Sunday, October 14, 2012

Greed is vile

I'm re-reading Paul Wellstone's book "Conscience of a Liberal".  First I can see why the secret powers had him killed.  Yes, I said it.  I think his death was planned.  He just made too much sense and resonated with the average voter and created plenty of healthy bipartisan legislation.  They hated him.

What has become very clear to me with each passing year: leaders like Paul Wellstone, Dennis Kucinich, MLK Jr, etc. see the simple truth - when we all do better, we all do better.  A rising tide lifts all boats.  No wealth grows without labor.  What is also clear - the 1% and corporate powers want none of that.  For them, a rising tide threatens their shores.

I truly believe that the 1% - the Dick Cheneys, the Koch brothers, the entire military-industrial complex, fares much much better when there exits a groveling peasant class.  If they can keep the teeming masses poor, hungry, pregnant, desperate, stupid, and most of all AFRAID of each other, then their wealth and power is secure.  So they think.

They need us stupid and fearful - so they pump the airwaves full of nonsense, and sprinkle their propaganda heavily with word like "communist", to which they add a lethal dose of racism and misogyny.  Keep the average working poor family focused on gay marriage, women's rights, or some ethnic boogey-man as the enemy.  But keep the focus OFF the giant corporation poisoning their water, ruining their lungs, and pocketing everything but the most meager of crumbs.

So how do we get greed out of our system?  I think deep inside every single human heart we instinctively know we all live or die together.  Yet show one human a way to cheat his fellow man and make an extra kill, an extra buck, an extra car, and the whole notion goes up in flames.


Monday, October 1, 2012

Stewed

"On My Gods She's Writing on her Blog!".
Yep, still here.  Facebook seems to have become my mouthpiece of choice lately.  But I will not completely abandon my blog.  Not when I have something really GOOD to share.  Something warm and cozy to eat while watching Mittens Romney self-destruct on live TV.  The family loved it.

CROCK POT BEEF STEW
2-3 lbs stew meat (I had exactly 1.7lbs, work with what you have)
3 carrots, sliced (I used more because I love cooked carrots)
1lb pkg frozen green peas with onions (I had none so skipped this, and instead added some frozen chopped onion from my garden)
1lb pkg frozen green beans
16 oz can whole or stewed tomatoes (instead I used a bunch of homegrown fresh tomatoes - chopped in chunks, skin and all)
1/2 cup beef broth (all I had was those little tiny pkgs of concentrate, so I used 2/3 of one and some water - just plopped the blob right on top of everything)
1/2 cup white wine (again, I had none)
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 T pearl tapioca
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 t salt (I put in pepper too)
1 bay leaf

Combine everything in the crock pot.  Cook on low 10-12 hours.
Warning!  Photo stolen from the internet below!



Another crock pot victory this week - I cooked a whole chicken!  Put the whole thing in there - salt and pepper it,  put in some onion, maybe a little garlic salt.   Then cook on low 10-12 hours, or on high for 5-6 hours.  Luscious meat just falls off the bones.  Hot Chicken Sandwiches tonight!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Pickled

For the first time in my life, I made pickles today.  And I'm bringing you on the journey.


First stop was the garden, where I found I had finally achieved tomato success.  Anyone local want some?  I will have another bowlful like the above by Tuesday.   I feel some oven-roasted sauce coming on.  The onions however had completely drowned in their little raised bed - all our recent rain made onion soup.  I salvaged what I could:










At this morning's farmer's market I bought some lovely carrots, sweet peppers, hot peppers and beets.  I boiled the beets and removed their skin, and blanched the carrots.  Also used whole garlic cloves and the only 2 little jalapenos I grew.


I also received a pile of free cucs from a friend.  They were big, and not exactly pickling cucs, but we'll eat them anyway.


Look at this lovely pile that went into the compost.  If I was a true hippie I would have made stock from the leavings, but truth be told I'm a horrible hippie.  I like air conditioning and football.


Next I created my own pickling spice based on several internet recipes.  I used mustard seed, ground ginger, black pepper, whole cloves, broken cinnamon sticks, crushed bay leaves, turmeric, dill seed, whole allspice, etc.  The brine and method I copied from a youtube video.





And there you have it!  Now I'll put them in the frig for a few weeks and let you know the verdict.  Taking photos of my cooking adventures and blogging about them has added a shit-ton of fun to my kitchen.  Thanks for watching!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sometimes I want to smack a baby boomer

Anyone listen to Weekend Edition on NPR this morning?  The very epitome of the baby boomers was talking about her latest book.  Her mother had become very old, so of course in true boomer fashion she focused exclusively on how this affected HER and HER adjustments.  All I could think of was that whiny charactor Hope from the show 30 Something.

Remember them?  That self-centered group of so-called adults, facing life like every single adult has in the years since our ancestors crawled out of the primordial soup?  But because it was happening to THEM boomers had to moan and kvetch and analyse to death everything little thing.  Forgetting entirely that their own parents had done it all during a world war.  I'm a tail-end boomer myself, but I never identified with them.


The NPR interviewer wasn't helping either.  She actually used phrases like "totally unexpected tasks".  Who doesn't expect their parents to grow old??  Seriously have you been so wrapped up your youth that you never see old people?  The author did at one time admit she didn't grow up with anyone "old".  How does that happen?  Perhaps she was in a coma from birth until yesterday and I didn't catch that part.

Boomers - to use their favorite phrases I can't "wrap my head around them" and am "SO over them".

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Because you're a good listener

Lately my family has developed an extremely rude habit called "Not Listening To Mom".   I mean to a never-before-seen level.  As in "Honey, your pants are on fire!", followed by silence, followed by "What didn't you tell me my pants were on fire!!".   Frustrating doesn't even cover it.  I'm going to start tape recording myself, so I can play it back later when they claim I never told them about (fill-in-the-blank).  Then I will dance on the table and laugh in their face.

So anyway YOU will listen, won't you?

1. Mitt Romney is the very definition of the phrase "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself".  Yet thousands of FOX viewers making minimum wage, without health insurance, will still vote for him.

2. This summer Minnesota has been suffering with relentless heat and humidity.  Seems rather unfair give our inhumane winters, doesn't it?

3. I bought some produce at ALDI today because it's so cheap I could cry, and because I always have to work during the Farmer's Market.

4. My daughter and I have a bet - between July 13 and August 11 if either one of us eats a dessert or candy or treat etc, we have to pay the other one $20.  Let me say it's working beautifully.  And let me also say that Thank Jeebus that Chocolate Cheerios are exempt.

5. I know lots of wealthy people who are just dumber than a box of rocks.  How does that happen?

6. My car antenna will only go up 1/2 way, so the radio is constant static.  Which is probably OK since NPR news, well all news really, gives me a stomachache.

7. I don't understand the crowd who wants to add that insipid "defense of marriage" amendment to the Minnesota state constitution.  Show where in that document, or the Constitution of the United States, it says laws will be based on the Christian holy book.  Until then just keep your religious views inside your homes and churches and leave the rest of us in secular peace.  Amendments should always create MORE rights and MORE freedoms.






Saturday, July 21, 2012

Enough!

Yes, now is precisely the time to talk about gun control.

How does a person slowly sinking into the world of madness and schizoid delusion get a hold of so many guns?  Why do we allow this to happen?  Why what are we going to do about it?

I say a gun is a powerful tool - you don't just hand them out like lollipops.  Before you can legally get behind the wheel of a car, our society has collectively decided that you need some training.  Then you need to be tested on that training.  And if you flunk that testing, you can come back later and try again.  But you don't get the license until we as a society have determined that you are safe to operate a ton of steel.  That giant machine isn't designed to kill, but it could kill or do tragic damage if not operated safely.  We all easily agree that you don't just jump behind the wheel.

Why in the world do we let just anyone have a gun?

Now before anyone goes all bat-shit crazy on me about the supposed link between gun control and fascism, understand I'm not saying keep people from owning guns.  I come from a long line of hunters and I enjoy shooting some clay pigeons now and then.  What I'm saying is let's get some powerful programs that keep them in the hands of safe, sane, educated gun owners.

Rule #1 - no more gun shows.  I can't have a "liquor show" here in Minnesota because liquor sales are controlled by law.  Liquor has indirectly killed plenty of people, many of them innocent, but not directly.  Yet we are still OK with regulating it without screaming that our "rights" to alcohol are being trampled.

Rule #2 - put a ton of money behind treatment and research for mental illness.  Have lots of resources for folks slipping into delusion, including safe havens to live for as long as they need it.  Have a way to give them support.  And especially find a way to keep them away from weapons and explosives, such as daily visits at their home by a social worker.  Yeah it's going to fit right into their paranoid delusions but at least scores of innocent people can keep on living.

Rule #3 - mandatory gun safety training, testing, AND passing before you can get your hands on a gun.  You can't teach Kindergarten without 4 years of training, and your license can be revoked for illegal behavior.  Yet no one screams that their "right" to teach Kindergarten is being infringed.  We all accept that something as seemingly innocuous as teaching 5-year-olds can't be trusted to just anyone.

Rule #4 - allow random checks by trained authorities to make sure you are storing your gun safely and properly.  Three strikes and that gun is destroyed.   If you own a restaurant in America, you must pass multiple and random inspections by the Health Department.  If they find something amiss or unsafe, you get a hefty fine.  If it's really egregious you are shut down.  And no one screams about their "rights".  In fact, we all like that someone is taking a peek in that kitchen now and then.

Rule #5 - allow the manufacture of gun safety locks that can only be opened by the owner's password or fingerprint or whatever.  Mandate that all gun owners buy one and use it.  We all agree that seat belts in cars and life jackets in boats are necessary safety equipment, and that a fine will be issued if you aren't wearing one.

Rule #6 - repeal all conceal and carry laws.  They're just stupid.  If you have a license to carry that gun, put it out in the open where we all can see it and stay the hell away.

Rule #7 - this isn't a rule, just an observation.  The chance that an actual intruder will enter your home, and that you will safely defend your family with that gun is rather minuscule.  Scary?  You bet.  But statistically it's a very slim chance it'll ever happen.  However the chance that the very same gun will accidentally hurt or kill someone in your family is HUGE.  So why would you invited a blood-thirsty murdering machine into your home to protect you from a whisper?  That's insane.




Thursday, July 19, 2012

Where the HELL have I been?


No, I didn't die, in spite of the heat and humidity.  Don't let photos of Minnesota like the one above fool you - it's either hot enough to bake your brain or cold enough to freeze off every appendage.  


I've just been very busy being a poor working person, AKA what the GOP considers public enemy #1.  You know, really subversive stuff like working the DFL booth at the county fair, going to the grocery store, running low on gas, fighting for all kinds of equality and other communist-type activities.


Speaking of the DFL - for you Non-Minnesotans, it's the Minnesota affiliate of the Democratic Party.  According the Wikipedia: It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party. Leading the merger effort were Elmer Kelm, the head of the Minnesota Democratic Party and founding chairman of the DFL party; Elmer Benson, effectively the head of the Farmer-Labor Party by virtue of his leadership of its dominant left-wing faction; and rising star Hubert H. Humphrey, who chaired the Fusion Committee that accomplished the union and then went on to chair its first state convention. Members of the party are frequently referred to as "DFLers".


The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party (FL) was a left-wing American political party inMinnesota between 1918 and 1944. Largely dominating Minnesota politics during the Great Depression, it was one of the most successful statewide third party movements in United States history and the longest-lasting affiliate of the national Farmer-Labor movement. At its height in the 1920s and 1930s, party members included three Minnesota Governors,four United States Senatorseight United States Representatives and a majority in theMinnesota legislature.


You gotta love that Minnesota Progressive Ethic!!!


The 1922 Farmer-Labor Convention, held in Minneapolis

Friday, May 4, 2012

When life gives you lemons, make a nasty face

Yuck is all I can say.  I've got the mother of all sinus infections, and have missed 3 days of work.  It's been cloudy or raining most of the last week and weather predictions say it won't let up for awhile.  One of my contacts isn't working so I'm forced to wear my glasses.  House is a mess because I've been sick, and no one in my family knows how to pick up.

To put it in a nutshell, I'm cranky.  Don't know which of the above factors to blame.


Know what would make me happy?  $100,000 ought to do it.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

What not to say

If someone you know is trying to lose weight, please refrain from the following . . .

1.  Telling them that the vegetables they are eating are high glycemic.  They are VEGETABLES for chrissake not M&Ms
2.  Telling them they need to add more weight or length or height or depth to their exercise.  If they are moving at all, shut up.
3.  Remarking on their choice of salad toppings.  They are easing away from Big Macs into healthy choices so just support them.
4.  Telling them they COULD be losing weight faster if they really wanted to.  Maybe, maybe not.  But they could also be gaining weight so again, just support them.
5.  Unless you've lost a significant amount of weight yourself, do not tell them you understand.
6.  Do not EVER tell them they lack willpower.  Some folks have a much harder time stepping away from food.  Same way some folks crave alcohol, or cigarettes, or reality TV.
7.  Making negative comments about their method.
8.  Getting into a conversation about all your most hated body parts and how fat you look.  That's just depressing.
9.  Saying "It's about time you lard ass!"
10.  Contradicting their doctor's advice about food, exercise, medications, etc unless you can produce your own license to practice medicine and nutrition services.
11. Being the food police.  Nothing makes someone want to bitch-slap you more than commenting or giving dirty looks over their food choices.

But feel free to . . . .
1.  Tell them every chance you get that you love them no matter what.
2.  Enjoy their company and not watch their food intake.
3.  Go for walks with them, at their pace.
4.  Have them over for yummy healthy food, without remarking how healthy it is
5.  Tell them how good they look
6.  Tell them you admire their strength

Monday, April 9, 2012

You'll eat them all, with ketchup

To all you new or young parents out there . . . .
A friend and I were laughing ourselves silly over all the things we said we'd NEVER do, or would ALWAYS do before we had kids.  Well before.  Well, Well, before.  Before we ate every single word, deep fried, with ketchup.  And you people will eat them too.

1. I'll never use the TV as an electronic babysitter
2. I'll never let the family car get THAT dirty
3. I'll never yell "SHUT UP" at my kids
4. I'll always tell them the absolute truth
5. I'll never feed them crap like Kraft Mac and Cheese
6. I'll never let them sleep in our bed
7. I'll never go nuts over home improvement in the months leading up to their graduation party
8. I'll never let my teen daughter wear a thong
9. I can't ever see myself hiding in the bathroom from my kids
10. I would never spend useless time on the computer, then tell them it's "work"
11. I will never let them go out in public wearing superman pajamas and cowboy boots
12. I won't let them snack between meals
13. No Happy Meals
14. I will NEVER let my teens talk to me like that!!
15. Public tantrums?  MY kids will KNOW that won't fly with me.
16. When they are out of control, I will just reason with them
17. We'll have such an open relationship, they'll tell me everything
18. My kids will NEVER lie to me
19. I will NOT let my daughters get into Disney Princess things - those things are so sexist.
20. My sons will not have toy guns



Friday, March 30, 2012

Not much, you?

1. I'm on a weight loss program, eschewing all things delicious, making good choices, and losing about .0000567 lbs per week.  At this rate I'll hit my goal in 2036.  Just in time for the retirement home.

2. Spring is a month early in Minnesota, which has to qualify as a full-on miracle.  Tulips in March up here is a sign of the apocalypse.

3. If I don't win the mega-millions tonight, my girls and I might have to take up prostitution to cover college tuition.  My services will cover a highly select niche market.

4. Rick Santorum is just a nasty little dink.

5. I want one of the food-preparation-thingys from Star Trek where you just tell computer what you want and it slides out from a drawer in the wall.  I wouldn't even mind washing the dishes.

6. Every weekend until late May, I'm making cheesecake and biscotti for the twins' graduation party.  Yes, the same kids that claim I never do anything nice for them.

7. When I win the mega millions tonight, the first 2 comments get $100,000 each.  Dr. Monkey will always get a chunk cuz I know he'd do the same for me.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

We won't go back

Dear GOP men and your self-loathing women,

We, the women of the USA, will NOT go back in the cage.

We will not allow your fears and control issues to crawl inside our bodies, like you own the place.
We will not go back to the days of butchering before Roe vs Wade.
We WILL completely and unabashedly enjoy our sexuality with any adult partner of our choosing.  And if our smiling sexually satisfied faces horrify you, you'd best just stay home.
We WILL decide how many, if any, children we bear.
We will not "behave" while you shatter our civil rights.
We will physically break any vaginal ultrasound wand you bring at us in an attempt to control us.
We will go to jail to fight for our rights.
We will NOT be forced out of the public eye.

If you mess with our freedom, we will HURT you.


Sunday, February 26, 2012

I like to judge the Oscars

Nothing I like better than passing smug judgement on rich celebs, while sitting in my sweats - on the sofa - with my bad hair and acne.

Octavia Spencer looks perfect!
I love Molly McCarthy!  Or Melissa.  Or whatever her name is.
I see a lot of women who need to eat something.  Do you men really find that skeletal look attractive?
6:30 and all I can say is boring, boring, boring.
"Who are you wearing?" has to be the most pretentious phrase every spoken.
Michelle Williams looks like she pulled her dress from her daughter's dress-up box.
Max Von Sydow's date is one HOT older woman.
Kristen Whig and the woman who cowrote her movie have exactly the same hair and the most boring dresses ever.  Isn't everyone just over that hair style yet?
George Clooney's date has bigger shoulders than he does.
Who are all those non-celebs?
Instead of wasting all that fossil fuel on SUV limos, couldn't they just use a big city bus to round up all those movie stars?
Sandra Bullock never fails.
The whole grain waffles I made this morning are giving me some killer gas - just thought I'd throw that in there.
Lovin Chris Rock's retro afro.  He looks like The Jefferson's son Lionel.
I like Billy Crystal, but he's starting to look like Christopher Walken.   He needs to quit dying his hair with shoe polish.
NOT a Gwyneth Paltrow fan.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Did you know . . . .




Someone here had a birthday last week????????








Friday, January 20, 2012

Poor Design


Today at work, I saw a maintenance guy cleaning out the drip tray on the ice machine.  He was chuckling to himself.  So of course being the busy-body Gladys Kravitz that I am I asked what was so funny.  He pointed out that the drain for the tray was 1/4" above the bottom, therefore meaning that 1/4" inch of water will ALWAYS be standing in the tray.

So all present started sharing stories of poor design.

One woman said the brand-new ball field of her town had to be redone.  The contractor had somehow made a hill in the outfield that made it impossible to see home plate.

I recalled a Subway restaurant at home that installed a wheelchair ramp.  The skinny ramp, with a rail, ran up to a small stoop.  Then the door opened out, toward the ramp, and covered the entire stoop.

Carleton College would like everyone to forget their giant sidewalk penis.  They spent a lot of $$$ to make it disappear, but thanks to the inner-webs it will live forever.

Our local hospital had a brand-new sculpture installed in their brand-new lobby.   But it quickly become dangerous.  Seems everyone was clunking their head on it.  They finally installed a planter ring around the bottom after a physician got a concussion.

Anyone have a better story??