Soldier

Driving home this evening I was listening to CBC radio 2. I heard some of the concert celebrating the 100th birthday of British Columbia with Canadian artists Sarah McLaughlin and Shawn Hlookoff.

Yes, Sarah gave a marvelous performance, ending with one of my favorite songs: Ice Cream, but it was Shawn Hlookoff that intrigued me. Though he didn't play it at the concert, they made significant mention of his song "Soldier". I had to come home and find it.

It was worth the effort. This young man has a message worth hearing and a beautiful clear voice with which to express it. (For those of us who are military parents: this one gets a *tissue alert*.)



Same song, different video.

Nifty Kitchen Trick!

You know the drill... turn off the playlist and then watch the video.

This is Brilliant!

And here's how he did it:

Instructions:
Cover the eggs with water and boil on low for about 12 minutes.
Cool the eggs by placing them in cold water with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and ice. The baking soda raises the pH level and reduces adherence. If you choose not to use baking soda, be sure to move the eggs into cold water with plenty of ice immediately after boiling.
Crack the top of the egg and remove a small piece.
Crack the bottom (wide end) of the egg and remove a small piece.
Hold the egg in your hand and blow vigorously into the narrow end of the egg, which will expel it out the wide end.

Doesn’t get much easier than that.

Just be ready to catch it when it comes out!

V Bits, J Bits, Me Bits

Yesterday as I drove home from work I noticed yet another reason that my job, which I love, must have come to me through Divine Intervention (and boy oh boy, did I need an "intervention"!).

Halfway down the highway on which I work and the expressway I take home, I called V. I'd looked at the shops around here before, just checking the place out, when there on my left was a store I hadn't seen before. The store we joke is V's all time favorite: The Jerky Outlet! Can I get a big yee-haw?!

She giggled but was delighted. I made a mental note to stop in and get a bunch to send to her. But there you have it. If that wasn't a 'sign' that I was meant to be here, I'm not sure what is.

And another V thought... Upon seeing this military.com video I decided that SHE must have been the person firing. Watch. You'll get a laugh out of it. The note at the bottom cracked me up. Something about 'needing to weigh more than the weapon you're firing'. And yes, it's my wee-bitty girl who maintains the MMIII, LOL!

V is doing amazingly well overall. She's tired from not spending her evenings and weekends relaxing and catching up on sleep, but that's something she'll learn in time. She's STILL fighting with Verizon, believe it or not. And, as we spoke she was waiting for her MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) class to begin, so she's spending her time in healthy ways and I am so happy for her. I told her yet again how proud I am of her choice and how she's carried it through to make it one incredible reality.

J's turn! Joshua's been sick with a bad cold all week. He came home early from school one day and slept the whole day away, waking only to cough, sneeze and blow his nose half off his face. Poor baby. He's quite a bit better now in comparison, but he's still not healthy.

Tonight I will forego my monthly singing group in order to attend the Police Explorer's annual family bbq and training tower rappelling! J's been looking forward to this since he joined Police Explorers last year. I often hear about the three story training tower and how much he can't wait for them to push him out that window! Today I get to stand safely on the ground and watch. :)

And last, me bits! I've been working more than usual recently as things have gotten very busy for me. I spent most of Tuesday at a meeting in Lansing, then drove back to the east side for a double meeting (one for new volunteers and ~back to back~ the Board Meeting). I ended up meeting three new volunteers and, as planned, did a presentation for the Board. Aftre that I went to dinner with a co-worker. It was one long and successful day. Whew!

Yesterday, after having a late breakfast with a friend, I worked from noon to 8pm. Even though that was only an 8 hour day, leaving at a late hour made it feel like 12. I'm looking forward to a more regular day today, and then a relaxing evening. You'd relax if they were tossing your kid out a third story window ~ right?!

KITTY!

While surfing the web in the wee hours of the morning (why does "wee hours" always make me think of "time to go potty"?!) I found this video ~ that I immediately sent on to V.

I needed to show the world too. The kitty looks a lot like Mooch when he first came to us, and to this day "the pounce & chomp factor" are identical.

Here ya go!

Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me

I've blog-surfed, made raisin toast, had some quiet thoughts, e-mailed V a funny video about a kitty, printed my directions and map to Lansing for my meeting tomorrow (today)... and I just resorted to going out to the garage and taking trash out of my car for lack of anything else quiet to do.

Still, I can't wind down enough to be sleepy tonight. Frustration ensues.

13 to 1

While we have our collective oh so intelligent (but fashionable) "dare to compare" hats on...

I ran across this article too.

Twisted Jammies

I read an article this morning that got my jammies in a Sunday morning twist. The basics of the news regards new coffee products that are soon going to be marketed to consumers. Ok fine.

Now, mind you, this news comes from the makers of Folgers, Maxwell House and others: Proctor & Gamble.

First off, the whole world knows that they use "ultra-cheap", inferior Robusta coffee beans, vs Arabica. Second, they pay substandard wages for the picking of those beans. (These are NOT fair trade coffees, people. Have a cup [of something better] and wake up.)

The article says that Proctor & Gamble has divised a new step to the roasting process, called "pre-drying". Basically, they're trying to pull palatable taste from the same inferior beans.

Tell me that the extra step that will slow production from lesser quality tree to diner coffee cup isn't going to cause a price increase too. Right? ha.

You [P&G] want to pre-dry your coffee beans thinking they might not be the same thin bodied, cardboard tasting, slave wage encouraging, bitter brew, repackage/label it, and market it to the new generation of coffee drinkers (at what will undoubtedly be a higher price than what you have on the shelves now)? Have fun. I won't be buying it, but g'head.

What got my jammies in a twist was this quote from the article:

"consumers looking to save cash turn to their daily coffee beverage so often that saving $4 a day has a name: The Starbuck's Factor, or The Latte Factor"

What the heck?!

I have no idea what a pound of Maxwell House costs these days. The last time it was purchased or made in my house was when we sat shiva (a tradition of mourning) at the passing of my mother-in-law, nearly 7 years ago. But let's compare apples to apples and cup to cup.

Looking at the coffee itself... Quoting the same article: "Robusta beans thrive at lower altitudes and produce far more beans per plant, and have twice the caffeinne of Arabica beans: but their flavor, according to connoisseurs, is extremely inadequate."

Looking at the companies themselves... Caribou Coffee, Starbucks and others have spent millions of dollars in establishing fairtrade agreements with coffee plantation owners, raising awareness of the fairtrade issue, and bringing consumers that product. Fairtrade comes with fair cost. In my opinion, a more balanced world economy is worth it. Proctor & Gamble advertise no such ethic on their website or packaging.

Starbucks is routinely named one of the best employers in the US. They stimulate both the world and the local economies.

As for the comparison of a cup of generic home brew vs the $4/day made-to-order figure: That's not a case that can be made.

Compare apples to apples, home brewing to home brewing.

In my coffee maker 4 oz. (1/2 C.) of grounds yields 12 cups of coffee. That's 4 pots, or 48 cups, to the 16 oz. pound. At $10 per pound ~ last I did the math (just now) ~ it costs less than 42 cents a serving to have a pretty large, roughly 16 oz. mug, of $10/lb. coffee at home.

People pay for convenience, for location, for time-savings, for the training, roasting, brewing and concocting in which the big coffee houses specialize.

It's more a statement of affluence (or frivolity, depending on how jealous you are) that some choose to have their coffee made to order. They choose to pay a portion of their salary to have someone making an honest wage make them a cup of coffee they'll actually enjoy in a time-effective manner. Problem is?

Yep, they could have gotten up that morning early enough to brew it themselves. It would have been less expensive. That's their choice to make.

If someone wants to save more than $4 a day? Bring a sack lunch to work. Problem solved.

If you can afford it, buy the Mercedes. If not, don't. If you have access to fruit trees and canning equipment, make jam. If you don't, pay a company that farms thousands of acres, buys the sugar and pays the people to make, transport and market it. I don't see an article bashing Knotts Berry Farm for $3/jar jam. And don't get me started on gourmet marmalades!

You pay more for convenience and quality when and if you can. It's US economics 101.

You can buy a couple potatoes and some oil cheaper than you can buy a bag of chips, but it's not fair to say that the price of a potato compares to the convenience of buying those peeled, sliced, fried, seasoned, packaged bags of chips.

And now, I'm getting out of my twisted jammies and heading for a good cuppa joe in the sunshine. If enjoying your day means splurging on something you enjoy and can afford, so be it.

As for me and my house, we will serve whatever .42/mug GOOD coffee we choose!