Busy Mornings

Stephen's been posting more often than I, and there's a reason for that. My mornings have been very busy as I work at spending more time with the children. I was thinking that I was blogging more about my exceptional experiences with the kids, more often than I was having a lot of small good experiences with them. And, as we know, by small and simple means are great things brought to pass--so many small and simple experiences should surely bring to pass better relationships, no? So, I've been having good times with the kids, incorporating a little more 'school' into the day, and being about as goofy as you can imagine. I have still blogged, but the posts are short and sweet, after a day of experience, so that we can remember what we learned. You know, just in case some moron says my kindergartener isn't learning ANYTHING at home. Sorry, I should be nice.

Anyhow, if you want to follow what we've been up to, or if you've been wanting to homeschool, and would like a few ideas, feel free to hop on over to Adventures in Education .

See you there!

If a great musician plays great musics and no one hears...was he really great?

I recommend the following post on an interesting experiment. In, the world famous violinist Joshua Bell pretended to be a street musician. What do guess happened?

Nothing.

Josh received no more attention than any other street musician.

The article theorizes ad nauseumabout why this occurred. An interesting interpretation is given here, pointing out that no matter how much talent you have, working in certain contexts will support you. I think this idea is important and under utilized by high school guidance counselors, freshman advisers, and college career counselors. Students are typically told to pursue their dreams. This is stated with absolutely no context.

If your dream is to be a street musician, it doesn't matter how good your are or how much you practice, you won't succeed. But most people don't aspire to be a street musician, they aspire to have a contract with a major recording label. But what we forget is the performing arts is a winner-takes-all market.* Chances are, if you aspire to obtain a contract, you'll end up as a street musician. No matter how good you are.

The point is, that dreams and aspirations must be in context of what is feasible. We should encourage or children to aspire to a means of independence from a subset of feasible options. Because in the end, we all want independence doing something we love, not failure doing the thing we loved most. And do your best within this feasible subset.

Disclaimer: I don't mean to pick on musicians, but I was (am) one, so it becomes a convenient example.

Caveat I: The career trajectory for most people is nonlinear and career changes are frequent. We also need to prepare our children for this by helping them focus on a flexible set of skills rather than an over-attachment to a single, seemingly 'well defined' career.

Caveat II: Defining what a 'feasible subset' is can be very problematic. This is why career paths are nonlinear and change frequently. See caveat I.

*Blame written language for this. If you don't know why, maybe I'll explain it in a later post, though someone with more economic training than I would probably to a better job. In a nutshell, the easier it is to reproduce your work, the faster the (perceived) best-of-the-best capture (nearly) the entire market. For what you produce. With writing, you don't need a story teller for each village. With iTunes, you don't need a musician for each village.

Deep thought of the day...

I never imagined how difficult getting banana/snot mix out of eyelashes could be.

Faith in the Bible

Well, well, well. I found an entertaining way to read the Bible. Stephen says it's making him lose faith. He's kidding. What I found the funniest was this warning: The Bible contains material some may consider morally objectionable and/or inappropriate for children. These labels identify stories containing:

= nudity = sexual content = violence = cursing

Of course, the last time I checked, yellow legos weren't that big of a turn-on, so the nudity argument could be ummm, laughable. And transparent red bricks used as blood? Not so gory.
Enjoy!!
http://www.thebricktestament.com/

Crafty giveaway!

But not from me. It looks so worth it to enter, though!!!
Head on over to the Crafty Crow for this giveaway of Japanese Fabric!
The giveaway is hosted by This and That From Japan, and they are giving away
THREE $25 gift cards. If you enjoy fun fabric, I'd try it.

Chayce's Point of View

Chayce has been asking me when she's going to learn to read, and I took that as a sign that she was ready to at least try to understand that words represent things, thoughts, and ideas. The library has a cute phonics set you can check out that has Caillou on it. I like Caillou, he's very curious, and he reminds me of how my children act.
Anyhow, we started out with these fun cards, and I'd ask her what the picture was, and then if she knew what the first letter of that word might be.
All was going well....

Ball, starts with a 'B'

Apple, starts with an 'A'.

But then..."Oh, Mommy! That's a horrible mess!"

Some Memories

I'm trying to declutter, but somethings I just don't want to forget! So, as I go through crafts , I'll be putting my favorites on here to keep them in my memory, since my memory is now digital, and is contained on my blog and in my phone. I hope I never need to remember anything important.

Chayce's paper pumpkin from the joy school she participated in during the fall. Her comment while making it: "Mine is a Grumpy Pumpkin." 10/30/08

Text ( by Zach) on the above: "We fix it up and like it for you and we have tools." I felt like I was reading our own little version of Engrish.

The clay pictures were made by the kids. They placed balls of clay in strategic spots, and rolled over them with a rolling pin, to see what was made. Without my help, at all, might I add. Chayce's is on top. It's a scene, see the butterfly and the sunshine? Pretty.
Zach's is the bottom one. I'll give you one guess: Monster.

Tiny Dancer

My girl loves to dress up and dance. Here she's captured on film. Beautiful girl.

Rye Bread & Onion Soup

Payge was my inspiration for making French Onion Soup. Why not just experience the goodness of an onion? She did!

My kids have been sick. Fever, stuffy, mopey, lie around the house sick. So, we haven't left the house (this came on about Wednesday afternoon, so for those of you that were at Wednesday morning's playgroup...SORRY!).
We haven't left the house since, especially since not only did lil Payge get it, but she is cutting both of her two front teeth (not in time for Christmas, sorry babe--maybe we can change it to All I Want for Valentine's Day?). We are doing better.

Anyhow, today, I felt like making warm food. Warm, comforting food. So, out came the Bread Bible , and my stash of rye flour & caraway seeds. Because, when I want soup, I want fresh rye bread. Her version is my favorite, and it's not hard. I will say that she makes a disclaimer on this recipe, however. It states: You will need to make the dough by hand, or in a Bosch, Magic Mill or commercial-sized mixer, as it is too much dough for the average stand mixer to handle.

Might I add that if you're looking to get a mixer that can do a decent job with heavy doughs, I know a sweet mother of three who sells them out of her home, and has done for almost four years now. She's very reliable, and can mail it to you, even if you don't live by her. Pop me a comment with your email and I'll set up your order. ;) (Yeah, it's me, if you hadn't guessed yet.)
I paraphrased this recipe, if you want each detail and why, check out the book at the library.

"Levy's" Real Jewish Rye Bread
1. Make sponge:
3/4 C white flour
3/4 C rye flour
1/2 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 Tbsp. malt, sugar, or honey (malt is simple to make, I'll post that below)
1 1/2 C warm water
Mix all together, whisking until very smooth. Keep whisking to incorporate air...about 2 minutes. Will be like thick batter. Scrape down sides and set aside, covered with plastic wrap.

2. Make flour mixture:
2 1/4 C white flour
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
1/2 Tbsp. salt
Spoon this over the sponge. Let sit for 1-4 hours (the longer you let it sit, the stronger the flavor will be). Sponge will bubble through flour mixture, that's OK.

3. Mix the dough, adding 1/2 Tbsp oil to sponge.
If in mixer mix for 10 minutes on medium. Dough should be smooth and elastic.
If by hand, mix with wooden spoon, then scrape onto lightly floured counter. Knead 5 minutes. It will be sticky. Cover with inverted bowl letting it rest for 20 minutes--this makes dough less sticky. Knead again, 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

4. Let the dough rise 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
5. Shape dough, let rise again, about an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 450.
7. Slash and bake bread...tossing 1/2 C of ice cubes beneath bread as you put it in oven (creating steam). After fifteen minutes, turn heat down to 400. 30-40 minutes.
8. Cool.

We served it with French Onion Soup. Make your favorite version. Here's one.

I Am Not Super Woman

There. I said it. It's something I've had a hard time with lately. With two pretty independent kids, ages 3 & 5, I was still able to do a lot of things that I enjoy--reading, crafting, reading (yes, I know it's here twice), writing, re-arranging furniture, playing outside, shopping...

Not that I can't do these things now, but it seems so much more strained. For example, I loved shopping--even just for groceries, it was my challenge to see how low I could keep the budget & still have it taste good--my two eldest were pretty good in the store. I'd keep one in the front seat of the cart & the other in the back, holding stuff. Now, it's no fun. One has to walk & tends to wander, so I'm frequently waiting for him to catch up, or else he's busy reading something while walking & crashes into stuff. The baby does not enjoy the cart, she cries, and the other likes to eg the baby on, hoping I'll just give up & take them home to play. I don't really like shopping alone, because it's usually night, and if I do that, things at home tend to go undone--like dishes, which I then have to do the next day. Ug.

Reading isn't so simple, either. If I sit to read, I'll have a lot to clean up within a few short minutes. Taking time to run & shower (used to be a half hour...maybe 45 min) now takes forever--run ten minutes..."Mom! the baby is awake!" Run ten more..."waaaaah! (translation, get me out of this exersaucer!)" decide not to run anymore...shower...Zach, here watch baby, bonk, oh man! She crashed into the book case again. OR, as has been happening, she pushes the wooden swing out of the way, and then sits there as it comes back to hit her (I hope she learns soon, so we can leave it down for the kids to use, I keep having to put it away). Take time to comfort. The next day...exercise? Why bother?

So! I'm paring down my goals, and tackling them in the order I think will be most productive.
#1. Simplification. This is something in my math classes that I hated. BUT, I think that it's time to embrace (for my sanity's sake). I read It's All Too Much last year, tried to clean, put together curriculum, and still have free time...I suppose I didn't get the point of the book. Simplify to live in the NOW. I tried to improve myself in so many ways at once, that it really just overwhelmed me & I failed at all of them. So, I'm pushing all my New Year's Resolutions to the side until I finish this project. One area of the house per week. Tops. Down to the basics, so I don't get overwhelmed with stuff. I will not work on #2 until I feel #1 is under some semblance of control.
#2. Healthy meal planning. I'm sticking to tried & true recipes from my brain / childhood until #1 is underway.
#3...I'm not even posting #3, or thinking about #3 til I get #'s 1 & 2 done.
2009=Me+Simple. Whew!

From: Nursing the Soul

If you read my scripture blog, I apologize for the repeat, but my object lesson is one I want to keep in my family record (I'm having this blog printed after awhile), so it's here too.

5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.
6 Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?
(Book of Mormon | Jacob 6:5 - 6)

I read this, but I kept thinking that I feel this way, feel like asking "How can I stray?" when I am in the process of praying, or teaching, or serving, but as soon as I get back to everyday stuff, I forget. I suppose that is why we are told to pray always, but I'm not so good at that. Really. I stray so quickly.

11 O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life.
12 O be wise; what can I say more?
13 Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear. Amen.
(Book of Mormon | Jacob 6:11 - 13)

I think, I just got an object lesson (Gosh, thanks Heavenly Father!). I have asked my children FIVE TIMES to get dressed in their snow clothes, because they asked if they could play on their snow fort. I have no problem with that, as long as they do it before the baby's nap time. I told them this, they have been given the chance. I even told them that I'd put their snow clothes on FOR them if they put on their play clothes (they are still in their jammies). 10 AM is approaching, they have not yet gotten dressed. I'm feeling frustrated because I want to give them what they asked for, but they will not do the simple thing I've asked them to do (put on play clothes). The clock is ticking. I finally set a timer, I told them they had five more minutes or their chances would be gone.

Think of this from God's point of view. He asks us for simple things we keep putting off, and yet...he wants to give to us and yet....ARRRRGH! I don't know how he stays sane.

I suppose this is why we have the blessing of being parents.

My, Oh, My

This is why I'm no longer reading environmental conspiracy / health food books (at least for awhile ;)) :

Duck Bread Saga Continues...

In our sacrament meeting today (we use white sandwich bread, torn into pieces), Chayce said,
"Oh. Do we use duck bread for the sacrament, too? Or, is it people bread?"

Duck Bread & Compost

On Friday, despite the cold weather, I decided we really needed some fruits and vegetables. Stephen had a lot of work to get done, so I bundled up the kids and we headed off the to store (mistake #1, taking three children to the grocery store after a whole month of them not having to suffer through a shopping trip).

We get to the store, and within minutes of being in the cart, Payge starts to scream. I have one thing in the cart. Ug. I try most of my happy baby tricks, but to no avail. Finally, I rush over to the bread section, grab a bag of cheap bread, open it and give her a piece, and throw the rest in the cart to pay for later. Chayce is dismayed...not because I opened bread in the store, she has no qualms about this, it's that I'm feeding the baby DUCK BREAD.

See, I usually make the bread at the house that we eat, but I keep a loaf of cheap bread in the freezer, and we take a few slices with us when we are going on an outing. Usually, one or two slices thaws pretty quickly, and by the time we make it to the park with the duck pond, the bread is ready to feed the ducks, hence, Chayce calls it duck bread.

Anyhow, Chayce is really upset with me, and keeps saying, "Is it really OK to eat duck bread mom? Why are you giving her duck bread? Are you going to start feeding us duck bread?"

I ended that conversation by telling her that I'd actually grabbed a bag of people bread. I thought the story was over, until I got home, decided to make some soup and serve bread and butter with that bread, and Chayce pipes up, "Hey Dad! We're eating people bread!" Insert odd look on husband's face here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Conversation
Me: Zachary! Why are you peeling your orange over my rosemary plant?
Zach: Mom, I'm composting!

Still not sure who put the "flower" lego in the pot, I suppose it's only logical that you have to plant flowers in a pot.

Mozzarella

OK. I was asked if I'd post about making mozzarella. The answer is--not today. I have made it, but I'm currently out of the quantities of whole milk needed to do so (and it's very cold out. We'll make due drinking the 1% in the fridge, thanks). BUT, a good recipe from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle can be found here.

Best of luck to you!

Zach's Latest Creation

I was brought this cute little sculpture today, with the challenge of guessing what it is. There is no way, in a million years, I would have guessed with the accuracy Zach was looking for. Stephen guessed a teddy bear, I guessed a playdoh cookie--so that I'd have the option of saying (after I was told what it was), "Oh, yes, that's what I meant, a playdoh cookie in the shape of...." * Anyhow, here's what it is, in Zach's words:

This is a snowman. But he forgot to use enough sunscreen. See how black he is? The red spots are the places he is REALLY burnt, because there wasn't any sunscreen there at all. Poor guy.

I wanted to say--"Wouldn't he have melted?" But I held my tongue.

*This technique of keeping your creative toddler happy, while finding out what you need to know is copyrighted. If you need to use it, please send $50 in the mail. Address available upon request.

Caption contest

If this were a photo for a caption contest, I would put "You know, you make a really valid point..."


What do you think?

Resolution #2, or Food--Glorious Food!

Today, I decided that we needed a lasagna, yet, the only ingredients I had on hand were 8 oz of mozzarella and some lasagna noodles. I was not in the mood to go to the store with three kids in heavy coats, but I wanted lasagna. My friend Cheryl stopped by and warned me of the lovely winter storm that is to come and stay til Thursday, and let me know that if my shopping wasn't done, I'd better do it. After she left, I looked at the kitchen, decided I had enough food if I got creative, and opted to be a hermit. So, onto making lasagna from more scratch than usual.

First, I needed ricotta cheese. Just to let you know, making ricotta is ridiculously easy. In fact, it pains me to see it at such high prices in the store--for two reasons: #1 Ricotta is a left-over. It literally means "cooked again", you get it from the whey after making mozzerella. #2 It takes 15 minutes of effort. Tops.

I did not make mozzerella first, I just wanted ricotta, so I followed a shortcut:

Dump 2 quarts of whole milk in a pot. Heat to 200 degrees (just about boiling), add an acid (about 1/3 Cup--lemon juice, vinegar, or I use 1/2 tsp powdered citric acid in 1/3 C water). Reheat to 200 degrees (takes seconds). Take off heat. Let sit 15 minutes while you do something else--like play with the kids, eat lunch, read, you get the picture. Then, line a colander with a thin cloth (clean pillow case works if you don't have fine cheesecloth lying around). Dump it in, let sit for a few minutes. DONE!

Here it is in the colander.

I gave it a good squeeze to get the rest of the whey out.

Then, I mixed it with egg, the mozzarella and some sea salt. Set aside to layer in lasagna.

Time to make sauce!!

2 quarts frozen tomato chunks (saved from the garden, when you weren't in the mood to can)


2 carrots, shredded


1/2 onion, diced


2 stalks celery, shredded (an electric shredder makes fast work of all of this!)


some garlic, basil and oregano.


simmer.

Layer noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, and fresh spinach. Yum.

Bake @350 f. Covered with foil. Mine stayed in for two hours, but less would have been OK. You just want to make sure the egg is cooked. You'll notice there is no meat in this lasagna--see the post about our fridge to discover WHY.

Then, to complete the meal, use the whey to make bread and rolls!

I had four cups of whey left when I was done, so I made two loaves of bread and one rack of rolls. This should last us the week, and if that storm makes it so I can't shop, we'll be eating some amazing PB&J (with a blueberry, strawberry, raspberry jam that I made this summer. Mmmmmm).

Dinner is served!

Really, it didn't take that long. Wonder what else I'll come up with in this snowy weather. They do say that necessity is the mother of invention!!!

I promise didn't inhale...

Payge likes to crawl around with crayons, pencils, and Popsicle sticks in her mouth. Here reaction when we say "Payge, what are you doing????" is usually comical, but at times resembles Bill's response.

Home Ownership, and We're Baaa-ack!

So, we finally arrived home late last night. (If you didn't know, we've been playing around in the Idaho/Utah area--I didn't blog about it before we left, because the month long trip was a surprise to the family there, and the screaming/tears/laughter was totally worth keeping it a secret from September til December!)

Due to the fact that I didn't turn my cell phone on after our flight to Chicago, we arrived home to many surprises. First, our good friend Nadine was there waiting for us. At first, I thought it was just a pleasant surprise, until she said, "Oh, didn't you get the message?"
Turns out that our other friend had been calling us, trying to tell us that our van wouldn't start, so he couldn't get it from our house to the parking lot for us. Oh, and the garage door wouldn't open, either.

So, we get home, and think, "OK, we know that we can't fix that problem til morning, we'll just make some dinner and get to bed (it was about 10PM)." So, I opened the fridge and almost gagged to death. Oh!! The smell!! The root vegetables we'd put in there had gone bad. Odd, I thought, as in the cold, the root vegetables and apples should have been fine.

Then, I opened the freezer. Everything that was once stacked nicely was in one mushy heap. Yes, the entire unit had failed while we were gone. AND, it seems (warning, the following paragraph is gross, do not read if weak stomached!), that it must have been closer to the beginning of our trip that the failure occured, because the meats were moldy, the blood that had leaked had coagulated as it mixed with the berry juices (I'll spare you the photos, but if you want them, you can see them--but be warned), and the frozen (now thawed) collard greens were just black. I was saddened, as my raspberry freezer jam (made with berries I picked myself!), dried-frozen cherries (I don't think they'd gone bad, but the bag was sitting in blood, sooooo, also sad, as these were also from U pick--think 2 quarts of dried cherries=lots of picked fresh ones), home made pasta sauces, pork chops, pounds of ground turkey, cheeses...AARRGH!!

But, surprisingly, I was very calm. No real tears were shed, I just cleaned up the mess (gagged a few times) and went to bed. I'm surprised at the emotions I've had. I expected to be upset, worried, and snippy. BUT, on the contrary, I feel almost energetic, happy, and have an "all's-well-that-ends-well" attitude. I suppose that is a good thing, perhaps my striving to become more optimistic really is paying off. YAY! And, if this was my test from God to see how'd I do in that area, I'd say I passed. Whew. Let's just hope the tests don't get harder. ha ha.

This morning was better. We woke up, called the garage door fixer people, and they repaired the door (for a price, but still, it's fixed!). The van was jumped by a good neighbor, and so it's up and running again. We called around and found different ideas on how to fix the fridge ourselves. It's now up & running again (without paying Sears a $65 diagnostic fee, before they even try to fix the thing). Now, to fix the smell. We've run vinegar thru the entire automatic defrost system (since a lot of those yummy fluids I mentioned earlier had seeped through.), then rubbed the thing down with a chemical mixture (some corrosive stuff with chlorine in it), rinsed it, then rubbed it down with vanilla extract, rinsed it, and now have baking powder in it. It IS smelling better, my next step will be to put the lemon peels in my fridge (from the three lemons I'll be blending up tomorrow, as I follow some advice from another friend--more on that later*).

The really good news is that while we were fixing the fridge, we also figured out what was wrong with the ice maker, and now we have ice again. We've put a few things in the fridge, to see how they fare (you know, to see if they absorb that wonderful smell), and if all is well, we'll start using the fridge again. If not, well...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

*My dear friend Lindsay told me that after a long trip home, where inevitably you will eat horribly, if you peel (not JUICE)three lemons (but leave as much white as possible) and blend them in the blender, and mix them with two quarts of water, then drink it all (over the course of a day), it'll clean you out so that you are at least back to where you started before the trip. She got the info from a personal trainer that she was using after beautiful baby #1. AND I must add that her hard work paid off. ;)

Remember that Law I told you about?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

New Years' Resolutions

Well, given that I'm not in complete control of my environment at the moment (ahhh, travel--done cheaply--puts you at everyone else's schedule's whim), I haven't really started my resolutions yet BUT, the nice thing about being here has been that I have had a lot of time to think about my goals, and a lot of time to WISH I were working on them. I figure if I start to yearn for the goal, I'm more likely to work on it when I get the chance. SO, here goes:

#1: I set up my deck of chore cards (See book: Side-tracked Home Executives) last year. I did well for a few months, and everything fell apart when Payge was born. I still kept things tidy, but I was really on a roll before. SO, my first goal is to be more diligent in following my own plans.

#2: Feeding my family (and myself) more whole foods. I know that it is not always possible to be completely locavore , but at least getting rid of foods whose ingredients I cannot pronounce should be a good start. I will still eat foreign foods whose ingredients I merely cannot pronounce due to culture differences, but, I would like to stick to as local as possible. I do this mainly because I feel so disconnected from my food sometimes, and I think it'll improve the health of our whole family if we work for and appreciate the effort that goes into the food we eat. So, once again, I believe we'll be working on the farm co-op! I'm excited.

#3: More action, less research. I've been reading a lot lately. Sometimes I think I read and read and read, to the point of inaction. The first time this was pointed out to me was when my sweet, sweet husband said, "You read Runner's World, but you don't run, why?" That's when I realized that I thought I didn't have the time, but really, the time I was spending reading about running I could have been running. So, I started. Now, I'm off to start acting on some of the things I keep reading about!

Breakfast Misunderstanding

Kids. The breakfast option this morning: Shredded Wheat. Chayce's translation: trick-or-treat-meat. Don't ask, I don't know how that came to be. I suppose she just misheard me. ;)

Food for Medical Cost Thought

First, I must write down what I've been talking to my Aunt about. She works as quality control for IHC hospitals, and has to implement government guidelines & such. We discussed her opinion on the cost of healthcare, and she stated that in all honesty, the stuff the insurance companies do to the hospitals comes in a far second to the costly requirements the government puts upon the hospitals. In fact, she says that the guidelines that Medicaid & Medicare put on hospitals to stay accredited is what usually drives up the cost of running the hospital, but that's not something advertised in the Media.

For example, it used to be there only had to be 30 checkpoints (ONLY) along the way, each of which require a person to be working there (adding more salaries needing to be paid, which drives up the cost of healthcare), but now, with the new laws taking effect, the government programs want to more than DOUBLE the number of checkpoints, which according to her (she's quality control, remember?) doesn't really increase the level of safety at the hospital, it just makes it harder for the hospital to get paid (each checkpoint must be satisfied for the hospital to stay accedited, or else the government programs don't have to pay out, but the hospital still has to provide the service). Basically, it's running hospitals out of business, unless they charge exhorbant amounts--and we want the government to fix the problem of rising healthcare? Hmmm. Maybe Universal Healthcare isn't such a good idea?

Another point: my aunt stated that most times, when an insurace company won't cover something, it's because Medicaid or Medicare made the exclusion first, and insurance companies just follow suit. USUALLY, she says that they jump through more government hoops than insurance company hoops.

Just food for thought.

And the winner is....

OK, so, using RANDOM.ORG as a number generator, our winner was comment #3:
Dominoe said...

The huckleberry soap sounds good enough to eat!

December 24, 2008 6:47 AM

YAY!!


Dom, send me your address via email, and I'll send that box. Congrats!