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NPR:  “Myanmar has promised to institutionalize democratic reforms…”

Me:

Looked it up after I laughed and had a good snark about it and found that yes, it can apply in the way the NPR reporter used it.

Institutionalize

verb (used with object)
1. to make institutional.
2. to make into or treat as an institution.
3. to place or confine in an institution, especially one for the care of mental illness, alcoholism, etc.

So I learned a lesson on connotation today. I would have used:

Institute

verb (used with object)
1. to set up; establish; organize: to institute a government.
2. to inaugurate; initiate; start: to institute a new course in American literature.
3. to set in operation: to institute a lawsuit.
4. to bring into use or practice: to institute laws.
5. to establish in an office or position.

They do mean different things and both could apply.

Words are pretty fascinating.

WARNING: These cupcakes are dangerous. I made 30 with the intent to take a lot of them to work on Monday. I took 6 to my hairdresser down the street. I’m going to have to make another batch tomorrow if I want any to take into work. There are only 3 of us here at the house eating them…

So last week I was wandering around the web and found a recipe for “The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever” and the “Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had” so naturally I had to try them out. I mean, those are practically dares. And since Laura was so tempting with her cupcake post from yesterday, cupcakes were on my mind today.

I followed the suggestion from the second link and made the cake into cupcakes. I scoffed at the idea that this could be the Best Chocolate Cake. Ever.  It mixes up pretty quickly and easily. Once the cupcakes came out, I had to try one warm. Holy cats. This is the Best Chocolate Cupcake. Ever. And I’ve had a lot of cake in my life. I could probably be called upon in a court to give expert testimony on cake. If you can bake a cake mix, you can make this cake. And you seriously should. If you own an oven you really need to make this cake. And eat it. All. Warm, with butter.

The frosting is okay but not the Best I’ve Ever Had. It’s not too sweet, but it will also not set up like true buttercream will. I think this is very similar to something my mother made for almost all of our cakes when we were growing up. She called it Flour Icing and I think her version had some shortening as well as butter.

The other thing I made today while waiting for the cupcakes to cook was some homemade cherry limeade. The only thing missing from this is the cachaça to make it a cherry limeade caipirinha. Man, I need to go back to Em Chamas… drool worthy meat and awesome caipirinhas.

I am not good at taking pictures of beverages…

The only comment I’d make about the cupcake version is that I’d suggest either using high quality, thick, waxy cupcake liners or skip them and grease your cupcake pan. (Edit: Greasing the pan works well. I didn’t buy any better liners to try out. Yet.) There is a cup of melted butter in this cake recipe and I think that does make it somewhat difficult to get out of cheap paper liners. Oh, and it makes about 30 24 cupcakes (Edit: I made 30 yesterday but didn’t really fill the cups 2/3 to 3/4 full like you should). Bake for only a little less the same time than the recipe calls for with the original size cake.

If you posted a link on your site that led to the icing recipe, sorry, I forgot where I saw it or I’d give some linkylove. I owe you a cupcake, though, if you did.

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I had despaired of ever wearing sandals again after the plantar fascitis and resulting physical therapy diagnosis of stretch every day and never go without orthotic inserts. Then I saw a post over at Dustbuy wherein CGHill opined upon a recent sandal purchase. (Sorry, I know that post is ancient in weblife but it took me awhile to work up to a purchase) So I went to Zappos and started looking around. Searching with “orthotic” and “sandal” led to these:

The Orthaheel Porto III Slide

The reviews seemed favorable enough to outweigh the assumption that has to be made with any consumer reviewed product – namely that most reviewers will be complete idiots. So I gulped hard at the price, closed my eyes and ran up the credit card debt.  (I really hate wearing socks and shoes in the summer.) So far, I wore them to work yesterday and my feet were fine. I’ve stood up quite a bit today in the kitchen and outside doing some plant repotting and my feet are still pretty good. They are comfortable, though they do make the bottom of my foot warm. My reservation thus far is that because they are made of plastic, I have the feeling that if I wear these every day all summer long the arch support will break down and I’ll need another pair next year. So maybe I take it easy and alternate with socks and shoes (blech).

Cats most certainly are jerks. If they aren’t jerks, they are assholes. One or the other, because curiosity just doesn’t cover them looking dead at you and pawing a lightbulb off of the table where they aren’t supposed to be in the first place. It’s a good thing she’s pretty, otherwise she might be out on her fuzzy ass. I’d make an excellent bad boy, wouldn’t I? >:)

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I despise websites that have the little mouseover box with all of the various ways for me to share the site with all of the imaginary cyberspace friends I have. If it would pop up when I mouseover it and then go away, it would be okay. But no. It pops up and sticks open, insisting that I interact with it. No, I most emphatically do not want to pin it, facebook it, like it, google+ it, tumble it or tweet it.  If you do and you find the pop-up boxes handy, more power to you.

And while we’re at it, what the hell is Tumblr good for? Seriously, if you know, share because I don’t see the point. Is it like having a blog with no content other than things you reblog (not to say I’m not seriously guilty of that) where you don’t have to respond to any comments or interact with anyone?

So… Jeremy Irons says he’s a libertarian. Goes off on Nanny Bloomberg for sticking the governmental nose into private business. Then he says that if we legalize gay marriage it will lead to sons marrying fathers (to avoid taxes, of course, not for any other reason, no…).

O.o????

First, and less awesome question from me: where does this mean you draw the line about the government not poking in private business? Second and better commentary from the OAM: “Zo… tell me about your father, Herr Irons…”

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Did Hollywood star Natalie Wood walk in on husband Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken having sex on the night she drowned?

OAM: My God, I hope so.

His further explanation: That would only make Walken more fascinating by making him stranger and tying him to one of the great Hollywood scandals/mysteries of all time. And come on, it was the 80s, young Walken looked like Scarlett Johansen, Woods and Wagner have been pretty well established as swingers…

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If you have a truck or a minivan or some other vehicle with a high profile at the nose and you are at an intersection with multiple lanes… quit poking your nose so far out that the person in the other lane(s) can’t see around you. You don’t need to be that far out – you can see over the folks in the other lanes – and you are preventing others from turning since they can’t see around your freakin’ vehicle, you rude twit. When I drove the truck I always tried to be conscious of how far out I was when I was at an intersection where someone might want to see around me because it drives me insane when driving a car.

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Come on already, Spring.

O Death

He’s been turned into a cat toy. I kept the Menace away as long as I could. But I came home and found him on the floor. So sad.

The perp

Gun oil and fortune cookies.

Apparently the fortune said “Lazy ass who does not get up to wash hands will soon regret it.”

For two bags of Rolos candy, a $5 purchase, I get all these pieces of paper at the checkout.

We traded in my needed-a-new-transmission-at-92000-miles Trailblazer on Black Friday and the OAM got a new Xterra. (I got his Infiniti as a hand-me-down (only one hand though, ba-dum-dum) and even at 155k miles I think I got a good deal).

When cleaning out my Trailblazer, I ran across this box.

I’m getting a bit excited wondering what lovely shiny I had misplaced and forgotten, now to discover anew.

It was an empty chocolate box.

Makes perfect sense. And I probably really enjoyed those chocolates. My life in a nutshell (or empty box as the case may be): when offered jewelry or chocolate, my choice is apparently clear.

I was flipping through the Milan Fashion show photos (because I like snarking about models) and was commenting to the OAM that they all looked like sisters. Huge foreheads, tight little mouths, sunken in eyes… I was wondering if the designer put them all in prosthetic forehead makeup to go for a unified vision.

Then I realized. They all look scary because they have no eyebrows. Apparently it is a thing in fashion at the moment. Hope they are all friends with eyebrow pencils. From what I hear, this look is something that can turn out to be unintentionally permanent as they may not grow back.

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and talk and then just quite talking for no ape rant reason

Personally, I love the idea of ape rants.

I’ll have some posts set up to go, and I may find time and connection while out to post something else. But I am headed out to be stupid and giggle a lot in Arkansas. Hot Springs, then Eureka Springs. Natural mineral baths, spas, craft shows, art galleries, excellent food and better company.

Hot Springs on Bathhouse Row

Eureka Springs, all set on hillsides

I can get to my site on my phone but everything in my post area is white on white for some reason. So… that makes it somewhat difficult to post anything. I can and probably will get to your sites though. I’m pretty sure I can’t go a whole 5 days without being online at all…

I like the idea of a couple of these and Aggie already did one of them over at her site.

Unfortunately, no sunny window in my kitchen, but someday maybe.

Now *this* I could make uses of.

And I have… boxes… and boxes… and boxes… of old jars in the garage. Some day I’ll can things again. Right…

1.   What was the first song you ever bought? With my own allowance money, it was either Queen of Hearts by Juice Newton

or Jesse’s Girl by Rick Springfield. Both on 45s.

Can’t remember which one I got first.
 2.   What song always gets you dancing?
Almost anything with an appropriate beat can set off a sashay. But dancing? No one song really. More of a mood that causes embarrassing jigs with the cats.
3.   What song takes you back to your childhood?
The Strawberry Roan, They’re Hanging Me Tonight, 160 Acres…Marty Robbins’ Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs was in heavy rotation in our house when I was a kid.

Yes, it was pink. I think it started out life bright red, though.

A frequent checkout from the library was another Marty Robbins cowboy song collection along with Burl Ives’ kids songs (which, sadly, I can’t find anywhere these days). Mom was a huge MR fan. Still is.
4.   What is your perfect love song? Devoted by The Everly Brothers

5.   What song would you want at your funeral? Up Around the Bend by CCR.

6.   Time for an encore. One last song that makes you, you.
That’s Life but not necessarily by Sinatra :)

Via Dustbury