Obedience: A Mixed Metaphor

The children of Israel, making their way through the mists of darkness, either hanging onto the iron rod or getting lost in the roots of the Tree (or maybe that's just Alternate Paths) on their way to cast their eyes upon the brazen serpent, while the people in the great and spacious building mock and laugh.

Also, because G "obeyed" my connect-the-dots (which may or may not have been added after the drawing was complete), we came out with a beautiful great and spacious building.

Moral of the story: Obedience is the first law of heaven.
Not Moral of the Story: Connecting the dots can only result in a great and spacious building.
Not Moral of the Story: We were thinking about changing that purple snake into a tetherball pole, but I don't think following the iron rod will lead you to tetherball. Necessarily.

cycling through

I've got to say, going to funerals really sharpens your perspective on life.

Hot Dogs in the Context of Your Mother

So, awhile back L'Afro and I were discussing 500-word essays, for some reason. We assigned topics to each other and flippin, and only flippin ever wrote his, to my knowledge. (L'Afro, apologies if you wrote yours and I forgot I saw it.)

The point is, I haven't read flippin's yet because it came with the caveat: "Don't read this until you've written yours."

After faithfully not reading his essay, titled "The State of the Universe in the Context of Robot Slaves, or: Where's my electronic manservant? or: You are not my mother!  You are a Snort!", for more than a year, I have determined that I don't really want to wait any longer. Understandably, I hope, now that you've read his title. So here's mine.

Hot Dogs in the Context of Your Mother

As with many foods, I experienced my first hot dog in my mother's house. Probably cut up in tiny pieces on a plate by itself, the way I watched my cousin deliver a hot dog to his daughter only last week. 

 

I imagine that was also where I determined I liked ketchup and not mustard; I am making this assumption based on the fact that it was also where I determined I liked wheat chili and not any chili with beans or spice - it follows.

 

I digress.

 

Mom had this desire, as I was growing up, for her children to learn to cook. After all, she was a relatively well-known cook throughout our social community, shouldn't her children at least know how to fend for themselves? So started "each kid cooks once a week." That was pretty short-lived, but it didn't end before the rule sprouted up that I couldn't make French toast and hot dogs every time. Apparently I was supposed to learn to cook other things - don’t worry, now I can make macaroni and cheese, too. As in, more than one kind. And stuffed peppers and rice pudding.

 

But fast forward to college, the time in my life to which these cooking lessons were pointed. Er ... the first time I would have to utilize those skills, anyway.

 

My staple foods in college were eggs, French toast, quesadillas and hot dogs, but I'm just saying. Sorry, Mom. 

 

Then I learned to broil the hot dogs on the oven rack - grilling for inside! - which sort of shot any extra effort from that point forward. That was a revolutionary point in my cooking life that Mom should be proud of. My life was enriched, though, when I discovered New York hot dogs and Nathan's hot dogs. It was a whole new world. Cooking began to mean something, that "something" consisting mostly of 100% beef, onions, sauerkraut and the tentative advent of my mustard affinity.

 

Nathan’s are the gourmet of all hot dogs, but they cost between $4-5 per package of eight. Too bad I don’t like other kinds of hot dogs anymore, and don’t make fun of me because this is worth it to me. My mom does, though. Last year for my birthday, she bought me a package of them and some for dinner. She didn’t think they were worth it.

 

Think about it, though. A package of eight hot dogs for $4-5 dollars. I stopped in a Phoenix airport recently and picked up a Nathan’s hot dog and fries for $3 each last weekend ($3 for the hot dog and $3 for the fries). Turned out it wasn’t any better than my packaged stuff, at only fifty cents per quality dog!

 

I guess the moral of this story is that my mom doesn’t really have a lot to do with hot dogs in my life, but she loves me and I love hot dogs, so sometimes they cross paths. I think that will suffice.

hey.

After a recent admonition by CPM about my lack of bloggingness, I present to you:

Hey, here I am, blogging.

Sorry, it's 2 a.m. and I feel like blogging but I haven't been in the blogging mindset enough lately to actually have anything to say.

Between the twinkling light out my back window and the fact that I saw Short Circuit tonight, I think we may have aliens in the backyard. Welcome, this is Earth. Input.

I am an anti-fan of the cats who live in my house. There was a dead mouse in my hallway tonight. I have less animosity toward them now than I used to; it's more dead irritation now.

Our dog is tiny.

I bought hot dogs.

I made corn bread tonight.

I have a goal to sleep more this weekend.

My ward is having an Ado Annie dinner tomorrow night. I refuse to decorate a basket and try to make some random guy fall in love with my questionable home ec skills. If anything I would bring a pizza and sit in the back ... instead I'm staying home to watch a movie. Sorry to not support the activities committee ... if anything, I'm showing my opinion by boycott. Ten bucks says the girls outnumber the guys 2:1.

My roommate made pie. She says I can't have any since I didn't help (I was helping my friend with cornbread), and I don't believe her. But somehow I am not too concerned even if she stands her ground. I have hot dogs. And also Lucky Charms.

I talked to L'Afro today. It was glorious and I want to finish our conversation soon. Call me back when you can, dear.

I won't decorate my room the rest of the way until it is clean. Or buy anything for it. That will make an IKEA trip seriously unproductive if I don't finish soon, and also, I am coming into a fake ficus tree in December, so I'd better be ready for it.

Anyone bored yet? Sorry, I'll write something better next time, I promise. Leave me some topics in the comments if you really want to spur some action. Or make me think of them myself. You know, whatever.