FINALLY FRIDAY

Can you believe we are just days away from

September? Me neither! My younger

daughter started school on Monday, so

she has already finished a whole week.

The public schools start a little later

this week, but unfortunately for them

they also get out later in June too.

I have been busy in spurts with the

baking. The kitchen doesn't have any

progress to show, so no pictures there.

There are just too darn many of those

paying customers that keep calling

for THEIR kitchens and decks to

be done. The nerve! LOL

This was a fun cake to make for a Twin Girl

baby shower. The cake was vanilla inside,

but I tinted it pink so when they cut into it

the pieces of cake were pink and white.

Biscotti! Lots and lots of it for a coffee event at the

library. The top picture is Chocolate Walnut dipped

in Midnight Espresso Chocolate and Apricot Almond

dipped in White Chocolate.

These were traditional Anise with Milk Chocolate and

Orange/Almond, a softer biscotti. I never used to like

biscotti, but I had never had homemade either. It is

easy to make and very tasty when the ingredients

are fresh and the cookies don't break your teeth!

A birthday cake for a 70th birthday for a very patriotic lady.

Vanilla cake w/ lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream.

Orange Zest knots--yum. These are melt in your

mouth soft and have orange juice and orange

zest in them for flavor.

Sunrise Maple Twists. I am not a big fan of maple, but

I make an exception for these--delicious! They are not

as hard as they look and inside each twist is a streusel

with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and walnuts.

So we went for a walk up in the woods behind us in a

futile attempt to burn off some of the Maple Twist

calories. This is the brand new water tower that was

installed this summer for the housing development

that is being planned for the future. Isn't the painting

cool? I love the way the painter made it look like

the surrounding forest. I think he did an excellent

job. My neighbor thinks it was a waste of taxpayer's

money. What do you think?

This is the view from the water tower. It is so quiet up

here that you can hear the boats moving along all the

way down on the water.

Here is a size comparison for you. That is my daughter and

our boxer at the base of the tower.

There are several cul de sacs in this new development and

there will be many lots to choose from. A lot of them will

have fantastic views of the water, mountains and town.

I should also note that these lots are right in the

middle of the Tongass Forest. Which means bears.

Lots of them.

Heading back home...

Yesterday was our 21st wedding anniversary!

We went out to dinner and came home to a

chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.

Is it me, or does it seem like it was just 1988?

Sheesh where do the years go.

My mom is doing well, thanks for everybody

that has been asking. Of course, we always

covet your prayers for her as she continues

with the treatments and we are counting

the days until she can come and visit all of

us ya-hoos up here in AK!

AVOIDING CHEMICALS

I received this article today and thought I would pass it along.

With my mom sick right now I am especially interested in ways

to help her avoid exposure to more chemicals in her environment.

ewg.org/pbdefree

EWG’s Guide to PBDEs HOW TO AVOID PBDEs IN ELECTRONICS:

The form of PBDEs known as Deca is banned in 3 states, but is still

used in many electronic products.

Identify Deca-containing items around your house such as: TVs,

cell phones, computers, fax machines, remote controls,

video equipment, printers, photocopiers, toner cartridges, scanners,

electronic components, automobile fabrics, kitchen appliances,

fans, heaters or hair dryers, and water heaters.

Prevent young children from touching and especially mouthing

these fire-retardant items as much as possible (like your cell

phone or remote) and wash their hands prior to eating.

Shop PBDE-free.

Many companies have committed to avoid using PBDEs – ask

before you buy and choose PBDE-free products.

IN FOAM:

Inspect foam items.

Replace items with a ripped cover or foam that is misshapen

and breaking down. If you can’t replace these items, try to

keep the covers intact. Beware of older items like car seats and

mattress pads where the foam is not completely encased in a

protective fabric.

Use a vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter.

These vacuums trap small particles more efficiently and will likely

remove more contaminants and other allergens from your home.

High-efficiency HEPA-filter air cleaners may also reduce

particle-bound contaminants in your house.

Do not reupholster foam furniture yourself.

The reupholstering process increases exposure risk. Even those

items without PBDEs might contain other, poorly studied

fire retardants with potentially harmful effects.

Remove old carpet with care.

The padding may contain PBDEs. Keep your work area isolated

from the rest of your home. Clean up with a HEPA-filter vacuum

and mop to pick up as many of the small particles as possible.

When purchasing new products, ask the manufacturers what type

of fire retardants they use. PBDEs aren’t used in new foam, but

you’ll also want to avoid products with brominated fire retardants,

and opt for less flammable fabrics and materials, like leather,

wool and cotton. Be aware that “natural” latex foam will also contain

fire retardants.

What are PBDEs?

Chemical fire retardants are common in consumer products, particularly

in highly flammable synthetic materials. Some of the most

common are brominated fire retardants (BFRs), including PBDEs.

Where are PBDEs found?

PBDEs are most likely to be found in polyurethane foam products

manufactured before 2005 – like upholstered furniture,

mattresses, and pillows – and electronics. Therefore you’ll probably

find them in dozens of products in your home and office, from

the padding below your carpet, to your bed, couch, cell phone & TV.

What problems are associated with PBDEs?

PBDEs are found in the bodies of nearly every American.

Laboratory studies show that exposure to minute doses of

PBDEs at critical points in development can damage reproductive

systems and cause deficits in motor skills, learning, memory and

hearing, as well as changes in behavior. In addition, they

persist in the environment and therefore bioaccumulate in people.

NOSTALGIA...

Ahhh, the Good Old Days! I have tasted the Blackjack Gum and I love it! How many of you remember some of these? What is Butch Wax anyway--hair gel? Box cereal used to have prizes in them when we were growing up and now that I think about it I do remember blue flash bulbs in cameras too!

1. Blackjack chewing gum
   
   
2. Wax Coke-shaped candy with colored sugar water
   
   
3. Candy cigarettes
   
   
4. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
   
   
5. Party lines
   
   
6. Newsreels before the movie
   
   
7. P.F. Flyers
   
   
8. Butch wax
   
   
9. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (COlonial - 6933)
   
   
10. Pea Shooters
    
    
11. Howdy Doody
    
    
12. 45 RPM records
    
    
13. S&H Green Stamps
    
    
14. Hi-Fi's
    
    
15. Metal ice trays with a lever
    
    
16. Mimeograph paper
    
    
17. Carbon copies
    
    
18. Blue flashbulbs
    
    
19. Packards
    
    
20. Roller skate keys
    
    
21. Cork popguns
    
    
22. Drive-ins
    
    
23. Studebakers
    
    
24. Wash tub wringers
    
    
25. Hop Scotch
    
    
26. Ring Around the Rosie
    
    
27. Hot potato
    
    
28. London Bridge
    
    
29. Red Rover, Red Rover
    
    
30. Red light, Green light
    
    
31. Mother May I ?
    
    
32. Playing dodge ball and kick ball until the streetlights came on
    
    
33. Jump rope
    
    
34. You're IT!!
    
    
35. Kick the Can
    
    
36. Duck, duck, GOOSE!!!
    
    
37. Getting an ice cream from the Good Humor Man
    
    
38. Cereal boxes with prizes at the bottom
    
    
39. Cracker Jacks with the same thing
    
    
40. Parents stood on the porch and whistled or yelled for you to come home
    
    
41. No air conditioning
    
    
42. Hula Hoops
    
    
43. Fat Albert, Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther, Road Runner, Richochet Rabbit, Heckle & Jeckle
    
    
44. Schoolhouse Rock
    
    
45. Saturday movies for 12 cents with HopAlong Cassidy
    
    
46. Watching Sunday morning oldies (Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Tarzan, Shirley Temple OR WONDERAMA!!)
    
    
47. Being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to what awaited you when you got home
    
    
48. A quarter seemed like a fair allowance
    
    
49. Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer
    
    
50. Any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him, or use him to carry in the groceries...and nobody, not even the kid, thought anything thing of it
    
    
51. Almost everyone's mother was at home when the kids got there
    
    
52. A 13" black and white television in your room meant you were RICH
    
    
53. Rainy days at school meant playing "Hangman" or "Heads Up 7-UP" in the classroom
    
    
54. "Work" meant doing the dishes or taking out the garbage
    
    
55. "Race issues" meant arguing about who could run the fastest
    
    
56. Money issues were handled by the kid who was the banker in "monopoly"
    
    
57. Being old meant anyone over 20
    
    
58. I double-dog-dare you
    
    
59. Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
    
    
60. Catching fireflies for the whole evening and not getting tired of it
    
    
61. Homemade ice cream from a hand cranked ice cream maker
    
    
62. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon
    
    

And If You're Really Old

63. Horses delivering milk
    
    
64. Tipping over the outhouse on Halloween
    
    
65. Kids missing a lot of school because of rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, pneumonia, mastoiditis (draining ears), polio and a host of other diseases before we had antibiotics
    
    
66. Extra, Extra! Read all about it! (like in 1939 when WWII started)
    
    
67. CCC, PWA, WPA and a bunch of other Federal programs
    
    
68. Fireside chats form FDR
    
    
69. Tractors with huge iron lugs that would tear up farm roads
    
    
70. The steam train coming to town and the race to see if you could beat it, while trying to avoid the black cinders from the smoke that would fall on your Sunday School white shirt
    
    
71. The local Civil War vets
    
    
72. Memorial Day parades with the WWI veterans marching in their puttees
    
    
73. Outdoor silent movies
    
    
74. Black face minstrel shows

NEED A GOOD LAUGH?

You'll want to take some time and peruse

this site--trust me.

Don't miss the Thanksgiving Dinner Letter...LOL!

Awkward Family Photos

P.S.--I hope you don't find any of your pictures there...

F.E.A.R.

False Evidence Appearing Real

We are not given a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of sonship.

And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Revelation 19:6

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like

the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder,

shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

WE THE PEOPLE...

Those 'Town Hells'

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, August 04, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Representative Government: Some of the Democrats who want to hijack American health care are not exactly getting a warm welcome from voters back home. It's inspiring to watch our system in action.

IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure

Congress tried to ram more than 1,000 pages of health care legislation down the country's throat last month, but was unable to vote on a bill before the House left for its August recess. Lawmakers might yet get away with passing what they are calling reform, but not before some members are verbally blistered by their constituents.

Which is exactly the way it should be.

In one of the sharper exchanges, an angry crowd in Philadelphia hooted down Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter on Sunday when he explained "that we have to make judgments very fast" when considering large pieces of legislation such as the health care bill.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who shared the stage with Specter, also heard it from the group, which was obviously fed up with Washington's arrogance, from its habit of writing unmanageably lengthy legislation to its plans to force an ostensibly free people into a communal health care system.

On the same day Specter and Sebelius were challenged, Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus "was heckled on several occasions by those opposed to the reform plans proposed by Democrats and President Barack Obama" during a town hall meeting in Cincinnati, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Also on Sunday, Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin endured "roaring chants," as the local media put it, at a meeting at a Green Bay library.

A day earlier, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas, deserved the hostile reception given him at a town hall meeting in Austin. He has said that he will still support the Democrats' nationalized health care plans even if his constituents don't.

Other Democratic lawmakers who have been inconvenienced by voters exasperated over the health care bill include Rep. Tim Bishop of New York, Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri and Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania.

Those who haven't yet heard from their constituents should expect to. Encounters similar to what we have seen will only become more frequent as public irritation festers as the congressional holiday moves through August and into September.

The media can refer to the citizens as mobs, and Democrats can blame all the animosity on lobbyists, as Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., did when he said Specter and Sebelius fell for a "sucker punch" from the health insurance industry that had set up the clash.

But the industry doesn't need to whip up the crowds. The public on its own is deeply frustrated not only by elitists' attempt to take over their health care decisions, but fed up with a Congress that legislates as if it has a divine right to rule.

Lawmakers need to face the revolution they've fueled with their bailouts and takeovers. Washington has acted like King George III and "erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass" Americans "and eat out their substance."

It is meddling in people's lives and has no business going into the private places it is invading. Americans have both the right and the duty to stand up to forces that want to subjugate them.

Polite discourse is always preferred, but when liberty is threatened by an aggressive government, civil dialogue is not enough. Voters need to exercise their right to press their representatives and influence legislation.

Lawmakers should not be allowed to hide behind claims that they are being accosted by rabble. If they're going to put a boot on people's necks, the people have the right to confront their oppressors.

RECYCLING

Or repurposing or whatever you call it nowadays,

I think it's a great idea! Why not keep useful items

out of the landfill and try to save some money at

the same time, right?

A contractor friend of my husband's called with

some free stuff a friend of the family no longer

needed. Among the items was this low work

bench that had seen better days:

We have been thinking about where we would find a table

for the middle of my kitchen. It would have to be longer

than wide with wheels and just high enough for me to

roll dough on or pull a chair up to sit and decorate.

Costco has nice tables for about $125.00, but they

don't deliver here and even the Juneau Costco

didn't have them. Our church has a couple of them

in the kitchen and I was a little worried because

they don't seem very sturdy. Plus how was I

going to get one here?

This workbench is very stout, it just needed

some minor adjustments to make it work

for my needs.

The first thing my husband did was take it all apart. The

structure of the table is very sturdy, built to last a long

time. The wheels were pretty small, so when we were in

Juneau he bought some larger wheels with soft rubber

and a brake on them to lock them in place.

He took the top apart and added some light maple

pieces to the outside to make it look nice. The

top is SO heavy, like a solid core door.

Cutting a nice, clean piece of new formica

for the top...

Voila! I love it! He made it exactly 37" tall since I am

tall and I can comfortably stand at it or pull up a

chair to sit and decorate. The bottom has a long

shelf for storage and he is still going to add a

shelf at the very bottom for even more storage.

I can move it wherever I want by unlocking the

wheels too. It's perfect for what I need!

He met with the DEC inspector this week

and I am in the process of filling out all

the paperwork for the kitchen. Legal

mumbo jumbo and nitpicky stuff. Bah.

Then we get to start paying the fees.

Inspection fees, permit fees, etc.

I am not going to be able to make

doughnuts because in order to

have a deep fat fryer I would have

to have a special hood that requires

a yearly $600. inspection...and

on and on it goes.

So, while we are digging our way

through the paperwork the next big

project is making the kitchen cabinets...