It’s my Little Guy’s ninth birthday today. As he is a big fan of Star Wars The Clone Wars his morning present was a complete Star Wars the Clone Wars bedding set. He was really happy. Yay!
*** I have received no compensation or consideration from Target, Jay Franco, George Lucas, Lucasfilm, or starwars.com. I went to Target and bought the bedding with my own money. The Little Guy is extemely pleased with the selection however, including the fleece throw that he can cuddle in. ***
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)
Remember me:
I was in Germany 20 years ago when the wall came falling down. We heard about it around 9 pm local time. I called my mother at work back in the Chicago area to tell her about it. Then I was able to get a piece to take home. That was a great day.
A piece of the Berlin Wall
Our Shih Tzu, Raven, occasionally Ray-poo, officially known as Quoth the Raven, Nevermore crossed the Rainbow Bridge today. She had a huge lump on the right side of her neck that came up really fast. She was in a lot of pain. The vets and techs at Best Friends Animal Hospital and Animal Emergency & Treatment Center were wonderful and did what they could to make her as comfortable as they could. She went quietly and easily.
Daylight Saving Time also ends at 2 am tomorrow. Set your clocks back tonight and change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
My Princess, Anakin Skywalker, and Crow…
I’m getting ready to make some cookies for a Halloween Party on Monday and I thought I would share my recipe for royal icing once again.
Since royal icing is made with raw egg whites and isn’t cooked, there can be an issue with food safety. This can be avoided by using pasteurized eggs. Royal icing uses only the egg whites, not the yolks, so there could be some waste if you purchase a dozen pasteurized eggs (and they’re more expensive than regular eggs too).
My solution is to buy egg whites in a carton. These are available in the egg section of the dairy case at your local grocery store, right next to the Egg Beaters and Better’n Eggs. Like the Egg Beaters and Better’n Eggs, egg whites often come in a store brand too. The egg whites are genuine pasteurized egg whites that you just measure out instead of separating eggs to get the whites.
If you like to eat your cookie dough and don’t want to worry about the health issues of raw eggs, you can substitute the Egg Beaters or Better’n Eggs in your cookie dough recipe for regular eggs. Just follow the equivalency chart on the side of the carton.
Royal Icing
1 pound powdered sugar
1/3 cup egg whites (or two egg whites)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (helps to bind the egg whites)
2 teaspoons of water
Mix it all in a mixer. You can make different consistencies. add some more powdered sugar to make it a bit firmer. If you want to cover a cookie in icing, use a round tip and draw a line around the outside, then use slightly more watery icing to fill in. The icing will spread out, but won’t go over the side because of the icing dam. A toothpick dipped into food coloring can be used to “draw” features in newly poured icing (works well with white).
Try to use gel coloring if possible (Wilton
Royal icing can be kept in sealed plastic containers at room temperature for days. Mix different colors in different containers. If you don’t have cake decorating tools, you can still pipe icing dams using a plastic sandwich bag with a low corner just nipped off.
***I have received no compensation or consideration from Wilton or the makers of Better’n Eggs or Egg Beaters for this post. I have purchased these products with my own money to use in recipes and I am letting my readers know about their options. ***
Gateway Pundit has joined the Anchoress over at First Things.
Congratulations Jim!
***I have received no compensation or consideration from Gateway Pundit, The Anchoress, or First Things for linking to their sites.***
It’s my niece’s 14th birthday today and she wanted a purple Converse All-Star*** High Top cake. So she got what she wanted:
Emily's Birthday Cake
***I received no compensation or consideration for this Converse All-Star Shoe Cake. It is what my niece wanted her cake to look like, and it’s what I provided to her. ***
Over at The Volokh Conspiracy, Jonathan Adler brings us a story about a retired couple in Mass who are quite happy with their insurance, but they’ve been told it is unacceptable under Mass rules and they’ve been fined. Go read the post and the comments.
This is comment that I left there today at 8:27 pm
Reading the comments it seems that many people equate using the emergency room with being un/under-insured.
On Monday night I had to take my soon to be 9-year-old son to the emergency room/acute care center. He had been running in the hall at school that evening (we were there for Cub Scouts) and he ran into a door. He smashed his left middle finger (distal phalanx), and when pulling his finger out from between the door edge and the wall, cut the pad of his finger pretty deeply. He required an x-ray of his finger to ensure he hadn’t broken it and four stitches to close the wound.
We have insurance and had to go to acute care since it was obvious that it couldn’t wait until the next day when I may have been able to get an appointment with his pediatrician.
There may be a lot of people that use the E/R as a primary care facility, but that is because of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). There also seems to be a misunderstanding of what treatment is required for those that are uninsured. EMTALA requires only that the patient be stabilized.
When I was a kid, my father had catastrophic insurance through the university he worked for. Regular old doctor visits and vaccines were paid for at the visit or in a couple of payments. Insurance kicked in when my sister fell on a two by four and got a puncture wound in her thigh after running through the yard next door where they were building a house and my Dad had to take my sister to the hospital.
When my husband had a tonsillectomy as a child, his parents made payments to the hospital until the bill was paid off.
Back then we knew what we were paying for our health care. Now we pay $300 a month and a $3,000 deductible for a PPO and we don’t reach our annual deductible in regular medical costs, even with a child with chronic illnesses. We still pay for our insurance in case of a catastrophic illness or injury.
My monthly premium is lower because of the relatively high deductible. It seems that Mass wouldn’t allow me that choice. How much of an increase would there be in my premiums for a lower deductible? How much of a tax fine? Up above some people seem to be saying that the tax fine that the Williams must pay amounts to “only” $80 a month. But that’s if the Commonwealth of Mass will take monthly payments. I’d not be surprised if the tax fine was due, in full, last week or face interest charges…
Being forced to pay for coverage that I don’t want or need is another story. That’s like going to the store for milk and eggs and being told you must also purchase and pay for oatmeal, salmon fillets, and fresh asparagus and beets. Oh, and by the way, that whole milk you wanted to buy? So sorry, it’s skim for you.
