The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a very cold winter.
It must be true because the squirrels are gathering NUTS.
Three of my neighbors have disappeared.
Are you O.K.?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Winter is coming.
The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a very cold winter.
It must be true because the squirrels are gathering NUTS.
Three of my neighbors have disappeared.
Are you O.K.?
Friday, November 12, 2010
Jelled champagne dessert
Are you looking for something unique to serve this coming holiday season? Well, I discovered an unusual dessert that would be perfect for a festive brunch, a light ending to a heavy meal, or an addition to a gala buffet.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups cold white grape juice, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups champagne or club soda
8 fresh strawberries, hulled
Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin, over 1 cup cold grape juice; let stand for 1 minute. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in sugar. Remove from the heat; stir in remaining grape juice. Cool to room temperature.
2. Transfer gelatin mixture to a large bowl. Slowly stir in champagne or soda. Pour half of the mixture into eight champagne or parfait glasses. Add one strawberry to each glass. Chill glasses and remaining gelatin mixture until almost set, about 1 hour.
3. Place the reserved gelatin mixture in a blender; cover and process until foamy. Pour into glasses. Chill for 3 hours or until set.
Recipe from Taste of Home Entertaining.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.
It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began.
You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting.
As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be.
He began to speak and his statement was this: My fiancée's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus To wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?"
The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past And use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! End of case!!!!
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
Psalm 55:23
The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.
It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began.
You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting.
As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be.
He began to speak and his statement was this: My fiancée's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus To wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?"
The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past And use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! End of case!!!!
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
Psalm 55:23
Baby Elijah
Mollie and I made the long (13hour) trip to Houston to see baby Elijah on Wednesday. The trip was long but uneventful.
We met little Elijah as soon as we arrived. He is a sweet little baby. He isn't fussy and only cries when he is hungry. That is a huge blessing as there are babies who fuss and cry and you cant figure out what is wrong.
He is so tiny though. When he was born he weighed 6 lbs. which isn't all that tiny but when you haven't held a newborn in a while it sure seems tiny.
Christina is still having some problems with her hips, we are hoping they return to their places soon so she can get past that pain.
We are trying to be helpful while we are here. I am glad we are close friends with Bill and Christina, because it makes it easier to just get in there and do things.
I will try to take some pictures of Elijah today so I can post them and you all can see how beautiful he is.
We met little Elijah as soon as we arrived. He is a sweet little baby. He isn't fussy and only cries when he is hungry. That is a huge blessing as there are babies who fuss and cry and you cant figure out what is wrong.
He is so tiny though. When he was born he weighed 6 lbs. which isn't all that tiny but when you haven't held a newborn in a while it sure seems tiny.
Christina is still having some problems with her hips, we are hoping they return to their places soon so she can get past that pain.
We are trying to be helpful while we are here. I am glad we are close friends with Bill and Christina, because it makes it easier to just get in there and do things.
I will try to take some pictures of Elijah today so I can post them and you all can see how beautiful he is.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Happy Veterans Day
This is a copy of an article that appeared in a Minnesota newspaper for Veterans Day a few years ago. I like to reprint it because it is about my husbands dad and his brothers. There were 7 brothers and they all served in the military. My husband was in the Navy and two of my uncles were in the Army during the Vietnam war. I need to find pictures of them so I can honor them each Veterans Day.
Do you eat McDonalds chicken nuggets?
Do you put dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone, in your chicken dishes?
How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?
These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.
Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:
"White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).
Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.
Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent."
Sources:
Organic Authority
There's no doubt about it. Processed food like that from McDonald's is just not part of a healthful diet – in fact, much of it cannot even pass for real food.
After reviewing the above article I am very grateful I can say I have never had a Chicken McNugget from McDonald's. If you can't say the same at least you can commit to never having another one again.
This sentiment was echoed by Federal Judge Robert Sweet in a lawsuit against the restaurant chain back in 2003 when he said:
"Chicken McNuggets, rather than being merely chicken fried in a pan, are a McFrankenstein creation of various elements not utilized by the home cook."
At the time, Time Magazine reported that Judge Sweet "questioned whether customers understood the risks of eating McDonald's chicken over regular chicken."
That was seven years ago, and I still wonder whether or not McDonald's customers truly understand the risks they take when consuming fast food on a regular basis.
If you missed Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super-Size Me, I highly recommend you watch it with your entire family. It's a real-life illustration of just how dangerous – life threatening, in fact – an excessive fast food diet can really be. And "excessive" consumption is likely far less than you imagine: Eating fast food just twice a week DOUBLES your risk of developing insulin resistance, compared to eating it just once a week, for example. Insulin resistance, as I've discussed on many occasions, is one of THE primary driving factors behind most of the diseases we currently struggle with, from diabetes to cancer and heart disease...
The truth is, McDonald's fare contain non-food ingredients that can seriously harm your health.
This shouldn't come as any great surprise. After all, how healthful can something be that shows no signs of decomposing after being left on a counter for more than a decade?
Clearly there's more chemicals in there than actual, real foodstuff.
Chicken McNuggets: "Made With White Meat"... and What Else?
According to McDonald's, their chicken nuggets are "made with white meat, wrapped up in a crisp tempura batter." But as the article above shows, these chicken nuggets are a far cry from what you might expect, based on that description.
About half of it is actual chicken. The rest is a mix of corn-derived fillers and additives (most likely genetically modified), along with a slew of synthetic chemicals, including:
Dimethyl polysiloxane, a type of silicone with anti-foaming properties used in cosmetics and a variety of other goods like Silly Putty
Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product with antioxidant properties
The latter, TBHQ, is typically listed as an "antioxidant," but it's important to realize it is a SYNTHETIC chemical with antioxidant properties – NOT a natural antioxidant.
The chemical prevents oxidation of fats and oils, thereby extending shelf life of processed foods. It's a commonly used ingredient in processed foods of all kinds, but you can also find it in varnishes, lacquers, pesticide products, as well as cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability.
At its 19th and 21st meetings, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives determined that tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) was safe for human consumption at levels of 0-0.5 mg/kg of body weight. However, more recently, the Codex commission set the maximum allowable limits up to between 100 to as much as 400 mg/kg, depending on the food it's added to. (Chewing gum is permitted to contain the highest levels of TBHQ.)
That's quite a discrepancy in supposedly "safe" limits!
So, is the safe level zero, or 400 mg/kg? Who knows?!
According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, one gram of TBHQ can cause:
Nausea
Vomiting
Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
Delirium
Sense of suffocation
Collapse
Based on animal studies, health hazards associated with TBHQ include:
liver effects at very low doses
positive mutation results from in vitro tests on mammalian cells
biochemical changes at very low doses
reproductive effects at high doses
The good news is that it is not suspected to be a persistent toxin, meaning your body is probably able to eliminate it so that it does not bioaccumulate.
REAL Food "Lives" and "Dies"
I recently commented on the curious ability of McDonald's food to remain impervious to degradation. It's as if the food has been embalmed to stay "fresh" forever! After sitting on a shelf for 14 years, the hamburger bun has yet to develop a single trace of mold. It's barely even begun to shrivel...
Folks, these buns bear absolutely no resemblance to real bread, and when you read the list of ingredients, this mysterious mummification feature becomes less of a mystery.
Here are just a few of the ingredients in a McDonald's hamburger bun:
calcium sulfate (aka Plaster of Paris)
calcium carbonate (Antacid medication)
ammonium sulfate (According to MSDS,“harmful if swallowed”)
ammonium chloride (Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea)
calcium propionate (Preservative)
sodium propionate (Mold inhibitor)
Always remember that wholesome, health-promoting food is "live" food, and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will decompose.
The fact that these burgers, buns, and fries do not decompose, even after a decade or two, is a clear sign that it's just not real food, and should not be part of your diet.
You Are What You Eat...
The bottom line is that if you want to stay healthy, and keep your children healthy, you have to avoid fast food and other processed foods, and invest some time in your kitchen, cooking from scratch. Reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know exactly what you're putting in your body.
Ideally, you'll want to consume as much whole, raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as possible. That's one of the major reasons why vegetable juicing works so well – you're consuming living raw food!
Most vegetables also have very low carbohydrate levels that minimally disturb insulin metabolism – another important trait of a healthful diet -- but there is something very special about vegetable juicing and eating live raw foods in general.
In addition, I believe optimal health is also largely dependent on eating the right foods for your nutritional type. I think this is such an important part of an optimal diet that I am now offering the entire Nutritional Typing program to you for free.
If you're "hooked" on fast food and other processed foods, please review my recent article How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps. If you're currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is probably the most positive life change you could ever make.
And if you have children, remember that feeding your children home cooked meals can have far reaching benefits, extending even to your future grandchildren. Yes, that's right! It is now well known that dietary changes can prompt epigenetic DNA changes that can be passed on to future generations. For instance, pregnant rats fed a fatty diet had daughters and granddaughters with a greater risk of breast cancer.
Making wise food decisions can literally "override" genetic predispositions for disease.
If you need help determining what foods are actually healthful and which are not, please review the shopping guidelines listed at the end of this recent article.
This information was recieved as an email from an article of Dr. Mercola's.
How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?
These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.
Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:
"White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).
Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.
Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent."
Sources:
Organic Authority
There's no doubt about it. Processed food like that from McDonald's is just not part of a healthful diet – in fact, much of it cannot even pass for real food.
After reviewing the above article I am very grateful I can say I have never had a Chicken McNugget from McDonald's. If you can't say the same at least you can commit to never having another one again.
This sentiment was echoed by Federal Judge Robert Sweet in a lawsuit against the restaurant chain back in 2003 when he said:
"Chicken McNuggets, rather than being merely chicken fried in a pan, are a McFrankenstein creation of various elements not utilized by the home cook."
At the time, Time Magazine reported that Judge Sweet "questioned whether customers understood the risks of eating McDonald's chicken over regular chicken."
That was seven years ago, and I still wonder whether or not McDonald's customers truly understand the risks they take when consuming fast food on a regular basis.
If you missed Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super-Size Me, I highly recommend you watch it with your entire family. It's a real-life illustration of just how dangerous – life threatening, in fact – an excessive fast food diet can really be. And "excessive" consumption is likely far less than you imagine: Eating fast food just twice a week DOUBLES your risk of developing insulin resistance, compared to eating it just once a week, for example. Insulin resistance, as I've discussed on many occasions, is one of THE primary driving factors behind most of the diseases we currently struggle with, from diabetes to cancer and heart disease...
The truth is, McDonald's fare contain non-food ingredients that can seriously harm your health.
This shouldn't come as any great surprise. After all, how healthful can something be that shows no signs of decomposing after being left on a counter for more than a decade?
Clearly there's more chemicals in there than actual, real foodstuff.
Chicken McNuggets: "Made With White Meat"... and What Else?
According to McDonald's, their chicken nuggets are "made with white meat, wrapped up in a crisp tempura batter." But as the article above shows, these chicken nuggets are a far cry from what you might expect, based on that description.
About half of it is actual chicken. The rest is a mix of corn-derived fillers and additives (most likely genetically modified), along with a slew of synthetic chemicals, including:
Dimethyl polysiloxane, a type of silicone with anti-foaming properties used in cosmetics and a variety of other goods like Silly Putty
Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product with antioxidant properties
The latter, TBHQ, is typically listed as an "antioxidant," but it's important to realize it is a SYNTHETIC chemical with antioxidant properties – NOT a natural antioxidant.
The chemical prevents oxidation of fats and oils, thereby extending shelf life of processed foods. It's a commonly used ingredient in processed foods of all kinds, but you can also find it in varnishes, lacquers, pesticide products, as well as cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability.
At its 19th and 21st meetings, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives determined that tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) was safe for human consumption at levels of 0-0.5 mg/kg of body weight. However, more recently, the Codex commission set the maximum allowable limits up to between 100 to as much as 400 mg/kg, depending on the food it's added to. (Chewing gum is permitted to contain the highest levels of TBHQ.)
That's quite a discrepancy in supposedly "safe" limits!
So, is the safe level zero, or 400 mg/kg? Who knows?!
According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, one gram of TBHQ can cause:
Nausea
Vomiting
Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
Delirium
Sense of suffocation
Collapse
Based on animal studies, health hazards associated with TBHQ include:
liver effects at very low doses
positive mutation results from in vitro tests on mammalian cells
biochemical changes at very low doses
reproductive effects at high doses
The good news is that it is not suspected to be a persistent toxin, meaning your body is probably able to eliminate it so that it does not bioaccumulate.
REAL Food "Lives" and "Dies"
I recently commented on the curious ability of McDonald's food to remain impervious to degradation. It's as if the food has been embalmed to stay "fresh" forever! After sitting on a shelf for 14 years, the hamburger bun has yet to develop a single trace of mold. It's barely even begun to shrivel...
Folks, these buns bear absolutely no resemblance to real bread, and when you read the list of ingredients, this mysterious mummification feature becomes less of a mystery.
Here are just a few of the ingredients in a McDonald's hamburger bun:
calcium sulfate (aka Plaster of Paris)
calcium carbonate (Antacid medication)
ammonium sulfate (According to MSDS,“harmful if swallowed”)
ammonium chloride (Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea)
calcium propionate (Preservative)
sodium propionate (Mold inhibitor)
Always remember that wholesome, health-promoting food is "live" food, and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will decompose.
The fact that these burgers, buns, and fries do not decompose, even after a decade or two, is a clear sign that it's just not real food, and should not be part of your diet.
You Are What You Eat...
The bottom line is that if you want to stay healthy, and keep your children healthy, you have to avoid fast food and other processed foods, and invest some time in your kitchen, cooking from scratch. Reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know exactly what you're putting in your body.
Ideally, you'll want to consume as much whole, raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as possible. That's one of the major reasons why vegetable juicing works so well – you're consuming living raw food!
Most vegetables also have very low carbohydrate levels that minimally disturb insulin metabolism – another important trait of a healthful diet -- but there is something very special about vegetable juicing and eating live raw foods in general.
In addition, I believe optimal health is also largely dependent on eating the right foods for your nutritional type. I think this is such an important part of an optimal diet that I am now offering the entire Nutritional Typing program to you for free.
If you're "hooked" on fast food and other processed foods, please review my recent article How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps. If you're currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is probably the most positive life change you could ever make.
And if you have children, remember that feeding your children home cooked meals can have far reaching benefits, extending even to your future grandchildren. Yes, that's right! It is now well known that dietary changes can prompt epigenetic DNA changes that can be passed on to future generations. For instance, pregnant rats fed a fatty diet had daughters and granddaughters with a greater risk of breast cancer.
Making wise food decisions can literally "override" genetic predispositions for disease.
If you need help determining what foods are actually healthful and which are not, please review the shopping guidelines listed at the end of this recent article.
This information was recieved as an email from an article of Dr. Mercola's.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Pumpkin Patch results
Having never done the Pumpkin Patch I wasn't sure what to expect. I did however expect more sales then we experienced. I at first thought our location was great, in the fire pit area of the high school. We had more room than most of the other vender's. The down side was that most people were unable to come into the fire pit either because they were pushing strollers or wore bifocals and had a harder time negotiating the stairs or had health problems that prevented them from using the stairs. There were NO handrails to use.
We even had friends who came looking for us specifically and then were unable to come to our booth because it was down the steps.
We even saw 3 ladies fall down the stairs at different times. That was disconcerting and worrisome.
I have decided not to do as many craft fairs and focus more on individual sales people and finding more stores to place my wares. I feel I am better able to focus my energy on those avenues of sales and can take better care of them than craft sales.
I may change my mind at some point but that is my feeling right now.
Today is church and this afternoon we will unload our craft show stock and props. Tomorrow we have plans to go to Amarillo shopping. Last time we went shopping Hannah was not with us and therefore did not get any new clothes. So this time the focus will be more on her. Mollie is going to look for a new pair of jeans as well and use girls all need new coats. We will see how we fare.
We even had friends who came looking for us specifically and then were unable to come to our booth because it was down the steps.
We even saw 3 ladies fall down the stairs at different times. That was disconcerting and worrisome.
I have decided not to do as many craft fairs and focus more on individual sales people and finding more stores to place my wares. I feel I am better able to focus my energy on those avenues of sales and can take better care of them than craft sales.
I may change my mind at some point but that is my feeling right now.
Today is church and this afternoon we will unload our craft show stock and props. Tomorrow we have plans to go to Amarillo shopping. Last time we went shopping Hannah was not with us and therefore did not get any new clothes. So this time the focus will be more on her. Mollie is going to look for a new pair of jeans as well and use girls all need new coats. We will see how we fare.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Homemade Nestle Quick
http://sugarbananas.blogspot.com/2010/10/homemade-nesquik.html
Ok, now I am excited. I have always thought I should be able to make Nestle Quick at home without all the icky extra ingredients and now I have the recipe. Yippie.
Ok are you ready for the super hard recipe???????????????
Ok here we go........
Nesquik Remake
2/3 C Sugar
1/3 C Cocoa
Pinch of salt
Combine the three ingredients and store in a sealed container. That's it!
Can you believe it?
Sharpie tye dye
I found some cool craft blogs and came across this super cute idea for tye dying with sharpie markers. The tutorial is at the link below. So cool.
http://www.crapivemade.com/2010/08/sharpie-tie-dye-t-shirts.html
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Healing hot drink
On the stove is the huge tea pot I bought from Lehman's last winter. I love it. I am making my version of healing hot drink.
In a cup place,
1/4 to 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. cider vinegar (organic is best)
1 t. lemon or lime juice
1 to 2 t. cinnamon
1 to 2 T. honey
Just so you know. I don't measure any of this so its up to you how much of each you use. Once you have been drinking it you sort of learn how you like it.
Fill cup with hot water.
Now fill your wives cup with hot water. Thanks Jeff.
Stir, inhale the steam, sip and be well.
Cayenne pepper has many healing properties. It helps all body organs and especially the heart. It opens nasal passages, stops bleeding if put on a wound, strengthens the heart muscle. Google it and learn its many benefits.
This drink makes me think of apple cider and is quite pleasant tasting. Don't try to start out using lots of cayenne. That is something you must work up to.
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