Yummy Corn Casserole (i.e. Thanksgiving)

Neither Rick nor I have any family locally. My family is in MI and his is in KS. We couldn't travel as a family this year and leaving Rick here in WI and celebrating Thanksgiving in MI wouldn't have felt right, but the idea of having Thanksgiving for three seemed a bit sad. Luckily we have wonderful friends who came to the rescue. Jessica invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family.

It was really nice, the food was yummy, and Charlotte and Cal played the whole time and kept each other busy. This meant that we could actually eat the entire meal without having to stop. It's been a while since I've experienced that. So a big thanks to Jessica and her family for making our Thanksgiving so much fun.

I brought a corn casserole to pass around. I made it using a recipe from the Nov. 2006 issue of Parenting magazine. It was the first time I tried this recipe and I made a couple of slight alterations. It turned out really well and was a big hit, but I'll probably add a few more ingredients the next time I make it.

Cheesy Corn Pudding

ingredients;
1 tbsp. butter, plus more for buttering baking dish
2 eggs
20 oz. of corn (I used thawed frozen corn)
1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
1 small onion, finely diced
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a casserole dish. Saute onions until they are translucent and sweet and set aside to cool. Beats eggs and milk together and then add corn and 3/4 c. of the cheese and then season. Pour mixture into casserole dish. In a different bowl, melt the butter and add the breadcrumbs and remaining cheese. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over casserole and baked uncovered for 1 hour or until center reaches 160 degrees.

When I make this again I plan on sauteing some fresh garlic with the onions. I also think that this would be yummy with some chopped up roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, bacon, or green onions.

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

No Thanks

Chopping bunnies to death with a shovel, unclogging a poopy toiled with your hand, being voted out "survivor" style because you're on the autism spectrum, and being bound up with tape and treated like a slave. What do these things have in common? They're all experiences that your child might have in school. If you treated your own kid this way CPS would be all up in your business but since these things were all done to and in front of children by their teachers there was no need for any serious action. As far as I could dig none of these asshats were fired, and most of them got to keep on working with the very same kids that they traumatized.

OK, so this is just a handful of teachers (although you should add all of the teachers who make passes at their students or actually have sex with them, this evil bitch, all of the teachers who are mean or abuse their power to humiliate students, and all of those teachers who are just plain inept), in an otherwise great system, right? Not exactly.

The biggest problem with shitty teachers is that they rarely if ever get fired, because it's nearly impossible to fire them. You can thank the teachers' unions for that. I don't understand why people who are paid with tax money are not accountable to the people who have to fork that tax money over. This is just one of the many reasons why I'm homeschooling Charlotte.

Chances are that you child will probably have mostly decent teachers, but do you really want to take the chance that your child might have to watch baby bunnies being chopped up with a shovel, forced to use their bare hand to clean shit out of a toilet as a part of some demented lesson plan, or more likely be stuck with a teacher who has a penchant for degrading students just because he/she can?

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

Miscellanea: Part XXIII

It wasn't sunny enough for picture taking today, so no peak at my new jewelry line or my new knitting pattern. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow, especially since I'll have a model available (i.e. Jessica's son Asa).

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I've found a few new flash adventure games that I wanted to share. The graphics are really interesting for all of them and the gameplay is very unique.

Gretel & Hansel (a take on the old fairytale done in gorgeous watercolor)
Alchemia
Samorost 1
Samorost 2

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Sew, Mama, Sew! posted their December Giveaway Day information today. I will be participating again this year and giving away a pair of earrings from my new jewelry line. You'll have to keep your eyes open for some sneak peaks a little later this month. The giveaway will be posted on December 2nd.

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You can thank Rick for this video.

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

The Great Global Warming Swindle Revisited

I mentioned The Great Global Warming Swindle in a post I wrote nearly a year ago. The documentary discusses the shameful effort of a handful of scientists (and the inventor of manbearpig) to create widespread fear and belief in man-made climate change (aka anthropogenic global warming).

I was lucky enough to take AP biology in high school, and even luckier to have a teacher who was not afraid to tell us the truth and treat us like adults. She didn't spoon feed us with the tripe that other science teachers are forced to use for "green" indoctrination. She explained the problems with the science related to global warming as well as instilling in us the importance of never taking anything at face value and always asking questions.

When I met my ex-husband (in 1997) I was introduced to Reason Magazine and Access to Energy. I was blown away by the vast number of scientists (over 30,000) who are staunchly opposed to the notion that there is such a thing as man-made global warming, not to mention the need for legislation to prevent this imaginary problem.

I have watched with amazement and horror as the mass hysteria over global warming has continued to grow and spread. I've always felt that it was spurred on by people who were hungry for power and money, and just a few days ago those feelings were confirmed when a hacker obtained and exposed over 1000 documents from Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

The e-mails and documents show what amounts to a conspiracy to alter data, silence dissent, and influence economic policy all related to global warming. It's obviously motivated by a desire to control policy and dictate actions to world governments and people in every nation. Fortunately this small group of scientists, who have all but silenced the dissenting majority, have been exposed.

It's time to expose the non-scientists who have been profiting from "green" hysteria. Next time you go grocery shopping, or shopping for anything else for that matter, try and count all of the items that are marketed as "green" or environmentally friendly, and then ask yourself if those items really are environmental friendly and to what end? I'm all for reusing as much as you can and reducing waste but mostly because it saves money. Even recycling creates pollution and if we recycled all of our glass, plastic, paper, etc. it could actually create more pollution than it supposedly saves.

Another group of people who are benefiting greatly from "green" hysteria are carbon credit peddlers. When people rightly point out that Al Gore uses a private jet, owns multiple houses, and basically has a carbon footprint that is many times larger than that of the average American working stiff, Gore's supporters immediately pull out the carbon offset card. Al Gore might pollute much more then the rest of us but he buys carbon credits to make up for it. I'm not going to get into how completely moronic and circular that "logic" happens to be, but I will point out that Al Gore is buying those credits from himself. That's right people, he owns the freakin company. Sounds pretty shady to me. It's like saying that you donate half of your income to charity, except that your charity of choice is your own bank account.

I really hope that this newly exposed information finally puts out the global warming fire. There is nothing wrong with conservation, not dumping toxic waste into our waters, and recycling, but we don't need to destroy ourselves or our economy in order to save the planet from a non-existent threat.

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

Weekend Recap

Yes, this is another lame post without any pictures. We had a pretty decent weekend. I made arroz con pollo, finished Jessica's shirts (almost) and got some new socks. I did a lot of swearing whilst sewing the shirts because Jessica picked out 2 corduroy fabrics and a linen fabric. My machine liked none of them and they were all pretty shreddy. I better see you wearing these shirts non-stop Jessica. I got my socks at JCPenney with a $10 coupon which means that I paid $1.31 for six pairs of Gold Toe ankle socks. 3 of the pairs are pink. It was really hard for me to pick a colorful variety pack instead of an all white pack or an all earth tone pack. I have this thing with socks in practical colors. I really should just knit myself some crazy stripy socks and be done with my inhibitions. I'm off to make some popcorn in a pot (microwave popcorn is teh nasty) and watch True Blood. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

Andy Samberg Is Freakin Brilliant!

This one is the best yet.



Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.

Charlotte Loves Yoga

For several years I practiced yoga daily and then I switched to a yoga/pilates on alternate days. I loved both the yoga and pilates and wasn't practicing either for weight loss, just for flexibility and muscle tone. It's been a really long time since I've done either but I've been under a lot of stress for the last few years and I finally decided that I need to start on a yoga habit again.

Rick brought up all of my yoga stuff from the basement and Charlotte was really excited to play with my mat, blocks, and strap. She also loved my pilates rings, and my yoga "bible" Richard Hittleman's Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan (she thought that the pictures were really cool). This is a really fantastic book for beginners. It gives you easy to follow daily routines which gradually increase your flexibility. By the end of 28 days you will feel like a completely different person. I do have to issue a little warning about the book. I use it only for the photographs and pose instructions, everything else lands way past the bullshit line. He talks a lot about slimming down and eating and drinking as little as possible and also talks about meditation (I don't think that meditation is bullshit, just the way he view it).

Today was day 1 and I'm a bit horrified at how much flexibility I've lost. Luckily my body responds very readily to any amount of exercise and I know that within a week I'll already be much more limber and toned. Charlotte had fun imitating the yoga poses and trying to wedge herself between my chest and the mat while I was working on cobra. Hopefully she'll stay on her own mat tomorrow.

Don't forget that Rick is growing a mustache to raise funds for men's health issues. You can donate money in Rick's mustache's name here, and don't forget that you can get an additional 20% off of shop purchases. Details here.