SIDEBAR #56 - Travis Alexander forum

[Nore]

Good Afternoon my SB friends! Hopefully you all are enjoying your Saturday. I think there are 41 days until Christmas, so I wondered if you all were shopping yet!

I will buy Nurmi's book when it comes out on Kindle as I installed the app. I will paraphrase here so as not to violate any copyright laws. I think the main thread is going to do the same. One of our posters was to receive their copy today.

I have been watching the Paris Terrorist attack coverage on CNN. How incredibly sad and horrific. My heart breaks for all those affected by these absolutely senseless acts. It has occurred to me that "we" are fighting terrorism on unequal footing as the terrorists are willing and able to fight under totally different sets of "rules". How are "we" as a decent society able to combat that evil on their terms of engagement? We can't and won't.

Truthfully, I am angry that we upset the "apple cart" by invading Iraq and destabilizing the region in the first place and our government's foreign policy basically ignored ISIS for far too long. IMO. I keep going back in my mind to one of the Romney-Obama debates in 2012 where Obama said he wasn't "worried" about ISIL. I guess at the time ISIL wasn't as organized as they are now. I hope with all the brilliant minds in this country, they can hack into their social media and figure things out way ahead of any potential attacks. Or at least hire the Chinese hackers who brought down Sony.

Maybe because we belong to this forum we are more aware of the violence and evil in the world. Most of my friends are oblivious to what bad people are really capable of doing. Or maybe that is a good thing, I don't know. Do any of you feel this way too? Or is it just me on steroids?

Boy, I sound like Debbie Downer.

-------------
Hi Zuri , I agree. I am upset by what happened in France yesterday. I have a soft part for the people of France . My dads blood was shed outside a Church in a small town in Southern France. I wrote to a man who has sent pictures of the area to people in our Army group, 45th Infantry The Thunderbirds, the whole town has been kind. I pray for a fast peace which I know will not come. I am too emotional (as the psychiatrist said) to really write today. My mind has gone back to Dec.7th 1941..I was 9 yrs. and I remember....You are so right about the Chinese, they are like the Japs..get them tracing or whatever it takes. going to lay down with my Molly now.. (((hugs))) Noreen.

 

[GigiG]

Good Afternoon my SB friends! Hopefully you all are enjoying your Saturday. I think there are 41 days until Christmas, so I wondered if you all were shopping yet!

I will buy Nurmi's book when it comes out on Kindle as I installed the app. I will paraphrase here so as not to violate any copyright laws. I think the main thread is going to do the same. One of our posters was to receive their copy today.

I have been watching the Paris Terrorist attack coverage on CNN. How incredibly sad and horrific. My heart breaks for all those affected by these absolutely senseless acts. It has occurred to me that "we" are fighting terrorism on unequal footing as the terrorists are willing and able to fight under totally different sets of "rules". How are "we" as a decent society able to combat that evil on their terms of engagement? We can't and won't.

Truthfully, I am angry that we upset the "apple cart" by invading Iraq and destabilizing the region in the first place and our government's foreign policy basically ignored ISIS for far too long. IMO. I keep going back in my mind to one of the Romney-Obama debates in 2012 where Obama said he wasn't "worried" about ISIL. I guess at the time ISIL wasn't as organized as they are now. I hope with all the brilliant minds in this country, they can hack into their social media and figure things out way ahead of any potential attacks. Or at least hire the Chinese hackers who brought down Sony.

Maybe because we belong to this forum we are more aware of the violence and evil in the world. Most of my friends are oblivious to what bad people are really capable of doing. Or maybe that is a good thing, I don't know. Do any of you feel this way too? Or is it just me on steroids?

Boy, I sound like Debbie Downer.

BBM

I think that is the distinction.

While here in the U.S. we have certainly made a lot of mistakes and numerous innocent people have lost their lives as a result, that was never our intended objective.

With terrorists, it's the other way around. It seems that in their ideology, killing innocent people is the preferred way to make the world sit up and take notice. And what do they want us to understand about their reality? I think it's more than just religious zeal and fundamentalism. I consider it to all fall under the larger umbrella of severe xenophobia.

We're no strangers to xenophobia here: racism, gay bashing, sexism, etc.; and as distasteful as it is, the people who espouse such views still pretty much restrict their outrage and violence to those within our own borders.

Attacks on innocent civilians in other countries is completely unacceptable. I don't care what faith you claim alliance with; no legitimate religion, with a God figurehead, would condone such acts of violence.

[video=youtube;5DmYLrxR0Y8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8[/video]

 

[GigiG]

YoNo, I totally get where you are coming from. I find that posting here is cathartic as I don't discuss most of what I post here with anyone in my "real" life. I also find it cathartic to put my feelings or thoughts in writing and I am so glad you shared what you did. It gave me a lot to think about too.

IMO, the author of that piece did not have altruistic motives and her visits to Heinous really had no purpose or value other than bragging rights. But then again, I am very very jaded on this subject. I could not go to the prison where the other murderer that was involved with my brother's murder and engage him in conversation about books or tv shows.

Thanks for posting all the articles. I enjoy reading them. You are loved and adored by all of us. So glad to see you are back posting! You are missed when your bandwidth goes up. Xoxo

ETA: You are the least self absorbed person I know so please don't beat yourself up anymore for having normal, introspective thoughts. You are incredibly kind and thoughtful and mean so much to me as well as others here.

Just adding my two cents here. I think what both of you picked up on was the "hinkiness" factor.

Her motivations for visiting JA might have been pure, but what were her motivations behind posting about it? That is not real altruism in my book.

To illustrate:

I remember pulling into a public parking lot; one of those where there are two meters side-by-side (for two spaces). I went to put money in my meter and saw that it was full. Hmmm, then I noticed the meter for the car next to me was expired. I could tell by the car that it belonged to an older person, so I figured they'd mistakenly put money on my meter.

I felt so good about myself when I filled up their meter with my coins. How virtuous of me! I searched around for a scrap of paper so that I could leave them a note letting them know how lucky they were to have a nice person like me park beside them. Wouldn't they be pleased to know that?

No. I realized that drawing attention to my good deed would make me feel good, but in a bad way. Virtue is its own reward.

 

[GigiG]

Think I'll stop reading at post 571 right now and come back later to finish reading up. (missed y'all )

Gotta fold clothes and such.

See y'all late on tonight. :seeya:

Have missed your posts and links to all sorts of interesting things to read. Thank you!

 

[Zuri]

I love your illustration. Virtue indeed is its own reward. Those of us who quietly practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty rarely speak of them as it is just enough to know that we made a difference somehow.

I googled the random kindness phrase as I wanted to know how it originated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_act_of_kindness

 

[Susza]

OMG you made my day! I am so so so glad to read this. My DH took the day off and I just read him your post. He said no wonder you are friends lol. I feel so much better!

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

[Hatfield]

One of my friends saw how I organize my pantry (anal retentive here .. good thing she didn't see my closet and how I organize it by color like Goodwill does) and she is inviting me over to help redo her pantry in the next week.

I just sent her this picture! :floorlaugh:

Xoxoxoxo

ATL

My spice cabinet is hilarious. I have one cabinet loaded with all mixed variety of spices and whenever I reach in to try to find a certain one like parsley or oregano it never fails that one of the spices in front falls out onto the floor.

If I had a nickel for every time I had to reach onto the floor to pick up a spice bottle then I would have enough money to buy a better spice rack. LOL

 

[Hatfield]

Oh...by chance I found a great spice about a year ago. I've always been a fan of Hungarian Paprika. Well I found a Smoked Paprika Powder from spain that is really good. It has a unique smoked flavor.

 

[GigiG]

Oh...by chance I found a great spice about a year ago. I've always been a fan of Hungarian Paprika. Well I found a Smoked Paprika Powder from spain that is really good. It has a unique smoked flavor.

I have always been happy to pay a premium for Hungarian Paprika because it's so flavorful. That is what I use most often. But Spanish Paprika (or smoked pimenton) is delightful, and a must for certain dishes...

http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-hot-sweet-68134

 

[Hatfield]

I have always been happy to pay a premium for Hungarian Paprika because it's so flavorful. That is what I use most often. But Spanish Paprika (or smoked pimenton) is delightful, and a must for certain dishes...

http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-hot-sweet-68134

You are right that the smoked kind is only good for certain dishes though. I used it once on something that it didn't quite go good with. LOL The regular kind would have been fine but when I use the smoked kind it didn't quite fit the particular dish I was using it on.

Im more careful now when using the smoked kind to be sure it would go with it.

Thanks for the link. Very informative about Paprika. It is such a unique spice. I love it.

 

[Hatfield]

Spices in general....

I love spices in general because when I grew up my mom didn't quite have the knack for using spices. In fact salt and pepper was about the only spice she ever used. So I grew up with a lot of bland dishes although she always had food on the table and I am thankful for that.

I knew some friends that were not so lucky to always have good food on the table so I am thankful for what we had as kids so I dont want to complain too much but spices were pretty much nonexistent in our kitchen growing up.

It even took me many years of being newlyweds before we got the knack of using spices. Once we realized the power of them we have gone crazy with them. Now practically ever dish we always go to the spice cabinet and search for things to sprinkle on.

They can add tremendous enhancements to dishes and it is amazing. The hard part is learning which ones to use for which dishes.

I tend to use certain ones on everything as a default. Like Parsley. I will throw that in tons of dishes whenever I cant figure out what else to throw in. LOL
Regular Hungarian Paprika is also good in lots of dishes if nothing else sounds good to add since it really doesn't overpower anything.


Im getting much better at learning which dishes need certain spices for flavor. We also grow our own Basil and 1 other one I cant think of right now. We buy the plants at the store and just keep them alive so we can cut off sprigots off of them. Its a lot of fun with the fresh ones. They are hard to grow though and seem to die on us often.

 

[Niner]

Hey all! :wave:

Drew Peterson's murder conviction is upheld; prosecutor calls it 'vindication'

"Drew Peterson's conviction and prison sentence for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, were affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court, which said the circumstantial evidence against him proved he had the motive and the opportunity to commit the crime.

The court, in an 87-page ruling, said the evidence against the retired police sergeant was "sufficient" to show he killed Savio, who was found dead in the bathtub of her Bolingbrook home in 2004. The medical evidence, the court wrote, made clear that Savio had been murdered, while "the remaining circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom" proved that Peterson was her killer.

The court also upheld Peterson's 38-year sentence, which means he will not be paroled until May 2047, when he would be 93..."

:cheer: YES!!

and sent those articles on Windows 10 to the Huz - see if my "updates" are automatic or not; I know they weren't automatic, as I used have a screen pop-up that said I had updates, but have not seen that in awhile... but still have Windows 7... :thinking:

Good Afternoon my SB friends! Hopefully you all are enjoying your Saturday. I think there are 41 days until Christmas, so I wondered if you all were shopping yet!

Yep! Just finished ordering the last present today! I do it all from catalogs I get during the year. Some of these are: What on Earth, Miles Kimball, Potpourri, The Lighter Side and Things You Never Knew Existed. Now I just have to print out the calendar for everyone and the photos that go with each month, plus photos from little Bro's memorial, and I've added his writing of "The Catch" (link above ^^). Oh and I found very old newspaper articles (1956, 1957) from where we used to live in Novato that had our names in them; putting those in the back of the calendar too!

I have been watching the Paris Terrorist attack coverage on CNN. How incredibly sad and horrific. My heart breaks for all those affected by these absolutely senseless acts. It has occurred to me that "we" are fighting terrorism on unequal footing as the terrorists are willing and able to fight under totally different sets of "rules". How are "we" as a decent society able to combat that evil on their terms of engagement? We can't and won't.

Truthfully, I am angry that we upset the "apple cart" by invading Iraq and destabilizing the region in the first place and our government's foreign policy basically ignored ISIS for far too long. IMO. I keep going back in my mind to one of the Romney-Obama debates in 2012 where Obama said he wasn't "worried" about ISIL. I guess at the time ISIL wasn't as organized as they are now. I hope with all the brilliant minds in this country, they can hack into their social media and figure things out way ahead of any potential attacks. Or at least hire the Chinese hackers who brought down Sony.

I too was watching CNN about the Paris Terrorist attacks
:candle:
No, I don't believe ANYONE would have know back than how BIG ISIS/ISIL would get... Yes, hire those Chinese hackers! Somebody!! :gaah:

I think it's because we belong to this forum that we realize all the evil in this world, where as you say some people are just oblivious to it!

Okay - signing off for the night! cguru:

Take care everyone! :seeya:

 

[ILikeToBendPages]

1960 - Today the song "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles topped the charts and stayed there for a week.

[video=youtu;fRgWBN8yt_E]http://youtu.be/fRgWBN8yt_E[/video]

 

[GigiG]

Spices in general....

I love spices in general because when I grew up my mom didn't quite have the knack for using spices. In fact salt and pepper was about the only spice she ever used. So I grew up with a lot of bland dishes although she always had food on the table and I am thankful for that.

I knew some friends that were not so lucky to always have good food on the table so I am thankful for what we had as kids so I dont want to complain too much but spices were pretty much nonexistent in our kitchen growing up.

It even took me many years of being newlyweds before we got the knack of using spices. Once we realized the power of them we have gone crazy with them. Now practically ever dish we always go to the spice cabinet and search for things to sprinkle on.

They can add tremendous enhancements to dishes and it is amazing. The hard part is learning which ones to use for which dishes.

I tend to use certain ones on everything as a default. Like Parsley. I will throw that in tons of dishes whenever I cant figure out what else to throw in. LOL
Regular Hungarian Paprika is also good in lots of dishes if nothing else sounds good to add since it really doesn't overpower anything.


Im getting much better at learning which dishes need certain spices for flavor. We also grow our own Basil and 1 other one I cant think of right now. We buy the plants at the store and just keep them alive so we can cut off sprigots off of them. Its a lot of fun with the fresh ones. They are hard to grow though and seem to die on us often.

I can relate! Even though I grew up in a large family, my mother was an only child. Her parents didn't cook, and she was enlisted to make dinners, so there were no recipes to hand down.

I think that's why I have developed such a love of cooking. My mother still wonders why I like to do all this work in the kitchen. I tell her that i DON'T like it (it's hard work), but what I LOVE is how happy it makes my family and friends. That makes me happy. There is nothing like sharing good food with the people you care about to make the human condition more comfortable, even if just for a day. To be able to accomplish that makes it all worthwhile. JMO

 

[Hatfield]

I can relate! Even though I grew up in a large family, my mother was an only child. Her parents didn't cook, and she was enlisted to make dinners, so there were no recipes to hand down.

I think that's why I have developed such a love of cooking. My mother still wonders why I like to do all this work in the kitchen. I tell her that i DON'T like it (it's hard work), but what I LOVE is how happy it makes my family and friends. That makes me happy. There is nothing like sharing good food with the people you care about to make the human condition more comfortable, even if just for a day. To be able to accomplish that makes it all worthwhile. JMO

Great Post. So True !

 

[ILikeToBendPages]

Slow dance dancing music.



http//youtu.be/w-YqaTDDCDM

 

[ILikeToBendPages]

Hearing songs from that time, brings back so many memories of this time of the year

[video=youtu;vJEs2uM7zaM]http://youtu.be/vJEs2uM7zaM[/video]

 

[coffeejunkie]

Hedgehog Muffins

Our youngest daughter and her husband had a Hedgehog as a pet. She was really cute and fun to watch as she played. You could hold her with a dish towel around her. She passed on a few years ago, but that video reminded me of Princess.

In fact, they had many exotic pets...a few snakes, spiders from Australia, a poison tree frog from the Rain Forest, and something that ate only raw meat (forget what it was). They also have a few cats and ferrets. They have no children and love their 'pets' and they are treated well. I didn't raise her that way! LOL I hate the spiders and won't even go near them!!

 

[coffeejunkie]

My heart felt prayers for the people of France. How sad

 

[Zuri]

My spice cabinet is hilarious. I have one cabinet loaded with all mixed variety of spices and whenever I reach in to try to find a certain one like parsley or oregano it never fails that one of the spices in front falls out onto the floor.

If I had a nickel for every time I had to reach onto the floor to pick up a spice bottle then I would have enough money to buy a better spice rack. LOL

Speaking of spices, how long do you keep your spices for? Exactly what is their shelf life (no pun intended)? My BFF told me that the spices I had that were 28 years old were no longer good and to throw them away...