Thanksgiving morning at my house this year...

WHAT'S THAT I SMELL? "
TIME TO INVESTIGATE. ..

 I love the smells of the holidays. When I was a child my mom was not fussing at me and my siblings when it was time to cook for the holidays. I remember how she would start the week of Thanksgiving with the grocery shopping. Picking out the fresh vegetables and the meats that were on the menu for dinner. A few days before the greens [collards in our house] were soaked and washed. The sweet potatoes or yams were prepped for use. Thursday all meats go into the oven to cook. The list can go on how everyone had a chore to do in the kitchen. As an adult my traditions changes slightly, I too created my own traditions with my children. My sons enjoyed helping then eating, everything.

Today my sons have wives and families of there own and are creating their own traditions.The ladies are in my kitchen mixing and chopping with me in the family room watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on television with the grandchildren. Every now and then I wonder into the kitchen and wait patiently for an offer to "taste this" to which I reply "Not bad".

...QUALITY CONTROL OFFICER!

CONSTRICTIVE CRITICISM

I HAVE MY BUCKET OF MUD TO SLING, DO YOU HAVE YOURS?
...LETS COMMENCE TO SLING SOME MUD. NO ONE IS 100% RIGHT.
OPINIONS ARE LIKE ASSHOLES, EVERYONE HAS ONE AND IT USUALLY STINKS

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/thanksgiving-day

THANKSGIVING

Gobble -Gobble day is coming again. The same time every year we are told to cook a king's feast and invite people over to dine who you may or may have not spoken to in about a year. I am talking about Thanksgiving. The day we are supposed to remember how the settlers came to a new place and almost starved to death and the natives helped them to survive.

The holiday known as the first feast is for the harvest in autumn.  The Pilgrims celebrated a first successful harvest. The Plymouth Colony was English Protestants. The Wampanoag Native Americans were at this first harvest. It is the Wampanoag custom to give thanks for the harvest each year. [www.plimoth.org]

In the Bible it talks about harvest: Celebrate the Harvest Festival each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters each autumn when you pick your fruit. To my understanding one has to plant for a harvest. To sow, so one can reap a harvest. If I walk over my property year in and year out and do nothing to it, why should I expect any harvest? This is why we [collective humans] used to celebrate this time of the year for the harvest and give thanks.

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared two national holidays. There was one in August to commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg and one on November to give thanks for “general blessings”. The Wampanoag did not share this reverence for long and thought a great betrayal and bloodshed.

Which brings me here today; the commercialization of Thanksgiving today has nothing to do with any harvest. The Black Friday phenomenon is a beast of magnums proportion. The fact that the retail market wants you to skip your dessert from your holiday dinner and head out for unbelievable, over priced merchandise to fool you that you can save is outrageous. Then there is a new crazy called “Cyber-Monday” shopping online [at work].

  My fellow Americans, newly-immigrated Americans learned to celebrate this holiday with their own take of something to be thankful for. I’m sure each family story is unique in its own way, but thankful just the same and not necessarily a turkey in the middle of the table. [maybe at the head of the table].

Let us not lose sight of what one is thankful for. I am thankful for my family, blood relations or just good friends. I am thankful my health.  As a breast cancer survivor, everyday above ground is a good day. I am thankful for the United States of America, the land of the free, home of the brave. We have our flaws and many we have, but life is a work in progress. When you learn more, you do more.

I will be volunteering somewhere. My children are grown and are creating holiday traditions for themselves. I am thankful for this.

Happy Thanksgiving

…Pandora

A TURN-AROUND KITCHEN

I have noticed for a while the trend to have a “mega-do-it-all” kitchen. I have seen fire places, and 6 or more burner stoves. There are subzero refrigerators. One may want to have a pizza oven or a fireplace in the kitchen. The wall of ovens with a microwave stuck in there. In the last few years the trend was to have “pot filler” over the stove so you can fill a pot of water without lifting it.

Kitchen islands are of phenomena of themselves. One can cook at the island or wash dishes at the island as well. You family [not so much] or friends can watch all of this taking place on stools if you wish as if you are some kind of cooking show host.

The countertops will have you daydreaming forever. There are so many choices to choose from. Granite, soap stone, concrete and even chalkboard so you can write on it! Cabinets can be made of wood, laminate of any color. The hardware [faucets and cabinet pulls] can cost from a few hundreds to a few thousands of dollars.

I really like those walk-in pantries. I wish I had one when I was raising my children. I think it would have made my life more organized. [I want to believe].

I can’t imagine cleaning those mega kitchens. Granted if one can afford to have one of those big kitchens, one can afford the housekeeping as well. I am old school. I do not want to have strangers in my home cleaning and snooping.

Which brings me to today’s rant! I love what I call a “Turn-around” kitchen. In a turnaround kitchen you have the sink then, turnaround there is a stove, then turnaround there a refrigerator. I can fill a small pot and turnaround and put it on the stove just fine. When I’m cooking I usually forget something in the “fridge” and I don’t want to walk ¼ mile for something.  By the time I get there I will have forgotten anyway. I want to get in there do what I have to do and get out. There will be no show, no demonstrations. I do not want to travel to get to the pantry or pull appliances from over there. I want to fix something to eat while I worry about my calorie count.  After this I want to get out of the kitchen and turn off the light!

…Pandora

WHEN DID WE LEARN TO SCREAM?

Recently I was watching a movie and as usual I predicted the oncoming scream. The gut wrenching high pitched, loud female scream we know today. Then I wondered when this became a socially acceptable trained response to fear. To let out a piercing siren for help when my first response is, my eyes opening wide, my ears trying to focus and for me to be QUITE!

I remembered I grew up when there was big influence from Hollywood. We collectively were taught to scream. We were taught that The White Handkerchief meant Chlorophorm and someone will be going unconscious immediately after. Today Hollywood still uses the White handkerchief that I cannot find as easy in most retail stores.

The scream, is still recognized as a “danger cry for help”. Some of the most famous female Hollywood screams are: Fay Ray of King Kong 1933; Margret Hamilton of Wizard of Oz1939; Janet Leigh of Pyscho 1960. The opening scene of Jaws 1975, her scream was created by Susan Backlinie.

Then there is the male screams of Hollywood that has a long history of using the same guy! It is an inside Hollywood story of how an uncredited actor was recorded screaming and his recording has been use throughout the years.

Known to insiders as the Wilhelm Scream it has been used from The Charge of Feather River 1953, several George Lucas Star Wars films, Indiana Jones movies, even Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 1991.

I think our collective conscience has learned to expect a well-placed scream but in reality [mine] not so much. So the next time you sit down to watch a scary movie, wait for the chlorophorm and the well placed scream.

Fortunate Son (CCR) - Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen & Zack Brown 2014

Fortunate Son (CCR) - Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen & Zack Brown 2014

EBOLA

The Ebola River, also commonly known by its indigenous name Legbala, is the headstream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo River, in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo

…Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by one of five different Ebola viruses. Four of the strains can cause severe illness in humans and animals. The fifth, Reston virus, has caused illness in some animals, but not in humans.

The first human outbreaks occurred in 1976, one in northern Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in Central Africa: and the other, in southern Sudan (now South Sudan). The virus is named after the Ebola River, where the virus was first recognized in 1976, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola is extremely infectious but not extremely contagious. It is infectious, because an infinitesimally small amount can cause illness. Laboratory experiments on nonhuman primates suggest that even a single virus may be enough to trigger a fatal infection… [CNN.COM]

After a few weeks of Republicans turning the Ebola virus into a campaign instrument, it’s still not altogether clear what GOP officials and candidates want voters to think. The message is a little convoluted: Americans are supposed to be terrified, which should lead them to vote Republican, which in turn will empower GOP policymakers to do … something.

It’s not that Republicans actually have some Ebola-related policy agenda in mind that can only be implemented by a GOP-run Congress. Rather, the right seems to believe the Obama administration has been “incompetent” in its response to the Ebola threat. By voting Republican, Americans can ensure that GOP officials complain from the majority instead of complaining from the minority.

Some of the political hysterics have arguably been effective. The latest USA Today poll asked which party Americans believe can do a better job responding to the Ebola threat, and the parties were nearly tied (Democrats 34%, Republicans 32%). Most recent polling suggests the public is generally satisfied with President Obama’s handling of the issue, but it’s hardly onesided. [THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW/RACHEL MADDOW BLOG]

DIY|MakeUp Vanity Display $1store

SPY APPS

There recently was a lot of "hoop-la" about the FACEBOOK app and its ability to view your contacts, photos, and camera operations. To my surprise this is done by TWITTER and TUMBLR as well.
You by all means think that your privacy is being invaded daily. If you are on a shopping website perusing a pair of shoes, why is that those same pair of shoes show up in the advertisement column of the right side in FACEBOOK. The ads show up in YOUTUBE as well.
These company has a business agreement with each other to share your information to gain "traffic" for ads.
My point is for you to monitor your apps. Some apps "run" in the background when you are not using them. Some apps say "they will posts" for you. [DON'T DO IT].
Do yourself a favor at least log out of those apps when you are finished. Go to your "Settings" > APPLICATION MANAGER" then chose each app and scroll to the bottom, this will tell you exactly what the app is doing [for you].
I just uninstall the apps at the end of the day, then re-install them as needed. I mostly work on my desk top where I can delete my browser history if need be.

THEY ARE WATCHING>>>> (o_0)

Solo - Touch Me

Theses elections are over and it is back to business as usual. The usual politics, usual "stonewalling", promise braking business. Well I will just sit back and watch the show. Let's see what gets done now.