Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Back to my blog
Finally, I have been able to get into my blog again! I haven't written for some time. Now, what did I do to find it? Must write it down so I can remember.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Common Core
Wow! It has been several months since I blogged. And then I have find my username and password to get back into it. I think I need to make a file of passwords for easy referral.
The feds are trying to impose a one-size-fits-all national school curriculum, Common Core. States were bribed to sign onto it even before the standards were completely set forth. And North Dakota signed on. But now states are pulling out.
In the first place, it's unconstitutional. The 10th Amendment only allows the federal government to do things that are specific enumerated powers. I think the unconstitutionality of it is more problematic than exactly what standards have been set, although the standards apparently have been dumbed-down from many existing state standards.
Education is a difficult thing to measure also. Students can spit back answers on multiple choice standardized tests but can tests measure critical thinking, motivation to be a self-learner, and ability in creative skills? Should teachers or schools be rewarded or punished depending on the scores of their students? Can they be blamed if they are teaching the slow learners or students who start off underprivileged and just haven't caught up to the others?
Common Core also requires keeping detailed records on students that go into their permanent record. This data mining includes files on their social and emotional lives and could well be used for nefarious purposes against them or their families. Privacy would be thrown out the door and would make the NSA's files look tame by comparison.
Our congressmen need to be urged to oppose funding and implementation of Common Core.
The feds are trying to impose a one-size-fits-all national school curriculum, Common Core. States were bribed to sign onto it even before the standards were completely set forth. And North Dakota signed on. But now states are pulling out.
In the first place, it's unconstitutional. The 10th Amendment only allows the federal government to do things that are specific enumerated powers. I think the unconstitutionality of it is more problematic than exactly what standards have been set, although the standards apparently have been dumbed-down from many existing state standards.
Education is a difficult thing to measure also. Students can spit back answers on multiple choice standardized tests but can tests measure critical thinking, motivation to be a self-learner, and ability in creative skills? Should teachers or schools be rewarded or punished depending on the scores of their students? Can they be blamed if they are teaching the slow learners or students who start off underprivileged and just haven't caught up to the others?
Common Core also requires keeping detailed records on students that go into their permanent record. This data mining includes files on their social and emotional lives and could well be used for nefarious purposes against them or their families. Privacy would be thrown out the door and would make the NSA's files look tame by comparison.
Our congressmen need to be urged to oppose funding and implementation of Common Core.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Digging out from under neglected household chores!
I had some surgery March 2nd and the whole month of March and now ten days into April have been down time for me. Recovery seems slow but I can tell I'm making progress.
In the meantime... It is amazing how many small household chores get neglected that one does on a regular basis such as cleaning the fridge, especially if something doesn't get done for six weeks or possibly more. I took on that task this morning and had to toss some questionable foods that had been there way too long. I wiped down the glass shelves were all smeared up and it looks at least sanitary again.
Cat hair accumulates on our bed and couches. I let it go for quite a while after I returned from the hospital but finally broke down and vacuumed it off after I felt good enough to tackle doing it. After a week, it is absolutely necessary to tackle cat hair. And, especially if company comes, I like to at least have the couch cleaned off so they can sit down hair free.
Normally it doesn't seem like much of a problem to keep up on little things that need to be done like filling salt and pepper shakers, doling out our daily vitamins, making bread in the bread machine, mixing up orange juice from frozen concentrate, cleaning and chopping up celery before it goes limp, keeping up with watering houseplants, bringing up various foods from the storage room in the basement, picking sprouts off potatoes, using up leftovers so they don't go to waste, etc. But a person really notices how important these things are to a smooth-running household when they don't get done.
I am so glad to be getting back to normal and have the luxury of attending to all these details. It didn't bother me so much when I was first back home and still feeling pretty crummy, but now that I am better, I can't stand living so sloppily!
In the meantime... It is amazing how many small household chores get neglected that one does on a regular basis such as cleaning the fridge, especially if something doesn't get done for six weeks or possibly more. I took on that task this morning and had to toss some questionable foods that had been there way too long. I wiped down the glass shelves were all smeared up and it looks at least sanitary again.
Cat hair accumulates on our bed and couches. I let it go for quite a while after I returned from the hospital but finally broke down and vacuumed it off after I felt good enough to tackle doing it. After a week, it is absolutely necessary to tackle cat hair. And, especially if company comes, I like to at least have the couch cleaned off so they can sit down hair free.
Normally it doesn't seem like much of a problem to keep up on little things that need to be done like filling salt and pepper shakers, doling out our daily vitamins, making bread in the bread machine, mixing up orange juice from frozen concentrate, cleaning and chopping up celery before it goes limp, keeping up with watering houseplants, bringing up various foods from the storage room in the basement, picking sprouts off potatoes, using up leftovers so they don't go to waste, etc. But a person really notices how important these things are to a smooth-running household when they don't get done.
I am so glad to be getting back to normal and have the luxury of attending to all these details. It didn't bother me so much when I was first back home and still feeling pretty crummy, but now that I am better, I can't stand living so sloppily!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Kitty! In memory of "Chicago" (White Sox)
Kitty!
By Judy Stahl
On
the one hand, Kitty, you're a cat that naps
While
you're purring so contentedly curled in my lap.
As
you wake from a dream to stretch and yawn,
You
meow faintly for the cream that I fetch at dawn.
I
feel a paw touch softly upon my cheek,
Like
a flash to your bowl, you dash in a streak.
But
…
With
an ounce of pounce you'll jump on a table
And
navigate deftly twixt hot soup and ladle.
While
lavishing three last long licks at the butter.
We
shout ...NO!!!...
Beneath
a chair you slink, as we we fume and mutter
About
cat hair...contamination...putting you out for the night!
Oh
why can't a cat be trustworthy, honest, and truly contrite?
Monday, October 29, 2012
Applesauce--again!
When I first started this blog, three years ago I was making applesauce--and also in 2011 and 2012. I have run out of jars, although my daughter-in-law gave me some pickle jars and other jars with those buttons on top that show when the jar is sealed and they work wonderfully for canning. I also sometimes re-use Ball and Kerr lids but check them carefully to see that they are not bent, rusty, and that the seal is clean and not damaged. They also work fine despite the dire warnings from the companies who make those lids. (I suppose they want you to buy new ones.)
The fragrance of apples when they cook is heavenly. And so it the smell when they are just sitting in the storeroom in boxes. I cut off bruises and bad spots, remove the seeds, and cook them in a large kettle until soft, then put them in the blender with peel on and strain them through a strainer to remove any fibrous pieces of the core that are left behind. When the apples are ripe, the peel gives it a pink color and no sugar is needed. If I want to make apple slices, I cook them in the microwave, then freeze them.
Perhaps I do have more apples on hand now than we two will ever eat, though. We are a couple of years behind in eating our canned tomatoes too, but I guess if we have a bad garden year, we will be doing fine.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA Mormon) I store food. We are encouraged to have a year's supply, not of everything we would normally eat, but of staples like dry milk, wheat, rice,dry beans, and other easily stored foods. I have an electric wheat grinder and use the wheat for bread baking on a regular basis. I also have a lot of canned goods and spaghetti plus a lot of frozen foods. Of course, if the electricity goes out, those things might thaw out. In the winter, I suppose one could cart things outside as it gets so cold here in North Dakota that they would keep outside. (There are some advantages to our weather here!)
Apples have fiber, antioxidants, and much more so protect against a variety of ailments. We eat so many that the doctor should stay far away! :)
The fragrance of apples when they cook is heavenly. And so it the smell when they are just sitting in the storeroom in boxes. I cut off bruises and bad spots, remove the seeds, and cook them in a large kettle until soft, then put them in the blender with peel on and strain them through a strainer to remove any fibrous pieces of the core that are left behind. When the apples are ripe, the peel gives it a pink color and no sugar is needed. If I want to make apple slices, I cook them in the microwave, then freeze them.
Perhaps I do have more apples on hand now than we two will ever eat, though. We are a couple of years behind in eating our canned tomatoes too, but I guess if we have a bad garden year, we will be doing fine.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA Mormon) I store food. We are encouraged to have a year's supply, not of everything we would normally eat, but of staples like dry milk, wheat, rice,dry beans, and other easily stored foods. I have an electric wheat grinder and use the wheat for bread baking on a regular basis. I also have a lot of canned goods and spaghetti plus a lot of frozen foods. Of course, if the electricity goes out, those things might thaw out. In the winter, I suppose one could cart things outside as it gets so cold here in North Dakota that they would keep outside. (There are some advantages to our weather here!)
Apples have fiber, antioxidants, and much more so protect against a variety of ailments. We eat so many that the doctor should stay far away! :)
Dresses my Grandma Christensen Made for Me
My mother's mother, my
Grandma Bertha Christensen, came from Norway alone at age 24 and was
a professional seamstress before she married. Pictured here are three
of my favorite dresses she made for me, Judy Stahl, when I was
growing up from about 1950-1960. They are somewhat faded but show the
artistic eye she had for color and style.
Grandma
taught my mother to sew who taught me. I made most of my clothes in
high school and sewed a lot for my children. I still sew a little for
myself and for my 2 yr.-old granddaughter Tosya and also enjoy making
quilts.
I
loved these dresses as a child but had no appreciation at that time for the
extremely meticulous workmanship she put into them. All the seams
were overcast by hand (before zig-zag on sewing machines). The brown dress has a cord at the waist, hand sewn
buttonholes, and tiny pink flowers with green leaves embroidered on
the collar,skirt, and tie belt. The tiny pink
rick rack on the skirt, collar, and sleeves of the pink dress was
sewed on by hand. A black and white photo of Grandma and me is shown below with me wearing the pink dress. I wore the dress with the burnt orange
cummerbund from junior high into high school as it had a wide hem
that could be let down.
Friday, September 14, 2012
There Should Be No Trash Left Behind!
This past summer I have tried to commit to walking to the City Park every day except Sunday and I have done pretty well except for a couple of weeks when I had some back trouble and another time when I fell and hurt my hand and knee and was laid up for a little while.
It's about a half hour walk and on my way there is a large visitor's center parking lot. High School kids cruise up and down Main St. and use it as a meetup place. It is strewn with litter every morning so I pick up the junk and put it in the nearby dumpster. I usually take along a plastic grocery bag as there is often enough to fill it up. This is often the first place tourists visit in town and it's certainly giving them a bad impression unless cleaned up a bit so I have taken it on as a little service project to do on my way.
It surprises me what one can find left behind from these nightly carousers! Of course, there is the usual debris, fast food containers, and cans every morning so I pick up the junk and put it in the nearby dumpster. But then there are items that I find especially disturbing to find on a parking lot in the middle of town. Large unexploded fireworks, a sports bra, eight packages of Coricidin Cough and Cold pills, cards advertizing for "girls $45," etc. I talked to the police about over-the-counter Coricidin and they say it is being used as a recreational drug gives a high without being detectable later. It's so sad that kids in this small town are engaging in such risky behavior!
A couple of times I have seen that someone has changed the tire on their car and left the old tire there for someone else to deal with and have left oil containers from when someone changed their oil. Somehow, this littering is due to a failure of parents to teach basic responsibility. I know it was instilled into me when I was growing up that it was wrong to throw even a gum wrapper on the ground as only slobs did so because it makes work for others to pick it up. And even when the dumpster is only ten feet away, apparently some are too lazy to use it!
But, while picking up litter, sometimes a person can find useful things and I fear I am beginning to become somewhat of a scavenger. Some of it has been in that parking lot and some of it in or along the way to the park.
So far this summer I have found $4.18. In one place there was about $2 worth of pennies on the ground! I scraped them together with my foot and filled up my jacket pocket. I have found such things as a leather cell phone holder, several good pens, two metal water bottles, a retractable dog leash, small stuffed toy dog, a 25 ft. extension cord, a remote control, metal coffee thermos, and two nice copper-bottomed saucepans with lids. People often put things out on the boulevard for trash day and one day I found a bedside-type table with drawers in pretty good condition. I came back and got it with the car.
At the City Park I have found some disgusting things which I have disposed of by handling them with a plastic bag--a large fish with the head on lying on a grill by a picnic shelter, dirty disposable diapers on the playground, a smashed watermelon, etc. Someone dumped a pile of charcoal from a grill on the grass. I told a park worker who said he would clean it up as I couldn't.
Twice I have found kids' shoes by the playground but left them on a park bench as perhaps someone may retrieve them. They were gone the next day so they must have.
And today, of all things, I found an empty bottle of Ensure at the visitor's center parking lot. So are the senior citizens partying up there too now? Soon I'll be finding cast off Denture Creme packages, lost hearing aids, and canes!
It's about a half hour walk and on my way there is a large visitor's center parking lot. High School kids cruise up and down Main St. and use it as a meetup place. It is strewn with litter every morning so I pick up the junk and put it in the nearby dumpster. I usually take along a plastic grocery bag as there is often enough to fill it up. This is often the first place tourists visit in town and it's certainly giving them a bad impression unless cleaned up a bit so I have taken it on as a little service project to do on my way.
It surprises me what one can find left behind from these nightly carousers! Of course, there is the usual debris, fast food containers, and cans every morning so I pick up the junk and put it in the nearby dumpster. But then there are items that I find especially disturbing to find on a parking lot in the middle of town. Large unexploded fireworks, a sports bra, eight packages of Coricidin Cough and Cold pills, cards advertizing for "girls $45," etc. I talked to the police about over-the-counter Coricidin and they say it is being used as a recreational drug gives a high without being detectable later. It's so sad that kids in this small town are engaging in such risky behavior!
A couple of times I have seen that someone has changed the tire on their car and left the old tire there for someone else to deal with and have left oil containers from when someone changed their oil. Somehow, this littering is due to a failure of parents to teach basic responsibility. I know it was instilled into me when I was growing up that it was wrong to throw even a gum wrapper on the ground as only slobs did so because it makes work for others to pick it up. And even when the dumpster is only ten feet away, apparently some are too lazy to use it!
But, while picking up litter, sometimes a person can find useful things and I fear I am beginning to become somewhat of a scavenger. Some of it has been in that parking lot and some of it in or along the way to the park.
So far this summer I have found $4.18. In one place there was about $2 worth of pennies on the ground! I scraped them together with my foot and filled up my jacket pocket. I have found such things as a leather cell phone holder, several good pens, two metal water bottles, a retractable dog leash, small stuffed toy dog, a 25 ft. extension cord, a remote control, metal coffee thermos, and two nice copper-bottomed saucepans with lids. People often put things out on the boulevard for trash day and one day I found a bedside-type table with drawers in pretty good condition. I came back and got it with the car.
At the City Park I have found some disgusting things which I have disposed of by handling them with a plastic bag--a large fish with the head on lying on a grill by a picnic shelter, dirty disposable diapers on the playground, a smashed watermelon, etc. Someone dumped a pile of charcoal from a grill on the grass. I told a park worker who said he would clean it up as I couldn't.
Twice I have found kids' shoes by the playground but left them on a park bench as perhaps someone may retrieve them. They were gone the next day so they must have.
And today, of all things, I found an empty bottle of Ensure at the visitor's center parking lot. So are the senior citizens partying up there too now? Soon I'll be finding cast off Denture Creme packages, lost hearing aids, and canes!
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