Monday, January 31, 2005

All About Me Lists
Here's a list of things that EVERYONE should
have written down somewhere in case they have a medical emergency - -
keeping one list at home and one in your wallet is a good idea. It can
make the difference in getting quick, appropriate medical care,
especially when the patient cannot answer questions and the family is
too distraught to give the information.

- Name, address
- DOB, SSN
- Weight (used for drug dosages)
- Insurance info
- Doctor's name/preferred medical facility
- Allergies (especially to antibiotics, painkillers, latex)
- Current medical problems/serious past medical problems
- Current medications (include strength and dosage)
- Emergency contact person and phone number
- Anything you wear such as contact lenses, prosthetic limbs, false
teeth/eyes, pacemaker, etc.

Also, people taking multiple medications are often under the care of
more than one physician. It's very important that they make sure each
and every doctor is kept informed of what medications...prescription AND
over-the-counter AND herbal...they take on a daily basis. Many times
patients have had serious medical emergencies due to taking multiple
doses of the same medication (often one was brand-name, the other
generic, prescribed by diff. docs, so the patient didn't realize they
were taking double the same thing!), or due to an interaction of
medications.

Crafting Hands-mine... I sometimes like to do 'themed photos' and todays theme is apparent. It happens to be a tad chilly today so inside activity is an excellent choice.
Finished project
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands
Crafting Hands

Sunday, January 30, 2005

This recipe is aptly named. They do not come any easier than this one. Crockpot Bachelor Roast

1 medium roast (any size, even the cheap, tough cuts)
1 can coca-cola
1 16 oz. bottle of ketchup (generic, or whatever is on sale)

Put all ingredients in crockpot and cook it for several hours until the
meat falls apart and your house smells great! The coke will break down
the tough fibers in the meat, so even the toughest comes out tender and
tasty. This recipe is good enough to serve to the best company, and
leftovers (if you have any) make good BBQ sandwiches.


Saturday, January 29, 2005

Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate?

Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate?

If you had a problem getting to the website you can try again. Or you can copy and paste the address into your browser search window and it should come up with it. It distresses me when links do not work as they should!Smile!
This is a cameo that Marge S. purchased at the Stone Cameo Factory in Roatan Honduras. It looks larger than it actually is. I would say it measures a little over an inch high. I enlarged it to show the detail and I still came up short but it is remarkable. The artist makes them from conch shells. This one is signed and has a certificate of authenticity. His two young sons were busily carving away as we visited the factory.
I purchased a Lenca Pottery piece at the Yaba Ding Ding shop in Roatan Honduras. I didn't hand carry the piece and thus it was broken in the baggage handling in Houston. Yaba Ding Ding is the local language for relics and ruins recovered from surrounding hill tops. They call Grackles "Ching Ching" according to one local boy.
The art of Lenca pottery is presently being restored by a small population of Indian women who have formed groups to restore and promote this unique Pre-Columbian art of their people. From the youngest to the eldest, all participate in its process and structure. This beautiful pottery was known in the pre-Hispanic era. It is made completely from nature's own materials.
The men help in chopping firewood for the baking process and hauling mud from remote areas to the homes and working spaces; the balance of the process is a "women only" enterprise. The mud, obtained from four different localities, makes up the four color groups used: dark brown, brown, red, and white. After a 3-step refining process, it is mixed with water and molded into a fine-textured clay. It is then ready for shaping and designing into whatever is the artist's desire of the moment or day. Currently, more than 200 designs are being produced. The only tools used in this process are dried corn husks and twigs.
After shaping and forming, the pieces are baked in a large over at high temperature. When cool, the pieces are ready for the colors to be applied. A special mixture using a secret formula is applied to preserve the colors. Various designs include aqua, traditional, nativity, and contemporary lines. A final open-fire process is used that is done using burning different types of leaves to achieve the final colors. The next steps are to clean the relief layer of clay from each piece and pass it on to the ladies for polishing. Pieces are buffed with a stone called the "piedra de raya", meaning "lightning stone." Pieces are then baked again, sometimes as many as three times, to achieve the final appearance desired by the potter.
The Lenca Indians are one of the first known peoples of Honduras, some 1,500 years ago. This pottery is made the by the same Indians using a unique method to produce beautiful designs.

The Blue Barn located off Expressway 83-frontage road-north side is having a big sale February 2nd. I think the town address would be Mercedes but that is a guess on my part. Greeting cards can be purchased for 26 cents each. Sure beats paying 2,3, or even 4 dollars for them!

Friday, January 28, 2005

The following six pictures are my favorites from the cruise. This one is of Edie peeking through a window into the dining room. Anyone wanting pictures can pick up a CD from me and take it to Walmart for prints.
Roatan Honduras Dancer
Roatan Honduras
Roatan Honduras smiling boys
Cancun Beach...white sugar sand and crystal blue water
Cancun Colors

"Who gets Grandma's yellow pie plate?"

I discovered a very helpful website tonight.

It is: <">http://www.yellowpieplate.umn.edu>

It comes from University of Minnesota Extension and is a Guide to
Passing on Personal Belongings. First click on enter and then 'free articles'.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Webshots of Cruise

Webshots Community - barbie1943's Photo Home Page
This is the story I heard...The owner of this bike said he owned the oldest and ugliest bike in the park and someone stole it! Now I do not know if he recovered his bike or if this is a replacement but he has worked out his own anti-theft device. There are shoulder pads in the center of the handlebars and on each handle. Toilet paper is wound through the spokes and around the frame. There are pop cans and ribbons tied here and there and I hear there were some ladies panties on the seat but now they are missing. Do you suppose they were stolen?!!!
I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this story. Smile!

I very rarely get to be in the picture so this is me taking advantage of the opportunity to mug it up a bit.
Right hand side of table...there were 14 of us today.
Todays breakfast place was McDonalds in Weslaco. Left hand side of table...
Weather permitting the bikers of Magnolia gather at 8:00 AM on Wednesday mornings to bike as a group to a breakfast place.
Butch's brother Leo is a CPA in Jefferson Iowa and he tells me we can do our taxes online from down here on a secure site and it will cost less than that H & R company. We plan to do it this way this year.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Butch and I took a taxi tour of Belize City with Joseph. Butch asked about the food and Joseph said it was primarily rice and beans. Butch asked, "Like in Mexico?" Joseph said ,"Oh, No!" "Prepared very differently with coconut milk." Imagine my surprise when this recipe appeared in my email. Caribbean Rice and Beans

Ingredients
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
3/4 cup uncooked Arborio or short grain rice
1 14-ounce can vegetable broth or chicken broth
1 cup purchased unsweetened coconut milk
1 15-1/2-ounce can small red beans or light red kidney beans, rinsed
and drained
1 fresh jalapeno, chopped
1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (2)

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan cook chopped onion and garlic in hot butter
until onion is tender. Add rice; cook and stir constantly over medium
heat about 5 minutes more or until rice is golden.

2. Add broth; coconut milk; beans; jalapeno pepper; dried thyme, if
using; salt; and allspice. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, covered,
over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is tender and
mixture is creamy. Stir in fresh thyme, if using. Sprinkle with green
onions. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

Cruise pictures are viewable at my webshots site
It would become too overwhelming to place them all here. Talk to me if there are any that you would like copies of and I will put them on a CD that you can then take to Wal-Mart.
This is a Swedish weaving project belonging to leader Dorothy Wendt. The picture does not do it justice.
Every Monday afternoon at 1:00 the ladies gather in Allen Hall for crafts. One can choose to do the project of the day or bring your own current project and work on it and visit. Over 30 ladies have been participating.

Monday, January 24, 2005

When we returned to our stateroom we might find a new 'pet'.
Disembarking at Cozemel Mexico
Bernice has a tattoo!!! Things happen when you are in Cozemel Mexico

Herb and Pat at the Magnolia Cocktail Party

At the Magnolia Cocktail Party

At the Magnolia Cocktail Party

Joe and Lucy enjoying a cruise breakfast.
At the Magnolia Cocktail Party put on by Norwegian Cruise Line for us. Bernice is thanking Arleen for all her hard work.
As we were leaving Houston it looked like this boat was headed right for us!
Tuffy and Shirley are doing the electric slide too.
Char is front and center, ready for fun!
The Magnolia bunch is gathered in the hallway. Who were they waiting on?
Our home for seven days. The Norwegian Sea.
Fender Skirts:

What a great blast from the past! I haven't thought about "fender skirts" in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. Made me think of a car in a dress.

Thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.

Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide" for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or simply "expecting."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.

It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper -"divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee." Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors" and "career girls" are long gone, too.

I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffeemaker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and "ElectraLuxe." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most - "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Someone forwarded this to me, and I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of these.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Before I forget the info... We stopped in Palacios, TX on the way home and ate at the Outrigger restaurant. It was excellent we all agreed and would highly recommend it.
On the way to Corpus Christi we saw this fellow in Bay City Texas. A true Texan from the looks of him. I think Dave got a better photo of him so when I get it I will post it too.
These pelicans were within inches of the man fishing and every time he reeled in they seemed to ask, "Watcha got,Watcha got? Huh? Huh?"
I loved the serenity of the place to see the dolphins.
Preening at the Texas State Aquarium