More About Beer...

I heard a whisper somewhere on the Internet that Bard's Beer might be better than Red Bridge.  I set off to find a six-pack of Bard's.

I found one, next to, in fact, the Red Bridge display at my local purveyor of Good Things to Eat and Drink.

The next step was to take a sip from the bottle.  The step after that was to test the taste buds of the family beer gourmands. 

The vote came in with all thumbs up.  Bard's is an excellent gluten-free beer brewed from sorghum.  It is a bit heavier than Red Bridge which is a much lighter beer somewhat like a pilsner.

I'm not a beer-snob, I only drink it once in a while, but I can recommend both Bard's and Red Bridge as tasty and refreshing alternatives to beers derived from barley.

Look for them in a beer cooler near you!

A Beer At The Bridge!

Having made a choice to live gluten-free, there are a few things that I miss a lot.  Hamburger and hot-dog buns are at the top of the list; beer is right up there too.

I stopped in at my local grocer on the way home from school this afternoon and after picking up my eggs at the back of the store I walked past the beer cooler.  I peruse the cooler regularly for a gluten-free beer I'd heard about.  Today I hit a double jackpot!  I won $7 in the Powerball lottery, and nestled in the cooler among the micro-brews was Red Bridge gluten-free sorghum beer!  I grabbed a six-pack and headed for the register.

Now most beer aficionados have said that none of the gluten-free beers are any good except this one, so I by-passed any attempt to find other brands.  Upon opening Red Bridge and taking my first sip, I was greatly and pleasantly surprised; Red Bridge tastes like real beer!

So if you love beer, have no problems with alcohol and are living gluten-free, go and find yourself some Red Bridge.  You'll be glad when you try it!  Remember the rule:  Drink responsibly, don't drink and drive!

I hope my store will keep this in stock forever!

Silver Linings

Today we received some good news for my mom! 

I wrote a note to the doctor in charge of mom's care.  Now, keep in mind, this doc is not mom's doctor, he is simply a doctor assigned to review the case.  He is not on staff at the care facility.  He is rarely physically present.  I had to pass the note to the nurse, who then relayed my questions by phone to the doctor. Bless her heart, she did ask!

I mentioned a couple of labwork details that have been brushed off by four different doctors now and asked if he thought them worthy of concern.  He responded by doing a number of blood tests!

Well, the results of one test came in, and BINGO!  We are getting a referral to a good endocrinologist!

The other panel won't be in for a few days.  I am anxiously awaiting that, but thankfully this kind and observant doctor really sees something worth a closer look and did not brush aside our concerns just because mom is 83 years old.  He is pursuing the details her personal physician ignored.

She's had a good three days.  Very clear-headed and more like herself than I've seen her in a long time.  The other good news is that she may be out of the care facility in a couple of days.  I hope it happens!  I am anxious to be in my own home (600 miles away) after spending 5 weeks at mom's , and I'm very anxious for things to improve for mom.  This has been one hellish year for her.

Keep praying, anyone who is reading this!

It's Been A Long Time...

I am a little weary tonight.  I have now been at my  mom's house, 600 miles from home, for a month.  She has been in a "skilled nursing facility" for all this time, and we still do not have a good time-frame for her discharge.

I have been going over there every single day.  I am often there from morning until bedtime, leaving only to take one family member home and bring another.  My brother is here living in mom's house, and for a while my daughter (who is a certified nursing assistant) was with me; then my husband joined us and we all pitched in with the many needed tasks.  I had the eerie thought that it took only one of mom to raise 4 kids, it is taking 4 people to care for one mom...(sigh).  There must be something poetic in that.  My sister is unable to be here, she lives and works in Pennsylvania. 

My daughter left to go home last week, and my husband left this morning.  It is back to my brother and me trying to look after mom and her house.

The nursing staff is overworked, there are not enough people to manage the needs of the residents.  The food is gross.  It has been difficult to find out where things are that would help us take care of mom, and what services are available.  So, we have been doing a lot of her care ourselves.

She will need a lot of help when she gets home, and I would have moved her up with me but she has changed her mind and decided she wants to stay in her house.  It will require at least a half-time person to attend her.

I am discouraged, depressed, home-sick.  We could sure use the wisdom of Solomon right now!  Sure wish mom had long-term care insurance.

Well, enough whining.  I need to get some sleep so I can get up early and do mom's laundry before heading back to the rehab place.  If anyone is reading this, please say a prayer for us!  Our endurance is slipping.

Bad News, Not So Bad News

My family received some bad news yesterday in parallel with some not-so-bad news.  My mom has been struggling with some health issues for several months now (see my previous post).  She has seen several different doctors, none of whom can find anything conclusive.  One standout issue was her anemia, unusual because it was unrelated to nutritional deficiency; her nutritional status (iron, Vitamins D and B12),  was very good.

Finally she landed in a hematologist's office.  He did some bloodwork, did a bone marrow biopsy, and diagnosed "smoldering" multiple myeloma.  "Smoldering" means "stable" or, not advancing.  At this point there is nothing to treat, so she will be watched via lab tests every couple of months.  If nothing develops after a year, she will be able to go longer between blood tests.  Thankfully, the doctor was able to rule out lymphoma.

I am more anxious and scared than Mom is!  She has great faith and optimism in spite of a very difficult life.  She has known so much loss!  Dear nieces and nephews, one of my brothers, my dad, all dying of unusual causes.  We actually lost one other relative, mom's paternal aunt, to multiple myeloma.  So we know a little about the disease and it makes it more scary to have already had one relative with it.

Mom grew up in the home of a single mother, a child of the Great Depression, before being a single mom was fashionable or acceptable.  Her mom was not always gentle and kind.  She was supposed to go to Stanford University but her mom didn't have money for college, so my mom ended up getting married without going to college.  She is smart, loving, interesting, fun.  My mom is the greatest and is a dear friend to me.

I am praying that the Integrative Medicine doc will be able to help her with the as yet unnamed issues that first took her to the doctor.  Hopefully she will have a lot of fine years yet to be part of our lives.

One interesting thing that I have found, after some reading around the Internet, is that there is a very possible link between celiac disease and multiple myeloma.  Also a link between celiac and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

 

Seasons of Life

The turning of the year 2010 brought unwelcome news to my life.  My mom has been struggling for some time now with issues that severely impact her quality of life.  Some health issues have overtaken her, and some cognitive issues as well.  The memory and thought problems have robbed her of the ability to do a few things that she loves, and that give her peace and comfort.  She has always loved reading, and it is difficult for her to comprehend what she reads, and impossible as well for her to work on the crossword puzzles that keep her mind exercised.

She was in the hospital a couple of months ago with a serious infection, actually a life-threatening bout with sepsis.  A cascade of doctor visits and blood tests revealed anemia and other scary looking things.

Today was the latest in a chain of consultations, and the scariest of all.  Something in her blood is a marker for cancer and they are needing to do still more tests.  They also are going to do a CT scan because the hematologist thinks he knows what is causing the terrible edema in her legs.  I think it is myxedema (warning...grossness alert).

I am angry that the doctors have, so far, blown off the fact that some of her hormones are extremely low, almost to the point of being out of the range of normal.  When mine were like hers, I was very sick.  I know that part of her problem could be easily helped but the docs won't listen. It is for this reason many people begin treating themselves, to the chagrin of their doctors.  But what else can we do?  I am also angry that it is taking them so long to get anything done.  Mom has been having difficulty since last November.  Now, halfway through July, the docs have made a lot of money off my mom, but she still has NO answers.

I shouldn't be afraid, but I am.  I trust the Lord to keep His promises.  Nonetheless, with all the struggles and pain my mom has endured in life, and faced bravely and full of faith in our great God, I had hoped that the latter years of her life would be peaceful and joyous.  It doesn't look like that will be the case for her.  If anyone is reading this, please offer up a prayer for my mom, and for her doctors.

Forgotten Rachels

As I was taking my morning constitutional across the electronic pathways of Interwebville, I came across a lovely tribute to the "Forgotten Rachels".  I'm going to leave the video up at the top for a while, and also embed in this post.

The lovers of death need to be stopped.

 

Trouble In Academia - Yank Your Kids Out Now!

Let's begin with a short quotation from John Taylor Gatto, master educator:

School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I should know. --John Taylor Gatto

Thanks to Lonely Conservative for bringing up the subject of underfunded teacher pensions.  The education system is a major hot-button for me.  The teacher's unions have created a huge mess.  If administrators try to change anything in the effort to stave off the coming crash of pensions, the teachers will howl and threaten.  Well, the answer is, take away their power.  Parents, pull your kids out of school.  Don't let the unions use YOUR KIDS as pawns in this game.

We need to ditch the public school system and make parents responsible for educating their own children. The country was better off before Dewey and minions pushed assembly-line education on us (and before teacher's unions took control of everything). Everyone should read the book Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. After that they should read here the online text version of Underground History of American Education.

One more book that looks like a good read is The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. I haven't read it but based on a review by Samuel Blumenfeld it looks pretty good.

Lastly, check out The Fourth Purpose.  It is a documentary in the works.  Looks like it will be a great exposé of our public education system.

Go now and read all this stuff.  You will not want to leave your kids one more day in these liberal/progressive indoctrination parlors the goal of which is to insure the cultural and academic illiteracy of your child while creating drones for the state


.

Jawa Report - Reflections on Right vs. Left

The Jawa Report is one of the blogs on my daily must-read journey.  This morning as I sipped my steamy cup of morning brew, I opened the link to this great and refreshing video.  A lovely and articulate young man man shares some of the hate-mail he receives because he happens to be one of the most vile, despicable creatures to inhabit the earth...(gasp) a black conservative!  He does a great job of dismantling the ideals espoused by the left-wing haters.

Quote of the Day

I was out and about in the political sphere this morning and ran across this quote posted by anuts in the comment section of a Hot Air post.  You can see the original Hot Air article by clicking the title of this post.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

–Ayn Rand

I'd say we are certainly in that predicament in the USSA (United Socialist States of Amerika).  The leftists have been busy for years creating thought crimes, diet crimes, philosophy crimes.  They have been busy creating a divided society that has young against old, right against left, black against yellow against red against white. 

Get the leftists out of the government.

Liar In Chief

Great video documentary featuring the Prevaricator in Chief and highlighting all his broken promises.  He and all his minions have to be removed from office and soon.  Is this a slanderous post?  I don't think so.  His untruths and unseemly associations are well documented by eyewitnesses.

H/T Jawa Report

Is The President a US Citizen or Is He Not?

Probably in the technical sense, but barely.

I was cruising around the Internet this morning, drinking my morning coffee, chatting with my daughter via instant messenger.  Dear Daughter sent me a link to a blog titled "Do Not Tread On Us".  I read the article my daughter had linked to, which describes why liberals don't do well in political arguments.  I then poked around the blog to find out a little more about the writer.  Buried was an older post about Barry Obama Soetero, our illustrious president dictator.  This referenced the idea that a school in which Barry had been enrolled released documents in 2007 showing that indeed, Barry might NOT be a real citizen.  I stepped into that pile of goo a little late!  It's an idea that has been floating a long time, but I've ignored.

Well, I think the "birth" part has been debunked, he seems to have been born in Hawaii after all.  But is a real American only that because of his place of birth?  I think not.  The American way, the American ideal, is an idea.  And Barack Obama was NOT raised with any sense of love for this country, patirotism, loyalty.

I started this post with the idea of pondering the question of Barry's citizenship, but posted before I researched.  I am re-posting without the "truther" CORRECTION: "birther" conspiracy.

I am thankful again to Atlas Shrugs for addressing this while I was still pondering.  Go read the article there titled "Going Home: Obama in Indonesia, A Third World Presidency".

Nails it down pretty well for me.

The Youth Brigade is Here

Every good dictator knows that if you start brainwashing people in childhood, they will never break from their psycho-grooming.  You liberal socialist democrat types don't even know that you are not really free thinkers, you are the pets and tools of the left who, in their minds, exist solely to serve their whims.

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs has posted one of the most frightening things I've seen in recent days.  She relates how the Democrat Socialists of America have hosted a Young Democrat Socialist youth gathering in a New York public school.  This stuff has no business in the public schools!  And these people should not have access to American youth!

At the bottom of Pamela's article is a list of Democrat Socialists already in Congress.  There are 75 of them.  Scroll through the list, you will see a lot of familiar names.  If your congressional representative is among them, it is time to drop what you are doing and go on the warpath against them.  Also in her article is a side-by-side comparison of Hitler's Nazi goals and the goals of the Democrat Socialists.  Yes, they are the same goals.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We need to listen to the WWII generation who saw Hitler's march to power with their own eyes.  They see that Obama is doing just what Hitler did.  People who refuse to see that have their heads in the sand.  Sugar-coating it doesn't make it go away.

This is real, it is now, and it is very scary stuff.  Visit the DSA (linked above) website and  you will see how far down the path we have already gone towards destruction of this once-great country.

Time to get them out, whatever it takes.  Because they are trying to enslave us, however they can.

Hope and Change - Mantra of the Oppressors

Guest blogger Val Prieto wrote the wonderful (but scary) article "Prevent or Lament" at Michelle Malkin.
Val's father is Cuban and saw the revolution in which Castro assumed (isn't that an understatement!) dictatorship of what was once an island paradise.  The article shares a conversation he had with his dad.  Blog commenter TooMuchTime relates what is a common Cuban sentiment:

On March 24th, 2010 at 12:36 pm, TooMuchTime said:

I read on a blog somewhere, before the 2008 election, the blogger was dining in Miami and noticed an older Cuban couple. When he spoke with them they told him they came to the U.S. in 1960.
The blogger said, “So you got out just after Castro took over.”
Without missing a beat, the Cuban man said, “Yes. We’ve seen hope and change before.”

Fidel Castro is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. Go to that link, read the  numbers, then scroll down and look at the pictures some of the commenters have posted.  Then go to THIS LINK and scroll through the many articles posted there.  The brutality of Castro is very evident.  Don't think that President Obama is not of the same mindset. 

Be warned people! Obama and all the other Socialist Democrats do not have your best interest in mind. They have THEIRS. Don't follow them off this cliff.

Rep Dingell Thinks He Should Control the American People?

H/T to Lonely Conservative and American Thinker for this one. 

Representative John Dingell (D-MI) claims 18,000 people a year are dying for lack of health insurance coverage.You can listen to Dingell speaking with Paul W. Smith of station WJR 760 AM, billed as "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes" in Detroit.  The interview starts at about 1:24 on the timer.  A new age of serfdom has arrived; Dingell speaks of his constituents as "my people".  He offered this lovely little thought:

"Let me remind you this [Americans allegedly dying because of lack of universal health care] has been going on for years. We are bringing it to a halt. The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people."  (Emphasis added)

If 18,000 people a year are dying, why did they not get those people covered NOW instead of 4 years from now?  Can the Democrats now take credit for  72,000 needless deaths because of their delay? 

Health reform is not about helping people, it's about controlling people.

Unconscionable!

I Heard a Whisper...The Illustrious Senior Senator from Oregon Said...

H/T to Hot Air for pointing out that one of Oregon's senators has apparently told the Huffington Post that he won't vote to bar sex offenders' access to Viagra.  In their zeal to make sure their pet project doesn't get derailed in reconciliation, they are going to refuse even the most reasonable of amendments offered by Republicans.

“Democrats in the Senate are very unified that this is not going back to the House,” Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) told the Huffington Post on Tuesday, minutes before the Coburn amendment was introduced.

What are the Democrats afraid of?  Do they fear having to try re-stuffing this health care bill through the House of Representatives?

What a colossal bunch of losers.  They will never do the right thing just for the sake of doing the right thing.

The Socialists Won A Battle; Now It is Our Turn

The Socialists Won A Battle; Now It is Our Turn

This passionate article was written by Dana Loesch and posted at biggovernment.  I offer a small quote here, please click the linked title and read the entire thing.  It is well worth the time; I hope you will be inspired to act as I was.

How many men and women have shed blood for this country? How many patriots took to the streets to defend this country blessed by God? Don’t you dare give up, patriots. Don’t you dare make their sacrifices in vain because you’re afraid of battle. Take no prisoners, suffer no fools, never surrender.


What – you thought you get this land scott-free? Liberty is never fully paid off and to be deserving of it one must be willing to fight for it on the battlefield, in the halls of congress, by involving yourselves in your communities. Such a struggle is not a burden, it is a privilege.


How bad do you want liberty? I’ve received several emails from folks who’ve said that they’re ready to move, to leave the country, and give up. I received an email the other day from a woman named Melanie who confessed that she just “doesn’t have time to get involved.” During a conversation about precinct captains with a gentleman at a recent protest, I was told that the commitment “sounds like too much time.”


My reply:


Get out.


Get out of my country any freeloader who possesses such an attitude, you betrayers of conservatism, of liberty. How dare you claim the belief of self-sustenance and individualism while warming your hands by another patriot’s fire, living off the fat of another patriot’s blood, sweat, and tears. As I said on my radio program last week: any one who dares call themselves a patriot and refuses to commit to maintaining their country’s liberty can burn in hades with the socialists who’ve jeopardized our children’s futures.

 Please click the link to read the entire thing; this article is a must-read. Amazing piece of writing, says what I wish I had the eloquence to say. If you read it there, you see my heart. Time to stand up and be counted, stand up and do something that counts.

Revolution is not easy. Revolution is painful. Generations of people have spilled their blood protecting the great gift of liberty that we have enjoyed. To let it slip away is to spit upon the sacrifices made in generations before us. It means something to me. I will be setting afoot for the Liberty Tree. Join me.

Colonel Allen West at AtlasShrugs

Read this article at Atlasshrugs.  It is encouraging and uplifting.  Take heart, gird yourself, and head into the battle to defend our Constitutional republic.  It's not over till we give up and say it's over.

ABORT STUPAK

Time to help one bad turncoat move out of Congress and off to pasture.  Get Bart Stupak out of office, support  Dr. Dan Benishek for the House of Representatives.  Stupak sold out.  This Youtube video shows he planned to sell out all along.  He had no intention of ever voting against this horrific bill.

Check out Hillbuzz.org for a huge list of major donors to Democratic candidates.  Join in letting those donors know we know who they are, and we are not happy with them.

Boycott businesses who helped get people like Stupak (and Obama) in office.  I know who some of them are in my town, and I will be letting them know they've lost my business.

They Really Did It...

I feel like I did the night Barack Barry Obama was elected president.  I do not want to get up and watch the gloat-fests in the mainstream media.  Losing the health care fight is a very depressing defeat in the short-term, but payback will be sweet.  

I will join in the efforts to throw every Democrat bum out of office who is up for election this November.  First on my hit list?  Bart Stupak Sellout.

The founding fathers of the United States of America pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor.  Should we do less than that?  How much does our liberty mean to us?

I don't want to think that my loved ones who have sacrificed their lives, spilled their blood for this country, did so in vain.  I don't want to go through life knowing that a bunch of radical Marxists spit on the graves of my dear ones to make this country into another Marxist paradise.

Anyone who thinks Marxism is so wonderful ought to go read blogs that come out of Cuba.  It is easy to see that no revolutionary promises every come to fruition.  They are lies given in order to manipulate the populace.  The USA is a nation filled with people who think that somehow they have a right to "something for nothing".

What a sham.  As Margaret Thatcher (former Prime Minister of Britain) is credited with saying, "Sooner or later you run out of other people's money".

No one has the right to put their hands in MY pocket and take the fruits of MY labor for someone else's wish list.

I will be agitating politically to keep all Alinsky-ite hands out of my pockets.

Latest Political Meme...

Or soon to become one...

Attributed to blogger Kathleen McKinley, who says "We've moved from passing bills without reading them to passing bills without voting on them".

This quote also appears on Michelle Malkin's blog.

Pass it on   Call your legislators.  Congress is no longer governing by the consent of the governed, they have become Hugo Chavez.

I *LOVE* My Water Heater (NOT!)

Today begins week two of the newest family adventure with plumbing. Last week we got up Monday morning to take showers and prepare for school, only to discover that the pilot light on our water heater had gone out. Couldn't get it to stay on.

I called a plumber to look at it as my resident plumbing expert, my husband, was out of town. The plumber thought the gas valve was bad, and offered to change it for $397.00. That is not small change! I can buy a NEW water heater for that kind of money! The plumber offered to install a new water heater for roughly $900.00. I politely declined saying I needed to speak with my husband before making a decision.

Unfortunately my husband was not due back in town until Thursday night.

We took a few cold showers last week, not fun!

Dear husband got home Thursday night, went right out to the garage and tried to light the pilot. The darned thing fired right up and stayed on all weekend!

Well, my husband took off on Sunday and when I got home from taking him to the airport I prepared to get into the shower. No hot water. The pilot was out again. And has been out since, it will NOT stay lit. Go figure.

We have a repair kit from the Whirlpool company (not the refrigerator people, but a division of AO Smith I am told) because there was a class action lawsuit and worldwide recall of these heaters for this very problem. We won't get the new part installed until next weekend.

In the meantime, more cold showers. Brrrrr....

Oregon Stupidity Multiplied

Oregon voters passed two measures this week that will increase taxes on business and so-called "rich" people. "Rich" is not limited to those making over $250,000, the number bandied about by supporters. The tax on people at that level is 11%, and the tax on people making $125,000 is going to be 10.8%. That is not statistically significant enough to say only the rich got smacked!

Class warfare is alive and well in the Beaver state.

What stupidity. I am ashamed to admit that I live in this wretched state. Where do these morons think businesses are going to get the money to pay the taxes? They are either going to cut their expenses (lay off workers), raise their prices or move out of state.

Will Oregon's new tax laws really generate the $733 million dollars everyone seems to think it will? Not if the targets get out of the line of fire they won't.

In another move of Oregon stupidity, the beloved governor has now been emboldened to seek ways to insure that Oregonians don't get any more "kicker" checks. The "kicker" is a rebate given to taxpayers when General Fund revenues exceed forecast by 2%. The governor is not satisfied with the big new taxes we just gave him, now he wants even more!

I don't see any hope of Tea Party type activism in Oregon. Time for us to flee while we can still get out of here. Time to flee before the state levies an exit tax.

Helping Haiti

The Anchoress over at the FirstThings blog has assembled a lovely list of organizations that are helping victims of the deadly, destructive earthquake that recently struck Haiti. I recognize many of them, and will support one or two of them. I will NOT support the Red Cross, I like others better.

It is always good to look at the finances of any organization you might consider supporting; one that sends most of it's funds right to their work is a good bet. Organizations with high fund-raising costs are not organizations I will support. It is also important to me that an organization's financial information be easily accessible to donors and potential donors.

I would add a couple of organizations (see below) to the Anchoress' list. A heads-up for Baptist Haiti Mission, they are primarily a Christian Education mission but look like they will be accountable to use earthquake relief funds for earthquake relief and they are already there in Haiti. I have included links to the financial pages for these groups, all post detailed reports and some have links to their federal form 990 if you really want to look them over.

Medical Teams International (LOW overhead at only 2.66%)

Baptist Haiti Mission (programs 90%, operations 10%)

Samaritan's Purse (overhead/fundraising 11%)

"It's The People's Seat!"

Go, Scott, Go!

Massachusetts is the place to watch this week, with two candidates fighting for the opportunity to fill the US Senate seat recently left vacant by the death of Senator Kennedy.

Contrast the two videos immediately following; one an empty phone bank that should have been filled with people trying to get people out and voting for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, the other a rally held January 17 for Republican Candidate Scott Brown.

May the true Constitutionalist win!

H/T to HotAir and Urban Infidel, a Hotair Commenter. Another to Sister Toldjah

Obama Lies and More Lies

There is a website out there that is tracking the long list of lies and broken promises offered by Obama political machine. Check it out at ConservativeAmerican.org:

Obama Administration Lies, Broken Promises, Flip-Flops & Scandals - List Hits 900!

Unbelievable to see so much all in one place. Spread the word.


H/T to the Frugal Café Blogzone!