01.27.2009

Hello! Last week we had two days get up into the 50s and now I have a bad case of spring fever. Today John and I were talking about outside projects as if we were going to be able to get started right away. Later we heard that we're under a winter storm watch till Wednesday and are expected to get a good deal of snow and possibly even accumulating ice. I have a feeling spring fever will quickly turn to cabin fever. I'd like to take this time to remind you again that we sometimes have power outages here due to adverse weather, so if a Tuesday comes and you don't receive the newsletter and it's not posted on the web site either, then you'll know it was not sent out and I'll get it to you when I can. Take care! ~Toni
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=Phyllis=

Healthy Living

This week I'd like to share some strategies to get you moving so you can burn calories!

1. If you walk for exercise, you probably take along an Ipod or CD player to listen to music. Another option? Try a book on CD! You can get them at your local library. If you pick a good audio book, you just might walk a little longer so you can hear more of the story!
2. If you work in an office, try using the ladies room on a different floor, and use the stairs to get there.
3. Is it too cold or wet to go for a walk? You can workout at home with a workout DVD. These are available at your local library too.
4. Don't use the drive through windows at banks or restaurants. Park your car and walk inside. Every little bit of walking you do adds up.
These are just a few ways to burn some extra calories. If you have some calorie burners to share, please send them to me and I'll print them in a future issue of the newsletter.
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A great site to check out:
(Its a life expectancy calculator)

http://www.livingto100.com/
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Do something good:

http://booksforsoldiers.com/
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There is a miracle called Friendship
that dwells within the heart
and you don't know how it happens
or when it even starts.

But the happiness it brings you
always gives a special lift
and you realize that friendship
is God's most precious gift.
-Anonymous
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Cool Pick

http://www.blippr.com/

Blippr is a site where you can discuss and rate movies, books, games and music. You can also read the reviews of other users, and since each review is limited to 160 words or characters, its short and sweet! So the next time you want to rent a new DVD or buy a new book, log on to Blippr to see what others think of it first.
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Easy smoothie recipe for two:

You will need;
one banana and 5 strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tbsp peanut butter (or almond butter)
1/2 cup ice

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend, blend, blend until smooth. Pour into two glasses and share with hubby or a friend!
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Here's a recipe for homemade Play Dough:

1 cup very warm (but not hot) water
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
food coloring
2 to 4 cups of flour

Put warm water in a large bowl.
Add salt; stir about one minute. Don't worry about totally dissolving the salt.
Add food color. (Optional; you can also add peppermint or orange extract, etc., to make it smell good too)
Add cream of tartar and oil. Stir.
Gradually start adding flour, mixing as you go.
Knead dough until smooth. Don't worry about exact measurements when adding the flour...you will know its finished when the dough holds together smoothly and isn't sticky.
Store in a sealed Ziploc bag. It will keep for a few months.
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Here is a useful site:

http://www.mizpee.com/web/index.html

Use your cell phone to find the closest bathroom near you when you're out and about. It even gives cleanliness ratings!
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Have a great week everyone! I will not be doing the newsletter next week because I'm vacationing in Florida. Hope its sunny where you are!

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=Toni=

Tips from Cheryl:

Clothes with Static Cling
If your slip or skirt has a bit of static cling, you can get rid of it simply by rubbing a bit of hand lotion on your hands and then wipe them lightly over the slip or on your legs.

Make a Homemade Ice Pack
Make a mixture of 1 part rubbing alcohol with 2 parts water. Pour into a zipper plastic bag (double bag and label clearly) and freeze. Apply to all the minor emergencies and boo-boos that happen! It can be refrozen after each use.
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Riddle from last week:

What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don't want to use it? An anchor
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Do you know the #1 song the day you were born? Go to http://www.joshhosler.biz and look up the number one song for your birth date.
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I ordered this pen palling directory last year and it was great. Dawn puts a lot of work into it for sure. It was very neat and attractively put together and it was very fun and informative. ~Toni

PPC’s 2009 Pen Palling Directory - A book about the great hobby of pen palling. Have questions on slams, crams, decos, exchanges? This book has the answers. We also include articles from fellow pen pals about their friendships, tips on letter writing, how to be a good pen pal & more. Tons of listings for pen pals, birthday twins, e-mail your pal & looking for love. $5.00 each (published once a year).

Checks/money orders payable to:

Dawn Thomas
PO Box 945
Farmington , MI 48332

ppcdawn@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/penpalconnection
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Here is a site that gives information about over-the-counter drugs.
http://www.otcsafety.org/
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Kansas

~Dodge City is the windiest city in the United States.
~At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas.
~Kansas inventors include Almon Stowger of El Dorado who invented the dial telephone in 1889; William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland who invented the helicopter in 1909; and Omar Knedlik of Coffeyville who invented the first frozen carbonated drink machine in 1961.
~The Arkansas River may be the only river whose pronunciation changes as it crosses state lines. In Kansas, it is called the Arkansas (ahr-KAN-zuhs). On both sides of Kansas (Colorado and Oklahoma), it is called the Arkansaw.
~Hutchinson is nicknamed the Salt City because it was built above some of the richest salt deposits in the world. Salt is still actively mined, processed and shipped from Hutchinson.
~There are 27 Walnut Creeks in the state.
~Fire Station No. 4 in Lawrence, originally a stone barn constructed in 1858, was a station site on the Underground Railroad.
~The Hugoton Gas Field is the largest natural gas field in the United States. It underlies all or parts of 10 southwestern Kansas counties as well as parts of Oklahoma and Texas. The gas field underlies almost 8,500 square miles, an area nearly 5 times as large as the state of Rhode Island.
~The Geodetic Center of North America is about 40 miles south of Lebanon at Meade's Ranch. It is the beginning point of reference for land surveying in North America. When a surveyor checks a property line, he or she is checking the position of property in relation to Meade's Ranch in northwest Kansas.
~The graham cracker was named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794-1851). He was a Presbyterian minister who strongly believed in eating whole wheat flour products.
~The rocks at Rock City are huge sandstone concretions. In an area about the size of two football fields, 200 rocks, some as large as houses, dot the landscape. There is no other place in the world where there are so many concretions of such giant size. http://www.naturalkansas.org/images/rock_city.jpg
~George Washington Carver, the famous botanical scientist who discovered more than 300 products made from the peanut, graduated from high school in Minneapolis in 1885.
~The First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson was built in 1874 during the time of the grasshopper plagues. The grasshoppers came during the construction of the churches foundation but the pastor continued with the work. As a result, thousands of grasshoppers are mixed into the mortar of the original building's foundation.
~A hailstone weighing more than one and a half pounds once fell on Coffeyville.
~The world famous fast-food chain of Pizza Hut restaurants opened its first store in Wichita. (Way to go, Wichita!!)
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I recently ran across these two sites that offer free magazines. I have not had a chance to check the sites out really, but thought they looked interesting, so I wanted to share them with you. http://www.all-freemagazines.com/ http://www.allmags4free.com/
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This may be something you've already thought of, but I wanted to mention it in case you've not. I keep a phone book in the trunk of my car. I can't tell you how many times we've used it since I thought to put it in there. Personally our phone company sends us two books per year. If you only get one, most likely a second copy could be requested from the phone company. Or your local post office might have extras.
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Avoid a tax refund. You may feel giddy knowing you'll get a check from the IRS this spring, but you shouldn't. Getting money back means you're essentially lending money, interest free, to the government for the year. Better to have that cash in your account than lend it to Uncle Sam. So if you've been getting big refunds or have had a big life change (a marriage, a baby, a divorce, a radical increase or decrease in income), adjust the withholding allowances on your W-4 form. You can do that for your 2009 taxes now at irs.gov. Use the withholding calculator to determine the correct figure for you. Then print a new W-4, fill it out, and give it to your payroll department.

Avoid "rapid refund" programs. Sure, they sound great. After all, what can be better than getting your money fast? A tax-prep chain might try to get you to agree to one of these "instant" or "anticipation" options. Don't take the bait. This is not your refund. It's a loan—and a very high-interest loan at that. The average for 2008 was 123 percent. If you file electronically, even if it's through a tax chain, the IRS will deposit your refund directly into your bank account within a week or two.
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In June of 1974, the first U.P.C. scanner was installed at a Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The first product to have a bar code included was a packet of Wrigley's Gum.
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Riddle: Take a five-letter sign on certain doors, remove its first letter, and you'll have a word meaning sign. Remove the new word's first letter and it's a sign on nearby doors. Can you guess all three words? Answer next week.
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I have a friend in California that told me about a soda pop cake. All you do is take a cake mix and add a 12-ounce can of soda pop, mix (it will foam up) and bake. After she told me this I googled it and came up with lots of recipes that included the cake mix, pop but other things too. So I emailed her and she said her son was allergic to eggs and that all she used was the cake mix and pop. So I gave it a try and John and I love it! So far we've used a white cake mix with Fanta Orange. Some other combos we plan to try: strawberry cake mix and Strawberry Fanta, lemon cake mix and 7-Up, chocolate cake mix and cream soda... Debbie said their favorite is chocolate cake mix with diet Dr. Pepper. You can use diet or regular pop. A few things to remember with this recipe is because of the lack of fat, it will stick badly, so line your cake pan with either Pam then parchment or wax paper and then Pam on top or line it with Reynold's Release. Also it will not take as long to bake as the box says. Set your timer for about half the time and then check it; most likely it will be done. If you try this and come up with a great flavor combo, let me know so I can try it too.
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"The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to in January and February,at least we notice that the days are getting longer. Minute by minute they lengthen out. It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change. It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child, as you watch it day by day, until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise we realize that we can stay out of doors in a twilight lasting for another quarter of a precious hour." ~Vita Sackville-West

01.20.2009

Hello from the land of snow and cold. Saturday night we were at 11 below zero, which is the coldest we've had in almost 2 years. Now it's warming up a bit and here comes the snow. Had about 6 inches this morning. I sure am giving the snow shovel a workout! I heard from Phyllis and she has the flu and didn't feel like working on the newsletter this week. Last week I neglected to mention that Marie is in the process of moving so that's why we didn't have a joke from her. ~Toni
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Iowa

Ripley's Believe It or Not has dubbed Burlington's Snake Alley the most crooked street in the world.

The state's smallest city park is situated in the middle of the road in Hiteman.

Spirit Lake is the largest glacier-made lake in the state.

West Okoboji is the deepest natural lake in the state. Its depth is 136 feet.

The state's lowest elevation point (at 480 feet) is in Lee County.

Wright County has the highest percentage of grade-A topsoil in the nation.

Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids, is the largest cereal company in the world.

Clarion is the only county seat in the exact center of the county.

Herbert Hoover, a West Branch native, was the 31st president of the United States and the first one born west of the Mississippi.

Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, John Wayne was the son of a pharmacist and grew up to become one of Hollywood's most popular movie stars.

Campers and motor homes are manufactured in Winnebago County. They're called Winnebago's.

Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are 100% formed by water.

The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of ballooning history.
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Last week I had a comment on the blog from Paula. What a nice surprise! She had some additional information on Indiana that I found interesting, so I wanted to include it here:

Good morning. A Google Alert brought me to your blog. Would you mind a little more Indiana info? The town of Santa Claus is also home to the world's first theme park -- Holiday World http://holidayworld.com . And Lincoln lived four miles away in what is now Lincoln City from the ages of 7 to 21. There's a huge amphitheatre with a new play (called "Lincoln") opening in June, in honor of our 16th president's bicentennial. http://www.lincolnamphitheatre.com Great place to take the family!
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From Cheryl:

Getting Rid of Tablecloth Creases

Don't get out the iron. Instead, put the tablecloth in the clothes dryer with a damp towel and turn on the warm/low heat setting. Leave in for several minutes and remove immediately. When storing, place the tablecloth on a hanger.

Storing Potatoes

Put them in a dry dark place that's cool (40 to 50 degrees). Never keep them in the refrigerator because it will alter the texture and taste after a length of time.
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From Cathy:

If you do online shopping then this is something important to know.
http://www.snopes.com:80/computer/internet/https.asp
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Isaac Merrit Singer

Isaac Merrit Singer ran away from his Owego, New York, home in 1825, when he was only 12 years old. He joined a band of traveling players and remained an actor until he was 24. Then he decided to "get a real job." He worked at a machine shop, but continued as an actor part time.

In 1850, Singer headed to Boston with a device he had created to carve wood-block type. It never caught on. But while he was in Boston, Singer became interested in another device-the sewing machine. Such machines were rare, and those that did exist were large and unreliable. He borrowed $40 from a friend and started working on his own version of the machine.

In 1851, Singer received a patent for the device. It attracted the attention not only of tailors, but also of Elias Howe, often credited as the inventor of the sewing machine. Howe had patented his machine in 1846. He sued Singer, but they soon settled. Under their agreement, Singer and Howe pooled their patents and each received five dollars from every sewing machine sold. Singer was not sentimental about his machine. "I don't care a damn for the invention. The dimes are what I'm after," he once said. Singer's business partner, a man named Edward Clark, was responsible for another innovation--the installment payment plan. This payment option made sewing machines affordable for the first time in many homes.

In 1863, Isaac Singer was surrounded by scandal. The public learned that he had fathered 24 children by at least 5 different women. Clark was so shocked by the revelation that he ended his partnership with Singer. Isaac Singer had too much money to be worried. He moved to England, where the scandal did not reach him. He lived there until his death in 1875. The scandal had little effect on sewing machine sales, however. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have called the Singer sewing machine "one of the few useful things ever invented." Adm. Richard Byrd found them so useful that he carted six of them all the way to the Antarctic.

At its peak, Singer was producing 3 million sewing machines a year. In the mid-1970's, however, the number of people in America who sewed, or even repaired, their own clothes dropped sharply. The modern Singer company stopped selling sewing machines in 1986. Today it sells aerospace electronics.
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Marie sent these coffee filter uses to me before she moved:

Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

Protect China Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.

Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.

Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, french fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.
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Don't want your jeans to fade? Turning them inside out before washing preserves their color. As for new jeans, wash them with older pairs so color bleeding from the new ones will be absorbed by the old, making them look newer.
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You can check your town's water quality by calling the EPA drinking water hotline at 800-426-4791.
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Not sure how old your spices are? Go to http://www.spicecheckchallenge.com, enter the code on the bottom of your McCormick jar and find out whether to toss or keep it.
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This is the web site of a West Virginia man that carves birds. I thought his work was amazing. Maybe there are some bird-lovers among our readers that would enjoy seeing his work. http://www.woodtofeathers.com/
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Make...How To...DIY
http://www.instructables.com/
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A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. ~Phyllis Diller
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Word origin grandfather clause

A grandfather clause is an exception to a rule that allows someone who previously had the right to do something to continue doing it even though the law forbids it to others. For example, when I turned nineteen, the state of New Jersey allowed me to drink alcohol. Later than year, they raised the drinking age to twenty-one, but since I was already of legal drinking age, I was grandfathered at that young age and could continue to legally consume alcoholic beverages. But why grandfather?

The term comes from discriminatory practices of certain Southern states against blacks. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some Southern states had laws requiring payment of a poll tax or taking of a literacy test before one could vote. The poor and illiterate were denied the right to vote. This would have been a race-neutral measure except for clauses in the state constitutions that exempted someone from poll taxes or literacy tests if their grandfather had had the right to vote. This meant that virtually all whites, whose grandfathers could vote before the imposition of these laws, were allowed to vote, while most blacks were denied the right to vote. Over the years, the term has lost the racial stigma and no longer connotes racial bias.
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Here's a riddle for you. Answer next week.

What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don't want to use it?

01.13.2009

Hello everyone. I hope you've had a good week. I'm not feeling very chatty today--I think winter is getting to me. So I'll just get straight to the newsletter stuff. Take care everyone and stay warm.
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Now for Phyllis...

Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a great 2009 so far!


Feel like taking a trip down memory lane?
http://theimaginaryworld.com/page4.html

HEALTHY LIVING

"If hunger is not the problem, then food is not the solution." -Unknown

Food does more than just fill us up when we're hungry...it also satisifies feelings, and when you use food to satisfy your emotions when you're not hungry, then it is "emotional eating."

A few newsletters ago I posted a quiz on how to tell the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger. So now I'd like to offer you some tips on how to control emotional eating.

1. Make a list of things that you can do instead of eating when you are tempted to eat when you're not really hungry. Don't use food for comfort. Instead, go for a walk, read a book, call a friend, exercise, knit...anything that you enjoy that doesn't involve eating. Try to distract yourself from food.

2. Don't keep unhealthy foods in the house. If its not there, you can't eat it, and you probably won't want to drive to the store to get it. Keep healthy snacks in the house; fruit, unbuttered popcorn, low calorie dip and veggies.

3. Make sure you're getting enough calories every day. If you're on a diet and you cut out TOO many calories, you're just setting yourself up for a binge.

4. Exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Its easier to keep your emotions in check and your moods under control when your body is fit and well rested.

5. Keep a journal and write down what you are feeling when you are tempted to reach for food when you're not hungry. Recognizing your triggers will help you resist them.

I hope these tips will help. I use them, and I'm proud to report that I've lost another 9 lbs and 7 inches.
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A very pretty website
http://www.jz-rose.com/
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I read this in a magazine a few weeks ago and thought I'd share it. Did you know that you should get rid of your cosmetics after a certain date due to the bacteria they collect?

Foundation, powder eye shadow, lipstick and nail polish...toss after one year.
Blush or bronzer....toss after two years.
Mascara....toss after three months.

And remember that its important to clean your makeup brushes. Here's how;

Run the bristles of your makeup brushes under warm (not hot) water.
Apply a very small amount of gentle shampoo to the bristles and work into a light lather.
Rinse bristles thoroughly under warm running water. You'll probably notice that the water coming from your makeup brush is tinted with the colors of your old makeup as it rinses off.
Continue rinsing until water is clear.
Allow to air dry.
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Cool Pick

This weeks cool pick website is

http://www.answers.com/

Answers.com is an "online dictionary, encyclopedia and much more." They claim to be a "one stop shop with instant information on over 4 million topics"! Its more than a search engine...its a free reference library and research assitant available with a click of the mouse. Instead of using a search engine, which will give you a list of links, Answers.com gives you all the information in one convenient place. They also give you "Today in History", birthdays of famous people, and more. So if there is something you need to know, get your answers at Answers.com.
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Here is a site that I hope none of you will ever have the need to use;

http://www.idtheftcenter.org/
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Workout music playlists
http://www.inthegym.net/
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Did you know that a full plate of broccoli has the same calories as a small spoonful of peanut butter? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average adult needs 2000 to 2500 calories a day to maintain their weight.
Here's a great visual website

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm
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A friend is like a flower
A rose, to be exact
Or maybe like a brand new gate
That never comes unlatched.
A friend is like an owl
Both beautiful and wise.
Or perhaps a friend is like a ghost
Whose spirit never dies.
A friend is like a heart that goes
Strong until the end.
Where would we be in this world
If we didn't have a friend?
-Emma Guest
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Now for Toni...

I have gotten behind on new stamp issues for 2009, so here are two that have already been released and then two that will be released this week.

Alaska Statehood

With the issuance of this stamp in 2009, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood.

The stamp features a photograph by Jeff Schultz of a dogsledder taken in 2000 near Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range. Text on the stamp reads “1959 ALASKA.”

Scheduled issue date: Jan. 3 in Anchorage, AK.

Lunar New Year: Year of the Ox

In 2009 the U.S. Postal Service will issue the second of 12 stamps in its Celebrating Lunar New Year series, which began in 2008 with the Year of the Rat. The Year of the Ox begins on Jan. 26, 2009, and ends on Feb. 13, 2010.

Scheduled issue date: Jan. 8 in New York, NY.

Oregon Statehood

With the issuance of this stamp in 2009, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the sesquicentennial of Oregon’s statehood. Oregon was officially welcomed as the 33rd state in the Union on February 14, 1859.

Artist Gregory Manchess, a resident of Beaverton, OR, was inspired by his own experiences along the Pacific coast to create the painting for the stamp. The result is an evocative piece that incorporates several elements of the coastline — trees, rocks, cliffs, and pounding surf — but does not illustrate a specific place. “I wanted to make it an icon, an impression, of what the shoreline feels like when you look at the stamp,” says the artist.

Scheduled issue date: Jan. 14 in Portland, OR.

Edgar Allan Poe

In 2009, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s most extraordinary poets and fiction writers. For more than a century and a half, Poe and his works have been praised by admirers around the world, including English poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who dubbed Poe “the literary glory of America.” British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called him “the supreme original short story writer of all time.”

Scheduled issue date: Jan. 16 in Richmond, VA.
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Indiana

The first long-distance auto race in the U. S. was held May 30, 1911, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The winner averaged 75 miles an hour and won a 1st place prize of $14,000. Today the average speed is over 167 miles an hour and the prize is more than $1.2 million. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the site of the greatest spectacle in sports, the Indianapolis 500. The Indianapolis 500 is held every Memorial Day weekend in the Hoosier capital city. The race is 200 laps or 500 miles long.

Abraham Lincoln moved to Indiana when he was 7 years old. He lived most of his boyhood life in Spencer County with his parents Thomas and Nancy.

Marcella Gruelle of Indianapolis created the Raggedy Ann doll in 1914.

Santa Claus, Indiana receives over one half million letters and requests at Christmas time.

Crawfordsville is the home of the only known working rotary jail in the United States. The jail with its rotating cellblock was built in 1882 and served as the Montgomery County jail until 1972. It is now a museum.

Historic Parke County has 32 covered bridges and is the Covered Bridge Capital of the world.

True to its motto, "Cross Roads of America" Indiana has more miles of Interstate Highway per square mile than any other state. The Indiana state Motto, can be traced back to the early 1800s. In the early years river traffic, especially along the Ohio, was a major means of transportation. The National Road, a major westward route, and the north-south Michigan Road crossed in Indianapolis. Today more major highways intersect in Indiana than in any other state.

Deep below the earth in Southern Indiana is a sea of limestone that is one of the richest deposits of top-quality limestone found anywhere on earth. New York City's Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center as well as the Pentagon, the U.S. Treasury, a dozen other government buildings in Washington D.C. as well as 14 state capitols around the nation are built from this sturdy, beautiful Indiana limestone.

Indiana means, "Land of the Indians".

In Fort Wayne, Syvanus F. Bower designed the world's first practical gasoline pump.

Indianapolis grocer Gilbert Van Camp discovered his customers enjoyed an old family recipe for pork and beans in tomato sauce. He opened up a canning company and Van Camp's Pork and Beans became an American staple.

Muncie's Ball State University was built mostly from funds contributed by the founders of the Ball Corporation, a company than made glass canning jars.

Indiana University's greatest swimmer was Mark Spitz, who won 7 gold medals in the 1972 Olympic games.

In 1934 Chicago Gangster John Dillinger escaped the Lake Country Jail in Crown Point by using a "pistol" he had carved from a wooden block.

The farming community of Fountain City in Wayne County was known as the "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad." In the years before the civil war, Levi and Katie Coffin were famous agents on the Underground Railroad. They estimated that they provided overnight lodging for more than 2,000 runaway slaves who were making their way north to Canada and freedom.
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From Cheryl:

Having Trouble Threading Needles?

Try this: Put a tiny dab of clean nail polish on the tip of the thread. Let it dry and the tip will be easier to thread through the eye of the needle.

Useful Bridal Shower Gift

If you want to give something different at a bridal shower, why not put together a life saving kit for the couple's new home? In a large bucket, include a fire extinguisher, smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. Not glamorous, but life saving.
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Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.
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People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.
~Bill Gates, The Road Ahead
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If you happen to have any old recipes that call for a Number 2 or Number 303 can of something, this site has a chart to help you determine current can measurements.http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciq-can-sizes.shtml
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­Fried potatoes were first introduced in the United States by Thomas Jefferson in the late 18th century. Jefferson had come across them while he was in Paris. The actual French fry is an American invention but received its name based on the origin country of fried potatoes.

During the early 19th century, fried potatoes steadily gained in popularity. They became a common menu item at restaurants across the country. In 1853, a diner at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., ordered the fried potatoes with his meal. The diner, rumored to have been Cornelius Vanderbilt, sent the potatoes back to the kitchen with a complaint that they were not crispy enough. The chef at the restaurant, George Crum, apparently was furious with the criticism. So he sliced the potatoes paper-thin, salted them heavily and refried them. Ironically, instead of ruining the meal for the diner, Crum's creation was a hit with the patron.

The owner of Moon's Lake House, realizing that the chips were delicious, made them a menu item. Eventually, Crum opened his own restaurant that featured the thin, fried potatoes. He called them Saratoga Chips. As word of the chips got out, other restaurants began to serve them. It wasn't long before potato chips were a staple at restaurants across the country.

William Tappendon of Cleveland, Ohio, is credited with taking the potato chip out of the restaurant and into the grocery store. In 1895, he began selling potato chips to local grocers and turned his barn into the world's first potato chip factory. During the early 1900s, several companies built large factories for the mass production of potato chips. And the 1920s saw the birth of three companies that define the potato chip industry:

Earl Wise, Sr. had too many potatoes at his Wise Delicatessen Company, which was founded in Berwick, Pa., in 1921. He decided to make potato chips out of the extras and sell them in brown paper bags through the delicatessen as Wise Potato Chips.

Herman Lay began selling potato chips in the south, and in 1932, he founded Lay's in Nashville, Tenn., as a distributor for a chip factory in Atlanta, Ga. In 1938, Lay purchased the chip factory and started selling Lay's Brand Potato Chips.

In 1921, Bill and Salie Utz founded Utz Quality Foods in Hanover, Pa. Utz marketed and sold chips made by his wife Salie, called Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips.
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James Bond, known to his friends as Jim, was a Philadelphia ornithologist and the author of a book called Birds of the West India.

While the bird-watching book may not have been a bestseller, it did catch the attention of an Englishman named Ian Fleming. At the time, Fleming was living in Jamaica and writing a book of his own. It was the story of an as yet unnamed British secret agent who had the code name 007.

One day, as Fleming was sitting at breakfast looking through his favorite non-fiction tide, he found the perfect name for his hero: Bond, James Bond. Interestingly, the name Bond was not chosen because it was strong, exotic, or even memorable. As Fleming later wrote, "It struck me that this name, brief, unromantic and yet very masculine, was just what I needed." Jim Bond didn't know about his fictional namesake until the early 1960s when he read an interview in which Fleming explained the origin of his character's name.

In 1961, Bond's wife, Mary, wrote to Fleming and half jokingly threatened to sue him for defamation of character. Fleming replied, "I most confess that your husband has every reason to sue me.... In return, I can only offer your James Bond unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purpose he may think fit."
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Here are a few recipes that are sure to add some citrus sunshine to your winter days.

Creamsicle Cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks (3⁄4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1⁄2 cup orange juice
2 tsp grated orange zest

Creamsicle Frosting
1 1⁄2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1⁄2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
Liquid orange food color (optional)
Garnish: thin strips orange zest

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Line 24 regular-size (2 1⁄2-in.-diameter) muffin cups with paper or foil liners.

2. Beat butter, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, orange juice and zest in a large bowl with mixer on high 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each. On low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, just until blended, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Spoon evenly in muffin cups.

3. Bake 22 to 25 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean and tops are golden. Cool in pans on a wire rack 5 minutes before removing from pans to rack to cool completely.

4. Frosting: Beat ingredients in medium bowl on medium-high speed until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted. Tint with food color; beat just until blended. Frost and garnish cupcakes.
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Lemon Love Notes

BATTER:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (3 1⁄2 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel

GLAZE:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
1⁄3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan

2. Batter: Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg until blended. With mixer on low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until blended. Stir in coconut and lemon peel

3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until just until edges start to pull away from sides of pan. Do not overbake. Cool on a wire rack 20 minutes. Glaze bars while still warm.

4. Glaze: Stir confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over warm cookies, then spread evenly with a small flexible spatula. Sprinkle with coconut. Cool thoroughly before cutting in bars.
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Fun! Free Tetris
http://www.freetetris.org/
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Arkansas mother Michelle Duggar gave birth December 18 to her 18th child, Jordyn-Grace Makiya. The Duggar Family stars in the TLC reality show 17 Kids and Counting.
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Officials with the American Museaum of Natural History last month discovered a $15,000 diamond lodged in a vacuum cleaner bag. The gem belonged to Catherine Hart, who lost the stone when it became dislodged from her ring during a "Night at the Museum" overnight event earlier in December. On a hunch, museum officials had the cleaning crew check four dusty vacuum bags used to clean up after the event.
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From Sharon:

Take Me Back to the 50s
http://thefiftiesandsixties.com/TakeMeBackToTheFifties.htm
What We Drove in the 50s & 60s
http://thefiftiesandsixties.com/CarsWeDrove.htm
Growing Up in the 50s
http://thefiftiesandsixties.com/growingupinthefifties.htm
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Sharon's offering prompted me to share this site that I like that reminds me of my growing-up years:
http://www.escape-to-the-seventies.com/

01.06.2009

Hello one and all...welcome to the first issue of 2009. I'm having a hard time remembering the holidays are over because I'm still buying Christmas stuff. On clearance. 75% off! I love prices going down. Well, let's see what we have for this week... ~Toni
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Now for Phyllis...

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a happy and healthy New Years day! May 2009 be a year full of blessings for us all.

Want to send an e-card to someone from more than one person? Go to
http://www.groupcard.com/landing/
You can send a card from the whole group!
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Check it out! Ever wonder what your favorite websites looked like back when they were first created? Find out here
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
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COOL PICK
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
LoveFoodHateWaste is a British website that I recently found. The purpose of the site is to help cut down on food waste. You can use the site when planning a meal to ensure that you only use enough food for your meal, without any leftovers that could possibly just be thrown out. Not only does this help reduce food waste, it can also help you save money! Another benefit is that the site also has recipes where you can use up any leftovers you happen to have. Just click on "recipes" and check on the food(s) you have leftover to get recipes where you can incorporate them. They also offer tips on how to keep your food fresh, which of course will also help reduce waste.
According to LoveFoodHateWaste, the average household throws away about a third of the food they buy! They also claim that if we stopped wasting that food, the CO2 impact (carbon dioxide) would be equal to taking 1 out of 5 cars off the road.
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Oh, to be lying on a beach somewhere,
With sand in my toes
And the wind in my hair.

And only the sound of the seagulls on high
On a beach somewhere
Under a sunny blue sky.

The gentle caress of the waves on the shore
And you close beside me
Could I ask for more?

A soft, sandy beach that goes on forever
You, me and a beach
So happy together.

Somewhere by Linda Harnett
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If you would like reviews on "healthy" or "diet" food, go to
http://www.iateapie.net/
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Healthy Living

Just a short column this week, since I'm getting over the flu and still not feeling very well.
Here is an online quiz to see how much you know about fat loss.
http://exercise.about.com/library/Quiz/blbodyfatquiz.htm
How did you do? I got 10 out of 11 correct.
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Friends are kind to each other's hopes. They cherish each other's dreams.
--Emerson


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Now for Toni...

This week our state is Illinois:

The world's first Skyscraper was built in Chicago, 1885.

The Sears Tower, Chicago is the tallest building on the North American continent.

Metropolis the home of Superman really exists in Southern Illinois.

Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. 1865

On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi and a small band of scientists and engineers demonstrated that a simple construction of graphite bricks and uranium lumps could produce controlled heat. The space chosen for the first nuclear fission reactor was a squash court under the football stadium at the University of Chicago.

Des Plaines is home to the first McDonald's.

Dixon is the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan.

Chicago is home to the Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station, the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire.

Before Abraham Lincoln was elected president he served in the Illinois legislature and practiced law in Springfield. Abraham Lincoln is buried just outside Springfield at Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site.

Ronald Wilson Regan from Tampico became the 40th president of the United States in 1980.

The highest point in Illinois is Charles Mound at 1235 feet above sea level.

The ice cream "sundae" was named in Evanston. The piety of the town resented the dissipating influences of the soda fountain on Sunday and the good town fathers, yielding to this churchly influence, passed an ordinance prohibiting the retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. Ingenious confectioners and drug store operators obeying the law, served ice cream with the syrup of your choice without the soda. Objections then was made to christening a dish after the Sabbath. So the spelling of "sunday" was changed. It became an established dish and an established word and finally the "sundae".

In 1905, president of the Chicago Cubs filed charges against a fan in the bleachers for catching a fly ball and keeping it.

Chicago's Mercantile Exchange building was built entirely without an internal steel skeleton, as most skyscrapers; it depends on its thick walls to keep itself up.

The trains that pass through Chicago's underground freight tunnels daily would extend over ten miles total in length.

In Mount Pulaski, Illinois, it is illegal for boys (and only boys) to hurl snowballs at trees. Girls are allowed to do that however.

Illinois is known for its wide variety of weather. Major winter storms, deadly tornadoes and spectacular heat and cold waves.

The first animal purchased for the Lincoln Park Zoo was a bear cub, bought for $10 on June 1st, 1874.

New York Sun editor Charles Dana, tired of hearing Chicagoans boast of the world's Columbian Exposition, dubbed Chicago the "Windy City."

The Chicago Public Library is the world's largest public library with a collection of more than 2 million books.

The Chicago Post Office at 433 West Van Buren is the only postal facility in the world you can drive a car through.

The Chicago River is dyed green on Saint Patrick's Day.

The world's largest cookie and cracker factory, where Nabisco made 16 billion Oreo cookies in 1995, is located in Chicago.
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A rule of thumb for extension cords is that the extension cord should be as thick as the cord you plug into it.

And speaking of extension cords, have you ever needed an extension cord for a small appliance but didn't want all that extra cord visable on your counter? Would you believe there is a 6 inch extension cord? I ran across it at Radio Shack's website.
http://tinyurl.com/74hzyy
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Very serious advice from Cheryl:

Storing Antifreeze Keep antifreeze in sealed containers away from your pets. Cats and dogs adore the sweet taste of it and will lick it up off the garage floor.

Did you know that just 2 ounces might be enough to kill a pet? So also wipe up any spills ASAP and dispose of the paper towels carefully.
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I'm not sure if these are true or not, but I did think they were funny, so in the interst of a good laugh...

Accident insurance claim forms ask for a brief statement about how the accident happened. The combination of the finger pointing instinct and the small spaces provided on the forms can lead to some curiously phrased explanations:

"The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention."

"I thought my window was down; but found it was up when I put my hand through it."

"No one was to blame for the accident, but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert."

"The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth."

"I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident."

"I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat, I found that I had a fractured skull."

"As I approached the intersection, a stop sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident."

"The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end."
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Advertisers are estimated to have spent more than $1.2 billion in 2008 trying to reach social networking users, whose time on networking sites like Facebook and MySpace has increased 93 percent in the last two years. Not every advertiser is legit: Spammers in 2008 managed to trick countless teens and tweens to click a link for a video from their Facebook inbox that infects the user's PC with a spambot virus known and Koobface. It can infect a user's computer and turn it into a spamming slave, sending out email spam messages at the direction of a malicious proxy.
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January 8 would have been the 73rd birthday of Elvis. There are over 500 active Official Elvis Presley Fan Clubs still throughout the world today. They are represented in 44 of the 50 United States and 45 different countries worldwide. I found a couple of nice quotes about Elvis and wanted to share them.

"...it's like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody's ear, and somehow we all dreamed it."
~Bruce Springsteen

"It is rare when an artist's talent can touch an entire generation of people. It's even rarer when that same influence affects several generations. Elvis made an imprint on the world of pop music unequaled by any other single performer."
~Dick Clark
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Last issue I posed the question: In your opinion, what has been the most significant world event that has taken place during your lifetime?

1. I would say in my life time, it would be the city towers in NYC getting bombed by terrorists and getting a black president

2. The biggest world event I think in my lifetime would have to be the twin towers falling. I will never forget that day.

3. For me, it was Ronald Reagan getting elected President. Ronald Reagan was a man who fought for what he believed in, and he changed the world more than probably any American in the twentieth century.

I received only 2 answers to the question (I was the 3rd). I don't think there's much interest in this feature, so I will skip it for awhile. I might try it again at a later date though.
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~Marie's Laughter~

A cat died and went to Heaven. God met her at the gates and said, 'You have been a good cat all these years. Anything you want is yours for the asking.'

The cat thought for a minute and then said, 'All my life I lived on a farm and slept on hard wooden floors. I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on.'

God said, 'Say no more.' Instantly the cat had a huge fluffy pillow.

A few days later, six mice were killed in an accident and they all went to Heaven together. God met the mice at the gates with the same offer that He made to the cat.

The mice said, 'Well, we have had to run all of our lives: from cats, dogs, and even people with brooms! If we could just have some little roller skates, we would not have to run again.'

God answered, 'It is done.' All the mice had beautiful little roller skates.

About a week later, God decided to check on the cat. He found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow. God gently awakened the cat and asked, 'Is everything okay? How have you been doing? Are you happy?'

The cat replied, 'Oh, it is WONDERFUL. I have never been so happy in my life. The pillow is so fluffy, and those little Meals on Wheels you have been sending over are delicious!'
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John and I have tried Truvia sweetener and we really like it! Prior to this we'd been using NuStevia that we bought from GNC. We liked NuStevia except for the fact that it had a licorice-like aftertaste. So I saw the commercial for Truvia and we gave it a try. To us it is sweeter, has no aftertaste and it's cheaper per pack than the NuStevia from GNC.http://www.truvia.com/
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A little mindless fun anyone?http://www.danzen.com/snowflake/snowflake.html
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The expression Katy, bar the door means to watch out or serves as a warning of impending disaster. It dates to at least 1902 when it appears in Hugh McHugh’s (George V. Hobart’s) It’s Up to You: It was “Katie, bar the door” with her.

But who was Katy (or Katie) and why was she locking the door?

We don’t know for certain, but the expression is probably a reference to an incident in Scottish history. On 20 February 1437, King James I of Scotland was assassinated while staying at the Dominican chapterhouse in Perth and the Katy in question was one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting who tried to save him.

Her full name was Catherine Douglas, popularly known as Kate Barlass. A band of murderers, led by nobleman Robert Graeme, had entered the chapterhouse in search of the king. The king’s chamberlain, Robert Stuart, was in on the plot and had removed the locks and bolts securing the door of king’s chamber. In an attempt to prevent the murderers from entering the room, Catherine used her arm in place of a bolt. The murderers broke the door, and her arm, and succeeded in killing the king. Her descendants to this day bear a broken arm on their family crest and keep the name Barlass.
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Here is a site I've not really checked out completely yet, but at first glance it looks like it would really be helpful, so I wanted to go ahead and share it with you.http://www.thedailyplate.com/
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The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words. More than 2 billion pencils are manufactured each year in the United States. If these were laid end to end they would circle the world nine times.
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Big changes in our lives are more or less a second chance. ~Harrison Ford