Category: Archives

Let’s just say that there are some toddler-created poop messes that, when you see them, you just know that there is NO WAY to clean them up without getting said fecal matter on your hands… and maybe your favorite jeans.

Today I am thankful for sweet-smelling, deep cleaning hand soap, Arm & Hammer HE laundry soap, and my faithful GE Frontloading washing machine – which is certainly the best tool for the job.

Oh yes, and I’m thankful for my stinky little guy… but I sure hope that he tries a little harder to hit the potty next time! And, if the poor fellow doesn’t, that he’ll remember to call me from the bathroom instead of freaking out and tracking his mess across the oriental rug, down the steps, all the way to the dining room. This way, perhaps the other children won’t have to step in it as they try to be (read fight over) the first to inform me about the event.

I think it’s time to go back and read the “poop mess” referencing, “If You Give a Mom A Cookie”, which is, coincidentally, located in my links :)

By the way, I did find a remedy for ‘potty talk’ : Make the offending kid HELP with the cleaning the poop mess. They truly just don’t understand the meaning of the words coming out of their mouths without this experience. And, upon the threat of having to clean up the next poop mess – because there will always be a next time – it does cause them to think twice before joking about poop. Oh yeah, and if you’re lucky, they’ll tell the other kids about their horrible experience and suddenly the poop-jokes will disappear… for a little while at least. No worries, though. So long as there are little ones in the house, there will always be the looming threat of “next time”.

UPDATE:

This post was written during Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

To my delight, I since still get a significant amount of blog traffic for the search terms “Ron Paul” and “Slim Jim”.

If you’re looking for issue-specific slimjims, go to the Campaign for Liberty website’s store. They are listed under “Campaign for Liberty Slim Jims” and you can select the set you’d like. Choices are : Sound Money/Economic Freedom, Foreign Policy, and Personal Freedom/Civil Liberties .

There are fliers to download available here: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/handouts.php

As of today, August 28, 2009, the Rand Paul store is not yet open. However, the link placeholder is here: http://www.randpaul2010.com/store/

Get connected:

-Become a member of Campaign for Liberty and be a C4L leader in your community: https://www.campaignforliberty.com/signup.php
-Join a Meet-Up group near you

Please be sure to check out the rest of my blog while you’re here! :) Thanks for visiting.

—
ORIGINAL POST:

This is very, very cool.

Affordable:
$5.00 for one pack of 100 slim jims
2-4 packs for $4.00/each
5+ packs for $3.00/each

Four of the new slim jims are issue-specific and great for introducing your family, friends, and total strangers to Dr. Ron Paul’s consistent stands on the issues. The remaining two are student-oriented and perfect for spreading the liberty message on campuses all over the country.

The new slim jims are:

– Health Care and Health Freedom
– For Life and Liberty
– Gun Owners for Paul
– Secure Our Borders
– Ron Paul “Revolution” Student Slim Jim
– Ron Paul “Ronald Reagan” Student Slim Jim

Make sure to order yours today and pass them out wherever and whenever you can. Slim jims are one of the best ways to quickly spread the word on Dr. Paul.

A Foreign Policy of Freedom features speeches and writings beginning with Dr. Paul’s first term in Congress and continuing through the present day. This would be a great gift for friends and family during the holiday season.

You can find the new slim jims at the official Ron Paul 2008 Store

And you can also check out A Foreign Policy of Freedom while you’re there!

This recipe is inspired by the Georgia Pork and Peanut recipe in the Chili Nation cookbook by Jane and Michael Stern.

My Mods: I made some changes to the intensity of the heat and added a few ingredients (beef, cilantro) and changed the way the peanuts are added – I reserved some to be added whole for texture and also added the onions toward the end to keep them al dente.

Flavor: Before I tried this, I was scared it would taste like a Thai peanut sauce with meat chunks over rice! But, not so. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the delicateness of the peanut flavor. This chili is mildly sweet, like a curry dish, only spiced with cumin instead of curry paste. The heat is intentionally mild, as I tweaked it for my spice-sensitive picky eaters. Heat-lovin’ mommies and daddies might be compelled to add hot sauce to their bowl!

Texture: The ground peanuts make this chili very thick and hearty – more filling than other chili recipes I have tried.

Random fact:It might seem weird to add peanuts to chili, but peanuts are actually a legume… yeah, as in they’re in the “bean family” alongside beans you’d normally expect to see in a chili recipe.

Sarah Joy’s Nutty Chili Recipe

2 lb cubed London broil (1/2 in. cubes)
2 lb cubed pork (1/2 in. cubes)
4 dried chili peppers (about 4 in” in length)
2 14oz cans unseasoned tomato sauce
1 chopped onion (about 1 cup)
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp canola oil (can use other cooking oils)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups chicken broth (or 1 14 oz. can)
2 2/3 cups unsalted, roasted shelled peanuts (save out 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro

steamed short-grained rice
hot sauce
sour cream / plain yogurt
cheddar cheese

Note: This recipe can be halved and frozen for later. This made enough chili for two hearty meals for our family of seven.

1. Place the chilies in a large, heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, until soft. Then, seed and stem them.
2. Place the prepared chilies, 2 cups peanuts, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in a food processor. Puree thoroughly.
3. Sauté the onions and set aside
4. Sauté garlic
5. Add the meat to the garlic and sauté some more
6. Add the spices, puree, broth, onions and sugar, remaining 2/3 cup peanuts
7. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or until thickened and peanuts are softened
8. Add minced fresh cilantro just before serving

Serve over steamed rice.
Top with hot sauce, sour cream (or plain yogurt) and cheddar cheese as desired.

* * *

Chili Nation is my favorite chili cookbook. The recipes are easy to prepare, yet please the palate of a chili enthusiast. The authors chose recipes from each state, and the very interesting story behind each recipe is recorded in the book. A few years back, the men in my husband’s Bible study took turns making a different recipe every week and brought them to share. All were excellent! My staple weeknight chili recipe from Chili Nation is the Tigua Indian Definitive Bowl of Red. It’s a spicy beef chili without beans. It gets its deep reddish color from several tablespoons of chili powder.

My friend Betty Lou passed away after a sudden heart attack yesterday.

I am told that she felt light headed after church and decided to take a nap. She never woke up.

Today is the day that her daughter in law is to be induced, as the baby is past due. It is very sad that Betty Lou never got to meet her new grand-baby, but she loved that baby deeply before it was born.

What a bittersweet moment the birth will be later today.

One of my favorite artists for greeting cards and calendars is Marjolein Bastin. I happened to have one of her cards on hand that was very fitting. On the front was a lovely watercolor bouquet of lavender, pansies and white roses and a few sprigs from the bouquet were painted inside.

In it wrote,

Dear R—,

A big hug to you!

E— called me at 1AM this morning to tell me that Betty Lou had gone to be with the Lord. We talked and cried together, remembering what a sweet, kind lady she was.

I am so thankful to have seen both of you at the grocery store last week. It was a busy time of day – the store was crowded with many shoppers – and she didn’t hesitate to get my attention and say hello. This was so typical of her friendly personality, purposefully going out of her way to greet people and to encourage them in the Lord.

Her love for you, M— and S— and the new baby was also a beautiful testimony of a godly woman who saw it as a joy to care for and nurture her family. She wrote to me earlier this year, so tickled, because she had managed to surprise M— for his birthday. She delighted in being a blessing to others.

Betty Lou always followed up on prayer requests, too. After a few weeks of receiving a request, she would always write or ask me in church how things were going. She emailed me little notes to let me know she was praying for me when Tom was traveling, when the children were sick, or after the birth of a baby. There were countless times that her notes brightened my day.

She did not quench the Spirit when the Lord put it on her heart to pray for and encourage me. When I received these notes, exactly at the time I most needed them, it was as if it was God’s way of showing me how much He loved me… working through the actions of your sweet Betty Lou.

I will miss her very much, and I cannot wait to see her again someday. What an honor it was to have had her as a friend. I am thankful for every moment of our friendship.

Today I am praying for you, M— and S— and I am praying for a safe delivery, too, of your precious new grand-baby.

Much love,
SJA

PS: This passage reminds me of Betty Lou. Her life was like a fragrant aroma, one who “walked in love.”

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

My friend Susan tagged me!

meme break…You have to open the book you’re currently reading on page 161 and read the fifth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag with…. I’m tagging my last five commenters…

Now, Susan will tell you that I need to read more FICTION for the imagination… and she’s right! Here she has caught me, once again, reading NON-fiction ;-)

This is an excerpt from a letter by Alexander Hamilton, Philadelphia, May 26, 1792, to Edward Carrington, as documented in the book Something That Will Surprise The World: The Essential Writings of the Founding Fathers, edited by Susan Dunn.

“As to the first point, the evidence of Mr. Madison’s sentiments, at one period, is to be found in the address of Congrees, of April twenty-sixth, seventeen hundred and eighty-three, which was planned by him, in the conformity to his own ideas, and without any previous suggestions from the committee, and with his hearty co-operation in every part of the business.”

I’m also reading There Goes The Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up by Lance Freeman, and African American man who studied city revitalization efforts in Harlem and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The book is less than a year old and is published by Temple University Press in Philly.

This topic is extremely fascinating to me, especially in light of the recent revitalization efforts happening here in Coatesville.

Eek… the following quote does need some context. This is from chapter six, “Implications for Planning and Policy” under a section entitled, “Are Residents of Other Gentrifying Neighborhoods Likely to Be Cynical Towards Gentrification?” Prior to this quote, the author points out past experiences of “oppression and resentment” over mishandled revitalization efforts that left families displaced.

There is ample evidence that this cynicism is the accepted wisdom in many parts of the black community.

It’s fun to see what others are reading… I’m curious what Emeth, Miwaza, Elrena, Tara, and Tom (crossing my fingers, hoping he’s game!) are reading… so consider yourselves TAGGED! :) Maybe I’ll get some inspiration from then for my next trip to the library. <-- (Check out this link! It will change the way you use your local library.)