Thursday, April 24, 2008

Made in the USA

I just read this and wonder if it is true:
An eye-opening fact about U.S. labeling requirements is that .... a factory in China to [could have been contacted to] manufacture the entire inside portions and ship them to the U.S. As long as they were snapped in place in the U.S., ... still could've labeled the product "Made in the U.S.A."

That makes me wonder how many times we buy American and it really isnt? Althought I do drive a Toyota and the reason that it doesnt bother me is that it was built in the USA and therefore employed Americans.

Finished watching the John Adams mini-series last night. It was a little dry and slow but very interesting. See, hubby is a Civil War nut so we dont do toomuch about history prior to that. You should have seen his face though, at the end, when I said "Hmmm, I wonder if I could be related to him".

It was one of those 'WTF is the crazy woman talking about now' faces. But my maternal grandmother was and Adams. So I have decided I can lay claim to the relationship - until someone disproves me and then they will have to give me all that geneological research without me having to do it!! LOL

I am proud to say one of the 3 tomato plants is still alive - the one someone left on the porch, not the two freebies from the OSH show!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A tribute to a Canadian

Note the date at the top of this:

"Let's Be Personal" Broadcast June 5, 1973 CFRB, Toronto, OntarioTopic: "The Americans" (click to return) ============================================================The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone ELSE buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND AUDIOCOURTESY STANDARD BROADCASTING CORPORATION LTD.(c) 1973 BY GORDON SINCLAIRPUBLISHED BY STAR QUALITY MUSIC (SOCAN)A DIVISION OF UNIDISC MUSIC INC.578 HYMUS BOULEVARDPOINTE-CLAIRE, QUEBEC,CANADA, H9R 4T2

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Please

Please go to http://ga3.org/campaign/KeepStateParksOpen and let the Terminator know that we do not want him to terminate state parks - the heart and soul of California....the history of California. Sites that keep tourist money coming in and the closure of which will have a trickle down effect on local and state economy (you know, penny wise and pound foolish)....sites which actually get people outside and aware of nature...and allows children to actually move around and do something foriegn called exercise which jsut might fight against childhood obesity....

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Photos



We have given our grandson his baseball name....The Dirtman.....because he is so often playing in the dirt instead of watching the game! You just gotta love tee ball!!!
And here is little brother watching...maybe laughing...maybe rooting for the other team! You just never know what is going on in his head!!
And just rec'd a phone call that little Miss Kaia has her first tooth coming in!
Got to hear her brother Owen sing his "I am a good boy" song to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine"...while he was being put into time out!!!
Beautiful beautiful weekend - replanted on the driveway side and replaced the bark. Ouch. I am just not into manual labor! Now I need to plant those tomato plants so maybe they will make it...but they might have to wait...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Challenge!

I challenge every one who reads my blog to go to

www.the3day.org/

and make donations to these SF Susan B Komen 3 Day Breast Cancer walkers:

Manda Berendson
Yolanda Escobar
Julia Worner

All are from CA - you can find their donation pages by going under DONATE and putting their names and state into the search list.

This is something near and dear to me - always has been but especially this year - so lets help raise money for research!

I am so proud! And thrilled!



From this.......



To this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







"My" second year nursing students all passed their finals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


They have been so worried and so scared for weeks now that they would fail.....AND THEY ALL PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!

One hurdle over - now they do their preceptorships and then start worrying about Boards! But I am soooo proud I could burst!!!!!!

Recipes

Found this recipe in "Greetings From the Knit Cafe" by Suzan Mischer. The orignator of the recipe is Julie Stark.

ORANGE HONEY MUFFINS

Muffins:

2 c flour
1/2 c uncooked oatmeal, not instant
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c brown sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 c orange juice
zest of 1 large orange
1/4 c honey
5 - 1/2 T butter, melted

Icing:
1 - 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 T orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan well, or line with muffin papers.

Combine flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir. Add the eggs, orange juice, orange zest, honey, and melted butter and stir just until mixed. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until light golden.

For icing: Combine powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth glaze is formed. Drizzle over warm muffins. Muffins are best eaten warm.

(12 muffins).

And here is an old fashioned recipe that I havent heard of in years, from an Old Fashioned Country Christmas by Gooseberry Patch (there are many versions of this cake depending on the interpretation, this one is more of a spice cake):

SCRIPTURE CAKE

1/2 c Judges 5:25, last clause II Chronicles 9:9, to taste
2 T I Samuel 14:25 Pinch of Leviticus 2:13
Jeremiah 6:20 1/2 c Judges 4:19, last clause
6 Jeremiah 17:11 (seperated) 2 c Nahum 3:12
2 c I Samuel 30:12 2 c Numbers 17:8
1-1/2 c I Kings 4:22
2 tsp Amos 4:5

Whip the Judges, Jeremiah, and I Samuel until light. Beat the 6 Jeremiah yolks and add to the mixture. Add Kings, Amos, Chronicles, and Leviticus alternating with Judges. Fold in Nahum, Numbers, and Samule, then also the Jeremiah whites, beaten stiff. Bake 2 hours in greased 10" tube pan at 300 degrees.

I finally found the recipe I have been looking for - mini panettones thanks to Martha Stewart Living Christmas cookbook - will try those out for Christmas gifts this year! And a new Cranberry Pistachio biscotti recipe in her book too - the ones I made last year were just ok (especially since they were the first time I have made biscotti!!) so hopefully these will be better.

I am frustrated looking for a recipe. A few months ago I made a soup that as so good and I am so hungry for it - and cannot find the recipe! I think it had fresh baby spinach in it, and maybe white beans, but also parmesan cheese rind...if I could only remember were I got it, that would help my search!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Emily - are you happy?


Remember the blue socks - the photo I posted a while back? When I sent the email to the person and asked for a photo of the socks - off or on her feet? Well, she was very very disappointed that I did not post THIS photo of them that she sent!
Emily - make sure that you show Matt this page!!!!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Here is a BOLO report!

"Reuters reported this story just a few weeks ago ... in case you missed it:London resident Lefkos Hajji, 28, came up with an admittedly brilliant idea of putting an engagement ring inside a helium balloon. His thinking was that she could pop the balloon as he popped the question. And this was quite a ring -- worth $12,000, and apparently we're talking dollars and not pounds or euros.So our friend Lefkos leaves the jewelry store with the engagement ring hidden in the balloon, intending to go see his girlfriend, Leanne, 26 years old.Unfortunately, as soon as he left the shop, some wind -- blast of a draft -- swept through the city. Suddenly, the balloon slipped from Lefkos' hand, and the next thing he knows, he's watching the balloon -- with the apparently uninsured $12,000 ring inside -- drift upward. Moments later, it was far above the skyline."I felt like such a plonker," Lefkos told Reuters. "It cost a fortune, and I knew my girlfriend would kill me."And so panicked and not wanting to die so young, Lefkos followed in his car, trying to chase after the balloon. He lost sight of it, however, and after two hours, he gave up. Then he told Leanne, who is reportedly not talking to him."

Aging

 Why is so much about aging kept a secret? Or is it that we just dont pay attention when we are younger? I mean we all know about the wrinkl...