What Betty Didn't Tell You

I have discovered through quite a bit of experience that there are simple tricks that make pie crust come out nicely every time you make it (for those of us who don't buy it at the store).

This is my version of the pie crust recipe out of the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Pie Crust:

1 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
2/3 cup of butter
a couple shakes of salt
7 tablespoons of water

The do's and don't's...
- never use all white or wheat flour
(or any flour made out of garbanzo beans! o.k. that was a bit of an inside joke!!)
- 2/3 cup of butter is the same as 12 tablespoons.
- never, never use melted butter! In fact if your butter is frozen you can simply shred it with a cheese grater. It's fast and easy.
-you'll have to flour your rolling surface well and often when rolling out your crust or else it will stick.

Comical Gas Saving Tips

Back in 2007 there were a ton of us chicks who all blogged together. That was back before facebook really hit the scene. There were probably 7 or 8 of us in all and it was a lot of fun to see what someone would decide to write about... maybe some lyrics or a poem they just wrote. Possibly just some silly ideas. It was all just for kix and we enjoyed it. Since then either they've moved onto facebook, just don't care to take the time to blog cause they're too busy or have forgotten their passwords (no joke!).
Today I went to my sister's blog (which although she hasn't posted since December 30, '07 it is still accessible to a few of us peeps) and was reading her thoughts on saving gasoline back when she'd first gotten a car.
I thought it was pretty amusing so I figured I'll share some of the funny parts with you. ;)
Here goes....

I Got my license and car on April 4, since then I've had to learn how to make my money last a bit longer. I was trying to figure out how to save gas while driving....  I used a tank of gas in one week!! and no, I never even went shopping at the mall!!! that's the most angering part. But as I was thinking, you know you really don't need to accelerate when going down a hill. It just uses too much gas, especially when you are paying for it! And if you work with gravity a bit, you can plan out each hill by how much of an incline and decline and the math and basic judging, Oh yeah don't forget the wind!! Better yet just make sails!!! now that's a brilliant idea :) if you use your brain, I'm sure you could save some gas. If you plan it just right you can take off the gas a little before the top of the hill, or depending on each hill quite a bit before, or maybe not at all(Oh well, those cursed hills!!!), and make it all the way over the hill with out loosing to much speed and without convincing the tailgaters behind you that you are an old granny making your daily trip to bingo!!! But if they were using their brains they just might come to the conclusion that an old granny wouldn't be driving an old beat up Honda civic that's 5 feet from the ground. I mean how would they even get from their walkers to the inside without some serious help? You would think they would come to the conclusion that they should back off and stop tailgating me because I'm not gonna speed up, and I'm not going to bingo!! I cant afford to for Pete's sake, its just not in my budget!!! But I would just prefer they didn't use their brains, cause then they might come to the conclusion that its that Emily girl who has moron driving habits! another thing is when your driving through town and you see lights ahead, if they look like they're gonna change, don't accelerate. Or if there's a red light just take off the gas way in advance, you might not even have to come to a complete stop if it changes in time. You wouldn't even have to use your brakes that feel like your driving over some seriously grooved cement when you use them :) It also makes you feel better than everyone who did stop, cause then you can speed up and leave them in the dust for a few seconds. Only a few seconds unfortunately cause remember your trying to save gas. If you do have to come to a stop, at least you can think about the little gas you saved by not accelerating the last eighth of a mile it took you to get to the lights. If there's a double lane, don't worry, people can just all pass you if they want. If there isn't a double lane, well just hope they can't recognize you from behind. You don't need to feel bad! Just pray none of them know you :) You will be comforted! Oh and another way to save gas is, just don't drive at all. Gosh that sounds exiting!!! I've never tried that one before? Well the conclusion for me is: I think I'm gonna have to work more on Sundays :( I was hoping to make money milking cows; sometime maybe.
have a swell one,
Ems

Well there you have it. Wise words from my big sister. ;) She is a crack up...  and that's all I can say for now. My little brother wants me to finish crocheting some blaze orange gloves so that he'll be able to wear them on Saturday when he goes on a mini hunting trip up North with a friend. ;) I'm only half way done so I've got to get busy!!!!!

Sayonara!!!

Inspired

Yesterday for reflections in church my friend Tim sang a really cool song. You may have heard it already but to me it's new... and incredible.

 It's called "Grace Like Rain", by Todd Agnew.

Then on the way home from church yesterday we had some country music cranked up on  the radio and I heard a song called "Real" by a new country artist, James Wesley. The first thing that came to my mind was "FINALLY!!! A real country song!!!!"

The Crimson Tide

Today is Election Day!!! Americans all over... well, America got off their butts and went to vote! A lot of states are going red. I don't think I've seen WI or MI red ever in my few years which is very cool. It's definitely about time. NEVERTHELESS..... just because there is a Republican trend right now doesn't mean they're going to completely save this country or make all the difference. They're just maybe the lesser of two evils or (on a more positive note) more likely to head us in the right direction.

Hopefully some things like repealing of the health care bill and downsizing the "super-size me" government. AND... a million other things.

It's been great to see a lot of my facebook friends voted (facebook had a little application that allowed you to say that you voted and tallied up all the fb votes). There have also been some great status' and posts... and I will share some of them with you.

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government" 

- Thomas Jefferson

“Duty is ours, the results are God's.” -John Quincy Adams

"In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, noticed a continuing pattern in the advance and decline of the world's democracies.

He stated then that a democracy would continue to exist until such time that the voters discover that they can literally vote themselves gifts from the public treasury. From the moment that revelation is made, the majority proceeds to vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. The final result is that every democracy finally collapses due to loose fiscal policy. That collapse is always followed by a dictatorship.

Tyler charted the ages of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history... an average existence of about two hundred years. Every single time, these nations progressed through the following sequence:

from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and finally from dependence back into bondage."

--- snippet from the book "The Heart Mender", by Andy Andrews