Dancing With The Stars, 03292011

Who was the first celebrity to be eliminated this season? Do you want to take a guess? Please tell us!!! Not yet...you have to be patient a little bit more. Why?? Don't you want to know what happened first, who danced what and the scores?? Not really, but I think you will do it anyway! You got that right baby!!!! Let us talk about Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke first. What about them? Tom is as usual... a smart aleck with Len Goodman once in a while, and Brooke Burke still posing a lot while flickering her eyes! I will admit though that Brooke had nice figure hugging dresses for the last two nights! And to think that she has several children!! That is such an accomplishment!! What is it with Dancing With The Stars on the second night? The first hour is a rerun of the first night? Why?? Plus, they sure know how to waste time on the second hour! Why do you say that? They already showed the celebrity dances, but they do it again and again before the eliminations are announced!! Well, they want to fill up the whole hour, and what is a better way to do it than to recap the dances?? Oh well.... I just thought I will mention it. Who was good this week? Romeo with Chelsea Hightower with the quickstep was good, but it seems he is trying sooo hard to be macho and a Romeo with Chelsea!! Isn't Chelsea too old for him?? Age does not matter with celebrities! That is true, and I forgot!! Ralph Macchio with Karina Smirnoff was also good with their Jive. It was fast and lots of energy!! Hines Ward with Kym Johnson in their Quickstep was also good, considering that he is a huge guy!! One thing for sure, Hines seems to be a mild mannered guy with a smile always!! Being nice is not good enough to win...you have to have excellent dancing skills! Well, all the celebrities on this season are not as great as the others from previous seasons, so I think everyone had a pretty good chance of winning!!! Except??? Wendy Williams with Tony Dovolani, Mike Catherwood with Lacey Schwimmer, Sugar Ray Leonard with Anna Trebunskaya, Kendra Wilkinson with Louis van Amstel, and Petra Nemcova wuth Dmitry Chaplin!!! Oh....oh...you already picked who you think will be eliminated early! Yes, unless they have something rolled up on their sleeves!!! Mike Catherwood with Lacey Schwimmer was the first celebrity eliminated this season. Ouch!!! He is now in the company of the lousiest dancers in the history of Dancing With The Stars!! Are these celebrities going to compete with each other to redeem their names??? I do not have a clue but they should!!! Well, until next week.....have a great day!!!!

Interesting Tidbits

Have you all noticed how the middle class is slowly dissipating from America? It seems there are only 2 classes now in America: the rich and the poor!!! That is right, baby, no more middle class!!! Is that good or bad?? That is definitely bad!! The gap between the rich and the poor is bigger today!! The rich are getting richer; look at the soaring stock market and the huge bonuses the CEO's and President's of the companies are getting! On the other hand, the poor are getting poorer, which is most of us! There is high unemployment, many foreclosures and lots of families drowning in debts! For one thing, our government have sooo much power and corporations are being catered by the government big time!! Our founding fathers must be turning on their graves for what is happening to our dear country!! The wealthy sure is enjoying the economic recovery while most of us are struggling!!! I read that facelifts for men rose 14 %. Are these the "vain" men from Wall Street?? The average bonus on Wall Street for 2010 was $128,530!!! Can you believe that??? That is ridiculous!!! Why can't this people share their wealth with everyone like our dear president said during his campaign?? While the Wall Street people get good bonuses, employee compensation has been the lowest in 50 years!! Not only that, unemployment rose in 351 of the 372 largest cities in the Unted States!!! How about sale of luxury items? That increased also! Million dollar home sale rose 18.6 %, private jumbo jet sales are soaring, Porsche sales increased by 29 %, luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany and Co announced an increase in profits by 29%, Cadillac sales are up by 36 %, Rolls royce reported an increased in sale by 171%. You and I could not afford any of these luxurious items....so who are buying these??? The rich people of course! We do not even go shopping now because of the high cost of gasoline and food!!! Thank goodness we have some TV programs that we can watch to keep us entertained!!! I could go on and on but I am just sooo disgusted with the way that our society is heading into!!! Share the wealth indeed!!! Did you all know that there are more than a million families that lost their homes due to foreclosure, and that is expected to increase in 2011??? Yikes!!! Unemployment is at a standstill at over 10 %, same as last year; half of American workers make only $25,000/ year or less?? How could you afford anything earning just this amount while an average CEO makes 185 times more money than an average American worker! No wonder Porsche has announced it is taking orders now for their first hybrid - 918 Spyder! Cost?? A whopping $845.000!!! Wow!! The old, balding men are back into the sports car trick to get young, good looking chicks!!! Yup!!! The dirty old man is back!!! What is our world getting into??? Today, there are an all time high of 44 million Americans on food stamps!!! That is really crazy!! Our once great country has really gone to the dogs!!! What are we to do?? Pray... that our government will open it's eyes to what is happening to their citizens and do something!!! They should really spread the wealth, not only to corporations but to everyone!!! After all, a happy citizen is a happy country, is it not??? May God bless all of us!!! Let us all pray for world peace!!!

Cooking Pot Pie

Why am I talking about cooking?? First of all, I am not a chef and I am just so..so in cooking!! Why do you say that? Remember: never admit to your faults or shortcomings!! Yes, ma'm! Repeat after me: I am a great cook! Okay. I am an excellent cook! Ha! Ha! Ha! I turned it up a notch!!! Oh, my gosh! I do not know about you! Well, do you have a problem with that?? Of course not, carry on.....

I think I am really getting good at it, if I have a recipe! After all, it is just like in the chemistry lab following directions, is it not?? If you want to put it that way and it will make you happy!!! Anyway, I made some chicken pot pie the other day. How did it turn out? Pretty good! Except...Oh, oh...except what? I am so used to baking all the time at 350 that I set the oven at 350 instead of 425! So, I had to cook the pie longer! What else did you do? Instead of making the sauce, I did a shortcut. What was the shortcut? Adding a little bit of milk to the cream of chicken soup! How did it turn out? I was really satisfied with it!! Surprise! Surprise!! What else did you do with the recipe? I used ready-made pie crust. There is nothing wrong with that! You are right! The pie crust was delicious! But...But what?? How come I cannot get the pie crust out of the container without breaking it? It fell into pieces and my pie was not too good looking! What did you do? When I was peeling it in the container, it stated to break into pieces!! Did you defrost it? Not really! That is probably what your problem is!! Make sure it is defrosted next time before you peel it out of the container! Will do, thanks!

Even though my pot pie is not an A + in appearance or presentation, I think it was an A++ on taste!! Sez who??? Me!!! Who else?? Ay..ya ..yay....Why can't you wait for someone to tell you whether it is good or not?? Why?? I have a good sense of taste!! Who cooked it? Me!!! And I am soooo proud of myself!!! In fact I think I will give myself a pat on the back!! Ha! Ha! Ha! Want some??? It is sooo tasty!!! Soooo yummy!!!!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!!! God bless!!!

American Idol, 03252011

Motown returns to American Idol!!! The contestants gave them their all and I am sure that the celebrities were really pleased with the performance of each of the idol hopefuls! The competition is really getting intense, and every contestant is trying to outshine each other!

Ryan Seacrest is sooo dramatic as usual... when he announced who will be on the bottom 3 and who will stay! He gets an " A +" for drama....no wonder he gets big bucks!!! Jennifer Lopez looked really beautiful last night and Steven Tyler is still the same quiet, funny looking guy, who had a birthday cake on the show last night! How about Randy Jackson? The Dawg, I think is trying to be Simon!!

I was really surprised with Naima Adedapo who sang Dancing In The Street. Her showmanship was really great! Last week, I thought she should go. This week she showed that I was wrong and she is here to stay! The other hopeful that I was really surprised was Haley Reinhart! For starters, she took out her beautiful curls and made it staight!! Is that her new image??? It worked together with a little attitude!! How about Paul McDonald? He surely looks and sounds like Rod Stewart! He can make a name for himself just because of that which is a good thing!!

Who were in the bottom 3? Thia Megia, who stepped out from her ballad comfort zone and sang Heat Wave. I think she needs to step up several notches for her showmanship and should lose her shyness!!! But she is only 16!! That is true! That is quite an accomplishment for a 16 year old! Stefano Langone is the next one to be on the bottom 3. He sings good, but his interpretation of Lionel Richie's Hello is something to be desired!! The 3rd person on the bottom 3 was Casey Abrams who is one of the judges favorites! I really do not care for his singing, but I am not a singer and a judge! It was so dramatic how they saved him. Casey started to sing and the judges told him to stopped....they used the one and only save for the season and there are still 11 people!!! Wow!!! I was shocked!!! The judges must really liked him a lot!! As a result, all 11 contestants will go on the tour!!!

Who am I rooting for to win? Pia Toscano, who I believed has the whole package...beauty, poise and voice!!! She just have to show to the world that she can sing other stuff besides ballads!!! The other contender for the title is Scott McCreery with the deep voice! I think that he will go places with or without winning American Idol!! The other one is Jacob Lusk who seems to always get standing ovations from the judges!!! There is no denying that he has a very good voice and he truly has a gift!!!

Next week will be awful for the contestants since there will be 2 that will be eliminated! That should be okay. After all, all 11 will be with the idol tour after the show ends!!

Housing Blues

The housing industry is still having many problems! One of the problem is that new home sales for February, 2011 in the United States hit an all time low , only 19,000 sold! For one thing, how could people buy a house if they are unemployed?? It is extremely difficult to find a job in today's economy! There are so many people that have been out of a job for a year now, and they simply stopped looking! Besides, I read that companies do not even want to hire people that has been unemployed for a long time! That is big time discrimination on these people through no fault of their own that they are unemployed! In that case what is the future for the unemployed people?? That is not fair...and it is sooo sad!! Something has to be done! How about the politicians that are trying to please corporate America by robbing money from the weak, like the elderly and kids by getting their private pensions or education money just to give to businesses to further fatten their wallets??? That is not right, do you all agree???

Let us talk about people that are employed. Even if they are employed, who could afford a 20% or more down payment for a new house especially if you are only earning $8.00 or $9.00 an hour?? Would you not rather spend it on food, which , by the way has been on a steady increase for quite sometime now? What can we do to alleviate the situation? Grow your own vegetable garden this spring and freeze some! I like what some cities are doing...a co-op garden for people to get their vegetables.

Home foreclosures are still on the rise. Did you know that 11% of US homes are standing empty?? Why can't the bank dispose of these homes? Because the mortgage lenders have tightened their lending standards!! Per Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are at least 1 month behind on their mortgage, and a high number of Americans are "underwater" on their mortgages. There is a projection of 48 % negative equity of American homes by the end of 2011!! Did you all get the valuation of your house from the city??? There is a big decline in the home value but I am so amazed of how much the property tax remains! It was only a few dollars less!! Sigh!!! We really cannot win, can we???

Did you also know that 63 % of Americans feel it is better to rent than to own a home?? Tell me if I am wrong, but I read somewhere that is the future for the people...that the government would rather people rent than own a home! What is the reason for this? I do not know!! Does anyone know if there is a truth to what I read???

Lastly, the cost of oil continues to rise. If the conflict in the Middle East does not stop, we might see the cost of oil rising to $200!! In that case, who can still afford anything??? We need to all pray.....pray.....pray.....

May there be world peace!!! May God bless all of us!!!!!

Dancing With Stars, 03212011

Dancing With Stars, Season 12 has begun!!! I like the start of the DWTS this year - it was enjoyable to watch and it seems that there are more celebrities that have rhythm and can dance!!!

The emcees are still the same, Tom Bergeron and Brook Burke. Brook is still the same old gal that seems to pose a lot and flicker her eyelashes for the camera! How about the judges? Same old judges...with Bruno Tonioli still doing his crazy antics amidst Len Goodman's disgust! And Carrie Ann Inaba is still the same emotional woman!

Ralph Macchio, 49, aka Karate Kid, with Karina Smirnoff was the leader of the pack, earning a score of 24 with their foxtrot! Ralph can really move! Thanks for the days and hours of practice being the Karate Kid, huh Ralph? Too bad, Karina you will not be able to seduce him!!!

I was pleasantly surprised with Kirstie Alley, 60, with Maksim Chmerkovskiy... she can dance the cha cha with that big body of hers!! Wow!!! Kudos to you, Kirstie...hope you go to the finals!!! Score: 23!

Hines Ward of Pittsburgh Steelers with Kym Johnson, dancing the cha cha. I think the score of 21 is too high! You were not that good! Seems Kym did more work than you!

Kendra Wilkinson- Baskett...with his daddy Hugh Heffner watching. Her dancing with Louis Van Amstel earned them a score of 19! I thought her score was low! The judges should have given them a better score since she can dance and move her butt really well!

Romeo, a rapper actor with Chelsie Hightower. He can dance better than his father, Master P, that is why he earned a score of 19! He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely on the dance floor! Is that real or just the nerves at work?? Ha! Ha! Ha!

Chelsea Kane, Jonas star, with Mark Ballas. She is really good...young and pretty!!!! They earned a score of 21! There are some facial feature of her that reminds me of Julianne Hough...don't you guys agree??

Petra Nemcova, supermodel and 2004 tsunami survivor with Dimitri Chaplin. She is tall and needs a lot of practice! Score: 18!

Wendy Williams, talk show host and Tony Dovolani. Yuck!!! No wonder she was crying because she was horrible!!! She should go first!!!

Chris Jericho, wrestler with Cheryl Burke who received a score of 19! I thought the judges gave them a big score because they were afraid of him! Look at his size! And a wrester too? I will really give them a good score no matter what!! Cheryl, will Chris give you some bling??? Remains to be seen!!

Sugar Ray Leonard, 54, boxer, with Anna Trebunskaya. I thought he will be dancing better than that! I was wrong!!! Oh, well...Score: 17!

'Psycho" Mike Catherwood, Love Line co-host with Lacey Schwimmer. Ay..ya...yay...need I say more?? Score: 13!!!

There you are folks, the 11 celebrities who accepted the Dancing With The Stars challenge. If next week will be as good as this week, then I am hook watching it!!

Japan

The devastation in Japan is horrendous killing more than 7,600 and 11,000 still missing! It had been one week since the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. The greatest concern now is radiation, which has seeped into the spinach and milk from a nearby farm.

There are now 500 emergency workers trying to help in the cooling of the reactors at Fukushima Dai - ichi nuclear plant. How brave are these people who volunteered to save their country and their countrymen's lives! Bless them!

The crisis led to power shortages, food shortages and factory closures triggering a plunge in the stock market. The world are nervously watching because if this happens to Japan, it can happen anywhere.

It was so neat yesterday watching the news about a plane being dispatched to Japan from the United States. The plane can detect the radioactivity of the nuclear plants without endangering the lives of the people on the plane! I have not heard any more news about this? Has anyone heard anything and would like to share to the world?

This is really sad. Soo many sad news around the globe....no wonder there are so many people that are depressed. Will there be any good news?? I hope so!

Let us all help Japan with monetary contributions, a prayer or both. May the Japanese people remain steadfast with their faith and not lose hope!!

May God bless everyone in the whole world!!!!

American Idol, 03172010

Karen Rodriguez, the bilingual singer, was eliminated yesterday from American Idol amidst Jennifer Lopez pleading from Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler! How do I know?? I am just assuming since Randy said the judges were not unanimous in their decision and with the look in Jennifer's face. For me, Naima Adedapo should have been the one to let go! Karen has a better voice to me than Naima! I think Naima is just getting sympathy votes, and she probably will say that she does not care if they are just sympathy votes as long as she can stay and be on tour with the other contestants.

Who was in the hot seat besides Karen Rodriguez and Naima Adedapo? Haley Reinhart! This is the second week in a row that she was in the bottom 3! I guess she is getting used to it! Oh, well, do not worry, Haley, I really love your hair!!!! That is gorgeous....very nice!!!

Lee DeWyze, a former American Idol champion was one of the guest performers last night. Goodness gracious! His song and singing was blah and B...O...R...I...N...G...! No wonder he has not made any name for himself!! Do you think it is his choice of music? Probably!

I am always laughing when I see Steven Tyler. His facial expressions are priceless! Is he high because of Jennifer???? Sorry, Tyler, I cannot resist.....I am just kidding!!! Sorry Jennifer...You are just sooo sexy and pretty!!! I love watching Tyler especially when he really like the music!!! Then it seems he is on his own little world, with his eyes closed and savoring the music!!! Tyler....You are one of a kind!!!

Who am I rooting for??? The gorgeous Pia for the girls, and Stefano from the boy's group! I cannot wait next week!!! Have a great and blessed day, everyone!!!!

Price Increase!!!

I was going to just talk about price increase on food, but I saw that the increase is not only with food but everything else! I have been talking about this for quite sometime but seems that nobody really cares! Is it because people have more than enough finances or everybody is just tired and cannot do anything about it? Maybe both???

Have you noticed that your money is hard to stretch nowadays? I wonder why?? You wonder why?? No, I am just being sarcastic! Of course, money is very tight nowadays, because everything costs sooooooooo much!! Should we all start to grow our own vegetables? Or raise our own chickens and pigs?? Do they allow to raise livestock in the city? If not, maybe the city officials will allow it since it is expensive to buy meat! Ha! Ha! Ha! Come on...dream on....

Gasoline prices is now $3.55/gallon in Michigan. It is probably higher in California or other states. I do not know...all I know is it is too expensive to fill out the tank! What used to be only $15.00 for every fill up is now $30.00! Ay..ya...yay!!! So, I have been trying to combine all my trips so gasoline is not wasted! Should we all start riding a bicycle??? Oh, oh, I will be in trouble since I do not know how to ride a bike! It is hopeless for me! How about just building up a tricycle??? That is a thought!!! Sounds good, is it not???

Food prices are really high! Have you noticed how much food you can buy for $50.00? Not much nowadays. Meat and chicken has gone up so much over the last few months. You know what we can stock up with today??? Corned beef!! They are on sale since it is St. Patrick's Day! It is cheaper this week! Eggs are also on sale for $1.00 for large eggs at Kroger, so be sure to stock up on that too! I noticed though that the large eggs are the medium eggs of yesteryears!Retailers or manufacturers are cutting down on the size of the items to be able to still sell it low. Have you noticed that too for quite sometime now??? I also noticed that whenever something is on sale, like sugar for $2.69 a bag, people grab it and leave the shelves empty! How about chocolate chips for baking? People are grabbing the sale items and leaving the more expensive brand names on the shelves!

How about clothes? I am not really sure yet because I try not to buy any! But I am sure that it has gone up too since cotton prices have gone up! I think I am getting discouraged and sad on the state of our economy that I am stopping now.

Take care everyone!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! May God bless us all!!!

News...Here And There....

Okay, what is new? There are still lingering news about Japan. There are still 8,000 missing. My prayers go to the people of Japan for the devastation incurred and the loss of lives. It will never be the same for the Japanese people. Of course, they will be able to cope but it will take time, money and effort not only from the Japanese people but throughout the world! What does that mean for their economy? Their economy will of course suffer, and some other nations too! After all, Japan is a very powerful nation. Did you know that Japan is the second largest foreign holder of US government debt? It has about $882 billion in US Treasury Bonds! If they liquidate that $882 billion, which they might, considering they need money to rebuild....what do you guys think will happen??? The US economy will go down further! The cost of everything will skyrocket! The cost of everything is already skyhigh! They are saying that this is just the beginning! Oh my gosh! What we need are more prayers!!!! It makes me sad to even think of the future, so I think I will stop for now on this subject!

Just read the prediction that middle skill workers will be in high demand in the future! What does that mean? Middle skill workers are those with more than a High School diploma but less than a four year degree. Wow! Why is that? It is probably so that companies can pay them less and have more profit in their pockets to give bonuses and jets to their CEO'S and President's! Right?? So, now, they are saying that going to college is useless and will be a thing of the past? I do not know. Your guess is as good as mine!!!

How true is this what I read about a team of radical Islamics under the banner of Shariah 4 has plans to cover the Statue of Liberty with a burkha? Give me a break! That is truly crossing the line! Miss Liberty has been on the American shore for a long time and it is a part of the US history!! Don't these people have anything better to think and do?? What do you, American people think of this? Are we allowing this to happen???

May God bless us all!!!

Bachelor, 03142011

Bachelor Brad Womack finally picked a bachelorette! The most controversial bachelor of Season 11 did not dumped the last two ladies standing, Emily Maynard and Chantal O'Brien! This was so different from the first time he was a bachelor when he snubbed DeAnna Pappas and Jenni Croft. Did Womack changed? He should since he keeps saying he went to therapy! Sometimes he seems to have a stern face and when he says he is happy, I do not see a smile on his face! It seems that he has a hard time smiling. Have you all noticed that also?


These people are sooo lucky, they went around the world like Costa Rica, Africa etc... to film the episodes. The show must be racking a lot of dough to afford the lavish style and globe trotting! There must be a lot of suckers watching the show! You watch it too! Yes, I did watch it because I want to see the women acting crazy and silly vying for the affection of one man! I also wanted to see if Womack is a changed man! I am not sure yet!

The other 2 bachelorettes that were in the final four were Ashley, the dentist, and Shawntel, the funeral director. Brad would be sitting pretty if he have chosen Ashley because she is a dentist! Dentist makes a lot of money, and too bad, Brad missed his chance! Oh, well, they seem not to have too much chemistry and Ashley seems to be wishy washy! I just about died when Shawntel took Brad to a mausoleum and showed him how she does her work. That is too weird! I do not blame Brad for running away from her! Back to the last two bachelorettes.....

In Africa, Brad's relatives met the two ladies. The mother warmed up to Chantal right away since she is outgoing, fun and energetic. Emily, on the other hand was reserved, sweet and shy. After Emily told Brad's relatives how she lost her last love, Ricki Hendrick, a NASCAR driver, they all warmed up to her. Emily seems to be always thinking and uptight. What did Brad see in her? Her beauty and her sad life raising Ricki, her daughter, by herself! Brad felt being protective towards her and her daughter! But it seems that Emily is a very independent woman! Does she really need someone like Brad? Also, Emily must be earning a very good amount of money to be able to afford a house like that! Unless Hendrick was well off and she inherited a huge amount of money!

Chantal, on the other hand is very pretty but I think needs to lose some weight! Sorry Chantal, you are on the limelight so everything on you will be under scrutiny! I think she was really into Brad! Just think about her last date which was to swim with the sharks! If Chantal did not love him, she would not have done it! And Brad Womack.... you are insane and stupid for letting her go!! Don't you want to have fun and not be tied down???

It seems that Brad and Emily has had problems already. Brad, it seems, wants to get married. Emily, on the other hand, is not ready and have some doubts, insecurities and what have you about Brad. Then does that mean that Emily does not really love Brad??? On the other hand, I think Brad wants to get married so he can save face from last time...to tell the world that he has changed and is not a failure! What do you all think?

Well, whatever these two lovebirds decide, I am sure that the world is watching and wishing them the best of luck!!!!!

Life In General

What do you want to talk about life? I am not sure yet since it seems my brain is still asleep! Blame it on Daylight Savings Time...I lost one hour of precious sleep! Excuse me, what do you mean, you lost 1 hour of sleep? Sometimes you go from one day to the following afternoon with no sleep! That is different..I have company and I am having fun! Got it? Oh, excuse me, I forgot you are having fun! That makes a big difference!!! LOL.

Okay, I get it now. When you are a baby, you do not have any care in the world. You are playful and happy as long as you are full and your bum is clean! Ha! Ha! Ha! That is not a good thing to say about a baby! What do you want me to say? They are sooo adorable and cuddly that everyone wants to hold them?? No, just say they cannot take care of themselves so they really are very dependent on their parents!

When you are a teenager...this is the time when the struggle within oneself comes! The teenager wants to be embraced by the "in" group that they sometimes become blind to everybody and their surroundings! They are so gung ho to have the approval of their peers that they forget who really loves them! Is that right?? But not all teenagers are like that...some have a good sense of right and wrong! That is true, but sometimes they get challenged to do something stupid and when they realize it, it has been done and over with! All they get are regrets and a point of no return! I think this is the time that really shape a person's being. Most of the time, the kids listen to their peers rather than their parents! You are right, sad, but true!

Adulthood. This is the time that you try to make as much money as you can. Buy all the items that you see is necessary to be called successful and spend, spend, spend. After all, what is money for? To spend and be merry! Most people do not think about tomorrow! Is there not a song that goes like this? Tomorrow...tomorrow...it's only a day away...Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Why do I even talk to you? You become crazy in the middle of a serious talk! I do not really know about you! Back to being serious... That is true, not everyone has a good sense to save for the future. Before they realize it, they have spent all their money and has gone bankrupt, almost bankrupt, or really struggling! So, my advice to the younger generation....Save! Save! Save! But how could they save if they do not have jobs? Pray, keep on looking and do not lose hope! There is something there that is waiting to be discovered by the young folks! Keep on persevering and hoping for good things to come! Have faith and everything will be alright! After all, life is like a circle...sometimes you are down...sometimes you are up! You cannot be down all the time...you have to be up eventually taking a little step at a time!

Golden Years. Lucky are those people that have saved all their life to really enjoy their golden years! They must have really sacrificed a lot to be able to save a bundle, and now they are reaping their rewards! How about the seniors that are not as lucky? They are really struggling! Some are resorting to a reverse mortgage so they do not have to pay their mortgage. Is reverse mortgage the answer? I do not know. I heard that you own your house as long as you live there. So what happen to the children or survivors? I really do not know! Some parents live with their children? Is that good or bad? It probably has its ups and downs. Personally, I think it will be hard especially if your children are married! I once heard someone remarked that she wished she has her own house! But seniors cannot live by themselves forever! Sad, but I have heard some live by themselves and they are 80 years old! Wow! That is incredible! I applaud this seniors. After all, it is independent living!!!

A Little Bit Of News

March 13, 2011...start of Daylight Savings Time!!! Did you all changed your time? Remember.. Spring Forward!!! Yes, you got it right, baby, we lost 1 hour of sleep today!!! Feel tired?? Do not worry we will gain that 1 hour back in the Fall! I know! I know! It is a long time from now. Well, kiddo, you cannot do anything...so deal with it and stop whining!!!

I feel sooo bad about the 8.9 earthquake/tsunami that devastated Japan the other day. The death toll is reaching 10,000. Hopefully the aftershocks are done and the nuclear plants will be alright! Let us all pray for the Japanese people!

Have you seen the latest kitchen gadgets? My! My! My! To start with...A Toast Stamper!! Goodness gracious!! Would you spend $6.99 for a plastic stamper to stamp some designs on your toast?? Maybe if you have small children to make them eat toast? How about adults? Are you willing to part with your money for a stupid thing like a toast stamper???

Next item, please...A Chef Basket worth $14.99. It starts off flat and expands into a flexible basket that lets you cook, boil or deep fry. You invert it and presto! A steamer is born! It is a neat idea, but who needs another kitchen gadget??

How about a Wowbacon Microwave Bacon Cooker for $23.95? It cooks the bacon in a two compartment container, looks like a pitcher from the picture, the fat draining on the outer compartment. Maybe this one will be good since it will not have the fat splattering all over the microwave and thus paper towels are saved! But isn't that kind of expensive? Well, you are not using paper towels, so is that not savings???

Then there is the Yumbots Robot Cupcake Molds from $19.30. Can you imagine eating robot shaped cupcakes? This will be a fun way to serve cupcakes for birthday parties! Available in red, blue, green and yellow! Are we all running now to get these molds? Heck, no! Not me..I do not need any more extra gadgets on my cupboard!

How about a Pig Cooking Lid that is placed directly on the pot? Steam is released through the pig's snout! Oink! Oink! Sorry, I forgot how much it is since I am not interested.

There are soo many more gadgets but I think I will stop for now! I am not buying anymore kitchen gadgets to use just once and let dust accumulate in it! Thank you very much, but I will hold on to my dollars even though the value has gone down big time!

Lte us take a look at the Extra Virgin Oil. Wowie! It is really outrageously high! A few years ago, I can get a big bottle for $5.00! Now? It is about $10.00!!! Oh, well, I think I have to keep on looking for a sale! Good luck to me finding one!

Talking about extra virgin oil, did you know that there is one with garlic in it? Ummm!!! This will be good for salads. The best part of that is... it is MADE IN THE USA! The name of the company? Sutter Buttes California!! I feel like a spokesperson for this company (lol), but I am trying to buy products only made in America! I hope and pray for our economy that all Americans do the same! Or are we too late? Better late than never! Wow!! That is what I like...a fighting spirit!!! So, come on everybody.....let us pray, buy US made products and keep on trying to help and save America from its spiral downwards!

Have I blabbered enough already? You bet! Okay, I will stop now. Let us all pray for all the people in the world! Let there be world peace!! May God bless everyone and their families reading this blog!

Price Fluctuations!!!

We have all seen how the unrest in the Middle East is making chaos to us here in the United States. Everything is outrageously high! And this is just the beginning...so they say. I could not imagine how much more the cost for everything will be!

Gas. It is now averaging $3.55 /gal in Michigan. Because of the high price of gasoline I am always in the lookout for a cheaper price. If you have a Kroger card, the price per gallon is only $3.45 at participating Shell stations! But before you go running to Kroger, make sure you know your prices! There are some items that are high and some items that are reasonable...that is why most of the time I just buy sale items!

Food. Today, at Kroger, a 1 gallon of Canola oil is on sale for less than $8.00! Is it time to stock up on oil?? You bet! Vegetable oil is more than $8.00! Corned beef is also on sale because of the coming St. Patrick's Day! I bought one package, cooked it and it is good! I am thinking of going back to freeze! Other food prices are really high.

Housing - Did you know that the value of houses even went down? And to top it all, the property tax went down very little! Why is that? Who knows? Almost all states and cities are going bankrupt so they have to really think of how they can get more money or keep their money!

So, what are we as citizens do? Learn to conserve everything? Tighten our belts? All of the above! And they said, this is just the beginning of these skyrocketing prices for everything! We have to hold on for the choppy road ahead!!!

Things That Happened And Is Happening!!!

It is already March! Spring is here! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Not sooo fast, kiddo! We just had freezing rain last night and prediction of snow for Sunday! Yikes!!! Will winter ever end??? I thought we will have an early winter because the ground hog did not cast a shadow! Do you believe in that nonsense?? Not really!! Oh, well....mother nature is teaching us how to be patient! Patience is a virtue....is it not???

Did you know that March 4 is pound cake day? I never knew about that until today! Why was this made into a day? To probably help the bakers and the stores so they can sell pound cake!!!! Commercialism is the name of the game!! Whatever, it is sooo good, I do not really care! So, guys and gals, go out and buy some pound cake and add some more inches to your waistline!!! Who am I kidding??? I will probably go and get some pound cake! I wonder which one is the best? I have not had one for a long time! Just make it! It will probably be better! But it also take time! Just make up your mind whether you are going to make it or buy!

I did not know that TSA do pat downs now on people getting off from Amtrak train. It happened last month in Savannah, Georgia.It was also an intrusive pat down on kids and adults!! Goodness, gracious why do the government allow TSA to keep on molesting kids and adults with their pat downs??? Pretty soon, it might be in the grocery stores, the banks, the malls etc?? Then, we, the citizens will get used to it that we would not mind it anymore! These people are playing with our minds!!! They are gradually getting us to be a yes man so their hidden agenda will be embraced wholeheartedly by all! Am I right? Comments, anyone???

Did you all know that a Net Neutrality Act was passed on December 21, 2010 by FCC? What is this about? It gives the government the ability to regulate the internet and any interstate communication they choose without warnings! Ay...ya...yay....Isn't this what happened to the other dictatorship countries before it crumbled?? There goes our freedom of speech! It seems our government is losing it! They want complete control of everything and are they winning?? Only if the American people do not wake up!

State cuts! With the state cuts, the governor is trying to get the people's money...the children, the poor, and the seniors! This has really become crazy! Some government officials of one state are Awols! They did not want to vote so they fled to another state! Is that a smart move or a bad ass move on their part? I am sure that there will be more states that will follow because of what the new governors are planning which is completely ridiculous, crazy and outrageous!

Did you know that there are a few states that does not have income tax? They are Florida, Texas, Nevada and Alaska! Alaska, I heard even gives money to people every month for staying! Can you imagine living in Alaska??? They can have it...it is tooo cold! Brrrr!!!!!