Hey! God!

My sibling-in-law – “Atti” (Atticus, formerly referred to here as Brianna) – told an amusing story.

What with tuition breaks, Atti used to attend a private Christian high school in Granger, South Bend’s upscale suburb. Her mother (Karin’s mother) taught there. Being a teacher’s child wasn’t always easy for Atti.

One day, Atti + classmates were riding through South Bend to a charity recipient’s house for “Service Day” and talking about the privileged lives of Grangerites.

They passed a trailer park. Hey! Atti exclaimed. That’s where my sister – not Karin – used to live.

Nuh, uh! gasped Atti’s classmates.

It began to dawn on them that Atti was different from the others.

As the children rode along, the surroundings became curiously familiar to Atti.

Then they parked in Atti’s driveway.

Atti’s mother had signed them up to rake the leaves in the yard.

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Samuel has been taught to say “please” and “thank you” but still begins most requests with “Hey!” This morning he was, as usual, taking out his frustrations on Daniel. I told him to ask God to help him to be patient, and to breathe some deep breaths.

Hey! God! Please help me to be patient! (Deep breath, deep breath.)

Zadok the priest; Pop. 1280; a recipe

Karin: “Zadok the priest
And Nathan the prophet
Were hangin’ out,
Doing some stuff.”

Some commenter on YouTube: “Can you imagine when the Queen eventually passes away, and Charles becomes King. As he walks through Westminster Abbey on the day of his coronation … 95% of the viewing public are going to be thinking to themselves, ‘Why the bloody hell are they playing the Champions League theme?!?!’”

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Per this entry: Jim Thompson’s Pop. 1280 has arrived from a library in Connecticut. So far, it’s better than The Killer Inside Me. Funnier, at least.

I’d been thinking it was about time to do some political campaignin’, since I had a pretty tough opponent coming up for a change. … [¶] Always before, I’d let the word get around that I was against this and that, things like cockfighting and gambling and whiskey and so on. So my opposition would figure they’d better come out against ’em, too, only twice as strong as I did. And I went right ahead and let ’em. Me, almost anyone can make a better speech than I can, and anyone can come out stronger against or for something. Because, me, I’ve got no very strong convictions about anything. Not anymore I haven’t.
[Ch. 9, ¶¶ 1–2]

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Today’s lunch:

Ingredients for the rice cooker:

• Butter (1 tablespoon)
• Brown rice, dry (1/3 cup)
• Water A (2/3 cup)
• Red lentils, dry (1/2 cup)
• Water B (1 cup)
• Russet potatoes, raw, cut into 1/2-in cubes (5 oz)
• Jalapeño peppers, raw, chopped (2 oz)
• Yellow onions, raw, chopped (3 oz)
• Broccoli, raw, chopped (5 oz)
• Sazón Goya (1 packet)
• Water C (1/2 cup)

Other ingredients:

• Tortillas
• Sour cream
• Cheese, shredded
• Etc.

The steps are what you’d expect.

There are approx. 835 kcals in the pot; the amounts and kinds of tortillas, sour cream, cheese, etc. are up to you. The filling, once cooked, is pasty, like refried beans. It’s lumpy where the potatoes are, and just a little crunchy because the rice retains some hardness (don’t worry, it’s edible). To make the rice come out softer, if that is your desire, use more water, although that’ll make everything softer. Or, I dunno, use less rice.

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Scott was baptized in a small church in Michigan; afterward, there was special music by one of the congregants. “The guy told us he’d recorded four CDs,” said Jennifer, Karin’s stepsister. “I wasn’t expecting him to sing them all.”