Runner up for the Nobel Prize

Irena Sendlerowa 1910-2008
May 12 marked the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena.During WWII, Irena received permission from the Nazis to work in the Warsaw ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist.She had an ulterior motive...Being German, she knew the Nazis' plans for the Jews and smuggled infants out in the bottom of the large tool box she carried. Larger children were placed in burlap sacks in the back of her truck. Also in the back was a dog that she had trained to bark each time the Nazi guards allowed her out of the ghetto and back in.The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and its barking covered any noise made by the infants and small children. Irena managed to smuggle out approximately 2,500 children before she was finally caught. When she was captured, the Nazis beat her severely, breaking both her arms and her legs.Irena kept a record of the names of all the children she smuggled out of that Warsaw ghetto and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her back yard.After the war, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived so she might reunite the child with its family. Most, of course, did not survive the Holocaust, and the vast majority of the surviving children were placed in foster homes or adopted.Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but she lost to Al Gore, who won the award for presenting a slide show on Global Warming.

Meme

Scattergories
Use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following.
They have to be real places, names, things - nothing made up. Try to use different answers than the person in front you you that had the same first letter.
You cannot use your own name for the boy/girl name.

1. What is your name: Monica
2. A 4 letters word: Mold
3. A vehicle: Mercury
4. A city: Manchester
5. A boy's name: Mack
6. Drink: Milkshake
7. An occupation: Miner
8. Something you wear: Moccasins
9. A celebrity: Michael Douglas
10. Something found in the bathroom: Mint Mouthwash
11. Reason for being late: Mudslide
12. Something you shout: Mom
13. An animal: Mink
14. A body part: Middle finger
15. Word to describe yourself: Marvelous
If you would like to play just add your name to comments and say I'm in....looking forward to your answers:)

Not your imagination

Yes, I did post a speech that was supposedly written by Andy Rooney and it was brought to my attention that is was not true. I should have checked it myself and here is a site that you can do that on....Truth or Fiction. It was given to me by a friend and I assumed it was on the up and up. Even though I agreed with the content I wouldn't want to publish something that is not true so if you left a comment that is why it is now gone..............................................

Family musing

So many times we know each other simply as part of the family.
Yesterday, I went to visit a cousin who is younger than I and found how little I really knew him. We only saw each other at family gatherings and in the later years these were basically funerals (not a good time to visit). Well, to my great surprise I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him and his wife. I have often felt that this scenario of not really knowing your family was true with family members who were older than I, like my Uncles and Aunts. Rarely did I know them as I would now that I am an adult but more through a kids eyes. Strange isn't it to be related by blood but not by what you have in common. Maybe that is why there are often family strains......................................................................

Just the two of us

It is only my hubby and I and for the most part we go out and eat but with the high cost of things of recent have decided to cook at home one or two times a week. I like to try new recipes so will share the good ones with you....who needs the bad ones?????

Be warned.....I like easy and fast, and cheap isn't bad either:)

CHICKEN CLUB PASTA SALAD

1 Pkg. Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad ranch and bacon pasta salad mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used 1/4 mayonnaise and 1/4 miracle whip)

1 1/2 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey ( About 1 1/2 pounds thick sliced turkey from the deli)

Chopped celery (to taste)

Cherry tomatoes (to taste)

Cook pasta mix as directed and rinse with cold water when finished. Drain well.

Mix the seasoning mix with the mayonnaise, add the pasta and chicken and chopped celery.

Place on a lettuce leaf and top with quartered tomatoes.

Serve with hot french bread of club crackers.

Note: this recipe makes enough for four but makes a great leftover lunch:)

Brunch

Brunch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brunch or bruncheon is a meal eaten if one misses breakfast or lunch. It may be used to combine breakfast and lunch into one meal.[1] The term is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch(eon). Brunch is often served after a morning event or prior to an afternoon one, such as a wedding or sporting event. While common in the United States, according to Punch magazine, the term was introduced in Britain around 1896 by Hunter's Weekly, then becoming student slang.[2]
Some restaurants and hotels serve brunch, especially on Sundays and holidays. Such brunches are often serve-yourself buffets, but menu-ordered meals may be available instead of, or with, the buffet. The meal usually involves standard breakfast foods such as eggs, sausages, bacon, ham, fruits, pastries, pancakes, and the like. However, it can include almost any other type of food served throughout the day. Buffets may have quiche, large roasts of meat or poultry, cold seafood like shrimp and smoked fish, salads, soups, vegetable dishes, many types of breadstuffs, and desserts of all sorts.

The bottom line----------------------------------pigging out!!!! Went to my first brunch with my Red Hatters Sunday and everyone should go at least once in a lifetime.

Smoking

Isn't this an interesting advertisement? After 35 years of smoking like a steam engine I finally succeeded in quiting neatly 12 years ago. All I can say is that I have never regretted it. With the cost of living the way it is I can't imagine the quilt I would feel at buying cigarettes.
How about you....did you or do you smoke?

If you want to quit....I am telling you it is worth the agony to do so and if you have already quit....I say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Drum Roll Please

Here SHE is.....the USS New York! Made from the World Trade Center !

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center .

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on September 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensign, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there." Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're coming back."

The ship's motto? "Never Forget"

Matches with mine:

Isaiah 61:3 (King James Version)
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Wheat Field

I borrowed this picture this morning. It reminded me of the time I spent in Montana as a kid visiting my Grandparents. Montana is flat and when the wind blows the wheat field looks like waves of water and the smell.......................you will never forget the wonderful clean fresh smell. Thanks for the memory Kidscattleblog.

Timeshare

Wyndham Kona Hawaiin Resort

Several years ago while on a vacation to the big Island of Hawaii my hubby and I bought this timeshare. We have never stayed here but rather have traded it in every year to go to a different location. Our first trade was to Whistler, Canada then Panama, then Branson, Mo. and then Mederia, Portugal. This year we are hoping to go to Quebec, Canada.

Now we have had our timeshare long enough that it is paid for with the exception of the yearly upkeep fee and the exchange fee required if we go with a bigger company like RCI but here is some advice if you have never owned one and are thinking of doing so.

1. If you are not really open on your travel dates.......forget it. Even with giving any travel time for one whole month, it is still a maybe to get into your desired location.

2. NEVER buy a brand new one. There are many, many for sale at a much cheaper rate for people that have become disenchanted with them (Be sure and use a licenced Realitor).

3. Know your reason for buying one....is it to travel around the world or is it to go back to the same location that you dearly love year after year...the last one is the best reason because you will not have any need to make exchanges and are assured your yearly trip.

4. Try to buy one that is in one of the larger groups like Wordlmark. You have more opportunity to be able to make a trade within your own group and not have to use the RCI group which allows you to trade with all groups and requires not only an exchange fee but also a yearly membership fee as well.

5. Never buy one below a gold rating (that means the desirably of it and gives you a greater exchange power and resale value).

I don't think that this has been the best financial endeavour we have gotten involved with and we have considered selling it a few times but I always go back to one fact........it encourages us to go somewhere we may never had gone had we not had it:)

HAPPY TRAILS.........................................................................................

Celebration of Independence

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/Impish_Dragon/?action=view&current=Untitled.flv

Issue changes

For months on end all we heard was the controversy of the war....should we have gone in, are we winning, when will we leave, why did it start, what was the goal...................

Now we have a new song to sing:

I recently heard someone on TV make the statement that maybe our gas woes was good for us..............I think I may agree with that statement, we are indeed the most blessed country in the world and the biggest whiners ever! Typically we blame someone else..............but the truth is, out of sight out of mind. Ten years ago congress tried to get the okay to start drilling but President Clinton veto it. If we would have drilled then, we would have the oil we need today and be able to tell these other countries to take their barrel of oil and you know what but people are still singing the same old song...."Even if we start drilling today we won't get any oil for 2,5,10 years". Well, maybe it isn't just about us and fortunately there are some who's song and life reveals this truth. http://g.dwgsee.com/wake/index.htm