Category: MISC

ROLL UP THE SIDEWALKS AND CALL IT A DAY?

TODAY IN MY LIFE…

If your lawyer asked you if you wanted to champion a cause to expose the bungling incompetents in a corrupt town full of bigoted, self-serving personnel, what would you do?  
By the way, there are no guarantees of winning because the local justice system is biased against “outsiders” (those with no family in the local area who were looking for small town America) and rumor has it that they can be bought also.
Oh and by the way, the town has lost multiple businesses (some quite large) in the past couple years and several more in just the past few weeks with more to come at the end of the year and is home to multiple sexual predators including the former chief of police and a current “person of interest” for an international child sex abuse pornography ring.  And the next town over has removed a stop light and reverted to a 2-way stop sign system.
Remember also that this is the same town that would “not get involved” when you were swindled to begin with when you bought a home full of black mold that was not disclosed, despite the agents and owners as well as the previous owners knowledge of it.  Every lawyer you called cited “conflict of interest” because of their involvement with either the previous owners or the real estate company and your were forced to seek out lawyers two towns away.  Remember too that of the lawyers that would even talk to you the advice was to spend the money it would take to fight fixing the problem instead of on the layers it would take to get out of the deal. 
Remember that now 5 years later you once again spent days finding a lawyer that would even talk to you because your town/country are “goofy” and “do things weird” so they don’t really want to take your case.
And don’t forget you will be footing the bill for ALL the fees until you win, IF you win.
I just wanted to give you enough background to make an informed decision.
BUSINESSES GONE IN THE PAST 2 YEARS WHILE YOU WERE AWAY CARING FOR FAMILY AND DEALING WITH CANCER:
  • BAKERY
  • CHURCH
  • 2 MOTELS
  • GIFT SHOP
  • PIZZA PLACE
  • RACE TRACK
  • COPY CENTER
  • LUMBER YARD
  • HARDWARE STORE
  • SANDWICH BISTRO
  • ANTIQUE/GUN SHOP
  • CHILD CARE CENTER
  • AUTO PARTS STORE (ONLY ONE IN TOWN)
  • ATV/SNOWMOBILE DEALER (ONLY ONE IN TOWN)
1/2 OF SCHOOL SHUT DOWN AND CLOSED UP, BUT NO LAYOFFS 
SO RATIO IS NOW 1 TEACHER TO 10 STUDENTS
BUSINESSES GONE IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS:
  • RESTAURANT
  • BAR & TAVERN
BUSINESSES RUMORED TO GO IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:
  • RESORT
  • CHILD CARE CENTER
  • FURNITURE STORE (ONLY ONE IN TOWN)

BUSINESSES RUMORED TO GO OUT TO ATTRITION (RETIREMENT) THIS YEAR:

  • BARBER SHOP (ONLYONE IN TOWN)
  • SHOE REPAIR/RED WING DEALER (ONLY ONE IN TOWN)
     BUSINESSES STILL THERE (TECHNICALLY), BUT NEVER OPEN:
    • THEATRE
    • ANTIQUE MALL
    • BOWLING ALLEY

    Baked Nutty Brown Balls – Cooking with Chaya

    I had two cups of leftover rice so I decided to mix some other ingredients in and bake myself brown rice balls. I knew right away, I wanted nuts and veggies, in this recipe so off I went to create. I did read a bunch of recipes for something similar, but when push came to shove, I used what was in my fridge and cabinets and did not worry about anything, I had read about.

    Baked Nutty Brown Rice Balls 

    2 cups fully cooked and cooled brown rice 
    1/2 cup ground walnuts 
    1 carrot, shredded 
    1 zucchini, shredded 
    1 onion, shredded 1 teaspoon soy sauce 
    1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
    1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
    1/4 cup sliced green onions 
    1 beaten egg 1/4 cup flax seed meal
    •  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
    • Combine all of the above ingredients. Mine did not stick well so I suggest either another egg or a little bit of liquid, added. Mix well. 
    • Fill 18 mini muffin cups with rice mixture. I used a tablespoon cookie scoop to get approximately the same size balls. 
    •  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 23 minutes. They brown a little. Remove from tins and serve. These have a nutty flavor to them. 

    TEX MEX MEATBALL SOUP

    It’s cold here and snowing like a banshee so I whipped up some warm (heat and spice) soup to have with some fresh baked beer bread!

    TEX MEX MEATBALL SOUP
    MEATBALLS
    1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
    1/2 pound ground pork
    4 cloves of garlic, minced
    1 teaspoon cumin
    1 teaspoon sea salt
    1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
    1 tablespoon minced onion
    1 Jumbo Egg
    1 cup cooked rice
    1 tablespoon bread crumbs
    SOUP
    2 pounds Roma tomatoes, diced
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    2 small sprigs of cilantro, minced fine
    1/2 small Vidalia onion, diced
    1 tablespoon safflower oil
    1 teaspoon sea salt
    3 cups chicken stock
    1 avocado
    white cheese or sour cream for garnish

    MEATBALLS

    • In a small food processor grind together the garlic, cumin, salt, pepper and onion until well blended.
    • In a large mixing bowl combine the beef, pork, egg, breadcrumbs, rice and seasoning mixture until well blended.
    • Roll into 1 – 1 1/2 inch balls and set aside.

    SOUP

    • In a sauce pan heat the oil ad add the onions and garlic. Saute’ until fragrant.
    • Add the tomatoes, cooking for 5 minutes until soft and tender.
    • With a slotted spoon remove the tomatoes to a blender and puree with chicken stock.
    • Return the tomato and chicken stock to the sauce pan and bring to a boil.
    • Reduce to a slow simmer and add the meatballs, cooking for 30 minutes until meatballs are cooked through.
    • To serve, place a few meatballs in each bowl and cover with ladles of soup.
    • Garnish with a sprinkle of white cheese or sour cream.

    ROLLIN’, ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’, 2011 JUST KEEP ON ROLLIN’ – YAY 2012 IS HERE.

    Is everybody as happy to see 2011 go as I am?  I have high hopes and super positive attitudes towards what 2012 has in store for each of us.
    I’m not a resolutions girls, but I am a list girl. So I’m making my lists of all the good things I want to come my way and then I’m going to see what I can do to make each of those things come true.  These days it’s so easy to just say wait and see, but my goal this year is to proactively set my life in motion! And I’m ridding myself of all the baggage that makes indecision so easy to live with.

    Over at THE Motivation Station, Martha has challenged us to:

    For the month of January – The 100 things challenge!

    “Unlike the original 100 Things Challenge to get rid of everything we own other than 100 things we will start much smaller – how about a challenge to get rid of 100 things in the month of January?

    It doesn’t matter if you donate, sell, giveaway, throw in the garbage, or recycling – the goal is just to get 100 things out of your home no matter how big or small.”

    Martha has started another blog also, Minimalist in the Making and would love to have you join her in the endeavor.  She’s looking for some guest posters too so go check it out.
    She and I have agreed that minimalism can be defined as the least number of things to make your life livable.  You don’t have to go crazy to accomplish this.

    So far for her challenge that began today to get rid of 100 things (which sounds like a lot) I’ve gotten rid of 37 easily.  Sitting here right now today in the donate to St. Vinnys pile is a plug in ice chest (that we hate), a DVD player, and 2 sweat shirts.  There are 6 magazines and 22 books I’m taking to the VA on Wednesday and 5 DVDs. So 37 down, 63 to go.

    ANOTHER EMAIL STORY WORTH SHARING

    Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
    ~ William Jennings Bryan

    One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
    Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

    It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

    That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
    On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. ‘Really?’ she heard whispered. ‘I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!’ and, ‘I didn’t know others liked me so much,’ were most of the comments.

    No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

    Several years later, one of the students was killed in VietNam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before.. He looked so handsome, so mature.
    The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.
    As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. ‘Were you Mark’s math teacher?’ he asked. She nodded: ‘yes.’ Then he said: ‘Mark talked about you a lot.’
    After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark! ‘s mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
    ‘We want to show you something,’ his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket ‘They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.’
    Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him.
    ‘Thank you so much for doing that,’ Mark’s mother said. ‘As you can see, Mark treasured it.’
    All of Mark’s former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, ‘I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home..’
    Chuck’s wife said, ‘Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album!
    ‘I have mine too,’ Marilyn said. ‘It’s in my diary’
    Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. ‘I carry this with me at all times,’ Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: ‘I think we all saved our lists’
    That’s when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.
    The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

    ♥♥final blog signature. ♥♥