New Behavior vs Old Behavior

Change is painful. Changing how one eats is painful & difficult. There are so many triggers to eating. Besides the obvious ones of smell, tummy growls, sight, mouth watering, the habit of eating certain foods at certain times really grabs me. I find myself eating before I think. I'm thinking of writing down the projected food intake the night before so i don't go on auto-pilot eating.

All day today I kept correcting myself, chanting 'New Behavior'. My mouth rarely stops watering. Time will solve that.

Cheap Cooking

Oatmeal additions:
Boullion cubes
Salsa and/or Cheese whiz
Strawberries and/or whipped cream
brown sugar and cinnamon

Cook bacon/sausage in a skillet, remove it and put Oatmeal in the grease, toast the Oatmeal until brown, stirring, and add water and beef cubes. Cook until thick and crumble bacon on top. Yummy! I have money now, but still eat it (draining the bacon fat)

You can also cook rice until it's creamy by adding water until it's cooked down and use the additions.

One of my favorites when I had little money was to put tunafish in a cassarole, add a vegetable and put a slice of cheese on top. If you don't have an oven, then use a saucepan with water in the bottom and weight down the cover. Put it on low/Med heat to cook. Or use the microwave. Works with any combo, the cheese makes a sauce in the juices. OOOOHHH.

Letter from the Enemy

If there was ever a letter that should strengthen this country's determination to stand and fight THIS is it. It is from Osama's right hand. READ it at http://www.dni.gov/release_letter_101105.html

I am looking for another translation of it, since so many words in Arabic don't translate exactly. But the gist should be close. Note that he says that the Islamic Militants only have to wait until the US Media forces the US to desert Iraq as happened in VIETNAM. Our past comes to haunt us. As a democracy we can be led to make bad moves by skewed information. We must require our media to report facts, not rumor or emotional reactions, as they did and continue to do in New Orleans.

Just the Facts, Ma'am! And all the facts, without selecting the ones that will lead us to their desired conclusion. I used to respect Daniel Schor. After hearing him distort stories by selecting facts that made his conclusion valid, and ignoring facts that contradicted him I have no more respect for him. Yes, he's an editorialist, but he calls himself unbiased. He lies.

Bless the Internet: if you look you can triangulate on the truth and don't have to depend on the distortions of biased reporters. "Biased Reporters" is an oxymoron. The only bias should be in the Editorial section and plainly labeled as such.

Volunteer Heroes

Cliff Morrow's Blog (blogspot.com) tells about the local Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) saving his crop when a spark set off the dry foliage in a field. And then the local insurance agent heard about it and filed a claim before he could start it himself! Small Towns are wonderful. The Hurricane victims are finding out about that!

My comment on CliffMorrow.blogspot.com:
Here in Mid-VA, Rice, VA, it's the same. Small towns are the glue that holds the country together. Local high school boys become heroes when they join the VFD. At close by Hampden-Sydney College the Local VFD is manned by college students, who are excused from class to answer the fire horn. Many find local jobs so they can man the VFD during the summer! Every year there is an EMT class that requires many hours of work and study, but the boys happily take that on in addition to their studies. The HSCVFD has won competitions, too. Volunteer Fire Departments are working clubs, tightknit groups of friends helping neighbors. And the Rescue Squad!! WOW! I know a local lawyer who spends more time running and working the Squad than practicing law!

The Rest of the Disaster: Mississippi and Texas

On both sides of the Louisiana borders are towns and neighborhoods that are pulling themselves up toward civilization. They have pitched tents in yard clearings, or are driving in from less damaged areas to clear and rebuild their lives. Some are lucky enough to have jobs, still, and have to balance work and cleaning, clearing and reconstruction. Others are selling what's left - as is, where is - to the Real Estate Investors buying up land for the casinos and construction companies who have deep pockets. Whether you sell or rebuild depends on how deep your pockets are, mostly. If you have, or can get a good line of credit and have a construction crew available you probably will rebuild. Construction guys are flocking down to that area, but matching needed workers with companies will be the crux of the solution. The guys at DirectNIC (mgno.com) are thinking of setting up a matching service. I hope they do, since I think they'd do it well.

Oh, NO! Wretched Kitten!

The stronger of the two kittens chews on the weaker's hind parts... left alone this would cause a bladder infection and death for the weaker. I have kept them apart and the weaker was getting fiesty and doing well, so I allowed them to play for about 10 minutes. OH, NO!!!! Poor littlest one is now all swollen and tender. Of course I parted them again, but poor little fuzzy one is still sore this AM. Shame on me for not recognizing the problem sooner, DUH. I thought they were play-fighting. I wonder how long this will be a danger? I may have to let DC take them home one at a time. Until I can be sure the littlest is strong enough to defend himself.