So mine and Baden's calling in our ward is to be Sunday School teachers for the 17-18 year old youth. Basically as far away from Primary as we could get. Score! Not that getting the calling was our choice, but we couldn't resist a high-five right in front of the Bishop when we were officially called.
We really like our class. It's small - we have about 5 regulars. 2 boys and 3 girls. I already know some of their parents from work they do for SVU. For instance, one of our boys is Caleb Dransfield, whose dad taught me Approaches to Literature last year. It's a cool little group.
Anyways, when I was a teenager, something my Sunday School teacher always did was go around the room and have us all say one good thing that happened to us that week. I really liked it, so I wanted to do it with our class. They are kind of a chatty bunch so this sometimes takes up a lot of class time. Even though we all know the question is coming, we all sometimes have to sit and think "Man, what IS one good thing that happened this week?"
I've thrown out boring ones before like "I got to work a lot this week" or "We got paid this week." But this past Sunday, I was having a hard time thinking of one so Baden went first. He said, "I made homemade Alfredo last night for a triple date and it was delicious!" And to be honest, the Alfredo WAS so amazing I couldn't help but make my "one good thing" be, "I got to eat that Alfredo!"
So yes, this whole post about our class was just to tell you that Baden made the most scrumptious Alfredo ever Saturday night for a date night. Next time he makes it (and, trust me, I'll make sure that it's soon) I'll take pictures and get the recipe. I didn't even know it was possible to make homemade Alfredo!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Guilty
You know those annoying people that everyone hates who get into the "Christmas Spirit" as it were before it's even Halloween? Well let me just raise up my little newly wedding-ring-adorned hand and declare to you all: "Guilty party right HERE!"
Seriously, I am already so psyched for this Christmas I can't even tell you. First of all, it's our first Christmas as a married couple and while we've been a couple for the past two Christmases, being married is going to make it different. And better. Just is.
Second, my brother Rich and his wife and daughter are going to be in Greensboro for two and a half weeks. While we won't be in town quite that long, we've already carved out a long while to be in Greensboro with my parents, Rich and his family, AND Rachel and her family. There's just nothing better then having everyone together at once.
Speaking of my siblings and their families, I have two nieces of my very own now. While I can't spoil them with presents like I want to, that doesn't stop me from turning to Baden every time we see tiny baby recliners made exactly like old man recliners and declaring, "My nieces NEED these!"
After the festivities in Greensboro, Baden's brother Thomas will be flying us out to Washington state to hang out with his family for a little while. They are the group of Baden's family that I know the best (they lived in Chapel Hill until this past summer) and we're both really looking forward to spending time with them again.
So, yes. While I'm not playing Christmas music and putting up a tree already, I AM very excited for Christmas. C'mon Halloween and Thanksgiving, let's just get this over with so we can get to the good stuff.
Seriously, I am already so psyched for this Christmas I can't even tell you. First of all, it's our first Christmas as a married couple and while we've been a couple for the past two Christmases, being married is going to make it different. And better. Just is.
Second, my brother Rich and his wife and daughter are going to be in Greensboro for two and a half weeks. While we won't be in town quite that long, we've already carved out a long while to be in Greensboro with my parents, Rich and his family, AND Rachel and her family. There's just nothing better then having everyone together at once.
Speaking of my siblings and their families, I have two nieces of my very own now. While I can't spoil them with presents like I want to, that doesn't stop me from turning to Baden every time we see tiny baby recliners made exactly like old man recliners and declaring, "My nieces NEED these!"
After the festivities in Greensboro, Baden's brother Thomas will be flying us out to Washington state to hang out with his family for a little while. They are the group of Baden's family that I know the best (they lived in Chapel Hill until this past summer) and we're both really looking forward to spending time with them again.
So, yes. While I'm not playing Christmas music and putting up a tree already, I AM very excited for Christmas. C'mon Halloween and Thanksgiving, let's just get this over with so we can get to the good stuff.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Roman Polanski
Hey people. So today, I bring you something a little more serious. Sure there's lots of stuff going on, like Baden and I probably moving into our new place this week. And I have a really cute story to tell you about Baden doing something wonderfully sweet. But those will come another day.
Right now, I want to rant about Roman Polanski. To re-cap, in case you haven't heard the news, Polanski is a famous director and made the movies "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" among others. I hear they are great movies. Whatever. In the 70s, he plead guilty to giving a 13 year old champagne and quaaludes and having intercourse with her. Statutory rape. On the day of his sentencing, Polanski fled the country to France, where he has lived since (still making movies, not paying any consequences whatsoever). A few days ago, he was apprehended by American police in Switzerland (where we are allowed to catch bad guys, unlike France).
What I really hate about all this is the Hollywood directors and actors rushing to Polanski's defense. Yes, it was a long time ago, and yes, the victim has said she forgives him. But guess what. Statutory rape has nothing to do with consent and it has nothing to do with forgiveness. If Roman Polanski is not brought to justice, here is what our legal system is saying, "As long as you have the money to flee the country, you can rape all the 13 year olds you want."
A lot of the commentary I've read about this case (mostly from the New York Times) does not condone Polanski's behavior, yet rushes to the defense of his films. This has nothing to do with his work. Picasso was a despicable human being. Cheated on his wives and abused his son. But his artwork is still praised as genius, as it should be. The important distinction here is between the artist and his crimes. I would not feel guilty for liking a Polanski movie, and I want him prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What is so hard to understand about that, Hollywood?
Geraldine Ferraro sums it all up perfectly in the following article:
"“A male is guilty of rape in the second degree when, being eighteen years old or more, he engages in sexual intercourse with a female less than fifteen years old. Rape in the second degree is a class felony.”
That is the current law in New York. When I was prosecuting these cases in Queens in the 70’s the law required that the child be less than 14. The legislature tightened it. But there is no doubt that California had the same protections for children when Polanski was prosecuted in California for having intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. It still does.
Why has no one from the movie business, no one who supposedly stands up for the rights of women and girls, spoken up in support of finally bringing this man to justice?
This is the definition of statutory rape. Notice, it doesn’t talk about force and it doesn’t talk about consent. Neither are needed. The statute is meant to protect children. A 13-year-old can’t consent to intercourse with a man over 18, and definitely not with a man in his 30’s.
Polanski was convicted of a serious crime in the 70’s. He chose to abscond to France and because he had money and connections, has lived a charmed life, unhindered by his obligations to society. The message is, rich guys can get away with anything … or wait — is it only rich guys with friends in Hollywood? The statute of limitations for rape does not toll simply because 31 years has passed. And victims cannot “forgive” the rapist. The criminal justice system is meant to protect all of us.
As for France getting all exercised about California moving forward (and the prosecutors there haven’t just let this go for 31 years), who are the French officials to criticize us as a nation and tell us how to deal with our criminals? Too bad for Bernie Madoff that he wasn’t as smart as Polanski. He would have taken his wife, brother, nephew, sons and their families and a billion or two and gone to France to help their economy. Then when the Ponzi scheme was exposed, the French would have, if consistent, refused extradition. He could have stayed for the rest of his life in luxury. Just imagine.
And what really defies explanation are the actions of the Directors Association and actors, like Harrison Ford. Did they remain buddies over the years with a convicted rapist who had fled the jurisdiction because they condoned his rape of the child or because they approved of his actions of absconding and beating the system? Did they do so because this was not such an unusual situation in Hollywood at the time and may still exist today?
What was particularly outrageous was the woman speaking on behalf of the Directors Association who said: “It happened so long ago.” Really. Suppose it happened today. Would she feel differently? Suppose it had been murder and not rape that happened 31 years ago? Would she be saying “It happened so long ago”?
For me, one of the biggest disappointments of this episode is that no one from Hollywood, no one from that movie business, no one who supposedly stands up for the rights of women and girls has opened his or her mouth in support of the prosecutors who are doing their job and attempting to bring this man finally to justice. As for France, I would hope that President Sarkozy would call in his ministers and tell them to butt out of our business.""
Right now, I want to rant about Roman Polanski. To re-cap, in case you haven't heard the news, Polanski is a famous director and made the movies "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" among others. I hear they are great movies. Whatever. In the 70s, he plead guilty to giving a 13 year old champagne and quaaludes and having intercourse with her. Statutory rape. On the day of his sentencing, Polanski fled the country to France, where he has lived since (still making movies, not paying any consequences whatsoever). A few days ago, he was apprehended by American police in Switzerland (where we are allowed to catch bad guys, unlike France).
What I really hate about all this is the Hollywood directors and actors rushing to Polanski's defense. Yes, it was a long time ago, and yes, the victim has said she forgives him. But guess what. Statutory rape has nothing to do with consent and it has nothing to do with forgiveness. If Roman Polanski is not brought to justice, here is what our legal system is saying, "As long as you have the money to flee the country, you can rape all the 13 year olds you want."
A lot of the commentary I've read about this case (mostly from the New York Times) does not condone Polanski's behavior, yet rushes to the defense of his films. This has nothing to do with his work. Picasso was a despicable human being. Cheated on his wives and abused his son. But his artwork is still praised as genius, as it should be. The important distinction here is between the artist and his crimes. I would not feel guilty for liking a Polanski movie, and I want him prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What is so hard to understand about that, Hollywood?
Geraldine Ferraro sums it all up perfectly in the following article:
"“A male is guilty of rape in the second degree when, being eighteen years old or more, he engages in sexual intercourse with a female less than fifteen years old. Rape in the second degree is a class felony.”
That is the current law in New York. When I was prosecuting these cases in Queens in the 70’s the law required that the child be less than 14. The legislature tightened it. But there is no doubt that California had the same protections for children when Polanski was prosecuted in California for having intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. It still does.
Why has no one from the movie business, no one who supposedly stands up for the rights of women and girls, spoken up in support of finally bringing this man to justice?
This is the definition of statutory rape. Notice, it doesn’t talk about force and it doesn’t talk about consent. Neither are needed. The statute is meant to protect children. A 13-year-old can’t consent to intercourse with a man over 18, and definitely not with a man in his 30’s.
Polanski was convicted of a serious crime in the 70’s. He chose to abscond to France and because he had money and connections, has lived a charmed life, unhindered by his obligations to society. The message is, rich guys can get away with anything … or wait — is it only rich guys with friends in Hollywood? The statute of limitations for rape does not toll simply because 31 years has passed. And victims cannot “forgive” the rapist. The criminal justice system is meant to protect all of us.
As for France getting all exercised about California moving forward (and the prosecutors there haven’t just let this go for 31 years), who are the French officials to criticize us as a nation and tell us how to deal with our criminals? Too bad for Bernie Madoff that he wasn’t as smart as Polanski. He would have taken his wife, brother, nephew, sons and their families and a billion or two and gone to France to help their economy. Then when the Ponzi scheme was exposed, the French would have, if consistent, refused extradition. He could have stayed for the rest of his life in luxury. Just imagine.
And what really defies explanation are the actions of the Directors Association and actors, like Harrison Ford. Did they remain buddies over the years with a convicted rapist who had fled the jurisdiction because they condoned his rape of the child or because they approved of his actions of absconding and beating the system? Did they do so because this was not such an unusual situation in Hollywood at the time and may still exist today?
What was particularly outrageous was the woman speaking on behalf of the Directors Association who said: “It happened so long ago.” Really. Suppose it happened today. Would she feel differently? Suppose it had been murder and not rape that happened 31 years ago? Would she be saying “It happened so long ago”?
For me, one of the biggest disappointments of this episode is that no one from Hollywood, no one from that movie business, no one who supposedly stands up for the rights of women and girls has opened his or her mouth in support of the prosecutors who are doing their job and attempting to bring this man finally to justice. As for France, I would hope that President Sarkozy would call in his ministers and tell them to butt out of our business.""
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Shenanigans Show!
Oh, the first Shenanigans show of the year. It's what marks the true beginning of the school year, really. My honey was in a lot of really funny games, and I taped this one called "ABC." Basically, you are given a very simple thing to start a scene with, and then every line has to start with the next letter of the alphabet. This video starts off with Baden explaining the game and then he and the lovely Caitlin Robison play a great round. Sorry it's so incredibly shaky, I guess I was just laughing too hard!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Slacker Blogger
Yes, Slacker Blogger here, finally checking in. I posted as my facebook status that I was indeed a slacker blogger and my friend Kaitlin Cluff condensed it to "Slogger" and formally defined it as: Slogger (n): One who claims to blog, or means to blog, but rarely gets around to it. Well put, Kaitlin.
Anyways! We've been cooking up a lot of good stuff lately. My own contribution was Poppyseed Chicken earlier this week. Or maybe last week. It's a dish we originally had with Matt and Holli Coats, and Baden and I both liked it so much, I recreated it just for us. Super simple recipe:
-However much chicken (chopped) you want - cooked however you want (I just did ours with some olive oil, salt, and pepper on the stove)
-2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
-16oz. container of sour cream
-2 teaspoons-ish of poppyseeds
Mix that all together and put in a buttered casserole dish. Mash up one sleeve's worth of Ritz crackers to crumble on top and pour butter (1 stick) on top of that. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. When it comes out, spoon over (it'll be liquid-y) white rice and enjoy with some rolls! Sure, it's a carb bonanza but trust me, it's worth it!
Anyways! We've been cooking up a lot of good stuff lately. My own contribution was Poppyseed Chicken earlier this week. Or maybe last week. It's a dish we originally had with Matt and Holli Coats, and Baden and I both liked it so much, I recreated it just for us. Super simple recipe:
-However much chicken (chopped) you want - cooked however you want (I just did ours with some olive oil, salt, and pepper on the stove)
-2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
-16oz. container of sour cream
-2 teaspoons-ish of poppyseeds
Mix that all together and put in a buttered casserole dish. Mash up one sleeve's worth of Ritz crackers to crumble on top and pour butter (1 stick) on top of that. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. When it comes out, spoon over (it'll be liquid-y) white rice and enjoy with some rolls! Sure, it's a carb bonanza but trust me, it's worth it!
Baden liked it as you can tell!
This Sunday night, Baden was cooking some ground beef on the stove because we wanted to have tacos, only to realize that we had taco shells, but no seasoning. With it being Sunday and all, we didn't want to get seasoning, so Baden got creative again. He took the ground beef, made a little gravy for it, cooked green beans and corn and put that on...
then spooned on mashed potatoes and sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top! A meal in one dish! It was de. lic. ious.
We've also been making a lot of fruit smoothies for ourselves with a blender we got as a wedding present. Just a banana, yogurt, ice, and frozen fruit we got a Sam's Club (a mix of strawberries, mango, peaches, and pineapple). It tastes just like a Juice Shop smoothie from home! As Rachel Ray would say, Yumm-O!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
More Milestones
I think it's a rite of passage for a young, married, Mormon girl, to feed the missionaries for the first time with her husband. It so happens that our apartment is right above the missionaries and they were kind enough to help us move in. Baden offered to feed them as soon as we were done moving stuff, and we signed up for Saturday night. I made the green beans and cupcakes you see below, and Baden made ribs and mashed red potatoes. It was so delicious! I wish I had taken a picture of all of us eating though, because we don't have a kitchen table (and no room for one), we gave the missionaries our two TV trays and we ate off the coffee table. It just screamed "poor marrieds" as the SVU crowd would say.
Not that I'm biased, but I think the cupcakes were the best part!
So, in these two or three years while we are married, but don't (fingers crossed) have any kids to blog about, I have a feeling this will turn into a cooking blog. I love baking, but my cooking skills need a little improvement. My husband however, has the creativity needed to blend both of our tastes and make up delicious new recipes. For example, Baden likes lasagna, but I'm not a big fan of any pasta that doesn't have the words "chicken alfredo" in it. So what did he make last night? Why, chicken alfredo lasagna of course! And yes, it was as yummy as these pictures make it look.
We are constantly trolling for recipes to try out, so if you have any favorites please don't hesitate to share them!
Friday, August 7, 2009
It's Official
We are Mr. and Mrs. Bagley! The wedding was lovely, thanks to everyone who came and wished us well. After the open house in Danville, we were off to Wilmington, NC for the honeymoon. It was so beautiful! Baden knew he loved Wilmington before we went but I had only ever been there for a session of EFY when I was 14, so needless to say, I took my hubby's word for it that it was a cool place. It turned out to be perfect. There was a gorgeous and charming downtown, where we found some cool restaurants and stellar views of the waterfront. There was an awesome place called Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn (we didn't meet the tattoo requirement to be cool enough to eat there, but we managed to get in anyways). And then we spent the last day in Myrtle Beach, where we played mini golf and walked around Broadway at the Beach and ate at the biggest seafood buffet ever built (Baden had plate after plate of crab legs and I had prime rib and cornbread).The very last day, we both needed our toes worked on. Baden had an ingrown toenail and mine was black from a metal thing falling on it and people stepping on it at the wedding festivities. Luckily, Baden's brother Lorac is a PA and was staying at the beach with his family. He cut a strip of Baden's nail out and poked a hole in mine to squeeze out blood and relieve the pressure. Lovely, huh? But it felt SO much better! Here's a picture of our toes all cute and bandaged up (yes, it was the same toe for both of us).
Lorac working on Baden's toe:
Yes, the operations were performed on a friend's back porch:
Below is the gross picture of both of our toes after they were worked on. Don't be too grossed out, the yellow tint to them is from the cleaning/sanitizing medical swab thing I'm sure you've seen that Lorac used. 
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