2011--What An Eventful Year!
I'm writing my blog a little early this week, because the New Year starts Sunday, and, quite naturally, I'd like to take Sunday off. So, as 2011 officially comes to a close tomorrow night, we look back at what we all can say was a very eventful year, both in world politics and in nature.
First of all, I'd all say that we have to talk about that humongous earthquake in Japan that happened in March, which caused that big tsunami and that even bigger nuclear disaster at Fukashima, which still has ongoing ramifications to this day, and quite possibly, for many years to come. Some say it was just as bad as Chernobyl (which commemorated it's 25th anniversary this year), some say it was even worse. But one thing's for sure, the Japan triple disaster is one we all won't soon forget.
In the political news, three real baddies went on to their final rewards, which could be in a pretty hot spot, right about now. The first was the notorious Osama Bin Laden, whom we all know was responsible for 9/11 (which commemorated its 10th anniversary this year). The second was Mummar Kadafi, one of the biggest scheming despots of the Middle East. The third was Kim Jung Il, the biggest scheming despot of Asia.
And finally, I can't end this year-end blog without a final mention of the biggest, most shocking death of this past year, that of Amy Winehouse, who, no doubt, was the greatest singer-songwriter this generation ever had. That was the one death that I would say blew many people away and knocked many more for a pretty big wallop. I guess she should have gone to rehab. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, that's all for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, remember the disaster survivors, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
December Is Holiday Time
Hello, hello--hello!
I'm writing this blog a couple of days early because Sunday, my normal blogging day, is Christmas Day, a much deserved holiday for one and all, so I'm writing this blog now to get it out of the way for the holidays.
With the big day only two days away now, I'm sure you are all now counting down the hours until the big guy with all the goods comes to town, and I'm sure you've all played Santa's little helper and have gotten all your gifts by now, as well as your Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners as well. As for myself and my family, we all can't wait for that chicken and sausage gumbo and the roast turkey, baked ham, and oyster dressing we're going to have on the respective Christmas Eve and Christmas nights.
The December month is a special holiday month for one and all. With the Hanukkah celebrations of our Jewish friends, the Kwanza festivities of those of African descent, and the winter solstice commemorations of others in the world, as well as the big day of Christ's birth, December is a time to spend with everyone's family and friends. No wonder everyone of every faith, creed, and color wishes one and all, "Happy Holidays." For, it is a happy holiday for one and all.
And, everyone has their special way of eating at this particular time. Potato pancakes topped with apple sauce, monkey bread and gumbo, turkey, ham, stuffing, and all the wonderful deserts such as sugar cookies, gingerbread, teacakes, and the ever popular pumpkin and sweet potato pies, December is indeed a wonderful month for celebrations, and for seasoned eatings, with family and friends alike.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, remember to help the disaster survivors, and, happy holidays to all, and to all, a good night.
Warm wishes to all,
Marley Sue
The Gift Of The Gods
Hello, hello--hello!
Well, we now officially have exactly one week until Christmas, and exactly two weeks until we enter into the notorious New Year of 2012. Everyone, it seems, is going into the home stretch. The trees are up, the decorations are out, and the menus are prepared, and the ingredients are gotten. So are the gifts. Now, I'm sure you all have been good Santa's little helpers and gotten everything for all your loved ones this year: dolls, trains, stuffed animals, candles, colognes, and of course, the edible gifts: cookies, cakes, and the official confection of the Yuletide season, chocolate.
Yes, chocolate is the most favorite candy to give, and to get, this time of the year. It even beats out peppermint, which comes in at a very close second. And it isn't very hard to see why. So dark, so rich, so very decadent. And that was before the milk and sugar and nuts and fruit (and, yes, peppermint) were added. Ever since the Mayans had made cocoa a gift to the Spaniards, chocolate has become the gift to the entire world. And we all know the names of the main distributors of this gift, many of whom have become household names over the past century: Baker's, Giradelli, Nestle, Hershey, Mars, See's, Godiva. But the most special you can get is the one someone made for you in their own home.
Take this recipe for homemade fudge. All it is basically is cocoa, condensed milk, sugar, and butter stirred together in a heated dutch kettle, poured into a greased square cake pan and allowed to set before cutting into bite sized squares. Now this is the chocolate your grandmother used to make to give as Christmas gifts back in the day. A true testament that the greatest gifts are the ones you make yourself.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Mighty Fine Christmas Eve Gumbo
Hello, everybody!
Well, the Christmas holiday season is officially underway, and I'm sure many of you already have your trees up and decorated by now, as well as most, if not all, of your gifts. Yes, it is once again the time for everyone to dust off their old nutcrackers and ornaments and plastic poinsettias and holly and mistletoe (they're safer for pets and small children) and your old vinyl albums, yes, the ones with all the scratches that skips the lyrics, and the CD's and Ipod selections for those who've upgraded, and the DVD's of your favorite holiday movies and TV shows, 'cause Christmas time is here, and so is the Yuletide cheer.
And, of course, now is the time most of us are making preparations for the holiday feast, which, for most of us, would consist of two days, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For those of us who have relatives who came from the southern part of the United States, such as myself, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner is a chicken stew called gumbo, which is relatively easy to fix. All it is, is a chicken stew with a floured rue made of flour, corn starch, and a little chicken broth, fried for about five minutes on very minimum heat on top of the stove. After the rue is cooked, it's added to the stew made up of a stewing chicken, smoked sausage, turkey necks, and, if your family came from the American Gulf Coast, crab meat and oysters. The Christmas Eve gumbo is usually served with crackling corn bread and dirty rice, which, incidentally, also serves as the basis for the holiday dressing, to which we add canned smoked oysters and Mrs. Cubbison's seasoned dressing to the dirty rice. The Christmas Day main course could be any bird of your choice: chicken, turkey, or, the most traditional, goose, which is quite good, I might add. But, a lot of people choose turkey as their traditional Christmas bird, which is also just very fine by me. Seasoned eatings!
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
A Warning To All Homeowners
Hello, hello--hello!
As you know, we all live in very tough economic times, and, with these being tough economic times, I'm sure there's a lot of you who are doing modifications on your home loans, and a lot of people are out there saying that they can help you with this task. However, there's also a lot of con artists out there as well, and many people are not who they claim to be, and they can cost you even more than before you got involved with them. But there is a way you can tell the difference, and, this being the official "Information Station," I will tell you what to look out for, so that you, and your house, won't get soaked.
First of all, the really great lawyers don't use junk mail or spam to look for new clients. If anything, you have to go looking for them, usually through the Better Business Bureau's website. So, if you get anything in the mail that you didn't ask any information for, or someone you didn't contact first, throw it out, because they could be a scam. Second, the really great lawyers also don't ask for any fees upfront, and they also never, ever, tell you they won't go through with your case until you pay the whole upfront fee. Great layers and even the good ones always wait until they win your case for you to pay them. And third, and the most important rule of all, good lawyers never tell you to stop your mortgage payments so that you can pay them their upfront fee. Everyone on the level always tell you to continue your monthly mortgage payments.
Look, everybody knows that the fakers and frauds are out there, and it's up to each and every single one of us to alert each other to what's going on out there and try to warn everyone so that they won't fall for the okey doke, and help each other keep what we've worked so hard for. Hope I was of help to you today.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
How To Get Your Holiday Shopping Done Without Even Trying
Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinner, folks, as, of course, my family and I enjoyed ours. It came off without a hitch. Candied yams? Tasty. Pumpkin pie? Went down easy as pie. Pineapple upside down cake? It flew off the plate like--well, you know, a piece of cake. And the turkey? Well, let's just say that, by the end of the evening, the guest of honor went home with many of the guests. Yeah, Thanksgiving was pretty much a success at our house, as, I'm sure, it was the same as yours as well.
Now, there's only one more holiday left in this year. Do you know what it is? That's right! Christmas! The one we've all been waiting for each year, every year. And I'll bet you've got your Christmas shopping all done already, right? You HAVEN'T?! Why, after all this time, I really thought that you, of all people, would have gotten everybody on your list at least one gift by now. I never thought that you would be amongst the ones who wait until the very last month to do all your holiday shopping.
So, how to get all of your holiday shopping over with, and avoid the traditional Black Friday rush? Well, it's very simple. Just do what I do every year. Catch all the sales the stores have the rest of the year. You see, starting in January, I keep my eyes peeled for all the great sales that pop up through out the year, compare prices, and buy the ones that are the most reasonable. Then, when the end of November comes along, I've already accumulated enough stuff for practically everyone on my list (that is, not counting the stuff I had to use because I had to replace something, of course). Small appliances, costume jewelry, and, of course, CD's, DVD's, and video games, you just never know what kind of bargains you can find the rest of the year.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Have A Happy, And Healthy, Thanksgiving
So, This coming Thursday is the annual day in which we offered a sacrificed bird to ensure that the coming year will be a fruitful one, known to millions of Americans as Thanksgiving Day. And, in being Thanksgiving Day, we all are going to be thankful for another year of being a little more heathy, if not necessarily a little more wealthy. So, in honor of the "being healthy" part, I will now present to you some tips on having a more healthy Thanksgiving dinner.
Of course, we all know that Thanksgiving is more about tradition than about anything else, but, of course, times do change, and some traditions become more and more outdated with the coming decades, and what was considered healthy just a couple of generations ago may not be so healthy today, and might even cause obesity and other life threatening diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. One of the most notable culprits is the holiday dressing, which can be chock full of all kind of tasty, and not so healthy, tidbits, such as ground pork (which is a very popular ingredient in dressing recipes, especially the ones that originated in the South). Unfortunately, due to the high instances of high blood pressure and heart disease in our country today, especially in the African American and Latino American communities, ground pork is one ingredient that's being left out of many modern day dressing recipes, including one that's been in my family since the first Depression. The dressing can still be very tasty and healthy, though, just substitute ground turkey for ground beef, use ground up giblets sparingly, and spice it up with plenty of health inducing herbs and spices such as ginger, onions, and, of course, garlic, which is perfect for keeping blood pressure numbers in control. After all, there's nothing to be more thankful for the most than being around after Thanksgiving.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Thanksgiving Prices Have Diners Crying "Foul!"
Hello, hello--hello!
So, Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away, and already there's a war going on, and when I say "war," I mean, a war against the consumers. In case you haven't heard by now, it will cost more this year to prepare the holiday dinners than it did this time last year, up by about 13%. That means, if you're preparing a Thanksgiving and/or Christmas meal for about 10 people this year, and you probably are, and it includes all the basics; turkey with stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, and, of course, pumpkin pie, it will cost you about $49.20 this year, roughly six dollars more than it did last year. And, of course, if there's ever been a time in which the average American can't afford to pay too much for a formal meal, it's this time in American history, with everybody losing their jobs and homes and all. Still, the reasons for the rise in the price can't be denied: everything from the steady rise of food inflation, to bad weather resulting in the scarcity of crops, to rising fuel prices for the transportation of goods, all play a part in why it's gotten more expensive to have the traditional Thanksgiving feast this year.
So, as the Morton salt girl says so often, "When it rains, it pours." It seems that we Americans aren't able to catch a break lately. The economy is in the porta potty, jobs are playing hide and seek with us, the middle class is in a comatose state, literally on life support, and the future of not only America, but the rest of the world, seems uncertain. The last thing we needed, it seems, to have to pay more to entertain guests on the last Thursday of November. But there is a way. Have your guest bring something to the dinner. You could bake the turkey, Aunt Esther can bring the rolls, Grandma could bring the yams, and your sister-in-law can bring the pumpkin pie. Everybody bringing something to the table could help ease the cost tremendously.
Well, that's all the time we have for today. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
From Canadate Hopefuls to Occupiers With Hope
Well, Halloween 2011 is now a memory. Hope you didn't encounter any real black widows or brown widows on your trick-or-treating routes and while partying! Anyway, another holiday's in the can. I wonder what's coming up next? Oh, that's right. Thanksgiving. In a couple of weeks, it will be the annual "Give Them The Bird Day!" (No, seriously, folks! Really, it will be the National "Let Them Eat Turkey!" day.) Then, after Thanksgiving, it will be Christmas, and after that, the New Year of 2012. Yeah. The year everybody's been anticipating, for one reason, or another. What will it really bring? Hmmm. Guess we'll just have to wait to find that out.
Well, anyway, back to the present. Now that Halloween's over, it seems we're back to boardomville. Nothing much happening on the news, other than "Lame Cain" and "Scary Perry" hamming it up for the Republican Party. I mean, with candidates like this, Obama should be a shoo in next year, right? Well, as I always say, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched." Just because these Bozos don't have anyone of substance now doesn't mean they won't have one this time next year. I mean, don't count Mitt Romney out yet, folks. I'm just saying. So, the Occupier's Train is still chug, chug, chugging along, and it doesn't look like it's running out of steam yet. True, this movement doesn't seem to have the mass global influence that our grandparents' movement had circa forty years ago, but hey, it's just started, right? I mean, the last movent started about when, people, 1963? Probably even a few years before that, around the time Rosa Parks grew a pair and refused to get up out of her bus seat! So don't get discouraged, my friends. We might not be getting the attention we want, right away, but revolutions take many years to happen, so just be patient, folks.
Well, that's all the time we have for this year. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
'Tis The Season To Be Creepy
Hello, everybody!
Well, tomorrow is the big day, All Hallow's Eve, and I know that all are prepared for the big day, as I am. Yeah, everybody will be going to school and to work all decked out in their Halloween finest. I, for one, will be going as a black widow spider. Nothing fancy. Just a black leotard and tights and gloves and black ballet slippers with a red hour glass sewed on the front and four fake legs sewed on the sides. My friend, Danny Mae, will be going as my cousin, the brown widow spider. She will be wearing the exact same things, only they're brown, with white stripes, and an orange hour glass, just like the creepy original. A fine choice of costume since I'm deathly afraid of spiders.
Since this is the season of the creepy, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about the black widow's kin, who is a relative newcomer to the Southland. Originally a native of Africa, the brown widow was first seen in this country in Florida in 1935, and, like a lot of those from the South, immigrated west to Torrance, California, in 2003. Like her more notorious cousin, she prefers not to be seen by human eyes, choosing to spend her time in dark places like underneath patio furniture and inside barbecue pits, the lips of flower pots, and the underside of mailboxes (so be very careful when getting your mail!), and, like her cousin, she is venomous, and it's more potent than the black widow's, whose own venom already packs quite a pain-inducing wallop, but she is also more timid, and her bite seems to carry a smaller dose of venom. However, it's a very good idea to avoid the both of them, if you can. Since a lot of us are arachnophobic, we take this particular time of year to pay homage to the one thing that gives all of us the creeps. Black widows, and tarantulas, grace all of our Halloween decorations. Looks like the brown widow will soon join them.
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Until next time, be well, stay well, and remember to help the disaster survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue