Frappacianos

Starbucks knockoff.  Does anyone in pnn land know how to make a frappiciano that is as good as Starbucks caramel light?   that is the only cold drink that i like at this particular coffee house, but at $3.65 for a small and almost $4.50 for a large, I don't partake as often as I would like.  I also love their hot chocolate but I would be better off to relish a piece of cheesecake than to drink one of their hot chocolates which is loaded in fat and calories. 

Work 101

Today was orientation for the new Kroger Marketplace located about 9 miles south of Delaware.  The managers and supervisors are really pumped up over this new store.  Apparently it is the biggest Kroger Marketplace built,though I do not know if they meant in Ohio or across the US.   It will have a full service Chase bank - not the mini-banks they have now, a Starbucks coffee, and a full service deli - bigger than the ones they currently have in their other stores.   

I am going to be a courtesy clerk - AKA - bagger.  My other fellow baggers are at least 20 years younger or more than me.  Hopefully I will not have to lift to much heavy stuff, not at my age anyway.  I took the job because i wanted to be on the move - makes the day go by faster.  The downsize is that i have to be outside in all kinds of weather.    I hope that I do not get sick - going back and forth numerous times a day from a warm store to a cold windy blustery outside or the reverse, a 90 degree day and an an air-conditioned store.    

I hope I get enough hours to survive and yet I worry that I will exhaust myself trying to work 2 jobs on the days when I am substitute teaching.  

Help! computer glitch - can anyone help?

I need help!  I had to print something off something from one of my education class webpage - its called Carmen.   The first two things I printed were fine, under 20 pages in length, but the last  one never listed pages.  As i clicked on print - the size of the documet became apparent - 3000 pages plus.    I tried to find some place to cancel the print but there was nothing.  So I accessed "Help" which said to double click on the print icon and then hit cancel.    My computer is stupid - now it thinks that since i double clicked on the printer icon that i want an additional 6000 pages.   I tried everything to get the computer to cancel the print job but nothing worked.   In desperation I turned the printer off.   Howevr, just as soon as i turn it back on, the printer will start printing once again.   This happened once before about 6 months ago, and i lost 3/4 tank of ink and 180 pages of paper because the computer would not recognize cancel.  

Does anyone have any suggestions as to waht to do?   I do not see anything on my tool bar that allows me to cancel this.    I am in desperate need of help.  

Slavery in America?

It is rare that I sit down and read a book in one sitting, but this book captured my attention.    It is called "The Sacred Bath" by Theresa L. Flores.  It is about an American teenager who was forced into slavery - sexual bondage.    This isn't a story about an American living in another country, it is about a young girl, who is forced to have sex with many men, right here in the United States.    She lost her virginity when she was raped.   This was just the beginning of a two year sexual nightmare of the most horrific abuse imaginable.   What is amazing that her family knew nothing about it.   She would get calls on her private phone to be at the designated spot for pick-up.    Why did she not call the police your thinking?  She was in mortal fear for her family.   They had already killed her puppy, found dead birds in their mail box, and had threatened to do far worse if she did not submit.   She was followed constantly, they knew the whereabouts of her family as well.   

They used this knowledge to keep her under their thumb.    Although this is graphic, remember, if she went through it, we should be strong enough to read it.   We need to read it to keep our own daughters, granddaughters, and sisters safe.  

A visual delight

I have not traveled much outside of Ohio, but when i had the chance to visit Raleigh, North Carolina, I jumped at it.  Now, I remember very little about the city, but what impressed me was the interstate as we traveled through North Carolina.  At every single on and off ramp there were hundreds of cannas planted.   This was such a visual delight and though it has been more than 10 years since I saw this site, it is still vivid in my mind.  

I was always disappointed that Ohio did not have such things, but this week I got to see a little piece of heaven about 5 miles north of here on 23.  For all of you who live in and around Delaware, you know of the segmented 8 highway lanes that are just north of the Delaware state park entrance.    It is that 4 mile long section of highway that ODOT (Ohio dept of transportation) uses to test different road bases for future highways.  

Normally, this is a dull boring section but this week that has all changed.   As far as the eye can see, if you look forward - from berm to berm - all  that drivers and passengers can see are waves of light blue and white, wave after wave after wave.  The Blue Chicory and Queen Annes Lace are blooming - it is simply stunning.  So hats off to ODOT for being behind on their mowing.  If I get a chance I will see if I can get a picture and post it.   

Short hiatus

For the next 2.5 weeks I must take a hiatus from pnn.  I am swamped with my two classes - both are accelerated with 10 weeks worth of material crammed into five weeks.   Macroecon is kicking my butt and i am not doing very well in it.  I must pass it with a C- so for all of you who believe in the power of prayer, i would appreciate all you can give me.   In fact, I must pass all my courses this summer with at least a C-.  Mind you I only received 2 C's in my five years at OSU.   I have one class the following five weeks, equally as hard, microeconomics.   I am not looking forward to it.  So adios for now.  I will keep you up to date on if I passed them or not. 

The mug has arrived!

My mug arrived about 10 days ago but I just got around to letting everyone now as I am swamped with life and homework.   It arrived all in one piece and had bubble wrap around it so tight I had to WORK to get it off.   It is indeed very beautiful.   For those of you who do not as as of yet have yours, it is textured on the outside - not glazed like the inside of the cup is.   Almost feels like smooth concrete but obviously not.    It is not microwave safe so I must keep it upstairs until this fall so no one accidentally grabs it and nukes it for rewarmed coffee or tea.    Have a great day pnn.  Off to class - macroeconomics. 

Wearmanyhats, this is for you

In your post about the family farm and how big farms keep sucking up more and more land, you will appreciate this article i spied in today's Columbus Dispatch. 

In Fairfield County which is in the southeast part of Ohio there already is a group of 25 farmers who have applied to the state preservation program which pays land owners to keep thie property permanently agricultural.    Many are taking this avenue as a way to make some extra income while preserving the farming way of life in perpetuity for the land they have put in trust.   

The idea is doing this is to protect farmland against the onslaught of developers who want to change the quiet peaceful countryside and good earth into a paved heavily forested (houses so thick and close together that a fire could easily ignite the whole neighborhood) housing development.     Ohio farmland shrank by 618,000 acres in five years.  205 farmers have applied this year but it is competititve.   Judges score and rank farmland on the soil type, historic value, proximity to other protected land and a host of other criteria.   

The easements are legal agreements that restrict development and assurance that the land will remain agricultural permanently.  The land stays on the tax rolls and the landowners can sell it or pass it along as a gift, BUT the land is safe - it can never be sold to a developer, it will always be a farm. 

Here she is!

I have one picture of my new granddaughter for all of you pnn'ers who want to see what she looks like.  I have not got done pat how to exactly do post pics yet.  I would have liked to put her picture in along with some text.  Did I do it backwards?   Just scroll down once you get into my homepage.  It is not included within this post. 

Yea, hurray, zippity-do-da

Wow,  it looks really weird to see one single blue cup with a 10 imprinted on it next to my vote count.   Seems like forever to get my single cup but I did it. 

I think I was pulling some all-nighters on pnn.   Comments are often hard for me, not necessarily to say something profound, but words don't always flow freely.   All of you pnn'ers write so beautifully and I think to myself, "Wow, if I could only write like that."   I guess I just think of my life as mundane and all of you have so much more to offer.   Anyway,  I try to always be as supportive and upbeat as possible when commenting on other peoples posts.     

Help

I want to combine a couple of my tabs.  How do i do it without losing the articles I have posted.   Or can you do it?    As you know I am often computer challenged so any help must be so simple a 4th grader could understand.   

Also, under profile, i see the word Avatar.  What the heck is that? 

Not again!!!

Good golly miss molly, gas prices are on the rise again.  Didn't the oil trillionaires make enough money last year?    I hope they don't use the same tired old excuses, like "the hurricane forced us to shut down,"  - the hurricane season has been over for six months and the new one for 2009 hasn't started yet, or  "we need the extra money to build new refinery's" - they haven't built any new refineries for years and years but still use the same excuse.  As I drove to school yesterday I was happy to see that gas was down to $2.55 a gallon.   When I came home 6 hours later it was up to $2.75 an hour.    Times are tough on millions of Americans.  The want ad section in the Columbus Sunday Dispatch used to be 8 pages long, and now it is only 4 pages in length.   There are no jobs, and now we have yet another generation of high school and college students graduating and they will be competing for the same jobs in many cases.      I saw an ad in our local paper to muck out horse stalls on friday, saturday, and sunday's -- hey, I am not 30 years old anymore - I wouldn't last one day, or I should say my back would not last one day, and they probably wouldn't hire me anyway.   

Remember the movie Scrooge with George C. Scott playing the part?   Remember the part where Scrooge is looking at the family living under the bridge and the mother said "we are not separating, I would rather stay here then go to one of them poor houses."  Remember what the father said when his kids wanted to know where he got the potatoes?  he said, I didn't steal them.  I want to work - these hands are willing to work" and so that is the plight of everyone now.  We want to work, are willing to work, and no one is hiring.   The cost to live in this generation is thousands of times over that poor man, but are we any better off when no one will hire you even if your are able and willing.     Lets hope I find a job soon, or there won't even be enough money to pay for gas, now that it is on the increase again, and then how will anyone look for work.  

Trapped in a classroom with 2nd graders

I subbed for a second grade class today and man-oh-man THEY DO NOT LISTEN.    They are a chatty bunch of youngsters.    There was an assignment I had to teach - diamond poetry - good grief, i had never heard of it.    I had to read and re-read the lesson over and over and over before i finally figured it out.   The kids learn to write poetry by utilizing a tier of five levels.   The 1st line is a single naming word, what the word is about - like Stream.   The 2nd line contains 2 describing words, like Sparkly, and Gently.The 3rd line has three action words like Tumbling, Whooshing, and Speeding.   The 4th line tells how the first naming word is growing or changing in some way like crashing in wild winds and the last line contains another new naming word.  It tells wha the naming ward has evolved into - like Ocean.   Then students are to make up their own diamond poem.    A diamond poem looks like 2 triangles with their bottoms placed side by side.  Examples include rumble/earthquake, seed/flower or veggie,    

.I was "lucky" enough to be picked by 8 students today to have lunch with the teacher.   My only time to undwind and have  a quiet lunch, oh well, better luck next time. 

A night in the museum

I am trying to play catch-up as I never get to see some of the first run movies until they are several years old.    My encounter with "A Night in the Museum" was Sunday evening.    I loved it - especially the T-Rex who thinks he is a dog, chasing the bone throughout the museum.     As funny as it was, it was a way to introduce children and adults to history.   Wouldn't it be great if history really could come alive in the museum every night.  

Funked out and in a tizzy

Do you ever feel like your life is out of control and that you have no way of fixing anything?   I am currently in a funk.  I should be on cloud nine with the arrival of my first grandchild, but I find that I am just miserable, and sinking further and further into the quicksand of life.  

Most everyone knows that reads my blog (is that what you call it) that I have returned to college to try and become a teacher.  My college degree is not in education so in order for me to become a teacher I must go to grad school.    this past year I have racked up even more debt to add to the huge, humongous, planet size debt  I already have.    

For any of you who are considering returning to college, whatever you do, do not get a private loan.     These companies do not have to abide by the same regulations that federal loans have.     Substitute teaching is almost done for the 2008-2009 school year, so I do not have a job again until the fall.  In the meantime the student loans are due for repayment to begin in early June.   I do not have the money.    I did not apply for any additional loan money for this summer.  would not have done any good anyway, no one is lending money.    So I have to somehow come up with $600 a month to pay for my bare-bone basic needs which doesn't include food.    

Going to school has not been easy for me.  I am not brilliant by any standards and i have to study long hours to pass my courses.  that has left me with little to no time to work for the past few years.   i tried working and going to school but I kept falling asleep - you get that way when you're older and nearing senior citizen status. 

So I am in another funk, not knowing what to do.  Maybe I should just chuck it all, forget about becoming a teacher, and find a job or two and work.   It is just frustrating to be so near and yet so far from your dream.    Maybe I should do what my mom said she heard on the news the other day - that many women are turning tricks to get extra money to help pay the bills - now wouldn't that be a hoot, especially at my age.

People are hungry in the US and food is wasted

Today I subbed at a local elementary school.  I had lunch duty.    I was appalled at the amount of food that is being wasted on a daily basis.   Parents need to come to school and observe their son or daughter throw away 2/3 of their school lunch.   

Today, in just a half hours time, I saw 8-10 kids who drank their chocolate milk and never ate a thing on their plates.   Today was a small serving of corn on the cob, baked beans, a micro small serving of vanilla ice cream, a hot dog with bun, and a breadstick with apple pie filling inside.     I watched tray after tray of food being pitched into the trash, uneaten.    There were 3 other lunch periods other than the one I covered and I am reasonably sure the waste continued during those lunch sessions as well.   

I did not have any money for lunch and was hungry as hell.   It made me even more hungry as I watched all that food being thrown away.   There was enough food thrown away that could have fed 4-5 families for a single week.   Now I am not suggesting families should rescue food from the trash, I am just saying that that food could have been directed to families instead of it being wasted on kids who have no interest in eating it.   

Maybe cafeterias should be run like a mini military camp - what you pick out is what you will eat.    As so many of us are trying to be cost efficient with out money, it is disheartening to learn that that efficiency does not exist.

Two close calls in the same day

I had 2 close calls today, where my life could have easily flashed before my eyes.   I was on the way to sub at a local high school and I had just entered the left turn lane and had to stop because the light had just turned red.   A car in the left lane had stopped for the light, but a small compact car just came out of nowhere, swerved around the stopped vehicle, continued through the intersection and kept on traveling.     Now whether the driver in the compact was not paying attention or the driver in front stopped to soon, I do not not know but there would have been a horrific accident right in front of my eyes as the stopped car would have been rear-ended into the intersection.   the light had just changed so no other vehicles had started to go through, thank God for that.    

Then on the way home, a vehicle in front of me was going barely 50 mph on a major state highway - Rt. 23 towards Delaware.   Anyone from around here knows that it is becoming one of the most heavily traveled state routes in Ohio.    The semi from behind me was getting fed up with the guy in front of me so he swung out into the left lane to pass us all.    All of a sudden the driver in front of me pulls into the left lane, drives about 25 ft and then slams on his brakes to make an illegal u-turn.  The semi had to slam on his brakes, and of course I am right beside him watching all of this transpire.    Anyone in their right mind knows that semi's who are speeding up to pass cannot stop on a moments notice.   Thank God, the driver was able to stop, but I can only imagine the not-so-nice words of encouragement the semi  driver was giving this not so smart driver.  What made matters worse, is that the knuckleheaded driver was less than an 1/8 mile from a business where he could have safely turned around.  

retraction for being selfish

Do you ever feel like kicking yourself in the pants, or get red-faced because you realize just how shallow you sound, well I did that earlier today.    I was complaining about  my kids not acknowledging Mother's Day.   One of the blogs I was reading today just set me on my heels.   The comment from procomicdiva is what did it.    Here I am being selfish when procomicdiva lost her son - and how she must ache for him even after 14 years have passed.

Then there are all the mom's who have lost sons and daughters to the wars that America has fought, or the sons and daughters who were killed by drunk drivers.     I bet they would love to  hear their loved ones voice one more time, to hold them in their arms, and be happy even if they never acknowledged their special day, if only they were alive.  

So hats off to all you mom's who suffer the pangs of loss each time mothers day, holidays, or any special day of the year rolls around.   I am truly sorry for your loss and forgive me for being such a crybaby.  

Go for the eyes

Only my closest friends know that I studied martial arts for four years and that I have a black belt in Kenpo Karate.  In today's society, it is smart for a woman to know how to defend herself.    Many cannot afford to take martial arts, and some just do not have the time to fit it into their busy schedule.

The best advice I was ever given was by the grandmaster of our style of Karate, Ed Parker, who died in 1990.  He said to run like hell the other way if you have the chance.    That is always your best defense, but if you do not have that option then one simple thing is to vigorously poke your fingers into his eyes.   While he is howling in agony, kick him in the groin and when he is bent over, bend your elbow and smash it into his back.    That will keep him busy for quite a spell.   Do not think OH NO THAT IS TO MUCH.  Hey he is the one who attacked you, YOU ARE JUST DEFENDING YOURSELF.  

Another simple thing is if he grabs you from behind is step down hard on his instep or kick into his shin ( the shin is super sensitive).  Your arms may be pinned but your legs arn't.  

If you find yourself on the floor or ground, go into a fetal position but keep your eye on him.  When he reaches down for you, his groin, face, and shins are exposed.   Take your foot and kick with all your might, one of those exposed places on his body.   That should give you enough time to escape, and call the police.  

McBurney's first 100 Years

I just got off of Terry Lessings AudioBookMan blog and I must say it was a breath of fresh air.    EmbassyWife, Peabea and TheHaileyTimes would definitely find this as soul-resting as I did.   We need more towns like Quinter Kansas I can tell you that.   It is the Americana town we all dream about and one that actually exists.   AudioBookMan is a audio book publisher that wanted to put R.Waldo McBurney (who is a centenarian) book "My First 100 Years" on audio book.   He went to meet him and was enthralled when he was able to find a role model who had not succumbed to compromised mental faculties such as dementia or Alzheimers.   So ladies, and gents be warned - this blog will warm the cockles of your heart.   

Update on prom night

I promised a few people that I would get the name of the gentleman who gave the most excellent presentation on drinking and driving before or after prom night.    His name is Richard Gallastie and he travels throughout the United States.   He charges $600 plus mileage, but after speaking with the staff member at Buckeye Valley High school this morning, she said it was more than worth the money.   The students just raved about this special assembly.  Student and staff gave him a standing ovation, it was that good.  I know, as does the entire staff, that his speech, made an impact on those students.   Here is his web address.  The first address is preferred if you want more info for your school.   fromtheheart@bright.net  or myspace.com/richardgallastie .    

Prom night and underage drinking

I had the opportunity of subbing at a county high school today and it just so happens the entire school had a special assembly.   Their high school prom is on Saturday.    The keynote speaker was  a gentlemen in a wheelchair.    He had come to talk to the kids about underage drinking and driving.    I do hope the kids were really listening as he gave an amazing presentation.   He talked about how he wanted to be a football player since he was in the 4th grade.    During junior high he shunned alcohol, saying that he would never ever drink, but his best friend introduced him to whisky in his freshmen year and he got a taste for alcohol.  He drank it every weekend.  When he got old enough to drive, he still drank. 

 By the time he had reached his senior year he was captain of the football team, the baseball team, and captain of something else.    He was big man on campus.    He even had letters from different college campuses who wanted him to play for their school, and had a 2, 3, or 4 year scholarship waiting for him.    He finally graduated, and he was so glad, no more school.   However, he made a fateful decision that turned his life around forever.   He decided that he was going to take a year off before going to college, a year to breathe without studying, and he would have time to go to parties, to drink, and so forth.   One night he got into his car drunk.   The next thing he remembers is his car going off the road at approximately 100 miles an hour, getting ejected  through the front windshield, and his car and him rolling in different directions over and over and over.   He did not know it at the time but his head/neck took the brunt of the impact as he flew through the air, paralyzing him from the neck down. 

 He woke up and could not figure out why he could not move.  His friends were driving within sight of him on the road but they could not see him because it was at night.   He knew enough to stay awake and when it was daylight, someone found him.   Steel rods were screwed into his head to secure the vetebrae in his neck, multiple broken bones, and so forth and he spent 10 months in the hospital.    

This gentlemen spends his time  traveling to different high schools throughtout the United States.  He is one of the lucky ones, he lived to tell about it, but so many do not.    He spoke about the macho cavaler attitude that so many young men have, that drinking and driving is okay, it only happens to the other guy.   He talked to the girls as well.  Wine coolers, according to him, is a way to get the girls involved in drinking.  "Have you ever seen a 350 lb guy drinking a wine cooler?   Everyone in the audience laughed.  The distilleries want to make a profit from the females as well, so it was cool to make wine coolers, so the gals could have a nip as well.   

What this gentlemen said was all from experience.  He told the boys and the girls what life is like in high school and except for the cars they drive and the high tech toys we have now, not much has changed.   Boys still have one thing on their mind and girls want to please the guys "because he loves me."     He didn't sugarcoat anything, talking in their language, and from his experience.    When he was finished he got a standing ovation, from students and staff.   

Voices and no one called me

Have you ever woke up out of a sound sleep because you heard someone call out your name.  Trouble is, no LIVING person called me.   I  have had many occasions were I am in a dead sleep and wake up instantly when someone says "Carolyn."   I have asked my mom repeatedly if she called me during the night or early morning and she said she did not.   So who is calling me?  Is God, or the Holy Spirit or perhaps one His angels calling me?    Sometimes I feel like Samuel when God first called him as a young child and he got up and ran to Eli wanting to know what he wanted, but Eli did not call him, God did.    Whoever is calling only says my name once, and I am in a dead sleep (which is rare) when it happens.  I have no answers, only questions

A box of crayons and Christmas

Before i made the commitment to get a college education, I worked in an office.   I always tried to get something unusual for my co-workers, nothing fancy,  but just a small gift.   I was stumped as to what to give the girls one year and came upon an excellent idea.   I gave each of them a coloring book and a box of crayons.   Now I got some odd stares and quizzical looks, but I reminded them that when they were girls they would spend hours in a coloring book, and to remember how relaxing it was.   On break i could see a few of them tentatively opening the crayon box and beginning to flip through the pages for something that caught their eyes.    

I remember when i was a child and even into my teen years just loving to color.  Now they have so many types of coloring books that it is hard to pick what you want, but I find that if I sit down and color just one page, I am more relaxed and able to cope with the rest of the day.   My love of coloring did not go away, I just took a few detours and got lost in the frey of life.

Baby shower frenzy

I cannot remember if I ever hosted a baby shower, but it sure is a lot of work.  I I have been running around all morning trying to get everything done and there just isn't enough time.   Just getting all the baby gifts gathered up that I had sequestered here and there is mind-boggling.  What was to have been a simple baby shower has turned into a logistic nightmare with the father and his buddy Kevin in attendance as well.    Since when do guys attend baby showers?    Now the shower looks more like a cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers but a few dainty things for the ladies, like bread cut in the shpaes of hearts, and my mom's famous homemade egg salad. 

Now I have to get the cake over to the shower without it falling over so I will let everyone know how it went today. 

Grief times two

Doesn't it always seem that bad luck or death comes in pairs?   My ex-sister-in-laws nephew was tragically killed less than a month ago, and my first cousin died from a chronic disease two weeks ago.

Then I hear that a young man who I had taken several classes with died from appendicitis.  What is even more tragic is that his father died less than 3 months ago.    Ryan was his mother's only son and so this woman is just going through her own private hell now. 

Ryan was special, he was a dwarf but other than that, he was just a typical college student.  He was well-liked, smart, and funny.   When I first met him I felt a little awkward, knowing at times that I was starring but that never bothered him.    Ryan just took it in stride and after awhile I never noticed that he was different.   I can still see Ryan pulling his rolling book bag behind him and more often than not, someone would spy him in the hallway and a conversation would start.   He was popular with the AEC staff and students alike.  AEC is the academic enrichment center where students can sign up for tutoring.   Ryan often tutored students who were twice his size, but that mattered not.  

My heart goes out to his mom who is facing life without her husband and son.   Life is short, with no gurantee of how much time we have on this earth.   It would be wise to make the best of our time, to harbor no ill will towards anyone and always try to say something nice or do something nice for someone each day.   Some people are starving for just a bit of attention from someone who cares.       

Mapquest debacle

Ever since I discovered Mapquest I have been in 7th heaven.  It has given me, for the most part, excellent instructions on how to get here or there.  However, today was the worst debacle I have come across. 

I needed to do a trial run for my first placement  at an elementary school in Richwood, Ohio.  Now I know how to get to Richwood, but the directions that Mapquest gave lopped off about 7 miles.  I thought - Wow!   Well, I should have been wary - those 7 miles took me into the boondocks - with farm land as far as the eye could see, not to mention roads that were less than stellar.  

   Even after I arrived in Richwood the fun was not over with.  The directions took me way the hell out of my way - when a more direct route was only minutes away.    Thanks God I at least know how to get home - using the route I usally travel.   The shortened version turned out to be the longest version with no time gained.     Mom went with me.  As she was reading the directions she said "Was this person drunk when they wrote these directions?"  I tried to tell her that it was computer generated but she said, "isn't there a person who is entering this info in?"    I gave up after that.  

With or without milk?

I love Cream of Wheat.  My mom was inventive on getting my brother and I to eat it when we were kids.   She had us make a well, and into it we put brown sugar and milk.   Then we would eat the cereal from the inside out to see how far we could scoop away at the center wihout it poking through or collapsing our little barricade.  

I was always puzzled at the box depicting a pat of butter on top of the cream of wheat, which sounds perfectly disgusting to me.    I still eat my cream of wheat with the well with real maple syrup or brown sugar and milk.  How do you eat yours? 

Liberty to complacency?

The average age of the world's greatest civilization has been two hundred years according to Alexander Tyler, a Scottish historian.  He is said to have made the following observation.  "Nations progress through a cycle; From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence we wind up back into bondage."  

Has this happened to the United States?  Have we become complacent?  What steps do you think we need to take to avoid complacency in our everyday lives? 

New tab added

The recipe tab I added recently is special -- mostly depression-era recipes from my grandmothers who knew how to feed their families on very little money.    Some recipes are made from scratch BUT very simple to prepare. 

e-harmony blues

I was very skeptical of the dating service that says you can find the love of your life, but a friend of mine joined and did find the love of her life.   She married him last April.   I thought I would give it a try and was sorely disappointed.   Not so much in the service itself, but the men I was matched with.  

I am a mature adult lady with a mind of her own, but I was shocked at the attitude of quite a few of the older men who continue to judge women by their looks.   Its as if they never grew up, they are still looking for that trim, sexy, petite knockout like they did in high school and college.    

I have never been a knockout and most would call me rather plain, but the inside is what is beautiful.  I am intelligent, witty, sexy, honest, don't smoke, or drink, and looking for the same in a gentlemen.  But my blood boils when I see conditions set by this or that man who says they will only consider someone who is fit, young, and beautiful - all others need not apply.    I could possibly see this statement applying to some of our younger males, but not when these men are 50 plus. 

Women drivers - we are not crazy

I took my truck in to the repair shop the other day complaining that I was having difficulty shifting - it is a 5 speed.   The day before, while driving down the highway, I could not shift from one gear to the other.   For all those familiar with Route 23 north of Columbus, this is not a situation one wants to be in.   It is one of the busiest state routes.   I finally make it back home and then take it to the auto repair and explain the problem. 

I called today only to find out that the mechanics cannot find anything wrong with the truck.  They test drove it, and had absolutely no trouble with it.   I know they are probably thinking - those ditzy women drivers, but hey, we aren't ditzy.   This is not the first time this has happened to me nor the last, but it is frustrating.  The only consolation to all of this, is at least, I have an honest mechanic.  I could have been ripped off by a very unscrupulous one who said I needed a new gearshift, or worse.  

Darth Vader in Delaware, Ohio

Of the all times when I wished I had a digital camera, today was it.   The Central Ohio Symphony had yet another concert at Gray Chapel.  But this one was particularly special.   They played the Star Wars Suite from the original movie.  

In addition, and the best part of all, was that the Ohio 501st Legion of Star War re-enactors were there as well.   All I had was a disposable camera because my camera bit the dust a few months back.  But I was the first to catch Luke Skywalker, Obi-one Kenobi, and Princess Lei coming the stairs.  Then here comes Darth Vader all decked out in his mask, uniform and that big bad black flowing cape.   Simply spectacular.

When the orchestra got to the part that Darth Vader made his first appearance on Princess Lei's ship - that is when he started walking down the aisle with his glowing light saber.  There were also 3 versions of the Storm-troopers there as well.     Just gives me goosebumps thinking about it.    Since I had one of the seats where the pedestrian aisle was, I got to watch the re-enaactors walk back and forth in front of me several times.  Awesome.

To bad about not having a digital or I would have uploaded them for all to see.   

Coupons for soldiers

Hey Pnn'ers.  Do you often wish you knew what to do with all the excess food or personal product coupons that you just end up throwing away?  I found this article in American Profile (americanprofile.com) about an 83 year old woman and her "army" of dedicated volunteer coupon clippers who clip coupons for commissaries overseas in Turkey, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, etc where soldiers and their families can redeem them.  Families only have access to the Stars and Stripes newspaper which does not have coupons or international papers.  Coupon availability is practically non-existent overseas.  

Here is a way for us to make a difference for a military family and do our part.  Her name is Kay MacVey and you can send her your unused coupons to her address at 3419 Polaris Drive, Ames, Iowa, 50010

Grandma

After waiting for what seems an interminal time, I am finally going to be a grandma in May.  My children decided to wait until they were in their 30's to have children, so I will be an older first-time grandma.  I wonder what my future grandaughter will call me?  Will it be Grammy, Grandma, Gram, or something else.   I am eagerly awaiting this baby.  

I decided to look at baby stuff like diapers today knowing newborns go through pampers/huggies like a flood swollen river.  I was in shock at the price.  Hopefully they will go on sale soon.  I had to use cloth diapers when my kids were young and only used disposables if going somewhere.  Does anyone use cloth diapers anymore?