Easy Christmas Cookies

This just in from my wife (who doesn't drink):
Christmas Cookie Recipe

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Crown Royal

Sample the Crown Royal to check quality.

Take a large bowl, check the Crown again, to be sure it is of the highest quality. Pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Crown is still OK, try another cup.. just in case.

Turn off the mixer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit off floor...Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a dewscriver. Sample the Crown to check for consisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet.

Check the Crown Royal.

Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table.

Add a spoon of ar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.
Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the bottle of Crown Royal. Make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS

Is it really Friday already?

Wow. This week flew by.
Poor Wake is dealing snow now and my toes are cold, which I hate. But at least it will be upper 50s in Dallas tomorrow and Connecticut is still looking forward to four months of winter.
Always look at the bright side.
Hey, go check out the Friday Random Ten. Annamaria may not have it up yet, but it is a cool look at what others are listening to. Rich always has some interesting things coming off his iPod and Annamaria usually turns me on to a new indie band with her list. jen surprised me with a Gram Parsons song last week.
Blow it up by adding to the mix!

Clean your windshield!

Everyone called him "Okie."
James O'Connell was his given name and he was three years older than me. A large, burly young man, Okie was intimidating to a high school freshman. Brimming with bravado and moving with the easy grace of confidence, Okie was universally loved by his classmates. I'm pretty sure the staff thought alot of him as well. Okie wasn't a jock, was more than a gear-head and definitely not a burn-out. Although I never heard him referred to as geeky-smart, he had a tremendous amount of common sense for someone so young. He gave smiles away as easily as the sun shines and it was understood that if anyone needed a hand, Okie could be counted on to lend his.
And that's how Okie died.
It was so long ago that I don't remember the exact day. But every year when fall starts to slip into winter and frost begins to make its reappearances, I am reminded of Okie.
I remember being in Art class one bright, crisp morning when the news started to make its way around school that Okie was gone. Girls with red-rimmed eyes hugging each other and sharing the news with those that hadn't heard yet. Stunned zombie looking upper-classmen moving through the halls during period changes. Quiet so thick. As freshmen, we heard the news, but it was more than we could really assimilate. It was short of like watching your parents when they got bad news.
Okie had stopped to help someone that was having car trouble. He was less than a quarter mile from the school. So many others had just passed right by. Not Okie. He was leaning into the engine compartment of the car that morning, shortly after sunrise. The day was less than an hour old and the sun's rays were still screaming their arrival at a fierce angle. Route 189 comes into the center of Granby from the northwest and the stalled vehicle happened to be near the crest of a hill, on a turn. It was still on the upslope, pulled onto the shoulder. But the shoulder of roads in New England are usually no wider than a recliner, so about a quarter of the car was still on the pavement.
John Tepper was a little late for school that day. I have no idea what the ramifications of his tardiness would've been that day - detention was about as severe as the school had for punishment. There were no absence failures in those days.
John Tepper came up that hill, into the sun and slammed into the back of the stalled car. It moved forward and pinned Okie between the car and the only stone driveway marker in town. John's windshield still had frost on most of it. An eye hole had been scrapped in front of the driver, but when he turned the corner and aimed directly into the sun's rays, the glare had prevented him from noticing the disabled car protruding into his lane. Fortunately for John Tepper, he had been slowing to turn into the school when the collision occurred.
I hope the John Tepper has made peace with the horrible accident of that day. He was villified for a time as the "kid who killed Okie."
Me?
Well, whenever the first spider web of frost is on my windshield every year, I think of Okie. Then I get out and scrape my windshield from edge to edge, both in tribute and remembrance.