Well here's a new one...

Hubby went to get some grease for his grease gun at Harbor Freight on Monday.  They asked him for his birthday.  Seems they cant sell grease to anyone under 21.  I wonder what they do with it...ohh the things that run through your mind LOL. 

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Lundberg Family Farms

If you are looking for a good rice product look at Lundberg's site.  They sell at national retailers.  The following is an excerpt from their email I recently received...

Lundberg Family Farms® proudly sponsored the first ever Non-GMO Month in October

by participating in the “Celebrate your right to choose Non-GMO” campaign on Facebook.

The Facebook application educated users about GMOs, the Non-GMO Project, and featured

brands participating in the product verification program, including Lundberg. It also

raised funds for the Project with vendor sponsors donating $1 for every click from users.

The process of genetic modification, which takes place in a laboratory, typically merges

DNA from different species, creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and viral genes

that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding. 
Studies, meanwhile, increasingly show a correlation between consumption of GMOs and an array

of health risks. As a result, more and more consumers are seeking non-GMO choices, and Nielson

reported in February of last year that “GMO-free” is now the fastest growing store brand label claim.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association estimates that GMOs currently are in approximately 80%

of conventional processed foods in the United States, but they are not labeled. To fill the information

gap, a “Non-GMO Project Verified” seal has been created. Manufacturers earn the seal through

compliance with rigorous GMO avoidance standards, including ingredient testing, as part of the

nation’s first third party non-GMO verification program.

Lundberg was among the first companies to have their products verified by the Non-GMO Project

and is currently working on adding the “Non-GMO Project Verified” seal to the packaging

of 82 rice products that have been “Non-GMO Project Verified”.

I thought the 80% of processed foods are GMO was very interesting...

All I can say...

is it is a good thing that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow because if he had I think a lot of people would have made a trip to Punxsy to see him and it would not be pretty :).  Poor little groundhog...LOL.

Stonyfield's email just got today on GE alfalfa

I just got this email today from Stonyfield.  If you didnt know, now they are also going to farm GE rice that has had human DNA put in it.  Wrong, wrong, so wrong....


As you know this past Thursday, the USDA announced its decision to deregulate genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. Alfalfa is an important crop for many organic dairy farmers and despite a growing body of scientific evidence against GE crops, the USDA decided to allow planting of GE alfalfa without any oversight or protections for organic farmers. We believe that the USDA decision favors the interests of the biotech industry, and deals a major blow to both organic farming and the public’s right to choose foods free of GE contamination.




It is crucial that those of us who care about organic and feeding our families food free of GE ingredients join together and act. We hope you’ll take the time to read this letter below from Maria Rodale, Michael Pollan, and the organic community and learn how to take action.



We also hope you’ll share it with your on-line and off-line communities. Here is the direct, easily sharable link: http://huff.to/g0qE1u



LETTER FROM THE ORGANIC COMMUNITY



We stand united in opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to once again allow unlimited, nationwide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers.



Last spring more than 200,000 people submitted comments to the USDA highly critical of the substance and conclusions of its draft EIS on GE Alfalfa. Instead of responding to these comments and concerns, including expert comments from farmers, scientists, academics, conservationists, and food safety and consumer advocates, the USDA has chosen instead to listen to a handful of agricultural biotechnology companies.



USDA’s decision to allow unlimited, nationwide commercial planting of

Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready alfalfa without any restrictions flies in the face of the interests of conventional and organic farmers, preservation of the environment, and consumer choice. USDA has become a rogue agency in its regulation of biotech crops and its decision to appease the few companies who seek to benefit from this technology comes despite increasing evidence that GE alfalfa will threaten the rights of American farmers and consumers, as well as damage the environment.



The Center for Food Safety will be suing on this decision.



In the coming months, we will be seeing USDA proposals to allow unrestricted plantings of GE sugar beets, and GE corn and soy crops designed to resist toxic pesticides, such as 2-4D and Dicamba, highly toxic pesticides that pose a serious threat to our health and the environment. To win these critical and difficult battles, the entire organic community, and our allies in the conventional food and farming community, will have to work together.



Now is the time to unite in action. We need to work together to restore sanity to our food system, stop the deregulation of GE crops and join together against the forces that are seeking to silence hundreds of thousands of Americans.



As we move forward, we are united in opposing genetically engineered organisms in food production and believe that pressure to stop the proliferation of this contaminating technology must be focused on the White House and Congress. The companies responsible for this situation are the biotech companies whose GE technology causes genetic drift and environmental hazards that are not contained as the deregulation of genetically engineered alfalfa goes forward. The organic community stands together with consumer, farmer, environmental and business interests to ensure practices that are protective of health and the environment.



We urge you to join us today.



Sign up to receive action alerts:

http://cfs.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Register



Consider making a donation to the legal effort ahead:

https://secure3.convio.net/cfs/site/Donation2?1311.donation=form1&df_id=1311&JServSessionIdr004=vqetvh6lh5.app306a



Let the White House know that you do not support the deregulation of GE alfalfa:

http://ota.capwiz.com/ota/issues/alert/?alertid=24747501



Sincerely,



Christine Bushway, Organic Trade Association

Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides

Michael Funk, United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI)

Elizabeth Henderson, NOFA Interstate Council

Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm

Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition

Kristina Hubbard, Organic Seed Alliance

Faye Jones, Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service

Robby Kenner, Robert Kenner Films

Andrew Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety

Russell Libby, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners (MOFGA)

Ed Maltby, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA)

Robyn O’Brien, Allergy Kids

Keith Olcott, Equal Exchange

Michael Pollan, Author

Maria Rodale, Rodale Inc.

Eric Schlosser, Author

Robynn Schrader, National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA)

George Siemon, Organic Valley

Michael Sligh, Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI)

Megan Westgate, Non-GMO Project

Maureen Wilmot, Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)

Enid Wonnacott, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT)

New Films coming out...

Well just heard that they will begin filming The Hobbit this month.  It's going to be a two parter.  Cant wait to see it.  Some of the cast from Lord of The Rings is going to be in this one.  They even said that Christopher Lee (who is 88) will be reprising his role.  I am pretty sure that it is going to be just as good as the original trilogy.  It is supposed to come out in 2013.  Long wait for hopefully a good movie.

On the other hand I just read that they are going to be filming another movie.  It's called Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter...Huh????  This vampire stuff is just getting way out of hand.  They say that movies reflect the mood of the people.  I guess we are just surrounded by vampires, well I'm not, just the people in Washington maybe LOL. :)

In my opinion there havent been very many good movies lately.  I think the writers arent in touch with reality in some ways.  Funny movies just arent funny.  Replacing some good laughs with swearing and gutter humor really isnt working.  TV doesnt have any really funny shows on.  I guess maybe I'm getting too old.  I remember when you watched Lucy, Barney, the Fonz, Laverne and Shirley and they were funny.  Sure they were silly but it was a nice vacation from reality.  TV doesnt have anything on that is worth watching really and the good shows that they do have on they cancel for lack of viewership.  Where do they get the numbers?  I watch some shows dont get me wrong but no reality shows.  Dont get those at all.  If I want reality all I have to do is go to the store.  There's a big dose of reality.  I want fantasy, just get away type of shows where I have to maybe think about the show during the week.  I loved Lost though some people didnt get it and you really had to watch it from the beginning to halfway understand it.  It had a religious ending which some people didnt like but I thought it was great.  After the first season I could see the religious underpinnings which really came to the forefront during the last season. 

I guess what I am trying to say in my rambling way is that movies and TV shows need to do something whether that is just making people laugh to taking them to a different place and time or into situations where they would never be to trying to make a difference in their lives whether it be from laughing and enjoying themselves to making them think or making them forget.  Movies and TV are powerful.  Although they are not the end all and be all by any means.  I could live without TV but not without books.  Books make you use your imagination and that is something we all could use a lot more of.

Well now that I have just about made a circle and not made any sense I'll close for now.  Hope everyone made it through the bad weather.  It was sure cold here this morning and yesterday the wind was whipping around so it made me think it was colder than it was.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

NIA on State of the Union Address

Obama Fails to Address Inflation in State of the Union




President Obama's State of the Union address last night did not make one single mention of inflation, when it is the belief of NIA that massive price inflation (especially food inflation) will become America's top crisis by the end of this calendar year. Obama's speech also failed to mention the Federal Reserve, the Federal Funds Rate being held near 0% for over two years, and the Fed's latest round of $600 billion in quantitative easing. Unless Obama addresses our nation's fiat currency system, nothing else he says has any meaning at all.



After the U.S. lost 8.36 million jobs over a two year period from December of 2007 through December of 2009, our economy has recovered 1.12 million jobs as a result of the Federal Reserve and U.S. government spending $4.6 trillion on bailouts and stimulus programs. That is over $4 million spent for each job created. Instead of bailing out Wall Street and allowing non-productive bankers to receive record bonuses, the U.S. could have sent a check for $550,000 to each middle-class American who lost their job.





When a central bank prints trillions of dollars out of thin air, you are going to see some type of a nominal uptick in economic statistics. Obama can brag all he wants about over 1 million jobs being created, but he continues to ignore what the ultimate cost of it will be. When a government has an annual cash budget deficit of over $1 trillion that cannot possibly be balanced by raising taxes, massive inflation is the inevitable outcome. Our real budget deficit, once you include increases in our unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, is already north of $5 trillion. NIA believes the U.S. is now at serious risk of experiencing hyperinflation by the year 2015.





Obama proposed in his speech that "we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years" saying it "would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, and will bring discretionary spending to the lowest share of our economy since Dwight Eisenhower was president." The truth is, Obama's proposals, if successfully implemented, would not reduce the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade. They would only cut $400 billion from proposed spending increases. NIA doesn't understand why Obama would even waste his breath talking about reducing the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade, when the Federal Reserve is creating $600 billion in monetary inflation over a period of just eight months. Americans who listened to Obama speak last night wasted over an hour of their time, because until the Federal Reserve raises interest rates and stops printing money, it will be impossible for the U.S. economy to truly recover and become healthy.



Even if the U.S. government cut all discretionary spending down to zero, we would still have a budget deficit from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone. Surprisingly, Obama admitted that most of the cuts he proposed "only address annual domestic spending, which represents a little more than 12% of our budget." When referring to the Deficit Commission's proposed spending cuts, Obama said "their conclusion is that the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it". In what was Obama's most shocking statement of the night, he went on to say, "This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit."



This is the closest Obama has ever come to admitting that major cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are necessary, if we want to have any hope of ever balancing our budget. However, NIA is taking Obama's comments with a grain of salt. He immediately changed the subject in the very next sentence, claiming his health care reform law that was enacted last year "will slow these rising costs". He then continued to defend the law saying, "repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit."



One week ago, the new Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted 245-189 to repeal Obama's health care reform law. The House's vote to repeal it is meaningless because it would never pass the U.S. Senate and even if it did, Obama would simply veto it. NIA believes the law should be repealed because it is impossible for government legislation to bring down health care costs. Only the free market can bring down health care costs and the health care reform law will impede the free market more than any piece of legislation has ever impeded the free market in any industry or sector in history. In our opinion, the new health care law is guaranteed to add trillions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade and there is absolutely no chance of Obama ever making the necessary dramatic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid until the U.S. is already in the middle of an outbreak of hyperinflation.



When it comes to Social Security, Obama said we need a "bipartisan solution to strengthen" it and "we must do it without putting at risk current retirees" and "without slashing benefits for future generations". In other words, nobody in Washington is even going to bring up the possibility of cutting or eliminating Social Security, because it would be political suicide for them. We need more honest representatives in Washington like Ron Paul who aren't afraid to speak the truth about the need to cut entitlement programs and inform the American public to the consequences of our government's deficit spending.



Most Americans think they don't have to worry about our country's national debt because our grandchildren are the ones who will ultimately be responsible to pay it off. Unfortunately, it won't just be our grandchildren who feel the pain of our deficit spending and monetary inflation. All Americans with incomes and savings in U.S. dollars along with all foreigners holding dollar-denominated assets will begin to feel the pain of our government's destructive actions in the very near future through massive price inflation and the U.S. dollar losing nearly all of its purchasing power.



One thing from last night's State of the Union address is very clear, Obama is not serious about cutting spending and nobody in Washington has any expectation of the U.S. ever returning to a balanced budget. NIA believes that this past week's dip in the prices of gold and silver is an unbelievable buying opportunity for Americans who already own precious metals as well as those wishing to buy precious metals for the first time. Sure, both gold and silver could dip lower in the short-term, but we can't try to time short-term fluctuations and we need to stay focused on the long-term destruction of the U.S. dollar. In future State of the Union addresses to come in another year or two down the road, the entire focus of the President's speech will likely be on inflation and the collapsing U.S. dollar. When that time comes and mainstream America becomes aware of what NIA members have known for years, we could easily see $5,000 per ounce gold and $500 per ounce silver, and everybody will regret not loading up as much as possible at these levels.



It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

Hubby brings me a present

Hubby had off today and after fixing the truck (that's a whole other post) he decided to go take our recyclers to the recycle center.  When he came back he told me there was a present in the back of the truck for me.  Now I'm thinking what in the world cause he isnt a junker and doesnt usually pick up things.  Well I went out and looked in the back of the truck and there was a case of 12 wide mouth quart jars.  He said that they were sitting beside the recycling bins.  The thing was that they were still in the original packing and were brand new.  He did open the plastic to make sure that none of them were broke before bringing them home.  The only thing I saw wrong with them is that some of the bands were starting to rust.  So I got 12 new canning jars for free!  How great is that?  I figured someone was cleaning out their mom's house and decided to recycle them.  Although why they didnt even take the lids off and such is beyond me and also our recycling place doesnt take glass so maybe they thought someone could use them...The things people throw out are amazing sometimes...

Talk to ya later!

Denise

chick pea recipe

See the pic?  It tastes much better than it looks. 

To make:  Dice two potatoes and one small onion.  Saute in butter til onions are translucent.  Add one can of chick peas (I used my home canned ones) and one can of diced tomatoes with liquid.  Cook til the potatoes are done and chick peas are softened.  If you need more liquid, add some chicken stock.  To spice it up some I added garam masala about two tablespoons, some salt and pepper.  I ate this with some bread and butter but you could put over rice or noodles for a completely different taste sensation. 

If you try this recipe let me know how you prepared it.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Snow

Here are some pics I took during our big snow storm of 8 inches.  It's a lot for down here in Alabama so pick yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard ;)  The pics are also showing off our new fence system (two dog pens put together) and the behind the coop is the little building we built to keep the chicks out of the weather.  That's DH checking on the chicks...

Knit alert!

Yes I finally finished the skirt that I started knitting in the summer.  The waistband was kind of freaking me out but it turned out pretty nice.  In my journey to use up old stuff, I used an old waistband from some worn out underwear (shh dont tell).  The underwear I cut up for rags and I am really hating to throw out something useful and the waistbands were not in bad shape, still stretchy so I used one of them for the skirt.  The skirt itself was a really dull knit after all the interesting bells and lace at the bottom - just straight knitting up to the waistband.  I inserted the elastic and sewed the top down about an inch for the elastic casing.  Cant wait until it gets warm enough to wear it.I have some other knit things going on and will post them as I complete them...

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Kombucha and dehydrating veggies

 This is our quart of kombucha just fermenting away.  It will turn into vinegar if you let it go long enough.  Which is what happens when you forget about it...LOL.  If you are interested in making kombucha which is tangy sweet with lots of probiotics, you need to get a scoby.  The scoby, also called mother, is the fungus looking thing at the top of the jar.  I ordered mine from one place where it had been dehydrated but even after they sent me a second one I just couldnt get it to do anything so I ordered this one off of Ebay.  Kind of strange to get it in the mail.  It came hydrated in its own kombucha liquid.  To make it you take some boiled water (chlorine is a no-no), add sugar and steep some tea (with no additives).  I used green tea but you can also use black and white teas.  The scoby will tint.  If you use white sugar and white tea the scoby will be whiter and the liquid will be clearer too.  After you have it fermenting a couple of days up to a week another baby will form on top of the mother.  I usually compost the mother and use the baby for the next batch. 

On to dehydrating.  To begin I cut up all the veggies into 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch slices and spread them out on the racks.  Here are mushrooms.  I bought them on sale at Publix when they had buy one get one free deal going on.

 Also at Publix they had buy one get one free on celery so I dehydrated them too.  I even used the leaves.  They will add a lot of flavor to your soups and stews.

Here is the same batch after dehydrating. 

Here is my dehydrator looking in from the front.  It has five racks.

And here are some onions I dehydrated.  It is amazing how little space they take up after they are dehydrated.  I put them in jars and store them in my cupboard.  I also did some peppers and carrots.  To rehydrate just throw a small amount into your soup.  For the mushrooms we use them on pizzas so to rehydrate them we put them in some hot water and let them sit for 5-10 minutes.  Dehydrating is a wonderful thing I have found and so glad I bought the dehydrator.  It has freed up space in my freezer and fridge and now things arent going bad before I use them.  I'll have to remember to take a pic of the finished jars so you can see how much I actually did.  I'm still experimenting with it.  Next on the agenda is to dehydrate some sourdough starter.  Will let you know how that turns out...

Talk to ya later!

Denise

3 Item swap

I'm really late about posting this but back in December I signed up for a 3-item swap on MaryJane's Farm forum.  The three items were to be one handmade item, one store bought item and a recipe.  I sent a lavendar sachet that I made (hand sewn and my own lavendar), two recipes, a angel coffee cup and a little santa pin.  I only took a pic of the sachet and here it is:

Here is what I got in return:  A container of organic coffee, a handmade pincushion and a recipe.  Here is a pic:

Oh and she had used as filler in the box some "old" she said fabric.  I'm going to use it in a quilt.  Waste not want not :)

Talk to ya later!

Denise

New Years Resolutions for Cats...

Thought this was really funny so I'm passing it along

It's that time of year. Here's a list a cat might compile, if they could write (and if they actually cared)




I will not flush the toilet while my human is in the shower.

I will not puff my entire body to twice its size for no reason after my humans watch a horror movie.

I will not slurp fish food from the surface of the aquarium.

I will not lean over to drink out of the tub, fall in, and then run screaming into the box of clumping cat litter.

I will not use the humans' bathtub to store live mice for late-night snacks.

I will not eat large numbers of assorted bugs, then come home and barf them up so the humans can see that I'm getting plenty of roughage.

My human will never let me eat her pet rat, and I am at peace with that.

I will not help myself to Q-tips, and I will not attempt to stuff them down the drain to dispose of them.

I will not perch on my human's chest in the middle of the night and stare into her eyes until she wakes up.

As fast as I am, I must remember that I cannot run through closed doors.

I will not back up off the front porch and fall into the bushes just as my human is explaining to his girlfriend how graceful I am.

I will remember that I am a walking static generator. My human does not need my help installing a new board in her computer.

Birds do not come from the bird feeder. I will not repeatedly knock it down and try to open it up to get the birds out.

I will remember that my human really will wake up and feed me. I do not have to pry his eyelids open with my claws.

I will remember that a warm pepperoni pizza is not a good place for a nap!

I will not hide behind the toilet so that I can pat the human on the backside when he sits down just to make him levitate.

I will not drag dirty socks up from the basement in the middle of the night, deposit them on the bed and yell at the top of my lungs so that my human can admire my "kill."

If I sit in the sink while my human is brushing his teeth, I will not get angry when he spits toothpaste on me.

I will not complain that my butt is wet and that I am thirsty after sitting in my water bowl.

I will not knead my male human's groin at 3 AM with claws extended. It seems to cause him some discomfort and he wakes up all grumpy.

I will not attempt to stop the human's snoring by sticking my paws into his mouth.

I will not use my psychic powers to project myself into my human's dreams when I am hungry, causing her to dream that I am a talking cat, and I can say "Where's my supper!"

I will not run through the house with a condom wrapper in my mouth when my human's grandmother is visiting.

I will not teach the parrot to meow in a loud and raucous manner.

When my young humans are playing with modeling clay, I will not remove solid waste from my litter tray and roll it onto the kitchen floor.

When the humans play darts, I will not leap into the air and attempt to catch them.

I will not display my worm collection on the kitchen floor on a rainy night. My human does not like finding it with her bare feet.

Craft Giveaway - check it out!!!

Too cute!

7-Eleven Secretly Reduces Size of Super Big Gulp

Very Interesting article from NIA 


7-Eleven Secretly Reduces Size of Super Big Gulp


An NIA member just sent this to us with the suggestion that we do a future documentary on all of the retailers and wholesalers that are secretly reducing the sizes of their products with no warning to the public, while keeping their prices the same.



Apparently, 7-Eleven just reduced the size of their Super Big Gulp drink from 44 oz to 40 oz and the price has remained the same at $1.50. This is food inflation by deception, but it is indeed another form of food inflation. The real cost for a Super Big Gulp at 7-Eleven just rose by 10%, but this will never show up in any government CPI numbers.



Super Big Gulp fan says 7-Eleven duping the public out of 4 ounces

By John Kelso from the Austin American-Statesman



One thing I admire about Austinites is how they’re all over any wrongdoing that comes along, large or small. Or, in this case, super.



Take Paul Sunby, 50, a biologist with an environmental consulting firm who is all over 7-Eleven for “trying to dupe people” over the actual size of its Super Big Gulp fountain drink. Sunby said the convenience store has reduced the size of the drink from 44 to 40 ounces in a sneaky way — or as he put it, “cleverly, quietly, and diabolically.” Meanwhile, he said, the price remains the same: $1.50.



Paul, who is married to one of our business reporters, Lori Hawkins, said he noticed this transgression last summer when the store stopped selling Super Big Gulps for a couple of months, then started up again with a new cup. The old cup used to say Super Big Gulp on it, along with the 44-ounce size. But the new cup, while saying Super Big Gulp, included no size info, Paul said.



“They still say Super Big Gulp, but they no longer had the 44-ounce size printed on them, making people think they’re the same thing,” Paul groused.



Sunby said the new cup just didn’t feel quite as large as the earlier version, so he decided to measure. Was the wool being pulled over the eyes of the big soda-pop-drinking public?



“The first time, unofficially, I just took the new cup and filled it with water up to the top, and poured it into a legitimate 44-ounce cup from Exxon Tigermarket, and noticed that it didn’t fill it up all the way,” Paul said. “It was a quarter-cup short. So then I actually filled it back up and poured it into a measuring cup to get the full measurement, and determined it is a 40-ounce cup.”



Sunby said he wouldn’t be upset if it just said “40 ounces” on the side of the new Super Big Gulp. “They still called it a Super Big Gulp, when in fact it’s no longer,” he said. “It’s somewhere between a Big Gulp and a Super Big Gulp. It’s a Not So Big Gulp. To me, the Super Big Gulp is deceased.”



Sunby thinks this is important because, as he wrote in his e-mail, the term Big Gulp “seems to have a place in the fabric of some segments of society.”



“The Super Big Gulp is an American institution, in my mind,” he said. “How many truckers have made it across I-10 because of the Super Big Gulp?”



I called up 7-Eleven corporate to try to get to the bottom of this. I spoke to a woman named Keisha, who said she couldn’t give me her last name. I asked her if 7-Eleven had changed the size of the Super Big Gulp without informing the public. She looked it up, then said, “It says it has been changed to 40 ounces, this information I have in my system.”



So I asked her if 7-Eleven had made a public announcement about the change.



“We don’t have announcements; we just have information, so I’m not sure if we ran an announcement or not,” she said. Then she gave me case No. 1101030132. If I hear anything more, I’ll let you know.


ALSO-
Watch your bacon sizes as well, they are no longer 1lb packages most have gone down to 12 ounces.  Dont be surprised if the size of your bread loaves goes down as well.  In the last three weeks my husband said that the price of bacon went up $3.  And that's on the sale price...I think I need to start canning meat...:)

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Update on the flooring

On Thursday we started the flooring in the craft/computer room.  Needless to say there was a lot of stuff to be moved out of there.  Hubby just kept shaking his head and mumbling dont know why...:)  Told him not to open the closet (good thing we didnt have to do that floor in there yet).  It is a good reason to get rid of some stuff though.  I even (gasp) got rid of some yarn.   But everything needs to be looked over and either donated or sold.  We didnt get the room done but almost.  It took a lot of time to take off the baseboards, pull up the carpet, pull up the little wooden strip with nails and pound down the nails into the cement.  We have a cement slab and it was easier to pound down the nails than try to pull them up cause if you try to pull them up some of the cement usually comes with them.  Then we laid down the foam (this is for a floating floor) and then I stayed on the floor fitting the pieces while hubby went out and cut the end pieces I needed to complete each section.  It went pretty quick but we tuckered out.  Must have been all the moving out of stuff LOL.  Needless to say we were very sore the next day.  I'm still a little sore.  My upper downer is pretty sore.  Hard to sit down and even harder to stand up.  Getting old and too fat I guess for this kind of stuff.  We are planning to finish up the floor here next week when hubby has another day off and then we will have to go to Home Depot to get some half round to put with the baseboards to make it all look professional.  Will try to get pics but half my "stuff" is in other rooms and I put together my computer just last night. 

The truck still isnt working.  Hubby got a brand new battery but it wouldnt start.  He thinks its the starter.  He has put one of those on the truck before so maybe we will be getting that part and he can put it on when he has time. 

We're supposed to be getting up to 7 inches of snow and if it snows that much he probably will not be going to work.  They dont have snow plows here that I know of and usually use sand on the roads if we get dustings of snow.  It's not the snow that worries my hubby just the crazy people down here that have never driven in it.  Kinda scary.  He works at Kroger and they were so busy yesterday that he had a hard time putting out lunchmeat there were so many people in there.  Its crazy to have to run to the store immediately because of a storm coming but thats what they do.  No planning.  And the things that they buy kind of crack me up.  Its always toilet paper, milk and bread.  We lose electricity your milk will go bad (in the summer) and what they dont need something to put on the bread?  We're set unless we lose electricity but even then we'll be OK.  We have a fireplace and some fake logs.  They dont make much heat but some and if worse comes to worse we can go get a kerosene heater although hubby's sinuses cant take that smell too much.  We have the cats for heat too :)

Has everyone got their seed catalogs yet?  We have gotten so many.  Cant wait for spring!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Bad day for hubby

The day started out Ok.  We went to Tractor Supply for some chicken feed and then came home.  He made big plans today you see and wanted to get everything done on his list.  Of course he never completes the list because he always has too much on the list and never has enough time to do everything.  Then he ends up beating himself up because he didnt get his list done...sigh.  Well the truck stopped running the other day so the next thing on his list was to check the battery.  So I had to mail my Christmas package to my parents and brother out today (dont ask...no I mean really dont ask) and he said we would go to the post office and he would stop at the parts store to see if they had the right battery in stock and ask how much it would be.  Well we did go to the post office and I mailed the package out (was less than I expected but glad the rates hadnt gone up yet) and then we went over to the parts store.  They had the battery in stock.  The price really didnt matter as if he needed a battery of course we would get one.  We went back home and he pushed the truck out of the garage.  He cleaned the terminals and I started the car after he put the jumper cables on the batteries.  The truck started after a few minutes of waiting and what does he do but shut it off...sigh again ;).  Of course it wouldnt start again so off he goes to get a battery while I stay at home and do the transcription.  He took the old battery with him so they could check it.  The battery was 5 years old so he got another one.  He comes back with a battery and a battery terminal cleaner, goes out and puts the new battery in the truck and it STILL WOULDNT START...not a good day like I said.  He ended up going to Harbor Freight for a battery tester (as he had broken his today) and a battery charger.  He finally comes home and the truck STILL WOULDNT START.  It just makes this wonderful clicking noise.  Needless to say he didnt get his list done and was depressed about it all night poor baby.  Tomorrow when he comes back from work he will check all the connections and wires to make sure nothing is disconnected.  If he cant find the problem I guess we will have to have it towed to a garage and let them see if they can fix it.  It could be the starter or the alternator.  Keep your fingers crossed its just a loose wire.  Alternators are expensive.  Starters he can replace himself but not the alternator...

I had a rather good day on the flip side of today's "list".  Maybe because I didnt have a list?  Chicks gave us five eggs today and it was a beautiful sunny day what more could you ask for...well dont ask hubby that :)

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Turkey Casserole

Just wanted to let you know what I did with all the leftovers we had from Thanksgiving.  I made a casserole.  It was really yummy and we ate it all - no more leftovers!

Here is what I did:

I had 2 cups of stuffing leftover so I put that in the bottom of a greased casserole dish, layered some turkey (about a cup but you could add more), buttered peas, corn, chopped onions (not leftover), poured the leftover gravy over all and topped with 4 cups of mashed potatoes.  Covered it with tinfoil and put in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.  We didnt have any cranberry sauce but I think it would really have tasted good with this casserole.

If anybody tries this, let me know how yours turns out.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Happy New Year!

I know I'm late...and have been absent from this blog for a while.  I have no excuse just being lazy I guess...

Let's see for Christmas I knitted two shawls for my mom one for summer and one for winter and I knitted a wool sweater for my dad.  I started another cardigan for me and will be casting on another pair of socks for DH. 

We will be putting in a new floor in my computer/craft room just as soon as I can clean it out to do so...sigh.

I didnt decorate much for Christmas, wasnt in the mood for much but we did have a white Christmas of about three inches of snow which was nice.  Mom and Dad got me a butter churn (too cool) so now if I can get some cream I'm all set to make butter.

The snow melted and then it rained and flooded but not near to us.  We had high winds though but the temps were in the 50s and 60s.  Now it's back down to 30s and low 40s in the daytime again.

We put out the new heated chicken waterer and it works like a charm.  We put up a new enclosure for the chicks right before the snow came and good thing too cause the old one collapsed from the snow.  Chickens dont like snow...didnt know that but they dont.

I've been spinning some yarn and when I get enough spun I'll ply it and then wash it again to set the spin and hang it to dry.  Plying was kind of freaking me out but I did it no problem.  Dont know why I was freaking out about it.

Cant believe that 2011 is here.  Where did all the time go?  My resolutions...well I really only have a few.
I want to learn more about everything.  Small resolution dont ya think? 
I want to be more tolerant of people.
I want to be more accepting of myself and not say negative things like I'm too stupid to do that (see plying above).
I want to get rid of most of this stuff that is cluttering up this house.  It's starting to really bug me.
I want to really start blogging more cause you know what an interesting life I lead (ha!)

No resolutions about losing weight.  I just want to eat healthier and get out in the open air more.

I think those are reasonable resolutions, dont you?

Talk to ya later!

Denise

A Great Email explaining the difference between liberals and conservatives

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.




She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.



One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.



The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.



Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”

She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.”



Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, “That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”



The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the conservative side of the fence.”



If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between conservative and liberal or progressive or neocon I'm all ears.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!



If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.

If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.



If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.

If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.



If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.



If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.



If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.



If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.

A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)



If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.



If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.

A liberal will delete it because he's "offended."



Well, I forwarded it to you.

New NIA video

Sears

On one of my yahoo groups one of the members posted the following:

Sears - Christmas shopping this year.




I know I needed this reminder, since Sears isn't always my first choice. It's

amazing when you think of how long the war has lasted and Sears hasn't withdrawn

from their commitment. Could we each buy at least one thing at Sears this year?



How does Sears treat its employees who are called up for military duty? By law,

they are required to hold their jobs open and available, but nothing more.

Usually, people take a big pay cut and lose benefits as a result of being called

up for active duty.



Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salaries and maintaining all

benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs, for all called up

reservist employees for up to two years.



I submit that Sears is an exemplary corporate citizen and should be recognized

for its contribution. I suggest we all shop at Sears at least once, and be sure

to find a manager to tell them why we are there so the company gets the positive

reinforcement & feedback it well deserves.



Pass it on.



I decided to check this before I sent it forward. So I sent the following e-mail

to the Sears Customer Service Department:



I received this e-mail and I would like to know if it is true. If it is, the

internet may have just become one very good source of advertisement for your

company. I know I would go out of my way to buy products from Sears instead of

another store for a like item, even if it's cheaper at that store.



This is their answer to my e-mail:



Dear Customer:



Thank you for contacting Sears.The information is factual. We appreciate your

positive feedback.



Sears regards service to our country as one of greatest sacrifices our young men

and women can make. We are happy to do our part to lessen the burden they bear

at this time.



Bill Thorn

Sears Customer Care

webcenter@sears.com

1-800-349-4358



Please pass this on to all your friends. Sears needs to be recognized for this

outstanding contribution and we need to show them as A mericans, we do

appreciate what they are doing for our military!!!

Merry Christmas!!

'Twas the night before Christmas & out on the ranch




The pond was froze over & so was the branch.



The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule.



The kids were all home on vacation from school,



And happier young folks you never did see-



Just all sprawled around a-watchin' TV.



Then suddenly, some time around 8 o'clock,



There came a surprise that gave them a shock!



The power went off, the TV went dead!



When Grandpa came in from out in the shed



With an armload of wood, the house was all dark.



"Just what I expected," they heard him remark.



"Them power line wires must be down from the snow.



Seems sorter like times on the ranch long ago."



"I'll hunt up some candles," said Mom. "With their light,



And the fireplace, I reckon we'll make out all right."



The teen-agers all seemed enveloped in gloom.



Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his room,



Uncased his old fiddle & started to play



That old Christmas song about bells on a sleigh.



Mom started to sing, & 1st thing they knew



Both Pop & the kids were all singing it, too.



They sang Christmas carols, they sang "Holy Night,"



Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight.



They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth,



And Pop read a passage from God's Book of Truth.



They stayed up till midnight-and, would you believe,



The youngsters agreed 'twas a fine Christmas Eve.



Grandpa rose early, some time before dawn;



And when the kids wakened, the power was on..



"The power company sure got the line repaired quick,"



Said Grandpa - & no one suspected his trick.



Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun,



He had pulled the main switch - the old Son-of-a-Gun!



-anonymous

It's cold out there

It has been in the 20's all day.  Last night it was down into the teen's but with the wind chill it is a lot colder...

The chick-chicks got a taste of their first snow yesterday and its still on the ground today.  They arent too happy with it and are cuddling in the coop instead...only coming out to guard their scratch from the sparrows who apparently think its free food LOL.  Kinda fun to look out the window and see a chicken chasing a sparrow ;)

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Strange Day...

It's 25 degrees and the wind is whipping around.  There are these strange little white things coming down from the sky.  I wonder what it could be?  Hmmm.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Look what I found at Never Done Farm...

Today was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor...

And I am sooooo sorry that I forgot to put out my flag.  I apologize to all the vets out there.  I take it down whenever it gets too windy and believe me it was very windy the past few days but not today.  Again I apologize.

It is also my grandpa's birthday.  He was very upset when he was too old to go over there and be a soldier.  Although I think my grandma was probably pretty glad he stayed home.  They actually worked in a steel mill during the war.  They are both gone and I miss them. 

Will try to post pics tomorrow of what has been going on here which isnt much but I'll let you judge that for yourselves.   LOL. 

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Oh and...

the FDA has taken Darvocet off the market.  The docs I work for cant give this pain medication out any more and are prescribing a lot more topical creams instead.  FDA approved many meds that were later taken off the market because of "problems" with the meds.  I guess if the drug manufacturers fill out the proper paperwork they can get any med approved.  It's only when people start have bad reactions (like dying) that the FDA removes the drugs from the market.  Dont you just love the drug commercials on TV...so many side effects and some are worse than the actual disease.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Top ten lies about Senate Bill 510

Top ten lies about Senate Bill 510

Hobby Lobby and other stuff

hobbylobby.com is having a great deal today.  40% off your highest priced item and under $3 shipping.  They have even added fabric to their items you can order.  I ordered some batting...OK I admit I ordered 5 yards but it was a good deal...the shipping is much cheaper than me driving over there and fighting crowds tomorrow (they are closed on Sunday).  This deal is only good today though.  If your interested hop on over there and sign up for their emails cause they always send you a coupon. 

DH and I went to Home Depot the other day as well (yes Black Friday) to pick up some insulation for the chicken roof.  We went when the Iron Bowl was on and traffic really wasnt too bad actually.  We figured it was a good time to go because of the game.  I really didnt want to go because of all the crowds...people get nasty too.  I'm making most of my gifts this year and anything that I really want to get I'll get online. 

DH and I are building a little shelter for the chicks to get out of the weather.  The coop we have is really small and only for sleeping and laying eggs.  DH put up a tarp the other day since the wind was blowing and it was cold (in the 30's).  The last few nights we have had to bring in the waterers so they dont freeze.  Looks like it is going to be a cold winter here in Alabama.  We chopped up the pumpkin my friend gave me for the holidays and the chicks really liked the seeds but not so much the flesh of it.  DH was afraid it was going bad and we needed to cut it up right now before it molded...he's so funny.  I had to explain to him that our ancestors used to store such pumpkins over winter in their root cellars and it took a long time for them to mold.  He says that about everything which explains why we dont seem to have any snacks...hmmm.  You know they go moldy if they arent eaten right away :)

We had a quiet Thanksgiving.  DH had to work and I just cooked in the morning.  We had smoked turkey breast, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, homemade stuffing and homemade sweet potato pie.  I made too much...so we have leftovers for the next week probably lol.  I'm going to cut up the meat and freeze it.  Then take the carcass and make broth from that and freeze the broth.  Nothing like homemade soup in the winter. 

Well I have to get back to work.  I'm trying to get completely caught up so I can take tomorrow off to help put up the new chicken fence.  I'll try to post pics of it.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

NIA's new video

This new video is on Youtube.  Very good video, Please watch it!  It is so much better to be prepared even if everyone thinks you're crazy.  They thought Noah was crazy too...

Hope you all had a very Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Denise

NIA's New Video Goes Viral






On Wednesday, November 24th, the National Inflation Association released a shocking and stunning video entitled, 'The Day the Dollar Died', which shows the world exactly what could happen to the U.S. economy in the very near future during the first 12 hours of a U.S. dollar collapse. Although the video itself is fictional, NIA believes a U.S. dollar collapse is inevitable and there is a strong likelihood that the U.S. will experience an outbreak of hyperinflation this decade. 'The Day the Dollar Died' is a wake up call for Americans who aren't yet stocking up on gold, silver and food supplies. The U.S. dollar's day of reckoning is coming and only Americans who prepare now will survive.



In just 42 hours since its release, 'The Day the Dollar Died' has already been viewed over 145,000 times on YouTube. It is currently YouTube's #1 top favorited news and politics video. Approximately 1,200 people have commented about the video on YouTube alone, with thousands of more comments having been made about the video on hundreds of Internet blogs that have featured it. An amazing 93.5% of those who have watched 'The Day the Dollar Died' have given it a thumbs up.



All of the discussion about 'The Day the Dollar Died' comes hot on the heels of NIA's October 31st release of its latest critically acclaimed full length documentary 'End of Liberty', which shows how Americans are rapidly losing their liberties and freedoms, and how our country is headed for a complete societal collapse. 'End of Liberty' has already received about 1/2 million views in less than one month.



On November 5th, NIA released a report with its projections for future U.S. food prices based on the recently announced $600 billion in quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. Several days later, NIA's food inflation report was featured live on Fox News by Glenn Beck, who was recently ranked by Newsweek as the #2 most influential political figure in the country. On November 12th, NIA's President Gerard Adams was a guest on the Fox Business Network, where he spoke about the potential for food inflation to take over as America's biggest crisis in 2011.



NIA is not a political organization and does not support Republicans or Democrats. NIA exists solely for the purpose of educating Americans to the truth about the U.S. economy and inflation. Americans live in a country where 99% of those who studied economics in college were taught voodoo Keynesian economics.



Keynesian economists have the mistaken belief that all recessions are bad and must be suppressed by government interference in the free market. They believe that by the Federal Reserve manipulating interest rates to artificially low levels and printing trillions of dollars of fiat money out of thin air, they can create jobs, economic growth, and wealth. They believe that a little bit of inflation is good for an economy.



Keynesian economists fail to realize that when price inflation breaks out, it becomes impossible to contain unless interest rates are immediately raised to a level that is higher than the real rate of price inflation. Unfortunately, due to the current size and scope of our national debt and unfunded liabilities, NIA believes it will be impossible for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher than the real rate of inflation. Real interest rates are likely to stay negative until the U.S. dollar collapses and is officially declared dead and worthless.



Gas and grocery bills for all Americans have been rising substantially in recent months. The average American has been seeing health insurance costs spiral out of control on an annual basis. Students have been suffering from college tuitions rising like there is no tomorrow. Massive price inflation is all around us, yet the mainstream media continues to ignore the truth and reports the government's phony CPI numbers as gospel.



Politicians in Washington from both sides of the aisle have been colluding with the media in order to brainwash Americans into believing inflation is not a problem and that their real fear should be deflation. Deflation is a good thing for middle class Americans because it means their money is worth more and their incomes and savings have more purchasing power. Inflation is only good for the politicians because it allows them to steal the wealth of middle class Americans and redistribute it to their banker friends on Wall Street who don't produce anything of real value.



There is no reason for a lawyer or banker to make more money than a farmer or factory worker. This is only made possible by the system we have today, where Americans get suckered into electing representatives who promise entitlements that the government can't afford without printing the money to pay for them. When the dollar bubble bursts and the system collapses, the free market will allow farmers and goods producers to become wealthy while lawyers and bankers go broke.



Most Americans are naive enough to believe that because the U.S. has survived for so long with such a huge national debt and continuous budget deficits, the country will be able to continue down this path forever without any consequences because after all, this is America we are talking about. The truth is, our national debt has grown by 70.7% over the past five years, compared to 41.8% during the previous five years, and 14.3% during the five years before that. Meanwhile, our GDP has grown by 17.9% over the past five years, compared to 27.5% during the previous five years, and 32.9% during the five years before that. We have gone from our GDP growing more than twice as fast as our debt, to our debt growing at nearly quadruple the speed of our GDP. A train wreck is getting ready to happen and this train wreck is literally unstoppable.



To watch 'The Day the Dollar Died' for free please visit the NIA video page at: http://inflation.us/videos.html



It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

Raining on my parade...

Yes it's raining again.  It rained yesterday and it's supposed to rain tomorrow.  This is good...just wish it was a warm rain.  I got chilled yesterday when I went out to feed the chickens and couldnt get warmed up all day.  DH put a tarp up for them yesterday and after the rain slowed down I went out to get most of the pooled water off of it.  When all that rain sluiced off of the tarp it started a little stream down the middle of the chicken run.  It was so funny cause the ladies just looked at it as it was running towards them.  I told them you need to back up a little bit here it comes and they did but not fast enough lol.  They dont seem to mind the wet but we hate to see them getting cold and wet.  So afraid that they would catch cold.  Do chickens catch cold?  I suppose they do though I cant imagine them sneezing.  Wait...that's a cool picture in my head...sneezing chickens. Just the picture not the actuality of it.  I dont want to lose any of my girls to a cold or anything else for that matter.  Funny how you get attached to animals. 

I hung out clothes on Saturday and Mollie our oldest cat decided he wanted to go out with me.  We used to have the cats out all the time but decided to have them inside so we wouldnt have to worry about a car hitting them, etc.  Since we have the backyard now fenced and Mollie isnt the younin he used to be (he's 20) I thought why not let him out to enjoy the weather while he can.  He really loved going out and ended up laying on the warm cement for about a half hour by himself.  Today he decided to go out with DH when he went out to drain the tarp and when I saw him he was back inside looking all sparkly (raindrops)  He didnt stay out too long but wanted to be "helping" DH.  The ladies arent too sure of him but he's a pussycat (pun, couldnt resist) and wouldnt hurt them.  He doesnt have too many teeth left.  I guess he could gum them if he actually could move that fast.  Poor old thing has arthritis.

PS:  The reason he's called Mollie is because his full name is Molasses.  It's just easier to call him Mollie.

I really wanted to hang clothes out today too but no go because of the rain.  Guess I'll have to wait until Wednesday. 

I have been using up the beans I pressured canned.  Wow, they're great.  Just like canned from the store only I know what's in my canned beans.  If you ever have a chance to pressure beans, do it.  It saves so much time in the long run.  I made chili with them the other day and had just enough left over for my lunch the next day it was so good. 

Our tomatoes out in the greenhouse got nipped (frosted) a little bit last week.  DH put a heater out there but it has a shut off feature so if it isnt sitting on a hard surface it isnt going to run.  I didnt check it.  I thought he knew about this because I did tell him when we first got it.  It does have a light that lights up on it when it is sitting right...two nights of frosts later...he says I wonder why the tomatoes look so bad on the very top of the plants?  He had the heater sitting on an upside down plastic bucket.  Needless to say when he moved it to a flat wooden box it worked and we havent had any trouble with the low temps.  I need to plant my potatoes in the greenhouse.  The garlic and walking onions that I planted last month have come up in the regular garden.  They need to be mulched and this coming spring we'll have some fresh garlic, potatoes and onions.  Cant wait.

A month ago I had an infection in my adrenal gland behind my ear.  I thought I had the mumps.  So glad it wasnt the mumps.  Doc put me on antibiotics.  It hurt when I ate...every mouthful...  It finally cleared up and I am back to eating hard stuff like meat, toast, etc.  Hard to believe how much something like that hurts.  Of course I have never heard of anyone getting an infection in their adrenal gland before (only me, right :))  Doc said the antibiotics should clear it up but if it didnt I might have a stone in there and he would have to refer me to a surgeon.  A stone?  That was a new one on me.  PTL it cleared up and I'm OK now.  If it ever happens again I'll know what it is at least. 

Right now I'm reading Broke by Glenn Beck.  It's a pretty good read.  I thought it might be kind of boring since it's about finances (and I really dont like math) but it goes through our country's history.  I'm about half way through and will let you know if the rest of the book is as good as the first part.  I got it on my Kindle and paid the most I have paid for a digital book $15.  I love my Kindle...

DH decided to put down the laminate flooring we got back in July.  He started in his exercise room.  It looks really good and a lot more expensive that it actually was.  Of course he needed to get a few more tools to finish the job so today he went and got them.  Should make the job go much faster.  He wants to do my craft/computer room next.   I think he is crazy.  So now I'll have to take off a few days to move everything out of the room, pull up the carpet so we can lay the new floor.  Don't know when I can do this.  Work is pretty busy lately but he wants to get it all finished (including the living room) by Thanksgiving...like I said he's crazy lol.

Well all for now,

Denise

Hug a soldier today!

Let him know how much you appreciate his service to defend this country.  To all the veterans out there, THANK YOU!

I also would like to thank my relatives who served those who are still with us and those that have passed on.  Love you guys and gals!

I'm flying my flag today.  Hope you will too.


Talk to ya later!

Denise

Can't believe she actually stood up to them...

Sarah Palin Food Inflation Controversy




Sarah Palin on Monday made a speech at a trade-association convention in Phoenix urging Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to “cease and desist” his “pump priming”. Palin said the United States, “shouldn’t be playing around with inflation.” She went on to say, "All this pump priming will come at a serious price. And I mean that literally: everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so. Pump priming would push them even higher."



After obtaining a copy of her speech, the Wall Street Journal's Sudeep Reddy wrote an article criticizing Palin's comments about food inflation, saying that, "Grocery prices haven’t risen all that significantly, in fact. The consumer price index’s measure of food and beverages for the first nine months of this year showed average annual inflation of less than 0.6%, the slowest pace on record." NIA finds it unfortunate that Reddy has been brainwashed into believing the government's phony consumer price index (CPI) numbers.



The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)'s CPI is not a reliable indicator of U.S. food inflation or any type of price inflation. NIA estimates the real rate of annual food inflation in the U.S. to already be 5% and projects that this rate will rise above 10% in early 2011. NIA believes the BLS has been using both geometric weighting and hedonics to artificially manipulate the CPI downward. The U.S. government has a strong motivation to keep CPI increases as low as possible because since the year 1975, retired Americans receive annual Social Security payment increases that are tied to the CPI. NIA calculates that based on the way the BLS's CPI has understated the real rate of price inflation, Americans on Social Security should be receiving payments that are more than double what they receive today. Unfortunately, the government just announced last month that Americans on Social Security will receive no payment increase in 2011, despite the fact that food inflation will likely become the biggest crisis of the year, much larger than the mortgage crisis we have today.



When calculating food inflation, the government uses deceptive geometric weighting, which gives a lower weighting to goods that are rising in price and a higher weighting to goods that are falling in price. If the price of steak is rising while the price of hamburgers is falling, the CPI will give a lower weighting to steak and a higher weighting to hamburgers. The government justifies this by saying that expensive steak prices mean Americans are more likely to eat hamburgers. Therefore, the CPI no longer accounts for the price to maintain the same standard of living. The CPI is now calculated based on the realization that America's standard of living has been in decline and the expectation that it will continue to decline in the future.



Americans subconsciously realize that it is becoming a lot harder for them to make ends meet and put food on the table, but they don't realize that inflation is the cause of it. All Americans have heard stories from older relatives about how Hershey bars 45 years ago cost only 5 cents. Americans are aware that the U.S. has already experienced massive price inflation, but they don't look at inflation as a problem because these food price increases occurred over a very long period of time. NIA estimates that at a very minimum, the same U.S. price inflation that occurred over the past 100 years, will occur again over the next 10 years as the Federal Reserve's money printing causes the world to lose confidence in the U.S. dollar.



There is a misconception in America that wages have risen at the same rate as price inflation, when this is simply not the case. The median household income in the U.S. was $11,800 in 1975 and today is $49,777. If you go by the government's CPI, $11,800 in 1975 dollars equals $47,208 in today's dollars. If the government's CPI is to be believed, Americans are earning higher real incomes today than 35 years ago. However, the truth is, once you discount the effects of geometric weighting and hedonics, the median household income in 1975 of $11,800 actually equals $154,000 in today's dollars. This explains how in 1975, a father was able to support a family on just one income and college students were able to afford their own tuition with just a part-time summer job. Today, both parents need to work and families need to get deeply into debt just to survive.



The U.S. government is currently printing money just to survive. The Federal Reserve has held the Fed Funds Rate at 0-0.25% for nearly two years and just announced that it will be printing an additional $600 billion in new U.S. dollars by the end of June 2011. Since the beginning of September until now, just in anticipation of the Fed's upcoming quantitative easing, we have experienced the largest ever short-term increase in the history of agricultural commodity prices with corn rising by 32%, soybeans rising by 32%, orange juice rising by 12%, coffee rising by 19%, and sugar rising by 66%. These agricultural commodity price increases will begin to work their way into grocery stores nationwide in the weeks and months ahead, as food manufacturers and retailers are forced to raise their prices.



Food manufacturers and retailers who don't immediately raise prices and pass their rising costs on to U.S. consumers will likely go out of business. Sara Lee just announced yesterday that their first quarter profit fell 32% as price increases it enacted during the quarter were not enough to cover steep increases for agricultural commodities. Dean Foods saw their stock decline 18% yesterday to a new 52-week low due to escalating costs for butterfat, a key ingredient in its creamers and ice creams. Dean Foods' butterfat costs were up 70% over the same 2009 period.



The U.S. has no way of paying off its $13.7 trillion national debt and $80 trillion plus in unfunded liabilities without printing the money and creating massive price inflation. China’s Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. lowered its credit rating for the U.S. to A+ from AA on Tuesday with an outlook of "negative", saying the Fed’s plan to buy government debt will erode the value of the dollar and “entirely encroaches” on the interests of creditors. The Fed, by buying U.S. treasuries, is effectively monetizing the debt. In fact, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard W. Fisher admitted yesterday that the Fed is monetizing the debt, saying in a statement, "For the next eight months, the nation’s central bank will be monetizing the federal debt."



Bernanke testified under oath on June 3rd, 2009 in front of Congress saying, "The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt." This was a lie and perjury. With baseball great Roger Clemens being indicted for lying to Congress under oath about a personal matter that is trivial compared to this, Bernanke should also be charged with similar crimes.



Although NIA believes Palin made a major mistake by supporting the government's $700 billion 'Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008', we give her credit for helping expose to the mainstream public that a massive inflationary crisis is ahead due to Bernanke's destructive monetary policies. On December 16th, 2009, the same day Time Magazine named Bernanke 'Person of the Year', NIA named Bernanke 'Villain of the Year' and said in an article that day, "When it costs $20 for a gallon of milk in a few years, Americans will have nobody to thank more than Bernanke."



The average American family currently spends 13% of their total annual expenditures on food compared to 34% on housing. As the Federal Reserve monetizes our debt and creates massive price inflation, these two numbers will reverse. For every 1% rise in consumer wages, NIA expects to see about a 4% rise in food prices. There are currently 42.4 million Americans on food stamps, up 17% from one year ago. The government does not have the resources to make these entitlement payments without printing the money and creating massive food price inflation. Ironically, food stamps are actually making those who receive them, need them even more.



If the U.S. government is somehow able to make it to the 2012 election without going bust due to a worthless U.S. dollar, by then it is likely that the average middle-class American will be dependent on the government to survive. Obama's strategy to get re-elected is to make as many Americans as possible dependent on him and scared to elect a true Libertarian candidate like Ron Paul, who will dramatically reduce government spending in an attempt to prevent hyperinflation. We must all work together to spread the word about NIA and educate as many Americans as possible to the truth about the U.S. economy and inflation.



It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us


It amazes me that they (the government and media) think we are sooooo stupid.  The prices are going to go through the roof and where will we be 10 years from now, even 5 years from now, heck even next year?   We keep working and working and more people are losing their jobs and the rest of us working stiffs are paying more and more taxes so that we can support the people who are losing their jobs and getting unemployment and food stamps...what happens when we all lose our jobs?  Where will the government get the money to pay for all of this?  Oh that's right when we all lose our jobs the government will just "borrow" from other governments and when the other governments want their money, what then?  Will we still be the United States of America?  Or will some other country own us?  Think it cant happen to us?  We owe money out the yazoo to other countries and they are getting fed up with us. Look at what happened when China came out about the US dollar just a few days ago.  What happened?  The dollar fell.  Guess what folks it wont be long before we are paying more to eat than to pay our mortgage or rent.  Nice that our leader decided to spend sooo much money to go to India.  Nice vacation for him dont you think?  Took the wife and who knows how many secret service people to protect them...just when people are losing their jobs...so nice of him to care so much about us.  Nothing like pandering to a country where all our jobs are going...no offense to any of my readers from there.  I'm just kind of ticked off that all our jobs are being outsourced when there are plenty of people here looking for jobs.  Of course there are those who really dont want to work but that's another story...

Off my soapbox for now.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Talk to ya later,

Denise

Stats

Wow if you have never checked out the stats section of your blog you really should.  All I can say is wow!  There are people reading my blog from around the world!  So nice to meet all of you!  Thanks for stopping by.  Today alone I had 21 visits from people from the Ukraine.  The Ukraine!  I'm speechless and in total awe of technology today.  Welcome all my potential friends, Welcome!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Dot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7eagLl5c4&feature=player_embedded

Amazing!  I cant imagine how long this must have taken to set up...

Prepare for the worst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6HhQ1ZRxE&feature=player_embedded

It is better to be prepared...

NIA email I received today...

Please read this and start stockpiling your staples cause its coming folks, its coming...

NIA Projects Future U.S. Food Price Increases

The National Inflation Association today announced the release of its report about NIA's projections of future U.S. food price increases due to the massive monetary inflation being created by the Federal Reserve's $600 billion quantitative easing. This report was written by NIA's President Gerard Adams, who believes food inflation will take over in 2011 as America's greatest crisis. According to Mr. Adams, making mortgage payments will soon be the last thing on the minds of all Americans. We currently have a currency crisis that could soon turn into hyperinflation and a complete societal collapse.

"For every economic problem the U.S. government tries to solve, it always creates two or three much larger catastrophes in the process," said Adams. "Just like we predicted this past December, the U.S. dollar index bounced in early 2010 and has been in free-fall ever since. Bernanke's QE2 will likely accelerate this free-fall into a complete U.S. dollar rout," warned Adams.

NIA projects that at the average U.S. grocery store it will soon cost $11.43 for one ear of corn, $23.05 for a 24 oz loaf of wheat bread, $62.21 for a 32 oz package of Domino Granulated Sugar, $24.31 for a 32 fl oz container of soy milk, $77.71 for a 11.30 oz container of Folgers Classic Roast Coffee, $45.71 for a 64 fl oz container of Minute Maid Orange Juice, and $15.50 for a Hershey's Milk Chocolate 1.55 oz candy bar. NIA also projects that by the end of this decade, a plain white men's cotton t-shirt at Wal-Mart will cost $55.57.

NIA's special U.S. food price projection report is now available to download for free at: http://inflation.us/foodpriceprojections.pdf

The report highlights how despite cotton rising by 54%, corn rising by 29%, soybeans rising by 22%, orange juice rising by 17%, and sugar rising by 51% during the months of September and October alone, these huge commodity price increases have yet to make their way into America's grocery stores because corporations have been reluctant to pass these price increases along to the consumer. In today's dismal economy, no retailer wants to be the first to dramatically raise food prices. However, NIA expects all retailers to soon substantially raise food prices at the same time, which will ensure that this Holiday shopping season will be the worst in recorded American history.

If you are an NIA member and have a question about the U.S. economy or inflation, please browse through our ‘NIAnswers’ database and if your question hasn’t already been answered there, you can either submit it on ‘NIAnswers’ or email it to us at: editor@inflation.us

If you are a member of the media and would like to schedule an interview with NIA’s President Gerard Adams about inflation, please send an email to media@inflation.us or if it is urgent you can call us directly at 1-888-99-NIA US (1-888-996-4287).

== They have been right about a lot of stuff so far and its never a bad thing to be prepared for the worst.

Talk to ya later!

Denise