I’m not very loved, am I?

So, I walk over from my aunt’s house to my parents’ house and apply liberal amounts of the lighter fluid and stew for a bit. My brother and Sandra follow me, either to see how successful I am, or to laugh at my predicament, or…you know…both. Well, guess what?

The lighter fluid doesn’t work.

I’m laughing hysterically at this point. It’s funny, but it’s not funny. Seriously, guys, what’s going to happen tomorrow at Mass?? Neither Sandra nor Clint are Catholic, so they don’t understand my anxiety.

Finally, my brother pulls me over to the kitchen sink and says, “Here, honey, put your hands over the sink. Good girl. Now. Stay here while I get some acid!”

Are you feeling the love yet?

Sandra suggests bleach. She and Clint head off to the laundry room to see if we have any. Clint can’t find any right away, but does find a whole bunch of chlorine for the hot tub and talks of using it. I’m at the sink thinking that at the end of the evening, I may not be multi-colored any longer, but I may also not have any skin left, depending on what kind of solvent they decide to dump on me.

They finally find the bleach and bring that back. My brother opens the jug and pours it over my hands.

“Aaaah! It burns!”
“Shh, it looks like it’s working! Rub your hands together.”

Again, do you feel the love? The concern for my physical comfort and safety?

Happily, a lot of the color comes off. Not everything, but from a distance, I look normal. In continued picking-on-me, my brother, who had claimed that I was not his sister, but instead came from a corn field somewhere, made fun of my intellect — I would suppose for the fact of getting into these type of situations. Continuing the joke from earlier in the day about my corn field origins, he points out the sliding glass door to my mom’s garden.

“Do you see any corn out there?”
“No.”
“No brothers or sisters for you this year!”

Obviously, I am extremely well-loved by my brother. Obviously. 🙂

As an update, I did get to Mass this morning at Our Lady of Good Counsel (after fireworks, I drove Sandra back to Tecumseh, got to bed about 2 am, and woke up at 5:30 am to make it back to Plymouth for Mass). I was still wearing the same clothes that I had worn yesterday at Mass (since there was only a 3.5 hour nap at Sandra’s house), and it was Fr. Lee (Fr. Acervo? He’s the new priest. I’m not sure how he’s called.) and Fr. Thomas, same as yesterday, possibly wondering why I am wearing the same clothes and looking a little more…um…rumpled…than yesterday.

I go up for communion and present my still-not-quite-right hands to Fr. Lee (?). He pauses for a second, perhaps wondering if Jesus really wants to sit in that throne or not, then gives me communion. Whew!

I suppose I’ll have to marinate in bleach a little while longer today. 🙂