Sugar Cookies!!

gimme some sugar. cookies, that is.
Originally uploaded by ::FallingUp::

Controlled Chaos came over one day that I made sugar cookies. She ate about ten of them. So I made her a stack before I left Michigan.

Yes, a stack. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to give it to her in a glad box or something. But I stacked about 20 sugar cookies and rolled them up in foil. They fit better in my purse that way. haha.

Anyways, I don't love these but she does. My whole family loves them. Maybe I don't love them because I made them? No need to alter the recipe. They're great the way they are. Sometimes I roll them out and use cookie cutters, but to be honest with you, the thicker they are the better. So drop cookies are just fine.

Click here for the recipe. Enjoy!!

Update

Really upset that the media won't stop their cynicism even after MJ's death. I was surprised when I turned on the TV tonight, there was a "tribute" to MJ...which quickly turned into speculating, dissecting, showing such negativity about his whole life.....

what a great friggin tribute....thanks NBC... you'll do anything for ratings

truly PISSED.

Kids peeing and me touching it

EDIT: I'm enabling comments for the sole purpose that people might have questions and I don't like to leave people hanging. So I'm volunteering CC to reply to my comments, should I get any. I don't expect any though because of reasons stated earlier. Byeee :)

The blogs birthday was last week and we didn't acknowledge it. Happy Belated First Birthday Bloggieee. :)

I'm posted in pediatrics right now.

I don't like kids. They don't like me. And I don't know what to do with the ones that rarely do like me.

Imagine the pressure I'm under. haha.

Yesterday we were taking a case of a baby with Gastroenteritis. And basically the baby had diarrhea for 8 days before finally coming to the hospital. It's sad. People blow off illnesses because they can't afford to see a doctor and when they finally do, the disease is so advance that the treatment is more expensive. *sigh* but at least that's not the case in this baby's condition. I think it's ignorance. People think problems will go away. Or they're scared. Remember this always: the earlier the better. Way better.

I was going to palpate the femoral artery because we have to check the pulse everywhere and the baby peed. And I didn't know it. So when I had to lift up his shorts to palpate all I felt was wet. eeeeew. And THERE'S NO SINK IN THE WARD! Not that I could see, at least.

You might be wondering where the diaper was? Well the baby didn't have one. Again, they are too poor to afford them. Diapers are relatively new to India. They use cloth "nappies" or whatever British people say. Very thin nappies that don't make a difference.

You must be thinking about the cleanliness of the hospital by now. It's not clean. It's a teaching hospital which means it's very very cheap which means that maintenance is a minimum due to lack of funds. Well they do have funds but that's not what the money is being used for.

More baby stories to come.

PS - this baby didn't cry when it saw me. Indian babies are generally very very very super friendly and go to everyone. But a baby is a baby is a baby and I didn't warm up to it even though it smiled at me while I was examining it. Maybe a little.

Gone Too Soon

This post is long overdue. I've been walking around broken-hearted for the past week and still I can't get my mind to wrap around the fact that Michael Jackson is gone.
I understand everyone may not feel me in this post, but then again most people don't even know him for his music, (the newer generations) only for what the tabloids spread about him.


The man was a genius and I am so sad that I won't hear anything new from him ever again. His choreography was so slick and he had every move perfected but I think he was way bigger than all that. That's what attracted me the most. Throughout his life I didn't know too much about him; all i knew was I've heard his music since I was 4. It was catchy and upbeat but I never looked beyond that. In high school I began to pay more attention to his lyrics. I would read them often and I realized how deep they were, and I had to respect him for that. That's when I became a fan.

He'd broken every record in music, yet the best one is creating charities every turn he took. His song "We Are the World" alone raised millions of dollars for Africa. Yet, without even knowing all these facts, I was always convinced he had a great character, but I'm sad.

I'm sad because it took his death for me to realize how much I liked him and I don't know if it's possible to "miss" someone you've never met ... but I do. *sigh*

You know MTV never played black music in their baby days? This was in the 80's, people!!! They wouldn't air a single black artists' video because it didn't fit the "style." But he was persistent and his video Billie Jean was the first time a black artist premiered on their show. He's also the visionary behind modern day music videos i.e. before his style came along, a singer would generally be standing around vocalizing. He was the one to come up with the idea of telling a "story." He's also the one who MADE the careers of singers like Whitney Houston, Prince, Usher, and so many others. Did I mention his music was DEEP? He would bring up the division of colors, crime, and a united human race.

I think I did, but I'll leave you with some lyrics from a few chosen songs:

They Don't Really Care About Us
Beat me, hate me, You can never break me. Will me, thrill me, You can never kill me. Do me, sue me, Everybody do me. Kick me, strike me, Don't you black or white me. All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us.

Black or White
Protection For gangs, clubs And nations Causing grief in Human relations Its a turf war On a global scale Id rather hear both sides Of the tale See, its not about races Just places Faces Where your blood Comes from Is where your space is Ive seen the bright Get duller Im not going to spend My life being a color

Bad
We can change the world tomorrow
This could be a better place
If you dont like what Im sayin
Then wont you slap my face . . .

Gone too Soon

Born to amuse

To inspire to delight

Here one day

Gone one night

Like a sunset

Dying with the rising of the moon

Gone too soon

Gone too soon

I truly hope the saying is true that "legends never die."

howdy

I don't know what to write about. And yet I am writing. I'm sure all of you have heard about Bernie Maddoff and his 150 yr sentence- which seems a bit excessive considering he's like past 70, but I guess symbolically it's significant. My friends and I we're watching Michael Jackson videos today and I have to say he was really cute back in the 80's before all of the facial tinkering. Oh combat troops pulled out of Iraq today, did you hear about this? There were fireworks over the city of Baghdad marking the occasion. Call me cynical but the government of Iraq feels to me like a puppet that cut off its strings and now wants to be a real boy. I wish it luck.
Ever since the Star Trek movie came out, which I fell in love with, i've been watching the old 60's series. William Shatner was intense, and i'm developing an odd attraction to Leonard Nimoy or Spock. Oh and a repulsion to female actresses- man they could NOT act back then. Also i'm developing a sense of insecurity about airplanes, a Yemeni plane crashed into the Indian Ocean today killing like 154 people. That and the Air France plane that went down in the Atlantic Ocean..*shudder*..i'm going to Dubai in a few weeks you can bet i'm going to be fearfully clenching my armrests the entire trip.
Soooo there was a coup in honduras...that was interesting. Soldiers stormed the Honduran president's, home- arresting him and forcing him into exile. I think the greatest thing to come out of this coup is that it gave Obama and Chavez something to agree on (they're against it).
Now i'm not one for celebrity gossip but i'll indulge this one time: John Edward's has a sex tape. That is really gross and sickening. And just gross. ew. Ok on that note, oh wait I almost forgot the Iranian Guardian Council, has just confirmed an Ahmadinejad win- with 130% voter turnout in all districts. Congratulations Mr. President. Does it feel good to defraud your people? I bet it does.

oh there's one other thing, more of a confession really. Well here it goes. I am in love. Yes. It has happened. Whom, You might ask? Well he's my age, sort of. He's Scottish and very cute. And has possibly the sexiest voice. ever. I speak of Paolo Nutini of course. and I leave you with his shaggy-ness



Sweet Dreams y'all

Because I have nothing better to talk about...

...here's some pointless thoughts:


I'm currently obsessed with this song by Rihanna and Lady Gaga.



I like some of Rihanna's songs (Silly Boy and Take a Bow) because they aren't filled with mushy crap that everyone seems to adore. The lyrics are funny. Point in case:
"You look so dumb right now"
"You're so ugly when you cry"
"Silly boy, Get out of my face"

I hate when babies cry. And not in that "Aww poor baby" kinda way, where I want to make them feel better. But more in a "Just shut up" kinda way.

I dont mind being bored at all. I would much rather be bored than be stressed.

I've never been so relieved to have something done or semi-done, like I was today.

I love summer vacation. It truly is the best part of teaching. I don't miss my kids. But I do miss two of my friends/colleagues though. The three of us have gotten pretty close in these past couple of months. And we always have really in-depth conversations about each of our faiths. Neither one of them follows an organized religion but their lives are so focused on their spirituality and their faith. Nothing else seems to matter and everything they do revolves around God. I just love that about them.

I had a horrible nightmare about my new classroom. The kids would not listen to me and they were running around the classroom like a bunch of animals.

I like getting tanned. It makes me feel exotic.

My phone is a piece of crap. I spilled apple juice on it and now it keeps hanging up on people.

You know that feeling you get when you get treated like crap by someone you look up to and respect a great deal? Well, I've had that feeling for the past couple of days now. I'm trying to brush it off, but I cant.

I've been reading this one book for about a month now. And I've never taken that long of a time to read any book. I don't think it's me. I think its the book. But I have to finish it.

I had gold eyeshadow on today and everyone said that it made me look anemic.

For some reason a lot of people in my family don't like to talk about others in the family being pregnant. I don't know if it's like this with other families but I will never understand why.

Michael Jackson's death was a huge shocker. I really thought my friend and I were the first people to hear about it and I wanted to be the first one to break the news to others. That didnt work.

M.J's funeral is probably going to be as big, if not bigger, than Princess Dianas was.

I'm going to NYC in three days. (Insha'Allah)

I asked my sisters to help me pack for my trip (Insha'Allah) and they kept telling me to wear things that were "outside of the box" and nothing "teachery". And everything I suggested they screamed "No!" to.

This is my first plane ride.

And I'm terrified.

Family does the Darnedest Things Friday

Ok So I'm thinking about starting a new segment on Fridays.
My Family does the the Darnedest Things..
Actually I think I'll make it into a Wednesday or Monday or even a Tuesday segment...we'll see.
But definitely not a Thursday...

Last week, Monday:

I'm late for my Doctor's appointment (as usual). Usually I drive down to clinic, whizzing down the freeway at, atleast 80 mph.
But that day I didn't have breakfast so I took a bowl of cereal with me to my car. My dad said he would drive for me.
So I said okay.
Then while I'm sitting in the passenger's seat (next to driver's seat) my Dad remembers a thousand other things he needs to grab before we leave. And while I'm watching the minutes tick by, I realize that with my brother's latest speeding ticket sprees, I'd be lucky if my dad would even touch the speed limit.

So I yell out to him that I'm going to drive, and start crawling into the driver's seat.
My dad, sees what I'm doing, yells no, and hurries over to get into the driver's seat.

And there we were, both of us, half onto the driver's seat, heads pushed against each other.

No seriously, we were in headbutt deadlock. He was half out of the car, and I was half on the passenger seat.

"But I can drive while eating!!" I said, while pushing his head

"No you're not!" He said, pushing my head back.

"But YOU can't drive!" I said, while using my one hand to push against the seat, to give me more force.

"Yes, I can" He said, using the driver's door to get more force.

"No. You can't !"

And my dad pushes my head just enough, "Yes I can"
And I backed away.

And there you go. My family just decided dominance for the driver's seat, the same way a ram or a goat does.

My family is funny.



P.S. Ahmadinejad(The current President of Iran) compared Obama to Bush, and said that Obama owes him an apology. And for what? For criticizing the way Iran's government are handling its protestors. I think Obama is doing a great job at not getting involved but still saying what he thinks is wrong and why he thinks it's wrong.

10 Tips to Keeping Dry

1. Wear tank tops and Aladdin pants under your jilbab (outer cover)
2. Wear sun block then use oil pads to wipe away the grease after 5 minutes
3. Don’t walk next to smelly men
4. Wear a fake wedding band so smelly men don’t try to walk next to you
5. Don’t swing your arms when walking
6. Take an afternoon nap from 1-3 pm
7. Get your groceries delivered up to you from the downstairs convenient store
8. Powder your inner thighs frequently
9. Stand in random nice shops for frequent free AC breaks when walking downtown
10. Run all your errands past 7 pm

Guys, it’s getting so hot here. It was 104 degrees yesterday. It was so hot that even the nasty stray dogs were lethargic and not chasing cats.

So I move out of my apartment today into another one down the street. I'm so excited! Only one little problem...how do I get all my suitcases down the street? Do I walk them 5 minutes there and get my bags dusty? Or do I call a cab and tell him to take me a 30 second drive down the street so he can get paid only 50 cents? I guess I'll figure it out after my cold shower ...