Donut Day!

I was blessed with an early start to the day AND a cool morning in the climate department so I decided to surprise the family with donuts. People seem to think this is a difficult task. It is surprising how fast you can whip up a batch of them. Sharing my recipe!

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 beaten eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
Donut cutter*

Heavy-bottomed cooking pot for the oil and enough oil to fry the donuts. If you have a deep fryer, even better!

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and gently mix with a spoon until combined. It should be just combined. Knead the dough briefly on a floured surface. Roll out dough (you might have to do this in two or three installments.) to under 1/2 inch thick. Cut out donuts and holes and set out on waxed paper.

When the oil is hot (about 375 degrees in a fryer), put in enough donuts to cook without crowding. It takes about a minute on each side. Remove to a baking tray covered with several layers of paper towels to drain. Repeat until you are finished.

Combine a cup of granulated sugar with a generous tablespoon of cinnamon. Roll the donuts and arrange on trays, plates, whatever suits your purposes. They won't last long once the family smells them, anyway!

*If you can't find a donut cutter, you can use a round cookie cutter and a thimble or pill bottle cap to cut the hole.

Come join us!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bbarthelette/

A few smiles . . .

"Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy."
-- George Carlin

"I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight."
-- Rita Rudner

"Hollywood is a place where they place you under contract instead of under observation."
-- Walter Winchell

"There are 350 varieties of shark, not counting loan and pool."
-- L. M. Boyd

Cap and Trade is SCARY!

If you have been following the various proposed laws being pushed by the current administration, you have probably heard about the Cap and Trade bill. It includes some scary stuff that will have long-reaching effects on our country and our personal lives forever if it is passed. Here are some links to check out but, basically, we would have to jump through all kinds of 'global warming' sort of hoops in order to sell our own homes. We would also be required to license our home much like a car. Knowing how the politician works, I can see this being another charge on our diminishing incomes as they figure out they can increase the annual fees according to the value of the home. Watch out for inflated figures on how much the politicos decide what our market values will be!

Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home http://www.nachi. org/forum/ f14/cap-and- trade-license- required- your-home- 44750/
HR2454 American Clean Energy & Security Act: http://www.govtrack ..us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 2454
Cap & Trade A license required for your home: http://www.prisonplanet.com/cap-and-trade-a-license-required-for-your-home.html
Cap and trade is a license to cheat and steal:
http://www.sfexamin er.com/opinion/ columns/oped_ contributors/ Cap-and-trade- is-a-license- to-cheat- and-steal- 45371937. html
Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2393940/posts
Thinking about selling you House? Look at HR 2454:
http://www.federalobserver.com/2009/10/01/thinking-about-selling-your-house-a-look-at-h-r-2454-cap-and-trade-bill/

I'm for that . . .!

"It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."
-- Woody Allen

Smile, be happy!

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy."
-- Robert Anthony

What a great quote and how true of so many attitudes today. It is as if people are afraid to embrace the blessings God sends them for some reason. Perhaps, they feel that the certainty is in misery so why take a chance on being disappointed in happiness.

It is a self-centered world that breeds this type of outlook. If they look out from their misery, they might have to include others who have things to say or do. They feel the loss of the limelight. Regardless of the saying, 'misery loves company', miserable, grumpy people don't have a large following. The most they get in socializing their depression is a few moments before the cornered person moves on to enjoy life.

The world today . . .

There is a trend that I hear, over and over, whenever people are in conversation. It is the use of 'like' three or four times in the same couple of sentences. LIKE is sprinkled like pepper midst the subject matter like it, well, mattered! Nine out of ten times, LIKE is not necessary to the sentence structure or progression of the idea in the conversation. With all the available vocabulary in the world, why would this one word be favored so much? Unfortunately, the overuse of 'you know' has not entirely left the stage. We now hear stuff like, "He was, you know, like really interested in, like, what I was saying, you know, and he, like, seemed to, you know, want to say something, you know, like he meant it."

Sigh . . . This is our future adults, like, you know!