Randomocity Repercussions

 

I do love me some alliteration…

 

What are some fun and interesting alternatives to war that countries could settle their differences with?

Rock, Paper, Scissors. Yahtzee. Maybe a rousing game of Twister. Pie eating contest.

 

If you could switch two movie characters, what switch would lead to the most inappropriate movies?

SO many come to mind!!! Rambo and The Little Mermaid. Mary Poppins and Dirty Harry. The Singing Nun and Samuel L. Jackson’s character from Pulp Fiction.

 

What movie would be greatly improved if it was made into a musical?

Don’t know about improving it, but it sure would make it interesting if The Maltese Falcon was a musical. Or maybe Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, or Psycho.

 

When was the last time you slept more than nine hours?

Three years ago when I was in the hospital and had an unfortunate experience with Haldol. I don’t know if you would call it “sleep” but I was certainly not on this plane of existence for 24 hours. Terrible experience.

 

What’s the shadiest thing you’ve seen someone do?

I was sitting in the car in the parking lot while Marv went into the bank. We were parked close to the plant bed at the edge of the lot. A woman came by with a baby, laid it down in the plant bed and changed its diaper. When she was finished she folded up the icky diaper and looked around. I KNEW she was going to just leave the diaper there. She happened to look at me through the windshield and I just slowly shook my head. She hesitated and picked up the diaper and baby and left.

 

What’s the most imaginative insult you can come up with?

The movie Mystery Men had a lot of great actors in it. Very funny movie. It’s about ordinary people who want to be superheroes, but fail laughably. At one point Wes Studi (as Sphinx) turns to one of the “heroes” and says, “You dress in the manner of a male prostitute.” I LOVED THAT LINE!!!

 

Making Spiced Wine in 1559

 

Another one from Ask The Past

 

This is for adding spice to your wine. Sounds tasty. I had to look up a lot of stuff for this one. Once in a great while I will get a bottle of mead from Cost Plus World Market and it usually comes with a packet of spices that you can put in it. It also recommends trying it warmed up. I didn’t care for it that way. I prefer it cold after the spices have steeped a long time.

 

Cinnamon: an ounce and a half

Ginger: iii drams (2.25 teaspoons)

Cardamom: ii drams (1.5 teaspoons)

Folium (folium is Latin for ‘leaf’ – it doesn’t specify what kind of leaf) - a dram ( ¾ of a teaspoon) 

Galangal (galangal is a common name for several tropical spices – you can use ginger instead) - a dram ( ¾ of a teaspoon) 

Spikenard (aromatic, amber essential oil-used in Bible times as an incense offering in the Temple, and for preparing a body for burial) – half a dram

Caraway (also known as meridian fennel) – half a dram

Long pepper or black: iiii drams (3 teaspoons) Long pepper is the fruit of a flowering vine and is dried and used for spices. It’s hotter than black pepper.

 

If it be made for rich men, add: Cloves, nutmegs, maces, grains of paradice (relative of ginger and cardamom, with a peppery flavor) ii drams each

Clarified honey: a pint – I did look up clarified honey. It sounds tedious to make

4 pints of good wine

If you can’t get honey, use a pound (!) of sugar instead

 

If this drink be rightly made, it shall be profitable against many diseases, specially cold, and in old men, and them that be somewhat weak & feeble unto copulation.

It shall be convenient for Fleumaticke & Melancholik persons marvelously, that not without a cause it may be called Manus Dei, that is the Hand of God.

It putteth away dumpishnes & sadness, and bringeth mirth. It openeth the obstructions and stoppings of the spleen.

 

The paragraph above I modernized some of the spelling, but left the language. I get a kick out of the fact that way back in history spelling was arbitrary. I have often thought of doing some of my creative writing in that way. It would be a hoot.

 

So anyway, if you’re feeling dumpy or sad or unmirthful or feeble in copulation…this is the drink for you! Hand to God!

 

Toss It RIGHT NOW!!!

 

I read a lot of articles that say “If you have ____ in your home/kitchen/bedroom/etc throw it out immediately!” Some are pretty interesting. Here’s the latest one concerning your kitchen. IT JUST MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!

 

Drawer full of take-out menus/condiment packets

We’ve never done take-out meals. Not even pizza delivery. And we’re not big on condiments. Especially Marv. I always have mustard and ketchup in the fridge. And whenever we go to Taco Bell I always grab a few extra mild sauce packets that I like to have on hand when I make taco salad or homemade burritos.

 

Old sponges

This one is valid for everyone. Those sponges get icky fast and have lots of bad cooties in them. I have no problem tossing them.

 

Ancient spices

Oh, man! Did I have a lot of spices I never use! I finally got around to going through them and tossing the old stuff and the ones I NEVER use. My faves to have on hand for regular use are: salt, pepper, season-all, garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt, chili powder.

 

Elderly pantry supplies

Almost everything I buy that comes in a cardboard box I transfer to a glass container. It doesn’t matter how clean your house is, critters will get into the boxes and ruin your stuff. The only cardboard packages I don’t transfer are rice meals and man n cheese, because I use those up on a regular basis.

 

Half of your coffee mugs

Another thing I’ve collected over the years. Mostly cat ones. Some that I had were ones I kept because they had a pretty design on them, but were actually a bit small for a regular amount of coffee or hot chocolate. So I went through them and got rid of a lot. I also use some of my very favorites for pencils, pens, paint brushes, etc.

 

Old cookbooks

As a new bride I acquired a LOT of cookbooks. All of the Jeff Smith ones, various specific ones for things like Jell-O, canned soups, beverages, cake mixes, one for lactose-free recipes, ones put out by the church and microwave books. At one point I went through them all and there were several that I only really used for a couple of recipes. I copied those on a 3x5 card for my recipe box. I kept my favorites: Fanny Farmer, Betty Crocker, church cookbooks and a couple more. I truly regret getting rid of my grandmother’s Betty Crocker book.

 

Too many plastic containers and lids

Like the joke goes: I have a full set of salad bowls with lids and all of them say Cool Whip on them! Growing up, empty plastic food containers were the only containers we had and we used them all the time. That meant that sometimes when you went to the fridge to get the margarine, you’d take the lid off and find the leftover spaghetti from the previous night. Always an adventure. I carried this habit into my married life. I do have some “real” storage containers, but the re-used ones are in the majority. Every once in a while I get them all out and match up lids and containers. Anything that doesn’t match up goes into the recycle bin.

 

Duplicate tools

No one needs more than a couple specific spatulas, plastic spoons, soup ladles, cake servers. I finally went through that drawer in the kitchen and donated a LOT of duplicates.

 

And then there’s the “junk drawer”….save that one for a rainy day when you’re bored.

 

theend