Raw spagetti

So for those of you that know me, i'm always talking about eating raw food. I can get through breakfast with a smoothie. The rest of the day, i just can't seem to stick with it for very long. Today, i decided to try out some new recipes that will help give some variety to this way of eating. My first experiment was raw pasta. Yep, this is a winner:

Use a peeler to make "pasta strips" with a zucchini (i peeled the skin off first) (i would have used my processor, but couldn't find the attachment)

Then process: one tomato, 3-4 soaked sun dried tomatoes, 2 soaked dates, a dash of cayenne pepper, garlic salt, and about a tablespoon of parsley.

That's it. Pour over zucchini. Eat it cold. It really is good, you get the same satisfaction of pasta, without the sugar, wheat, eggs, flour, etc. Best of all, it took minutes to make.

Finally

This was a big week for us, lots of showings on our house all week, but by friday, it all paid off. We finally SOLD OUR HOUSE. Now all we have to do is get our handyman to finish up a few things at the new house. Take a look at this handyman, hard at work. Do you think i should hire him?

To Alan

I loved you as a little child
I loved you then and now

I loved you as an annoying teen
I loved you then and now

I loved you as a handsome young man
I loved you then and now

I loved you as a brave adult
I loved you then and now

And when things started getting hard
Your illness came and went

You suddenly became that child again
Who we all loved then and now.

Though your time was short and sweet
Your memory lives on so clear

We laugh and we cry, and we all miss you
Because we loved you then and now

Today was the last day of mourning for my brother....the end of the 11 months of saying "kaddish". Coincidentally, we also had his tombstone unveiling today. Only the immediate family attended and we all stood around his grave, holding hands and listened to my mother talk about his life. Born as a blue baby, he wasn't suppose to live. He escaped death many times throughout his short life....starting at birth, then around 5 or 6 years of age he climbed up the high diving board at a hotel pool and jumped off, not knowing how to swim. Iin his youth, around 12 yrs old, he went through a sliding glass door and severed his arm...almost bleeding to death. In his teens his car went over a cliff and he and a friend came out without a scratch. Finally, as an adult he developed crone's disease and twice he hemorrhaged so badly he almost didn't make it.....

But at 48, his time was up. This time he couldn't be saved.

May i have this dance

I've seen it all, now... enjoy the show

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html

blog action day

Today, October 15th, bloggers around the world will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. The aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.
(www.blogactionday.org)

We are all aware of the new "Green." In fact, it's hip to be green. We all talk about how important it is, but are we really doing something about it. If each of us tries to change just a little, think of the consequeces. My thing is recycling. In addition to home, at school, every piece of paper trash or scraps from my class goes into my recycle bin. Once filled, i take it home and send it on to the recycle center. Soon, I will start making paper with the scraps to show the students just how recycling really works. I did this last year and the students made cards from the recycled paper. This is just one way that i am trying to help.

Another simple thing i do is turn off the water when i brush my teeth. Doesn't seem like much, but the next time you brush your teeth, plug the drain and see how much water you waste.

In the future?????? My goal is to learn to compost. It seems so easy to do it with worms, however, yuck....i hate worms. But why should all of the edible scraps go into the garbage. (actually, i throw most of them in my creek for the turtles, ducks, fish, snakes, and the alligators). In a worm compost, the worms eat the scraps and their poop becomes rich soil.

So how are you helping?

blogactionday

The empty seat

Me and my girls.

Rachel and Kevin (my sister's children) with the Bar Mitzvah boy:

Max (my brother's son, the one dressed in the white shirt)

Me with the Princess

My sister, Lois and my brother, Howard.

Last weekend, my whole family, along with lots houston friends, traveled to Marietta, Georgia for my nephew's bar mitzvah. The weather was perfect and the leaves were just beginning to turn. We all had such a wonderful weekend, but it went by so fast. At the same time, it was an emotional roller coaster for all of us...the empty seat.

For every simcha (good occasion) we almost always are all together. We all do our best to make it to each other's simchas. Josh, my youngest, wasn't able to make it b/c of the college thing. He was very much missed, but it was just too hard to get him back and forth with classes, etc. I love having my whole family together, and this year was especially nice. Not only did I have Sophie, my granddaughter, but I had all of my girls (daughter in laws) as well.

Whenever my siblings and i would get together, we would always take a picture of just the 4 of us. As you can see in the last picture, it was so very hard to take. We are now 3. Alan loved to go to family functions. He was planning on going to this one, as well. It would have been his 49th b-day the same weekend. I just can't believe it's been almost a year since he's been gone.

Bet you didn't know he was a "Blue Baby". Blue Babies rarely lived. We were lucky, G-d gave us Alan for 48 years.

Yes, Alan's seat was empty, but his spirit filled the weekend. As long as he's in our hearts, his seat will never be empty.

texas trivia

Thought you might enjoy this Texas trivia

Here are some little known, very interesting facts about Texas .

1. Beaumont to El Paso : 742 miles

2. Beaumont to Chicago : 770 miles

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

4. World's first rodeo was in Pecos , July 4, 1883.

5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America
built over water.

6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the
first full-time coach for Rice University in Houston

7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in
North America .

8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America 's only
remaining flock of whooping cranes.

9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

10. The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900 caused by a
hurricane in which over 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island .

11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was " Houston."

12. King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island .

13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US . rainfall record of 43" in
24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.


14. Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, (known as
Constitution of 1845 by Republic of Texas to enter the union) instead of by
annexation. This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US
flag, and may divide into 5 States.


15. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

17. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after Dr
in Dr Pepper.

18. Texas has had six capital cities:

18.1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
18.2. Harrisburg
18.3. Galveston
18.4. Velasco
18.5. West Columbia
18.6. Austin

19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S which is
taller than the Capitol Building in Washington D! C. (by 7 feet).

20. The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning
friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas

21. The State animal is the Armadillo. (An interesting bit of trivia
about the armadillo is they always have four babies! They have one egg, which
splits into four, and they either have four males or four females. Well, I
thought it was interesting anyway!)

22. The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston. (By the same man who built my new house)

23. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - TEXAS STYLE People here in Texas have
trouble with all those "shalls" and "shall nots" in the ten Commandments. Folks
here just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, some folks out in west
Texas got together and translated the "King James" into "King Ranch"
language:


Ten Commandments, Cowboy Style.

Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in
Fairlie , Texas:
(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin'.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin' before God.
(6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal.
(7) No killin'.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don't take what ain't yers.
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

Now that's kinda plain an' simple don't ya think?

Y'all have a good Day.
Ye hear now ?
"THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU"

jib jab

Today, my friend Kathy (also known as Tic Toc the clown), invited me to perform with her on stage. Take a look at our can can dance:

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1099499