I have no doubt that Jesus was an attractive man, but is that really the way you want to worship the Lord?

Really?

UPDATE: Melissa just compared Jesus to Strawberry Shortcake. I just had to get that out there.

I just had to say it publicly.
Again.
Cause I do.

And a blurb from a review!

Erica Reid and Jeff Gandy's jerky, self-conscious choreography imparts a good deal of the humor, coupled with the actors' largely deadpan re-creations of the characters.

Melissa sent this photo to me this morning. Look how happy! So sweet.
This was taken at her wedding (Happy Anniversary, Melissy!)

I have no idea why I am holding that giant plant. I am such a weirdo.

My Memaw Bane and Dad used to make the BEST rice pudding. Dad used to call his "Jethro Tull Rice Pudding" because it was "Thick as a Brick." It sucks that I can't ask either of them for recipes anymore, cause I loved almost everything they made. I did a bunch of google searches for "Southern Rice Pudding" and even looked in my ultimate recipe guide--my Highland Baptist Church cookbook that I go to for everything. Nothing looked right. So I made my own concoction--a mish-mash of a bunch of recipes that I found. The pudding was a dreadful failure.

Since I am currently cleaning out my mother's house and going through a lifetime's worth of paperwork and memories, and having also recently done this at my grandmother's house, I am inspired right now to purge everything from my past. Since Fuzzy and I won't have any children to do this for us, and since we now have the deadline of Age 53 for us (The age Dad died and Mom got sick), I figure there is no time like the present to sort all the newspaper clippings, show programs, and letters that I have accumulated in my almost 31 years, scan them in, and throw them away. I did this for hours on Sunday, and in my giant drawers of keepsakes, I found a number of cards from my memaw that she sent after I moved to Chicago (in every single one, she wondered if I could read her "chicken" or "hen scratch"). In one nondescript one, there it was, a card with HER RECIPE FOR RICE PUDDING!

I wasted no time at all--I made it last night. Holy Moles, is it ever good. It came out perfect, too--the top browned lightly, the rice sweet-but not too sweet, moist, but not gooey. It was perfect. A delicious taste from my childhood.

Here is the recipe:
Use about 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp butter, melted
Add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups milk, and mix real good (get the clumps out)

Pour into a buttered pyrex baking dish (I used an 8 in square pan) and cook at 350 for about an hour. Don't get it too dry (mine cooked about an hour.) She says, "I usually just throw it all together and hope for the best." It certainly is.

Another of my favorite recipes of hers is her Chicken and Dumplings. I fortunately had the forethought to get my mother to get this recipe from her before she moved into the nursing home. It can be made in the broth of a boiled chicken, or cubed chicken breasts with stock and whatever veggies you want (usually carrots, potatoes, onions, and I love putting in spinach). You can make it a vegetarian recipe with veggie broth and the veggies of your choice. I like TONS of dumplings, so I usually double or triple this recipe.

Chicken & Dumplings
1 Cup sifted (or wisked) self-rising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Cup milk
2 Tablespoons veg. oil

Combine milk and oil, add to dry ingredients, stirring til moistened.
Drop by Tablespoons into boiling broth - cover tightly - bring to boil again. Reduce heat -don't remove cover, simmer 12-15 minutes.

These dumplings will be dense and fluffy and delicious. I like to spice them up with cayenne pepper, cracked black pepper and Tony Chachere's before adding the wet ingredients.

That's good eatin', y'all!

Awesome.

What?

"Late Night Tacos at Midnight Doritos"

First of all, the name is redundant. Couldn't it just be "Late Night Tacos Doritos" or "Tacos at Midnight Doritos." No, it had to be "Late Night Tacos at Midnight Doritos." Just say it outloud. It is the only option.

Now, lets also set this straight--it isn't just "Taco Doritos." No, the late night taco at midnight is a very specific taco, the taco that comes after drinking way too much and deciding that you need to eat tacos before you make it home (I've been there, Lord, have I ever been there.) However, I think most people after a night of drinking will actually stop and get tacos at midnight. I think there is only one demographic that this Dorito is marketed for. Stoners.

I personally think that this is the funniest and most preposterous idea for a food item ever. Yet, every review I've read on the internet says they are amazing. There is only one way to find out. I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: We tried the Doritos in question last night. I was super excited and wanted to make a big ceremony out of it, but we anticlimactically just ate a couple of them. I was completely indifferent. I guess they do kind of taste like a taco, but I was wanting it to be a rich greasy taco sensation. Instead, it was like a mild taco flavored Dorito, like a Taco Bell flavored Dorito instead of an authentic taco Dorito. I ate about 5 of them and was done. They aren't terrible, but they aren't great. Fuzzy said he would eat them with a dip. But I rarely ever just kick back with a bag of Doritos, so now we have a whole big giant bag of them and zero appetite for them. Ah well.

Up next is the "Late Night Last Call Jalapeno Poppers Doritos." I think I might like those.

BEST EMAIL EVER! With all the stress and change that's been going on, a weekend away was a great idea and something to look forward to. The purpose of the weekend was just to escape and forget all of our troubles. The plan: to go to Kalamazoo.

Why Kalamazoo? For some reason I have no idea where it came from, a few months ago I decided that I wanted to try cross country skiing. Yeah, this Southern girl thought it sounded fun. Fuzzy's also been wanting to take me sledding, something else that I had never done except on a piece of cardboard on our hill growning up. And on the occasional times that it did snow a little in MS and we would be able to sled down on snow, once down the hill would scrape all the snow away. So Fuzzy bought us a sled a few weeks ago for whenever the next big snowfall would occur. And Kalamazoo is home to one of our favorite beers ever, Bell's Brewery, so it was win win, and a plan was made.

We started the vacation weekend Friday night by going to a little pizza joint in our neighborhood that we'd never been to, Gino's North. It was awesome. The atmosphere was awesome, the food delicious, and the manhattan I ordered was just perfect. It was dark and cozy, and we snuggled in and had a nice time.

Saturday morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast that Fuzzy made, took our time packing, watched some TV and headed over to sent some cross country skis from Viking Ski Shop. [Fuzzy requested "Nordic skis." I later asked him what that meant, and he explained to me the difference between Nordic and Alpine Skis. What this meant to me was--ah! Like a Nordic Track!]

We had a nice time driving across Indiana and into Michigan stopping for food and candy whenever we wanted. We made it in to Kalamazoo at about sundown, so there would be no skiing that day. Not to worry! We had reservations at a gorgeous bed and breakfast called the Kalamazoo House, so we checked in there and met the innkeepers Laurel and Terry who were so super sweet. The room was gorgeous, and we had a big giant hottub in the bathroom. Score!

There was a Chihuly chandelier out the window of our room. So pretty.

We got all dolled up and headed down to the brewery. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting it to be--namely, the people weren't too helpful or friendly, the food wasn't that great, and we were confused a lot of the time. BUT! They had beer! Beer glorious beer! We tried a Golden Funk (1 each, and it was delish!), a bitter one that was rough on its own but great with food, an amber ale, a barley wine and a double cream stout. There was an adorable band playing, and Fuzzy and I loved drinking and dancing, dancing and drinking. So fun. After their first set, we were full of beer and tired, so we headed back to the hotel where we found cookies on a plate with our names on it waiting for us. So sweet!

YUM!

Sunday morning we enjoyed the B&B's delicious breakfast and coffee, and took some naps while waiting for the ski park to open at 1:00. After we checked out of our hotel, we went next door to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art where we saw a really fun Looney Tunes exhibit.

Then it was time for skiing!

Fuzzy gave me a brief tutorial, and then we were off into the woods! It was so fun and so hard, too. I loved every second of it. Climbing hills, skiing down little ones, and falling. Oh, was there falling. I fell at the bottom of hills, I fell standing still. I fell forward, I fell on my side. I fell a lot. But I laughed about it and kept getting back up! I kept singing a song with these lyrics "Winter Sports! I grew up in Mississippi!" We laughed and skied and I sweated and fell. It was awesome.

Me!

Fuzzy was a natural.

It was awesome being out in the woods.

After about an hour and a half of woodland winter fun, we packed up and headed over to the Nature Museum, where we hoping to find a good sled hill, but instead I got the heebie jeebies a lot about snakes that I knew were in the building.

Skiers!

Owl! We also took some photos of these hawks that were so pretty. Fuzzy took a video of me falling, but was too nice to put it online. I think it is hilarious.

We headed back to Chicago in the late afternoon/ early evening, but made a quick stop in to the St. Julian Winery. They were closing, but we were able to grab a couple bottles, which I look forward to opening soon. After lunch, we were hit with a massive scary blizzard in Indiana and on into Illinois. I was frazzled and tired, Fuzzy was frazzled and tired, and we were white knuckling it back into Chicago. We made it in at about 8:00, and without any warning, Fuzzy took the Wilson exit instead of our normal Sheridan exit.

"Why are we getting off here?" I asked.
"Because we are going sledding," my adorable, thoughtful, spontaneous sweet husband said.

So we took off up a hill with our sled and an inner tube we bought the day before and sledded over and over and over! We laughed so hard and screamed and played and it was the best ending to a perfect weekend.

Sled hill on Wilson.

I did it!

Overall, we had a great time, and we have many more weekend getaways planned for the future. Its amazing what one night away can do for your spirits. Thank you, Fuzzy!

I probably won't be able to talk about this trip for a while. It was too painful. I will say that I will have to go back down soon, and frequently over the next several months, so this is really just the beginning. However, I am happy to say that we made some major advances in mom's care and well-being, so for the first time in 2 years, I feel like we are on the right track.

I was in a constant state of prayer over the last week, and it helped. I am starting to understand more why things are happening the way they are instead of being all woe is me. Of course, I don't know if I will ever understand disease or mental illness, and I think I will always be angry and hurt that our family, that was once the most hilarious and tight-knit family that ever lived, has become the source of so much sadness and pain. I don't know if things will ever get better or easier, but we are trying our best and getting through the best we can.

Serious kudos to my mom this week. She made some great advances and hard decisions, and I am so proud of her for her courage and will to make things better for her. This week was harder on her than it was on us.

Thank you all for your prayers, emails, texts and comments. They helped a lot.

Much love to all.