Feed the Bellringer's Bucket

The bell rang for lunch and my 5 pre-teaching students and I headed for the AG pickup. We were delivering our plarn* sleeping mats to the Salvation Army.

*Plarn is a word made by combining plastic and yarn. It is made by cutting WalMart bags (any store bags will do) into strips and looping then them together. Voila: plarn.

On most Fridays we work on our sleeping mats: flattening bags, folding, cutting, looping the pieces together and crocheting. We often enlist the help of 6th graders. They love to help us. It's wonderful working at a preK-12th grades school.

I take the remaining plarn home and crochet over the weekend and in the evenings until it is Friday again. It's a slow process. We finally got two 6 feet long mats made so we planned a field trip to Lawton to give our mats to the Salvation Army.

We spent more time deciding where to have lunch than we did on anything having to do with the mats. It came down to Olive Garden or Golden Corral. We had to draw for the winner: Golden Corral.

Golden Corral is a buffet, all you can eat, super yummy bread restaurant. Great for hungry teenage boys. Not so much for a senior citizen who no longer burns very many calories. I did OK though. A tossed salad with EVERYTHING on it including a broccoli salad that I used as the dressing. I had grilled chicken that was really good and cooked broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. And for dessert...a dinner roll.

Captain Hall was delighted to receive the mats. He told us about the Salvation Army and what they do to help the homeless. We felt good about making and donating our mats.




On the ride home, the boys kept yelling, to no one in particular, "I just helped the Salvation Army!"

I've already started our third mat using the plarn we made last Friday.

Crazy is as Crazy does

At my daughter's recommendation, I've been listening to Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. The first story is about being a Santa's elf in Macy's when he was in his 30's. Funny, quirky and embarrassing as the people in Macy's are, I'd put my public library patrons up against them any day. The only things is, David didn't know the people he wrote about. I know my patrons and I wouldn't want them reading about how funny, weird and embarrassing I think they are.

I received a phone call from a stranger today and I don't care if he knows how crazy I think he is.

Hello! This is Joe Blow from whatever book company and I want to talk to the librarian.

Speaking.

Oh good, great, wonderful. Did you know that ALA changed the subject heading from Black to African American?

Thinking he might be taking some kind of weird survey I said, "Yes."

You did? Well good for you. Must be because you're a librarian. I thought they were still called blacks but our Encyclopedia of Black Americans has a new name. Now it's called the Encyclopedia of African Americans. I don't know why they want to be called African Americans instead of black. I guess our old set of encyclopedias had them out pickin' cotton and spittin' watermelon seeds. The new one portrays them as scientists and inventors.

Are you trying to sell me something?

Oh, no no no. I just want you to preview our new set for...

I have no budget. Zero money.

OK, thank you.

Click.

Crazy man, wherever you are, I hope you lose my phone number.

Sunday In My Town

Sunday begins with church. Getting ready for church, dressing the grandson, walking the 1/2 block to church and settling in with the congregation that worships together weekly.

One of the first parts of church is bringing in the light of Christ.

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent.

Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower---Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color. Isaiah 35:1

Patsy reads the advent story while her mother lights the candle of joy.

Advent is the special time before Christmas. Preparing the way for the birth of Jesus.

I received this link in an email today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_676439&feature=iv&v=OExXItDyWEY

It's a music video called "Where's the line to see Jesus?" It says a lot about Advent and the way we celebrate Christmas.

My daughter and I completed the Third Day of Advent in our town by leaving it and going to Lawton to get some Christmas shopping done. Old traditions die hard. :~)

Dinner Theater

A collaboration between a Methodist Church and a Community Theater group resulted in an evening of holiday entertainment: It's a Wonderful Life, the Radio Show.

The show was an amazing adaptation for radio-on-stage by Tony Palermo. The stage replicated a radio studio and we, the audience, played the part of a live radio studio audience. What fun! The actors were impeccable ranging from small children to senior citizens. They brought this Christmas classic to life in a new medium. We laughed and cried with them and applauded when we were given the stage direction to do so.

But what would dinner theater be without the dinner? Another challenge on my part. The meal was served at 6:30 p.m. before the performance at 8:00 p.m. Church ladies know how to cook. They served us tuna noodle casserole with a blanket of cheese on top (reminded me of tuna lasagna), a tasty green bean almondine, a tossed green salad and a cranberry salad that tasted like dessert. For those who didn't consider the cranberries as dessert, there was pie of several varieties. Tea or water to drink and some of the best coffee, especially being served at a church. I asked what kind of coffee they used and was told Douwe Egberts. I should have asked where they buy it.

There was also a silent auction for the table decorations. Daughter Beth had her eye on the Joy to the World/Peace on Earth decoration so I put in a bid and I won! She paid for it and took it home. During intermission, the man running the lights came over to me and told me that during the performance the church's women's group texted him and asked him to make sure that I paid for the table decoration before I left. We both laughed. They had already been paid.

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Just Say No

Christmas Dinner at Work,

I should have known better.

I ate lunch before I went to work

to avoid temptations.

I got to work early so Roxanne could go to lunch.

I already ate lunch, you go eat. No, you go. No you.

I won,

Roxanne took a short lunch break.

She came back and insisted that I go enjoy the Christmas banquet.

I've got to learn to say no.

A platter of potato and rice dishes,

Pass.

The refrigerator full of desserts,

Pass.

Baked bean,

I love beans but

These contained more sugar than beans.

Meatballs,

I love hamburger meat but

These were slow cooked in sweet Bar B Q sauce.

Chinese vegetable dish,

Usually a favorite of mine but

These were served with sweet red sauce.

Homemade French bread,

Delicious but

The Glycemic index for glucose (sugar in the blood) is 100, white bread 70 and table sugar 68.

I’m on sugar overload,

heading to a sugar coma.

I’ve got to learn to say NO

And mean it.

Did You Know?

These are things you may already know, but I want to share them in case something might be new.

Fresh nutmeg. Nutmeg comes "fresh" in a spice bottle. I can't remember how much it costs, it may seem expensive, but there is a lot of nutmeg in those nuts and it lasts forever. You can get a special grating tool or just use the tiny holes on your regular grater when you want to use nutmeg in a recipe. Fresh is always more aromatic, it makes you feel good just to smell it, and I think it tastes better too.

Fresh ginger. A tip from Rachel Ray: you can store ginger root in your freezer. When you want ginger, slice off a bit and chop it up. Easy and tasty.

Pepper corns that come in their own grinder jar. How convenient is that? I love freshly ground pepper on food and this is just so easy. I also like easy.

Wheat Germ. Packed with fiber and iron and a plethora of vitamins, wheat germ is good for you. I sprinkle it on foods for a nutty taste. I put it in my omelet egg mix to make pseudo pancakes.

Non fat plain Greek Yogurt. Do you like sour cream? Try Greek Yogurt. It is much better than fat free sour cream. It's good as yogurt too. You can buy it with fruit and sugar already mixed in, but of course I add my own fruit and if needed some Splenda.

Fat Free Half and Half. Isn't that an oxymoron? It's got a nice creamy taste with zero fat. It does have the dreaded corn syrup in it and 1 g of sugar per 1 tablespoon (part of that is the natural sugar in the milk) so use it with that information in mind. It's great in a cup of coffee or poured over hot steel cut oatmeal.

Steel Cut Oatmeal. It takes longer to prepare steel cut oatmeal and it's more expensive so why bother? The taste is creamy with a nutty flavor, thick, rich and delicious. The nutritional benefits include B-vitamins, calcium protein and fiber. One cup of steel cut oats contains 8 g of insoluble fiber. (That's the fiber that flushes fat and cholesterol out of your body.) I cook my oatmeal in a small crock pot. I put the water and oats in the crock pot and let them warm up together. Steel cut oats are traditionally grown in Ireland. My tin of "Irish Oatmeal" comes with an Irish blessing: May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face.

100% pure pomegranate juice. Pomegranates are rich in antioxidants which can lower blood pressure, have a cancer fighting agent, and are beneficial to heart health. My favorite way to drink Pom juice is to add a little to my Merlot therefore increasing the antioxidant power of my red wine.

I do believe it's time to have my glass of pomerlot. What are your favorite healthy, tasty foods?

Eating Out

It isn't easy eating healthy at restaurants. You never know how things are cooked or what ingredients are used. How much and what kind of fat? Salt? Sugar?

But when your girlfriends want to meet for lunch, of course you go. I went to one such lunch with the library ladies on Monday. We meet at a Chinese buffet that has more choices than I've seen anywhere else.

So how does one navigate through the rows of steaming dishes? I skip the American aisle of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, French fries, pizza, etc. I also skip the egg rolls, fried sweet breads, and other deep fat fried foods.

The salad bar has good choices: bowls of greens, raw vegetables and fresh fruit. I avoid the puddings, Jello and pasta salads that are on the same table.

Our restaurant has poached salmon. Not my favorite way to cook salmon but it's most likely a healthy choice. On Monday I went through the rows of combination foods like beef and broccoli, and picked out a few veggies from each. I tried to get as little sauce with the veggies as possible since there's no telling what was in them. I got a bunch of crunchy green beans out of a bowl of their own and a mushroom dish that was so tasty I'm sure it was cooked in something decadent. Water to drink and a fortune cookie for dessert made a satisfying meal.

I had a great time catching up with friends. It's important to put more focus on the people while choosing what you eat with care.

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