Bad Economic Signs

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/bad-economic-signs-2012_07182012

Great tip for buttering garlic bread

My husband cut partially through the loaf for each slice, and was trying to pry the pieces apart so he could spread butter and garlic salt on them.

He came up with this idea for laying the partially cut bread across a can, and then it worked like an accordian as he slid the loaf along the can.  Brilliant!

Museums in Raleigh

I took Elizabeth and Thomas to the NC Natural Science museum in Raleigh, and the NC Art Museum. We went with my friend Kay B. and her granddaughter.

There was a mirror on the ceiling above the walkway outside the Art Museum, so I took our portrait.

Half of NAACP convention gives Mitt standing ovation

Here's something the media didn't bother to tell us.  I kept seeing the headlines, "Mitt gets booed at NAACP", but they never mentioned that half of the convention gave him a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Also they failed to report about the number of black churches which disagree with President Obama's policies on gay marriage.  Why didn't Obama speak at the NCAAP convention?  Rumor has it, that he was afraid he would get booed by those religious black clergy leaders.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/a_man_for_all_races.html

Tessa's birthday

 Tessa is one year old today!  I took these pictures in our church's foyer.

I think she looks like a Kewpie doll when she puts her eyes sideways like this.

Seth's 27th birthday

We had a family get-together for Seth's birthday, and AS USUAL, we didn't remember to get candles.  Seth scrounged around in the kitchen until he found this "2" left over from Tara's 20th birthday.  And then he just bent a candle to make a "7".  Because thats the way we do things around here.

Yummm!  Cheesecake Factory cheesecake!
It is interesting how Elizabeth is ALWAYS next to any birthday cake when the candles are being blown out.

We're in trouble now

I babysit Anson once a week, and today is the first day he has had the skills to stand against the stairs or attempt to climb them.  It will be only a matter of days before he is crawling all over the house, and up the stairs every minute.

3 poodle skirts

I am one of the costume co-chairman for our Youth Conference theatrical performance.  Our youth are doing a play about the history of America and the history of our church.  We are covering basically every decade from 1776 to today.

Mireya and I have been collecting costumes from all over our stake.  Here are 3 of the poodles from the poodle skirts which will be worn in the 1950's scene.  I made the third skirt, other people made the other two.
It is interesting to see how different the poodles are.

Invisible Pantry

We went to Val and Susan C.'s house last week, and when they showed us around, we were so impressed with their kitchen.

There were floor to ceiling cabinet doors in one area, which one would assume covered up some cabinets.
 But surprise, surprise!  Behind the doors was a deep pantry.  The doors were mounted right on top of the wall.

Zac is Brigham Young

Zac flew to New York yesterday, to be in the cast of the Hill Cumorah pageant.

They received their roles last night, and he called to say that he plays Brigham Young in the Restoration scene (the last scene.)   Zac grew a full beard for the pageant, so he won't have to wear a fake one.   He said his role is actually listed as "apostle", so he isn't ACTUALLY Brigham Young, but Zac said since BY was the youngest of the group in the 1830's, and since Zac is the youngest of the actors playing apostles, he has decided to pretend to be him.

I feel a little sorry for him,  because those costumes are VERY authentic, and he will have to wear the full shirt, cravat, vest, and long tailed jacket, and long pants every night during that scene, even if it is roasting hot.

He is also in the Lehi mob scene (the first scene of the pageant).  So at least his costume is much more lightweight and cooler for that scene.

This is Zac's 5th time to be in the pageant. (With the family 2003, 2005, 2009, on the work crew 2011, and as a young adult on his own this year.)

Did Justice Roberts Pull One over on the Liberals?

After reading this article, I feel a lot more hopeful.  It looks like Justice Roberts wasn't the traitor I originally thought he was.

Written by Richard Bolen.
http://godfatherpolitics.com/5961/did-justice-roberts-pull-one-over-liberals/#ixzz1zWm8Ntwf

Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJc8Mzg0C-c&feature=player_embedded  3 minutes long.

He gave this radio address in the 1965.
It seems to me that it has all come true.

Zac's ordination

Yesterday Zac was ordained an elder.  I am so proud!

He has started his mission papers and will turn them in after he returns from being in the cast of the Hill Cumorah pageant.  He hopes to leave on his mission after October 1st.

Happy Birthday Seth

Happy birthday to my wonderful son, Seth.  Here is a story from your life:  

From August 2007.

Seth and his friends went with our family to the Smokies.  On the way home, our trailer's tire shredded, so Wayne unhooked the van from the trailer, and went to the nearest town to get the tire fixed.  The full trailer was sitting by the side of the road, so Wayne left the boys to guard it.

This is what Seth, Michael, Erik, and Stephen did while they were waiting for him to come back.

American Thinker: "Romney's Church"

An interesting article describing what the media might say about our church during the final months of the election:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/obama_campaigns_hole_card_romneys_church.html

Supreme Court FAIL

I just phoned my two senators and my U.S. Congressman to tell them to repeal ObamaCare.

Kay Hagan  336-333-5311 or 877-852-9462
David Price  919-859-5999 or 202-225-1784
(Those two are Democrats, so I was basically wasting my time telling them to repeal it.)

Richard Burr  202-224-3154
(He's a Republican, so he will be on my side.)

"Time to Blossom" banner

 This is my sister, Carla Jorgensen (left) and her business partner Debbie Forrest, during their big Young Women's conference in Arizona.  Their business is called "Time to Blossom", and they put on retreats for young women 11-16.  It is a completely fabulous and high quality event, that the girls all love.

Someone volunteered to make this banner for them.  What a beautiful banner!  I love the three-dimensional flowers!

New background!

My daughter-in-law Janette helped me change my background!  Hurray for the technologically advanced younger generation!

(My other daughter-in-law Rachel helped me make my original blog and helped me put the original background on there.  So I give a BIG thanks to her, also, for even getting me started blogging in January 2009.)

I loved my hot pink polka dots, but the borders were too wide, which made it impossible to put wide photos on there.  Now I hope to put much bigger pictures on from now on.

Happy birthday Bryce

Bryce in 1996

You're a lot older now, but you are the same righteous, kind, valiant young man you have been all of your life.  Best wishes on your new job in Pittsburg!

Understanding Derivatives

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers' loans). Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities then are bundled and traded on international securities markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses. One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi. Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi's 11 employees lose their jobs. Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community. The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi's bar. Now do you understand?

Cupcake train

My niece Jade made this for her son's birthday party.

Sofa Pillows to die for

I saw these sofa pillows at a resort hotel in Arizona.  They were gorgeous!

I tried to figure out how they were made.

I think the bias strips of silk would need to be ironed folded in thirds first, then sewn down the middle, to make the ruffley edges stand up like this.

My niece's daybed

I went to stay at my sister's house in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, and just loved this daybed.  My niece picked out all the fabrics, and they hired someone to make it for her.  SO CUTE!