BJean

Jachut: I agree that disposable diapers are a blight! When my son was a baby, I tried to use Pampers (the ones available at the time) and he broke out in blisters every place the diaper touched him. I was forced to use cloth diapers and I wound up being very happy about it. Folding them was down time for watching a soap opera and I was able to save some money by not buying all those disposable ones. We could all do it again, but I would be very surprised if the idea is well received though. Disposable ones are very convenient and so many families today are able to afford them that the money isn't a consideration. Just as with many other convenient, though irresponsible items today. Which brings us to sanitary napkins and other such items. I guess if we are going to expect mothers to give up their convenient disposable diapers, women can give up disposable monthly conveniences. Whoa you say? Well I can remember my mother telling me that her mother didn't have packaged sanitary items. They tore cotton material in strips and used those. Sort of a frightening concept if you ask me. But hey, alls I'm sayin' is....saving the environment for our babies babies. BTW, I've never heard of hemp diapers. I can't get a mental picture of that. When you're done with one can you smoke it?

Well I keep a copy of giant copy of Webster's DeLuxe Unabridged Dictonary right at my elbow and open it quite often when I'm posting. Which one are you using? semi-sarcasm Seriously guy, you and I are definitely on different wave lengths, in more ways than just word definitions. I've noticed it on many occasions. Once in a while though I think we are so moved (read incensed) by something the other has posted, we just can't let it go without posting some kind of rebuttal. If it really bothers you, I will be happy to just ignore your posts and keep my yap shut. I really don't need to spend the time when it is obvious that neither of us is going to influence the other, in this lifetime. You sound like a decent chap and I confess to enjoying some of your posts. So I won't stop reading them, just stop responding to them. You can do the same for me, if you choose to. Live and let live, I say.

So, you're a Cannuck, Devana. No wonder I like you. Just be careful here. This is a scary thread.

You have a very limited understanding of what the ACLU is trying to achieve. They aren't trying to "package" an argument to promote sex crimes against minors, no matter how much you'd like to believe that. Just because a sex crime against a minor is such a horrible emotionally charged crime, it doesn't mean that they are trying to excuse the crime when they get involved. That is a very narrow view of the entire proceeding and one that people like to trot out to make ACLU seem like a bunch of preverts themselves. If you don't get it, I suggest you read the cases a little closer and stop buying into the idea that if you protect all peoples' rights, you're also buying into their crimes. It reminds me of the same negative viewpoints I have read and hear about regarding defense attorneys. If you really do not understand why it is important for these people to protect the accused rights in the courtroom, check out the latest list of over 200 individuals on death row who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. Those are just the capital offenses, dude. Think about all of the other convictions in this country every day where there may be cases of people's rights being abridged. God forbid you should be identified as a perpetrator of a crime and you find that you have no alibi.

Don't worry, I have no admiration for the likes of Janet Reno, Robert Reich, Brown, or our current worthless piece of poop Attorney General. Of course Dubya doesn't have the mark of the beast engraved on his forehead! Are you crazy? It's obviously under his hair on the back of his head. I think when one grows up and realizes that there is probably nary a soul elected to public office who is pure as the driven snow, you become very disenchanted with politics and with the whole idea of things ever getting better for anyone but those elected officials and the monied people who put them in office. I've been there, had the depression that accompanies it, and done that. Now I know that although no one is my dream candidate, some are better than others in that they talk the talk of a person who has a conscience. They at least feign honesty on some level. Poor Jimmy Carter. He was a lousy president, but he is a good man. At least he works at being good. Just not nearly tough enough for national politics. Sad, really. But I digress... The reason I am so opinionated and a Bush Wacker (as Carlene so charmingly puts it) is because I watched his dad do things that weren't on the up and up and now I've been witness to the son committing even worse and more immoral things while he's been in office. I'm outraged. I have seen him ignore the best advice and commit our country to a war that I believe has been one giant fiasco. It has been terrible for our country, except in the venue of big business. They've profited. And perhaps as a country we've profitted from the possibility of standing down some of the other countries who have designs on oil as it relates to Iraq. But the most important factor with regard to the war, and the one that I cannot get past is the cost of human lives. It's the death and injury to a segment of our population that breaks my heart and causes my outrage. How dare he take our people, innocent beautiful people, into war when the people with the best intelligence advised against it? Americans as a whole didn't want it. We wanted to get the people who terrorized our country. It made no sense then and it makes even less sense now. Even he knows that and admits how horrendous the entire mess is. Of course that doesn't mean he wants us to get our people out. He isn't nearly as concerned as I am about sparing the life of even one more American in Iraq, or hundreds or even thousands more Americans that may die. How he can look the paren, in their faces and tell him that it's for a worthy cause makes me believe that the mark of the beast is indeed engraved somewhere on his head, in fact on his very soul.

Jack you're confused. Get a grip, son. No one suggested that Bush had a thing to do with homeowners' groups banning clothes lines. I may choose to bash Bush from time to time, but only for the things he is actually responsible for. Not trumped up stuff. Just because he is not a card carrying Sierra Club member, doesn't mean he's endorsing every convenience we've managed to invent that is not environmentally friendly. I'll leave that tactic to those who do it so well... Republicans. Carlene: Thanks.

Yup, that's her, Carlene. Sandra Lee, Semi-homemade. Ugh!!! I totally agree about the Barefood Contessa - her very affected laugh makes me want to smack her. Her food presentations are more to my liking, but she seems to always brag too much on everything to her guests. Gross. I took a cooking class once at the Disney World resort. The guest instructor was Michael Lomonaco, who used to be the chef at "21" in N.Y. His restaurant was the one atop the World Trade Center when it was hit by the plane. Although the class I took was quite a while before he opened that restaurant. Anyway I also bought his book and he signed it. It offers really great recipes and tips. He was very sweet and fun. He also has a show on TV sometimes although I've never gotten into it. He taught me how to make the best mushroom/asparagus risotto. Nearly melts in your mouth. Very lo-cal-NOT. I really can't eat rice since banded. Dang it. I think Giada is pretty amazing. But all her stuff has lemon juice in or on it, seems like. I would consider getting into her recipes if I knew they would cause you to have a body like that! She's a bit bragadocious too. Besides I'm pretty sure that she really doesn't eat that all that pasta and gelato she whips up. Or maybe she does but unlike myself, she knows when to stop. I made BJ's famous (family inner circle) chicken enchiladas today and a from scratch coconut cream pie. I fixed a nice salad too, but didn't want to fill up with lettuce :faint:so I skipped that. Any wonder that my losing efforts have come to a screeching halt? No, I guess not. This should be me.....:speechles

My sister gave me a truly hilarious how-to book once. It gave you all kinds of ways you could reclaim your virginity. Wish I could remember the name of it. Princess something or other... faith: Great method for making a large penis post. Better than trying to use the entire body. Too cumbersome. princess: I bought a book once in the airport bookstore in Montreal. All about women, their va-jay-jays and how to use them. The author had made line drawnings of many women spread eagle. It was very interesting. I had no idea that there were so many varieties of them. Later in an art class, we painted a nude woman and sure enough I noticed that she was sporting one of the ones I saw in the book. Kinda looked like it had been road hard and put up wet, if you know what I mean. (Old expression cowboys use when looking at a about a worn out nag.) (nag = horse) You make a good case for personal grooming.

Yep. He goofed up, bigtime. Most others who have committed adultry and lie about it aren't dumb enough to get caught, except for the ones I could list if you want me to. Nah, I doubt if you do. Jack what other crimes was Clinton guilty of to cause impeachment hearings?

Karey: amazing. I had the same experience as you. I felt so much better after losing 40 lbs. I knew I looked better and had gone down in clothes sizes. Then I finally saw a photo of me with other people and realized that I really am what the scales say I am - still way too big. I need to lose a minimum of 40 more lbs. I feel like I am actually beginning to feel better about it though and easing back on track. Today I did over an hour in the pool and feel much better physically and emotionally because I did the exercise and ate better today and yesterday. I am so proud of you for losing 4 lbs. I hope I can follow in your footsteps this week! Thanks for the inspiration. My next major hurdle is to get below 170. It has been about 6 years since I was under 170. I've been bouncing around in the upper 170s for a couple of months.

We NEED the ACLU. It may be offensive to us from time to time, but it is an important organization. They provide some checks and balances that help keep us awake when we're asleep at the wheel. They don't discriminate. They only get involved when someone's rights are being abridged. And it can be anyone's rights. That's the beauty of it. You don't have to endorse the actions or beliefs of everyone that they try to help, but you should be glad that there is an organization of people who take our right to being treated equally in this country, very seriously.

You're going to love this. When we lived in Orlando one of the groups I worked with engaged the head of our city recycle department to speak to us so that we might learn how to be better recycle citizens. He spent nearly 45 minutes explaining the system and the fact that we had just too many recycled items for them to manage. We all sat there with our mouths hanging open in shock and during the question and answer session one person stood and asked him pointed questions to make sure that we were hearing him right. Yes indeed, he said, it would be better if we just did NOT use our recycle bins. The stuff was coming to them in such massive quantities that they weren't sure how they were ever going to be able to effectively and affordably deal with it. That was about 7 years ago and I am not sure how they ever did deal with it, but I hope that they have done something to rectify the situation by now. Where we live currently, you are charged an extra $2 per month if you recycle and you must buy the recycle bins before you can participate. That's discouraging for some people. I know all the problems with SUVs and how much environmentalists hate them. I do too, except for the fact that we're all expected to drive on the same highways as huge semi-tractor trailers hauling everything from tissue paper to massive Iron and concrete conduits. If you are involved with one of them in an accident, you have a far less chance of survival if you are in a compact, economical car, than if you are in a great big SUV. I say make the semi rigs' speed limit lower than cars and enact and enforced a law that they must stay in the right lane except when they need to pass another car. That is how it works on the Autobann in Germany and they have fewer problems than we do. It would slow down you getting your tomatoes quite as fresh from the growers, but not by much. If the semi transporting your tomatoes is involved in an accident, your tomatoes will probably not arrive at all. If I didn't have to worry about the maniacal truck drivers whipping back and forth, going well over the speed limit, traveling so fast that they can't possibly stop quickly enough to avoid hitting a stopped or slowing vehicle, then I would be much more willing to drive a smaller car with better gas mileage. I don't like having to fill the gas tank of our SUV as much as Al Gore might not like me to. Anybody relieved that many of the fast food joints stopped using styrofoam containers? Well, except Chik-fil-A. They're still huge offenders. I know this is an unpopular proposal but if all of the ultra convenient drive-thru places would close their drive-thru windows, it would save a whole lot. No more burning gas while sitting in line at McDonalds, at the bank or the dry cleaners. Plus we'd have to get our fat butts out of our cars and move them more instead of sitting on them so much. Good for bandsters (who probably shouldn't be spending much time at fast food places anyway.) Another negative I might mention about those energy sucking clothes dryers is that many of us can't hang our wash out to dry. Except for when I was growing up, I've never lived in a neighborhood where outside clothes lines are permissible. I've lived out in the country too but in 2 acre sized lot neighborhoods, not just out on open land. Every neighborhood I've lived in has written in their covenants and restrictions a very specific clause about clothes lines not being allowed in any form. Ok. Now I'll shut up. Except for one thing. Someone asked a retorical question but one I'd like to answer: You can bet your sweet patooty that if it were George W. Bush who was on the green bandwagon that those who are critical here of Al Gore's efforts would be supporting environmental issues right along with Dubya. But how likely is it for the wealthy to be interested in being "inconvenienced" with issues like these? I know I don't need to bother answering that question.

The interesting part is that we don't have to work hard to find stuff to bash. It's provided on a daily basis, unfortunately in spades. With Clinton, they had to dig, dig, dig and dig some more, find nothing, make some stuff up, have it get disproved and then dig, dig, dig and dig some more, etc. for years, until finally the dude goofed up enough to cause a huge uproar. Interestingly enough, many of them have been guilty of as much or more, but at least they finally found something to bash. It was an exciting day for Republicans!

Carlene: Ever been jabbed way up high and screamed in pain? I had to explain to the first DH (size: EXL) that he has to back off a little because I just have a short wheel base to work with.

I think you need to be a true southerner to put up with her very affected drawl and laugh. I enjoy her in small doses. The thing I like about her is that she doesn't take herself too seriously. There are a couple of guys who think they are kitchen chemical geniuses. Which is okay I guess, but cooking should be fun! Green, Paula Deen can look at a recipe and if it calls for 2 tbs. butter, she'll use 8 tbs. My kinda girl really, before the band! I'm really more the Barefoot Contessa type food these days. She can go off the deep end too but in smaller quantities. Seems three items for a meal is plenty. I can't remember the gal's name but her show's called "Everyday Gourmet" I think. She uses a lot of box and prepared ingredients that she jazzes up with a garnish and couple of spices. She's the one who drives me to distraction. I've never been able to sit through an entire show of hers. She does table decor and wears the appropriate outfit and colors, which on the surface should be appealing, but she's so fake physically and has such a patronizing way about her, I want to choke her. :heh:

Letterman said the other night that Pillsbury has decided to promote their new quick rising yeast rolls by making their Dough Boy anatomically correct. Seemed like the proper place to post this.

Carlene: There's just no way you can compete with Paula Deen, honey, you're way too skinny! Your talent in the kitchen is right up my alley though! I make a frozen Maple Mousse that will send you over the top! I've been sworn to secrecy though and can't divulge the recipe. People actually do the Paula Deen cross-eyes over it.

Cool. This thread finally has some redeeming social value.

lethea: The salt isn't my favorite thing about bacon. It's the texture and fat that I love. I don't like bacon crisp, but with the band bacon is almost completely off the menu for me. I can eat turkey bacon though and Louis Rich makes a really decent one. It has to be cooked just to just the right degree or forget it. I don't really think of it as bacon, just a different breakfast egg accompaniment. Apple smoked bacon is probably my fave. Back to the old Okie roots. My parents were pretty poor, off and on and when times were lean, mom might have 2 or 3 eggs and a little bulk sausage in the 'fridge and 6 hungry mouths to feed. She would cook up the sausage, boil the eggs, and make a roux with the leftover sausage drippings, chop the eggs, crumble the sausage and finish up the white gravy with the roux. Mix it all together and serve it on homemade bisquits and it is some good eatin'. It goes straight to your arteries, but once in a while it's worth it!

Have you all tried having the butcher cut you a special bone in pork rib roast? They are awesome. I used to fix them years ago but you can hardly find them anymore in a regular grocery store.

lethea: How frustrating to not be able to save her! As her big sis, I'm sure you have wanted to for 20 years. My heart goes out to you.

Hmmm. That could be one creative way to get all your vegetables in every day.

Yeah Green, the very nature of that song was long, low and soulful. In a bad way. Depressing, really. Had many verses. Almost never would be over. The best way to shake it off was to sit on our bunks and discuss boys.

Mark sounds like your camp counselor was not smarter than mine but much HIPPER! Interesting that you grew up in So. Cal. My son lives there. His friendly next door neighbor, Mike Hunt, has a cousin named Hugh Jass. Small world, eh?

Devana: My sister and I were 13 mos. apart and we had an older brother and sister (8 & 9 years older than I.) My sister and I were almost joined at the hip most of our lives. We could read each others minds, finish each others sentences and confided in each other about every thing. We both always figured we'd outlive our husbands and wind up in an old folks home as roommates. When I realized that she was not going to be able to beat her cancer, I thought I was going to die too. Honestly it was physically painful for me. It took about 2 years or so for me to be able to even think about her without falling apart. That whole horrible time of her illness and dying was totally surreal to me. I don't know how I got through it. I can finally look at her pictures and talk about her and remember the good times, instead of the grief of losing her. Fortunately her two kids treat me like I'm their surrogate mom and that helps a lot. It has been 14 years since she died. Thanks for your supportive words.