Quote to ponder . . .

People who would insist on fresh local food think nothing of freezing the substance from which their own children would form - freeze it for years - no problem. People who talk about ecological relationships in nature disrupt their own hormonal system by using contraceptives - for years on end.

Lemon Cookies, Iced Tea, and Summer Time!

A fast recipe to avoid heating up the house this summer. Goes great with a glass of iced tea.

 

 

Lemon Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Freshly-grated lemon zest
2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, lemon juice, extract, and zest in a mixing bowl. Slowly stir in the four. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough (or use a cookie scoop) onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Remember, a lemon drizzle of glaze is not over the top!

Quick and Easy Dinner . . .

Many an afternoon, I suddenly realize I still need to think about what to cook for dinner. And, given the fact that I've forgotten until that point, most of the meat is frozen too solid for any immediate use. I keep a stand by in the freezer - sausage! Not the breakfast type but the meaty, thick ones that you can slice at a diagonal in order to crisp up as much of the surface as you can! Well, I was blessed to still have some of my stand by in the freezer and this is how I turned out a hearty meal in a nick of time!

Sausage of your choice. My favorite brand is Hillshire but most any sausage except breakfast sausage will work just fine. How much you need depends on how many hungry people will soon be gathering around your dinner table.

Cut the sausage in diagonal disks and brown in a bit of oil in a large frying pan. Meanwhile, dice up a large onion, a bell pepper, and eight peeled cloves of garlic and add to the pan. Stir and cook until the vegetables start to soften a bit. Add a teaspoon of chili flakes and a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce. Turn down the heat, cover, and simmer until it is heated through and bubbling. If the sauce is too thick, a bit of water, red wine, or chicken broth can remedy that. You want to be sure to have enough sauce to soak into the rice you are going to serve with this!

This takes less than 30 minutes. Rice is easy enough to prepare and if you have a rice cooker, that is one less thing you have to think about. A green salad is good or a festive fruit salad comprised of your favorites and dressed with just a few squeezes of orange or lime juice. Pretty sure you won't get any complaints!

California Schooling . . .Home schooling might be the saving of your child!

5 Reasons to Break Away from Public Schools Now

Common Core State Standards, academic standards adopted by many states nationwide, is dropping American literature classics from school curriculums in 46 states by 2014. It will be compulsory for 70% of books studied to be non-fiction.

California, which follows the multi-state Common Core Curriculum, has decided to dumb down and eliminate the algebra requirement for all eighth graders.

School districts are eager to take on debt without caring one bit how difficult it will be for their community to pay for it. For instance, a San Diego school district recently took on a balloon loan called a Capital Appreciation Bond (CAB). They borrowed $100 million, but stuck the taxpayers with the responsibility to cough up the $1 billion to pay it off.

Government schools are de facto indoctrination centers for radical environmentalism, the social justice agenda, and Hillary Clinton's it-takes-a-village mindset.

A public school is the place a young person is most likely to encounter bullying, drug and alcohol use, promiscuity, and other negative social behaviors.

Reflection worth the tears . . .

 
"When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves


So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. If you are not in a relationship now, remember this for the second (or third) time around. It's never too late.


If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you.


If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ?



Credits: Prince (NBBC)

Country Captain Chicken

I discovered this recipe, years ago, and even with the interesting ingredients, my children loved it, especially over hot, buttered rice. I thought about it, today, and wanted to share it with the more adventuresome of my readers!

Country Captain Chicken
2 chickens cut into serving pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil or oil of your choice
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves of fresh, peeled garlic, smashed and chopped
3 teaspoons curry powder
1- l pound can of diced tomatoes (approximate so a little more or less is okay)
1/2 cup raisins (It works, really!)

Combine the flour, sale, and pepper in a bag. Shake the chicken in the mixture until all are coated. Brown the chicken pieces in a large skillet with the vegetable oil. Remove to a platter. Do not wipe out the skillet! Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and curry powder to the skillet. Saute until the onion is softened and transparent. Add tomatoes, raisins, and return the chicken to the pan. Simmer, covered for one hour or until chicken is tender.

Serve chicken over rice and spoon sauce over the top.

Questions That Shouldn't Need Asking in a Civilized Society . . .

I was reading the latest posting from Catholic Advocate and they presented three questions that should make compassionate people think:

Why did a Pennsylvania judge  throw out three of seven first degree murder charges against Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor accused of killing seven infants after they were born alive?

How does President Obama justify headlining the Planned Parenthood annual gala and accepting their support during his election?

Is it a tragedy only when an innocent life is lost from a bomb or explosion, but not when an innocent life is taken from the womb by a monster like Gosnell?