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12.31.2013

Dave Ramsey Says..What Rich People Do Right



1. 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.


3. 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically four days a week. 23% of poor do this.


4. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% of poor people.


5. 81% of wealthy maintain a to-do list vs. 19% of poor.


6. 63% of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% of poor.


7. 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% of poor.


8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.


9. 67% of wealthy write down their goals vs. 17% of poor.


10. 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs. 2% of poor.


11. 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% of poor.


12. 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month vs. 16% of poor.


13. 67% of wealthy watch one hour or less of TV every day vs. 23% of poor.


14. 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% of poor.


15. 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.


16. 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% of poor.



17. 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% of poor.


18. 76% of wealthy believe bad habits create detrimental luck vs. 9% of poor.


19. 86% of wealthy believe in lifelong educational self-improvement vs. 5% of poor.


20. 86% of wealthy love to read vs. 26% of poor.


http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/20-things-the-rich-do-every-day

12.27.2013

Mistakes Made When A Child Dies

6 Mistakes People Make When a Friend's Child Dies
By Suzanne Leigh


My daughter, Natasha

1) Announcing the child's death on social media.
Don't do this. Please. Doesn't matter how active the parents might be on Facebook et al; it doesn't mean they want to share their news on this forum, and it doesn't mean they want you to do it on their behalf. See #2 for two reasons why this might rankle.

2) Alerting everyone you know to news of the death.
The parents couldn't control the accident or illness that claimed their child's life. Some of them may feel strongly about controlling the manner in which the news of their death travels. One parent reported getting sympathy texts from acquaintances before he had a chance to inform the grandparents of his son's passing. Exercise discretion and restraint in whom you tell and how you share the information. No parent wants the loss of their beloved child to be reduced to gossip fodder, as if it were in the same class as Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab.

3) Showing up at the memorial service dressed as if you're en route to a yoga class or ballgame.
The yoga pants or baseball shirt send a message: You have fun activities on your schedule that day and you don't want to devote extra time to a wardrobe change. Wearing formal attire is not usually mandatory, but you should dress with the care and attention that reflects the momentousness of the event that will forever mark the saddest passage of these parents' lives.

4) Enclosing a picture of your own kids in the holiday card.
They've lost their child, but they're still going to enjoy pictures of your cute kids, right? Probably not -- at least for a while. They might love your children, but now is not the time to flaunt their photographs. Skip the pictures and share a memory of their late child instead. If you can't do that, adding three words to your holiday greeting, "Thinking of [late child's name]" will be deeply appreciated.
Read more: Mistakes not to make when a friend's child dies

12.26.2013



“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”


  Steve McQueen

12.25.2013


Archive Photo of the Day: Santa at customs in Vietnam, 1970.
Santa Claus gets the once-over from the locals as he waits for permission to enter South Vietnam after arriving at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in December, 1970. His visit proved to be a short one, though, as he was denied entry because he didn't have a visa. Santa, also known as Pan American World Airways mechanic Jim Straughan of Miami, Fla., had come to Vietnam to pass out Christmas goodies to patients in U.S. field hospitals and Vietnamese orphanages. He and two other Pan Am employees left for Manila after an hour of wrangling with the bureaucracy, hoping to get the necessary visas there.

12.24.2013

"Piss Poor"

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" were the lowest of the low. The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. 

Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!" Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold. In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.  Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

12.23.2013





"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst then be false to any man" 

Shakespeare's Polonius in Hamlet

12.22.2013

Laguna Playhouse - Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

What a special day, seeing Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory at the Laguna Playhouse.
I had no idea such a play existed. This production is well-acted and emotional, with lots of sniffles as the young boy, Buddy, is separated from his playmate and best friend, adult cousin, Sook. Set in the 1950's with  poverty and "Alabama fruitcake" as cornerstones.


“You know what I've always thought? I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. 
And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. 
But I'll wager it never happens. I'll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are, just what they've always seen, was seeing Him.”   
Truman Capote (Sook)
 
Listen: Traditions and Fruitcake







12.18.2013

Homemade Dog Biscuits

Third Grade Hanukkah Activities: Homemade Dog Treats




Homemade dog treats are fun to make and delicious for your household pet! If your dog feels left out of the family's festive holiday baking, make a batch of tasty homemade dog treats to appease him. These homemade dog treats are simple for your child to make, and the cooking process provides a good lesson on fractions and measurements as well. These homemade dog treats make excellent Christmas gifts for dogs, so go ahead and make a whole batch for your furry friend and his neighborhood companions. These homemade dog treats are made using only ordinary kitchen ingredients, and they are even edible for humans!

What You Need:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered milk
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1 large egg, slightly beaten
  • 6 tbsp. Crisco
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup flaxseed (optional, but healthy!)

What You Do:

  1. Show your child how to preheat the oven to 325° F.
  2. Have your child combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. Cut in the Crisco; help your child add in the egg and water to the mixture.
  4. Ask you child to stir in the flaxseed, if you are including it.
  5. Invite your child to roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until it reaches about 1/2-inch thickness. Have him use cookie cutters in his favorite holiday shapes to cut up the dough.
  6. Bake the biscuits for approximately 30 minutes, or until golden brown.



Biscuits for Canine

12.12.2013

This potato chip in my lunch today.
What a lucky week I have had.
Found a beautiful bracelet in the post office parking lot yesterday (I turned it in, of course)
And, driving through In and Out (don't judge me!) on Monday, was told that the customer "two cars up" paid for my meal. 
Christmas has come early!

12.11.2013



The tobacco industry spends one million dollars an hour to promote their product. 

12.10.2013

Marcus Luttrell - Lone Survivor



Marcus Luttrell speaks to 60 minutes
Born and raised in Texas, Luttrell and his twin brother, Morgan, attended Sam Houston State University. They began training for the SEALs at age 14 with former United States Army soldier, Billy Shelton, who lived nearby. As kids they loved to hunt and fish and wrestle alligators! Martial arts training has been an important role in Marcus’ life from the time he was a child.
 On June 28, 2005, Luttrell and SEAL Team 10 were assigned to a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah (nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail), a high-ranking Taliban leader responsible for killings in eastern Afghanistan and the Hindu-Kush mountains.

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Couples and Counseling: Divorce is more painful than your wildest imagination. This doesn't mean that it's never the best option...it just means that most couples should work very, very hard to avoid it.

12.09.2013

Snowboarder Kevin Pearce, Goes Back At It


Before December 31st, 2009, Kevin Pearce was one of the most spectacular snowboarders anybody had ever seen. He’d challenged Shaun White, aka “The Flying Tomato,” for the status of top dog in the sport, having won three medals at the 2008 Winter X Games and another one in 2009. He was training in Park City, Utah, for the 2010 Olympics when he crashed.
“I tried the trick and ended up coming down on my front edge and resulted in slamming my head to the sheer ice half pipe and left me in a coma,” said Pearce. “So it was pretty intense.”
After December 31st, 2009, Kevin Pearce became, among other things, a case study. He didn’t open his eyes for 10 days after the accident. His first memory came a month later.


12.07.2013

forward is a pace


12.06.2013

What a Man...............

Nelson Mandela

12.05.2013

One final dreadful statistic: Every year in Europe—every year—a million children simply disappear.
Fairy tales explore the darkest fears of the human heart: the terrifying possibility of losing our families, of being alone and abandoned in dark places. Fairy tales have neat, happy conclusions, but back in the real world saving lost children takes time, effort, and money.

12.03.2013

Sometimes we shouldn't over-think it. Just roll your sleeves up and get to work. Other times, we need to sit back, do nothing, and take it all in.



Sex and the Single Priest...

Not many years after I left St. Matthew’s, I left the church. Leaving your church is not so much like quitting a club as emigrating from the country where you grew up. You forfeit citizenship and no longer consider yourself subject to its laws, but you follow the news from the Old Country and wish its people well, because they are still in some sense your people. And if you write for a living you may sometimes write about that world, from a distance.

12.01.2013

What Young Men Don't Know About AIDS

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/11/what-gay-men-have-forgotten-about-aids.html



Watch Last Week's 60 Minutes Interview with superweird Malcom  Gladwell
The Power of The Underdog...there's HOPE HOPE HOPE for all of us