Veggie Tables

Hubby and I have been really trying to do better by our family. We have cut our expenses, curbed our spending (some days are better than others), added more fresh to our diets, and tried to eliminate as much yuck as we can. But we all like yuck. You know what I mean. The good stuff that is so horribly bad for you. Big Macs and a large Dr. Pepper, while fantastic with an order of salty fries, are not the best diet in the world. To counteract and hopefully do better by ourselves and our kids, we have gone organic.

One of our homeschool moms runs an organic veggie co-op. Today was our first pick up. And we got a great deal of food for our money. And we got some things that we want to try, like beets. I cooked some tonight with orange juice of all things. The great thing about Florida is that oranges at this time of year are plentiful to put it mildly. The more we can get and eat the better. I'll let you know how the beets come out. They are beautiful and deep red and smell so good. I even took some of the tops and put them in my salad for the night.

I also got some kale. I have never had kale before and it sounded pretty interesting. It is a dark green leafy veggie that has tons of vitamins. I logged onto Recipezaar and got a couple of interesting looking recipes. It may turn out alright. I'll let you know how that goes, too. I'm pretty excited about that.

The green peppers are gorgeous. I love bell peppers. The red ones were some of the prettiest I have ever seen. I just hope they have that great snap! I love in my raw, fresh veggies. We also got some green leaf lettuce. Hubby and I like to have a great salad every night with dinner. It's our way of adding more to our diets. I'm going to cut a bunch of our stuff up and have a great big salad tonight. I cannot wait. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. So is hubby's, but he can't have any of it.

Hubby has a stomach virus and is on a BRAT diet. He can only have plain foods with no extras, like salt, pepper, or flavor. So he sits at the table with us and uses his cute puppy dog eyes, and mopes. My poor baby. But he only has a week and a half left.

The prices for the food we got was fantastic. We got apples, pears, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beets, kale, potatoes, garlic, and I don't remember what else and paid less than $40. We filled 4 reusable shopping bags and then some. If I had bought everything at the grocery store, some of it not organic, in the quantities I got, I would have spent close to $60. And it's all certified organic, which means they have not used pesticides in their grow areas or plants for at least three years. I found out the other day that if an apple is not organic, they have used up to 43 different pesticides on them. Why do you need that many chemicals?

Anyway, if you have the opportunity to go organic and support your local growers and economy, I would suggest it. It makes us feel good that our local community benefits as well as us. I'm going to go enjoy my dinner now. Orange juice beets, yum!

GET OFF YOUR ASS!

When I started this blog, I had no intention for it to become a bitch fest. Maybe a little, but not as much as it has been. But it seems there's so much to bitch about. I could do it for days and not run out of stuff. My fingers would fall off before I ran out of topics.

I should also clarify that I am not one of those people that forwards emails because I'm told to. If I forward an email to you, it's because I really liked the email and think it could mean something to you. Don't we all get enough junk. You certainly don't want more from me. And emails that tell me I have to forward it or I'm a bad person, friend, or Christian automatically get deleted. I have a sister in law that inundates me with that crap and I just delete every one of them. For some reason, I'll call it a God moment, I chose not to delete one this evening. And it has provided me with more fodder. Hold on, everybody, I'm on a roll.

This is a quote from Lee Iacocca. Does everybody remember him? I do. He was a brash businessman who took over Chrysler and turned it around. Before he took over, it was a company that had no pride in it's products and was basically worthless. But he took the reins and made it a proud company with quality products. And he did it with hard work and by letting everyone who didn't want to work go. He didn't pussyfoot around and I respect a man like that. He turned it into a model for every business to follow.

"Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead at Fox news will call you a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?"

Wow! What a feeling of validation I have now. If that isn't what I've been saying I don't know what is. This just happened to come from a different, better connected person than I. Yes, I know it should be "me" and not "I", but remember who's blog you're reading.

I think that we are all guilty of this. We are all guilty of laying back and allowing the government and the media and society in general to screw us. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of feeling like a cheap slut. I didn't even get dinner out of the deal. And the general excuse is, I'm only one person. Did you see how close the election in whatever state it was, the one with Al Franken, was? It came down to 3 votes. That was after two months of recounting. One person may not be able to make a difference, but are you telling me you don't have two friends who would join with you?

I'm busy with the kids, I have a job, I'm going to school, I don't have time, I'm tired from working all day. Keep adding the excuses. Pretty soon, someone else will own our country, our debt will be beyond the amount we could ever pay, and we will be the third world country that everyone is sending their $.50 an hour jobs to. Find a cause that is near and dear to your heart and fight for it. Your kids will benefit and become more confident in themselves with some volunteer work.

Our schools are in shambles, our government is in shambles, our society doesn't care about anyone. Is that what this country should be proud of? What happened to patriotism? What happened to love for your fellow man? Get off your ass, you and two friends, and make this a race to the finish. Let's ban together and make this a country we can be proud of once again.

Nit Picky

I was watching Good Morning America this morning and I think I must be getting old and crotchety because I got a little miffed about some of the stuff they were talking about. When are we going to stop letting the media decide what is important? In the grand scheme of things, shouldn't we be doing that for ourselves? And if we were, the media would stop making such a big deal out of things. So here's my gripe.

The first thing that was being discussed was Chief Justice John Roberts stumbling during the oath of office. Frankly, wasn't he just a little bit nervous as well? If I had to swear in the President of the United States, I would be shaking in my shoes. And it was 4 degrees. OK, maybe not 4, but it was damned cold. He was probably freezing his dangly parts off. Chief Justice Roberts is also a constitutional law expert and he rewrote it slightly. But then he forgot how he had rewritten it. Big deal, people. Apparently, there was fuss that it was not done the right way, which meant he wasn't really the president. Not a problem with me, but whatever. They reswore Obama in, and had him resign all of his executive orders. Leave it alone. It happened, it was corrected. And Roberts even apologized to Obama. And Obama covered for him very well. That is probably one of the few nice things you will hear me say about him. Don't get me started on GitMo.

And Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from the race for the Senate seat left empty by Hilary Clinton. There is a video of her doing an interview on YouTube and she says "Ya' know" several times. She is not really a public speaker. With a script or a prewritten speech she does a wonderful job. An interview is completely different. You have nothing to fall back on, to rely on, to help you out. I've found myself using "like". And I use it quite frequently. I am like trying to like break myself of it because like I don't like how like it like sounds. See? But leave the woman alone. Once again, grand scheme of things.

So here I go up on my horse. You would think that as scared of heights as I am, I wouldn't be on such a high horse. But I'm not always the smartest egg in the bunch. Enjoy your day. And try figuring out where your grand scheme fits in with society. Mine isn't matching very well right now.

A New Era

Tomorrow is it. We will officially have a new president. And I can honestly say I am scared. But change does that to people. I am scared of the change, new policies, new laws, new everything. And I am so tired of the coverage already I could spit.

I do not agree with Obama on almost everything he has said. I think he will try to do his best. Nobody goes into the office of President just to fail miserably (see George W. Bush). Sometimes it just happens. But when you screw up in that job, there are millions of people that suffer. He will become the CEO of a very large, global company.

One of Obama's policies I don't agree with is gun control. Now hold on and hear me out. I come from a state that lets you carry a loaded shotgun in the gun rack in the back window of your truck. I come from a state that says if someone breaks into your home and threatens your family and your property, you may shoot them. And if you kill them, that's their own fault for trying to steal your stuff. I come from a state that has a fast track to the electric chair. In the immortal words of Ron White, "If you kill someone in the state of Texas, we'll kill you back."

Now, do I think that automatic weapons like an M16 or any other weapon of that type should be allowed? Not really. I think that law enforcement needs to have weapons similar to that just to stay in the game if you know what I mean. Law enforcement has been outgunned for a very long time. And we need to change that. Do you remember the bank robbery several years ago in California where the police had handguns and shotguns, but the robbers were all Kevlared up? I do. And that was wrong. The police needed a way to fight back.

Obama wants a policy change. If you kill someone while they are robbing your home, you go to prison for murder. What?!? If someone comes into my home and terrorizes my famiy, he better hope he makes it out alive. While I do not think taking a life is a laughing matter, I also do not think that someone should go to prison for protecting their family, home, and property. And he wants to limit our rights to own and carry a weapon. The NRA is probably gearing up for a big fight.

Another issue I have is taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. Trust me when I say that I am a have not. My issue is that this promotes the theory that we do not have to work hard to have things, to earn a living for ourselves or our family. To me that promotes the sense of entitlement that many have. We have tried very hard to instill in our children the value of hard work and saving for a big ticket item. Or any item. Hard work is good for the soul and the pocket book. To me, it seems Obama just wants to hand over hard earned money to people that cheat the system and don't want to work for what they have.

All of our systems are flawed and have not been revamped for many years. Several decades for some. But the environment of business rules and sets policy is old now, and has left our sytems broken. I don't think Obama has any idea how to make those systems work. And I don't think that his advisors have spent any time on or in the system. Do I have a better idea? Probably not, but at least I've been in it. And I have some ideas about revamping, but nobody has called me yet to ask.

Tomorrow we start all over. I am just praying that our new leader will make some right decisions. Hopefully, more right ones than wrong. But I have a feeling the next four years will not be boring.

Govt in Action

Here's another reason I am worried about our government and its actions. And although I understand the need for such laws, can we just settle down a bit and think things through? Apparently, the EPA has deemed it necessary to prohibit the distribution of children's toys after Feb 10 that have not been certified lead free. This includes, and is not limited to, toys, books, clothes, crafts, shoes, etc. What does this mean to us?

All used book stores, including ones such as Goodwill and thrift stores, can no longer sell books. They cannot give them away. They may not hand them out. They must be destroyed. Libraries will be affected. They have books on their shelves that have been manufactured prior to this date. The may no longer "loan" them out. Stores and businesses, physical and cyber space, may no longer sell books or curriculum. Any one who sells children's items online may no longer do so. Basically the government is limiting the rights of it's citizens to have a livelihood because it didn't control the products that were made outside this country and shipped in.

I understand the need for free trade. I understand the need to have good relations with other countries. But when those countries are polluting our country and it's citizens for years and years and we have a very precarious relationship with them to begin with, was this problem not foreseen? When farmers are paid to not grow crops so we can import them from countries that pollute their own to grow these crops and are not held to standards, do we not see a problem with this? Our government has turned a blind eye, and so has most of this country.

Jobs are outsourced to other countries to pay less wages and up the bottom line. Yet, the factories that make the goods, answer the phone calls, and grow the crops are not held to the high standard that America is. And the reason for that is the all mighty dollar. And we let it happen.

We let it happen by not paying attention to those that are supposed to be looking out for us. They are looking out for us. They are looking out to see if we have caught on yet. And have we? Have we not seen the need for new representation? Have we not seen the need to police our own?

There is a petition at ipetitions.com to sign that will show that we do not want this new mandate. Or that we do want the government to open it's eyes and see how crazy this is to destroy books. It costs $500-$1500 to test the books for lead. Probably with a test that the government approved. Destroying the books will only pollute the air, the ground water, the land fills or somehow add more to our over taxed ecosystem. But, according to the EPA, it's more important to destroy them. Read the petition and decide for yourself. Maybe it's right for you, maybe not. But at least give this some thought and maybe some action.

Oldies but Goodies

I was a television hog the other day. It was Saturday and hubby was at work. If I had to watch one more kid show I was going to scream. So I told the kids to go play in their rooms, read a book, or go outside. But it was my turn for the zombie machine.

I watched an Andy Hardy marathon. I didn't get to watch all of them, but I watched a couple. And they were still hilarious. Have you ever seen them? My mom watched a lot of old television shows and when there is only one TV and I wanted to watch, I either watched what she wanted or I didn't watch. And she watched some really good shows.

Andy Hardy is played by Mickey Rooney. His father is a judge. Also in the house is his sister, mother, and aunt. And poor Andy can get into a scrape faster than anything. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. One line has now become a favorite. The father was giving the sister advice and said, "Conversations should be like a woman's skirt. Short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the important things." How funny is that?

One of my other favorites was "Ma and Pa Kettle". I loved those shows. They had a million kids, lived out in the woods, and were very back woods. But man they were funny. Mom would put on one of those and we would laugh and laugh. Part of it was how silly it was. But part of it was absolutely how simple the show was. Simple acting, simple language, simple plot lines. But fantastic entertainment.

And "Blondie" movies were some of my all time favorites. How can you not like Dagwood Bumstead? Bless his little pea pickin' heart. He couldn't do anything right to save his life. And the poor mailman. The comic strip is funny, but the movies are fantastic.

I would love to see some of those again, but they are never on TV anymore. And I haven't seen them on DVD anywhere. But they are good quality television. They were made when quality was king. There isn't any innuendo or showing of body parts. Kisses are closed mouth. When was the last time you saw a kiss on television without tongue? I'm not saying I don't like it when I kiss, but to see it grosses me out a little.

And my kids liked the Andy Hardy movies. Even with no explosions, CGI, or animated anything, they enjoyed them. They understood what was being said and I didn't need to explain anything to them or even use that famous phrase, "I'll explain it to you when you get older. " If I had popped popcorn and hubby would have been home it would have been better.

So if any of you see them on DVD for a reasonable price, they would make a great gift for your favorite Hawaiian. That would be me, just in case you were wondering. Do you have any favorite old shows? Let me know and let's share the joy.

Inspired

I am very inspired by my fellow homeschool moms. Park day is such a great day for sharing ideas and leaning on friends and opening minds to possibilities.

Some of my fellow homeschoolers do blogs. And by reading their blogs I have been inspired to try new things and spread my wings. I have been given fresh ideas that I can run with and make my own.

One of our moms keeps the receipts from the library and highlights which books her kids read. One color for one child, another color for the other child, and a third if they both read it. In our state, you must keep a log of the books your kids read. So I've been writing them down. That's three lists. Sometimes I'm writing the same book three times. So much easier to keep the library receipts.

Another mom reads to her kids while they eat lunch. That way they get a different brain activity and get a great story as well. That's why I started reading after I'm done with my dinner. Usually I'm the first one done so I read while every one else finishes and has dessert.

And another mom does a bible study with her husband in the evening. That way they get to spend quality time together, studying something that is important to them. So hubby and I have talked about that. We've actually done a couple. But I think that we have to motivate ourselves and get out of the evening rut.

I love to see how other people live. And if I can get something out of it, whoo hoo. If it makes my life easier and lets me spend better time with my family, that's a bonus. So what can you take away from your friends or your colleagues? Try something new, adjust to fit your life, and see where change takes you.

A New Year

Here we are firmly entrenched in the new year. I'm looking at this as a new start. A new way to do things, a new way to feel refreshed and excited about my life and the things happening in the world. Sounds good, doesn't it? Now if I can only do that, wouldn't that be great?

I had to return "Pigs at the Trough". I didn't finish it, but the more I read it the more pissed off I got. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. I didn't realize how blindly I let our representatives in Washington and in our state Congress represent me. It's as if they have no idea how many Americans feel about the way the government is run. I know they can't be that stupid, can they? But maybe they can. That just means that I need to be more aware of what is going on in my neighborhood, which includes my city, state, and country. That means I need to be more vocal about all of the issues. You may think an issue doesn't concern you, until they throw in some pork barrel spending to a bill or create a new law or loophole. Then it concerns you. But don't wait that long. In Congress, it's all about give and take. It's what's being given and taken we need to see.

And we need to let companies and banks and whoever is in control of our products and money know that that's our money. We can spend it where we want to. And if it isn't with them, it will be with someone else. We need to let WalMart know that we want to go back to the days of American made, not made in China. China is silently poisoning and killing us and we are silently letting them.

By the same token, we as Americans need to get our spending under control. Yes, it's great that you can work an assembly line and make $40 an hour to screw the same screw into the same piece of whatever product all day long. But is that job really worth $40 an hour? Or is it that the union has taken over too much control and made you think that job is worth $40 an hour? We need to realize that living above our means just drives this economy into the ground. It was bound to come to a head, and boy did it ever. It has driven this household over the edge a couple of times. And we are learning from that mistake, and trying our damndest to pull it back. We all need to realize that compromise is a good thing. As long as you aren't compromising your principles.

We all know right from wrong, good from bad. It's a matter of putting life in perspective and getting over the old adage of "looking out for number 1". We all need to look out for each other. And we all need to look out for our country, or pretty soon, someone else will own it. Think about that as we go into the new year.

There are so many countries that are investing in America, floating our debt for us. And how long do we really think that's gonna need to happen? We need to get a grip on the war, a grip on our taxing and spending, and we need to refocus on what's important. I'm not sure how that's going to happen, but we should all take a step back and take a deep breath. It's gonna get fun.