When You Feel Guilty for Laughing, But ...

 

... you can't help it!  😆😂

It's a bronze statue of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein -  holding hands and frolicking, entitled "Best Friends Forever," - now appearing at the National Mall!

They DO have a permit for the "art,"  by the way, but the Feds toppled it upon its first installment on September 224th, but now .... it's baaa-accck!

During the government shutdown, mind you, so nobody can do anything about it! 😂

I feel guilty for laughing because of what Epstein did - and because it's at the National Mall - but I mean, look at it - it's hilarious! 😂😆

When something strikes me as funny, I giggle, I can't help it!

Then my husband made it worse, by saying "Can you imagine if you were a foreign dignitary or like some Saudi prince visiting DC and saw that? It's accurate, though, he looks like the complete buffoon he is." 

Then he said it reminded him of Julie Andrews spinning and singing in The Sound of Music, so I made up a little song, just now, to go with it ...

"The hills are alive ... with armed ICE men"  

"And girls under 12 ... to the highest bidder!"  

"The towns will be blessed ... with quick-reaction forces ... and they'll sing ... no more!"

Oh man ... I mean, if you don't laugh, you'll cry, right? 

So I Made This Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna ...

 

... because a friend at Mark's work is retiring and brought in some butternut squash from her garden,  and because it's Fall and I love my butternut squash in the fall!

Here's where I got the recipe.

So it's super good - BUT - I decided it's missing something? 

The sage bechamel almost makes up for it, but still, something else is needed. 

 (I just like to say "bechamel" because it sounds fancy - bey-sha-MEL, oui oue, fanh fanh fah -  even though I had no idea what bechamel was until this recipe.  😂)

Bechamel AKA as roux in New Orleans is apparently an essential in French cooking?

It's really just flour and butter sauteed together, then pour in nearly-boiled milk bits at a time. 

So I already tweaked it in advance by adding brown sugar while roasting the squash, trying to counteract the bitter that would come from the spinach.

And I recognize I should've added the lemon zest as well, already part of the recipe for the same reason.

But I think what it really needs is more spices. 

I was thinking oregano, but someone suggested thyme - YES, that's it! 

It needs thyme.

Speaking of which, you will need "time" to do this recipe - at least 2/12 hours.

Worth a shot, though, it's pretty good without these things, but you'll see what I mean if you don't add in the thyme, etc. 

Oh, No! Not Jane Goodall!

 

We were just listening to her on a podcast and talking about her last week!

Loved this woman - so much respect for her 😢

She wasn't taken seriously as a woman primatologist/anthropologist, until she essentially said "You know what I'll do - instead of us speculating based on short trips, I'm gonna go live alongside chimps in Tanzania for months and years and observe them close-up. "

And that she did -  and we learned much as a result.

(Basically, that they are very social creatures like us, and can also be very aggressive, like us._)

RIP, Jane - thank you 💔

PS x2: Hegseth - "Weeding Out The Weak"

Dude, I don't know if you were still hungover or what ...

... and I hate to tell you this, but ....

If we did actually go to war -  after a certain point -  nobody cares if anyone has a beard or what fitness level anyone is at - you'll take what you can get!

I mean, look at Russia and the Ukraine, at this point - they'll take whatever warm body is left to fight!

And I don't know what you mean by "weed out the weak," but it sounds like some Mein Kampf Nazi shit.

And this idea of bringing back bullying to weed the weak people out?

I bet the generals were all sitting there thinking that Trump couldn't take 5 minutes of anything they threw at him, without suing somebody! 😂

We all have very different definitions of weakness and strength.

In fact, Hegseth, some might even call your propensity to drink like you do to feel better, then show up late for important meetings the next day, a "weakness."

The truth is, we ALL have different strengths and weaknesses  - and that's a GOOD thing - it's what makes a good military team, pooling different skill sets and strengths.

So you - and your thin-skinned, baby boy, masquerading as our Commander in Chief - can take that "all hail the bullying, conquering,  toxic male " BS and sell it to Russia, because we're not buying.