The Holiday Season Begins!

I was so busy during Thanksgiving, too busy to post anything.

What was I so busy doing? Turning my tiny kitchen into a veggie side-dish factory. With two Thanksgiving Feasts to attend, I was way super excited to put my cooking skills to the test and prove to our Mothers that I can make healthy delicious food, AND pull it off on a time crunch, AND successfully transport the food over the river (Fountain Creek) and through the woods (Woodland Park) on two separate days of Thanksgiving Feast Madness! Whew -- what a mouthful!

I took my inspiration from The Pioneer Woman. She has really sparked my interest in home-making-type things, and awakened a part of me that was dormant since fleeing my folk's home in the country to be a city girl. I think it's P-Dub's gorgeous photography that really makes me want to emulate the domestic life.

Anyway, I used her Butternut Squash Puree recipe, so yummmy, so creamy and healthy, and here is my finished version:


I also made her Wild Rice & Corn recipe which turned out oh so good! Here's what mine looked like:


As if those two dishes weren't enough stress for me, I also baked a version of Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Cake only omitting the whiskey-soaked raisins and opting for Cool Whip instead of homemade whiskey whipped cream. It was a birthday cake for my husband's parents who wouldn't have cared for the whiskey very much.


I'd say it turned out rather well, despite my lack of an electric mixer. I did have some dashing help, though.


... and the parents gave me back the empty dish after a few days.

And look! Here are my contributions on my grandparents' dining table along with two of my Grandmother's veggie dishes. I'm licking my lips just thinking about it...

Manifesto: First Draft

This began as a reply to an email I was writing to my Mom.



As you probably know, I too am disappointed with the choice of Americans for our next president. I'm not happy with Obama, las Obammunistas, or las Obammunistadores. Thus begins my very long rant concerning the current state of things (you may need to take a day off to read this entire thing... it's become more like a personal Declaration or Manifesto regarding what the Government should be responsible for, and how the way things are currently going is providing less incentive for people to work and more incentive for all of us to be lazy). Obama claims to have a plan for everyone! How pretty his words are. Only time will prove the worth of his words. But I have no interest in supporting expensive ideals which will only make my life harder as a taxpayer and as someone who wishes to get ahead. We should have a government, and ours is undeniably broken, so what definite plan does Barack Obama really have to fix it? So far, I haven't heard any reasonable ideas, just expensive ideals.

Firstly, I believe it is a bad idea to redistribute wealth on any terms except for paying reasonable taxes to provide for: disabled people and unwanted children, for public services like building and maintaining roads and parks, for funding courthouses and prisons, and our nation's costly military protection. What Americans in particular seem to determine necessity is considered luxury in most of the rest of the world. It is a fact that the taxpayers, i.e. the working class, always take the brunt of the cost for all social programs. Let us eliminate the unnecessary size of the police forces, encourage that every citizen be armed, and eliminate all public schools (or completely re-haul the curriculum to require militia training), require that hospitals and other social services rely only on private funds to operate. Let us eliminate all pools where corruption breeds.

Secondly, I don't care how someone becomes wealthy. All I am concerned with is that I wish to be wealthy and I'm working to get there. There are those who say I should be ashamed for wanting to live without financial worry. But I am not ashamed, nor should I be. I am not interested in living from paycheck to paycheck for the rest of my life out of "fairness" to those who have less than I do. Doesn't everyone wish to at least live comfortably and to hope for a better future? This is what drives me, and is the only reason why I work hard and make plans for the future. My quality of life has improved over the years and will continue to do so according to plan should I suffer no major setbacks. My determination is incited only by my needs and wants. It's really that simple. I should not be held accountable or made responsible for those who have less than I do. Let the responsibility and accountability rest with each individual within mental and physical capacity.

Thirdly, what kind of nation are we leaving behind for our children, a nation of whiny idealists who think life is supposed to be fair? Because life is never fair. Equality and Equal Rights are worthy ideals, but impossible to fully guarantee without a Big Brother style of government. Merit should be the only deciding factor of success. But by using the word "should," I am implying the statement is an ideal, and ideals are not realities. In fact, depending upon birthright, mental or physical capacity, time and place, and any other number of variables, opportunities are not the same for every person even in the best circumstances. Merit does not always guarantee immediate success. Everyone will experience limitations and hardships from day to day, so the outcome of a situation will vary with the way each situation is dealt. Let us teach our future generations how to be thoughtful and careful in their actions, but not by teaching that America is a bad place or that American Capitalist ideals are wrong. How about some lessons in planning and prioritizing?

This leads me to my final point, which goes along with my beliefs on the meaning of life. Conflict is necessary for Human Society to flourish. Society has and will create burdenous people within itself simply by propelling those ideals which are disastrous to the very conflict that is necessary for human society to flourish. Life is a bloody struggle. Conflict is everything. Humans rely on conflict for all that we desire and all that we need, for all that we wish to change, for everything that we define as good or bad and all that's in between. We are in constant confrontation 100% of the time that we are alive. While doing business with one another, on every local and international level there is conflict. We are doing battle within our minds all day and even in our sleep. It is by way of Nature that those who have no wish to act in a struggle will become a burden or a slave to the Society. So, it becomes the Society's responsibility to take care of such inactive people by enslaving them or undergoing change to meet the needs of those who are fighting. Let us give the people something to fight for to prevent them from becoming slaves or burdens. Let us get rid of discriminatory and non-inspiring programs like Affirmative Action and Welfare, because these programs create slave-like dependency on a structure that is imperfect and always at risk for corruption.

In conclusion, I believe the only people who have a right to be exempt from being shot are those with no power to help themselves, going back to my first paragraph, the mentally and physically disabled and underage orphans are exempt. The elderly are not included in these exemptions because I believe they must make arrangements for their old age while in their youth. The way things are going now, Dusty and I might just be better off throwing in our hats and giving up our desires to have no financial worries. If we had no income, we could get free medical care, free housing, free groceries, and free tuition. For reporting our honest income, we must pay the health department the same amount as we would pay a private doctor for the same services.


...and that ends the 1st Draft of my Manifesto.


Comments are greatly welcome.

(Only At Dillards)

When my husband is with me, I am hardly ever "allowed" to windowshop. But today he was in an especially generous mood, and that's when I happened across these Antonio Melani beauties.


"Melissa" Jacket ($107)
"...single-button jacket with peak lapel and angled besom pockets. In a black stretch techno fabric of polyester/Lycra® spandex."


"Antonio" Pants ($119)
"...at-the-waist pants with fit'n'flare legs. In a tropical bi-stretch fabric of polyester/viscose/Lycra® spandex."


"Felicia" Skirt ($99)
"...knee-length A-line skirt with wide waistband and double-vented back. In a black stretch techno fabric of polyester/Lycra® spandex."


Lovely!


(Sold only at Dillards)

Career Solutions

Starting out in college I thought my major should be a subject I really enjoy, such as history, sociology, humanities ♥, architecture, art history, etc. I found myself facing a problem with no solution, that my major would keep changing and I'd never know what to get a degree in because so many things interest me but what do I do with my interests?


These days, as I seriously consider my future and hopefully someday being a parent, I'm looking at the practical uses of a degree and realizing that the job I've been doing for the last three years is considered accounting and I actually enjoy doing it. So why not get a degree in Accounting, and spend my freetime pursuing those other interests?

Toastmasters Speech #2

"Ties to the Old World"
Presented Wednesday November 5th, 2008

(5-7 Minutes)



To realize dreams; To change the world; To worship God in peace. These are some reasons why my ancestors left the Old World behind and made America their new home.



One hundred years ago, Christians in Syria were being persecuted and oppressed by Muslim fundamentalism and Turkish rule. Christians were treated as inferior citizens, yet they were forced to pay higher taxes. Intolerance between religions grew into an uprising. The details of my Syrian people are not completely known. But I do know that I had a great-great-great grandmother named SABATH (YAZIGI) LADHANI, and that she was a young Christian girl living in Damascus when on a Sunday in July of 1860, Muslim men began demonstrating in the street against the local Christians by drawing crosses on the ground and then stomping and spitting on them. What followed the next day was hell on earth.



Here's an account from the Banner of Liberty Newspaper published in Middletown, New York in August of 1860:

"At two PM three hundred of the lowest Moslems of Damascus, rushed, armed, into the Christian quarter, crying Slay the dogs of Christianity and immediately the work of plunder, burning and murder commenced." "four thousand Christians, it was calculated, had been murdered, all in cold blood" "In Beyrout the panic among the native Christians has been something fearful... They are embarking by hundreds in the different merchant steamers" "Syria has had a blow from which she will not recover for sixty years."

Instead of putting a stop to the violence, the Turkish army joined in the killing. Forty years later in 1899, Sabath was 55 years old when her name appears here on line 11 of this passenger record for a French merchant ship called the S.S. La Normandie. Sabath was shown traveling with her husband Nesrala, five children, one daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. They settled in a Syrian colony in Jacksonville, Florida, where they changed their last name from Ladhani to David, and became business owners. It has been said that a person could earn in two years in America what it took two generations to earn in Syria. And the David Family was finally free to worship God in their own way.



While great-great-great grandma was seeing things no young girl has any business witnessing, a young man was embarking on his own journey.



HAYO EBERHARDT THADEN, a great-great-grandfather of mine, emigrated from Prussia at age 19 in 1862. In America he became known as Herman and he settled in Atlanta, Georgia where he had many occupations, including florist, gardener, and inventor. He invented many different useful things, but in 1910 he patented an airship. Yes, I mean a flying machine. This is a copy of the actual patent from the United States Patent Office, and I would like to read this little bit aloud to you: "This invention relates to improvements in air ships, and particularly to air ships having lifting means and sustaining planes cooperating with propelling means..." Pass this around and be sure to flip to the back where the diagrams are located. Here also is a photo of the flying machine from an Atlanta newspaper.





While great-great-granddad was inventing airships, a poor Sicilian family was saying goodbye to their only son.



GIUSEPPE ROMEO, my great-grandfather, wanted nothing more than to be a musician, but his father was a farmer and did not consider music to be a very wise career choice. Farm life in Sicily was hard work, and there were limited opportunities for anything different, making Giuseppe determined to leave Sicily behind for good, which he finally did at the age of 16. In America, Giuseppe became known as Joe, and Joe became a percussionist in a small marching band. Joe was volunteered to join the U.S. Army during the First Great War and he played percussion in the Army band. When he returned from Europe, Joe settled in Washington, D.C. and became a business owner, while he continued playing music. In 1930 Joe founded his own band, the Holy Rosary Catholic Church Band. He directed this band until his retirement in 1978, at the sweet young age of 85. Here are some pictures of Joe directing his band:







Everyone in this room is descended from immigrants who chose to come here for a better life than they were looking forward to in the old country. There are even some immigrants here among us who chose to leave their homeland behind to start a new life. I encourage each of you to discover your ancestors to learn why you are here instead of somewhere else. Find out what sort of opportunities drove your people to come to America. And never forget to follow your dreams.

Some Fingernail Art

Dog-Walking on a Warm Autumn Day