Quality Time (A Fun & Lighthearted Video)

The Piano Guys + St George = Magic

What the World Needs Now is LOVE

I don't know if many of you heard about the incident of middle school kids bullying the 68 year old bus monitor and posting the video on Facebook. It is sad. I heard about it while watching "The O'Reilly Factor." The video is 10 minutes long and I couldn't face watching any more of it after only watching the 20 second clip they showed on the news show. It made me want to cry that anyone would treat someone else this way.

Glen Beck addresses this issue and I couldn't say it any better. Other media are saying how sad it is that Ms. Klein has been treated this way and all the focus is on her (and it is sad and she should have support). But no one is addressing the fact that something is wrong with our culture that children could behave this way and could act so maliciously and hateful towards another human being.

What really gets me is this morning on the Today Show it's reported that "some" of the bullies have apologized. One student wrote "When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that. I will never treat anyone this way again.” Another student said he feels “really bad” about the incident. And another student's father apologized. I hope these kids do feel bad - but I don't know if they really do though. They were not just mean but they were downright cruel to this woman. An "I'm sorry" just doesn't cut it. And apparently there is a website getting donations for Karen Klein - upwards to about $500,000 right now. Another issue Glen Beck addresses. All we do is throw money at a problem and forget about it rather than fix what's truly wrong in our society.

I don't usually get too involved in all the media stories but this one affected me. And I appreciate Glen Beck's comments. I wish more parents would take the time to teach their children how to be respectful and how to be loving and kind. But we can't control the world. We can only control how we influence others. So may each of us do our best to be the examples this world needs and hope and pray it will, in turn, affect someone else who will learn from us.

Piña Colada Cake

At it again. I found the original recipe for a pineapple sheet cake here. However, it sounded too sweet and rich for my preference. So I made some tweaks and it turned out pretty well. I'm tempted next time to reduce the sugar even more and perhaps add a little whole wheat flour.  Here is the modified recipe:

Piña Colada Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
20 ounce can crushed pineapple, in juice, don't drain
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract

Mix all together until smooth. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. When cooled cut and serve with a generous dollop of topping.

Topping
I didn't really measure but here is the gist of what I did:
1/4 cup pineapple juice
approx 2 Tbs vanilla pudding mix
milk as needed
1 tsp coconut extract
1/4 cup coconut
small tub of cool whip
dash salt

Whisk pineapple juice and pudding mix - if too thick add a little milk. Stir in coconut extract and slowly fold some of the whip cream into mixture. Add coconut and salt. Add more whip cream until desired consistency and taste is achieved (I ended up using about 3/4 of the container of cool whip).