anonemouse

I don't ask people to be perfect, just decent. People who use their religion (whatever religion it may be) as an excuse to discriminate against others or to hate other people aren't good people. Period. It's not about being perfect, it's about being a decent human being to the people around you, regardless of their sex, sexuality, color, creed, whatever.

I took a couple of nursing-type classes in high school (at the time, I was planning to go to med school later). One of them was a clinicals class, where we'd spend part of the day in a health-care facility (we went to 3 over the course of the semester). The first rotation I had was in the cancer center at the local hospital. The third rotation was in the ER. Both of those were cool, although it was always really slow in the ER. (Except for one day, when a guy came in coding, but I had to leave right then.) The middle rotation, though, was in a nursing home. THAT opened my eyes. Most of those nurses appeared to absolutely hate what they were doing. They yelled at the patients, yanked pillows out from under them, and had no respect for their privacy. One of the patients got regular laxatives. They'd let him lie in a giant pile of shit in his bed, and then move him to a shower chair that had an open back to it. Of course, he had on a regular hospital gown, the ones that gape open in the back. They wouldn't put any other cover on him as the rolled him down the hallway, with his ass visible to anyone watching and shit dripping on the floor the entire way.

Ditto. Left to my own devices, I tend to sit on my ass and either play on the computer or sleep.

For some reason (I have absolutely NO idea why), I was about to say that anything would be improved with an addition of choc/pb protein. Then I thought about it. THAT would be utterly and completely disgusting. Imagine, chocolate and peanut butter flavored bean soup with hamhocks and tomatos. Yack! :phanvan :rose:

If this turns out disgusting, y'all are getting the blame! :guess

I am sick to death of so-called "Christian" bigots. Take the one girl from my old university, for example. She went to church every Sunday and was very out-spoken about her Christianity. You'd think that she would be a very kind, accepting person, then, wouldn't you? Well, so did I. Until I had to ride in the same car with her on the way to a fieldtrip. Somehow, everybody in the car got into a conversation about where they'd like to visit, and the city of Miami was mentioned. What came out of her mouth? "I don't like Miami. There's too many faggots and queers." I was completely stunned that she's think that we'd all agree with her and was comfortable enough to let hate like that cross her lips. Christian, my ass.

I was trying to refine my opinion, since it came across as you believing that my opinion was that celebrities shouldn't be criticized, which wasn't what I was trying to say. Does that clear it up?

I know you didn't. I never said you didn't have a right to state your opinion. I was trying to state my belief that while criticism of a person or their opinion is all well and good, people saying that celebrities (or other people) that state certain opinions should be forced to leave the country isn't kosher. I wasn't trying to imply that you carried that belief, just trying to figure out a way to state my own opinion more clearly.

Okay, the beans are soaking! I bought a can of diced tomatos, a country ham hock, an onion, and a bag of frozen carrots and peas to put in it.

I guess I'm just having trouble putting my opinion into words. I don't think their opinion is any more or less valid than my own or yours. It just makes me incredibly uncomfortable when people say that they should keep their mouths shut or that they should leave the country. I mean, what does our country stand for, if not the freedom to believe what you want and speak about it? So what if they are celebrities? They have the same rights as the rest of us. Judging from how vocal we are now, we certainly wouldn't shut up if we had the opportunity to have our opinions covered by the media. Criticism is one thing. Saying that they should be forced to leave the country is another.

I'm really hoping that I'll like it, so that I could make that and have a bunch of ready-made meals. I'm not fond of cooking meat when I'm at home. I'm lazy about cooking unless I happen to be cooking for several people. Plus, cooking for just myself makes me paranoid about the doneness of the meat, so I don't enjoy eating it. Sometimes, I really think that I could easily become a vegetarian.

Interesting (not just about Nixon making him a drug agent). I just don't think we should criticize celebrities for being open about their opinions just because they happen to get put on the nightly news. I mean, I think we should all have the right to be open about our beliefs and our opinions. Being famous doesn't take away someone's right to an opinion. Honestly, I think everyone should have the right to say what they think. That opinion being shown on the news doesn't mean that it carries any more or less weight than anyone else's. It's not their fault if some idiot decides that they want to change what they believe just because some celebrity had a certain opinion.

I don't look at it as them shoving their opinions down everyone's throats as much as the media shoving their opinions down everyone's throats. The media thinking that they're important enough people to cover doesn't necessarily mean the celebrities themselves think that their opinions are more important. I mean, I don't blame Angelina Jolie for being covered constantly by the media. I blame the media.

Mandy, could you tell me when that store has the Christmas tea? If you could pick some up for me, I'll send you money to pay for it and shipping.

I got the Prince of Wales in loose-leaf form. I've never tried making tea without a tea bag before, but my new 2-cup tea pot has a built in filter, so I figured that I'd try it. How much are you supposed to use per cup of tea? I have gotten to where I just drink my tea unsweetened. I used to use sugar, but I don't want the calories. I can't stand artificial sweeteners. They taste like metal to me. Apparently, I have a very sensitive sense of taste. I've not sweetened it with honey before, I'll have to try it. I would LOVE to find a good tea store. Unfortunately, this is the rural south, so tea stores come few and far between. The best I can do is order online. Harney and Sons has an amazing selection of teas. They've got a strawberry version that's pretty good, too (for a diet drink, at least). I had some at my brother's house once, but I haven't been able to find it since then.

I just got back from the grocery store. I got a bag of HamBeens 15-bean Soup mix. Has anyone tried making this? I am trying to get myself to eat more Beans, for an alternative to meat. I don't normally like them, so I'm hoping that I'll like this. I also got a couple of types of Morningstar Farms veggie meats. I got the chik patties and the veggie patties. Anyone know if they're any good>

I haven't tried it yet. It sounded really good, though. Bergamot tastes like lemon to me. I can barely choke it down. The only time I ever drink it is when I'm offered tea at someone's house and they don't tell me that it's Earl Grey before they make it. I used to LOVE orange pekoe, but I've just gotten to the point where the only things I like to taste like citrus are citrus. Have you ever tried Tea Forte teas? I've tried some of them, and they're really good. They're the original pyramid teas. Expensive, though.

That's scary.

Darn it, I was out of Twinings, and you made me crave it! I had to go online and buy some more from their website. I wound up with Prince of Wales, Christmas, 300 Year Celebration, African Rooibos, and a cherry/cinnamon herbal tea. Oh well, it will be good! And I'll have enough tea for several months!

Ha! That's great!

My favorite by far is whey Gourmet's chocolate Peanut Butter. It has 120 calories and 22g Protein per serving. If you'd like to try some, just PM me with your address. I'll send you some, along with samples of my others (Matrix Chocolate, nectar Fuzzy Navel, and IDS Vanilla-Cinnamon), if you want.

Juli, you should try whey Gourmet's chocolate Peanut Butter Protein powder. It's really good. If you'd like to try some, just PM me with your address. I'm trying to get everyone hooked on it. :nervous:rolleyes

Mmm, I LOVE Twinnings Prince of Wales tea. Their Darjeeling is good, too. I'm not fond of teas with citrus flavors, though, like Earl Grey.

Sure! I'll always take samples of stuff!

I remember waking up a couple of times in recovery. Apparently, I kept forgetting to breathe, so the guy kept shaking me. Once they moved me to a real room, I really woke up. The first time I got up to use the bathroom, I was extremely nauseated. Very wobbly, too. I felt like I was going to fall over because my balance was so off. I was literally lurching around (at least, that's what it felt like) and about to cry because I felt like throwing up. They gave me a morphine drip and a couple of very nice anti-nausea drugs after that, though.