What is Our Country Coming To?

E and I have been talking alot lately about the state of this country. It's pretty sad, and pretty scary. I like our President as a person, but as a leader, not quite as much. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't vote for him. It had absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin or that he's a Democrat (I consider myself an Independent.) I didn't vote for him because I didn't believe his promises. I didn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. I didn't believe his "change" would be a good change. Well, so far it's not. I watch alot of news on both ABC and Fox. Many people say Fox is the "Republican news". I think it's just the news that tells all sides of the story and not just what they want us to hear.

I've been watching alot of Glenn Beck lately and this week he's got some powerful shows on. There are many questions that I'd like to ask my President and even my state leaders. I have so many "whys" and "hows" but I don't know who to ask and even if my voice will be heard. I want to stand up and fight for what I believe in, but where do I begin? I want to be able to make a difference and help bring this country back to it's roots. I want to make sure that we still have our freedom, because the way things are going now it'll be gone.

If you go to http://www.glennbeck.com/ or http://www.foxnews.com/ and look for Glenn Beck's site you'll find out about the "advisors" that surround our President. You will be surprised and shocked, to say the least, at what they believe in. There are questions that Mr. Beck has posted for us that we need to be asking our government. If we don't, if we don't stand up and demand a change, we are going to lose so much. I'm terrified of what's to come. I don't normally promote other people's opinion unless I strongly believe in what they have to say. If you are reading this blog, please check out the websites, or watch Glenn Beck's show at 5pm eastern on Fox News. You will learn so much that the other news networks just aren't reporting.

I've Been Busy

I have been so busy lately. The warm months are always busy for me because there's always so much to can. This is what I worked on last night:

We have made 19 jars of Hot Salsa, 19 jars of Medium Salsa, and 38 jars of Mild Salsa. And we're not done. I picked more tomatoes on Wednesday so I have more sitting in the basement waiting to be made into something. I told E that we could make some more Hot Salsa since hot and mild are the biggest sellers. I want to make sure I have enough tomatoes, however, to make some spaghetti sauce, possibly more chili, and maybe even some ketchup. I've heard homemade ketchup is to die for.

I don't think I'll be going to the Farmer's Market tomorrow because they are forecasting rain all morning. Fine by me. I love having a break. I think we'll probably either make more salsa or I'll just take a break and work on some gourds are give my self a pedicure. I'd love to do the pedicure, but I really, really need to get some gourds done. The Street Festival is three Saturdays away.

Our corn is finally ready, so last night we had corn on the cob with dinner. Yum!

If I have enough, I'll be canning some again this year. I canned corn for the first time last year and I'll tell ya, that was the BEST canned corn I have ever had. When you can your own veggies, it's always SOOOO much better than what you buy in the store. Here's hoping we have a good crop of corn this year!!

Peace out.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

I remember the Nationwide commercial that has the animals and people singing that song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". I also remember two years ago while on a short overnight trip with Mom, Bonnie, and Dee Dee that this commercial came on while we were eating breakfast in the hotel dining area. I was lip synching the song and a man came in and busted out laughing at me. Apparently I looked quite comical. Hmph.

Anyway, I love mornings like this:

The fog in the lower distance. On mornings like this we are above the fog. Mornings like this are cool and a little crisp. Mornings like this remind me of Fall. I love Fall. It's my favorite season. Unfortunately this pic was taken two weeks ago. It's supposed to be in the upper 80s today. Not so nice.

Have a great day!

Storm Watching

A couple of weeks ago we had a storm come from the SouthEast. It is VERY unusual for a storm to come from that direction unless it a hurricane. This storm looked like it was going to be a bad one.
The clouds were so heavy.

Oh look. You can see where I work in this pic. There it is. That big massive white building at the bottom of the picture. The commute is great, but it kinda sucks living soooo close to work.

We were preparing for a pretty bad storm, but it just turned out to be heavy rain and some wind. No thunder and lightning. I was amazed at how angry the clouds looked.

Have a great day!

Corny Cornbread

E wanted cornbread with his taco salad the other night so I told him that I'd make some. While he was at the gym I looked all over for the Jiffy cornbread mix but realized I was out. Ahh! I've never made cornbread from scratch before! I found a recipe that sounded good and decided to change it up a bit. It turned out so good!

Corny Cornbread

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can whole kernel corn, drained (or 1-2 cups fresh corn---I used a mix of both)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine corn meal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile in a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs, and oil until smooth. Mix in the corn. Pour batter into prepared pan/s. I used two greased cast iron skillets. One large and one small. You could probably use a greased 13" x 9" pan or cornbread molds.

3. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes (depending on which pan you use. It only took my two skillets approx. 25 mins), or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

E loved it! I think it may have been a little more golden if I had poured some melted butter on top before baking; not quite sure. We've been eating the leftovers every day since I made it. I'm seriously thanking about heating some up for breakfast and slathering it with butter and maple syrup. It's THAT good!

Enjoy!

Update 8/14/09: I warmed a piece of the cornbread up, slathered it with butter, put a hot fried egg on top, and poured some real maple syrup over it all. YUM! Oh, I was in heaven. When E got home, I told him what I ate and he gagged! He thinks eggs and syrup are disgusting. I so disagree. It's so, so yummy!