Happy Independence Day!

Hurrah! Today is one of my most favorite holidays, after Thanksgiving. It’s the Fourth of July- also known as Independence Day- here in the United States. Hurray hurray!!! I just love this day. I am so patriotic that when I cut my finger, red, white, and blue comes out. Ha! I come from a long line of patriots, from a Mayflower Compact signer to a Battle of Lexington soldier to a ME!

The very last part of the Declaration of Independence says:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

That’s something to think about. These guys pledged EVERYTHING for this idea of liberty. And liberty didn’t mean the freedom to do whatever you want to do– it is the freedom to do as you ought. On this day, we honor the Americans who devoted their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for this cause. It is because of them that we are free. And I love freedom! Hurray!

I wrote a short post about the Declaration on my other blog, New York Traveler.net.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat a hamburger and read the Declaration of Independence. I encourage you to read it, too!

3rd Party Protection Software?

I use a third-party software program for my passwords. I don’t like my web browser storing my most secret passwords! I’m concerned that an addon or some malicious program will read them. Somebody just came up with the idea to use a kind-of third-party software for online shopping. At least, that is how I see it. It looks good, and I am all in favor of Identity theft protection. I have had identity theft TWO TIMES. The first time was someone stole my bank account and made some charges. I had to file all these reports, and the police came over to do a report. It was so stressful! The second time, my credit card numbers were stolen. The data breach was discovered quickly, before any purchases were made on the card. It was a nightmare. I’m getting too old for this! The first incident is still a mystery. It was either an inside job by a crooked employee, or someone sniffed my bank numbers when I did some online stuff. It was scary.

So I’m very interested in something like StopShield. Has anyone tried it? I looked at the website and it is basically the middleman between your financial information and the online store. It replaces your credit card/bank information when you shop online or register at a web site. Your real data is never entered at the online stores you shop; instead, the data is stored at StopShield. So StopShield is like a middleman. The same thing with online registration– StopShield creates usernames, passwords, and anonymous email addresses for you (for free). This keeps all your personal information secure, since you aren’t distributing it to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants it. The StopShield website has loads more information and some videos that show exactly how this works.

My curiosity is piqued. Has anyone tried this? I’m a great proponent of third-party stuff like this. I’ve HAD IT with my data being stolen. My hair is getting gray fast enough! If you’ve got StopShield, please let me know, because this sounds great!

THIS is Beauty?!

What on earth ever happened to womanliness? I saw this photo at the blog Australian Women Online and was thoroughly repulsed.

It’s a photo of Demelza Reveley, and she was just voted as Australia’s Next Top Model. That girl is 16 years old! Her waist is as wide as her head! I don’t know what is more sickening– seeing an obese person or seeing someone so emaciated that her eyes looked stretched across her face. It’s so sad, and it’s so abnormal. Yet this kind of “beauty” is exalted. Whatever happened to womanly beauty?

My Awards Ceremony

Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you!

This week, I received three — can you believe it?!- awards from some of my favorite blogs. I didn’t even know some of these folks read my blog! I am so honored. Thank you thank you! I’ll spare you the long speeches (I used to watch the Oscars.. snnnoooooore) and cut to the quick: passing on the loot!

The first award I won was the Arte y Pico Award. This was given to me by Mariz of Reflections of Mariz and Kathy at Is 8 Enough? This is a wonderful award. *wipes tear*

Here are the rules:

1. Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com.

I would like to bestow this award on some bloggers who have not yet received it.
*drum roll*
*furiously opens envelope*
*squeals*

Fida of Fida Abbott! One of the most beautiful souls on the Internet!
Kathy at BrazoCowgirl! Her blog template is drop-dead gorgeous!
Anajz at The Sustainable Backyard! An incredibly thoughtful and interesting blog that leaves me breathless sometimes!
My Bug Life at Foodie and Travel Bug! She blogs about my two favorite things!
Flo of Flo’s Place! Has a great new template!

Thank you, ladies, for making the blogosphere a better place. Blog on, gals, blog on.

P.S. Please do not feel under any obligation from me to continue the meme. If you prefer not, that’s fine. Just know that you are loved.

I’ll write posts on my other two awards very soon.

Hundreds Of Heads Better Than One

I have a daughter who is finishing up high school and who may be setting her sights on college courses in the near future. We’ve been keeping our eyes open for books that will help her continue her studies. There’s a book that caught me by surprise- How To Get A’s in College, published by the Hundreds of Heads group. LOL! I thought this book might be a study book (like an SAT prep book or something), but it’s not. It’s much better! It’s a compilation of pithy advice and helpful tips about how to survive the college years, and how to do well! There are tips from students from all walks of life, so some are extremely helpful. Some are also uproariously funny:

My Biology teacher caught me when I fell asleep in a 200-person class. I was very much asleep, almost to the point where drool was coming out of my mouth. People nudged me because she was calling my name. I dropped my books on the floor as I woke up. I remember her saying, “It’s so nice of you to join us again.”

Oops. lol!

There are excellent tips in the book. I never went to college, so some things were real eye-openers. The book is over 200 pages long, but it is small sized, and reads easily like those “For Dummies” books. If you have a high school student preparing for college (or even real life, lol), this is a fun book that he/she will enjoy reading. Some stories are so helpful (and amusing) that you might even read it to each other during family times. It’s that good!

By the way, the publishing company has a website devoted to their dozens of books like these. (They have books like How to Survive Your Retirement, How to Survive Your Marriage, lol!). I was pleasantly surprised at the website! It’s chocked full of advice, tips, and loads of stuff, much that I found helpful for my own independent studying.

The Best Gift Ever Story

Oh I read this story at Hailey’s Beats and Bits and HAD to keep the ball rolling. What an incredible story!

— The Best Gift Ever —

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had
purchased the car.

Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?” And stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, “And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?” As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words…

PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God’s blessing because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for…

Flames of Fire

My daughter Injane made a video, about the missions to the Auca Indians of Ecuador. It brought tears to my eyes. She plays guitar and sings the song in the video, too.

And to think that InJane didn’t even know her way around a computer last year! (She kept saying she had no interest in it). Now she is making videos and music… I’d better think about getting a computer with more ram and a better processor!

How To Tell If Your Feet Smell

When I was in high school, there was a popular books called “100 Uses For a Dead Cat.” Some things were pretty funny, but it was a rather nasty book. This photo reminds me of it a little. How to tell if your shoes smell….

This may just constitute cruelty to animals…

Cats are good for more than just testing shoes. Here’s a true story, told to my husband by one of his co-workers.

This co-worker, Jake, has a cat. Every morning, the cat would bound into Jake’s bedroom to wake him up. Like a good cat, this cat would wake Jake up EARLY. Like, 4am! It’s a good thing that Jake needed to get up that early, to go to work; otherwise Jake wouldn’t have been so tolerant of this cat.

Anyway, one morning, Jake woke up later than usual. The cat had not woken him up that morning. Instead, Jake turned in bed to see the cat in his bed, peering down over his headboard, and staring at the wall behind. The cat was absolutely entranced with something behind the headboard. Jake sat up to see what the cat was staring at, but saw nothing.

The next morning, the exact same thing happened! Jake again peered down behind his headboard– maybe a mouse or a spider? He saw nothing.

The next morning– the same thing again! The cat was silent every time, but he was on the bed, paws on the headboard, peering down the wall behind. Jake was perplexed. He determined that when he returned from work later that day, he’d pull the bed away from the wall and see what the cat was staring at.

That evening, Jake moved the bed away from the wall and saw his electrical outlet receptacle. He got down on all fours to look closely. All around the receptacle slots were black scorch marks. Apparently, the outlet had shorted and was arcing. The cat had noticed the arcs! Jake said that his cat probably saved his life!

So, if you have a cat, count your blessings! They can test your shoes and watch your electrical system! Now if only they could help with weight loss programs!

Photo of unconscious cat from Funny Offbeat News (not a kid’s site).

Terrific Household Tips!

I saw this posted at Forced Green- a great blog- and had to pass this on. Some of these I’ve tried, but others I haven’t. Wow! I’m going to try some of these! Here are my favorites, and I’ve added a few comments.

• Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Cool! I look forward to trying this, as the kids refuse to eat overripe bananas. I usually throw them (the bananas, not the kids) in the freezer for baking banana bread… but I don’t bake banana bread so much anymore… so it’s gotten to the point where whenever I open my freezer, all these frozen bananas come shooting out. Woe to the person with bare feet!

• Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Hm. Wouldn’t the cheese absorb the taste or odor of aluminum foil?

• Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

I do that, and it works.

• To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich, add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

My husband, who makes great omelets (but cannot cook anything else) adds regular milk.

• Expanding Frosting. When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Oh my gosh that is a great tip.

• Newspaper keeps weeds away. Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

I’m a gardener, and this is effective. It also helps to lay newspaper down before laying mulch down. However– be SURE to punch a few holes in the newspaper. A plant’s roots need oxygen and water– solid layers of newspaper may suffocate your plant.

• No More Mosquitoes. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.It will keep the mosquitoes away.

This I have GOT to try. I’m desperate and will try anything. Although, here in the Northeast we have more of a problem with blackflies than mosquitoes. They are NASTY creatures.

• Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.

I’ve heard this and I also heard that sometimes a squirrel will be stupid by touching the cayenne pepper and then rubbing his eyes. This causes the poor squirrel intense pain and may even blind him. So I don’t use pepper. Squirrels eat bulbs, which are under the soil. I have found that if you lay chicken wire in the ground (above the bulbs but below the soil), the squirrels can’t scratch through to get your bulbs. I’ve also heard that if you plant daffodils (which squirrels hate) next to your tulips and lilies (which squirrels love), they will be less inclined to dig up your plants.

• Reopening envelope. If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

I am ALWAYS forgetting to include something so I waste a lot of envelopes. This is a great tip.

• Conditioner. Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair.

Question: won’t this dull the razor blade? Here’s an extra tip– to make your blades last longer, dry the blades when you are done.

• Goodbye Fruit Flies. To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2? with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Ah! Fruit flies are the plague of WalMart. We never have fruit flies until I buy WalMart produce! Since WalMart has effectively killed off competition and it is now the only store I can shop, I’m stuck with fruit flies. I can’t wait to try this tip!

• Get Rid of Ants. Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants They eat it, take it home, they can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

I’ve heard this same tip with using grits. The ants never went with my grits, so I’ll try cornmeal. We are having an invasion of ants currently– it’s massive and like something from a horror movie– I’m looking forward to trying this, too!

Boating Safety

I grew up by the shores of Oneida Lake, the biggest inland lake in New York State. We have TONS of lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks. Boating is really big here in the summer. The Erie Canal is one of our most popular boating attractions. And there’s also the Great Lakes Ontario and Erie that are big with boaters. But every year we hear in the news about another fatal boating accident. Usually it’s some boater who got absolutely wasted on alcohol or drugs, was driving his boat at breakneck speed, and kills someone. Totally irresponsible, and it’s heart wrenching to hear about it.

So if you have a boat or you know someone who does, gather then ’round the computer to watch these videos.

Boating, like driving, is an activity that should be taken seriously. There are lots of sites that offer Boating Education Online. Enjoy your summer but please boat safely!