Wii FIT

We bought a Wii and then we bought the Wii Fit and what is painful is I am 50+ years old according to it. I have great posture but I am obese. :( 
  I did feel so much better though when my honey stepped onto the board, and then he found out he was overweight and almost 70. It felt so much better than when I found out I was a few years older than I am. I guess if you hang on and the world beats you up then you might just wake up one day and be old and fat, or wake up and start living a life that is better than the one you had before.
   I smoked for about 25 years, the doctors told me repeatedly how bad it was for me. I took part in an autopsy of a smoker. His lungs were icky and hard, but it did not even faze me. I hacked my way through bronchitis every winter and kept smoking. My doctors tthreatened me with emphysema but I kept smoking.  Then one morning I woke up and I was wheezing like a million year old man who had worked in coal mine for a thousand years, and I decided to I was going to quit. I haven't had a cigarette in three years. I am grateful for being able to breathe better.
  But the Wii is going to have to tell me how I am getting better, maybe when it is done, the doctor can help me out too..

Pit Bulls and Breed Specific Legislation

I watched a the news yesterday, there was another story about how a Vicious dog attacked another dog, and don't you know the vicious dog was a pitbull. Now I have noticed of late the news seems to love to air the story of the vicious pitbulls who attack everyone.

I am the first person to admit, there are bad dogs. They have been bred to be mean, then taught to attack people, dogs and anything that comes into their path. They were not born this way, they have been raised to be this way. With lots of time and caring some of these dogs can come back and be loving. Some will never trust again.

    I own an American PitBull and an English StaffordShire terrier. When I take them out in public most people look panicked and avoid my dogs. They are the most gentle animals you have ever met.  I have a Shih Tzu who will rip your leg off, but my so called "BULLY" breed dogs most dangerous weapons are their tales.
  There is a local lady who is in politics, one of wants to ban pitbulls in her city.  She was recently voted in as a councilwoman. What worries me, is if she gets this done, then how many more cities will try and pass such a law, then what? No rottweilers, no terriers, no labs, who is to define what a bully breed is?
 
  Maybe we should only be concerned with how the dogs are raised, not the dogs themselves.  The dogs from the infamous Football players kennels, were taught to kill and the dogs are the ones who are suffering. 
And when the horror occurs maybe the consequences should be more severe than a 23 months, and getting out in less than a year and a half.  His fines were under $10,000. He was to pay damages of $928000, to help take care of the dogs, but the man who owned 6 luxury house, filed for bankruptcy cause he was broke. Yet his contract for 6 years with the falcons started with 22.5 Milion. He also made money off the dog fighting. He came back and nade 1.6 Million the first year and 5.2 the second of his contract with the Eagles. Oh and he can make up to an extra 3 Million in incentives.
 For more info on the case visit:
http://www.aldf.org/article.php?id=928
 
 
   And we talk about how the dogs are bad.  I think instead of Breed Specific Legislation, we need Breeder and Trainer Specific Legislation!
  Then no bad dogs only bad people.

Beer Cheese Soup and the neighbors

I have a recipe for beer cheese soup. It is an easy recipe, but everyone who tries it loves it, with the noticeable exception of my daughter (She says its tooo cheesy).
 My neighbor was visiting one day as I was making it and she asked for a taste. I gave her some and now she loves it. If I have a little extra, then I put it in a bowl and take it to her and her husband. She told me they measure it out, and then argue if the other one so much as tastes what is not theirs.

I like my soup, I like to cook, and I believe I can do an ok job of it. But I certainly do not want to be the one who causes my neighbors to argue. So maybe I should make them some when they are arguing and send them a bill for marriage counseling.

My kids have been asking for it, they offered to grate all the cheese in the house. It is funny how easy it is to teach kids to cook, when they want to eat something. They fight over any leftovers. I caught my son writing on my bowl with a permanent marker. When confronted, he said he was making sure no one took any of his soup. He couldn't understand why I thought this was a bad idea.

I live in an area where microbrews are always the rage, I have tried different ales, and what I have found is the dark ales have a yeasty taste when added; IPA's are nice but sometimes to light. A summer or midrange ale is best, or at least I believe this.

I found the basic in a book, and then as I went on I added and subtracted things. This is my recipe and how we make beer cheese soup.

2 Tbsp Margarine
½ cup carrots
½ cup onion
¼ cup green pepper
¼ cup red sweet pepper
¼ cup orange or yellow pepper
½ cup chopped celery
5 Tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups shredded cheese
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
Fresh ground black pepper
Ground Sea salt
Bottle Tabasco®

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add vegetables and stir them together, then sprinkle the flour over the vegetables until they are coated with the flour. Then slow add the broth stirring regularly to prevent lumps. Cook and stir occasionally over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.

Reduce heat; add cheese, stirring continuously while adding cheese until the cheese is melted. Slowly add evaporated milk, until it is blended through. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add about a half a dozen to a dozen drops of Tabasco depending on taste.

When this is all done, uncap the bottle of beer, add about a quarter of the bottle, and stir.
This is delicious when served with Cheese Rolls. But that is for another recipe day...

Hospitals

Have you ever noticed how when you are sitting in a hospital, people you would never get a chance to talk to you will talk to?  I am sitting in the hospital while my uncle is laying in the other room, hooked up to all the different machines. His wife, my aunt sits besides me and I am grateful for all she has done for me.
  We all sit around and try not to be loud, try not to be stressed, not be freaked out. But we sit here and we all wait. We talk about what the past was, what the future holds, but we don't talk about the problem much. We dance around the topic of conversation, we visit quietly and we worry about what is going to happen.  Noone wants to talk about anything sad, but there are moments when we are too upbeat, or too sad. We visit, we wait, we pray.
   Hospitals are great places to create bonds, build relationships, hold onto family.  You hold onto the good points, fear the bad. Some of the greatest moments happen in hospitals, and some of the worse.

This will not be one of the worst.

Breakfast with Me

So here it is, the truth, nothing but the truth so help me god. I am an addict. I am not sure to what but "It" is out there somewhere. Today, as I sat on FaceBook the wonderful social network with all the games and fame, and the really neat status updates, and then at the end of the day, dinner is not cooked, the world is the same, and you are only dressed because you had to pick up your children. So they offered up a point system to see how bad you had been, and I have come to the conclusion that though I am fairly nice today, I have not always been so.
  I throw myself into everything. I overdo, I try to overachieve. But this blog, is not going to be filled with those zingy bits of insanity. It is going to be filled with the journey to the center of the Oven. I love computers, cooking and my lovable dog, Dakota- or Kody as the case may be. I have been neglecting all three while my veggies grew, my fish died and my friends ate at my cafe. This is my journey back...
And I invite you dear friends to come back with me. 
Sit for a minute with me at the insanity I call Breakfast..