Justice and knitting hats!

Well Christmas is over and I'm still knitting hats. People are still coming to visit and I want to have a little gift for them.  I think a hat to keep them warm is a good gift.  I can't think of anything better actually than to knit a hat for a person.  I've got a busy week starting on the 8th with house guests, dental appointment, preparation for a hearing on Friday the 13th because we are being sued by an evil woman and then a baby shower on the 14th for my daughter.

I'm hoping if Friday the 13th brings bad luck that it will not be for me but instead for the plaintiff.  I have eluded to a law suit against us in this blog previously.  The so called "developer" of the ranch subdivision where we purchased our property is suing us because we have refused to sign her illegal documents.  I don't know how she can be called a developer because she has developed nothing.  She just divided her land and did not even provide a decent road to access it. We signed everything we needed to sign when we bought our property from her.  We owe her nothing but she made some bad clerical errors, one being that she did not file for a subdivision with the county and secondly she has all the documents mixed up with easement documents and deed restrictions all mixed together.  Her intent now is to cover her ass so to speak and has threatened to sue anyone who purchased property from her if they do not sign her mixed up documents.  Well I'm an American and I live in America and I cannot be forced to sign my name to any document.  Now then, I can be sued.  A person can sue anyone just for looking at them cross eyed, therefore we must defend ourselves.  Let's suppose a person purchased a vehicle or any item and the seller comes back 6 or 7 years later and demands that you sign something after you have paid in full for the item you purchased.  Doesn't seem right, does it?  This person realizes she has screwed up and needs to protect herself from all the people she sold land to.  She's got money, big money, so to speak and she knows people who know people and she can pull strings in lots of places to get favors.  So she tells all these people she sold land to, that if they don't sign her illegal documents she will sue them.  They all know she can and many still owe her money, therefore they make a financial decision to sign her papers so they don't have to put out money for an attorney to defend themselves.  Sorry, not me.  If I wanted to live in a country where I could be strong armed, that's where I would live.  I live in the USA and I won't sign anything I don't want to sign...even if it takes my last dime to defend myself.

It goes deep in my roots.  The story goes that my grandfather was told many years ago during a presidential election, I don't remember which one, that if he did not vote for who he was told to vote for that he would lose his job.  He was working for Union Carbide at the time.  He could have kept his mouth shut and voted for whoever he wanted but my grandfather knew his rights........he told them so too and he lost his job!  I can't betray my grandfather's legacy.  I will not sign.  The court may be bought, the judge may rule against me just because he may need to repay a favor or maybe he just doesn't want to deal with the situation and he may tell me that the court will sign for me.  Fine with me but I'm not signing anything.  This is Texas and I understand that big land owners always win.  Well I'm not a big landowner and the cards may be stacked against me and I know that the law does not always prevail but I know my rights. They may be no consolation to me in hell but you can't take away my pride.  It may be all I've got left but it's mine.  And I believe that evil doers will rot in hell.  I'm sticking to my guns!

I will just keep knitting and baking bread.  I will enjoy my little chunk of paradise in these hills and look forward to the birth of my first grandchild.  And I will hope that someday justice will prevail and bullies will lose.  I may not live to see it but perhaps my granddaughter will.

I should be knitting!

It's holiday baking time and I should be knitting instead of writing.  I just put my bread to rise and I have a fruit cake in the oven which my husband won't leave alone.  He decided he needed to heat the oven to 400 degrees for the bread without first checking to see if there was anything in the oven and of course my fruit cake was merrily baking away at 325F.  Thank goodness I heard the timer beep.  I asked him what he had done and he told me he had heated the oven to 400 for the bread.  I nearly fainted as I ran to turn it down.  I'm wondering now what's going to happen to that fruit cake full of candy and nuts?  He gets bored and wants to help.  I sent him back to his office to do what he was suppose to be doing.

I've got a hat half knitted and 1/2 a pair of mittens that I need to finish before Friday!  My house still needs cleaning and I have committed to going into town tomorrow!  Help!

Here is the recipe for the bread.  It can either be put into 2 loaf pans or rolled into two flat breads........

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bran
1/2 ground flax seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon soft butter
2 teaspoons yeast dissolved in 1 cup luke warm water and 2 Tablespoons honey

Combine dry ingredients then add butter and yeast/water mixture.
Blend with an electric mixer until dough is elastic, adding a little extra flour if needed.

Turn out on lightly floured surface and roll into a ball
Oil a large bowl with olive oil and roll dough ball in it till all surfaces are covered with oil
Cover with a plastic bag and set in a warm place to rise till double in size
When double in size turn out on lightly flour surface, punch down and roll into ball
Cut ball in half and place dough in lightly oiled bread pans or roll out flat to fit cookie sheets
Cover again with plastic bags and leave to rise until double in height.

Bake in preheated over 400F until it begins to brown.
This is a very light crusty bread!

If I am making flat bread I make a mixture of 1/4 cup warm water with a tablespoon of flour, mix well and brush over the flat bread then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, before I set it to rise the second time.

The fruit cake turn out delicious.  It was so good that I made a second one.  I'm thinking of selling this fruit cake, maybe will start a mail order business.  It is the best I've ever eaten.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my blog followers!  I wish safety, peace, health and a full belly for all of earth's inhabitants and those beyond if there are any!

Happy Birthday Jesus

It's Christmas time and I should be full of the Christmas spirit, whatever that is.  I have a hard time every year trying to convince myself to enjoy the spirit of buying.  To me it is a frenzy of total  insanity trying to please people with junk they don't need or even thought they wanted.  It's also a guilt trip for many as they spend money they don't have and run up their credit card balances.

How did the three Wise Men travelling far to present gifts to the baby Jesus ever come to people going in debt to purchase gifts for children, teachers, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  I admit that when my children were young I was part of this frenzy.  I couldn't stand the thought of my children comparing what they got from Santa with their friends loot found under the Christmas tree....so I competed.  I'm grateful that we could compete however, my thoughts always went to children who got nothing for Christmas.   Some of us tell our children that if they aren't good then Santa will bring them sticks and ashes.  Or, if you are good Santa will bring that special toy to you.  What must the children who get nothing think?  Are they wondering how good they have to be?  Are they wondering what they did was so bad that Santa didn't leave them a gift?  All of these things are going through my mind as I prepare for Christmas.

My children are grown now and even though I miss those years of their youth and seeing their delighted little faces on Christmas morning as they opened their gifts, I'm glad I don't have to participate in the charade any longer.  I still buy gifts for all but mostly I give gifts that are useful such as grocery store gift cards or pajamas knowing they will be appreciated.  I don't buy the gimmicks that are hawked each year to the public.  Most of them are just junk and either break or get tossed aside once the novelty wears off.

I learned to knit and crochet about a year ago.  Last Christmas I gave all my children and their significant others knitted items.  They were thrilled with their gifts.  This year I am doing the same.  My craft has improved and I'm thrilled to be able to do this.  Each item has been knit or crochet with love.  Much time has gone into choosing just the perfect pattern and yarn for each individual.  I have accomplished two things by hand crafting these items.  One is having a nice gift to present to someone I care for and the other satisfies my desire to create and design.

When our offspring arrives on Christmas Eve, we will go out and cut a cedar tree from our property.  It's not the best kind of Christmas tree but it smells good.  It's hard to find one that is shaped properly or that can be trimmed up but we always manage to make it look pretty with decorations that have been in the family for years, as it graces the usual corner in our family room.

We will have our Christmas Eve dinner of fondue and other artery clogging food.  Then Christmas morning we will begin again to gorge ourselves on food that is not good for us and we will feel overstuffed by evening as we sit by the warm fire in a comfy house feeling satisfied and safe.  I will miss my oldest son being here this year and him creating his traditional Christmas morning breakfast of Eggs Benedict....one less heart stopping meal!

I am so grateful to the powers that be that have allowed us the freedom of education, religion, thought, dress and speech.  I am grateful to have been born and raised in a country that values all these things.  I am grateful for our mental and physical health and all the opportunity we have been fortunate enough to enjoy. I will reflect on this throughout this holiday season and every day as I go about my daily activities realizing how wonderful life is for me and never forgetting how trying it is for others.

 I will continue to question why?  Why is the world so unbalanced?  I will listen to the news and learn of all the atrocities in the world and wonder why?  I will ask myself over and over again, "Is this just an illusion?"  How can this be true?  Is there a God and if so how much does this God participate in all that happens in this world?  I ask myself how can we be so selfish to ask for anything when there are humans suffering all over the world?  I wonder how humans can be so evil to do the things they do to each other.  I will hope for peace and compassion from all humans toward each other.  I will hope that no person will go to bed hungry and fearful for their safety,

On Christmas morning, as I always have, I will whisper to myself the true meaning of Christmas before I plunge into the day's festivities....."Happy Birthday Jesus".

Trip to the city

What a day we had in the city yesterday.  We haven't been since before Thanksgiving.  We went to so many stores and still never made it to the local regular grocery store for some items we use that Costco and the natural foods market do not carry.

I made my usual yarn purchase at Michael's.  I was very pleased to see they have restocked the yarn section.  I think they let it dwindle during warmer months probably thinking people don't knit much when it's hot!  Wrong!  They just don't know knitters.  We knit year round!  We have to in order to prepare for the next Christmas!  I think I'm set for gifts for this year.  Now I just have to knit my poor fingers to a nub within the next 3 weeks!  Help!

Upon entering Sprouts Farmers Market we were so sad to see it was closing but our long faces and frowns soon changed to smiles when we learned they were just moving locations!  Our smiles got even wider when we realized everything was 50% off, we were elated.  We purchased things we would normally not have purchased due to the prices.  We are set now for a long cold winter!  We bought enough cheese to clog our arteries and may not live long enough to go back!  But hey, maybe the nuts and grain we purchased will offset the cheese consumption?

From Sprouts we ventured to TGF for much needed haircuts and then on to Costco where we loaded up on more Christmas goodies for the kids and stockings.  It was so nice to arrive back at home much after dark to two very happy hungry dogs.  They always make me feel so loved and missed with their jumping and licking and turning in circles when we return.  I wonder if dogs have any sense of time?

Two baby showers are coming up for my daughter.  I've volunteered to make favors for both showers.  The first one is Saturday and I'm still knitting and crocheting little owls and hostess gifts and of course finishing up my gift for my first grandchild.

I took a break for a few days from the blog to prepare for my venture into the city to the baby shower.  What a lovely shower it was too.  The food was catered and so delicious, German potato salad, pulled pork, baked beans and coleslaw.  And the desserts were so beautiful.

Meringue lolly pops and pink gumballs!

Little owl cupcakes and meringue cookies.

A diaper cake!

These are little boxes of cookies as party favors.

This is a delicious little cake with raspberry inside.

It was a beautiful baby shower.  How times have changed!

And now this is another dreary day, 40F outside, no sun so I will stay inside and crochet/knit to prepare for the next baby shower.

It's bread making day again.  This is last week's batch

Little Owl magnets I crocheted as party favors.

A Good Day To Stay In Bed

The temps dipped to almost 20F last night.  That's too cold for a warm weather Texan.  I think I will stay in bed which is where I am writing this blog from, listening to the wind whipping through the oaks.  My dogs are outdoor dogs but when we built the house we added a stone enclosure on the back covered patio for them.  It's cool in the summer and the dogs' own body heat keeps it warm in the winter.  It's like two little caves back to back so they have their own space and can move in and out freely.

I made a new coat for Shadow and finished it within an hour of starting.  I got it on him right before the lights went out wagering with myself if he would digest it by morning.  At 7:30am I awoke to see him frolicking with Mickey and the coat hanging lopsided with a small tear in the top.  If I had slept in, I'm certain he would have devoured it!  He has managed to eat two previous coats I've made for him and I patched them until there wasn't enough left to patch.  Honestly I don't think it's because he doesn't like them.  He loves blankets and pulls them from the kennel daily to drag to a sunny spot where he lays on them.  And sometimes he is like "Tigger" with the table cloth in Winnie the Pooh's house, he fights with them.  I think he is about 4 or 5 years old so I'm wondering when he will outgrow the puppy stage.Dogs are so much like human children.  Their personalities change daily and they are sometimes a joy to observe.

From his posture I believe he is thinking, just wait till morning!

Today is bread making day again.  We have managed to eat our way through the last batch.   And we are working our way through the second batch of hummus now.  I was lazy yesterday and didn't feel like cooking a meal.  As I was digging through the freezer I came upon a container of something that looked like soup.  We defrosted it to discover a lovely dish of chicken gumbo that my daughter and her husband had prepared a while back...ah ha, supper it was....and still delicious!

I think we are off to Costco this week to stock up for Christmas week.  With the money some of us spend on food it makes me wonder how some people even survive.  We could do with so much less than we actually consume.  I personally was raised on beans and rice.  There was no daily salad, fruit or veggies and we were extremely healthy. I never even heard of a food pyramid till I was an adult.

We never had immunizations of any kind until the polio vaccine arrived on the scene which was almost my undoing.  After receiving the junk by mouth I suppose it affected my nervous system, not sure but I awoke in the middle of the night at the age of about 4 or 5 to go to the bathroom.  As I rolled off the bed to land on my feet, my legs collapsed.  I could not walk!  My father took me to the doctor the next day and it was decided I should go on a bland diet with no salt, of mashed potatoes and coke, not the kind you snort but the kind you drink, cola, soda pop, whatever you want to call it. Apparently I was having an adverse reaction to the polio immunization.  After a week on this diet and my father carrying me every where we went, which by the way I totally enjoyed, I regained the use of my legs with no lingering effects.  I know I was one of the lucky ones.

Speaking of immunizations, our kids today are pin cushions which I believe leads to big revenue for drug companies.  Kids of my generation lived through measles, mumps and chickenpox.  I believe I had measles more than once so apparently I had more than one kind.  I stepped on a rusty nail that went right through my foot.  My dad washed it with soap and water and I went about my adventurous way stepping on bees and whatever came under foot.  We rarely wore shoes except to go to school or church.  I even remember going to the grocery store barefoot.  I suppose there would be a name for someone like that today.   On another occasion I jumped off a porch to land on a broken bottle which required several stitches and 60 years later I still sport the scar on my foot.  I did not have a tetanus shot for either of these accidents.  Actually I have had one tetanus shot in my life and that was for travelling overseas.  I had a series of shots before that trip and it made me sick as a dog.  Since that time I have refused any and all immunizations.  I don't even get a flu shot, never have, never intend to.  I will take my chances with the flu.  It is a series of symptoms that if treated individually will subside within a few days.  But it sure is a good reason to invent a vaccine for drug company profit.  I wonder what kind of houses these drug company executives live in?

I have 4 children who were pin cushions to help support the drug industry.  The 4th child was born late Aug 1992 about 2 weeks before the hepatitis B vaccine was given to newborn babies within hours of their births.  I feel I was lucky again because I don't believe a newborn baby needs a hepatitis vaccine unless it comes from a high risk mother.  This is total insanity and greed for those who profit from these vaccines.  Don't think I don't understand vaccines.  I'm an RN and a retired school nurse.  The most important part of my job was monitoring immunizations and insuring that all the students were up to date and on schedule.  My child never received that series of vaccines....instead I signed a waver every year for him to be able to attend school without it.  Many parents don't realize they can go to the immunization website and request a waiver that will allow their children to go right through school with no immunizations.  And a parent can also refuse that Hep B immunization for their baby at birth.

It's not that I believe immunizations should be eliminated entirely.  I just think they are way overdone and too many people profit from them.  Every year there is a new one that parents are encouraged to get for their child to prevent this or that.  Now it's sexually transmitted diseases.  After all we do want to be good parents and prevent our children from STD's before they reach adulthood!   $$$ It's all about money for the big guys. This is just one mother's opinion.  However if one were to read about all these immunizations I would refer them to the Center for Disease Control.  Our own government website.  A few years back I read about the Hep B vaccine on the CDC website and the increased occurrence of Autism.  It's just too ironic for me that the incidence of Autism increased greatly after the September '92 calling for all newborns to be given the Hep B injection.  I'm not sure it's still on the CDC website, it may have been altered or deleted by now as a "favor" to some drug company.  But I saw it and read it and listened and learned.

Well, off my soap box for now.  I'm in my 60's, healthy, survived all those illness's and may I mention never even saw a dentist till I was about 12 years old.  I do believe there is something to be said for beans and rice!
One last word, let the kids have their pizza!  I bet children in Italy are doing fine with it!

Rainy, Cold Day

What to do on a rainy cold day?  I decided crocheting and baking bread is in order for the day.  My bread is rising in the oven and will hopefully make a beautiful whole wheat flat bread which is our favorite.  We make a large batch of it a couple of times a week and toast it for meals.

The bread as it is rising.

....and when it came out of the oven we chowed down.

MMM, the house smells so good when bread is baking.  I feel so fortunate and give many thanks to the universe and powers that be!

We also make our own yogurt, large stock pots full of it.  We purchase a natural greek yogurt to use as a starter and also use a cup from our previous batch as a starter sometimes.  It is the best yogurt one could eat.  We strain it slowly in the refrigerator so it will thicken.  We drink the strained whey.  It's very sweet with a little tang to it and supposedly very healthy containing protein, vitamins and minerals.  It is also known to control insulin levels in the blood.

Homemade yogurt below:

And there is nothing like a dish of fresh pomegranate seeds to indulge oneself.

Thanks to the Persians for this delightful fruit!  It looks like a bowl of rubies.  When I was a child my father would peel one pomegranate and share it with me and my brothers.  When I was older and travelled to Iran I was thrilled to have an entire bowl of these juicy little seeds set before me.  I couldn't believe my eyes or ears as I was offered a dish of them to eat with a spoon.  I was in heaven.  Besides being delicious the pomegranate seeds are also medicinal being good for digestion, the heart and skin.  It has been reported to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.  I just eat it because I love the way those little jewels "pop" in my mouth when bitten down on, excreting their tangy sweet berry juice!