Which are you?

One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. 

One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life. 

- Chinese Proverb

If the spider is patient, he gets his dinner. If not, he may move too quickly and scare away his intended meal. Then he goes hungry.

Now this is not a life-altering disaster, he simply rebuilds his web and begins the wait process. In the meantime, maybe he has learned something.

What is our take away from this? Patience is the key to accomplishment and impatience can lead to failure to meet your goals.

How can we apply this to our daily lives? Work, school, relationships, driving, and even dinner.

Patience is an virtue, and often it is kindness in disguise. According to our quote, patience is the difference between success and failure. I agree that this may often be the case.

However, with regard to some of the other daily instances of patience, it is simply showing kindness. For example, the elderly lady maneuvering the parking lot. We may be behind her, quietly (to ourselves) admonishing her for being slow, while she is being careful and doing the best she can. To allow her to move at her own pace without harsh reaction is kindness.

Also true with relationships. Patience with each other instead of grumbling about their "fill in the blank" is showing kindness as well.       

Most instances of patience is not life altering, it is simply us waiting our turn. What is your take on this?

Looking Back?

Hello friends!

I doubt that many of us are looking back on 2024 (or 2023 or 2022 or 2021 or 2020) with much fondness or enthusiasm. That is not to say that nothing good happened last year, although with all the yuck and suck it may seem hard to find the good.

Aside from the landslide MAGA victory, which I hope is a turning point for our nation to get back to sanity, decency and common sense, here are few highlights.

First, I discovered True Lemon. It is real lemon juice in powdered form. One packet equals one lemon wedge, but it is much more convenient, cheaper and they don't spoil before you can use them. Why is this a big thing? I'll tell you why. If you have ever had heartburn, you know how unpleasant that can be. The most common thing people do for heartburn is take antacids like Tums or Prilosec. Most folks equate heartburn with excess stomach acid, and yes, that can be a cause. However, the opposite is also true. Low stomach acid is another common culprit, but less often considered. 

Here is where the True Lemon comes in. I had picked up a package some time ago just to have on hand. Seemed like a good idea, right? So I started using one pack per day in about 10 oz. of water (I use small plastic water bottles - don't judge). I'm not sure now why exactly I started doing this other than I had read that lemon water has health benefits. Anyway, within a week or so, my frequent nighttime heartburn had disappeared. I have been doing this daily since sometime last spring. Now I get only the occasional twinge of heartburn. I am not giving medical advice nor suggesting that this will work for everyone, but it certainly has worked for me. It seems to me that the more you take of an antacid, the more you need them and for those with low stomach acid, this is a cycle you need to break. Could I stop using True Lemon and be fine? I don't know, but somehow I don't think so.

Second, by having made a purchasing mistake, I discovered Grape Seed Extract. I was buying Resveratrol for my hubby, and accidentally picked the wrong item because they were side by side in similar packaging. The online store could not accept a return, but generously gave me credit for it. Rather than letting it go to waste, I decided what the heck, I'll take it myself (ordered hubby the right stuff). To keep this from getting too long, the short story is that it has done wonders for my eyesight. I had been wearing prescription reading glasses for years. I began to notice that I could no longer see well with my glasses, but instead could see better when I took them off. An older pair worked, but I gradually stopped wearing them altogether. Now to be perfectly honest, my eyes are not back to where they were when I was young, but certainly good enough to not need my glasses. Would this also remain true if I stopped taking it? I don't know that either. Nor do I know why this happened. It is possible that it has made the part of my eye that focuses more flexible.

I realize that this is all anecdotal, but I am truly thankful to have stumbled upon them. Those reading this are welcome to share their experiences.

Until next time, take care and be safe.

We Made It!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2025. 

Finally, it's here. It's a fresh start. A new beginning.

These past four years have been nothing to write about, and yet everything to write about. However, we have all seen that if you say the wrong thing you could be cancelled. While nothing I have ever said here was particularly controversial, I opted not to have my full "say" on the political and cultural goings on around the country.

I don't listen to main stream Legacy media, and haven't for a long time. I prefer to ferret out the truth over listening to lies, propaganda and manipulative dialog that they try to off pass as news. X now has more real news than your favorite cable TV station or newspaper, and much of it you can get from the horse's mouth...er the original source.

The reason for this is that over time one narrative was created and that must be followed. You don't need to hear or see anything else. Do not trust your lying eyes, ya hear! Otherwise, you may end up as a victim of cancel culture. Yes, we have really come to that. It has been established that the Biden administration pressured the media (social and otherwise) to adhere to their narrative and censor real information. Think Facebook and CNN for example on issues such as Covid, and of course, politics. 

So just consider that everything you have seen or heard the past 4-5 years have been lies. You have been lied to six ways from Sunday. We all have. They have tried very hard to break us. Some have cracks, a few have shattered, but guess what? We will get up and put the pieces back together. It won't be easy and may be painful, but we can do it...Together.

Countdown to Jan. 20

A New Dawn on the Horizon

Well, it has been a long time since I crossed the threshold here. It's dusty and there are cobwebs everywhere. Apparently I am a poor steward of this blog. However, the light is always on and somewhere there is a broom, so here goes.

It is December 2024, and there is a new dawn on the horizon. Some are looking forward to it, even counting the days. Others are wailing in fear of what they perceive as unimaginable horrors. All I can say is relax, and wait and see before setting out with waving of arms and gnashing of teeth. It will quite likely not be what you fear because you have been programmed to believe the absolute worst. 

Breathe! After all, we have endured the past four years and that has not been pleasant. Lies and propaganda usually aren't. But, we are still here and the future looks brighter than it has in four years.

Having said all that in hopes of calming down the voices screaming in your heads, it will not be an easy ride. Nay it could be very bumpy. What has happened, economically speaking, cannot be fixed in an instant, no matter who holds the figurative reins. No, it could be painful, but think of it as growing pains. We may need to go through some difficult times in order to emerge stronger. 

Yet, in the midst of all this, we also need a social, moral and cultural realignment. We need to return to our core family values. Yes, that is an old and perhaps overused phrase, but nevertheless I believe it is necessary for the continuance of humanity.

So does the very existence of humanity hang in the balance? That is a good question, and one I don't have the answer to, but there are things I do know. The majority of people are decent, hard-working people who care about others. That is evidenced by the outpouring of love and generosity to those suffering from the effects of hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and parts of east Tennessee. No division, no party lines, no cultural differences. Just people helping people...it's a beautiful thing.

Then there is a very small percentage of people who do not conform to the societal norms but do make the biggest noise and call attention to themselves in their desire to be celebrated.

It would be unfair to state that the entire country is morally bankrupt, but some do and this is why. When it is in your face every day, that is eventually all you see. The goal being to normalize abnormal and immoral behavior. We stopped watching TV for this very reason.

TPTB want us divided morally, politically, racially and economically. Heck, they even pitted us against each other based on medical choices. It is up to us to stop this, and we can if, instead of being divided, we stand united. We The People have spoken.

There are many more points for discussion, but that is a post for another day. For now, I leave you with this:  Fact of the day. Born a man, always a man. Born a woman, always a woman. Drugs and surgeries can't change the facts.

Until next time, take care and stay safe.

Image is AI generated for illustration.

Good, Bad or Otherwise

Okay, so the age of Artificial Intelligence is here. Yes, it has been around for quite a while, but now it is in your face, everywhere. Have you ever seen a picture of cute otters on Facebook? Everyone in the comments oohs and ahs over them, saying how adorable they are...on and on. 

Do they not realize that the majority of these cute critters are just the product of AI?

Here you see my otter "photo shoot". Isn't he sweet and adorable"?

Full disclosure, the snow scene in a recent post was AI generated, just for fun.

What else does AI do? Well, it can write recipes for you. There is a site called goblin tools and it has a "chef" (link at the end of the post). You can put in your ingredients and it will give you a recipe. For the most part, these recipes will work, but you do have to check each one closely. If you leave out an ingredient such as broth, it may not automatically assume that more liquid is needed to make the dish work.

For example, my ingredients were ground beef, potatoes, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, onion powder, garlic powder. I intentionally used one can of soup and no additional liquid. It have me a recipe with one can of soup. I changed it up and did not specify the amount of soup, and it assumed two cans would be necessary. 

Dish Name: Creamy Beef and Potato Bake

- 500 grams (1.1 lbs) ground beef
- 4 large potatoes, thinly sliced (approx. 500 grams or 1.1 lbs)
- 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup
- 200 grams (7 oz) egg noodles
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. In a large skillet, cook the ground beef over medium heat until browned. Drain any excess fat.
3. Spread half of the sliced potatoes evenly in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the cream of mushroom soup, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix well.
5. Layer half of the cooked ground beef on top of the potatoes in the baking dish. Pour half of the soup mixture over the beef.
6. Add a layer of egg noodles on top of the soup mixture.
7. Repeat the layers with the remaining potatoes, ground beef, and soup mixture.
8. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender.
9. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and bubbling.
10. Allow it to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Give it a try for yourself. https://goblin.tools/Chef

Until next time, take care and stay safe.