Daffodil Lane: December 2006 Archives

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December 30, 2006

Oh My!

Not good. Apparently they found an explosive device in a Maryland suburb of DC earlier today. It was on or near a bridge. More to come as info develops.

Posted by Dianne at 11:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tomato Onion Rosemary Pasta (Semi-Recipe)

Eight times out of ten when I make pasta I like to make a fresh topping. This is one of my favorites! Sometimes I also add in zucchini or mushrooms. The possibilities are endless and it's always delicious!

Olive oil
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Onion, chopped
Garlic cloves, minced
Rosemary, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly cooked pasta
Parmesan Cheese

Sauté ingredients minus pasta and Parmesan a little olive oil until tender. Place on top of freshly cooked pasta of your choice and top with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

Posted by Dianne at 6:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Front Row Seat To History

Of all the annoyance that being involved in politics has been for me, one thing about it has been interesting for me is getting a front row seat to history in the making. I've run into our new governor so much now that he almost seems like he recognizes me...Not in the "Hey there's Jamison!" sense, but more in the "That guy again??" sort of way.

So last week when some political friends of mine said they were headed down the NOLA on vacation I didn't even think about it, but when I heard that Edwards was going to announce in NOLA, the genius of the vacation choice became clear to me. So I demanded pictures immediately. Of course I'm the only one that doesn't seem to know exactly where the most critical events in history are going on, not that I could have gone anyway.

There was an entire contingent of Kossacks there to usher in the future of American politics, just as we would have all expected:

You'll notice the second woman on the left is Jennifer and her husband Mike behind her standing next to one of the front runners for President of the United States. And that's Senator Edwards in the middle of all those bloggers preparing for the future.

They also sent me a good close up picture of Edwards while he was announcing, Dianne demanded this one be at the top of the blog for the rest of time, but I'm going to relegate it to the second one on this entry:

Here's a good one without the zoom so you can get the scope of the media coverage of the event.

Mike and Jen are also in the C-SPAN pans if you watch the announcement. So I guess I'm in the second row of history, still closer than I used to be. ;) Mike included additional pictures of their time in NOLA on his blog and it's the real vision not the GOP approved vision. Nothing has been done yet and all the money we've spent has been nothing but a Republican shell game to fund their 2006 and 2008 election cycles.

Honey Wheat Banana Muffins

This recipe is quick and easy! It also helps you get in your whole grains and it utilizes the natural sugars of honey and those in the banana! Give them a try. I think you'll like them! :o)

1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce (Or you can use 1/2 cup of safflower oil)
1 cup of honey
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (or nuts of your choice)
2 cups of whole wheat flour (I like Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur's)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat together bananas, honey, eggs and apple sauce. Add remaining ingredients, except flour and mix well. Stir in flour until just incorporated.

Scoop out into a muffin pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray or has liners and bake from 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 24 muffins.

Posted by Dianne at 4:30 PM

Leopold keeps security detail

On one level this was a non-starter for me. Security decisions are generally out of the hands of elected officials, so any discussion on the topic is usually just partisan blather. We've heard this kind of whining from the radical extremists in the Republican party over and over again about President Clinton. So when I heard someone as clueless as Leopold harping about it in his campaign my instinctive eye roll and head shake about how moronic of a claim it is to make. But this kind of thing is bread and butter for radical extremists in the Republican party and the clueless among the voters sometimes get drawn into this foolishness. So being a Republican and ergo a complete hypocrite, Leopold gets into office and immediately claims that he's listening to the generals on the ground, oh wait excuse me, local law enforcement and changes nothing. Some people got all stirred up, but he's a Republican and he lies for a living it's just what they do. No one should have been surprised by this revelation. So the Baltimore Sun asked everyone to vent and I have to say other than the good belly laugh it gave me, I couldn't bring myself to care one way or another.

That all changed last week when the very same moron Leopold started really wasting my tax dollars and not through the standard incompetent mismanagement that has come define the Republican party, but this was a blatant attempt to waste tax payer dollars for no other reason than that he just wanted to waste tax dollars. Leopold demanded that William "Jay" Breitenbach be sworn in as his replacement until January 4th? Let's be clear here, the legislature isn't even in secession folks, so nothing related the legislature is going on. The brain dead moron just decided to steal $1,812.50 from the tax payers of Maryland for the hell of it. I know nothing about Breitenbach other than the fact that he's willing to happily participate in an effort to defraud the tax payers of Maryland of our money, which given that he's a Republican, once again shouldn't surprise me. The only remotely positive thing I can muster on the subject is that Michael Collins before being forced by Leopold to fill the position first thought wasn't to disgrace his party and anger the people of Maryland, but instead to leave the postion vacant. Let's hope that he gets demoted or something, because that kind of thinking could make the Republican party into something better than the criminal syndicate that it is today.

Read more over at Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Sun.

Posted by Jamison at 4:12 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

It's never a good sign when you're outpolled by Lucifer

I'm not exactly sure what the GOP did to Scarborough, but man he's been giving them a beating lately! Mind you he's still one of their devoted minions, but go figure...They must have gone a bridge too far! Anyway, it appears that Bush was the worst villain and the biggest hero, this caused the AP folks so confusion. The GOP has spent the last 12 years trying to rip this country apart, so on the one side you have the America haters who support the GOP who see their efforts as the greatest thing in the world. On the other side there are those that love America who see the GOP for the monsters they are. So it will appear that America is bipolar in our impressions about things until the war is resolved once and for all between America and the GOP.

December 29, 2006

All Hell Is Going To Break Loose Now

No doubt he was an extremely vile, vicious human being, but I don't think this is going to be quite the bump that Bush and Company think it will be. None the less, he was evil and those things tend to come back upon you, but are those in charge better or worse than he was? Food for thought.

Via CNN and the BBC.

Posted by Dianne at 10:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

John Edwards: Iowa Town Hall Meeting Part 1, 2 & 3

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Posted by Dianne at 9:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Episode 4: The Plug

Posted by Dianne at 9:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Barbeque Turkey Pizza

I've tried to come up with various things to do with the left over Christmas turkey and this was the last of it! This pizza was delicious! :O)

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust (I substituted White Whole Wheat Flour for the all purpose flour and 1 tablespoon of honey for the sugar.)
Barbeque Sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
Parmesan Cheese
Adobo Cheese (My Mom brought this with her from Tennessee and it is to DIE FOR!! It's described as "A classic white cheddar cheese mixed with herbs and peppers"...What's not to like?? By the way Sweetwater Valley Farm ships their cheeses and I HIGHLY recommend their products! Try the Buttermilk Cheese...You won't regret it!)
Onion, chopped fine
Red bell pepper, chopped fine
Turkey
Black olives

Roll out crust and top with your favorite barbeque sauce. Spread turkey out evenly and top with most of the onion and bell pepper. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and top with Adobo Cheese. Sprinkle remaining onion and bell pepper over cheese and add black olives.

Bake at 425 F for 8-10 minutes until golden and enjoy!

Posted by Dianne at 5:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Turkey Avocado Salad

1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup cooked turkey breast, chopped
1 small avocado, cubed
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon avocado oil (Note: If you don't have or can't find avocado oil then you can use extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cups spinach leaves, whole

Mix all ingredients except spinach and toss well. Serve on a bed of spinach leaves.

Makes 4 servings.

Cross Posted at Lose This Weight!

Posted by Dianne at 11:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

This Is NOT A "Natural" Warming Cycle!!

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada's Arctic, scientists said.
The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north.

Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake.

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled to the newly formed ice island and could not believe what he saw.

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," Vincent said Thursday.

In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice, he said.

The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 kilometers (155 miles) away picked up tremors from it.

The Ayles Ice Shelf, roughly 66 square kilometers (41 square miles) in area, was one of six major ice shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic.

Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Anyone that thinks this is normal is just fooling themselves! We are seeing an unprecedented temperature shift the likes of which this planet has NEVER seen. Yes there are documented warming cycles, but nothing like this. This latest spike over the past 100 years or so is more massive than anything ever recorded throughout history! Global warming IS real and these sorts of occurrences go to show that the scientists are right and unfortunately we are going to see a lot more of these events in the very near future. I'm not sure what it takes to convince the nay sayers or how many more cataclysmic weather events it will take, but it's time to wake up and smell reality!

Found via CNN.

Posted by Dianne at 9:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 28, 2006

Plane, Plane, Plane...Oh How Thee Annoy Me!

We're in the take off path today. Oh joy!

Posted by Dianne at 4:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Turkey Soup

A quick, easy, healthy way to use leftover turkey!

1 carrot, cubed
1/2 a sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
4-6 cups of turkey or chicken broth
1 cup of frozen mixed veggies (The mix I used had frozen peas, corn, green beans and carrots)
1/2 cups of small pieces of turkey
Sea salt (If your broth isn't too salty)
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Sauté veggies (carrot through celery) in a little non-stick spray until tender. Pour in stock and frozen veggies. Add some salt and pepper if desired. Cook for 20-30 minutes and serve!

Cross posted at Lose This Weight!

Posted by Dianne at 3:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tinker Toys Aren't Quite As Strong As They Used To Be

Alexis got many new toys from Santa and over the past few days she's slowly starting to play with all of her new toys. It takes a while when you get so much! :O) This morning she pulled out the Tinker Toy Set and I showed her how they worked.

She made a Tinker Toy Forrest:

And we made a Tinker Toy Truck together:

And her set came with some elements that the set my sister and I had as children did not have, but I must say the sticks themselves are not as strong as they used to be. I managed to break two of them in the first five minutes! After that I was very easy on them and they held up ok. Alexis was very gentle with them and didn't break any of them!

Overall Tinker Toys are just as fun as I remember them to be, even if they are a little flimsy here and there! :o)

Posted by Dianne at 3:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Peppermint Cheesecake

I'm somewhat known for my various varities of cheesecakes! And this one appears to be a big hit!

Crust:
1 sleeve of chocolate "graham" crackers, crushed
1/2 stick of butter, melted

Filling:
4 packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup of ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of peppermint extract
1 cup of all purpose flour
Crushed peppermint candies (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F. Very important! Do not put cheesecake into an oven that is not preheated!!

Generously spray a 9 inch spring form pan with non-stick spray and sit aside.

Crush chocolate "graham" crackers in a food processor until crumbs. Process in melted butter and press mixture into the bottom of the prepared spring form pan.

Cream together cream cheese, ricotta, eggs, sugar and peppermint extract. Add flour and mix until just blended and stir in crushed peppermint candies. Pour cheesecake mixture on top of crust and spread out evenly. Bang the pan on the counter a couple of times to settle the batter.

Wrap the bottom of the spring form pan securely with aluminum foil. Make sure there are no holes or other pathways. Place on a baking sheet or other pan and pour water around the bottom of the spring form pan up to half way up the pan itself.

Carefully place in oven and bake for 1 hour. Then turn the oven OFF and open the oven door to the broil position and let the cheesecake stand in the oven for 1 more hour.

Chill cheesecake for at least 4 hours to overnight.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Posted by Dianne at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tomorrow Begins Today!

He's in and he's brilliant! :o)

John Edwards 2008

Update: 9:27 am: He just made it official!

NEW ORLEANS - Two years after his hopes for a Democratic takeover of the White House were narrowly dashed, former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Thursday that he is making another run at the presidency.

Edwards — who is calling for cuts in poverty, global warming and troops in Iraq — scheduled his kickoff in New Orleans, still devastated from last year's Hurricane Katrina. He chose the site to highlight his signature concern of the economic disparity that divides America.

"I'm here to announce I'm a candidate for president of the United States," Edwards sold NBC's "Today Show" Thursday, one of three back-to-back interviews by the candidate on morning news shows. "I've reached my own conclusion this is the best way to serve my country."

Edwards said the difference between his message to voters in 2004 and his 2008 presidential bid is that, "I've learned since the last campaign that it's great to identify a problem ... but the way you change things is by taking action."

And Iraq is one of the biggest issues facing the country.

"It would be a huge mistake to put a surge of troops into Iraq," Edwards said on ABC's "Good Morning America. "It sends exactly the wrong signal. We can maximize our chances for success by making clear we are going to leave Iraq and not stay there forever."

And the next president must restore America's leadership in the world, he said.

"It's absolutely crucial that America re-establish its moral authority and leadership role in the world," Edward said on CBS "Early Show."

Very well put Senator Edwards!

Also Check out CNN's coverage.

Posted by Dianne at 9:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 27, 2006

I LOVE Will Ferrell!!

Posted by Dianne at 3:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Rules of Engagement

Despite the fact it's on CBS, this looks funny!

Posted by Dianne at 3:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cinnamon Rolls

There's not an exact recipe for this. I wanted to make a small batch so I just mixed up about 2 cups of flour with a teaspoon or so of salt and then added some water that had yeast and sugar in it. Then I added enough of the water to form a dough similar to pizza dough. I rolled it out flat and brushed on some melted butter. Then I sprinkled it with sugar and cinnamon, rolled it up and then cut off slices. I baked them at 350 F until golden and then topped with icing. It made about 12. :o)

Posted by Dianne at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Christmas Eve Conversation

After months of asking Alexis what she wanted Santa to bring her and her not telling me anything, I just got things I knew she would enjoy. I got her arty things and learning toys that I knew she would have fun playing with.

Then on Christmas Eve when I was putting her to bed she dropped the following hint:

"Mommy, in the morning when we open our presents Santa is going to leave me a Pirate patch in my stocking. He's going to leave you a Mommy Pirate patch in your stocking too!" she told me very excitedly.

"He is?" I asked all while my mind started kicking into gear on how I was going to come up with Pirate patches on Christmas Eve!

"Yes! Santa loves me!" she told me very certain of that fact.

"Yes he does," I assured her. "We'll see what he brings you in the morning."

So I put her to bed and I got to work making "Alexis and Mommy" pirate patches. It's amazing what you can do with a sewing machine, a manila folder and some elastic. If you have access to her Flickr photos then hop on over and see a picture of her with her patch. She was thrilled!

Luckily she asked me for something I could do at the last minute on Christmas Eve. I should be thankful she didn't ask me for something that Mommy Santa couldn't make, like say a castle or an airplane or such! ;o)

Posted by Dianne at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"Cow Drop" Cookies

These are one of Jamison's favorites! :o)

1 stick of butter
2 cups of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
2/3 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of uncooked oats
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Melt butter, sugar, cocoa and milk over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter until melted and smooth. Add vanilla and stir. Stir in oats.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto wax paper or a Silpat and let harden and enjoy!

Posted by Dianne at 9:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

White Chocolate Cherry Cookies

2 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
1 - 12 ounce package of white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream egg, butter, sugar and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and mix until incorporated into a dough. Stir in white chocolate chips and dried cherries.

Drop by well rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Posted by Dianne at 9:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Polar Bears Threatened

Northern latitudes are warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the globe, according to a 2004 scientific assessment, and by the end of the century annual ocean temperatures in the Arctic may rise an additional 13 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, researchers predict that summer sea ice, which polar bears use as a platform to hunt for ringed seals, will decline 50 to 100 percent. Just this month, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research outlined a worst-case scenario in which summer sea ice could disappear by 2040.

This is sad, yet not surprising given the state of our environment. Over the past few years I've seen a lot of information coming out about the fact that more and more polar bears are drowning because they are having to swim further and further distances to find ice to climb on to and to hunt on. It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the fact that we are causing massive environmental problems on a global scale. Our survival, as well as the survival of all of Earth's creatures, depends upon it.

Found via the Washington Post.

Posted by Dianne at 8:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Former President Ford dies at 93

RANCHO MIRAGE, California (CNN) -- Former President Gerald Ford, who became president in 1974 after the resignation of Richard Nixon, died Tuesday at age 93.
Ford, the oldest surviving former U.S. president, died peacefully at 6:45 p.m. PT (9:45 p.m. ET) Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, according to a statement from his office. The cause of death was not given.

A statement from Ford's wife, Betty, said: "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

Rest in peace. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Found via CNN.

Posted by Dianne at 8:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 26, 2006

The Celestine Prophecy

If you have read the book the Celestine Prophecy you should check out the movie version that is also written by James Redfield! It's very good.

And if you haven't read the book you should do that:

It's very uplifting and enlightening.

Posted by Dianne at 9:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

On Why Dr. Who Sucks And Why I Am No Longer A Viewer

Click on the extended entry below to see my rant since Jamison says I shouldn't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the end of Dr. Who, Series Two yet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know how the whole Dr. Who spiel works. You have a doctor that changes and companions that move in and out, but I am NOT happy with this whole Rose thing! So last season when Dr. Who changed I tried to take it with a grain of salt since the Doctor is the Doctor so to speak and even though I liked the first Doctor (for me) the new Dr. Who slowly grew on me.

But Rose? Really? Did you have to go and get rid of her? I didn't see that one coming at all! After the fact I see online that she was supposed to leave and possibly even chose to leave, but come on! You can't get people emotionally attached to a person or people, and by default a relationship between two people and then rip it away! And yes they left open a loophole so that Rose could possibly come back at a later point, but I don't think I'm going to go forward from here.

Entertainment is supposed to be about escapism and I personally can't invest that much emotional energy into characters only to have them ripped away. Life sucks and I don't want my entertainment to be life like. So for now I'm done with Doctor Who. That's the final straw for me. If there is no Rose with the Doctor I'm not interested and it's as simple as that.

Posted by Dianne at 8:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Episode 3: Plight of Uganda

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Vibrations could reveal landmine locations

Now this is some just plain cool technology. This technology allows you to do mine detection from 30 feet from the mines. The current version of the technology isn't what I would call highly mobile yet, but it's definitely a critical proof of concept. This allows us to bridge the gap between detecting plastic mines as well as the metal ones. Up until this point we were helpless to detect the plastic mines in the ground. This technology detects both equal efficiency. Plus it can cover a much wider area all at once. The basics here is the same principals that we use to detect where an earthquake happens all over the Earth or to detect underground formations of oil and other minerals under the Earth. But since the depths of mines is so shallow they can use man made sound waves to flush out the locations of the mines. The new system still needs some work before it's ready for the battlefield, the current version has overheating problems, but those kinds of things are just a matter of development since the entire system was built with off the shelf components. Hardier components would likely make the system much more resistant to heat. I read the MITT research report, I definitely recommend it if you are interested in the hard science behind this discovery.

Filter removes mad cow proteins from blood

The mad cow problem hasn't gone away just because the American people have allowed the topic to slip from their minds. It appears the researchers took the discovery that one third of the people in England that caught mad cow during the outbreak in the human population got it from blood transfusions. A team at the VA Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland has created a new kind of blood filter called the “P-Capt” filter. This filters out the prion proteins of mad cow and cleans up blood for future use. They did the testing on hamsters with 100% success. We should see these filters added to the blood process in the coming year. Hopefully we can contain future outbreaks of mad cow. I'm not comfortable with the lack of a date when the new filters will be available in the US blood supply. It's only a matter of time that the lack of proper oversight of our food supplies is going to turn into a disaster in this country. The time for action is now before we have to watch our loved ones die of some horrible oversight so that a greedy company can save a few bucks.

Auto Train

Every holiday season, the conversation around the old homestead turns to horrible traffic and easier ways to do things like travel. No matter how often people people suffer you can't change the reality that it cheaper to drive than it is to fly everywhere in the country. And it almost always seems like everyone comes back to the fact that they want to ride the majority of the distance and then get in their car close to their intended destination and drive the short distance remaining. Now the logical choice for this would be something called an Auto Train. Amtrak, the much Republican attacked and maligned, passenger train company has only a single one of these routes available in the United States, running from Southern Virginia to Southern Florida. A logical choice for the snowbirds yearly migrations, but it would seem to me that the better choice would be to expand to other routes at least in some small way to offer this service nationwide. Now if you review the history of the Auto Train you discover that previous attempts to expand the lines have failed, but I have to say to me it seems more like a choice of additional cities rather than a lack of interest. Actually I think the best choice would be to expand the Acela line to include a single level car carrier to allow for high speed Auto Train service. I think normal lines should add at least one car carrier to their offerings to see if they could drum up interest. Also the price is staggering, 300 bucks to move your car? You'd have to cut by at least two thirds to get people interested in it. It has to end up being cheaper than the gas would have cost them to travel the same distance. Or some formula based off of national average cost per mile that the government figures. I was going through Amtrak's finanical report and the fact that they just converting over to concrete cross ties is terrifying to me. They last five to ten times longer, let's do the math on which is better in the long run??? The Train system needs to adapt to the realities of American life instead of trying to switch things around on some other grand idea. Something is going to have to be done to reduce costs and improve performance of the train routes. I mean when you look at your travel options to a location, why does it list the train options as well? Who is advocating these options for us? What would it take to get that level of input from the business world? Seems like instead of trying to destroy this institution, maybe if we put a little effort into making things better and making a country a better place to live. Just a suggestion.

Find out where the train goes in your area over at Amtrak.

Posted by Jamison at 10:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Insurer to limit policies in Maryland

Allstate Corp., one of Maryland's largest insurers, will stop writing homeowners' policies in coastal areas of the state, citing warnings by scientists that a warmer Atlantic Ocean will lead to more strong hurricanes hitting the Northeast.
The company will no longer offer new property insurance beginning in February in all or part of 11 counties mostly along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Existing customers won't be affected; a spokeswoman said Allstate intends to renew those policies even in coastal areas. It will continue to write new policies in Baltimore and Baltimore County.

......
Allstate's move will affect residents in Calvert, Dorchester, Somerset, St. Mary's, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester counties and parts of Anne Arundel, Charles, Prince George's and Queen Anne's.

If other insurers follow suit this is going to be extremely bad for this area. You can't buy a home with a mortgage if you can't get insurance on it. As we've seen from our neighbors to the south that once the big boys move out of the insurance business in an area, it gets filled by much more dishonest and expensive replacements that slowly drain an area of the vitality. In places like Florida they have the tourist industry is able to prop up the drain on the local economy, but further North without that kind of offset, it's not clear to me how we will be able to keep the drain on our economy from happening. Definitely speaks to the need that once we get some real representation in the Governor's mansion and that we need to need to join West Coast and the other Northeastern states in restriction CO2 growth in our state and our country. I fear the people of District 31 are going to regret the lack of serious legislators in Annapolis during the next few years as things get worse.

[via America Blog]

Tsunami aims at Philippines after quake

I appears on the Anniversary of the last years massive Tsunami we have had another event near Taiwan about an hour ago. The PTWC has issued a 3 foot Tsunami surge warning for certain areas of the Philippines. The USGS puts the earthquake that caused the event at a 7.1 currently. Unfortunately yet again this event is happening in the middle of the night in the Pacific Ocean. So information available is speculative at best. Let's hope that it's weaker than we think currently and everyone is safe along the coast lines. Oh yeah and good morning everyone.

December 25, 2006

Happy Birthday and Anniversary to my mom

Oh and Merry Christmas. My mother is traveling right now to Kansas to visit her sick sister, but I wanted to wish her a happy everything today anyway. I guess I should also throw out a happy birthday to her twin brother as well for completeness sake. ;) Everyone please have a Merry Christmas and be safe on your respective trips around the country side this holiday season. Keep the faith kids, we'll talk at you later.

Jamison.

Update: My mother's sister didn't make it. Please keep her and her family in your prayers this holiday season.

Posted by Jamison at 9:17 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
And a Happy New Year!

Posted by Dianne at 8:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas To All! And To All A Good Night!

Posted by Dianne at 11:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Firetruck Santa 2006

Every year the local fire department brings Santa around on a firetruck. This year he had his own sleigh being pulled by one of the firedepartment vehicles! Alexis LOVED it! And he looped back around and she got to see him again a second time! It's a very nice tradition!

Posted by Dianne at 9:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Happy Birthday To My Dear Friend Darlene!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Darlene!
Happy birthday to you!
And many more!

Wish we could be together today to cut cake and drink and be merry! I hope your birthday was great!

I miss you bunches!

Love,
Di

Posted by Dianne at 4:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Happy 1st Birthday Nelson!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Nelson!
Happy birthday to you!
And many more!

May all your wishes come true, sweet boy!

Love,
Aunt Dianne

Posted by Dianne at 4:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 22, 2006

Sausage Balls

2 cups of cheddar or Colby
2 cups of baking mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 pound of sausage

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a mixer and mix until ingredients combine and look moist like cookie dough. Do not cook sausage and there is no liquid to this recipe! Roll into small balls and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Posted by Dianne at 10:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fruity Chocolate Bark

2 cups of Fruit and Nut Trail Mix
14 ounces of your choice of chocolate (Milk, dark, bittersweet...I used dark)
2 tablespoons of butter

Spread 2 cups of Fruit and Nut Trail Mix (Basically just mix your choice of dried fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. I make a mix that has dried cherries, dried blueberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, cocoa nibs, pumpkin seeds, cashews, walnuts, almonds, etc.) out onto mat lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Melt chocolate in the microwave and make sure that it does not scorch. Once melted and still hot stir in butter until melted. Pour over nut mix and spread out evenly.

Let harden and break into pieces. Enjoy!

Posted by Dianne at 9:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Edwards Behind The Scenes

After watching these I'm even more convinced that John Edwards is the man to help bring out nation back into the light! I'm also even more convinced that had he been the main person on the ticket in 2004 Bush wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything!

Check out the first two webisodes and stay tuned for more!

Episode One: Plane Truths:

Episode Two: The Golden Rule:

He's very real, very personable and he thinks about those in need. His mind is always working. You can see him trying to solve problems. He's compassionate and we so need that in a leader after it has been so lacking during the last administration.

John Edwards is off to a very good start! Keep up the good work sir!

Posted by Dianne at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 21, 2006

Happy Winter Solstice

Lest I forget, Happy Winter Solstice!

Posted by Dianne at 7:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pachelbel Rant

Hil-a-ri-ous!!!

Posted by Dianne at 3:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J.K. Rowling has announced that the final book in the Harry Potter series will be entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well I can't say I'm overly thrilled with or even interested in the titled, but hopefully the book itself will be much better!

And if she does kill of Harry in the end I am going to be extremely ticked off that I invested this much time and energy in the story!

And that goes for Ron, Hermione or Ginny as well! And I could go on, but you get the picture.

Posted by Dianne at 12:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I Think I'll Take The Seasick Crocodile!

You have all the tender sweetness Of a seasick crocodile. Mr. Grinch.

Given the choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crockodile.

My well mannered, perfectly happy, though still somewhat snarfully girl from yesterday has turned into a monster today!! Oh my!

Posted by Dianne at 10:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 20, 2006

Gingerbread Houses 2006 Editions

Yesterday we cut out the components for gingerbread houses (or I did anyway) and baked them using this recipe I posted a while back. It's best to let the house peices sit out overnight and dry out a bit because it makes them sturdier. Today I put the houses together and decorated mine, while Alexis decorated hers. We had a lot of fun!

Miss G's House:

My House:

I used the template for my house from this site minus the chimney which I decided not to do. I came up with the template for Alexis' house on my own. The batch of gingerbread just did make the two houses and two gingerbread men. You need cut them a little thicker than gingerbread cookies so they are more sturdy.

To make icing/glue use this recipe:

3 tablespoons of meringue powder (Make sure it's labeled meringue powder. I thought powdered egg whites were the same thing, but it turns out after reading the labels of each that it isn't!)
3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
4-8 tablespoons of cold water

Beat until well blended. The icing should be stiff, but not to stiff that you can't work with it! This is especially true if you are going to use a pastry bag, though we didn't and I usually don't. This makes about 2 cups of icing.

I was a bit short on meringue powder so I only had enough to make one batch of icing, so the yards don't have as much snow as I would like, but overall they turned out very nicely. I usually make two or three batches of icing so everything is nice and white.

Alexis basically copied my house, right down to the upside down Kit Kat (which I didn't notice until my icing was dry and it immediately made my OCD twitch!), but she added a few touches of her own. She's an artist my girl! ;o)

You can check out more Gingerbread House pictures here.

Posted by Dianne at 3:24 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife

It's hard to believe that it has been 9 years already. It's been an absolutely breathtaking journey to say the least. It's amusing to me because I completely lack the ability to articulate any of the emotions I feel about Dianne at time like these. I just become overwhelmed and stare at the computer screen with a smirk on my face. So Happy Anniversary my love, here's to many, many more years of our wonderful life together.

Posted by Jamison at 7:14 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

December 19, 2006

Afternoon Sun

Posted by Dianne at 7:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

As If We Didn't Have Enough Going On

Yesterday morning, very early, I have no clue the exact time, Alexis ventured into our room sneezing her head off and crawled into bed with us. I finally looked at the clock at 5:25 am, after what seemed like hours, but was likely more like 20-30 minutes and got up and gave her a dose of Dimetapp. Jamison, knowing how much of a morning person I am not, got up and took Alexis downstairs and I went back to sleep.

When Jamison woke me up so he could take a shower and go to work I immediately started thinking about all the things I needed to do during the day yesterday. I needed to go to Target to get dryer sheets (which they didn't have) and a few other things, I needed to do laundry (of which I only did one load), I needed to continue baking (I ended up only making the Snickers Fudge and it was a miracle that was done), I needed to clean house (Um, yeah that so didn't happen) and I needed to start planning out Christmas dinner and make a shopping list for the things I needed, but didn't have on hand. I ventured downstairs around 8:20 am or so and the first thing Alexis said to me was "Mama my throat hurts and I'm cold. I need to go see the doctor."

At first I thought "Sure, she just wants to go see Dr. West". She ADORES Dr. West! But after about 10 minutes I realized she was running a light grade fever and despite the Dimetapp she was still sneezing her head off. When she said she was cold that should have tipped me off immediately given this child is NEVER cold! It could be -30 F outside and she'd be hot! In fact we dropped the thermostat down majorly (down to 65 and it will go lower if the next bill is bad) because BGE has upped its rates so much and she comes up to me regularly and tells me "Mama I'm hot! Turn on the air conditioner!" The child is a heat sink! I kid you not!

Anyway, so I called the doctor's office and set up an appointment for her as soon as they could see her. Alexis was less than thrilled that she couldn't go immediately and I tried explaining to her that you have to make an appointment and go see the doctor when she has time, but in Alexis' mind you should call the doctor and she should immediately be able to go see her. If only it worked that way! She finally got the idea and she sat on the couch covered in a blanket not moving while I did a few things around the house.

I decided to go ahead and go to Target because I desperately needed dryer sheets and a few other things. So we set off and Alexis was less than thrilled to find out we weren't going to the doctor's office then. We went through the whole explanation of when we would go, why we had to wait and how many hours we had to wait until then on the way to Target. We ran in, got our things and stopped at the Starbuck's up front on the way out. We probably shouldn't have since we need to reserve cash, but I was stressed, it was warm outside (74 in December...What the eff is up with that?) and I wanted some ice tea. They were out of strawberries so Alexis had to settle for a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino with no whipped cream instead of her usual "Beggy Cream" with no whipped cream, but luckily she took it in stride, much to my surprise. I ordered a Venti unsweet Passion ice tea and we set off to the car.

We got to the vestibule area in between the doors and my cup of tea fell out of my hand and shattered all over the floor. I bent down and started picking up ice and picking up the pieces of the plastic Starbuck's cup and not one person acknowledged me, nor offered to help that walked by. I would have offered to help pick up the ice if I had come across the same situation, but I'm just saying. I cleaned up the area as best as I could and located a trash can and deposited my shattered cup in it while Alexis told me, "Uh oh Mama! You need more tea!" Sadly I don't think they would replace my tea because I had butter fingers. My shoe was soaked and I was NOT a happy camper!

So we made our way home and went to Alexis' appointment at 1:30 pm to find out she has the beginnings of a "nasty cold" that is going around. We had so not been lucky in that department this year! I won't even begin to go into my theory about the fact that it hasn't gotten cold enough to kill off germs this year right now, we'll just leave it at that! She told me to make sure we had Dimetapp and Motrin on hand and keep her dosed. It might last a few weeks. Yikes!

Luckily last night Alexis actually slept through the night and didn't wake up this morning until almost 8 am! But her cold is worse today and she is VERY grumpy! She still has a mild fever and is snarfully. She is also very draggy. She just sits still and that is not very Alexis like. I got some juice into her today (I'm a firm believer in the natural healing powers of things like apples and oranges and other natural foods) and tried to get her to eat some chicken soup I made, but she's not a soup eater. We'll see how the next few days go, but I'm hoping she'll rebound quickly!

Today she refused to take a nap. Draggy and all she just would NOT go to sleep! She kept whining so I tried laying down with her, but that did no good all. All it did was make me doze in and out and made ME feel worse! I'm not sick, but I'm not a napper, I never have been. I always feel like dirt when I wake up from a nap! And she napped not at all. She just played on the bed next to me.

This evening Jamison has a meeting in Silver Springs so Alexis and I ate dinner early and I brought her upstairs and put her in the shower. I gave her some more medicine and then we brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas. She's currently sitting next to me on the bed watching Beauty and the Beast eating a banana. When that ends we'll brush her teeth again and I'll put her to bed.

Despite the fact she isn't feeling well, and we had a meltdown here and there, I got a lot done to today. I made two batches of turkey broth from the left over turkey I froze from Thanksgiving to use for Christmas cooking. ~~I got a load of laundry done~~ (Make that two loads of laundry), though I still have a mountain to finish! I got a batch of gingerbread made for gingerbread houses. I made chicken soup and it was a miracle I got that much done! I'm hoping she'll be feeling much better tomorrow and I can get the rest of the laundry done and finish up some things in the kitchen.

Oh and to add insult to injury my back is wonky again! My lower disc keeps slipping in and out. It happens usually when I am standing up and sometimes it just stops me in my tracks. Usually it slips back in, but those few moments when it's out are horrible! It's worse than anything I've ever felt in my entire life and I gave birth to a child! Yikes!!

Anyway, I need about 10 more hours in a day...I wish there were a time fairy! Oh and when she comes to visit if she could bring the money fairy with her, that would be great!;o)

Posted by Dianne at 5:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

So Yeah It's Going To Be One Of Those Days

You would think a perfectly decent paring knife from Henckels could stand up to a little pressure, but I'll tell you the answer to that is a resounding NO! The thing snapped! I mean snapped like a twig! Oh and part of the knife is still embedded in the frozen chicken I was trying to pull apart. So note to you out there...DON'T TRY THAT AT HOME!!

Posted by Dianne at 9:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 18, 2006

Snickers Fudge

I stumbled across this recipe on a food blog entitled Culinary in the ~~Desert~~ Country and when I saw it I knew I had to give it a try! I made a batch today, without peanuts because Jamison doesn't like nuts in things, and it is heavenly! I highly recommend this fudge! It's to die for!!

Note: I did steps 1, 3 and 4 in the microwave instead of the stove top. It worked fine. And as I mentioned above I left out the peanuts.

Note 2: I did not refrigerate this fudge after I made it and I should have. It sort of melts if you don't store it in the fridge when it's done. Next time I'll remember that! :o)

Posted by Dianne at 6:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Barr Leaves GOP for Libertarian Party

I'm so amused by the collapsing Republican party. The people that worked night and day to turn this country into a banana republic suddenly are turning around as it's collapsing and saying they don't understand why this happened.

Excuse me?? You supported the rise of a dictator and now you are baffled that he thinks he's a dictator? How does that work exactly? If you rubber stamped this kind of behavior then you supported it and no amount of changing parties will change the fact that everyone that voted for the GOP bears a responsibility for the problems that irresponsible decision has visited on America. It's all well and good that you suddenly realize that deficit spending wasn't a good idea, but why couldn't you have figured that out 5 trillion dollars ago? They claim to be the party of personal responsibility, but there really isn't anyone stepping up the plate and saying the Republicans did the American people great harm. Instead they think they can just say that they are in a new party now and that solves everything. I'll bet that these same people will run right bac