Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[MunichNark]

Bloody Brexit is dominating the news, and I don't quite get the hysteria. It will sort itself out in due course.

I do understand why people voted out - in truth, the EU needs a major overhaul. So I would hope that this is the beginning of that. Time will tell.

I've friends who live up North, and are wondering about their future, and it occurred to me yesterday that I'm driving on a UK licence here, so need to keep an eye on it or go back to Ireland and renew my irish one:-))

Still roasting here, humidity nigh 70% and I'm antsy and anxious. Fecking anxiety. It is supposed to cool off later on hopefully. I hate this weather.

[kokapetl]

So what does Disney do in Ireland? 

[MunichNark]

20 minutes ago, Kokapetl said:

So what does Disney do in Ireland? 

I won't be with Disney, but actually quite a bit. There's the Disney stores in Dublin and Belfast. Disney on Ice and such like.  Ireland's only a wee place of course, so Disney UK looks after it.

It's always been interesting to see how different the markets are - what works here doesn't work at all in Italy say, or the UK. I've no idea what Disney is like in the US in comparison to here say.  Since Disney Channel went free to air a couple of years ago, it's permeating the Germans a lot more though. I have memories of growing up with Disney, still have my Disney Fanclub badge in fact :-))

Another customary whinge about that damn weather - although most of you would laugh me out of my flat for being such a wuss. 26 degrees out it seems. Sigh.

[kokapetl]

I read somewhere that Scandinavians really love Donald Duck comics. 

[MunichNark]

Funnily enough, it's the german market that loves Donald, as far as I know, we are the only place where he is more popular than Mickey. I fully conform to this particular notion and have a few funky Donald merchandise bits chez Nark.

In response to that Kwanzaa cake, I cracked and just googled it as I'm waiting for my hair to dry a wee bit. My teeth are aching by just watching this catastrophe.

I've never seen a cake that is so terrifyingly white on the inside - what is it??? All that sweet blobby stuff is just gross. Semi homemade my arse! That's not a cake, that's an abomination to food.

[frenchtoast]

That's Angel Food Cake. And it's so freaking bland.

I read that there's a Christmas Eve custom in Sweden to watch a Donald Duck cartoon. I can't quite wrap my head around it.

[kassygreene]

I once knew how to make Angel Food cake (in the days before celiac disease), and it was tricky.  All egg whites (if I remember correctly, this was the recipe that taught me how to very very carefully separate eggs), sugar, flour, vanilla, and praise g for electric mixers because beating all that together with a fork was painful.  Had to cook it in a special cake pan too.

But if you made it right you got a nice, light, sticky cake with a golden crust that was the perfect base for strawberries in a sweet sauce and Real Whipped Cream (never the faux stuff).  You could do other fruits in their own sweet sauce (my grandparents had a fantastically good apricot tree), but any other purpose is Just A Fail.  It was hard to make, and hard to cut into any shape besides wedges, because the cake part resisted neat slicing.

Cripes.  This is the time of year we had it too, because this is when strawberries ripen.

[BitterApple]

I love Angel Food Cake. The taste is a little bland, but it's very light and you usually dress it up with fresh berries and real whipped cream. Sandra Lee should've been arrested a long time ago for crimes against food. She must have been neck deep in the Grey Goose when she conceived the idea for a Kwaanza cake.

[NewDigs]

1 hour ago, frenchtoast said:

That's Angel Food Cake. And it's so freaking bland.

I read that there's a Christmas Eve custom in Sweden to watch a Donald Duck cartoon. I can't quite wrap my head around it.

Angel food cake? And it didn't droop more under the weight of concrete frosting? And the dinner table tapers jammed into the top?

For some reason I was remembeing more CornNuts. I broke a tooth on one of those things.

I have only marveled at the monstrosity that is the Kwanzaa cake and never saw that episode. Bet she bought that cake.

Right with ya' kassygreene on the angel food cake love. Too much work with possible iffy results keeps me from attempting one. But Publix does an okay job and sometimes sells them in loaf-pan size.

[zoomama]

56 minutes ago, kassygreene said:

I once knew how to make Angel Food cake (in the days before celiac disease), and it was tricky.  All egg whites (if I remember correctly, this was the recipe that taught me how to very very carefully separate eggs), sugar, flour, vanilla, and praise g for electric mixers because beating all that together with a fork was painful.  Had to cook it in a special cake pan too.

But if you made it right you got a nice, light, sticky cake with a golden crust that was the perfect base for strawberries in a sweet sauce and Real Whipped Cream (never the faux stuff).  You could do other fruits in their own sweet sauce (my grandparents had a fantastically good apricot tree), but any other purpose is Just A Fail.  It was hard to make, and hard to cut into any shape besides wedges, because the cake part resisted neat slicing.

Cripes.  This is the time of year we had it too, because this is when strawberries ripen.

guess what? i also have celiac and i recently found a recipe for g/f angel food cake that was marvelous. i need to get a different pan to bake it in so it rises enough but hey, i enjoyed it. all is not lost!

[Aethera]

Hey folks - Brexit is fascinating, but it is politics, and we don't allow posters to go down the road too far on political discussions - it just leads to fights, and it's site policy not to allow it. So let's leave that topic behind, please, and continue this hunger-inducing discussion about cakes, instead!

[Arwen Evenstar]

G/F stuff is getting better and better. I live in Houston so we have many good GF choices. Andean Dream Quinoa Pastas are FANTASTIC! You can likely buy online if your local grocer doesn't stock. 

Udi's makes decent breads.  The Brazilian cheese bread is made with yuca flour (aka tapioca flour, manioc, mandioca)

Kind Bars and granola and cereals are also great. also lots of tasty crackers and cookies from Schar and  Kinickinnick make these cookies that taste better than Oreos. GF does not mean sugar free or low sodium so the calories still count, but that said, celiacs have no choice. I tested positive for wheat allergy, but negative for celiac. Both were blood tests.  I feel so much better avoiding wheat...every time I eat it, I become as gassy as an English bulldog!

,

[Aethera]

I should add - as a child, my mother always made me Angel Food Cake as my birthday cake - cut into 3 tiers, with fresh whipped cream and strawberries in between the layers. Occasionally if I'm home around my birthday, she still does. So...freaking...good. I think I might make one for our BBQ on July 4th.

[GeeGolly]

I love spongy angel food cake, with any kind of berries and whipped cream or ice cream.

As far as ceilings fans, we have them in the bedrooms and in the office. I dislike them immensely. I also dislike any fan, in the house or car blowing directly at me. The only breeze I enjoy is what comes through an open window.

[Henri205]

Had to chime in on the ceiling fan business.  LOVE them. My house doesn't get much cross-ventilation so if it's under 80 or so outside, windows are open and fans are on.  Above 80 I turn on the A/C.   I love that at night it drops to the 50s and 60s so open windows and ceiling fans make for a delightful night's sleep.  

My other favorite thing about this time of year will be along soon--fresh native corn from one of the many family farms around here.   It's 40 miles to Boston so easy train ride or drive for shopping, theatre, etc. but the fresh produce is unmatched in summer.   

Oh, and fried clams. Heaven. Although those are year round in some places it's wonderful when the seasonal clam shacks open.  

[Happyfatchick]

23 hours ago, NewDigs said:

Hubby and I are different-temp people and I'm the one who hates ac. I am perfectly happy at 80 degrees and refuse to have the ac so low that I need to put on long sleeves. But love a fan moving the air around. Especially at night. I'm in Florida and had a 94 degree day with 200% humidity. Hey, it felt like it!

HFC, will you adopt me? Thanks for sharing your life. 

Yes, happily!

Because...I haven't shared, it's too long, really - but I lost my daughter for a bit (the "missionary" in Nicaragua) this week.  The Readers Digest Condensed version:. The hubby came came back to the states to collect the two younger girls they'd left here earlier.  He was here just shy of a month, and my DIL became convinced he was having an affair.  (He has before).  She tailed him, she timed him, she has pics.  She has flight records.  (You don't want this chick on your bad side).  When he left, we had all this info, but nowhere to go with it.  We weren't ready to confront my daughter and needed a plan.  But just before the hubs boards the plane returning to Nicaragua, her Daddy face timed her and told her everything.  (Wait: her Daddy is Ep on Green Acres.  Aw shucks, red faced, kicking the dirt, leaving out a ton, forgetting vital stuff...).   

Land the next day, I get this from my SIL:

 

[Happyfatchick]

I shouldn't have posted that, it's such a downer and he's such a beast.  My daughter HAS contacted me, and she loves me.  And truthfully, I wish I didn't know anything.

[Tabbygirl521]

46 minutes ago, Happyfatchick said:

Yes, happily!

Because...I haven't shared, it's too long, really - but I lost my daughter for a bit (the "missionary" in Nicaragua) this week.  The Readers Digest Condensed version:. The hubby came came back to the states to collect the two younger girls they'd left here earlier.  He was here just shy of a month, and my DIL became convinced he was having an affair.  (He has before).  She tailed him, she timed him, she has pics.  She has flight records.  (You don't want this chick on your bad side).  When he left, we had all this info, but nowhere to go with it.  We weren't ready to confront my daughter and needed a plan.  But just before the hubs boards the plane returning to Nicaragua, her Daddy face timed her and told her everything.  (Wait: her Daddy is Ep on Green Acres.  Aw shucks, red faced, kicking the dirt, leaving out a ton, forgetting vital stuff...).   

Land the next day, I get this from my SIL:

 

Well, the image won't load for me, but nevertheless - I feel for you. My son is in what i consider a huge mess in his life, and his dad and I are powerless. We COULD help, but our suggestions are disregarded for the most part.  I don't think there are many things harder than watching your kid make choice after choice that keeps making things worse or harder. And it is also gutting to watch them in a relationship where they are not valued. 

In short, I am right there with you, my friend. 

[pinkie]

just gonna take a seat w/ HFC to share s-i-l hmmm, shall we call them "stories"? you come sit w/ us tabbygirl...((hugs)) to both of you, it's so tough

Edited June 26, 2016 by pinkie
left out ((hugs))

[Happyfatchick]

It is INCREDIBLY hard to watch her make a bad choice, get in hot water, bail out, and make a worse choice.  Yes.  If she could back up, look at the whole picture, and see it for what it is...but she can't.

the other day, I asked her if she doesn't get sick and tired of living her entire life covering for him, making amends for him, trying to make people think better of him.  I said to her that I wished she could have a very vanilla pudding life.  Bland, mundane, normal.  But then, after I thought about it, I can't imagine her married to anyone else. She's smart, beautiful, funny, happy-go-lucky, sweet, caring, and gentle.  And she's sacrificed her whole adult life to digging him out of disasters.  

He is the poster child for Narcissism, and she is the dictionary definition of enabler.  

I do much better when I shut that train wreck completely out - when I refuse to dwell on it or try to help.  When I back out and turn away, I am mentally and emotionally healthier.  As a Mama, though, I have a massive guilt complex when I don't have an idea what's happening when I'm not looking.  Bleh.

[lookeyloo]

HFC- as a parent I get it. My sickly heart is with you. 

[Love2dance]

HAPPY and TABBYGIRL, you would think that the hardest part of parenting is when they are children, living in your home. But it often is when they are adults and you can't, or shouldn't, interfere in their lives and decisions. 

I totally get it HAPPY, that it is sometimes better to not dwell on their difficulties and divorce ourselves from their problems. But it is so HARD to do. ????

[MunichNark]

It rained and thundered last night, yay! Still gentle rain and my place is down to nearly 20 degrees. Oh the relief.

I googled Angel food cake last nigh, and they all looked that white on the inside. Interesting.  We don't have that at all.

My Grandfather's brother was a baker and we, that is a part of my family, still runs a bakery to this day, so I'm prejudiced a bit, I love baking. Making bread is so easy for example, quick to make and you know what's in it.

What'll I have for Lunch today, now that I can cook properly?

[crazycatlady58]

28 minutes ago, MunichNark said:

It rained and thundered last night, yay! Still gentle rain and my place is down to nearly 20 degrees. Oh the relief.

I googled Angel food cake last nigh, and they all looked that white on the inside. Interesting.  We don't have that at all.

My Grandfather's brother was a baker and we, that is a part of my family, still runs a bakery to this day, so I'm prejudiced a bit, I love baking. Making bread is so easy for example, quick to make and you know what's in it.

What'll I have for Lunch today, now that I can cook properly?

Yes angel  food cake is white, white suger, eggs whites and white flour  will do  that. But it is so good it is food   fit for the angels !  It is very good and if you have a good   mixer not that hard to do.

[NewDigs]

7 hours ago, MunichNark said:

It rained and thundered last night, yay! Still gentle rain and my place is down to nearly 20 degrees. Oh the relief.

I googled Angel food cake last nigh, and they all looked that white on the inside. Interesting.  We don't have that at all.

My Grandfather's brother was a baker and we, that is a part of my family, still runs a bakery to this day, so I'm prejudiced a bit, I love baking. Making bread is so easy for example, quick to make and you know what's in it.

 

What'll I have for Lunch today, now that I can cook properly?

Jump on over to the Seewald's thread.

There's a dandy video...

[kathe5133]

MunichNark, 20 degrees?  That's really cold.  Freezing even.  Is it that cold inside?

[MunichNark]

Ah thanks..not??

 

my nerves are in bits-irelands leading 1:0 against france. Now halftime...

20 degrees celsius??

[kassygreene]

Celsius!

[NewDigs]

A basic way to convert C to F is to double the Celsius number and add 30. 

It's not 100% accurate but it gets you close.

[crazycatlady58]

Well it is 9:00 and the weather man tells me our heat index is 92 I want summer to be over.

[Barb23]

21 hours ago, aethera said:

I should add - as a child, my mother always made me Angel Food Cake as my birthday cake - cut into 3 tiers, with fresh whipped cream and strawberries in between the layers. Occasionally if I'm home around my birthday, she still does. So...freaking...good. I think I might make one for our BBQ on July 4th.

Yum!! Angel food cake was my Birthday cake, too,  growing up.  Except my mom colored some of the batter with food coloring then swirled the colors in the white batter. It was my favorite cake for years & the swirled colors made it extra special.  Isn't it funny (& great) that we remember these types of homemade birthday cakes  as something special?  Compared to the kids of nowadays that get the fancy decorated bakery birthday cakes & could probably care less.  Then there was the year when my sister was about 14 & insisted on doing  the icing & decorating of her birthday cake.  She was going for a purple color, but with the limited food coloring options circa1970, she had to mix together the blue & red liquid coloring. In her mind, it was a beautiful lavender color when to to the rest of us it was gray.  But we ate it anyway. Thanks for the memories....

[kathe5133]

50 minutes ago, MunichNark said:

Ah thanks..not??

 

my nerves are in bits-irelands leading 1:0 against france. Now halftime...

20 degrees celsius??

Ahhh.  Since I don't life in the land of celsius, I assumed the word "degree" was exclusive to referring to farenheit.    Now I know that's not true.  

I've  learned a lot from these threads.  Who would have thought that a posting board for fundamentalist weirdos would be such a wealth of knowledge!

[Happyfatchick]

When I took Chem in college (back when we had to take tablets and chisels for note taking...) my prof said America and one tiny island in the pacific without a name are the only people in the universe still using Fahrenheit.  They've talked about converting us in spurts over the years, but we're stubborn.  I wish we were metric, honestly, but I wish we'd changed over looooong before my birth.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Happyfatchick

[NewDigs]

Didn't Pres. Carter attempt a start at conversion to metrics?

I seem to remember some ill-fated highway signs along I-75 with both miles and kilometers.

And now, with Brexit, will GB convert back to Imperial?

I'd happily give up daylight savings changes. Messes me up twice a year every year.

[Love2dance]

I totally agree, NEWDIGS, it's time to give up daylight savings time! In fact, there is an online petition to send to Congress and other politicians to vote it away.

http://www.petition2congress.com/6284/end-daylight-savings-time/

I signed it (changed the wording a little, to more reflect my feelings), although don't have a lot of faith in these petitions.

[kathe5133]

Daylight savings time has got to be the stupidest thing in the world!  As a child I believed we were "saving".  Then as I got older I questioned it.  Pointed out that I didn't think we were "saving" anything.  My father told me I was wrong.  Then during the oil crises in the 70's they instituted daylight savings time to save on energy.  So we woke up in the dark, turned on lights.  Children who usually walked to school were now driven as it was still dark out when they needed to leave for school.  What the fuck were we saving?  

The abject stupidity of the human race at times stuns me!

[NewDigs]

39 minutes ago, Love2dance said:

I totally agree, NEWDIGS, it's time to give up daylight savings time! In fact, there is an online petition to send to Congress and other politicians to vote it away.

http://www.petition2congress.com/6284/end-daylight-savings-time/

I signed it (changed the wording a little, to more reflect my feelings), although don't have a lot of faith in these petitions.

Thanks for the link but, like you, have little faith. Mainly because, like almost everything, big business calls the shots on DST.

I'm not sure how reliable Raw Story is but they look to have gotten the story right about [url=http://www.rawstory.com/2013/03/how-the-bbq-and-golf-lobbyists-changed-daylight-savings-time-in-the-u-s/] who's responsible [/url] for the extra weeks added on a couple of years ago.

Edited June 26, 2016 by NewDigs
Cannot figure out why some BBCoded links go wonky. Should probably just learn the new system.

[Tabbygirl521]

12 hours ago, Love2dance said:

HAPPY and TABBYGIRL, you would think that the hardest part of parenting is when they are children, living in your home. But it often is when they are adults and you can't, or shouldn't, interfere in their lives and decisions. 

I totally get it HAPPY, that it is sometimes better to not dwell on their difficulties and divorce ourselves from their problems. But it is so HARD to do. ????

Yeah, we have had to go all Tough Love a few times. You know - he won't take advice, but when he gets into a specific jam, he calls us for emergency help of some kind. We do help when we can, but really only if it involves his kids. Setting boundaries is hard, but we keep working on it. 

[Arwen Evenstar]

4 hours ago, NewDigs said:

Didn't Pres. Carter attempt a start at conversion to metrics?

I seem to remember some ill-fated highway signs along I-75 with both miles and kilometers.

And now, with Brexit, will GB convert back to Imperial?

I'd happily give up daylight savings changes. Messes me up twice a year every year.

During my first trip to Puerto Rico to visit my in laws, I was very surprised to observe the following:

• Temperaures in Farenheit
• Speed limits in mph
• Distance markers in km
• Gasoline sold in liters

Go figure. You can't make this stuff up.

[Happyfatchick]

This is the email I got from the Dickhead SIL the other day.  This is after the DIL and I went to visit the girlfriend.  I went under EXTREME duress, I thought maybe I would be a buffer.  I didn't say anything other than "it just looks bad".  And it does, that's a fact.  By the time backlash began, I had already apologized to my daughter, AND gone back to the other woman and apologized for the onslaught (and my DIL was in mighty rare form that day, she all but left a corpse in her wake - it was brutal).  I was mortified.  And then I got this.

sooooooo.  Yeah.  Here's what we assume happened.  The other girl was holding her cell phone, fiddling with it when we walked up.  It laid on her leg the whole time.  She recorded us.  (Which as FINE with me, I wanted to be struck by lightening anyway!).   SIL had her send the recording to his brand new phone, that my daughter doesn't have a connection with yet.  But he wasn't ABOUT to listen to that WITH my daughter, because he knew there would be accurate accusations she didn't know about yet.  He waited until he was alone, listened, and after he got his breath back, issues his edict.  The recording (original and the copy) are now presumably erased.

But my daughter has contacted me, and so my own heart has started beating regularly again... And hell must have frozen because I am now considering a visit to Nicaragua.  

Edited June 26, 2016 by Happyfatchick
Clarification

[Absolom]

Tell DIL keep it simple next time - photographic evidence to his ministry and board.

[kathe5133]

Wow.  He is a piece of shit.  I think you can only sue for "slander", if it's actually slander, like, not true.......  But, she's grown and she has to make her own decisions, whether or not you or the rest of the family agree.  You just have to trust that you raised her right and she will see him for who he is in her own time.  It's good you are still speaking, but I would stay away from him and whatever piece on the side he has, permanently.  Just be there to listen, and I would advise the other family members not to bother with any more "investigations".  These people are garbage with legs and probably capable of things you wouldn't dream of.  Let them wallow in their own filth, and your daughter will soon grow tired and head home I am sure.

[GeeGolly]

Yikes HFC. I hope your daughter figures things out soon. Hang in there.

[pinkie]

Oh gosh, HFC, I'm so sorry you've had to go thru this! I know fr bitter experience w/ my s-in-law, that your mind just reels during it, & then endlessly "replays" it all, alongside of sheer disbelief. It is utterly traumatizing.

[CherryMalotte]

I'm so sorry HFC.  I wish I could give you some sterling advice, something that would be helpful but I'm at a loss.  I'm pretty sure he can't sue, and frankly I'm surprised they even got the funding to go back to SA.  For someone that is conducting a ministry, he sure isn't practicing good Christian values, is he? 

Edited June 27, 2016 by CherryMalotte

[Almost 3000]

No matter how unsetting it may have been, no good can come from posting private correspondence on a public form.

[Happyfatchick]

Yes, you're right, @Almost 3000.

so, moving along.  We've had a critter sharing our house for the last 6 months.  I have an ungodly ridiculous fear of rodents (mice or rats).  We've put out traps of all shapes and sizes, we've had 2 exterminators out.  And STILL I keep hating this "something" in the wall of my kitchen behind a set of drawers.  I am totally freaking out about a week ago, because whatever this THING is, it isn't phased in the least when I bang on the cabinets.  Oddly, it never seems to be interested in food.  Never messes with pantry items, for example, or dog food.  I find droppings behind the couch or on tabletops.  (I know, right?  TABLETOPS!)  Also, it likes to chew on wires that run thru the crawl space and has taken our a/c down three times this summer.

So during my freak out meltdown, I was having a nice, polite discussion with the hubs (at the top of my lungs) about how he needs to get SERIOUS about getting rid of this creature.  He saunters into the kitchen and says "we have 20 traps out.  We've had 2 exterminators here.  I don't know what else you want me to do".  (I'm thinking - seriously - stay up all night with a machete!  I don't care what it takes, SAVE ME!!!). He saunters back into the mancave, throwing over his shoulder that he's done all he knows to do.  

And I got so mad, I kicked the bottom drawer, and the THING plopped out from under the cabinet and raced around under the cabinets into the open house.  When I came back to earth, I was in the laundry room, screaming bloody murder, flapping my arms like a crazy person, crying...it was not pretty.  It happened so quickly, all I could say was it was bigger than a mouse, smaller than a rat.

the next day, I'm repotting some house plants.  I have a couple beautiful ponytail palms, and I noticed one of them had dirt on the table behind the plant.  My dogs are good...but not that good.  None of my babies could get to that plant, especially in the back.  How did this happen???  I lifted up the fronds, and low and behold, something has been digging in there, eating the roots out from under the plant.  And suddenly, it all came together and made sense to me.  ALVIN!!!!!!!!!  I have a CHIPMUNK!!!  Holy cow.  A chipmunk!

the exterminator came back and did his thing the very same day, but this time with his eyes open and a plan in mind.  And wouldn't you just KNOW, I haven't heard the first scratching noise since then.  What the bloody hell.

inkeep thinking I've told this story already.  Pardon me if that's so!

[Micks Picks]

HFC Ir was so hard to read this.  1) Because the story is awful.  He is a horrid person.  I wonder what your daughter thinks and believes and feels.  Soon she will get out.  Your daughter can't be treated like dirt for so long.

2) Eyes are so bad I had to increase font size to max and then use magnifying glass where you only see a few words at a time.  Geeze don't text me if you are in a hurry for a response.  They gotta do something for this lack of vision thing.  Now I'm going 500 miles to a research center to see if anything is coming down the chute that might help.  

[Tabbygirl521]

9 hours ago, Happyfatchick said:

This is the email I got from the Dickhead SIL the other day.  This is after the DIL and I went to visit the girlfriend.  I went under EXTREME duress, I thought maybe I would be a buffer.  I didn't say anything other than "it just looks bad".  And it does, that's a fact.  By the time backlash began, I had already apologized to my daughter, AND gone back to the other woman and apologized for the onslaught (and my DIL was in mighty rare form that day, she all but left a corpse in her wake - it was brutal).  I was mortified.  And then I got this.

sooooooo.  Yeah.  Here's what we assume happened.  The other girl was holding her cell phone, fiddling with it when we walked up.  It laid on her leg the whole time.  She recorded us.  (Which as FINE with me, I wanted to be struck by lightening anyway!).   SIL had her send the recording to his brand new phone, that my daughter doesn't have a connection with yet.  But he wasn't ABOUT to listen to that WITH my daughter, because he knew there would be accurate accusations she didn't know about yet.  He waited until he was alone, listened, and after he got his breath back, issues his edict.  The recording (original and the copy) are now presumably erased.

But my daughter has contacted me, and so my own heart has started beating regularly again... And hell must have frozen because I am now considering a visit to Nicaragua.  

Holy f*ck. What is that about the Hound of Heaven (???) pursuing you to the grave?? Is that a CURSE??

This whole thing makes my blood boil. This jackass issues an edict that you not contact your daughter? RIGHT. This patriarchal bullshit just sets me off. Very relieved that your girl got in contact with with you. 

[kokapetl]

You could make a complaint to the police if your conversation was secretly recorded.