It Just Takes Me Down---

I watched too much news yesterday, and I felt physically sick and I just couldn't get my head to think of posting anything.

People all mad at the Prez. because he said many atrocities had also been done in the name of Christianity.  Well--he's right!  Think Crusades!  Think the Salem Witch Trials!  I take issue however with where he said it.  Not very appropriate for the National Prayer Breakfast.

HOWEVER--there is a difference in Christians and Gentiles.  Just because you aren't Jewish or Muslim, does not make you a Christian.  A Christian is one who has accepted that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died and rose from the dead and is alive in Heaven.  A person who believes and tries to live Jesus' teachings.  There is no where in the NEW TESTAMENT where Jesus told anyone to go and kill.  Any person who kills, is not following the teachings of Jesus.

HOWEVER--there are 35 times in the Quran where Mohammed told his followers to kill infidels.  He was referencing the Jews in particular, but now it means ALL people's who do not follow Islam or who "they" deem to be an infidel, even if that person might be a Muslim--think the Muslim Arabic pilot they burned to death.  

I truly think that the Prez. is a Muslim.  He was raised in that "faith".  I don't however, think he has sympathy with the radical element--with the terrorists.  

The whole thing just makes me so sick in my heart.  How can we defeat ISIS?  If we go to all out war with them, that will bring them even more recruits and sympathizers.  They are trying to rile us up with their killings.  If we don't go to all out war against them, they are going to continue to grow.

Have you noticed that most of the people they have killed are people that were just trying to help?  Contractors.  Aid Workers.  Teachers.  That woman who was killed, was there trying to help the children and the people--just like my grand daughter is doing in Guatemala.

Makes me sick.
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By the way--Karen and Mark have the tickets and are flying to Guatemala during Easter break and have contributed $2K for the supplies and are going to build a house for a family there--in the same town as Maddie.

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Okay--let's check in with my Monkeys.

The guy who lives in the trailer next to Merle and Pearl and across from Dar, has his daughter living with him.  She just got out of three months in rehab, had no place nor money to live on, so Dad took her in.  She has been here about four months, is doing very well and now has a job.

Dar found this out.  Monday, when the girl's brother came to visit and got stuck in the snow, he was upset and pounding on the steering wheel of his truck.  Dar heard all this.  She went up to the office and told them, "I think you should know, we have a drug addict in the park!  I just saw, who I assume is her dealer.  He is stuck and is acting like he is high on something.  Is she registered?  You know we have a park rule--anyone living here has to be registered.  I want something done about this and I want it done now!"

That is what she told me when she came over.

"I just saw Aaron go up to their porch with a paper in his hand.  He is taking care of it for me--right now!"

"What makes you think he was her drug dealer?"

"Because, he was acting like he was crazy or something.  I saw them talking.  They looked very suspicious to me.  So...I just did my duty!  If she is living here, she has to be registered as a park resident with the office."

"In the first place, she is not using drugs anymore.  She is staying with her Dad until she can get on her own.  She starts a job tomorrow."

"Well--is she registered?"

"I don't know Dar, that is none of my business whether she is or not."

"Well, I'm not going to live in a park where that sort of thing goes on.  We don't want this to turn into a trashy trailer park!  I'll move.  I told them at the office to do something about it or I'm going to move...and I will!"

"You think they care if you move?  They could sell your place in fifteen minutes  and probably make a profit!"

"Well--it's not right and I told them that."

"What if Jeff needed to stay with you for a few months--after he gets out of rehab--until he can get on his feet."

"I won't let him "

"Let's just say he has no where else to go and has to stay with you.  Would you want me to go up to the office and tell them that your son is a drug addict and he is living with you and I wanted them to check and see if he was registered and if he wasn't--I wanted him thrown out of the park?  How would that make you feel?"

"Well...."

"By the way--that guy you saw this morning?  That is her brother who stopped out yesterday to visit her and his Dad and decided to spend the night.  You've gone off half-cocked again, got something in your head---blown it all out of proportion, like you tend to do and probably caused those people a lot of trouble for no reason."

I was steamed and she knew it.

"Well--I'll stop at the office on my way to work tomorrow and tell them I was mistaken."

"I think it's too little, too late."

We all know she won't. 
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Merle and Pearl had a Comcast guy come out today to check on why they can't get their Netflix to work.

Merle parked his car over in half of Dar's driveway, as he has many times before, so the repair guy could park in their driveway.

When Dar got home from work she called me.

"Judy, do you know who's car is parked in my drive?"

"You don't recognize the car?"

"No."

"It belongs to the neighbor across the street from you.  It's Merle's car.  He's parked there before.  I thought you recognize it.  They have a repairman coming."

"Oh."

GEEZ!!!

So the repair guy comes and tells Merle and Pearl that they need to go to Best Buy and purchase a modem accelerator to put near their TV to get the signal from their modem in the bedroom.

I have a feeling this isn't going to help.

My kids have Netflix.  It comes in through their Wii--in the basement.  Their modem is up stairs by their computer.  From that spot, it controls their TV in the living room, a TV upstairs in a bedroom, their computer, AND their TV and Wii in the basement.

Now, if my kids works like that--why won't the modem in Pearl's bedroom--only 25 feet away from the TV, run the Blu-Ray and Netflix?

This is going to be a continuing saga, me thinks. 



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Tuesday

So much bad stuff going on in the world right now--I just can't seem to find anything to write about.

Sorry.

I'm fine--just a bit brain dead.

Addition to Yesterday

I just wanted to tell you that if you make the stuffed bread rolls I posted yesterday, if they are frozen, they are much better, wrapped in foil and warmed-up in a conventional oven.

The Microwave is faster, but it makes the bread tough.

Saturday Session

This took me part of the day Saturday.  I just got a craving for them and had to make them.

Called Kraut Brot and got the recipe from a long ago friend.

Shred cabbage and try not to scrape your knuckles

Add a chopped up onion and cook slowly for two hours

Meanwhile--set out two loaves of frozen bread to thaw

Drain cabbage and onion mixture

Brown ground beef

Drain and combine with cabbage mixture and let cool

Cut loaves into 5 sections.

Roll out into circle

Put a nice amount of mixture on bread

Stretch bread around mixture and seal edges

350 degrees for 35 minutes

Onto cooling rack

KRAUT BROT

1 medium cabbage

1 pound ground beef

2 medium onions

2 loaves of frozen bread

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3 tsp. garlic powder

Take two loaves frozen bread out of freezer and allow to sit.

Shred cabbage and cook (on medium low) with diced onions in 2 Tbls. bacon grease or butter for 2 hours, in covered Dutch oven pot.

Check every half hour and stir.

Drain in colander.

Brown ground beef in same pot and add to colander cabbage mixture to drain.

Return mixture to pot, add salt, pepper, garlic powder and cool.

Cut loaves into 5 sections each.

Flatten on floured board and place mound of mixture on each section.

Stretch dough over mixture, fold over and seal edges of bread.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350⁰ for 35 minutes or until brown.

Remove to cooling rack and baste tops with butter and garlic powder.

Eat while hot or cool completely and put in freezer in gallon freezer bags.

To re-heat, place in bowl, heat for 6 minutes on timed defrost in Microwave—add more butter on the bread.

Worry

I am so worried about our friend Balisha--Pat.

She hasn't even been on her blog to open and read our comments.

I know she feels sicker than anything.

Worry--worry.  

Pray--pray.

All Is Calm

The dryer repair kid came at around 9:45--I was in here working on some writing--thankfully I was dressed.

Such a nice young man--he used to live in this park.  He explained a few things to me and answered a couple of questions I had, then I came back in the computer room and let him do his thing.

A new thermostat.  Not only that, while he had the dryer torn apart, he put in a new timer switch and a new belt--he said, "Just in case."  It cost me $000.00 because of my appliance service plan.  The cost without the plan would have been $250.00+.  At $20.00 a month for ALL appliances, just the repair today paid for the plan for over a year.

He left and I proceeded to sort clothes and get ready to start laundry.

I have done no washing for two weeks.  I had eleven sweat shirts!!  I didn't even know I owned 11 sweat shirts.  I normally wear the same thing every week==three sweat shirts, three-four pairs of blue jeans, perhaps a sweater and dress slacks if I go somewhere.  I wash them on Monday, put them back in the middle of the closet and just re-wear the same thing that week.

With no clothes to grab, I started diving into the back of my closet--sweat shirts.  I even wore a pair of Fred's sweat pants one day because I was out of jeans.

The washer and dryer have been running all day and I'm still not done.  When I get the bed cleared off, I still have to wash and dry the sheets.  That might not happen until tomorrow.
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Nothing else happening here today.  I did run up to the Subway place to get me a nice big salad for supper.  My favorite Subway is the Spicy Italian.  They take the same ingredients, add more lettuce and chop it for a salad.  It costs about $1.00 more, but it lasts me three meals!!!  Kind of like an Antipasto Salad.
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Ever the optimist, I purchased these yesterday.  I'm ready!!!

I hope your weekend is decent.  We have another snow storm coming which, when it leaves this area, will travel out toward PA, NY and MA.  Sorry-

Today Thursday and Throw Back Thursday

I take this to mean---I am a genius!!!!!

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Okay--I visited the Circus today and found out the problem.  The Blu-Ray was purchased because they had to have it for the Netflix to play through?  The Netflix streaming video doesn't stream.  It floats along and occasionally gets stalled by a rock in the stream.  Reason?  The router is too far away from the TV/Blu-Ray.  The router is in the back bedroom next to the computer--about 30 foot away from the TV.  What to do?

I told them to call Comcast, their provider.  Perhaps another router just for the TV?  I don't know--but I do know, Comcast can straighten it out for them.

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My dryer repairman is coming tomorrow to install a new thermostat--I told them it was the thermostat because you know.........

He will arrive sometime between 9-1:00.  So I will have to get up early.

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I went up to the Wal-Mart this afternoon.  I am going broke feeding the cats/birds/squirrels.  I got some peanuts in their shells for the squirrels. 

 Unfortunately, the Blue Jays ate all of them.  I have managed to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeders.  How in the world do I keep the birds out of the squirrel feeder?

I also got a smallish bag of Safflower seeds for the bird feeders.  Birds love them, squirrels hate them.  I don't know how St. Francis ever kept all his animals alive living on a friar's salary!!!

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Merle came down and helped me carry in the heavy stuff.  Jug of litter-bag of dry cat food-24 pack of wet cat food (bits because the won't eat pate')--5 jugs of Diet Pepsi--some Ice Melt--and a gallon of milk.

I love my Wal-Mart Savings Catcher.  I put in the receipt number in the site and it checks 27 local stores for a lower price on all the items.  If there is a lower price somewhere else, they give me the difference.  

Then I put that amount into my Blue Bird card (to be used like a debit card at Wal-Mart) and they double it.  So far, I have $50.49 on that card since Christmas.  I just let it build up and then if I run out of money end of month and need food or something, I go to Wal-Mart and use the money on the card.  

So much easier than the savings thing they have at the Meijer store--you have to go on their site, and click digital coupons, then at check-out, put in your phone number, your pin number and it totals up the savings.

Yes--It's nice to shop at Meijer, which is a nicer store, the prices a bit higher, but with my budget--it's Wally World for me.  I have a very Liberal friend who constantly scolds me for shopping at Wal-Mart where, "they don't pay their employees enough!"  I tell her, "if the Wal-Mart employees aren't happy, they can always go across the street and work at Meijers."

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Speaking of Meijer--Dar thinks she is going to get fired!!  She caused a big stink last week and now, the manager won't speak to her.  She went to his office to talk to him and he got up from behind his desk and said, "I don't have time for you and all your stuff." and walked out of the office.  

Just the week before she told me how well she is doing at the store and how the manager wants to promote her--yeah right.  Now, even the Assistant Manager won't talk to her and the cashiers on both sides of her won't speak to her either.

Meijer is a union store, so I doubt she will get fired.  Just my opinion, but from my experience, once you get into the union, you won't be fired no matter what you do!  So many tales from ex-hubs about guys working at GM that took naps for an hour after lunch in their hidey holes, smoked pot at lunch hour and sometimes, were so drunk they could barely work.  AND that was in the Skilled trades department!

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And speaking of GM--like my segue? (How do you spell that?  Seg Way)--Shortly after my divorce I had to find a job.  All I could do was type 80 words a minutes (thank goodness)--and applied at Kelly Services.  They sent me to the Buick Motor's Headquarters in Flint--as a receptionist--for two weeks.

I was in the department where GM employees came to buy a company car.  All the big wigs got brand new Buick's to drive--3,000 miles, then they turned them in for another new car and we sold the Buick's to GM employees for a 28% discount on the price.  Great program!!

I worked with five of the most wonderful men I have ever met--big wigs in their own right, but so down to earth and nice.  They'd give me a few other jobs to do besides answering the phone.  The more I did, the more they complimented me on what a great worker I was--the more jobs I took on.

Within a couple of years, I was no longer a receptionist, but was doing all the paper work for the car purchase.  One day I spoke to the head guy in accounting and asked if it was possible for me to fill out the car titles, along with all the other paperwork.  

Usually when the dealer came to pick up the car, he couldn't get the title.  I sent the paperwork down to accounting, they filled out the title and mailed it to the dealer.  That meant the customer had to go back to the dealership, in two weeks, just to pick up the title.  

Well--the head honcho in accounting didn't think that was possible.  All the titles were kept in a locked drawer.  I told him I had a locked drawer in my desk.  He'd have to take it up with the guy that was head of Buick.

Thankfully I knew the head guy as he came into our office every time he turned in his car to get a different one.  I knew all the guys on Mahogany Row as we called it--because the offices there were huge, with lovely furniture and appointments and had Mahogany paneling on the walls.

A week later, I had all the titles for our fleet of cars in my office.  When the dealer came to pick-up the paperwork, he got it AND the title AND all he had to do was go up to where the cars were parked and back to the dealership.  He could do the car deal in one day and the new owner didn't have to go back in to get the title.  

I was so naive that I didn't know there were special steps, and levels and procedures and proper channels you had to go through in the Corporate world to get things done.  All I knew is that me having the titles and filling them out was going to help our dealer's.  Therefore, I thought, it's a good thing, let's do it!  I didn't ask permission from my direct boss, I thought of the idea one day at lunch and on the way back to my office, I stopped in Accounting and asked. 

Two months later, the head big dog came up to my desk and told me that, I was named Buick Motor Division's Employee of the Quarter.  A photographer and interviewer would be in the next day.  My face and story would be in the next booklet put out for ALL Buick employees--all over the country and Canada.

My work building

Buick Motor Division--World Headquarters

John is supposed to be showing me paperwork--which he is, but he is saying, "Wanna go to Angelo's for Coney's at lunch?"

and I am saying, "Sure."

I went in as a receptionist for two weeks, Buick "bought" me from Kelly Services after 6 weeks and I stayed for 7 years.  I was considered a Part-time Flex Salary Employee--meaning I could only work 28 hours a week (although I always worked more).  I didn't get all the GM bennies my fellow workers did, but I did get to buy a car at the 28% discount.

Salary?  $9.00 an hour.

Best job I EVER had.  First job I ever had, LOL.  I sure miss those guys--still.

Buick was downsized in 1992 and I was out of a job.  I moved up to Saginaw and worked for a Buick dealership there.  The reason I got that job?  The General Manager had met me twice when he came into our office to pick up one of the company cars.

When my unemployment ran out and I got settled in Saginaw, I went into the dealership and asked him if there were any job openings.  Two weeks and a few tests later, I had me a job--a HUGE decrease in pay, but it was fun.

and....that's a whole nother story.