just call out the SWAT team! don't cancel fireworks

with the state of Texas under a burn ban [all the counties except for a few along the OK/TX border] i wasn't too surprised that the fireworks for the 4th of July were cancelled - my son was especially disappointed but i was SHOCKED to discover the real reason why this was so..... the police dept feared too big of a crowd. for some reason, the mentality seemed to be that since Austin and San Antonio had cancelled their shows, the department feared thousands upon thousands of out-of-towners would descend upon San Marcos and controlling the crowds of people pushed the department to cancel our show. REALLY? REALLY?

why wasn't the SWAT team put on call instead?
during the last 2 weeks ALONE, the San Marcos Police have called out the SWAT team 3 times -

case 1. man robs shopper in walgreens parking lot with knife - poor thing, she lost the $3 she had on her and i'm sure she had the sh*t scared out of her. police follow suspect to home and since the crime was a 'violent' attack and he didn't seem to come out of the residence immediately, the SWAT team was called out. no firearms found but suspect apprehended.

case 2. a fight at a party breaks out and a man and woman are accused of stabbing and kicking fellow party-goers [no one was killed but a several were injured nonetheless] and again, due to the violent nature of the crime, the SWAT team was called upon to apprehend the suspects. of course, one of them was released on a PR bond - so violent as to warrant the SWAT team but not so bad as to have to put up bail? WHAT?

case 3. the last and most tragic case, involved the death of an Iraqi veteran and Texas State student; the san marcos are alerted by a suicide crisis center and an officer arrives at the scene and told by fellow roommates that the vet is armed. and you guessed it, the SWAT team arrived however, by the time they actually entered the building, it was too late. the newspaper article states the young man killed himself prior to the arrival of the police.

photo credit:
http://www.revousa.org/swat-team-targets-indebted-college-graduate

i like my chocolate..... by itself please

maybe its just me - it usually is - but i wonder sometimes what people are thinking when they add chocolate chips to things that normally would NOT have them or IMHO, don't NEED them. for example, sprinkling some chocolate chips on your ice cream - good! adding a few to melt in your coffee or add some extra chocolatey zing to your hot coco, OK, i'm good with that but lately some of my favorite things have been invaded by over-enthusiastic chocolate chip sprinklers such as banana nut bread - already full of yumminess; homemade pancakes - again, already delicious and with the syrup, do you really need to add something more that's sweet? and now, the latest victim of the wide spreading fad - banana pudding! alas, i will continue to indulge as these things are baked, cooked, and prepared and offered to me free of charge but when no one is looking, i'll be trashing them.................

making flour tortillas

Making home made flour tortillas is a great way to say THANK YOU with food :)

so here's the recipe:
first, turn on your comal* on medium-low heat and grease lightly with some cooking oil on a paper towel

*my comal or griddle, is a 10" round cast iron one

ingredients:
one handful of shortening [tradition calls for lard but i use crisco all vegetable - not the butter flavor]; about 1/2 cup

one cup, more or less, of very warm tap water [or you can heat some water up in the microwave like in do, in a coffee mug]

2 cups all purpose flour

medium pinch of baking soda

medium pinch of salt

directions:
mix dry ingredients thoroughly

add shortening and break it up as small as possible, mixing it into the masa [dough] well

make a 'hole' in the middle of the dry masa and add 1/2 of the water

mix well and add more water [or flour] as needed so that your dough is not too wet or too dry
[it should resemble bread dough]

knead your masa until it is nice and smooth, roll it into a ball, place back in mixing bowl and cover with a dish towel for 10 minutes or so

next, break off chunks of the dough and shape into spheres about an inch in diameter

prepare your rolling pin by spreading a thin layer of flour on it and dust your rolling surface; you can also sprinkle a bit of flour on your 'ball' of masa to prevent sticking

roll out your masa until flat but not too thin - rotate your tortilla one quarter of the way to keep your tortilla in a perfectly round shape [this is the hardest part for me - mine have been known to resemble different states LOL]

cook on your now well heated comal for about 2 minutes - turn your tortilla over when large bubbles appear and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes

ENJOY

so, why WON'T you recycle?

over the years, i've gotten used to separating 'trash' from 'compost' from 'recyclables'. it was messy and required some extra work on my part but i did it for the supposed greater good i e saving the planet. oh and i was married to someone who was just a bit, well how to put this in a nice way, was FANATICAL about the issue. of course, if you use lots of water to clean said recyclables before tossing them in the bin, are you wasting one precious resource to protect another? what is more precious - raw materials or water? well any way, that's a question for another time....

so lets say recycling is GOOD for the planet and what's good for the planet is good for its inhabitants - like humans - with me so far? so the city has tried to encourage this habit by providing [at your tax dollars expense of course] convenient bins on wheels that look just like the trash cans but different color lid. and its single stream which means that all acceptable materials can be thrown in all together. got the picture?

so at our apartment complex, the recycle bins are on the 'grass' side of the dumpsters. it perplexes me to watch people walk PAST the recycle bins to throw their cans/bottles/cardboard etc in the dumpster. do they not KNOW that the trash they just throw out could have been placed in the CLOSER and convenient bin that they had to walk past?
or do they just REFUSE to recycle? why would someone refuse to do something that is both GOOD and CONVENIENT?
do they think its a conspiracy?
a fraud?
is it a political/social/race thingey? you know, like I'M A CONSERVATIVE AND ONLY LIBERALS RECYCLE
or is more of a social thingey.......ONLY HIPPIES 'SAVE' TRASH FROM THE DUMPSTER
or is it a race thingey............YOU NOT WHITE [brown, red, yellow - take your pick] THEN WHY YOU RECYCLING?

so here's MHO, which is the whole point of my blog, the MORE items that i can recycle INSTEAD of putting in my trashcan, saves me money. yes, that's right $$$$$$. okay, maybe not a whole lot of money but since i have to BUY TRASH BAGS, the less bags i use, the less $$$ i spend on plastic bags that i'm going to throw away anyway. and i HATE buying something that is specifically going to be THROWN IN THE TRASH.

it boggles this pea brain......

1950s are SO OVER

Dos and DON'Ts for a 1950’s housewife appeared in a 1955 edition of Good House Keeping Magazine

• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

• After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

• Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

• A good wife always knows her place.

so here is MY RESPONSE:

To All Husbands (and men to hope to be) -

Remember your wife had more than one suitor to choose from and you must work to keep your #1 spot.

You will NEVER know the pain and hardship your wife went through to bear your children– you need to show your gratitude for this everyday. (no matter how many diapers you change or bottles you fix, its nothing compared to going through labor!)

If your wife is the one who has to do all the housework and childcare, how can you expect her to have any time and energy to be intimate with you?
(studies show husbands who help around the house, have more sex!)

Marriage is a partnership and therefore, both partners should have a say.

And last but not least, regardless of what your buddies in the locker room say, a big d**k is NOT all we are looking for and will only make up for so much.

Funny Forwards: Men are Just Happier People

NICKNAMES
If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura,
Kate and Sarah.
If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and
John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for
$32.50.None of them will have anything smaller and none
will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket
calculators.

MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need
but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS
A man has six items in his
bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor,
a bar of soap, and a towel from M&S.
The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337.
A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these
items.

ARGUMENTS
A woman has the last word in any
argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of
a new argument.

CATS
Women love cats.
Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

FUTURE
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS
A successful man is one who makes more money
than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants,
empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, or get the mail.
A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING
A woman knows all about her children. She knows
about dentist appointments and romances, best friends,
favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the
house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A married man should forget his
mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the
same thing.

Funny Forwards: Obama "exotic" but Palin "American"

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this
straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents,
you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a
quintessential American story.

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* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic
Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a
maverick.

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* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating,
you're well grounded.
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* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer,
become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,
create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new
voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,
spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district
with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state
Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4
years in the United States Senate representing a state of
13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving
on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and
Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any
real leadership experience.


* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on
the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with
less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state
with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to
become the country's second highest ranking executive.
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* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years
while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant
churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress,
and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the
next month, you're a Christian.
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* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education,
including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding
the fibre of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence
only, with no other option in sex education in your
state's school system while your unwed teen daughter
ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
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* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a
position in a prestigious law firm to work for the
betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to
raise a family, your family's values don't
represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First
Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no
college education, who didn't register to vote until age
25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the
secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely
admirable.
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OK, much clearer now.