The following is an email I just recieved. I posted it only after I tried every avenue I knew to see if it was false. I found many stats to prove it true, and nothing to prove it false. It makes for some interesting reading, but I am not sure it changes any of my personal opinions.
Eye Opener
Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan , the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through now, we have lost a total of 3,140 soldiers. As tragic as the loss of any soldier is, consider: below is a list of deaths of soldiers while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2004:
FIGURES ARE CONFIRMED ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SITE
1980 2,392
1981 2,380
1982 2,319
1983 2,465
1984 1,999
1985 2,252
1986 1,984
1987 1,983
1988 1,819
1989 1,636
1990 1,507
1991 1,787
1992 1,293
1993 1,213
1994 1,075
1995 1,040
1996 974
1997 817
1998 827
1999 796
2000 758
2001 891
2002 999
2003 1,410 534*
2004 1,887 900*
2005 919*
2006 920*
* Figures are Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom fatalities only
Does this really mean that the loss from the two current conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Clinton's presidency? Were we at war?
Now, are you confused when you look at these figures? I was. Especially when I saw that in 1980, during the reign of President "Nobel Peace Prize" Carter himself, there were 2,392 military fatalities of U.S. soldiers.
What this clearly indicates to me is that our media and our politicians pick and choose. They choose NOT to present all the facts.
Another fact our media and politicians frequently slant is that these brave men and women losing their lives are minorities. The latest census shows the following:
European descent (white) 69.12%
Hispanic 12.5%
African American 12.3%
Asian 3.7%
Native American 1.0%
Other 2.6%
Now, the fatalities over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom are:
European descent (white) 74.31%
Hispanic 10.74%
African American 9.67%
Asian 1.81%
Native American 1.09%
Other 2.33%
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Is it Sunday again!?!
Time is going by so fast that I really think doing a summary on Sunday is going to be helpful for a while.
Monday, bills and scouting wedding locations. Mom had her second chemo treatment and all seemed well.
Tuesday, combined wedding scouting with modern art gallery gazing. It was interesting to see the modern art, but it was even more interesting to talk to the boys about their impressions.
Wednesday, history reports in the morning, golf driving range in the afternoon, So You Think You Can Dance in the evening! Pretty good day.
Thursday, reports on the physics of golf in the morning, played a D&D styled role playing game in the afternoon (first time in years), SYTYCD in the evening. Off and on through the day I was compling the articles for the Newsletter, which will be late this month or maybe even combined July/August.
Friday, first thing in the morning my sister called to tell me our father was in the hospital with stomach issues. Not good since he had knee replacement surgery on Monday. The thought that putting him under might have caused his bowels to stop working properly. Then Dirk and I drove all over the area (put 100 mi on the car) doing more wedding location scouting. When I got home, We picked up dinner from Panera with some gift certificates that we had had for a couple years :) Nathan was back from camp and wanted to be taken to a friend's house for a couple hours. So, more driving. Since I was out I stopped by the store for fruit and meat to hold us over until I could really go shopping on Sunday, so I thought.
Saturday, I slept the whole day away. I did nothing and didn't feel like doing anything at all! However, the Nathan work so hard all day on the housework, deep cleaning the library and the laundry rooms that when he asked to go to the movies I didn't have the heart to tell him no. He even made dinner after I said yes! He made an amazing baked cod with lemon and dill. I drug butt out of bed and went to see Live Free or Die Hard. It was a great rollercoaster ride of a movie. No literary value, just fun and funny. I did not regret my choice to go! When we got home I checked my blood pressure with Dirk's little wrist machine.... not too good. I am used to my BP being 115 over 65 or very close. It was 145 over 95 the first time and then after resting it only went down to 125 over 85. Maybe this sluggishness that I can't seem to shake has something to so with BP and blood sugars..which are also too high!
Sunday, woke up feeling great, made breakfast for everyone, but by the time I should have been taking my shower I was ready for bed again. I called to check on my dad, he is fine. Mom is doing very well this week!! I just can't seem to 'wake-up'. I was checking up on the blogs I read and feel sad that I don't have the energy to comment. I was checking up on the forum I visit and again, the energy to compose a coherent thought that was on topic wasn't there.
I am off to take a nap and hopefully get the energy I need to do the stuff I HAVE to get done today.
Monday, bills and scouting wedding locations. Mom had her second chemo treatment and all seemed well.
Tuesday, combined wedding scouting with modern art gallery gazing. It was interesting to see the modern art, but it was even more interesting to talk to the boys about their impressions.
Wednesday, history reports in the morning, golf driving range in the afternoon, So You Think You Can Dance in the evening! Pretty good day.
Thursday, reports on the physics of golf in the morning, played a D&D styled role playing game in the afternoon (first time in years), SYTYCD in the evening. Off and on through the day I was compling the articles for the Newsletter, which will be late this month or maybe even combined July/August.
Friday, first thing in the morning my sister called to tell me our father was in the hospital with stomach issues. Not good since he had knee replacement surgery on Monday. The thought that putting him under might have caused his bowels to stop working properly. Then Dirk and I drove all over the area (put 100 mi on the car) doing more wedding location scouting. When I got home, We picked up dinner from Panera with some gift certificates that we had had for a couple years :) Nathan was back from camp and wanted to be taken to a friend's house for a couple hours. So, more driving. Since I was out I stopped by the store for fruit and meat to hold us over until I could really go shopping on Sunday, so I thought.
Saturday, I slept the whole day away. I did nothing and didn't feel like doing anything at all! However, the Nathan work so hard all day on the housework, deep cleaning the library and the laundry rooms that when he asked to go to the movies I didn't have the heart to tell him no. He even made dinner after I said yes! He made an amazing baked cod with lemon and dill. I drug butt out of bed and went to see Live Free or Die Hard. It was a great rollercoaster ride of a movie. No literary value, just fun and funny. I did not regret my choice to go! When we got home I checked my blood pressure with Dirk's little wrist machine.... not too good. I am used to my BP being 115 over 65 or very close. It was 145 over 95 the first time and then after resting it only went down to 125 over 85. Maybe this sluggishness that I can't seem to shake has something to so with BP and blood sugars..which are also too high!
Sunday, woke up feeling great, made breakfast for everyone, but by the time I should have been taking my shower I was ready for bed again. I called to check on my dad, he is fine. Mom is doing very well this week!! I just can't seem to 'wake-up'. I was checking up on the blogs I read and feel sad that I don't have the energy to comment. I was checking up on the forum I visit and again, the energy to compose a coherent thought that was on topic wasn't there.
I am off to take a nap and hopefully get the energy I need to do the stuff I HAVE to get done today.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Dirk's song
Edited per Chris' request.
If I have done this right you will see a video that a friend of Dirk's put together. The friend, Chris, wrote the lyrics on 911 and Dirk wrote the music at a later date. It is Dirk singing the song. Chris took a copy of the song a few days ago and put pictures to it. I think it has some touching moments, but some parts seem kind of random to me.
Let me know what you think.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
My week....
Here is yet another Sunday morning that finds me at home instead of at church. I keep asking myself, "why?" But I really can't answer very well. The thought of facing people this morning seems too draining. It has been a rough week.
Last Sunday was Father's Day and I woke up sick, but was better by 1pm when I went to my father's house for a while. Then, I just came home and slept.
Monday, Mom had her first chemo treatment in the morning. She will have them three Mondays in a row then be off a Monday, then three more then off and so on until late August. I know I did something, but I can't even remember the rest of the day!
Tuesday, I had 4 students. We worked on math, script writing, GED preparation (Nathan), literature. history, geography and music(with Dirk). I also helped a former student compile a transcript and resume. Mom was doing ok, but needed some care. After another low energy day I figured out I was forgetting to take my vitamins because I wasn't eating at the same time or in the same place each day.
Wednesday, 5 students showed up, they worked mostly on their own or with Dirk because I was with Mom, she was having a really, really bad day. I was supposed to go to a meeting about mission trips, but didn't have the energy. I did, however, listen to a teleconference on this weight loss program called Take Shape For Life. It is the 'pre-surgery' program a lot of bariatic dr. use. Many people lose 25-35 lbs a week on it without surgery or to get ready for surgery. I am seriously considering it. But even after talking with a dr. he thinks because of my PCOS I will only lose 5-8 lbs a month for the first 6 months, but he thinks the weight loss with speed up after that because my body's chemistry would be closer to normal. Could I go on a liquid diet for 18 months to 2 years? I don't know.....
Thursday, 4 students again. They had to take math tests which they assured me they were ready to take. This particular group has a history of carelessness so before the test I made a list of consequences with them. No mistakes 30 min. of extra freetime! One mistake 15 min. extra freetime. Two mistakes no consequence, three do the dishes, four vacuum the house, ect....until 10 mistakes out of 20 problems and they would have to clean the goat pen. They were happy with the list full of confidence that they would do well. Two did, each of them missed two or less. The other two, however, didn't. One missed 8 and had to do 45 min. of yard work, the other missed the 10 and had to clean the goat pen. I was very proud of her because she didn't finish before being picked up so she made arrangements to come back on Saturday to finish. The other young lady did her job, but grumbled and fussed the WHOLE time! When we went over the test, both girls missed simple adding, division, and signed number problems that they have been doing for years. Both had some confusion on one or two of the problems, but neither should have missed more than two and both said they learned a valuable lesson about carelessness.
Then, just as I finish with them a landscaper comes to give me a bid on the property. I really have little to no money, but I figure if I am going to come up with the money for Kayleigh's wedding maybe it would be nice to see some of that go into home improvements. Well, he is here talking to me for over 3 hours about the property and while he is here an other landscaper who was supposed to meet me that morning shows up (5 hours late). He gets mad at me when I ask him to wait a few minutes while I finish up with this guy and can talk to him. Well, this second guy writes some numbers on a piece of paper and puts it in the mailbox. Guy one thinks he can make a real difference in the yard and save some of the wildlife habitats for 5000 a year over 2-3 years. Guy two's numbers START at 70,000 and go up!
Thursday is also Mom's worst day. Luckily, my sister and Dirk were also here so that we could keep talking to doctors and running to the pharmacy. It was a rough day on all of us.
Finally it was Friday, Mom had a much better day! And I had no students. I did have a meeting with the financial lady. It was a good meeting, but the bottom line is I don't charge enough tution and I also need to branch out into other avenues for generating income from The Center. Dirk finally heard that we have GOT to have a good soild webpage for The Center were we can sell my lesson plans, have long distant literature classes, attract other students or even workshops for parents. So, the webpage I have been begging for, for seven years now may actually happen in the next week or two!
I also snuck another 'cheap date in.' Financial lady's office is next door to a Graeter's Ice Cream shop and we had gift certificates. So, I had a scoop of butter pecan while Dirk had a hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl. We sat and just talked while we ate our ice cream. It was a nice break after the meeting.
When we got back I had to work on the bills( yuck) and sat with Mom for awhile.
Yesterday, got up late. Then MaryRose (my 'other daughter') came over, she lives in Lexington now and so it is hard to see her too. We were doing research online for Kayleigh's wedding and then we went out and did some 'scouting' of locations. In someways I think we are closer to a location, but in other ways I think we are farther. I will be happy when this decision is made once and for all!!!!
Mom had a good day, she was weak, but didn't need any fever, pain, or nausea meds.
I took Nathan and his 'girlfriend' to a Catholic Picnic that was happening even though it was storming off and on all night. When we got home and I walked into my room to go to bed (around midnight) there was the strangest smell. It smelled like glue and it was so strong my eyes were watering and Dirk was asleep in the room. When I told him to get up he didn't smell it. When I made him leave the room and come back he could then smell it. The smell was no where else in the house. The room had smelled fine when he went to bed at 11. We never did figure it out, but we turned off the window air conditioner and opened the house and turned on the house fan and this morning the smell was gone.
So here I am, after getting to sleep around 3 am on the couch, I got up this morning around 8:30 made breakfast, checked on Mom, read the blogs on my RSS and started processing the week. I had/have no energy to go to church this morning. I am still haven't had a shower yet today and it is almost noon!
It is going to be a hard week coming up too. Nathan, Athena and two of my other students leave for camp and will be gone 10 days. Nathan has been the hugest help lately. He has taken care of the animals, taken over the professional housekeeping job, and done quite a bit of the yard work. Athena, has been so busy with Ladybirds and college preparations, I just see her in few minute spurts. One of the other students who is going with them is also a huge help to me in the daily chores and up of the house. Maybe I should just go to camp too :)
Today, I will layout on paper what I want the webpage to look like and features I would like included. I will set up a template for my cooking lesson plans. I will finish paying June's bills. I will begin compiling the student work for the July Newletter. I will bake a batch of millet scone with raisons and walnuts (the only combination good for all blood types). And I will take at least one picture for my 365 blog! It has been off track log enough!!!
Last Sunday was Father's Day and I woke up sick, but was better by 1pm when I went to my father's house for a while. Then, I just came home and slept.
Monday, Mom had her first chemo treatment in the morning. She will have them three Mondays in a row then be off a Monday, then three more then off and so on until late August. I know I did something, but I can't even remember the rest of the day!
Tuesday, I had 4 students. We worked on math, script writing, GED preparation (Nathan), literature. history, geography and music(with Dirk). I also helped a former student compile a transcript and resume. Mom was doing ok, but needed some care. After another low energy day I figured out I was forgetting to take my vitamins because I wasn't eating at the same time or in the same place each day.
Wednesday, 5 students showed up, they worked mostly on their own or with Dirk because I was with Mom, she was having a really, really bad day. I was supposed to go to a meeting about mission trips, but didn't have the energy. I did, however, listen to a teleconference on this weight loss program called Take Shape For Life. It is the 'pre-surgery' program a lot of bariatic dr. use. Many people lose 25-35 lbs a week on it without surgery or to get ready for surgery. I am seriously considering it. But even after talking with a dr. he thinks because of my PCOS I will only lose 5-8 lbs a month for the first 6 months, but he thinks the weight loss with speed up after that because my body's chemistry would be closer to normal. Could I go on a liquid diet for 18 months to 2 years? I don't know.....
Thursday, 4 students again. They had to take math tests which they assured me they were ready to take. This particular group has a history of carelessness so before the test I made a list of consequences with them. No mistakes 30 min. of extra freetime! One mistake 15 min. extra freetime. Two mistakes no consequence, three do the dishes, four vacuum the house, ect....until 10 mistakes out of 20 problems and they would have to clean the goat pen. They were happy with the list full of confidence that they would do well. Two did, each of them missed two or less. The other two, however, didn't. One missed 8 and had to do 45 min. of yard work, the other missed the 10 and had to clean the goat pen. I was very proud of her because she didn't finish before being picked up so she made arrangements to come back on Saturday to finish. The other young lady did her job, but grumbled and fussed the WHOLE time! When we went over the test, both girls missed simple adding, division, and signed number problems that they have been doing for years. Both had some confusion on one or two of the problems, but neither should have missed more than two and both said they learned a valuable lesson about carelessness.
Then, just as I finish with them a landscaper comes to give me a bid on the property. I really have little to no money, but I figure if I am going to come up with the money for Kayleigh's wedding maybe it would be nice to see some of that go into home improvements. Well, he is here talking to me for over 3 hours about the property and while he is here an other landscaper who was supposed to meet me that morning shows up (5 hours late). He gets mad at me when I ask him to wait a few minutes while I finish up with this guy and can talk to him. Well, this second guy writes some numbers on a piece of paper and puts it in the mailbox. Guy one thinks he can make a real difference in the yard and save some of the wildlife habitats for 5000 a year over 2-3 years. Guy two's numbers START at 70,000 and go up!
Thursday is also Mom's worst day. Luckily, my sister and Dirk were also here so that we could keep talking to doctors and running to the pharmacy. It was a rough day on all of us.
Finally it was Friday, Mom had a much better day! And I had no students. I did have a meeting with the financial lady. It was a good meeting, but the bottom line is I don't charge enough tution and I also need to branch out into other avenues for generating income from The Center. Dirk finally heard that we have GOT to have a good soild webpage for The Center were we can sell my lesson plans, have long distant literature classes, attract other students or even workshops for parents. So, the webpage I have been begging for, for seven years now may actually happen in the next week or two!
I also snuck another 'cheap date in.' Financial lady's office is next door to a Graeter's Ice Cream shop and we had gift certificates. So, I had a scoop of butter pecan while Dirk had a hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl. We sat and just talked while we ate our ice cream. It was a nice break after the meeting.
When we got back I had to work on the bills( yuck) and sat with Mom for awhile.
Yesterday, got up late. Then MaryRose (my 'other daughter') came over, she lives in Lexington now and so it is hard to see her too. We were doing research online for Kayleigh's wedding and then we went out and did some 'scouting' of locations. In someways I think we are closer to a location, but in other ways I think we are farther. I will be happy when this decision is made once and for all!!!!
Mom had a good day, she was weak, but didn't need any fever, pain, or nausea meds.
I took Nathan and his 'girlfriend' to a Catholic Picnic that was happening even though it was storming off and on all night. When we got home and I walked into my room to go to bed (around midnight) there was the strangest smell. It smelled like glue and it was so strong my eyes were watering and Dirk was asleep in the room. When I told him to get up he didn't smell it. When I made him leave the room and come back he could then smell it. The smell was no where else in the house. The room had smelled fine when he went to bed at 11. We never did figure it out, but we turned off the window air conditioner and opened the house and turned on the house fan and this morning the smell was gone.
So here I am, after getting to sleep around 3 am on the couch, I got up this morning around 8:30 made breakfast, checked on Mom, read the blogs on my RSS and started processing the week. I had/have no energy to go to church this morning. I am still haven't had a shower yet today and it is almost noon!
It is going to be a hard week coming up too. Nathan, Athena and two of my other students leave for camp and will be gone 10 days. Nathan has been the hugest help lately. He has taken care of the animals, taken over the professional housekeeping job, and done quite a bit of the yard work. Athena, has been so busy with Ladybirds and college preparations, I just see her in few minute spurts. One of the other students who is going with them is also a huge help to me in the daily chores and up of the house. Maybe I should just go to camp too :)
Today, I will layout on paper what I want the webpage to look like and features I would like included. I will set up a template for my cooking lesson plans. I will finish paying June's bills. I will begin compiling the student work for the July Newletter. I will bake a batch of millet scone with raisons and walnuts (the only combination good for all blood types). And I will take at least one picture for my 365 blog! It has been off track log enough!!!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
How nerdy are you!
I took this before, but now I have a place to put it :)
I was REALLY shocked the first time I scored about a 90%! I seriously thought I would be no higher than a 50-60%.
If you too take the quiz, let me know your score.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thursday Thirteen
Thirteen things I learned about food this week!
1) Eating for your blood type makes a lot of sense!
2) Cooking for three different blood types is almost impossible!
3) Dirk, type O, should eat a very high protein diet with lots of red meat, no potatoes, and few grains.
4) Mom, type A, should eat a very high fish, fowl and veggie diet with no red meat or dairy at all.
5) Me, type AB, should eat a somewhat balanced diet with lots of fruit, some grains and a little meat, but no chicken only turkey.
6) Fondant flowers are harder to make than they look on tv. However, rolling fondant very thin and putting it on the cake is easier than it looks.
7) Fondant belongs to NO food group on earth, and no one can convience me it is edible!
8) Turkeys that you can defrost in the sink during the winter, go bad when defrosted overnight in the sink in the summer. A bad turkey smells awful!
9) Old fashioned recipes don't give cooking times or temperatures and so experimentation is an important tool! By the way a 'moderately hot' oven is about 375 degrees.
10) If you cut four melons in the morning, and put them in the fridge for the 'next couple of days' they will be gone by lunch time. Same thing goes for medium sized watermelons.
11) We go through 3-4 pounds of butter a week! And it is a no-no for type O and A!
12) Red snapper and Cod are beneficial for all blood types, they happen to be the only two proteins that are.
13) This little slide show on What the World Eats has really made me think long and hard about what my family eats in a week!
1) Eating for your blood type makes a lot of sense!
2) Cooking for three different blood types is almost impossible!
3) Dirk, type O, should eat a very high protein diet with lots of red meat, no potatoes, and few grains.
4) Mom, type A, should eat a very high fish, fowl and veggie diet with no red meat or dairy at all.
5) Me, type AB, should eat a somewhat balanced diet with lots of fruit, some grains and a little meat, but no chicken only turkey.
6) Fondant flowers are harder to make than they look on tv. However, rolling fondant very thin and putting it on the cake is easier than it looks.
7) Fondant belongs to NO food group on earth, and no one can convience me it is edible!
8) Turkeys that you can defrost in the sink during the winter, go bad when defrosted overnight in the sink in the summer. A bad turkey smells awful!
9) Old fashioned recipes don't give cooking times or temperatures and so experimentation is an important tool! By the way a 'moderately hot' oven is about 375 degrees.
10) If you cut four melons in the morning, and put them in the fridge for the 'next couple of days' they will be gone by lunch time. Same thing goes for medium sized watermelons.
11) We go through 3-4 pounds of butter a week! And it is a no-no for type O and A!
12) Red snapper and Cod are beneficial for all blood types, they happen to be the only two proteins that are.
13) This little slide show on What the World Eats has really made me think long and hard about what my family eats in a week!
Monday, June 11, 2007
"Dance mom/aunt" mode
Sunday was a fundraiser day for the dance teams. We were part of a community park fair.
Nathan, the only one of mine left on the studio dance team, danced in the sun on the playground.
I painted 25-30 little faces, during my 3 1/2 shift. Most were cat faces, butterflies, rainbows and smiley faces, however a few of the stranger requests were: a ferret, a lighten bolt with flames, a green spider with yellow spots, the word cool, and big lips like a kiss on the cheek.
While I was in the sun, the other parents were in the shade selling food. I didn't realize that I was getting pretty crisp. One of the moms kept asking me if I wanted to come into the shade, but I thought I was okay. Well, I am not. I need to remember I get sun poisining quickly. While the burn hurts a little it is my body detoxing from the excess sun that is really unpleasant today.
Then the kids danced a second show. This is Nathan's solo dance. I think I might have to get a newspaper, because the CJ photographer was asking me for his full name, age and dance studio. He was very impressed with Nathan. Personally, I think it is just the novelity of a boy dancer, the girls were better and took it more seriously yesterday. Usually, he is one of the better dancers, but NOT yesterday.Now, today I am off with Dirk to take picture of two possible wedding locations in New Albany.
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