converting to gas

link here

In light of the last post.....may I say oooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaaa.

again, long time no post but sheesh!

So the low last night was 2 degrees F. It has now at 7:30 AM, risen to to a balmy 3 degrees with the sun. And the house dropped to 65 during the night despite the thermostat being set at 72 and us closing off every orifice we possibly could with towels, blankets and over a dozen draft blockers (thank goodness I bought those this year!). This happens every year the temp starts dropping below freezing. The electric heat pump just cant keep up. no duh, I'm hearing, but jeez louise! Does it ever not keep up! My wonderful husband, poor thing, had to get up at that temp at five, get ready, and turned on the oven with the door open just to warm up the downstairs! Given the number of blankets on our bed I was fine but.....

we have so gotta move. I'm typically ambivalent towards the house, and sometimes even like it.....today is not one of those days.

The Battle is FINALLY Over!!

eBrandAid

check it out. so dunkin' donuts' new "smart" healthy menu is not only full of chemicals straight out of fertilizer, but also when the ingredients are combine, form benzene, a known carcinogen. Hmmm....whole foods sound better and better don't they. WAKE UP AMERICA!! Pre-packaged food contains KNOWN behavioral problem causing, asthma causing, CANCER causing ingredients!! I've had alot of stomach issue lately preventing me from cooking a good meal like I have been, but this is definitely enough to make me get back on the wagon. If only we had a whole foods here..... :`(

As sent to BEN CHANDLER, MITCH MCCONNELL, AND PRES. BUSH

Whereas my husband and I sold three vehicles three years ago to pay off all outstanding debt (eg, student loans, personal loans, car loans etc.) and

Whereas my husband and I have strictly budgeted ourselves in order to stay out of further debt (excluding our mortgage and the mini-van we purchased when I was pregnant for the fourth time prior to a miscarriage) and

Whereas my husband and I have willingly together carried the burden of a single income household in order to provide in a spiritually mandated way for our children and

Whereas my husband and I have thus foregone retirement and will have no benefit from social security and

Whereas my husband and I understand the current economic climate precipitated by the current culture of instant gratification and glorified irresponsibility and

Whereas my husband and I believe the "up-to-the-minute", constant accessibility of biased news reports have increased panic and

Whereas my husband and I have striven in every way to remain socially, financially, politically, economically, spiritually, professionally, etc. responsible,


We fully disagree with the government's decision to buy $2,333 per person worth of bad debt from irresponsible lenders to irresponsible clients.

We humbly request that we be allowed to reimburse the government for our household's portion of this debt and in return be given one of these foreclosed homes in a decent neighborhood. We will accept a home in a vacation zone not at risk to hurricanes or mudslides (although I understand the government pays to rebuild houses demolished by hurricanes via a report by John Stossel who owns such a property). We prefer an all-brick ranch on a full finished basement with a minimum two care garage and absolutely no radon indicators at a minimum of 1500 square feet. That said, a second home in our hometown in the neighborhood of our choice would also be sufficient.

My husband also requests that upon full repayment of our household's portion of this debt, his 401K be fully ensured and exempt from loss while still participating in any gains as we understand a rather large mutual fund sell order was not executed as requested on the market floor last week.

Respectfully,
Whitney Combs
Wife of Harold R. Combs
Mother of Two
Servant of Christ

School has started - enter Pampered chef!

Welcome back to school! Time to start the process of turning impressionable youngsters into marketing machines. Thankfully, we don't participate in that as I COMPLETELY disagree with it.

But wait! This year marks a first. The legislature slashed the budget for public schools so THIS year even tho Joey's attending a public school, there are classroom fees, art fees, etc that have to be paid.

Enter Pampered Chef. Everybody LOVES pampered chef (tho I'm personally sick of it - mostly because I lust after it badly and can't afford most of it). However, if you happen to have disposable income:

Joey is selling Pampered Chef. 20% of what he sells goes directly to cover HIS PERSONAL fees and classroom costs. So....if you can help us out, please see us directly before Labor Day. You can pay by check, cash, or credit card when you place the order and then we will deliver it to you once it's received from the school (approximately the middle of September). However, if you don't see us, LUCKY you! You can order directly through the website at www.pamperedchef.biz/leighreed and enter WESTERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL as the host. Your order will be shipped directly to your home.

Also, as an aside, they are selling raffle tickets for $5/tic for a $150 Pampered Chef shopping spree. Plese let us know if you are interested in one of those also.

Please help us out if you can! The less we have to put toward school fees the better! And if anyone out there wants to give me a fully funded Pampered Chef spending account, I'll take it if you pay the gift taxes! LOL Thanks!

Sincerely,
Whitney

The 48 Laws of Power

Despite what my husband may think about this particular papar? article? essay? thesis?.....(and I applaud his genuine disgust, understanding that is why he will never be Bill Gates)....I agree with most of it. It's disgusting to watch these things in action but in corporate America, this is the way things work. Law 7 "Get others to do the work for you, take all the credit" is awful when you're on the wrong side of it, because I have been and have been duly rewarded by watching the person who does nothing but is savvy enough to take credit for the work get quickly promoted. So yeah, I've been stung by that one but proof that it's true and that it works. I've also been on the other end - getting an "A" on a final team presentation in a college class when I decided to skip it and go ahead on a vacation that had been planned for months. I did what I could as far as prep work for the guys and told them to feel free to communicate via email but they chose not to and the professor, fully understanding the actual circumstances (Because I told him in advance and the guys complained) went ahead and gave me an A along with them......so yeah it works.

And Law 15 - Crush your enemy totally - even God used that! Saul was commanded to kill every man, woman and child and burn all of their possessions of a certain race (the amalekites, I believe) but kept the king alive as a prize and kept their treasures. Because of that, not only was he disciplined for his disobedience, but the Amalekites continued to be a huge thorn in Israel's side throughout the Bible.

I've seen all of these at work and once you recognize them being used against you, you hate it and despise the people using them even if outside the office they're decent people. But for some reason, employees continue to ALLOW themselves to be played in such a manner and learn to play the game this way too in order to get ahead - because ruthless selfishness is all that is rewarded in most corporate environments I've been exposed to either literally or vicariously through friends.

And it's fun if you're good at it. I'm not.

I love haagen dazs!

O. MY. WORD. I just found the PERFECT ice cream!! You HAVE to try Fleur de Sel from Haagen Dazs if you like ice cream. It's chocolate pieces with ribbons of caramel thru caramel ice cream with sea salt! Yes....SALT! It is the perfect combination of sweet and salty!! Think a margarita. WOW! It seems to have some overrun.....think the texture of Edy's.....which is unusual for HD, but I think they're just trying to save money given how the price of gas has affected everything.....

you HAVE to try this stuff.

Waterpark

We tried out the new waterpark last Tuesday.....it was barely 80 degrees and the water was FREEZZING so there weren't that many people there.....but it was nice. I think we all enjoyed the Lazy River the best. There's an el humongo water slide that looks like alot of fun, but the water was to dag on cold for me to consider getting that wet. There's a small spray park and a tower with spray features.....and a wading pool. Actually I was most impressed by the amount of green space you could picnic or play football on and by the changing facilities.....