Hospitals...hospitals....

Today .. what a way to end the month… I am waiting word from a hospital
In Washington, as my daughter went in for surgery on her shoulder… so
the good thing of Facebook is her partner can keep us all up to date at once, by posting on Facebook as she entered, as she came out.. waiting for the doctor and etc.. This one I knew about…

But this mornings at 8:00am, I didn’t see this one coming… it was a call from my husband saying he was coming home.. has stabbing pain in chest and headache. Wants me to take him to ER… Thankfully the place he works says no… you are not driving, (what part of insanity is that anyway, chest pains, drive self to hospital?) They were driving him in, and I was to meet him there.

Good old BGH.. and their great crew, poked, prodded, x-rayed, ekg’d, and blood test him… for 2 hours.. all came back clear… his blood pressure was excellent.
They don’t know what or why.. exhaust in the shop? Although they have a good
System there… What ever …not sure what. But lined him up with a stress test next Tuesday, as his family history in that department isn’t good. Better safe than sorry.

We complain from time to time about our local hospitals, as it seems like it takes
Forever…. but when they are needed they are there… and everyone doing what they can to reassure you, and take good care of you…

Well, heading back to Facebook to check how my daughter is doing.. Know enough not to call until tomorrow… same day surgery conversations can be weird and funny.

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE.

January 30, 2012
LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

As we go thru each election, be it every 4 years or the 2..
It is all the same.. but the every 4 years of Presidential it
Is so true… Liar, Liar, pants on fire…

They say the definition of Insanity is : doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But I think the same thing can be said of stupidity, after all, every 4 years we look at the candidates.. we read about the
candidates. And they send out a spin..(they and their committees to
elect). And as they throw out the good word… the catch phases… we the
public believe… we think they will tell us the truth.. How stupid are we?

That includes myself… I thought Obama would be different… yes, I knew he
didn’t have the know how to fight Washington and the Congress… but I had HOPE..
I had hope that he would pick a cabinet that would serve us all well…. I had
HOPE, that he wouldn’t pick cronies, people who gave campaign money…
I thought he would bring up the best of the best… the best financial person.
The best to deal with the rest of the nations..

I do have to give Mrs. Clinton her due in the work she has done. But I had to question… a woman.. even a strong woman such as she… how would any woman deal with the Mid Eastern leaders, who have no respect for women in their own land. And I have to admit she has held her own.. at least it appears so.

So here we are 4 years later… and so far.. it looks like another 4 years of Obama. For the good or the bad.. Because Republicans can’t get themselves
together to get someone … someone.. who is reasonable.. And if you think the
lies are flying now… what until after June. You know right now you can’t believe
any of the Republicans as they fight each other… so which ever one the
Convention decides to throw up again the wall to see if he will stick.. well.. it
Isn’t going to be pretty…

So it is LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE… but then there is the doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting different results attitude of the voters.

The Navigator

As we trudge thru the winter slosh… or slush.. depending
on how you look at it… there can be some highlights.

This is one of our highlights… Every time Misty hears the
4-wheeler start up, she whines to go out… And occasionally
I let her out for a ride. All this summer she was with Ken, as
he rode around our area.. to friends, or the post office.
Which is kind of ironic… as the lawn mower terrified her
until we got the 4 wheeler.. now she wants out to ride while
Ken rides around on the lawn mower..

Today we get wind and sprinkles.. thought it was suppose to
rain, but guess that isn’t in the cards. Thought maybe by the
weekend we would be back to grass again, except for the piles
of snow.

I have got to wonder what has happen to my plants that I saw
around the yard with buds on them.. that are now under snow.

Act of Kindness...

It is so nice when a person does an act of kindness…
That is a act of surprise, that is so nice…

Flowers is one kind of act. Especially when one
Is not expecting them..

Anyone who knows me well, knows I hate Valentine flowers.
They are the blackmail of the commerce, that makes mostly
men feel guilty if they don’t buy a dozen roses. Those same
roses cost about $10 to $20 several days before or a week later.
But now all a sudden cost $40 to $60.

I have said that I think, no reason Roses or flowers of any kind are
the very best of all. As you could see last week when the King came
home with a half of dozen pink roses. To me it was the highest of
gift.

Today, I got another one… I was given a dozen yellow/green roses..
Just because the person appreciated an act of kindness I had done.
Something I took in stride, that she thought was great. I am the back
up for my new granddaughter. She has 3 children and one goes to
school, 3 blocks from me. . So last year when she moved here, I told her
I would be her back up if something came up and she could not go to the
school to pick her son up. Well, the system works, as it was tested a couple of
days ago, unintentually . And she surprised me with roses today..
What a sweet girl.

Why do we fight so much over these two?

It was said a long time ago, when I was young… that one
does not bring up the subject in polite conversations, of religion
or politics.

For some years I have heard and later years, had conversations
of such subjects. And it wasn’t a big deal.. I guess because the
group I ran with, wasn’t hardcore in either.

But when you consider it, religion and politics are kind of like
jackets we wear. I wear a blue and beige jacket.. the blue is denim
and beige cotton. My friend has a green one… my daughter wears
a black one from time to time, and my husband wears a black one.

We never would even consider arguing over what color jacket that
we wear. We have see other people in jackets of the same or at
least the same color… yet when we see others of different color jackets
we don’t try to change their minds to wear the same color we do…
Do you? Have you ever told someone they are wearing the wrong color
jacket?

Yet, politics and religion is like a jacket for us. It is something we prefer.
Some are Jewish, some are Catholics, some are Protestant and so many
other religions. Some are Republicans and some are Democrats, and
Independent and the other parties coming up…Whigs, Americas Elect
and so forth.

Yet you feel you have the right to argue with these people to change to
your beliefs. Going so far to say that yours is the only one and theirs is
Sooooooooooo wrong… Some religions even go so far to tell their
people that those of other religion, will rot in hell because they don’t believe
in theirs. And now it has even gotten so bad, that some are saying the
same about politics and the different parties.

Why is it we can respect the difference of one’s color jacket, yet we can’t
respect the difference of one’s politics or religion? I know the country
hangs in the balance on the politics, but do you really think screaming
at your friend, will want them to change to yours? Are you really ready
to throw your friendship over for the difference of either of these?

If the answer is yes, that is sad.. sad indeed..

I need a die-heart Democrat

I have been going thru my back room… Shuffling and sorting and etc.
It is suprising what one hangs on to,.or keeps because you figure
SOME DAY.. but now I should get rid of some of it..

The reason why I I need a die-heart Democrat is because among my thing
Is Kennedy things.. I have magazine written when JFK died. Also when Jackie
died, and a newspaper and magazine of when JFKjr died. And then there is the George magazines.. I have the first and the last as well as quite a few inbetween.

I suppose I could E-bay them.. but one of the worse things right now is… as I was looking at the magazines, I saw there is a lot of reading to be done yet. Meaning these have good articles of our past, as well as about the people I saved the magazine for. Also I have others, one about Robert Kennedy… and then there is the Peublo skipper. And other things in our past as you can see by the pictures…
I even have the last Sears catalog, which I think is 1994.. so looking thru that at the prices… Some I can throw away… some I rather give away, to someone who would get as much out of them as I did. But I know my kids will throw them.
Remembering my friend Kayte saying, ones life is a yard sale the day after you died. Some where I even have a TV Gude magazine of Oprah, with the Ann Margaret body, supposedly. But who know where.. lol..

And way, I decided to pile the magazine, where I will go thru them one more time, before I let them go.. As looking thru them was slowing me down on getting rid of stuff… So my sign on the door still applies… “My someday room,…. Some day I am going thru this stuff and throw away the junk and take out the good stuff and organize it.”…I have come so far.. but still have a ways to go…

Recipes and Secrets...

I came across a great recipe for a bean patties. Like a hamburger
patties. And it is so simple to make.

You take a can of refried beans, and a can of black beans, put in
your mixing bowl along with 2 eggs and a cup of oatmeal. Add 1 teaspoon
of salt and one teaspoon of garlic powder. And mix.
Starting out on low speed, to get it all to mix well..(other wise the
black beans spit out of the bowl like a gatling gun, not that I know that
from experience…oh, alright, I admit I got it going a little fast). After it
mixes really well, use a large spoon and spoon it into the fry pan in
the size of a regular hamburger patties. Fry it on each side well.

I put it on the plate with some horseradish cheddar cheese and guacamole,
on top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Really turn out well. The King had seconds and told me I out did myself.

The only down side of this recipe is the after effects. Because after eating
beans and you are retiring for the night, the body relaxes and has taken those lovely tasting beans and ran it thru its combustion chambers. Especially if it is
a male human body. How those great smelling and tasting beans can come out of the other side, in a sulfur smell of beyond rotten eggs, is beyond me.
Kind of reminds me of a saying a 95 year old woman friend of mine said to
me about 50 years ago…”She thinks her shit don’t smell, but her farts give
her away.”

Which has me wondering, do you smell odors after you go to sleep? Maybe
the secret is to be in bed and sound to sleep, before your spouse goes to
bed. As I don’t recall waking up gagging.

And that is why I love my husband...

The weather was snowing, and it was blowing hard. So asked my husband to
pick up the mail and he had to stop at the store...

AND he brought these home... THAT LADIES...is the reason why I love this
man so much.... no reason roses... the best kind...

That sure isn't the way I learn it....

When I was a kid, in the little state of Rhode Island.. we knew
about the sea… after all it was all around us.. 3 miles away, in just
about any direction..

We knew every year, there was a fishing boat that would go down.
Taking the crew with it most of the time… AND definitely a lot of times
the Captain of the ship/boat.

And that is what I was taught. That was the rules of the sea.
The Captain goes down with the ship. And if he did leave it..it
wasn’t until everyone was off of the ship. He would be the very
last one to leave.

Over the years there as been a few who jumped with the crew, or
even ahead of the crew… but they were considered cowards. It was
a disgrace to leave the ship before everyone was off of it. That is
why there are courts to fine, even jail these men.

I surely hope the so called captain, because he doesn’t deserve to be
called captain, and certainly doesn’t deserve a capital C on the word,
gets everything they can do to him.

His behavior is despicable as a captain, and more than that.. as a
human being… As you hear the tapes of the Italian Coast Guard arguing
with him, you want to vomit. I hope there isn’t a company or anyone who
lets this person near a ship, boat, or even a skiff. And I hope they hang
him high… for the people who died on that ship. Too bad we don’t still have
the walking of the plank.

Lazy thoughts...

These are the before pictures... as you can see the first one is on the 4th... and the bottom on

yesterday afternoon... Here it is January...mid January.. and we are doing well for the lack of snow. BUT there is promise of snow this week... which makes me wonder will this be like the Thanksgiving snow and the Christmas snow... that disappeared with in 3 days? So will next week follow up with wind and rain? Only to remove all of our snow? Or will it be like 3 years ago, where it started to snow mid January and continued until May.

Also I was thinking yesterday.... that if my dad had lived... he would have been 100 years old.

He passed away at 82. He had heart problems, but he never let that get him down.. a month before he died, he had his sister and cousin in his truck, flying up the highway from Newport, to Providence at 80 mph. Just like he did with them, when they were all in their 20's.

Dad was never one to let grass grow under his feet... Sadly his grandson's all follow suit... My son's as well as my brother's.

He was still farming the summer before he died in Sept. 94. He mowed his own hay, that year.

God Bless... and happy birthday Dad, thanks for letting me be your buddy thru the years.

UPDATE....

this afternoon....

Stuff it and the Mother of invention...

I love jalapeno poppers… And as much as it is against
my principles to pay 50 cent and up for each of them at the deli,
I do treat myself to them on occasion. .

But being I am back on my diet because I gained 6 pounds
over the holidays, poppers are soooooooooooo not right,
on my diet and besides, surely I can do it cheaper than 50 cents
each.

So I looked for a non fried (as the ones in the deli are fried
with coating) and the least amount of damage to me.
I looked online for baked stuffed jalapenos and found a few.
I read thru them and figured out what I wanted to do… (who
needs directions)

I bought 5 medium size jalapenos. I wanted to start small just
incase this fell on its face. I saw that there was a cream cheese
with Italian spices, so got that for a back up, and got the regular
type of cream cheese but the 70% less fat type. I had a package
of chourico (for the non Portuguese, this is a Portuguese sausage
that is to die for).

I cooked up the chourico, by slicing long ways… then I peeled./cut
off the skin. And mashed it with a fork. I added the cream cheese,
mixing until it blended really well…

Then I got out my gloves and started to work on the peppers. It
is suggested by any recipe you ever use with jalapeno peppers.
In case you are thinking of passing it by…DON’T… GET THE GLOVES.
And DON’T SCRATCH YOUR NOSE, OR ANY PART OF OUR YOUR
FACE. If you can’t stand it, take off gloves, scratch, and get new gloves.
I am telling you from experience… DON’T.. it is hard to do a recipe
thru burning body part and tears. I found out when making Jalapeno
Jelly.

I cut off the end, by the stem, as close as I could. Then ran the
knife around inside to remove the string stuff and seeds.. Ran it around
several times… thumped the pepper end on the plate (you don’t want
your cutting board with pepper juice). After I washed the insides of the
peppers to get rid of any hidden seeds. Unless you want them really
hot, get rid of all the seeds. I was starting out with mild to medium in
my mind.

Then take the pepper in one hand and pick up cream cheese mix and
stuff pepper… If you want to make it easier on yourself.. (I did by the second
pepper) get a sandwich bag…put cream cheese mix in there… squeeze
until you have it all down into one corner.. then snip a very small hole in the
corner.. Wa..La.. a stuffer bag… Have a small blade knife near by. Stuff
the pepper, use the knife to take the air out of pepper.

Laid them down one by one in your Pam sprayed pan. Cook for 25 minutes.
Or until the pepper is cooked.


Some good tips.. I looked at the recipes online again to find out the amount
of time… First off, I found they cheated.. they sliced the pepper and stuffed it.
And some of them used a tooth pick to put them back together.
And… they have some, where they cooked the pepper first.. then stuffed them.
I think that is a good idea… because I had to leave mine in 10 more minutes to
get the peppers cooked. They looked just fine after the 20 minutes.. but the
pepper weren’t cooked… So after 10 more minutes, I ended up with this…

I will update this, when I try again.. in a couple of weeks…
I say a couple of weeks…because I tasted one of these…when they cooled
down some.. AND HOLY MOTHER OF GAWD!!! THEY ARE HOT… day later and my mouth
hasn’t recovered..I feel like I have Angelina Jolie lips... so much for mild … maybe if you precook the peppers, it takes some of the spice heat out of it.

Or maybe I should let it go, like I did the latte machine.. I bought one, used
it for 3 months.. couldn’t get them to taste like the latte shops, gave away
the machine… and buy at the shop… so maybe I might… well, I will try
one more time anyway.. but might have to swallow my pride and buy at
the deli.. wish they had baked ones.

UPDATE... 1-28-2012

SECOND TIME IS THE CHARM........ I tried this again.... but this time I precooked the peppers in the microwave for 3 minutes.

And then I added the mix... of cream cheese and Chorizo meat... stuffed them, put them back in the micro and wa-la... stuffed jalapeno peppers... little crunchy, a little hot, but doesn't take your head off.

Feeding Frenzy

With each debate, and now the primaries are starting,
the feeding frenzy has started to get serious.
The saying…”eating their own” comes to mind.

We have all heard of dirty politics, but I think this election
Is bring out an all new meaning to the words.

And the Democrats? Well, they sure are awful quiet, as
they should be.. this is where they really don’t have to say
a thing… the Republican are doing it all for them. All they
need is to keep notes, so which ever one … if any of these,
comes out on top.. they will have a head start.

I was watching a program the other morning..
Herman Cain was on. They asked him if he missed the
fight of the game that is still going on.. And he said he
didn’t.. When they question that, he said, well, yes, he
kind of like to be there to take each one to task for what
they are saying.. but missing the circus of it.. no.
Then one commenter said something to the fact how
all the candidates hate each other.. And Cain said they
didn’t hate each other… their committees hate each other
but the candidates didn’t. One of them said, so if the media
wasn’t around, they all go have a beer with each other, right.


And we know this to be true.. Look at the remarks the Bushes
had to say about Clinton… and there they were, side by side
drumming up money for different charities.

One of my questions is… there are a lot of Democrats who are
not happy, or so they say, with Obama… yet no one at all has
throw their hat in the circle to go up against Obama. Surely if
you are not that happy with your guy in the office, don’t you find
someone to replace them?

One thing about politics, it is never boring…

Generations away

In the past I am sure all those over 40 have thought that
they are becoming their own parents…

But I think maybe we are really 2 generations away from our
selves. Or maybe it is the older you get, the more distance
between our ideas, principles, and priorities.

As I deal with the other generations below me, I find my thoughts
more like my grandparents instead of my parents.. Maybe it is
because our children are becoming more like our parent/us..

But as I see the 20’s generation coming up, I see such a vast
gab between my style of ideas, principles, and priorities and theirs.

I have had over the years, priorities that were of safety and
concerns of my children…first, and myself second.. But I see
the generation of small children raisers have it so different
from my own. Not that they are bad parents.. just different.
priority wise.

In my 20’s to the 30’s, I worried about my children and household.
in that order… and myself last. Today’s seem to be a toss up. What
ever it is for the day. Kind of a by the seat of your pants lifestyle. They
seem to have more faith, that things will turn out just fine. And deal
with it when it comes.. And the surprising part is.. most of the time
it works out for them. So did I worry too much at that time?

Now days it seems like the 30’s to 40’s have the same kind of attitude,
priorities, and ideas of how things should line up, more like my
generation did at 20 to 30. Or maybe it was me. Wanting every
thing lined up, be ready for what ever comes. Like boy scouts, be
prepared. But that is the way the 30’s to 40’s do now.

Then there is us older ones… Now I understand my grandfather
thoughts when he thought the younger generation was never was going
to ever amount to anything.... with rock music, Elvis and the rest.
Especially when he watched the teens on American Bandstand.
While I might think the entitlement generation of 12 to 25, don’t
seem to be very stable, I do have the good sense to remember my
grandfather and know that the now generation will probably turn
out just fine, just like we did, and the next one after us.

Which is shocking as the generation after me, was into “turn on, tune out, and etc.

What kind of voice do you have?

While at church this Sunday they had different people read different
verse in the bible...

As the first one started, the Preacher said something about getting a
microphone for her... and she said she didn't need one, as she had a
"teacher's voice"... Meaning she knew she could project her voice thru
out the room.

The next one started to read, and stopped.. after the first word.. and
said.. she didn't need the microphone either as she had a "Mom's voice"
her kids could hear her anywhere.

While I guess I would say that would be true of myself... except I thought
of my voice to be that of a fishman's wife in the market... lol...

Too nice to be inside...

I spent yesterday afternoon outside…
Outside in a sweater, not a jacket…

I got a lot of flower garden work done.
Every year, I say I am going to go back
and cut off the leaves from the lily plants
before winter sets in.. and every year it is
spring time before I get to it...the leaves that
are all over the place.. was.

Yesterday, I got that done.. and the scary
part? Besides the fact it was 52 degrees and
I could work outside, and it was the first of
January, and I live in Northern Idaho… was
the fact, that there was green leaves from my
tulips peeking thru the ground..

Scary as, I know Idaho… we can have a day like
this and with in a day or two, have 10 inches of snow.
So are these tulips going to get froze out?

Oh, well, I will enjoy this weather while I can.
Sure has helped for the winter blues. Today it is
sunny again.. but really windy.. somehow I
don’t think the sweater is going to cut it, unless
I can stay out of the wind..

Is it just me?

Is is just me? When the sun shines like today, I feel energized.
When it is day after day, of gloom… I feel doomed.
Can’t get it started, dish rag time?

Is it just me, but is everyone on a diet and the
stores are advertising all kinds of goodies besides
the diet bars? I mean… really… buy one dozen
of donuts, get the second one free ads? What the?

Is it me, or does it irratate the hell out of you,
when you are going down the regular lane of
traffic, and some idiot comes up along side of
you, in the short lane that is about to end, and
tries to play chicken with you. To squeeze between
you and the car in front of you… so you put on the
brakes, slowly, so you don’t get your car wrecked.
Because you know this guy doesn’t have insurance
on the wreck of a car that looks like only bondo
is keeping it together. And the guy behind you is
just as mad as you are, with the cutter, and isn’t
letting up on you either..

Is it me, but when I have a chore I don’t like, put it
off, even knowing once you jump in, it isn’t as bad
as you feel it is now… It is the starting that is the
hardest? Guess I better go start…

Checking my list, checking it twice....

HAPPY NEW YEAR…..

Calculator, check
pen, check
paper, check
huge folder, check
… check…check…check…

I am not in a hurry, as I won’t have all my paper work until
mid March…but I want to get started on this…now..

I hate leaving taxes until the last minute.. drives me completely
nuts.. I use to do my taxes the next day after getting my
W-2 form from the company. But then things got complicated.
And one of the forms I need to do my taxes, doesn’t come until
mid to the end of March. That drives me nuts..

I have a folder that I save all my receipts for everything…
bought a nut and bolt? I have the receipt. Bought a piece
of furniture? I have a receipt.. food, I have the receipts, out
to dinner, I have the receipt… hair done, I have the ..well, you
get the picture…and I keep them in this folder
and in the slot that is for the month the receipt is for.

So each year that I go thru the folder… I staple all the store
receipts together.. Meaning all of Wal-mart, Home Depot and
etc. Keeping out anything that might help my taxes..but that
is not much. Once in a while I will total all the receipt just to
see how much money we spent… kind of scary… when you
find out that over 20 per cent goes for food.. well, food, paper
products, pet food and etc.

So I will be the one behind all the stacks of papers for the next
couple of days… Happy tax time to you too…