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Butt Scratching and Bass Fishing

You gotta read this from Dave Ramsey, one of my favorite talk show hosts. A great story explaining why taxing the "rich" is just not right.

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/butt_scratching_and_bass_fishing_10192.htmlc?ictid=sptlt

To Kill an American

One of my good friends sent this in an email today:

You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God. 
An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.
When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! 

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan . Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America .

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.”

Waterlogged carrots

My pet peeve is not being able to find a decent bag of baby peeled and cut carrots... they all seem to be soaking in water, which perfectly ruins the taste! Why do they put water in the bags? Or, is it the water sprayer that grocery stores use to keep the veggies fresh? It's a real downer, because the baby carrots are so much more convenient than the whole ones.

Being thankful for troubles at work!

My manager emailed an interesting quote to us the other day. The quote reminded us to be thankful for the troubles at work because those troubles provide about half our income. If it weren't for troubles, challenges and stress on the job, companies could find any ol' person to do the work.

I googled the quote and learned that it's cited in a Max Lucado book, Every Day Deserves a Chance.

Here's an interesting blog about the quote from Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers: http://www.michaelhyatt.com/fromwhereisit/2007/03/why_you_should_.html. (You can read the entire quote there too.)

I was mostly inspired, although truth be told, some days I'd consider earning half as much if I could lose some of the stress!

Guideposts

After a 10-year hiatus, I re-subscribed to Guideposts magazine, and the first two issues came today! Yippee!

I was for Tia.

I wanted Tia to win the spelling bee so badly! She is so cute and perky! I almost teared up myself watching her miss "opificer". I would have probably spelled it like she did, with a leading "e" instead of the "o".

We didn't even turn it on until about 9:15 and as such missed a lot of the drama. I'd heard that Sameer, the winner, was amusing throughout the day. What was the funniest part to me is all the questions that all the contestants ask! "Are you sure there are no other pronunciations?" "What is the etymology one more time?" "Am I pronouncing it correctly?"

Who would have thought that spelling bees could have so much allure?

Aluminum Foil Trick

Another tip circulating over email:

"Subject: Reynolds foil box

I didn't know this, did you? Checked my boxes today, and lo and behold, there it is!

I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end". Right there on each end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a  generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box  of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends that did not know this. I hope I'm not the only person not in the know."

Help for bee stings

The following information is on the email circuit... If it's true, it is amazing!

"It might be wise to carry a penny in your pocket while working in the yard.......... BEE STINGS !

A couple of weeks ago, I was stung by both a bee and hornet while working in the garden.

My arm swelled up, so I went to the doctor. The clinic gave me cream and an antihistamine. The next day the swelling was getting progressively worse, so I went to my regular doctor. The arm was Infected and needed an antibiotic.The doctor told me - ' The next time you get stung, put a penny on the bite for 15 minutes'.

That night, my niece was stung by two bees. I looked at the bite and it had already started to swell. So, I taped a penny to her arm for 15 minutes. The next morning, there was no sign of a bite. We decided that she just wasn't allergic to the sting.

Soon, I was gardening outside. I got stung again, twice by a hornet on my left hand. I thought, here I go again to the doctor for another antibiotic.

I promptly got my money out and taped two pennies to my bites, then sat and sulked for 15 minutes. The penny took the string out of the bite immediately.

In the meantime the hornets were attacking, and my friend was stung on the thumb. Again the penny. The next morning I could only see the spot where the hornet had stung me. No redness, no swelling.
My friend's sting was the same; couldn't even tell where she had been stung.

She got stung again a few days later upon her back---cutting the grass! And the penny worked once again.

Wanted to share this marvelous information in case you experience the same problem. We need to keep a stock of pennies on hand .

The doctor said that the copper in the penny counteracts the bite. It definitely works!"

How to De-stress after work

My de-stress trick after a confusing day at work is to watch an episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos" followed by an episode of "Funniest Pets and People." Works every time!

If I had a flower garden...

I would plant peonies for Aunt Nena, roses for Aunt Ora, tulips and daffodils for Mama, lilacs for Aunt Mary and crepe myrtle for Aunt Emma.