Jello-Making Gene-Ass

Kay, sorry I swore, but those of you who know me well, know that sometimes, I swear a little. But only when it's funny. Or only when I really hurt myself. Or if my kids are being Satan's Spawn. Which is often, unfortunately. And at least I don't drop any F-bombs. I usually don't use the A Word - I usually say "arse" - but in this case, it's necessary.

A made-for-TV movie came out about...eight years ago or so - Flowers for Algernon, which is one of my favorite books of all time. I was student-teaching, and we were reading Flowers for Algernon, so I gave my 8th graders extra credit if their parents wrote a note that said they watched it. Matthew Modine played the title character, Charlie:

(Parenthetically, I recently read that Matthew Modine has been married to the same lady since 1980. Go him! That is impressive!!)

Charlie is mentally handicapped, but then he gets an operation, which turns him into a genius. Unfortunately, the effects of the surgery wear off, and he finds himself slowly going back to his handicapped self. It's quite sad. When Charlie is being interviewed about the possibility of getting this surgery, he yells excitedly, "Yes, I want to get the surgery! I want to be a gene-ass!" He's trying to say "genius," but he can't pronounce it, so he says "gene-ass." I think it's funny, but maybe I'm the only one. I often tell Ben that I'm a dish-stacking gene-ass, when I find a way to fit every single dish in the dishwasher, no matter how impossible it may seem to fit them all. It's a source of great pride to me. I'm not good at many things, but I'm a pretty dang good dish-stacker.



Anywho, I've always wanted to try out this jello recipe that requires several layers. It took about ten thousand years to make, and it ended up tasting pretty gross (picture eating cherry, orange, lemon, lime, and grape jello, all at once. Ewww...), but it was so stinkin' pretty!!! And the kids loved it. No nutritional value whatsoever, but it would be a fun thing to bring a potluck where kids would be. There were actually ten layers to the jello, because you make a normal jello layer, then let it set, then make a layer of the same color, but this time mixed with sour cream, then let it set. Here's a slice of my lovely jello:





Aren't you proud of me??