In My p.j.s For the Duration

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.
With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1000.
With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.
If you had purchased $1000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.
If you had purchased United Airlines, you would have nothing left.
But, if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling refund you would have $214.00.
Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
This is called the 401-Keg Plan. -

My sister sent that to me. I'm wondering if she was hinting...

We are out of school today due to the impending snow storm. This makes me uncomfortable since the snow is well to our south so I'm not positive we couldn't have gotten half a day in. Glad I stocked up on stuff last night anyway.

Amazing even if it might be photoshopped.

Raise Your Hand

Do you have a stash of recipes you've cut out of magazines or printed off the net that sound really good, you"re gonna try them or you have tried them but never written them on a recipe card or filed them in your oh, so organized file system?

I do! Tons and they are all worthy of keeping. Well, I found some I was ready to toss and I did.

I have umpteen recipe books of all sizes and ages too- some I've collected from flea markets or yard sales that have the coolest graphics, some new ones that offer good recipes with four or fewer ingredients, the Chocolate recipe book, the club or church recipes books complied of the same recipes year after year but I can't resist, some I've been given in a certain vein of cooking (stir fry, French, white trash, etc.). (Good lord! my sentences are long tonight!) They happen to be full of those stashed paper recipes I spoke of first. And I have a one of those metal picnic baskets from the 60's FULL of my files and small books and loose paper recipes.
Well, tonight in an effort to organize so I can find the recipes I KNOW I HAVE SOMEWHERE! I spent 2 hours sorting, throwing away and filing in a very helpful fashion all the cut out and printed stuff and writing down the very important recipes I want in my actual recipe box on cards.
I made my mother's fudge during a break. You know, the grainy kind? I love that kind. Well, dang it, I couldn't find my candy thermometer (right behind the coffee maker, dolt) so I guessed at soft ball stage. Needless to say, I missed it. We are currently using spoons. It's still good! I guess we all needed a fudge fix in whatever form it came in.

My book of choice for coffee this morning was "Personal Finance in Your 40's and 50's". I chose that book over "Personal Finance for Dummies" since that makes me sound like a loser already and I like the age pin-pointed for me. I don't want to be mixed up with personal finances of a 20 year old, for god's sake! Talk about confusion.

Things are heating up a bit on the new business with Andrea. A tax # app, a class with a raised-bed grower this Saturday, and money withdrawn from a life insurance account. Does that sound serious?
I can't wait to construct the raised beds. Talk about a work-out! It so does a number on a person's arms and abs.
I have an order started from my favorite seed company. I am thinking the place to concentrate would be on fresh greens, mixed and single varieties, and maybe green onions and some early herbs.
We are looking into growing strawberries and cane fruits. No telling what else we might try our hand at. I just have to remember not to get carried away.

I used the word "recipe" 13 times including this one in this post.

I stayed seriously busy Saturday and Sunday but in a good way. Much was accomplished.
I have my sights set on making some of my earthy, natural crafts to put up for sale on Etsy. My mom and sister were thinking of giving it a try along with me. So I cleaned in my garage work area and worked on some items. There is so much I have waiting to do.
I did a bunch of odd jobs like scrubbing garbage cans, smashing aluminum recycle cans (made J help), installed the motion light on the garage, oiled the opener, installed new batteries in the remote, made 3 different birthday cards, read and rested.

My brother's 20 year old daughter is expecting. She was sent off to college without birth control, just her moral upbringing which, according to my brother should have been enough deterrent. It was for him.
Alas, it wasn't and now she is required to move off campus since it is a Christian- based school and plan a wedding, keep her failing grades up, manage to find another job and get her boyfriend to get a job. I feel sorry for her. I see myself in her struggles.
Needless to say no one is in too good a mood in that family. (Sometime I'll note the problems in the past 10 years and one might be reminded of what Job went through as far a trials and tribulations. It will make you glad you have your life. I know I am).
We are working on getting the wedding together in our traditional pull-together, low- cost -but -as -classy- as- lost -can -get- manner. It will be fine, I'm sure.

I can't believe I did it again. I backed into my daughter's boyfriend's jeep. Same story, same scenario. This is the second time in all of my driving history I have run into anything. And I've managed to have both times within a month of each other.

In my defense,I was distracted as I backed out of my garage keeping an eye on my garage door since it has become possessed, closing down in the middle of going up. It may be a remote prob, too. And my motion light shot craps a while back so it was dark although I didn't actually look behind me. CRAP! It makes me mad just writing about it.
Soooo, today I need to get a handle on my garage door and I need to get the motion light up that I have sitting waiting to be installed. And I need to reconcile my checkbook after last night when I sent Slim (E's boyfriend) home with a check for the previous damage I did.

Geez, I need a second job. And I think I'll read the book my friend gave me earlier in the week.
"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".

For those about to drink, I salute you

My thoughts exactly...



To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine.. and those who don't.
As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom,
in water there is bacteria. In a number of carefully controlled trials,
scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day,
at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of
Escherichia coli, (E. coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we
are consuming 1 kilo of poop.
However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila,
rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a
purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water
and be full of shit .

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it
as a public service

A Dab of This and That

I got up at 5 am, my usual time so I can make things happen! Today it was questionable whether or not we would go to school since we had a nice glazing of ice over all roadways. 5 minutes after I was up I got the call. No school. So I will make things happen at a more leisurely pace now.
So I'm spending a little quiet, slow-paced time catching up on my cyber experience.
I burned my tongue royally on my second cup of java because I was distracted with thoughts on how to spend the day. Wish I had gone ahead out to our locally winery yesterday to purchase a couple of their tasty new winter wine- a cross between Brenda's strawberry wine (my wine making buddy) and Madeira. Yum.
But, alas, I didn't trek out there. Now I'm with nothing but vodka and oj which I can only handle for so long.
Speaking of drinks, I have found a loverly recipe for Lemoncello. Heard of it? Those nutty Italians think of everything.
I saw a blurb about it on one of the cooking show a couple weeks back. I started looking at fruit liqueurs as well. Do you all know how easy it is to make these??? Pretty darned easy. (Berry Patch Farm has some recipes posted) And apparently they are quite tasty, running very closely behind the retail versions that cost quite a bit more $, assuming one prepares them carefully and can leave them alone until they are ready for consumption.
I need to purchase 12 lemons to make the Lemoncello and we are off. I thought if it turns out well, I have my homemade gift for at least my niece and nephew and their spouse's Christmas gifts.

Today I thought my daughter and I would make some bread and aside from that, start some sour dough starter. This is perfect weather for blowing up like a balloon with tons of starchy baked goods.

Ack, my dishwasher kept tripping one of my GFCI switches in the kitchen. Process of elimination shows it was the dishwasher. Or at it could be the switch. Now I have to pull it out and check all the dang stuff. Then I need to call my trusty electrician (who that is I don't know). Don't worry. I won't have too many screwdrivers and I'll remember to turn off the electricity to the kitchen.
My kids were on dishwashing detail last night. It's been a while since I've seen that look of dispair. Guess I need to desensitize them by requiring out- of -the- ordinary jobs like this more often. They are so spoiled. Sighhhh.

K, I will perhaps post again later.


Later (8:00ish): I would just like to go on record as saying if Tom Hanks is otherwise engaged, Daniel Day Lewis would be an even second choice for the deserted island pal. More brains, skill and modesty all rolled into a British Isles manly man. Whew!

A little later(10:00ish): I surely don't like the term "bloodbath" as in "Feds cut interest rates to stop bloodbath". I have stocks. I don't want a bloodbath....

Much, much later (5-ish): J made us pancakes.

I made two batches of jelly- grape and blueberry.

Went to the winery but they were closed so settled for some hometown offerings. Not what I had my taste set on.

I mixed a batch of boysenberry liquer too so I used all my vodka up.

I have some pizza dough rising too.

Jetpass, the recipe is in the mail...My pleasure and yes to the invite...I'll save up!

Got MLK Day Off?

My folks just drove off. (I think I mentioned I was hosting my maw and sis for a slight vacational weekend. No- looking back thru my posts I see nothing about that. Oh well, we did have fun- lots of "talking". That's where I have been this weekend.)
Anyhoo, 30 seconds later "the boyz" (J's friends) show up. I gave them an hour on the PlayStation.
Then they are out the door.

I'll be back later with something relevant....maybe.

Some Thoughts to Ponder

This blog -Dry Bones Dance I came across by way of my friend Andrea. I just started reading this morning. ( Most of the school is gone to Incredible Pizza. Thank god for field trips even if they are frivolous. I would never make a respectable administrator because most of these kinds of field trips would be cut out).
I loved the blog. The post I started with was interesting indeed. So stealing this idea for questions...(http://http//drybonesdance.typepad.com/dry_bones_dance/2008/01/utterly-frivolo.html#comments)
1. What is the one thing you would miss most if you were stranded on a tropical island? (And it has to be a thing. We'll all just assume that you would miss your family/significant other/children/friends.)
2. What useful skill would you bring to the table?
3. Who is the one person you would most want to be stranded on said tropical island with you and why? (Other than children/significant other.) It can be for practical or personal reasons.
4. Have you ever sat on a plane, looked our the window, and wondered how and if you would survive if it went down right then? Or is that just me?

Oddly enough, I read her answers and thought they sounded a lot like what I would say, although for the useful skills, I think I could managed to construct living quarters, find reasonable amounts of food, and add simple survival skills to the mix rather well.
I loved some of her commenter's answers as well.

#1. Coffee hands down. I. WOULD. DIE.
#2. Simple survival skills like I said and a resignation to survive.
#3. Tom Hanks. Thought about this one before and maybe he would remember some stuff learned while filming 'Castaway" anyway....
#4. Every time I've been on a plane. What would a therapist or a psychiatrist about this habit?

So answer if you like. This would be great dinner conversation. Who's up for dinner at my place this weekend? Lorraine? Anne, AM? SIMON?

Windy Wednesday

Alluding to the fact I had a rather fiber -filled meal last night at my friend's house who is on a wacky diet. Nothing really cooked, mostly dehydrated fare. Actually good especially when one is hungry. Hunger makes the best sauce.
"Using a food dehyrator. It allows us to create different textures and drier textures without exposing it to very high heat. So, you run this at about 105 degrees, and we make these wonderful burger patties made from soaked nuts and seeds and mushrooms and vegetables and herbs, and things like that. We just make that mixture and form it into patties and then dehyrate them for a couple of days at 105 degrees.
It was a firm veggie cake resembling a hamburger, but far tastier with spunky seasonings. The "burger" was perched on the dehydrated onion flatbread and topped with romaine, tomato, onion, pickle.". I tried to find the recipe so you could see the ingredients just in the Big Matt burger I had but the recipes book isn't online. WE also had killer sweet potoato fries that only had a tiny bit of oil, cumin and sea salt. I loved those...


We watched Idol together. It wasn't as full of weirdos as normally found. It was sorta bland in comparison to other competition episodes.

My brother's b-day is today. I think he is 50. I don't want to think about it too much because we can't be this old! any of us....

Tough Tuesday

Gonna say some bright happy things today instead of spewing anything hostile.

Doing some planning on our possible family trips for summer. A trip to the D. C. area is sorta in the works. I know I am certainly saving up for it because it is potentially the best vacation I could have with my kids. I'll be shoving the bums outta the way to get to the aluminum cans on the side of the road till summer.
The other trip is to Michigan over the 4th to my mom's brother's on the lake. It's been a couple of years since we went last. I will be taking my mom and kids. Perhaps my sister and brother and their families might go.

This morning I spent 5 full minutes sitting in the high school parking lot trying to extricate my daughter from the car. She was convinced she looked atrocious but you know how 15 year olds can be. I talked hard for that 5 minutes with all the ammo I had. Things like '"surely you aren't all about how you look" and " do you think all your friends are doing is talking about how crappy you look?" It would be easier if she really had looked bad but her "bad" is terrific. She just felt like she looked bad. Argh!

American Idol tryouts tonight. What a hoot. I much prefer this to the actual competition once it's started.

More later. Perhaps I should do a bit of work now.....

Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine

Sonovabitch. A crummy commercial?

First I was balling over an episode of "Super Nanny" with the Vegas family and then on came a commercial for Carnival Cruiseline using Queen's "You're My Best Friend" . For a crummy commercial. It is the only song in the history of music that can make me feel good even when I'm down (read: PMSing).
Talk about a downer.

January 7th, 2008

Really I'm not much more informed about spirituality than I was although the comments made on the last post made me stop and think. This weekend I didn't spend time on searching for answers so much about spirituality as I did searching through the seed catalog.

As I walked this morning, I figured out my real basic problem is this:
my daily life takes everything out of me and I have nothing left as far as empathy, emotions or energy. That's why I feel empty inside.
There isn't much time to daydream or think about what I can do creatively, voluntarily in the community, educationally for my kids or me, or any of the other things I expressed a genuine interest in trying. Forget actually finding time to do any of them. The problems that come up don't get me down but I don't have much energy to take them on.

And I feel less energetic these days not from depression but just emotionally and physically. That is so not like I used to be. I was always ready to jump out of bed, coffee up and be started. I actually did physical labor, the more the better. I had exciting plans just for the day. Mentally I was ready. I'm healthy according to the medical community.

So I would say this is really just a time issue and inadequate work force. Hehe. That's all. although the spirituality thing is still on my mind.....

My weekend was spent alone, blessedly alone. I felt mentally revived.

I managed to get the down and dirty cleaning done and the messes from Christmas packed away, thrown away or otherwise dealt with. It's a good feeling. I like organization.
And my movies rentals might make people wonder about me: "Flag of Our Fathers " and "The Pianist". Both were exceptional films, especially "The Pianist".


Ok, bring on the slew of comments.

First and Foremost

Spiritual detatchment. That's IT! I have spiritual detatchment. I have a lot of detatchment. I don't know how I got here. I'm not exactly referring to religion. I don't do religion well but understand the need for it, not necessarily for me. But the detatchment, that's not good. It would be hard to be human and remain detatched. Big thoughts....makes me tired already.

I decided in the past few days I would seek some new territory in the coming year and this was the item I chose. My lack of spirituality. Maybe there is a different word for it or I'm way off base but it seems to fit.

Kids are up. My thought process now turned to food prep. Ciao.