Penciloid Du Jour

Americans Owe $1 Trillion on Their Homes?!

2008-01-16T18:23:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting graph. It shows that Americans increased their mortgage debt by 500% between 1996 and 2006, from $200 billion, to $1 trillion. That can't be a good thing. I was surprised to see that the consumer credit amount owed has been pretty steady. I wonder if that's because people keeping buying their toys using home equity lines of credit (or borrowing in their house to pay down credit card debt, only to go max out their cards again).

Reducing Your Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

2008-01-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

The following tips came from Erik Janson. He was featured on the January 8, 2008 episode of Radio Liberty. He spoke about the various studies that show high levels of aluminum in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Alzheimer's is the #7 killer in America.

Switch to aluminum free baking powder. It's easy to find in the grocery store.
Don't wrap foods, especially acidic foods in aluminum foil.
Some brands of American cheese and non-dairy creamer use aluminum. Avoid these.
Many cities add it to their drinking water. He didn't talk about water filters, but they'd be worth looking into. He also mentioned that your skin would absorb aluminum through bathing, so look into shower filters as well.
Throw out all your aluminum pots, pans, and utensils.
Only buy soda in glass bottles. Aluminum cans are lined with plastic to reduce it leaching into acidic soda, but the plastic isn't always applied properly.
Drink wine, eat lots of fruits, vegetables, blueberries, and spice your food with turmeric (in curry powder) to help chelate aluminum from your body.
Avoid antiperspirants with aluminum.
Consider taking alpha-lipoic acid to help prevent Alzheimer's. If a relative already has it, look into giving him or her 600-800 mg daily to slow the progression of the disease.
Taking fish oil reduces your risk by 50%. It also helps Alzheimer's patients.
One study showed that patients that took 200% of the RDA of zinc slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease by 8-9 months.
Finally, make sure to take the RDA of folic acid daily.

Recruiting for Your Ron Paul Meetup Group

2008-01-10T16:45:00.001-05:00

This article on the lesssons learned from the Wyoming caucus suggests that whenever we meet a fellow Ron Paul supporter, we make sure to get their contact info and follow up with him or her, with the goal of getting a new meetup group member. Our local meetup group started in May and is up to 400 members.

Consumers vs Citizens

2008-01-09T18:23:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that the media always refers to us as "consumers" rather than "citizens?" Dictionary.com defines a "consumer" as a person who consumes things. The define "consume" as

1. to destroy or expend by use; use up.
2. to eat or drink up; devour.
3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest.
4. to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully.
5. to absorb; engross: consumed with curiosity.

In contrast, here is the definition of "citizen"

1. a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection (distinguished from alien).
2. an inhabitant of a city or town, esp. one entitled to its privileges or franchises.
3. an inhabitant, or denizen: The deer is a citizen of our woods.
4. a civilian, as distinguished from a soldier, police officer, etc.

I especially like how the word consumer originated from a word that meant "squanderer."

So, as far as the media is concerned, Americans waste their time and money, destroy, and use up things. We aren't entitled protection from our government - that sounds too biblical, the idea of God allowing governments to protect people's rights.

On second thought, maybe the media is right. Governments take away our rights better than they protect them. And our whole culture is based on the "consumer" mindset. Why, if mothers stayed home, they wouldn't pay as much taxes! And then the day cares, restaurants, maids, etc. wouldn't have as much work and pay as much taxes!

"Oh," you say "but if mothers stayed home and did these things, where would all the newly unemployed people work?" It's funny how people worry about unemployment. There will always be work that needs to be done...even if nobody is hiring. A mother's work is never done, and neither is a city's work ever done. The trick must be to find a need and find a way to get paid for filling it.

30% Down Payments for <680 Credit Score

2008-01-09T18:09:00.000-05:00

The Orange County Register is reporting that many home buyers with credit scores of less than 680 have to pay an extra fee if they don't have a down payment of at least 30%.

The new FICO-based fees vary from 0.75 to 2 percent of the loan amount and are in addition to the 0.25 percent fee on all loans. Hence the maximum combined fees, for someone with a FICO less than 620, would be $9,382.50, or 2.25 percent of $417,000....

Separately, Fannie said beginning Jan. 15 it will lower by 5 percent the total amount it is willing to fund against the value of a home in "declining" housing markets. For example, if it previously allowed 100 percent of the value of a home, it will only allow 95 percent.

I'm glad to see an inkling of common sense coming into all of this. I applaud all moves that reduce the risk of taxpayers bailing Fannie Mae out. Of course, if the federal government wasn't involved in backing mortgages (totally unconstitutional), the housing bubble wouldn't be as bad. If a bank can sell off a mortgage to the government, what incentive do they have to make sure they only lend to buyers that will actually pay the money back? People are generally more careful investing their own money than they are investing other people's (taxpayer) money.

Safe Sippy Cups?

2008-01-09T13:28:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mercola issued a warning about nalgene water bottles having endocrine disrupters in them (chemicals that mimic or prevent proper use of hormones by your body). I've heard some plastics leach these chemicals into our food more than others. One of the things on my mental list of health improvements to make is to stop storing our leftovers in plastic all the time. I'd also like to find a safe sippy cup for our son to use. He does pretty well drinking from glass cups, but I'm not going to hand him a glass in the car. If you know of a non-breakable yet safe sippy cup, let me know.

Homeschooler Produced Movie Coming Soon

2008-01-09T13:23:00.000-05:00

Come What May is an interesting looking movie produced by homeschoolers that will supposedly be released this spring. I was pleased to see in the preview that the female lead character told the male lead character "The man I give my heart to is the man I'm going to marry." It's nice to see movies reflecting the move away from the dating model by many Christians. I'm also hoping that the characters in the movie are appropriately dressed. My husband and I are so sick of all the skin shown everywhere.

Arboursculpture = Crazy Trees!

2008-01-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

And I thought espaliering trees was unusual. Take a look at these tree sculptures!

Honey May Treat Scars

2007-12-30T17:28:00.000-05:00

One of the nutrition groups I'm on had a thread about honey. Two members have had success treating cuts and reducing scars by applying honey to the area daily and then covering with a bandaid. I've never tried it, but it's cheap enough to try. They didn't mention the type of honey used, but my guess is that they used raw honey.

Exercise Doesn't Help You Lose Weight?

2007-12-30T15:36:00.000-05:00

In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes mentions several human and animal studies done with exercise. It wasn't until the 1960s that the media and doctors started pushing exercise as a way to lose weight. Before that, people used their common sense - when you exercise and burn more calories, your appetite increases and you eat enough to make up for what you burned off!

Am I discouraging exercise? Not at all - it's still good to be in shape. Weight lifting helps increase your muscle mass, which is a good thing. We all feel sorry for old ladies who are so weak they can't carry a small stack of dishes. Weight-bearing exercise also supposedly helps maintain bone mass.

My main reason for this post is that if exercise doesn't help lose weight (and keep it off), then we need to change our goals if we want to stick with it. If you join a gym next week because you want to lose weight and it doesn't seem to help, you'll drop out by the end of January, like millions of other Americans.

If, however, you lift weights to get stronger, that's a realistic goal, and also easy to track. If you run, ride bikes, or play sports because you sleep better or are in a better mood, those are also good goals. It's hard to force yourself to workout to lose weight if it doesn't seem to work. But if you focus on the immediate and obvious benefits, I think you might be able to keep your resolution to work out this year.

Campaign for Ron Paul From Home

2007-12-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

We've been helping out this week with the Ron Paul letter campaign. So far, we've sent out about 500 letters. Obviously we didn't hand write each, but I did sign each letter and we hand addressed the envelopes. Next weekend, we're having a letter stuffing party with people from our church. We hope to get 400 ready to mail in two-three hours.

Why Carbs Make You Fat

2007-12-30T15:11:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. It's a fascinating book about how modern diet advice is all wrong. He discusses the studies done in the last 140 years that demonstrate that carbohydrates, especially grains and sugars raise insulin levels, which then makes (or keeps) you fat. Doctors still advise people exercise, eat less, and eat a high carb/low fat diet, despite all the human and animal studies that show these strategies never work in the long run.

Oh yes, you may lose some weight at first, but you'll be hungry and eventually put the lost weight back on. In fact, usually you'll wind up even heavier, because your body lowered its metabolism while you were dieting, and after you stop, you'll gain weight more easily.

It is important also to know that the fat cells of adipose tissue are "exquisitely sensitive" to insulin, far more so than other tissues in the body. This means that even low levels of insulin, far below those considered the clinical symptom of hyperinsulinemia (chronically high levels of insulin), will shut down the flow of fatty acids from the fat cells. Elevating insulin even slightly will increase the accumulation of fat in the cells. The longer insulin levels remain elevated, the longer the fat cells will accumulate fat, and the longer they'll go without releasing it.

Moreover, fat cells remain sensitive to insulin long after muscle cells become resistant to it. Once muscle cells become resistant to the insulin in the bloodstream, as Yalow and Berson explained, the fat cells have to remain sensitive to provide a place to store blood sugar, which would otherwise accumulate to toxic levels or overflow into the urine and be lost to the body....
(page 393)

Did Fleas Spread Smallpox?

2007-12-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

An articles on the politics of vaccines questions the traditional view of how smallpox was spread.

Dr. Campbell’s belief, based on his observations and experience, was that smallpox was spread by bed bugs, a pest most of us haven’t had to experience in our lifetimes but is making a comeback. That the bed bug could be a vector makes logical sense given what we know about the spread of smallpox to Native American populations via blanket distributions. Viruses do not live for long periods of time absent a host; unlike bacteria which can lay dormant for decades while retaining viability. Bed bugs, like fleas, offer a convenient host for a virus and can live for weeks without food in unwashed bedding. Campbell’s work has been mostly ignored by the establishment medical community and the press.

The Housing Bubble

2007-12-09T16:52:00.000-05:00

My new favorite blog is the Housing Bubble Blog. I have learned a tremendous amount there in the last few months. During the summer, we had been praying for wisdom about if we should buy a house or continue renting. I think finding the HBB was an answer to prayer.

The Mortgage Bailout Isn't for the Peons

2007-12-09T16:36:00.000-05:00

The recently proposedmortgage bailout was actually designed to protect the banks, not citizens facing foreclosure. The way I understand it, banks rarely hold mortgages themselves. Instead, they sell the right to collect the payments, keeping a commission for themselves. They have little incentive to make sure loan applicants can afford the payments, since they are just the middlemen. Hence, a large pecentage of loan applications in the last two years lied about the applicants income, stating they earned more than they did.

Mortgages are then pooled together and sold as bonds to pension funds, governments, etc. Bonds are rated, according to their security, just as insurance companies are rated. Unfortunately, the bond rating agencies have also lied to the public and rated many bonds much higher than they deserved. In recent months, some have gone from high ratings to junk status overnight, once the fraud was revealed.

Now the investors that bought these bonds thought they were a relatively safe investment. If you were investing the money for people's pensions and retirement, you wouldn't buy bonds that involved fraud, would you? No, you'd want to buy bonds that contained mortgages that people could actually afford to pay back.

What I just learned is that when fraud is discovered, the bond owners can sue the bank to make the bank buy the bond back. After all, the bank is the one that helped the loan applicant committ fraud. The article in the link describes how there has been so much fraud in the industry, that if the bond owners start demanding the banks buy back the bonds (because they are worth much less than they were told), all the banks in the country together can't afford to buy them back.

So the bailout looks like it was designed to reduce the bond owners ability to sue for fraud. It has little to do with saving people from foreclosures. If the bailout doesn't go through, I wonder if the banks will hope the Fed speeds up the money printing presses enough to try and inflate their way out of it. Either we, you and I will pay the price.

Do Animals Get Cavities?

2007-05-31T00:05:00.000-04:00

I was wondering if animals get cavities. I suppose to make a fair comparison, we should only consider animals that live (and keep the same teeth) for decades. So sharks, alligators, and elephants are out. (Mr. Penciloid found out elephants get five sets of teeth in their life.) What about chimps? Do they get cavities? Do dogs that eat much people food, especially sugary treats have worse teeth than dogs on all raw meat diets?

Speaking of which, if you have a pet, please look into raw meat pet food. Ever read the ingredients on a bag of cat food? Cats are carnivores! They shouldn't be eating all that rice, corn, and wheat. The people I know that feed their dogs raw pet food have much healthier pets (although their wallets are in worse shape!) with less stinky poo.

Ugh, Cavities

2007-05-30T23:56:00.001-04:00

So I went to the dentist and he said I have not one, but five teeth with decay! Argh! This is the best I've ever eaten and it's very frustrating to have to fork over over $1000 for the fillings. Back in October we stopped using toothpaste and switched to plain soap. We didn't want any more exposure to fluoride (city water is bad enough) and heard rumors that glycerine leads to more decay. Lately, we've been rotating between Listerine (it greatly helped my dad's gums), baking soda mixes with salt, and soap. We both floss daily.

Is the lack of toothpaste the reason for my cavities? I don't know. I do know that giving up toothpaste made my teeth feel cleaner, got rid of the slime on a few teeth, and greatly reduced my morning breath. I used to brush my teeth four times a day and now it's only twice...maybe I should go back to more brushing. Also, my sleep quality has been terrible and stress levels high for the last year...the rest of my health has suffered, so I supposed it's only natural for my teeth to be affected as well.

I'd like to try and get some alternative dentistry books that supposedly tell how to heal cavities. I don't know if it's possible, but it's worth a try to save the cost of even one filling.

Accidentally Campaigning

2007-05-30T23:49:00.000-04:00

It seems that Mr. Penciloid and I just sort of fell into campaigning for Ron Paul. We've admired him since we first learned about him (most likely from Lew Rockwell) and I even joked a few times about moving to Texas just so I could vote for him.

Well, a friend of a friend started a local meetup group for his campaign. While we didn't attend the first meeting, our 14 month old son did! Our friends were babysitting for us, so the dad decided to just take him along to the campaign meeting.

Anyways, I don't think I'll be attending meetings anytime soon, but I did suggest the that people go set up tables at gun shows and homeschool conferences. They seem like places where many like minded people would be.

Kettlebells

2007-05-30T23:41:00.000-04:00

Over on the Native-Nutrition Yahoo group, there was a recent discussion about kettlebells. They basically look like canon balls with built in handles. You use them in different motions to build strength, without having to own a space-hogging set of free weights. I've never tried them - only watched a few YouTube videos, but they look interesting. As an apartment dweller, space is at a premium, which is much of the appeal. Unfortunately, shipping costs are high. Maybe one of the local kettlebell training schools sells them...

Hyundais

2007-05-22T12:49:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, as I got out of my car to go to the gym, I noticed a cherry red Mercedes. My first thought was, "Wow, that Mercedes looks like a Hyundai!" Then I laughed, wondering what the owner would say if he knew.

I used to think that the new Hyundais and some Kias looked like Mercedes or Jaguars. I frequently have to check the hood ornament to tell. Maybe the switch in my thinking is because there are so many more Hyundais and Kias around than Mercedes and Jaguars?

Reaching Out to Muslim Women

2007-03-29T18:12:00.000-04:00

Our apartment complex has several Muslim families and I feel like I should do something to reach out to the women. For some reason, I feel intimidated by them. Well, I guess not really by them...but scared that their husbands would threaten us if I shared the gospel with their wives. I've never known any Muslims before, although I keep trying to tell myself that witnessing to them couldn't be any harder than to the average American who's been inoculated against the gospel.

I should pray about it more because Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

There is one girl in particular that I see get off the bus many days. She's about 10 or 11 (hard to tell with a scarf on) and I wonder how much different her life would be if her parents came to Christ. I think about how much better a real Christian husband would treat her than some Muslim men - for example, the Muslim man in France that recently ripped out his wife's eyes out during an argument about sex.

A few days ago I visited some websites about sharing the gospel with Muslims. I should read more about it, find some books on the topic, and just keep walking when they're outside with the kids, waiting for a chance to say hi. Then maybe we can invite them over for dinner and see if they'd like to do a Bible study or something.

Church Co-operation

2007-03-29T18:05:00.000-04:00

Last week, as I was driving to pick up our raw milk in about one quarter mile, I went past four churches. One was Lutheran, one was Baptist, and I can't remember what the other two were. Two of them were right next to each other. I found myself wondering if they ever co-operate with each other for anything.

As long as they all agree that repentance and faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation, why not work together to feed the poor, visit the widows, be a father to the fatherless, etc? Why don't they work together (or at least have joint prayer meetings) to reach the Mormons who also have a building on that same stretch of road?

Ascending Honor

2006-10-30T19:11:00.000-05:00

On pg 311, Franklin described the Chinese custom of ascending, rather than descending honor. If a man made great progress in learning or valor, he became a Mandarin. Not only did he get special priveleges, his parents would as well. This meant that parents had a special incentive to make sure their sons were well educated and virtuous.

Franklin contrasted this system with the European custom of giving the descendents an inheritance, which bred laziness, pride, and eventually, poverty.

Even More Franklin

2006-10-30T19:07:00.000-05:00

"For in my opinion there never was a good war, or a bad peace." pg 302

More Ben Franklin

2006-10-30T19:05:00.000-05:00

"Every man who comes among us and takes up a piece of land becomes a citizen, and by our Constitution has a voice in elections and a share in the government of the country." pg 289

"In general I would only observe that commerce, consisting in a mutual exchange of the necessaries and conveniences of lige, the more free and unrestrained it is, the more it flourishes; and the happier are all the nations concerned in it." pg 299

"The source of wealth is land and indurstry..." pg 300

"It would be better if government meddled no further with trade and let it takes its course." pg 300

Quotes from Ben Franklin's "The Compleated Autobiography"

2006-10-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

"When will men be convinc'd that even successful wars do at length become misfortunes to those who unjustly commenc'd them, and who triumph'd blindly in their success, not seeing all its consequences." pg 196

"All of us have enemies. But let not that render us unhappy. If we make the right use of them, they will do us more good than harm. They point out to us our faults; they put us upon our guardl and help us to live more correctly." pg 287

Missionary Isn't in the Bible

2006-08-07T20:24:00.000-04:00

From the July 2006 Voice of the Martyrs newsletter:

Our founder, Richard Wurmbrand, was an atheist who became a Lutheran pastor. Once he challenged us with the statement: "The word 'missionary' does not appear in the Bible. Jesus said, 'I send you as My witnesses." Don't wait for a missionary to do your job.

New Blog

2006-07-25T19:22:00.000-04:00

I started another blog for First Time Moms.

Quote of the Day

2006-07-22T10:23:00.000-04:00

"The secret of intimacy in marriage is not finding a hero to be your husband, but finding the hero in your husband....God has given each woman the power to help her husband grow, over time, into the godly man that he can become. Unfortunately, many women are so devastated by what he is not today that they refuse to invest in the man he could become tomorrow."

Dr. Juliana Slattery
Finding the Hero in Your Husband

Sterilize that Bottle Because Why?

2006-07-22T10:20:00.000-04:00

Why are there so many "rules" about pumping and storing breast milk? For example, why do people sterilize bottles when babies put whatever they can find in their mouths? If your baby is going to chew on whatever he can find on the floor, shouldn't you be satisfied with merely washing his bottle with hot water? Besides, when you breastfeed, you don't sterilize your breasts before feeding the baby.

Read This Before You Take That Prescription

2006-06-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

I'll make this short and to the point. Drug companies and doctors lie about the benefits of many drugs they push on you. The article backs up what was shown in the book "Overdosed America," which I recommend reading if you have any interest in preserving the health (and money) of your family.

From Dream to Destiny

2006-06-02T09:50:00.000-04:00

I listened to May 29's Viewpoint yesterday, "From Dream to Destiny: 10 Life Changing Points." I highly recommend it.

Evidence of Harm

2006-06-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

More evidence that vaccines may not be such a good idea.

I also recommend the book Evidence of Harm.

Sorry for the lack of posts. Hard to find time with a 3 month old baby.

Joyless Churches

2006-04-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

I posted this over at Danny's blog, but since Haloscan doesn't keep comments for long, I thought I'd repost here.

It seems that many churches fall into one of two categories...they ignore the God's laws (and say that homosexuality, feminism, etc. are okay) or they add to God's laws.

I'm thinking of the churches that say alcohol is always sinful, despite the miracle at the wedding in Cana. Also, without a reliable source of clean water, I bet people relied on wine and/or beer. Drunkenness is the sin, not drinking a glass of wine or two.

We attended a church for a while where the pastor wouldn't marry any couple that was going to have dancing at their wedding. I could understand wanting to make sure the music wasn't inappropriate and that people didn't dance in a way that would make others lust, but to say all dancing is sinful? That's adding to God's commands.

I just remembered an elderly person once telling me that they could only play dominoes and not cards as a kid because cards were used for gambling. Of course, you can easily use cards for many other games, but that didn't matter.

No wonder many people don't want to become Christians. So many ignore obedience to God or are killjoys and say that legitimate activies are sinful.

Ask Your Doctor...

2006-04-14T10:32:00.000-04:00

As if the TV/print/radio ads about all the drugs weren't bad enough, I've started hearing ads for surgeries! In the last two weeks, I've heard (one on TV and I think the other was on the radio) ads for two different surgeries. One was for a knee procedure and the other was for some acronym condition I'd never heard of before.

How far will this go? What will we be hearing ads for in ten years?

Cross Another State off the List

2006-04-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

Not that I would ever want to live there anyway (just like I'd never want to live in CA or NJ)...

Massachusetts is going to require everyone over 18 to buy health insurance as of summer 2007. I can't imagine how much a policy in that state must run if you buy it on your own. In NY, the cheapest I could find out of college was $500/month, for just me! The state required everything to be covered, which meant I couldn't buy the high deductible policy I wanted (to use with an HSA). I'm never going to use recreational drugs (I try to avoid OTC drugs), so why do I need coverage for drug abuse treatment?

What I wound up doing is buying a short term policy for $50/month and used that until I moved to a state where I could buy a high deductible policy. Unfortunately, that policy is going up about 15% this year so I think it's time I look for a new policy or raise the deductible higher.

Breast Milk Economics

2006-04-10T13:11:00.000-04:00

In their infinite wisdom, CA and NY regulate the sale of human breast milk. There are only a few breast milk banks in the country and as a result, they usually charge customers about $3/oz, while the donors receive nothing. There is no way that the tests they do on donors before being accepted (and paying the shipping costs if a donor lives far away) cost enough that a person should have to pay up to $100/day to buy breast milk.

When my mom had a baby in the NICU, she pumped daily to build up her supply, hoping the baby would one day leave the hospital. After the baby died, she emptied out the freezer and found 90+ bags of milk. She tried to find a hospital that would take it (this was about 20 years ago, but I bet the situation hasn't changed much) but none were interested, so it got thrown out. What a waste!

As if the economics weren't bad enough, apparently they won't accept breast milk from mothers that take vitamins at more than 100% of the ridiculously low RDAs. I might still call for more info, but the idea that they would reject me as a donor because I take cod liver oil, vitamin E, chromium picolinate, and a few grams of Vitamin C daily seems crazy. Meanwhile, I bet they do accept milk from donors who don't eat enough protein or fat to make good quality milk.

I also read about a women battling to get her insurance companies to pay the $2,500 bill she racked up buying milk for her baby. The insurance company says they don't pay for nutrition (because she bought food) and I understand their point of view. I think she should have asked if they would pay before racking up the bill. Once they told her they wouldn't, she should've investigated alternatives, such as having several friends donate milk or making her own formula with raw milk.

Constitution in Shreds

2006-04-10T12:59:00.000-04:00

Just in case you thought that the Feds still cared about what the Constitution says...

President Bush signed into law a bill that didn't pass in both the House and Senate. Because of a clerical error, the version passed by the Senate was changed and rather than revote on the bill, Congress just let Bush say that the Senate version was the correct one and was to be signed into law.

They Call This Science?

2006-04-07T11:20:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we went to a local science museum. In the dinosaur section, they had a (I assume) fake skeleton of the acrosaurus, which is supposedly like a smaller version of a T-rex. I noticed a sign that said that only 3 partial skeletons have been found of the acrosaurus. Only 3!

How do they know it's a different species?! What makes them so sure they weren't just looking at a younger T-rex? If a few bones were different, how do they know it just wasn't diseased or deformed? If you looked at the skeletons of a great dane and a small yappy dog, they'd probably look like different species, but they aren't. If they had 1000 skeletons, then that would be significant, but 3 is not enough to totally convince me.

How many other dinosaur species may be assumed based on just a few skeletons?

Buyer Beware

2006-04-07T11:12:00.000-04:00

Neal Boortz reported yesterday that New Orleans is selling their flooded out school buses on eBay. I just spent about two minutes looking for them and didn't spot the listings, but I don't really feel like spending more time to finish looking for them.

What would you do with a flooded school bus? Would any parts from the interior or engine still be usable? Would hippies buy it to live in?

Great Inventions

2006-04-07T11:08:00.000-04:00

Pacifiers - allow our ds to calm down enough to stop fighting off sleep when he's tired

Baby swings - allow me to get a shower in the morning

Toilet paper - Imagine being the most powerful person in the world in the past and not having toilet paper!

Hot showers - How did Cleopatra loosen up in the morning after waking up all stiff and sore?

DSL - We finally reached our limit with dial-up and paid the $15/month Verizon charges for DSL.

NY State Doth Interfereth too Much

2006-04-07T11:04:00.000-04:00

A relative was telling me about NY state's lastest attempt to fix a problem they caused. Apparantly auto repair shops had been complaining that everyone waits until the end of the month to get their cars inspected. Rather than let the market fix the problem (by ending regulation of inspection prices and allowing shops to lower the price at the beginning of the month) the state has decided that the solution is to make inspection stickers valid for (I belive) exactly one year, rather than until the end of the month.

It seems to me that their rules are what caused this problem in the first place. The state needs fewer laws, not more laws.

Grocery Store Wars

2006-04-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

Watch Cuke Skywalker battle Darth Tater.

Good Butter

2006-04-06T09:35:00.000-04:00

In our quest to eat better, we've started buying organic butter and real milk (aka raw milk) from pastured cows from the Amish and Mennonites. It is by far the best butter that I've ever had (even puts Cabot butter to shame) and Mr. Penciloid says that he likes the milk much more, as well. (I don't like plain milk - I only drink it when it's been turned into kefir.)

I made butter a few days ago in the food processor. It was pretty easy and took about 15 minutes. The taste wasn't that great though since I used ultra-pasteurized cream. Blech! I can't wait to try making it again with the raw cream I bought yesterday.

Behold the Stork

2006-03-20T09:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the stork finally showed up and my little one is now two weeks old. We had a homebirth with a midwife and there were no complications. So glad I chose a homebirth and not the hospital because the midwife and her assistant stayed out of the way and made only a few, very helpful suggestions.

For pain, I used a birth pool and a TENS unit. The pool didn't help much but the $160 I spent having the TENS unit shipped from Britain was money well spent. Using it, I didn't feel the contractions at all for the first two hours of early labor. Active labor and transition still hurt, of course, but not near as much as when I tried taking the unit off. Didn't (and couldn't) use it for pushing, though.

He weighed 8lb 2oz at birth and by one week was 8lb 10 oz. My enthusiastic little barracuda!

I didn't know how much babies could change in two weeks. He's already getting good at holding his head up. He's usually awake from about 7am to 9am and then again in the afternoon for a few hours. When he's awake, he doesn't want to be by himself but to be held so he can look around.

My favorite thing is to watch him "practice his faces" as he sleeps. I like watching the little smiles, although now he seems to be working on real smiles when he's awake instead of practice smiles while asleep.

Random Thoughts

2006-02-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

No baby yet. While in my head I know that if due dates are calculated scientifically, about 1/2 of babies should be born after their due date, the rest of me wonders if the stork got lost mid-flight. I was so concerned about going into labor before 37 weeks (and therefore having to go to the hospital) that I never gave much thought to waiting around. Granted, it's only been 5 days, but what if I'm one of those woman who takes 42 weeks?!

The ladies' figure skating in the Olympics was so-so. At least 3 women ended their program seconds after the music ended. How can so many of the supposed best skaters in the world make such a stupid mistake? What a lousy last impression to leave the judges with.

The exhibition figure skating was disappointing, too. Most of the skaters they showed picked slow music that I found boring.

Did you know that it's illegal in several states to own a hedgehog? Not sure why for most of those states - except California seems to like to ban everything. Maybe those states have no natural predators, since hedgehogs aren't native to North America.

Neal Boortz =! Libertarian

2006-02-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

Why does Neal Boortz consider himself a Libertarian? I listen to him almost daily on the radio and while he says that government never does anything well (especially education), he rarely seems to call for them to cut spending. The only example I can think of is his repeated calls for the government to stop paying for Katrina evacuees' hotel rooms.

He also seems to think that the wire-tapping scandal is just a minor detail and that anyone that is suspicious of it is crazy, paranoid, or doesn't care about national security.

So much for his belief in the Constitution.

Olympic Figure Skating

2006-02-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

It's the only sport I follow in any way. I thought the pairs' skating was unimpressive. Too many of the skaters looked like they choreographed the routine and then chose the music. Most also seemed to lack any passion.

The men's event, on the other hand, was much more exciting. There were some that were merely skating between jumps, but there were also some very artistic skaters that focused on the artistry.

I'm not sure why gold medal winner Yevgeny Plushenko scored so well on the program components (artistic merit) score in his free skate when the first half of his program had zero to do with the music. He was just piling in as many jumps as he could.

I much preferred watching bronze medalist Jeffrey Buttner (or is it Buttler?) and Matt Savoie. Both of them had complete programs and interestingly, both of them are in college and haven't made skating their entire life. Jeffrey is a chemical engineering student and Matt will start law school in the fall at Cornell.

I was happy to see Evan Lysacek's amazing comeback in the free skate after his disasterous short program. I was equally pleased to see that Johnny Weir didn't get a medal because I don't like his attitude.

I think it may be time to retire Dick Button as a commentator. He can be really mean sometimes - much meaner than the other commentators. One comment that stands out in my mind is when he said one skater looked "like a soccer player trying to tap dance." He also said of another skater that he had what they call "chloroform choreography." It would almost be funny except he said this about men that probably placed in the top 10. Imagine what he'd say about somebody that was ranked 20th in the world.

My Solution

2006-02-17T12:14:00.000-05:00

After more thinking about how to balance visiting blogs with real life, I've decided that I'll still read them, but once 1-2 times per week. Then I still find out about the most important stuff without wasting my life away in front of the computer.

My Blogging Fast

2006-02-05T18:36:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's been over a month since I last posted. It was intentional, although maybe I should've put a warning up.

I've been fasting from blogging. I don't have a problem watching TV like most Americans, but I started to notice that I was spending way too much time online at Vox's and other blogs. Sure, I learned much from it but too much ofit just made me angry at how messed up the world is. I realized that reading the brain-dead rants of feminists, etc. added nothing of real value to my life. It just sucked away my time and happiness.

Am I just sticking my head in the sand now? Perhaps. But after a week away from the blogs, I realized I didn't miss them as much as I thought. They are a great source of info but I'm not sure how to find a good balance between spending hours per week at them and not reading them at all.

Basically, I just got tired of reading bad news all the time. Tired of hearing about the lastest lying politicians, etc.

Also, our first child is due in less than three weeks, so I've been busy getting ready for that.

How do all of you deal with all the constant bad news?

How Good Could a Ham Be?

2005-12-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

How good could a ham be? One of Mr. Penciloid's co-workers arrived at the Honey Baked Ham company Friday morning at 7 am and had to wait in line for 1 1/2 hours. The place was so crowded they had police out front directing traffic!

Apparantly reserving and picking up one of their hams is like trying to board a plane. He had to make his reservations, get to the "hamport" about 2 hours early, battle for parking, wait in line at "security," print two different "boarding passes," and then, finally, triumphantly walk out with his hams.

If it was that crowded at 7am, imagine what a zoo it must've been like by the afternoon. My question is why everyone chooses to put up with that. Why not pick up your ham Thursday night or Saturday morning? Why not ask them to ship it, if possible? I don't see how any ham could be that good!

It's About Time!

2005-12-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

After hundreds of years, Ben Franklin's autobiography has finally been completed. We read it about two years ago and were disappointed that it only covered the first fifty or so years of his life. He never got around to writing anything about his life from the 1760s-1790s, which I imagine is even more fascinating than his first five decades. I can't wait to read it!

If you haven't read it yet, please do. It's one of the few biographies I've ever read and he was an amazing person. He started the first libraries and fire departments in the country, got cities to pave their roads so people didn't have to drag their carts through the mud, and invented a type of oil lamp that didn't need daily cleaning.

Another interesting thing is watching the evolution of the language in the book, which he wrote over maybe 10-20 years. In the beginning, there are no quotation marks - a type of punctuation I never appreciated until it was missing. But by the end, he uses them. I wonder...when were they introduced into English? Could it really have taken hundreds of years for somebody to invent them? Did they already exist in other languages?

DMSO

2005-12-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

Do you play any sports? Ever get injured? You need to keep some DMSO on hand. I've had several sprains in my life and each time I applied DMSO (half DMSO and half water) to the injury, it healed completely within 2 weeks, with little pain. When I sprained my ankle last winter and didn't use any (because I didn't know where to get some), it took 2 months to heal. Unfortunately, it was my right ankle, and for 4 weeks, I could barely drive, it hurt so bad...and walking was even worse.

Another time, I didn't get sprained but I got kicked really, really hard playing soccer by one of those men with rocket shots - you know, the kind you duck when you see them coming. The side of my ankle got between him and the ball as he was winding up for a shot. Good thing I was wearing shin guards, is all I can say. I sat out for about five minutes, figuring the pain would stop soon. I was wrong. I shouted to my younger brother that we needed to leave now, while I could still drive, because my lower right leg was swelling at an unbelievable rate.

As soon as we got home, my mom brought me the DMSO. We literally saw the swelling go down, like a balloon deflating, over the next few minutes. Amazing stuff! I was left with a montrous bruise that changed to about every color of the rainbow over the next few weeks, but my leg felt much, much better.

So, where do you get this amazing stuff? You'll probably have to order from a livestock or chemical supply company (it's an industrial solvent). Apparantly, decades ago, the FDA decided to ban research on it, despite promising results on patients with spinal cord injuries having paralysis prevented or reversed. My husband read about studies using it as a carrier for amino acids (since it absorbs directly through your skin) to help people with Down's Syndrome. They were somewhat successful. But the FDA has decided we peons aren't allowed access to it.

My only warning is that it leaves a garlicy taste in your mouth, no matter where you apply it to your skin.

I haven't ordered from them before but this source was recommended to me: Jeffers Livestock.

So...What Do You Do All Day?

2005-12-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my husband came home and announced, "I got to brag about you today!" He then relayed a conversation he'd had at work.

Co-worker: So, what does your wife do?

Husband: She's a stay-at-home wife.

Co-worker: no response

....Much later....

Co-worker: Can I ask you something?

Husband: Sure, it's tough to offend me.

Co-worker: What does your wife do all day?

Husband: She cleans, does all the financial stuff, and she loves to cook. The apartment is way cleaner than if I were in charge of cleaning. Tonight we're having some sort of taco casserole. She tries to have supper ready when I get back.

Co-worker: (eyes open wide) Wow...I need to come home with you sometime!

Like so many Americans, the co-worker first assumed I spend all day watching TV, because that's what he did when he was out of work (when he wasn't job hunting). He's currently shacking up with his girlfriend and their supper usually consists of whatever one of them gets as take-out on the way home from work.

I bet many men wonder why he'd marry someone that's not working. (Not that most women make much after taxes and all the extra expenses incurred because they're so busy...but that's another topic.) But I also bet most of them really do want their wives to manage the house so they can relax when they get home. That's my goal...for my husband to walk in the door and not have to worry about anything, except maybe changing the oil.

10 Weeks to Go!

2005-12-16T09:46:00.000-05:00

Our first child is on backorder and is scheduled to be delivered in 10 weeks. In the mean time, my goal has been to eat 100+ grams of protein, almost no sugar, and take my vitamins and 1 TBLS of cod liver oil daily. It's been working very well. I have occasional lower back pain (easily fixed with one of those ET-looking massagers) and some heartburny-type burps. Other than that, no trouble. Plenty of energy, no acne, or any other troubles.

I attribute it all to continuing to work out (although my cardio workouts aren't very intense. I just ride a bike or walk on a treadmill while watching Star Trek), lifting weights (keeps my back from hurting), and my diet. If I go even 2-3 days with only 60 grams of protein, I start to feel worn out, until I have a few days back eating the normal amount.

Thank you Dr. Brewer! Everyone has a hard time believing I can feel this good or that I've put on 20 lbs already.

Don't Let Your Bank Rip You Off

2005-12-16T09:40:00.000-05:00

What is your bank paying you for your savings account? If it's less than 3.75%, you are being ripped off. At least three banks (ING Direct, Emigrants, and, according to the ad I saw on TV yesterday, HSBC Direct) offer savings accounts with no minimums, no fees, and decent interest rates. You have to link the account up to a checking account to transfer money. Transfers take a few days but the convenience of doing everything online is great!

I don't believe in bank fees. There is so much competition that there's no reason you should be paying any monthly fees for your checking account. (Well, business accounts may be different.) If you are paying fees, fire your bank and switch to another. Local and regional banks, in my experience, usually have better deals than national banks. Also, fewer employees = less opportunity for someone to accidently lose your personal info, the way so many national banks have done in the last year.

Fair Housing? Bah!

2005-12-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

So a local radio station has decided to drive me crazy. When they aren't playing the GlaxoSmithKline ads, they're playing these rediculous "fair housing is the law" ads. In the spot, a Hispanic man calls to ask if an apartment is still available. After hearing his accent and name, the landlord says no. Same thing happens to the Indian and the black guy. But when the white guy with the upper class name (Graham Wellington) calls, suddenly the apartment is available. Then they talk about what to do if you've been a "victim"...blah blah blah.

Who cares? Also, why does the ad assume that only minorities and foreigners are discriminated against?

Why are they wasting our tax dollars on this nonsense? Do some landlords discriminate? Sure. But it's their loss. It's in their financial interest to keep the apartments rented and if they choose to keep their apartments vacant, they risk going out of business.

I remember last spring when we started apartment hunting. I visited a few apartment complexes and asked what the residents were like - were there a lot of students, families, etc? A few places told me that because of "fair housing" they couldn't answer my questions. So not only do they have to bend over backwards to make sure nobody thinks they discriminate, they can't tell me who lives there in case I discriminate. How horrible that we'd want to live in a safe complex where I wouldn't worry about being shot by drug dealers!

So instead, we had to come up with other ways to determine if many of the residents were thugs. One thing we did is look at the cars and see how many have those rediculous rims. (Did you know you can rent them by the week? Yes! I wonder how many people with them get welfare or food stamps? Probably more than a few.) Another thing was look at the lawn - did the residents clean up after their dogs? Or did they seem to be too busy to even clean up their trash and beer bottles. Finally, I read a lot of apartment complex reviews online, which prevented me from even visiting many dangerous ones.

Crazy Scientologists

2005-11-29T11:42:00.000-05:00

Neal Boortz reported this morning that the Scientologists are taking steel plates of L. Ron Hubbard's writings and placing them in titanium boxes. These boxes are then hidden in caves in the desert of some southwestern state...Arizona maybe?

This kind of reminds me of the Essenes hiding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Only if I remember correctly, the Romans were marching on Judea when they hid the scrolls. What is the motivation of the Scientologists?

Thought Loops

2005-11-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

Ever get stuck in a thought loop? Maybe I should explain...sometimes at night I'll have my eyes open and can see stuff, but I'm not really awake. Instead, thoughts will repeat over and over in my head, keeping me from fully sleeping. But since I'm not really awake, I don't realize that my brain is stuck in a loop. Usually I only exit the loop when I wake up more fully, say to go to the bathroom.

Last night I got stuck in one again. Usually my thought loops are just about conversations I had that day (it's especially bad if I talk on the phone right before bed). But last night I was having some bizarre quasi-dream about sewing quilting strips (I was working on a quilt last night).

Does anyone here understand what I'm talking about?

The Happiest People

2005-11-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Ever notice that the happiest people on TV are the people in the herpes commercials - or the kids admitting they wet the bed. We saw a new herpes commercial tonight while watching Mars Attacks. We had the sound muted, so I don't know what drug they were advertising, but they displaying a most enlightening statistic: 70% of people with herpes got it from partners that displayed no symptoms at the time.

So...does that mean that 30% of the people with herpes knew their partner not only had it, but currently had an outbreak? Or did they just not bother to look or ask about their health?

Gross...All I can say is, God's way is best. Don't fornicate or cheat on your spouse and it won't be a problem.

Sense of Entitlement

2005-11-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

I've started noticing that American's sense of entitlement is not limited to those demanding the taxpayers pay for their food, housing, and healthcare. When I was listening to Clark Howard today, a woman called up with over 25 credit cards that totaled about $100,000 in debt. She said the debt was because she was caring for her father (an honorable thing) and her ill husband. The credit card companies continued to issue her cards, even thought she stated on her applications that she had no income. That's stupid on their part, but it's not what I'm upset about.

She's selling a piece of land for $100,000 that she inherited a few years ago. I wonder why she didn't sell sooner in order to avoid going into debt, but I digress...The woman called to ask Clark Howard's advice about settling with the credit card companies (she hadn't made any payments since June). When he asked her why she wasn't going to pay them all off in full, now that she could afford it, she said, "Because I want something to retire on."

In her mind, she was entitled to some of the money because she hadn't saved anything for retirement (as if $50,000 would allow her to retire). She even stated she would put the money in an IRA so she "couldn't get her hands on it." Never mind that she owes the credit card companies and should do the honorable thing and pay them back in full.

Now I don't like credit card companies much and I don't use them. But the woman signed a contract when she accepted the cards and she should pay her bills as promised.

"Curing" Diabetes

2005-11-15T12:30:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago my husband was asked by his boss if he'd like to donate money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. We found it ironic that one of the ways his company was trying to help raise money was with a bake sale. The JDRF also had a sponsored walk and I wanted to know if they were giving out sugary drinks and snacks there.

Granted, the JDRF probably focuses on children born diabetic. But 90% of diabetics did it to themselves, through their bad diets. Anybody making a living by trying to "cure" diabetes should not do anything to encourage people to eat food made with white rice, white flour, or sugar.

I get very irritated with the way most diabetics eat. Their doctors should tell them to absolutely avoid refined carbs and limit whole grain flours. Also, from what I understand, sugar free sweets, because of their sweet taste, cause the body to raise insulin levels, although maybe not as much as sugar. Eating these non-foods should not be encouraged for this reason alone (besides all the concerns about the safety of Nutrasweet and other sugar substitutes I refuse to touch with a 10 foot pole).

Spam Free Email

2005-11-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Interested in spam-free email? Try LP Email. I've had a free email account with them for about a year and have not received one single spam. I don't use the email except with friends and family, so that helps, but even when I did that with Hotmail and Yahoo, I got lots of spam. They seem to have really good filters.

The only "catch" is that they email you a daily devotional, which you don't have to read. Personally, I don't because after a few months, they got very repetitive - he was literally sending out the same set of devotionals every few months. Also, he was constantly begging for money - huge amounts of money - and I got creeped out by the sheer amount he was saying he needed to run Live Prayer. But deleting these emails is a small price to pay for no spam.

Getting Clean, With a Routine

2005-11-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Last week I stumbled uponFly Lady's website. Yes, things are very simple, but she gave me the kick in the pants I needed to start a bunch of new habits and cleaning routines. Now our places looks much cleaner with less effort. (Although you may want to skip joining her email list, or else cancel after a few days because it gets so repetitive.)

Go Vote

2005-11-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to vote today. Okay, so maybe your vote doesn't matter for electing officials. But chances are, there is a bond issue on the ballot that you can go vote against. Don't let them borrow millions and sell future generations into slavery (debt) without a fight.

Blue Ribbon Baby

2005-11-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

If you want to have a healthy pregnancy and baby, make sure you visit Blue Ribbon Baby. The summary is, don't restrict salt and eat 100+ grams of protein per day.

Dr. Brewer, who spent much time researching the best diet of pregnant women in the 1960s and 1970s, is very ill. If you've been helped by his advice, please send him an encouraging note, because most doctors have totally ignored his work.

Tom Brewer, MD
249 Buttolph Dr. #201
Middlebury, VT 05753

"Poor" Rioters

2005-11-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to hear the radio news report that "poor" rioters are still causing trouble in France and elsewhere. Liars! Muslims are rioting, not "the poor." Okay, so many probably are poor...but by not being more specific, the newswriter was lying for the sake of political correctness.

I don't have much experience with guns, but I started looking into dates for concealed carry training courses and seeing how much permits are. The thought first occured to me a month ago when I thought I was being followed while going to the library. Then after hearing about all the rioting and how it's spreading to other countries, I went online this morning to get more info.

Neal Boortz said on his show that he thinks every head of household should have a gun at home. Although I usually disagree with him on moral issues (and how he bashes Christians), he's definitely right about this.

Still Around

2005-11-07T08:44:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still around. Just been very busy because we moved two weeks ago. That, and now that we have dial-up instead of free high speed internet, I don't spend nearly as much time online anymore. I'll have a new post soon.

Drink More Water

2005-10-18T17:51:00.000-04:00

I've got a challenge for all of you. You've probably heard to drink 8-10 glasses of water (not soda, juice, black tea, or coffee, but water) per day, but have you tried it? The secret is to keep a large water bottle next to you at the computer. Get a Brita if your water doesn't taste very good. Know how you mindlessly munch in front of the idiot box (TV)? You'll mindlessly drink water if it's next to you. Your goal is to drink enough that (except for when you first get up in the morning) your urine is almost clear.

Even if you think it's nonsense, just try it for 2 weeks and see how you feel and how your skin looks. Oh, and if you are worried about drinking too much, relax. Those soldiers that died didn't die from drinking too much water...they died because they drank it without upping their salt intake, which threw their electrolytes off. If you are drinking a gallon a day, you're gonna have to eat more salt. But a gallon a day is not your goal in normal temperatures.

Kicking the Sugar Habit

2005-10-18T17:39:00.000-04:00

Well, I did it. I kicked eating sweets. I realized today that it's been a month and the only sweets I've had were a couple of homemade whole wheat brownies made with turbinado sugar.

I've always been into chips and such more than sweets and have given them up a few times. But I decided the best thing I could do for my health was to give up sugar, since your body uses up so many vitamins to digest it and it weakens your immune system. Of course, I'm still getting sugar in my diet - it's hard to make whole wheat bread edible without sugar or honey and it's in many processed foods, such as spaghetti sauce or creamed corn that I eat at potluck meals. But I am getting much less than the 1/2 lb per day that most people average.

The first two weeks were the hardest and the last week has been easy. It would be harder if I was a career woman and exposed to cookies all week at work. (My husband is trying to kick the habit but he's having a harder time because of all the junk offered to him at work.) At first, I missed it (as would anyone because sugar is addictive) but now I'm not really even tempted. I prefer to keep my immune system intact.

My next goal is to stop using white sugar in my bread and just use Rapadura or raw honey. Shouldn't be hard to do. We'll continue to use real maple syrup for the whole wheat pancakes we occasionally make.

One thing that possibly is making this easier is that I have tried to greatly increase my protein intake. My goal is 80 grams per day but I can't seem to get past 50. I guess all those years of eating meat only once a week make it hard to imagine eating it twice a day. I'm eating a lot of cheese, though, which is fun!

Hypocrisy

2005-10-12T15:41:00.000-04:00

According to dictionary.com:

hypocrite

n : a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold

I keep hearing an ad on the radio where a dad says he's a hypcrite because he used to smoke pot and when he found his kid was doing it, he confronted him and said he couldn't. This commercial is wrong because this man would only be a hypcrite if he yelled at his son while continuing to smoke himself. More evidence of the poor grasp of English that our government schools promote.

Now it could be that everyone involved in making the ad just forgot to consult their dictionaries. But really, they should know what the word means already. I think it goes deeper...into the whole "you can't judge me!" thing. "Don't judge" is everyone's favorite Bible verse it seems, which just shows how Biblically illiterate we are. Jesus was speaking against hypocrisy, not about confronting other Christians about their sins, which we are commanded to do by Paul.

The ad is silly. If a recovering alcoholic warned others about the dangers of drunkenness, would he be a hypocrite? No, because he repented. Just like Paul wasn't a hypocrite when telling others murder was wrong, because he had repented of his sin. So why does the dad in the ad think he's a hypcrite? I have no idea. Do you?

Doctors Hate Competition

2005-10-07T10:07:00.000-04:00

Clark Howard mentioned on the radio yesterday that Target, Wal-Mart, and others are experimenting with health clinics in their stores. The idea is you go see a nurse or physician assistant there for about $25 to get your school or work physical or if you have something easy to diagnose, like a cold, the flu, or a sore throat. The stores hope you will then fill your prescriptions at the pharmacy, which will be open the same hours. Chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, will not be treated at these clinics.

Doctors are objecting because "what if someone dies because they weren't diagnosed properly?" I think they just don't want the competition...for patients and for killing people. Let's see, the top killers in our country are heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and then doctors, if I remember correctly. They kill more people than car accidents and murder combined. Hmmm...if we want the death rate to go down, maybe we should outlaw doctors!

Doctors seem to dislike competition almost as much as public school teachers do. Both groups support licensing laws, which in reality, are just barriers meant to reduce competition. Why else would you need a license to give a manicure or haircut?

While there are plenty of charlatans in alternative medicine, that is no reason for so many doctors to just ignore it. They ignore the supreme importance of nutrition and exercise (especially strength training) as well. It took them decades to admit that stress has a role in disease. And they really, really dislike the existence of midwives. Maybe in a hundred years that will acknowledge that pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob works as well.

Roth IRAs and Taxes

2005-10-07T09:57:00.000-04:00

I don't trust the government. I especially don't trust them when they say that if I save hundreds of thousands (or even fifty bucks) in a Roth IRA, it will never be taxed again.

Hogwash.

When Social Insecurity was set up, they made similar promises about not taxing it and never increasing the percentage of income they steal from us.

So now they want me to pay taxes on the money now, let it accumulate money through the next 40 years so so (that's assuming we can trust companies' financial statements and that the government doesn't continue to rob us blind via inflation), and then they won't get their greedy little paws on it when I need it most?

Since the rate of government expansion far exceeds the rate of population expansion, I can't imagine how they wouldn't try to steal more of my money again in the future. I get so irritated whenever I hear people on the radio advise everyone to open a Roth IRA because, "It will never be taxed again." I think I'll just stick to a regular IRA for now, because "a tax deduction in hand is worth two in the bush."

Cows' Diet

2005-10-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

How much grass do most cows eat? Surprising, not much. God designed them to eat grass but unless you specifically buy grass fed beef, the cattle you eat was raised on a mostly grain diet that is unhealthy for them and us.

Totally grass fed beef is much lower in fat, higher in CLA, and much higher in omega-3 fatty acids (without the risk of mercury that you get from eating fish). Plus, the Bible commands us to take good care of our animals, and grass-fed cows are healthier than conventional cows.

**Update**

Farmer Tom thought I was being lied to about the omega-3 fatty acids. I found a reliable source that shows him to be correct. It seems that chickens fed a proper diet have a much higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their eggs, but grass-fed beef doesn't. Overall, the percentage of fat that is omega-3 in grass-fed beef is higher, but since it is lower fat than grain fed beef, the absolute amount of omega-3 is not higher.

I will continue to buy grass-fed beef however, because I question the treatment of cows that are confined to small areas for much of their life. Perhaps the health of cows isn't related so much to how much grain they eat, but rather the confinement that's involved and how much easier it is to spread disease that way.

At the very least, I will avoid buying meat from animals subjected to hormones and frequent antibiotics. I'm also concerned about the treatment of the animals, since God commands us to care for them. Maybe it doesn't matter to human health - but certainly I won't get sick from avoiding these animals, so the possible benefits outweigh the risk of spending more than I need to.

Credit Scores Without Debt

2005-10-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

One objection I get from people when they find out that we got rid of our credit cards two years ago (via a blow torch) is, "But how will you get a mortgage without a credit score?"

First of all, our former credit cards will remain on our reports for a few more years, so we will have scores. Second, Dave Ramsey says that if you go to a bank that underwrites the mortgage itself, as long as you have 2 years of good rental history and on-time utility payments, you can get a mortgage. Finally, yesterday Clark Howard announced that there is a new extended credit scoring model that companies are starting to use to take your utility bills and rent payments into consideration when calculation a score.

Farmers Markets are Great

2005-09-23T11:45:00.000-04:00

I've started making a weekly trip to the state farmers market. Unfortunately, the farm I was buying my organic, pasture fed beef and chicken from doesn't seem to be there anymore. Still, the fruit is so much better than anything at the grocery store.

I got fed up when I bought three nectarines at the store the other day, which weren't ripe yet (they rarely are because even when local fruit is available, the stores buy most of their fruit from distant states). So after waiting about two days, I went to eat one, and it was moldy already! The next day, the same thing happened. Finally, I was able to eat one of my nectarines and it wasn't that good.

So this week I decided not to mess around anymore and buy all my peaches and watermelon from the farmers market. With the exception of one lousy watermelon a few weeks ago, the rest of the fruit I've bought has been much better than anything at the store.

My only disappointment is that the food prices aren't really any cheaper than the store. But it is nice to not need a stupid grocery store card, wait in line, or pay sales tax.

Home Births are Safe

2005-09-17T13:44:00.000-04:00

The British Medical Journal has published a study of over 5000 women that shows that planned home birth with a certified midwife is safe for low-risk women. It is also much cheaper with a much, much lower risk of being subject to a C-Section (which evidence seems to be showing greatly increases the risk of the baby having future allergies or other problems), narcotics for pain relief (which seems to greatly increase the chance of the child becoming a drug addict later in life), or other medical procedures that aren't necessary nearly as often as obstetricians think.

Rights of Felons

2005-09-14T12:25:00.000-04:00

What should the rights of felons on parole or that have finished their prison terms be? The Second Amendment clearly shows that any restrictions on guns are illegal. I'd go so far as to say that to make nuclear and other weapons illegal for American citizens, the government should have to pass an amendment to the Constitution. Furthermore, making it illegal for a felon to own a weapon is silly. Since when has a gun law ever stopped somebody with a murderous mind from killing?

I think the Bible and Americans living in earlier centuries had a more reasonable answer. If you murder or rape somebody, you get executed - or, at the very least, life in prison with absolutely zero chance of ever leaving. Then we wouldn't have to worry about these criminals getting out and repeating their crimes. We'd still have to decide if freed (non-violent) felons could vote, but we wouldn't worry about our safety as much.

Wasting Away - Part II

2005-09-14T12:12:00.000-04:00

For a few months, I was planning to graduate at the end of 11th grade, but by the time the year started, I decided to hang around and take more electives. In the end, it was the right choice, but not because of anything academic. I played for the varsity soccer team for a second year (previous year I had been recruited at the last minute because they sorely needed more players - I wasn't nearly as good, or in shape, as my teammates (they had played for the school teams since 7th grade and went to expensive summer soccer camps).

The second year, I was determined to be in better shape (which is half of soccer anyway - skills are worthless if you don't get to the ball first) and I put much, much more effort into practice. I also improved, although I didn't really get the hang of many things my coach tried to teach me until I played intramurals in college. I guess it just took a few years for them to sink in and become reflexes rather than things I had to remember to do. Because of this, in college I was in worse shape - nobody making me run everyday - but probably a much better player.

What made all the suffering worth it was when I got a special award from the coach. At the fall sports award night, in front of hundreds of people, he said that I had improved a lot and "always worked hard at every single practice." That meant way more to me than being the top of my class because good grades took diligence, but not much hard work. I really had to work at soccer because I was so far behind in my fitness and skill levels. It also meant a lot because several of my teammates were total jerks to me the whole time and acted as if I were the biggest klutz and worst player in the world. I truly hope that I never did or said anything to make the kids of average intelligence in my class feel the way many of my teammates made me feel.

That soccer plaque is one of the few awards I haven't already and will never throw away. I wonder if I had graduated early if I would've spent 2 hours per night doing math homework for a couple of my college classes because I didn't want to settle for a B instead of an A. I did get the A in most of those classes and most of the classes I got Bs in, I knew I did everything possible to get an A.

I think my overall point with these stories is that I wasn't truly challenged until I was 18. The challenge is what helped me finally be a hard worker, instead of lazy like I was when my parents wanted my help as a kid. I wish I had been challenged intellectually more, but hey, I guess that's what the internet, blogs, and inter-library loan (best invention ever!) are for. In the end, brains are important, but I'd take a hard worker anyday - because so many people are lazy now. A smart, hard worker would be the best, and our schools are failing to produce these. Their brains are wasting away, for lack of mental exercise.

Wasting Away - Part I

2005-09-14T12:09:00.000-04:00

Thomas Sowell notes:

During my first semester of teaching, many years ago, I was surprised to encounter the philosophy that the brightest students did not need much help from the teacher because "they can get it anyway" and that my efforts should be directed toward the slower or low-performing students....

Unfortunately, the idea of treating the brighter or more serious students as a problem to be dealt with by keeping them busy is not uncommon, and is absolutely pervasive in the public schools. One fashionable solution for such "problem" students is to assign them to help the less able or less conscientious students who are having trouble keeping up....

High potential will remain only potential unless it is developed. But the very thought that high potential should be developed more fully never seems to occur to many of our educators -- and some are absolutely hostile to the idea.

This is what I experienced in public schools. I was usually bored because class moved so slowly...even many of my AP classes. My friend Geoff and I would either spend all of AP Biology whispering to each other or sleeping through class...except when I raised my hand to ask a question. (The one I remember best was, "If the uterus is the strongest human muscle, how does it get so strong when everything else wastes away without exercise?")

I think the other kids were irritated that I always managed to ace the tests, when it appeared as if I never paid attention. (Note: I did pay attention in most of my classes, especially if none of my friends were in the room.) I had a secret weapon though - I always did my homework, and, get this, I read the textbook. I know, what an amazing concept. Geoff and I goofed off, went home, and then read the chapter related to the day's lecture. I think we got a lot more out of it than the other students because they listened, did their homework, but probably couldn't be bothered to read.

When I was in 10th grade, my mom and I went to talk to the principal to suggest that our school have more honors and AP classes. (I feel sorry for my husband. His school only had 2 AP classes total.) She was very irritated with me, for some reason, and her attitude was basically, "Well, we don't feel like dealing with you...just graduate early and get out of our hair." I was the top student in my class and never got into trouble and this was how she thought of me.

Buy Our Drug...It Doesn't Work!

2005-09-09T09:56:00.000-04:00

I keep hearing ads on the radio for Crestor, a cholesterol lowering drug. At the end of the commercial, they say that it hasn't been proven to reduce the risk of heart attacks or heart disease. So why should anyone take it then?

Of course, I think high cholesterol = heart disease is way overblown, to the point of being a fraud. I'd have to look up the sources, but I believe I've read that half of all people that had heart attacks didn't have high cholesterol. Also, there are many theories that cholesterol's job (besides being the building blocks for your hormones) is to patch holes or weak spots in your arteries. (Any idea why we never hear of veins getting clogged up?)

I personally believe that cholesterol is more likely to be the symptom of heart disease than the cause. I think God knew what he was doing when the designed our bodies to make it, as well as putting it in animal-based foods. (For the record, cholesterol is only found in meat, eggs, or dairy. When chips proudly announce that they are cholesterol free, it's the same as if a bottle of olive oil advertised that it was sugar free - the offending substance would never be in the product on it's own, but most people don't read much and think fat = cholesterol.)

Another thing you never hear about is low cholesterol. I don't know what it does to you, although I suspect you get depressed more easily - all those hormones have to be made from something.

The Weston A. Price Foundation has more info on the myths of cholesterol. I know that this is a politically incorrect view of nutrition, but use your brain. People have been on high carb-low fat diets and taking cholesterol medicines for decades and has the heart attack rate gone down much?

Before I forget, if you eat sugar or white flour or white rice...refined grains with no nutritional value...your cholesterol will be higher. So will other markers that have been proven to correlate with heart disease. (Note I said "correlate" not "cause." There probably is a correlation of cholesterol with heart disease, but it doesn't make it the cause.) Do yourself a favor, and switch to brown rice and whole wheat flour.

Looters

2005-08-31T15:08:00.000-04:00

The reports I hear on the radio about the looters in New Orleans are worrisome. The police and National Guard are neither policing or guarding anything. Now a bunch of looters have supposedly stolen all the guns from a Wal-Mart and are forming an armed band of thugs.

How is this changing your plans for if/when everything falls apart in your area? I had started making a price list of emergency food stores (nothing fancy, just buying in bulk) and now I think I should stop putting off buying and start ordering some food each month. I also think we will start keeping both gas tanks full (a good idea anyway with gas prices having jumped about 40 cents since I filled up two days ago). Finally, I think I will consent to let my husband spend more money to stock up on ammo and such, as he's been hoping to do.

Who knows, maybe he can finally convince me to go shooting with him a second time?

Free Stuff

2005-08-30T13:36:00.000-04:00

Have something you don't need, can't sell, but don't want to throw away?Freecycle it. The local freecycle group has a few thousand members in the Yahoo group and people post free stuff of all types. I've seen many broken appliances and electronics listed. If you're handy, you might be able to start a nice side business repairing and selling broken washers, dryers, and TVs.

People mostly list houseold items, but sometimes junker cars or older furniture is listed. I imagine what's listed varies by city.

Don't Build in the Hurricane's Path!

2005-08-30T13:28:00.000-04:00

As far as I know, the federal government is involved in backing flood insurance for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to get it. The insurance companies must be smart enough to realize that it's too risky to insure those who build on the coast in areas guaranteed to get at least one major hurricane every few years.

If these people insist on building their homes right on the coast, when they know sooner or later a hurricane or flooding will wipe away their home, why should the taxpayers have to fund their stupidity? Some of these people keep rebuilding in the same spot, only to have their house damaged a few years later. The taxpayers have to foot the bill.

Am I the only one who thinks that building in New Orleans, a city below sea level in the path of frequent hurricanes, is not too wise? I get the impression that much of the city is livable, in good weather, only because of the levees.

And why did so many people choose to stay behind, in New Orleans of all places? The only reasonable answer I've heard is from Neal Boortz who was about about all the looters and thought people stayed to protect their property.

I've been in blizzards but never a hurricane. Now that I live in hurricane territory, I don't plan to be one of those people waiting until the last minute to evacuate and getting stuck in traffic.

Least Favorite Bible Verses

2005-08-10T13:11:00.000-04:00

What is your least favorite Bible verse? If you could cross out 5 verses, what would they be?

I heard someone say that whatever verses you choose, those are the ones you struggle with most and should focus on, with God's help, of course.

One that I struggle with is women not being allowed to teach men (formally) about the Bible. Some women take this verse to the extreme - while they will read the Bible to their children, won't answer any questions the children have. I've also read about some women that won't ask questions in a Bible study because of the verse telling women to be quiet in church. The verse says women shouldn't teach men - not women can't teach other women or children.

While I get frustrated with not being able to lead a devotion at our co-ed college-age group, I don't take it to mean that I can't ask questions, offer opinions, or host a bible study (with my husband) for unbelievers. I think we have to balance out the command for women not to teach men with the command for Christians to spread the Gospel. I try to obey both as best I can.

The Good and Bad of Banking

2005-08-10T13:02:00.000-04:00

The Good

We've been using Ing Direct for over a year now. They pay us 3.15% on our savings account. (Emigrant's pays 3.50%, but that wasn't enough to get us to switch. We love the interest rate war going on between them.)

We've been very happy with the service. You have to link your savings account to a checking account at another bank to transfer money in and out. Transfers usually take a few days and can be schedule ahead of time. They can pay more since they are strictly online and only offer adjustable rate mortgages, savings accounts, and CDs. This must cut down greatly on paperwork, compared to offering checking accounts.

The Bad

While I did have accounts at HSBC for a few years, I don't think I would have a checking account at a national bank again. Most of them charge outrageous fees for everything. Also, Clark Howard reports all too often about national banks "losing" data on customers...millions at a time. It's ridiculous! All the more reason why Americans should demand that Social Security numbers not be used for identification. (This seems unlikely any time soon. Few states even have laws allowing people to freeze their credit in order to prevent identity theft.)

Our personal solution is to stick to local and regional banks (or credit unions). The service is friendlier, the fees are lower...and the way I figure it, if they don't have as many employees as a national bank, they are less likely to have an employee that accidentally, or on purpose, does something that compromises your personal data.

What Are You Training Your Daughter For?

2005-08-10T12:47:00.000-04:00

Over at Vox's blog, there has been much discussion about problems in society that resulted from most women, especially mothers, choosing to work outside the home. Unfortunately, few people seem to have any answers...at least on the large scale. But just as the problem most likely started gradually, maybe the solution will be gradual.

We have a large number of students being homeschooled. This is our opportunity, if we use it right. I know at our church, the homeschooled children are learning about the Biblical roles for men and women. The daughters are being raised to marry and have children - not to pursue careers.

What are you preparing your children for? Are you teaching your sons how to be good fathers and husbands - how to love their wives as Christ loves the church? Are you teaching your daughters to respect and support their husbands? I've noticed many bitter men posting on Vox's blog about how their wives left them and took the children. Or about how unfeminine and unpleasant they were.

If you do what the world does, your daughters won't be much different than these women...especially since their mothers aren't setting good examples. You have to do something about it now, before they decide that they'd rather have a career than take care of their future families.

What are you doing to "inoculate" your daughters against what the world says they should do with their lives?

"Vintage" Cheddar

2005-08-10T10:09:00.000-04:00

So, we went to Whole Foods a few nights ago. I usually like chicken better than beef, but I've been craving beef lately. Actually, what I REALLY want is more buffalo for buffalo tacos...but they were out of stock!

The trip wasn't wasted though. As I was looking for sharp raw cheddar (raw = unpasteurized), I came across some blocks of cheese that had labels that said "vintage" on them. I turned them over and saw that it was aged 6 years!!!!!! Despite my cheapskate tendencies, we HAD to get some, even though it was $11/lb and from Quebec.

It was sharp...and it was crumbly (spelling?)...just as it should be. We didn't need much for the beef tacos we made.

My Guru.com Experience

2005-08-10T09:49:00.000-04:00

People keep asking me about my experience with Guru.com, so I thought I'd go ahead and post about it.

I found out about them a little over a month ago. I was on a mission to find legitimate ways to earn extra money from home - so many websites seem to be scams. Since I was wary, I signed up for the free membership, which allowed me to bid on 10 projects per month. Unfortunately, the free membership only allows you to bid on a small % (maybe 5-10%) of projects...most employers don't allow the free members to bid on the projects they post.

I bid on probably 5 or 6 projects before I was awarded one. I had to make a list of 2000 email addresses of people that tutor k-12 students in the US. The employer got about 80 bids but he said the reason he called me was because in my proposal, I mentioned how I had already collected 50 email addresses so I could see how long it would take and make an educated bid. I bid $250 and won...he said some others bid $30 and obviously didn't know what would be involved.

The project took a week. Make sure you meet or beat any deadlines you give. I decided I would stay up all night if need be to finish on time - this is what my parents have always done with their sign business and it's unbelievable how much customers apprecriate it when a company actually meets their deadline. (I guess so few people do these days that if you do, you'll stand out.)

After I finished, the employer had to send a check to guru.com. They took out 10% and then mailed me a check for the rest. (Their commission goes down if you buy a paid membership.) It took about 12 days for me to get the check after I was done...that's only thing that bothered me.

Overall, it was a good experience. Once I got paid, I went ahead and paid $29.95 for a 3 month membership that will allow me to bid any project in my category and I can bid 100 times per month. I've bid on 6 in the last week, but so far, I haven't won any.

It seems that most projects get about 50 bids, so make sure your proposal stands out. If you do try it, maybe try the free or 3 month membership first, to see how you like it. You will rate your employer and they will rate you. (My employer hadn't posted any projects before and I hadn't done any, so we took a chance on each other.)

Just Try It!

2005-08-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

I once read about a woman who wanted to learn to make bread. She found a recipe and announced to her family and friends that she was going to try it. More than one person discouraged her from trying.

"What if it doesn't come out right? You've never made bread before! Shouldn't you take a class or something?"

"I've seen others do it. Besides, if the first loaf is a flop, I'll just keep trying until I make something edible."

This woman was going to try making bread...not build a rocket. Her friends must be too afraid to do anything for themselves, with an attitude like that. "We need to leave everything to the professionals!"

After reading that story, I came across a free quilt pattern. My mom has made quilts but as a girl, I was never interested in quilting (I did learn basic sewing). I had been thinking about taking a class, but the article made me realize that it would be okay to just try it on my own, even if I had never seen one made.

Ya know what? Everything turned out fine. I was mostly done with cutting the fabric before I saw the foolishness of using scissors instead of a rotary cutter. I won't make that mistake again. I finished a small (it's called "crib-sized") quilt in about 5 days of work and while there are things I'll do differently next time, it's nothing to be embarrassed over. At least I've made one, even if it's small and a simple pattern.

Now what have you been wanting to learn to do? Go to the library, borrow a book on the subject, and just try it!

Emergency Funds

2005-08-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

How's your emergency fund?

Two years ago, I started listening to Dave Ramsey. Sometime in the previous year, someone had sent me a link to his website. I looked at about one page and that was it. Then in the summer of 2003, I was praying for financial wisdom. One day, I was at work and was trying to remember the name of the website I had been to many months before. All the sudden, the name popped into my head. I seriously doubt I remembered it on my own. I think God reminded me of the name.

Anyway, we were engaged and made it our goal to have a 6 month emergency fund for when we got married. It's one of the best things we ever did because it took us about 6 months to find enough work to break even every month. Those jobs were awful though, so we quit and spent a few more months finding something better. (The job search for both of us was MUCH better once we moved out of NY.)

My whole point is that despite not earning much for the first 9 months of marriage, we didn't fight about money because we always had plenty of savings. Once we earned enough to save, we built up the emergency fund again, only to have both our cars need immediate replacing within a month. We were able to pay cash for both, and still have a few months savings.

Without the emergency fund, all these things would've been disasters instead of inconveniences. I literally thank God for Dave Ramsey emphasizing the importance of having a cushion so you don't get into credit card debt when things go wrong.

Emporer for a Day

2005-08-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

If you could get rid of ONE government program or department, at any level of government, permanently, which would it be? Or, you could make one thing illegal.

Ideas:

Dept. of (Mis)Education
Income Tax
Property Tax
Roe vs. Wade
NASA
Supreme Court
Standing Military

I know there are lots of others. But which would make the most difference?

Plaid Cheese!

2005-08-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

My favorite (affordable) cheese is Cabot Hunter's Seriously Sharp Cheddar. It comes in a red or a green plaid package. I'm especially excited that Super Wal-Mart now carries it for 1.87 for an 8 oz. package.

In my opinion, if cheddar cheese doesn't try to crumble when you slice it, it's not sharp enough. I rarely will spend the money to buy cheese aged 2 years, but that stuff is good! Not like those wimpy brands of "extra sharp" that have been aged 6 months. That's why I like the Cabot's so much...it's much cheaper than the super sharp cheddar but it's not wimpy like the other cheeses at the average grocery store.

Margarine is Garbage

2005-08-05T12:54:00.000-04:00

I'm a butter kind of girl. The only time I ever had it growing up was at my grandparents house. Maybe that's why I used to eat 8-10 pieces of toast as a meal when I visited. My mom wanted to save money and bought that cheap 79 cent soft margarine instead. They didn't sell Smart Balance or Earth Balance in those days, which are the only maragines I'd consider eating.

When I was 17, my mom finally started buying butter for me. She didn't intend to...but I thought I was allergic to corn, so I went off all corn products for a week and so she had to buy butter for me instead. It turns out that avoiding corn made no difference but I wouldn't let her stop buying butter after she started.

I was incredibly relieved I could still eat corn. I couldn't eat anything with any wheat, even the slightest amount - such as in soy sauce - for 4 years. They sneak flour into many foods that you don't expect but corn is even worse.

I can eat wheat again without it making me sick, but I'm still an avid food label reader. I'm thankful that I had to avoid it for a few years because it made me realize how much garbage they put in many processed foods. I also tried many new foods, especially my first year of college, because I had to be on a meal plan and didn't have access to a kitchen. Since I couldn't eat most of what they served, I had to learn to like salads and beans and other foods I never would've tried otherwise.

Anyways, back to butter. I like it so much, sometimes I eat a small pat by itself, much to the disgust of my husband. By far the best butter I've ever had, hands down, was the time I bought organic butter from Whole Foods. After that, I bought some Harris Teeter brand and it was so tasteless I still have some sitting in the fridge unused. The Cabot Natural Creamery is better but not as good. I'm normally very cheap, but next time I think I'll just spend the $5/lb to get that delicous butter.

Fiberglass Tub = Nightmare

2005-08-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

Our apartment has a fiberglass tub and shower. Before we moved here, I could clean the tub every other week and it always looked clean. Now, with this stupid tub, no matter what I do, this layer of gunky dead skin cells stays clings to the side. I've scrubbed...I've tried baking soda...vinegar...other products. The only thing that ever made a dent in the mess was scraping with my fingernails. Not exactly an efficient way to clean.

So yesterday I read a tip at the Dollar Stretcher that suggested I mix dish soap, water, and vinegar. The theory is that our body oils are what cause the gunk to stick and that since dish soap is formulated to battle greasy dishes, it would help. So I tried it this morning and while the tub isn't as clean as I'd like, it's about 75% better.

The other thing I hate about our tub is how it's falling apart. When we moved in a year ago, it had a few small holes and some small cracks. Since then, somehow the cracks have grown and more new holes have appeared. I don't know what's causing it other than poor quality materials. I've never used any harsh chemicals or done anything that should damage it.

I wish I'd taken pictures of it's condition when I moved in and not just written down what was wrong. I'm afraid when we move out this fall that they'll think we did all the damage and charge us hundreds of dollars for their crappy tub.

I don't know what normal tubs are made from...but stick with them and avoid fiberglass. Your wife will thank you for it.

Is Buying a House Worth It?

2005-08-01T14:13:00.000-04:00

Danny Homeschooling Dad says that "home ownership is overrated." I'd like to know some personal experiences people have had renting houses versus owning them. Is it less stressful? Does owning wind up costing more than it looks because of the repairs?

I'm not suggesting renting forever...but for say 5-10 years while saving to pay cash for a house.

NASA is a Waste

2005-07-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

Nasa says they shouldn't have launched the shuttle. Didn't they just spend weeks reassuring us the problem was fixed? We need to pray for the safe return of the astronauts.

Maybe it's because I was born long after NASA's exciting moon missions...but I don't see the point of them. The Constitution doesn't authorize funding them, so either an amendment should be passed or they should be cut loose. (The same with all other federal funding of education, research, welfare, etc. The funding is all illegal, as defined by the Constitution. If you want to keep something, fine, do it legally, with an amendment.)

How does NASA benefit the taxpayers, exactly? Can you think of anything? Private companies could send up satellites on their own, or pay Russia or other countries to launch them. If we're worried about a space race, then why isn't NASA under the military?

Of course, we're not supposed to have a standing army, either, but that's a topic for another day.

Your Body is a Temple

2005-07-16T16:21:00.000-04:00

1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

While in context, this verse is talking about sexual sins, I think it applies to how we treat our bodies in general. Do you get enough sleep? Do you eat right? Do you exercise? No? Maybe it's time to consider how our bodies are a gift and we should treat them wisely, since we are not our own.

With this in mind, I have struggled since the fall to give up chips, since I have no self-control when I eat them. Other things, such as ice cream, I like, but I can stop long before finishing the carton. Chips are another story. I gave them up totally for a few months, then thought I could eat them again, and now I've given them up for all of July. I even signed a little pledge and stuck it in my wallet, along with the verse "I can do all things through him who gives me strength."

I know, it may seem silly, but God wants us to have self-control and take care of our bodies, and this is what I felt I should start with. I don't want to be too sick to do his work when I'm older because I abused my body.

What habit do you need to start working on? Pray about it and whatever God seems to impress upon you, obey.

Way of the Master

2005-07-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

We are all commanded to tell others about Jesus, but George Barna found that only 2% of us do this regularly. I really like the Way of the Master materials by Kirk Cameron (from Growing Pains) and Ray Comfort. They have a TV show that shows how to witness and then they take cameras out and tape as they witness or open-air preach on the streets. The cults, such as Jahovah's Witnesses and Mormons seem to do a good job making sure their kids learn how to go door-to-door, so shouldn't we strive to out-witness them?

Living Waters is their other website. It has several free audio lessons on witnessing, true vs. false conversion, etc, as well as books on the subject. I really like some of their tracts, and we've made it our goal to hand out 1000/year as a baby step to witnessing. So far, we leave them in library books (especially atheist ones), in airports, send them in with our bills, etc. We figure that if 1000 people see them, maybe 30% will read them (hopefully more!) and a few percent will have a seed planted by what they read.

Another book I liked is "One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven" by Mark Cahill. What is this one thing you can't do in Heaven? Talk to unbelievers! Are all your family members and friends believers? Probably not all, and our our case, nobody in either of our families (including extended) appears to have any real faith. Although it's tough, we know we need to obey God, and we've started witnessing to our families. I must say, I thought it would be easier than talking to strangers, but based on my one experience talking to someone I had just met the day before, family members are more difficult.

Anyone have any good witnessing ideas or stories to share?

Welfare and the Bible

2005-07-11T18:21:00.000-04:00

"...If a man shall not work, he shall not eat." - 2 Thessalonians 3:10

This shows that God expects able-bodied men to work to provide food for their families. If a man is able to work at all (even if it's not a job he like), God expects him to do so, instead of relying on his family or the government for food or shelter. Paul even said that widows under 60 should remarry before expecting the church to provide for them.

If our society followed the Bible, think of how much less we'd pay in taxes. (And if we followed the Constitution, too, we'd pay very little in taxes.) Think of how much more companies could afford to pay their workers or how many more people they could hire, instead of the government taking it via "legalized theft." Think of how much faster you could pay off your mortgage or save to pay cash for a house. Think of how many more poor people in your area you could help directly and how many more missionaries you could fund.