Fresh Fruit

Ah, the simple joys of summer...namely, Fresh Fruit! We've got the boys - the summer vacation week on/week off has started, and we're pumping them full of good eats. I love the summer when fresh fruit is plentiful...blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries (the youngest is a STRAWBERRY KID!), melons, peaches, plums, bananas...it don't get much better than that. One of my favorite breakfasts/snack is to cut up fruits (all kinds), then, I buy the big vanilla yogurt containers (it's cheaper than the individual cups) and mix the fruit and yogurt together..yum! Sometimes I find granola cereal on sale and throw a half a cup of that in the mix. I'm a big fan of buying stuff on sale. Coupons are a plus too. The Ol' Man thinks I'm cheap, but I like to think of myself a "frugal". I make a Hurculean attempt to live within our means, save money and not fall into the consumerism trap. If we can't eat it, or it hasn't worn out, we don't buy it. I patch the kids jeans, I hang the clothes outside to dry, and I reuse zip lock bags. If we had enough land, I'd grow my own fruit!

OK, so he's dead - SO WHAT?

Why, in the name of the gods, is this country so VERY OBSESSED with celebrities? Are their lives so pathetic that they have to project onto the Michael Jackson's of the world? Are their lives so miserable that they'll turn to anything other than their own problems? There was an article on the Internet that said the whole world was mourning...are you kidding me? I'm quite sure there are some tribes in Africa , some folks in the Outback of Australia or even the hills of West By God Virginia who don't know that Michael Jackson is dead, and, if they did know, they could probably care less. Citizens of this country should be more concerned about the crap Congress is trying to force on this country than a dead singer. Citizens of the world should be more concerned about ruination of this planet than a dead guy. But, then again, who the hell am I to tell anyone what to think, right? In my humble opinion, if you are truly in "mourning" for MJ, I think you're an idiot and need to get a life.

Cooking

I'm not much of a cook. Let me explain. I don't particularly enjoy cooking...taking hours and hours cutting, slicing, measuring, etc. and then it only takes 5 minutes to eat it - doesn't seem efficient to me. Anyhoo, I'm actually a pretty good cook, because I follow the recipe, so if it's a good recipe, it'll taste good. I'm not the kind of cook that can "taste test" a recipe and add a pinch of this or a dash of that. I tried that once...and the results were not pretty, so I stick to the recipe. Problem is that I've got a boat load of recipes from my mother-in-law (who's a fabulous cook), and, getting beyond reading her handwriting, she does the pinch/dash method. I usually have to have the Ol' Man interpret the recipe for me and help me the first time, so I can figure it out. I made fish cakes tonight (the recipe was on the back of the bag of fish), and what a pain in the a**. Remind me never to work in a fish cake factory. Getting the bread crumbs to stick - ack! Keep the faith that it tastes good....

Happy Father's Day

May the Gods bless all fathers...REAL fathers, not the sperm donors. We just took the boys back to their mother (we got them for the Father's Day Holiday), and peace reigns again in the house. It TRULY takes a special person to be a parent. I'm happy to say I only have to do it part time. I'm happy enough being "mom" to the 3 cats and the dog. But, the Ol' Man is so happy to have them around, it makes my heart happy to see him smile. I made brownies (alas, from a mix due to time constraints), and we had brownie/ice cream sundaes. Yum! (That'll be an hour on the rower...) The Ol' Man has turned the basement into the "ManCave"...which tickles the boy to no end. I, of course, being the Queen of the House, am allowed in the ManCave, much to the chagrin of the boys. Sunshine, finally today. We've had so much rain/damp weather that there's mushroom growing all over the lawn - which is driving the Ol' Man crazy...he really puts some time into making the lawn look like a golf course, so you can see how he would react to the mushroom epidemic. Hopefully, it'll dry out and he can get the lawn back to normal. This week's assignment for school was a group assignment, so, whew...that was pretty easy.

Sheeple

I read an article on the Internet that was supposedly written by someone from...(Russia?). He called the American people, "sheeple", because we are too stupid to realize how this country is going down the drain. I have to agree with him. There seems to be a vast majority of "sheeple" in this country who could care less what happens outside their bubble of influence. The attitude of "if it doesn't affect me, I don't want to know". The Ol' Man sums it up as the Three Monkey syndrome - Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil..."If I don't see it, or refuse to hear about it, or talk about it...it doesn't exist". Except when it hits you right between the eyes and you loose your job, or your house, or your kid is a crack addict. The founding fathers have to be rolling in their graves at the direction this country is headed. Does anyone CARE that Congress is spending money faster than they can print it? Does anyone CARE that the President is considering giving the Federal Reserve (which, by the way, if you didn't know, is a PRIVATE BANK!) even MORE power? Does anyone really believe the recession is almost over when this country is puking out jobs at an alarming rate? The Russian was right...we're Sheeple...and we'll get what we deserve.

Sunshine?!?

Ok, the weather was GREAT during the Tour Pennsylvania bike trip...and it's rained/been overcast every day since we've gotten back! ACK! I need sunshine!!! The weather's more like April than June, for the gods sake! We had such a crappy winter, I get the creepy feeling we're going to have an equally crappy summer...sigh. On a more positive note, since I'm only taking one class this term, I've got more free time to quilt. I also ordered and received some supplies and I'm going to try my hand at making dog leashes. That, in addition to seeing how writing articles on line for $ goes...beat's working 9-5 in the rat race!

School

I'm taking a Labor Market Analysis class for my Master's, and it's kicking my ass. I'm not a math wiz by any means, and this class deals with all kinds of xyz, coefficient, horizontal axis kinda stuff. To make matters worse, it's an on-line class, so I don't even have the assistance of a teacher to walk me through all this mess, AND, it's a required class for the degree...sigh. My brain hurts.