When I said the temperatures took a dive, they proved it further with a soft drizzle. It's not too cold as I just dashed across the street to deliver Easter goodies to some friends and didn't need a sweater. We are promised by the weatherman to have this weather the rest of the week. Knowing how well they predict the weather, I'll be happy to enjoy it through Wednesday.
Just finished some Easter baskets for friends. Cupcake baking begins on Wednesday and Thursday one of my college kids is coming home for a few days. There is always something to rejoice about.
Found a cute way to put together an Easter 'basket'. I had a lot of canning jars I didn't get to use this past Fall, so I filled several of them up with a variety of fun candy and closed down the ring cap with a circle of Easter print fabric. I also hit the after-Easter sales, last year, and finally got to use the little tin buckets for some treat giving.
Lining up my cupcake recipes and digging out a recipe for modeling chocolate. The anticipating of the holidays is always the fun part for mothers!
Monday, April 18, 2011
All too true . . .
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
Stephen Leacock
Stephen Leacock
A beautiful, drizzily, overcast day . . .
As you know by now, I like cold, damp days that drive me indoors to hang around my sewing machine and kitchen. After a very hot weekend, it was nice to wake up to a cool morning. My morning walk around the church before Mass this morning was wonderful even with a few, tiny raindrops adorning my sweater.
Have to get some shopping done today as my current quilt can't go on until I purchase a few yards of muslim. Sigh . . . Meanwhile, I started two more quilts as the ideas came into mind.
Although I have leftover beef roast for dinner, I'm thinking of slicing it thin and rolling it around a filling of cheese and spinach with a mushroom gravy. It is hard to understand people who hate to cook. It always seems like an adventure to me and, beside, I like to eat something nice, too.
By the way, brining chicken before baking it makes for a wonderful outcome! The white meat often gets a bit dry but not with the brining. Just have to remember to think ahead when chicken is on the menu!
Have to get some shopping done today as my current quilt can't go on until I purchase a few yards of muslim. Sigh . . . Meanwhile, I started two more quilts as the ideas came into mind.
Although I have leftover beef roast for dinner, I'm thinking of slicing it thin and rolling it around a filling of cheese and spinach with a mushroom gravy. It is hard to understand people who hate to cook. It always seems like an adventure to me and, beside, I like to eat something nice, too.
By the way, brining chicken before baking it makes for a wonderful outcome! The white meat often gets a bit dry but not with the brining. Just have to remember to think ahead when chicken is on the menu!
What's wrong with the government?
It is really crazy to hear the president and his cohorts claiming that if we take away tax cuts for the rich, we can balance the budget more into the black. You have to wonder if the president or his cohorts every studey economy and how it works.
In order to have job opportunities, you need people with . . . MONEY to start or back the business with the idea that is will benefit the wealthy person as well as provide jobs and opportunities for people needing employment. If you take away any of the tax perks related to operating a business, why should the owner or backer continue to support it? The business closes. The owner/backer moves it overseas and a lot of people are out of work. That puts them on unemployment benefits and we increase the national debt.
I fail to understand why people who work hard and get financially ahead in the world should be penalized. Politician are against a flat tax that would treat everyone's income equally. Shouldn't everyone have the same percentage deducted for running the country? It goes against everything to make hard work and advancement liable for a punishment in the way of more taxes. That's a good way to reduce effort and put more people on the entitlement wagon.
We had friends who ran a small business that they dearly loved. They employed eight or ten people and it was a good place to work with great bosses and happy employees. Over the years, the various costs went up and the 'new and improved' regulations took their toll on the business. When they got an offer on the property, with a lot of regrets, they sold it. The business closed and the employees were out of a job.
I don't know about you but I don't have the money to start a business and when I need a job I go to a big corporation to look for employment. If they pay a fair salary, I don't care if they are millionaires - they earned it.
In order to have job opportunities, you need people with . . . MONEY to start or back the business with the idea that is will benefit the wealthy person as well as provide jobs and opportunities for people needing employment. If you take away any of the tax perks related to operating a business, why should the owner or backer continue to support it? The business closes. The owner/backer moves it overseas and a lot of people are out of work. That puts them on unemployment benefits and we increase the national debt.
I fail to understand why people who work hard and get financially ahead in the world should be penalized. Politician are against a flat tax that would treat everyone's income equally. Shouldn't everyone have the same percentage deducted for running the country? It goes against everything to make hard work and advancement liable for a punishment in the way of more taxes. That's a good way to reduce effort and put more people on the entitlement wagon.
We had friends who ran a small business that they dearly loved. They employed eight or ten people and it was a good place to work with great bosses and happy employees. Over the years, the various costs went up and the 'new and improved' regulations took their toll on the business. When they got an offer on the property, with a lot of regrets, they sold it. The business closed and the employees were out of a job.
I don't know about you but I don't have the money to start a business and when I need a job I go to a big corporation to look for employment. If they pay a fair salary, I don't care if they are millionaires - they earned it.
Teaching our children . . .
How far must we go in educating our children at home? I mean, do we need to encourage anything but the basics in order to prepare our children for the secular world? When are we over doing education and when is it not enough? And should there be a difference in how we educate our sons and daughters. Do the future men need more education than our future women?
Perhaps, in days gone by, females only needed enough to get married and know enough to send their children on to school. As long as a woman could cope within the confines of the home, she had been taught enough. What more did she need? Although this may have had some truth long ago, our children will be facing a much different world and education is their main ticket to being an accepted part of it.
Personally, I never gave my sons different subjects in the home schooling curriculum than I did my daughters. When they finished their time with me, I wanted both sons and daughters to have had the best I could offer them. I can’t look into the future so I can’t make a determination on what they will actually need as they travel their individual roads in life. I am trying to offer them everything now so they won’t come up short later.
Sons will most likely become the breadwinners. They need to have the intelligence, education and wisdom to find and maintain work that will support a future family. And, in order to become a part of the world, a smattering of many subjects will help them cope with the different people they will meet and work with in their life. A well-rounded person is one who can intelligently converse in a mixed group and, at least know what everyone is talking about enough to make reasonable comments. Too much focus on one goal might find our children struggling to meet a goal life sends them!
I am definitely not in league with women’s lib! I do, however, feel that if we only prepare our daughters for marriage or religious life and structure our curriculum thus, we are doing them a great disservice. In a perfect world, perhaps enough knowledge to be only a mother would be acceptable. We don’t live in a perfect world and we don’t know where our children’s paths in life will take them.
It is interesting to sit down and figure out exactly what a girl needs to know in order to run a household. Math is foremost from doubling a recipe to figuring the square footage of the home. If you aren’t reasonably sharp in calculating skills, how will you know if you are actually getting a bargain when watching for sales, using coupons and shopping for a family? Basic math will get you by but some advanced math will stretch your mind.
English is very important. Even a female needs to communicate and basic adjectives such as cool or awesome can make a conversation pretty tiresome after awhile. If a daughter marries one of the well-educated young men, can she be a help mate or embarrassment when dealing with social situations that come about in a husband’s job? Children learn a lot from what they hear. Shouldn’t we see that our children have a grounding in grammar so our future grandchildren will be literate people?
And we should never shy away from subject because we don’t think our children will need them. My own mother was educated in Germany. In their educational system, everyone studied everything if they opted for higher learning. You took art even if you weren’t interested in it. You took science. You studied math every year. You read the great authors. My mother graduated top of her class and had plans for using her excellent education. World War II put a stop to her immediate plans but nothing she ever learned went to waste. She raised children. She taught them about music and art. She was strict about them excelling in school. And when family circumstances warranted it, she had absolutely no trouble in finding work. What would have happened if her parents had settled for getting her enough learning to get by?
Our sons should be given the best education we can provide, but our daughters should be working there, too. We should never be satisfied to just get by when there is a chance to expand our horizons. As mentioned before, our sons will probably work outside the home. Many of our girls will become mothers. If we did a good job with their education, either in the home our in a traditional school setting, won’t many of our daughters follow in our footsteps? We should think now about whether we are giving them enough to teach their children all they should know.
Perhaps, in days gone by, females only needed enough to get married and know enough to send their children on to school. As long as a woman could cope within the confines of the home, she had been taught enough. What more did she need? Although this may have had some truth long ago, our children will be facing a much different world and education is their main ticket to being an accepted part of it.
Personally, I never gave my sons different subjects in the home schooling curriculum than I did my daughters. When they finished their time with me, I wanted both sons and daughters to have had the best I could offer them. I can’t look into the future so I can’t make a determination on what they will actually need as they travel their individual roads in life. I am trying to offer them everything now so they won’t come up short later.
Sons will most likely become the breadwinners. They need to have the intelligence, education and wisdom to find and maintain work that will support a future family. And, in order to become a part of the world, a smattering of many subjects will help them cope with the different people they will meet and work with in their life. A well-rounded person is one who can intelligently converse in a mixed group and, at least know what everyone is talking about enough to make reasonable comments. Too much focus on one goal might find our children struggling to meet a goal life sends them!
I am definitely not in league with women’s lib! I do, however, feel that if we only prepare our daughters for marriage or religious life and structure our curriculum thus, we are doing them a great disservice. In a perfect world, perhaps enough knowledge to be only a mother would be acceptable. We don’t live in a perfect world and we don’t know where our children’s paths in life will take them.
It is interesting to sit down and figure out exactly what a girl needs to know in order to run a household. Math is foremost from doubling a recipe to figuring the square footage of the home. If you aren’t reasonably sharp in calculating skills, how will you know if you are actually getting a bargain when watching for sales, using coupons and shopping for a family? Basic math will get you by but some advanced math will stretch your mind.
English is very important. Even a female needs to communicate and basic adjectives such as cool or awesome can make a conversation pretty tiresome after awhile. If a daughter marries one of the well-educated young men, can she be a help mate or embarrassment when dealing with social situations that come about in a husband’s job? Children learn a lot from what they hear. Shouldn’t we see that our children have a grounding in grammar so our future grandchildren will be literate people?
And we should never shy away from subject because we don’t think our children will need them. My own mother was educated in Germany. In their educational system, everyone studied everything if they opted for higher learning. You took art even if you weren’t interested in it. You took science. You studied math every year. You read the great authors. My mother graduated top of her class and had plans for using her excellent education. World War II put a stop to her immediate plans but nothing she ever learned went to waste. She raised children. She taught them about music and art. She was strict about them excelling in school. And when family circumstances warranted it, she had absolutely no trouble in finding work. What would have happened if her parents had settled for getting her enough learning to get by?
Our sons should be given the best education we can provide, but our daughters should be working there, too. We should never be satisfied to just get by when there is a chance to expand our horizons. As mentioned before, our sons will probably work outside the home. Many of our girls will become mothers. If we did a good job with their education, either in the home our in a traditional school setting, won’t many of our daughters follow in our footsteps? We should think now about whether we are giving them enough to teach their children all they should know.
Rosary Reminder . . .
CARRY YOUR ROSARY EVERYDAY
When you carry a Rosary, Satan has a headache.
When you use it, he collapses.
When he sees you praying it, he faints.
Let us pray the rosary every time, so that he'll keep fainting.
Maybe one day, he'll have a stroke and never be able to work.
Did you also know that when you are about to forward this message,
Satan will try to discourage you?
Forward it anyway and help hasten the triumph of Mama Mary!
Send this to your prayerful friends and see how the Holy Spirit works!
There is a great deal to gain and absolutely nothing to lose!
Imagine what might happen if every Catholic in the world would pray a Rosary on the same day! We have an example in October of 1573, when Europe was saved from the invasion of the mighty Turkish fleet, by the praying of the Rosary by all Christians! So, on Good Friday, let us all pray a Rosary for peace in the world and the return of moral values into our communities. If possible, please pray your Rosary between Noon and 3:00pm.
When you carry a Rosary, Satan has a headache.
When you use it, he collapses.
When he sees you praying it, he faints.
Let us pray the rosary every time, so that he'll keep fainting.
Maybe one day, he'll have a stroke and never be able to work.
Did you also know that when you are about to forward this message,
Satan will try to discourage you?
Forward it anyway and help hasten the triumph of Mama Mary!
Send this to your prayerful friends and see how the Holy Spirit works!
There is a great deal to gain and absolutely nothing to lose!
Imagine what might happen if every Catholic in the world would pray a Rosary on the same day! We have an example in October of 1573, when Europe was saved from the invasion of the mighty Turkish fleet, by the praying of the Rosary by all Christians! So, on Good Friday, let us all pray a Rosary for peace in the world and the return of moral values into our communities. If possible, please pray your Rosary between Noon and 3:00pm.
Cupcake Fever . . .!
It's interesting how cupcakes seem to be the fashion these days. I remember when they were the lowly substitute for a 'real' cake with wonderful icing and decorations. I can, however, see the appeal in making AND eating cupcakes. Done right, you can have a gourmet morsel wrapped in a handy cupcake paper, filled with creamy surprises and an elegant topping of sugar and spice and everything nice! It's also about the equivalent of a reasonable slice of cake so you know if there are 6 used cupcake papers on your plate, you've exceeded your dietary limits.
I bake a variety of cookies for Christmas giving every year and am seriously in the cupcake mode for Easter this year. My imagination is seeing a tray of these little cakes adorned with sugar flowers and filled with creamy delights. I'm hoping my imagination doesn't exceed my actual skills.
I used to do cake decorating before the onset of motherhood and all it entails. I'm rounding up my modeling chocolate recipes and tools and hope to have a Spring-like assortment to give to my friends. My thinking is that even if I fall short of my imaginary goals, a cupcake with filling and icing is still a very good thing.
I bake a variety of cookies for Christmas giving every year and am seriously in the cupcake mode for Easter this year. My imagination is seeing a tray of these little cakes adorned with sugar flowers and filled with creamy delights. I'm hoping my imagination doesn't exceed my actual skills.
I used to do cake decorating before the onset of motherhood and all it entails. I'm rounding up my modeling chocolate recipes and tools and hope to have a Spring-like assortment to give to my friends. My thinking is that even if I fall short of my imaginary goals, a cupcake with filling and icing is still a very good thing.
As we go into Holy Week . . .
“Jesus calls our sufferings a cross because the word cross signifies instrument of salvation; and He does not want our sorrows to be sterile, but to become a cross, that is, a means of elevating and sanctifying our souls.” ~Divine Intimacy
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