No Logo Needed Mock Draft: 31st Pick

Two picks left, both of whom are on the Vikings' schedule this year. First up, the team that, outside of Detroit, is the least likely to make the playoffs this year (due to the Super Bowl Loser Curse). Picking on behalf of the Cardinals, the writers of Raising 'Zona.With the 31st pick in the Mock Draft Among Blogs, the Arizona Cardinals select:Chris Wells, RB, OSUWhy the Cardinals chose Wells as per DraftCountdown.com:The Cardinals might be the only team in the league that counts running back as one of their top Draft Day priorities, but that could work out well for them as there should be some excellent options on the board here. There is certainly a chance that Knowshon Moreno will be long gone by this point but running backs do tend to slide a bit and unless a team goes against the grain and takes one even though it’s not a glaring need, a la Pittsburgh with Rashard Mendenhall last year, he could still be available late in round one.There are some who feel Moreno is one of the ten best players in this entire draft and in some ways he is similar to Cadillac Williams in that he doesn’t have elite size or speed but makes up for it with outstanding instincts and vision. If Wells and Moreno are both gone Arizona could turn their attention to Donald Brown or LeSean McCoy. The Cardinals could also use an upgrade at center and after the way James Harrison abused Mike Gandy in the Super Bowl they have to at least consider bringing in a new left tackle as well. Keep an eye on outside linebacker here too because even though the Cards have some solid options like Travis LaBoy and Chike Okeafor they really don’t have that impact pass rusher at the position.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I'm sorry that I have been so absent lately from this blog, but I've had good reason. Two good reasons actually. Firstly, N1S performed in his play Hansel and Gretel and did a great job. Pictures and details will follow in the near future. Then, right after his play weekend, Lady Di and I went on vacation.This is the first time Lady Di and I have enjoyed a vacation away from the kids. Last Monday, we left Grandma and Grampa in charge and headed south to the Cayman Islands. We had a wonderful time and got to do a lot of things that we haven't in the past due to the kids' schedules. We also learned that we missed the kids terribly and will bring them with us when we go back. The whole time we were there, we would notice multiple things that would have interested the kids. When we got home we immediately had to wake up the kids to give them some long overdue hugs. It would be too difficult to be away from the kids for so long again.So, we are still unpacking and downloading pictures so hopefully I will be able to post a few items soon. Your patience is appreciated.

I Have Small Balls

Yes! Yes, I do! Look, you can see them right here!This is what happens when you decide to make a Sock Yarn Blanket out of only Koigu. You realize you don't have nearly as much Koigu as you thought you did and you need to purchase MORE. Enter Yarn Expressions, my new favorite online yarn store, that sells Koigu mill ends! Praise God for mill ends. For the price of two full skeins of Koigu you can get five mini skeins and have more colors to play with. I'm quite sure I've now died and gone to heaven. We're missing a picture of skein number five because a rogue skein of Kersti snuck into my bag and as beautiful as it might be, Kersti is heavier than the ol' Koigu KPPPM.So I Rav-mailed the owner of Yarn Expressions and within an hour more mills ends were in the mail to me and I was told to just keep the Kersti. Customer service with a capital C if you ask me. Yarn Expressions sells full skeins of lots of other yarns as well so if you're in the market for more yarn, and who isn't, I quite heartily recommend them. Yay, The Koigu Blankie Of Love continues!

Times Square Dress Rehearsal

Last night I went to see the Broadway play Impressionism starring Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen.Many critics had mixed reviews but I loved it. My friend Mike G. joined me for what turned out to be a perfect evening. Mike G. and I have known each other since I returned to New York many moons ago. We met at work and became fast friends.He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn and he spends a lot of time telling me that it is only a 30 minute trip from my place to his place. I enjoy laughing robustly at this tall tale. People in Brooklyn love to tell you that it only takes 15/20/25/30 (FILL IN) minutes to get to the East Village.And it is always a fantasy.Other than that, Mike G. is pretty much a perfectly fabulous and loving friend. He teaches seventh grade at a tough Brooklyn middle school and enriches a lot of lives every day with his creativity and humor. He is cute, smart and dives into all New York City has to offer. Of course, I will not rest until he finds a wonderful guy and I dance at his wedding.Both of us have crazy schedules but we try to carve out time every couple of months to get together. We decided a while ago that we are committed to signing up at the same assisted living facility and enjoy rehearsing the things that we'll be doing when we are 85 and the mini bus drops us off in the City to have a few hours of fun.Before the play, we decided to go to the MOST RIDICULOUS BAR/LOUNGE WE COULD THINK OF AND AGREED ON A CAMPY SPOT PLANTED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF TIMES SQUARE.Yes, it was a risk. But when you are rehearsing your life as an assisted living day tripper, you laugh in the face of risk.The campy crazy bar/lounge was GREAT. We laughed and had a ball, lingering far too long over our drinks. Mike G. made me swear I would keep the location a secret or it would get overrun with even MORE tourists and freaky locals (like us). Luckily, we slipped into the theater a few precious minutes before the curtain went up. Afterwards, the clock struck 10 and being the nice Catholic boy that he is, Mike G. escorted me to the subway since EVI was pooped after a long work day. Not so for my beloved Mike G. - the night was still young with lots of the Big Apple left to bite.

Three Useless "Facts"

"Facts"Bite-sized nutrition trivia is not limited to Registered Dietitian Jeopardy!Magazines of all sorts (ranging from Us Weekly to Details to Forbes) occasionally pepper sidebars or "Did You Know...?" features with short bursts of "diet-friendly" tips.Television shows, e-mail chain letters, news broadcasts, and even advertising campaigns often rely on nutrition "facts" to captivate their audiences.Alas, here are three often-mentioned facts I consider useless, irrelevant, and better off erased from the collective consciousness."If you put a nail in a glass of Coke for four days, it dissolves because of all the acids!"The "logic" here is that if Coke can corrode metal, just imagine what it does to our stomachs!Although all soda is nutrition-void sugar water (and the phosphoric acid in it can contribute to osteoporosis in individuals with insufficient calcium intake), it is not corroding our gastrointestinal system -- particularly when you keep in mind that stomach acids are more acidic than anything in Coke.If you put a nail in a glass of our stomach acids, that sucker would probably disintegrate in just TWO days.Initially shocking fact? Check.Completely irrelevant? Check.Absolutely useless? Double check"I lost weight by cooking with olive oil instead of butter and choosing healthy fats, like avocado."It seems like every other "celebrity who lost weight shares diet secrets!" (it seems to me that celebrity magazine editors think the only two secrets are to eat lots of fish and hire a personal trainer) article I read contains this quote.Yes, olive oil and avocados are heart-healthy fats that, if consumed regularly, can benefit cardiovascular health. However, all fats -- regardless of how heart-healthy -- contain nine calories per gram.I suppose I can somehow "vouch" for the avocado reasoning since they offer a good deal of fiber (thereby contributing to quicker satiety).However, a tablespoon of butter contains approximately twenty fewer calories than a tablespoon of olive oil.From a weight loss standpoint, replacing two tablespoons of butter with two tablespoons of olive oil in a dish serves no purpose."Twinkies are so processed they have a shelf life of 20 years!"You need the exclamation mark at the end of that one for complete pearl-clutching effect.Twinkies are by no means a health food, but they will not outlast a nuclear explosion (that honor only belongs to cockroaches and Cher).While Twinkies have a longer shelf life than many other mass-produced baked goods (mainly thanks to their dairy-free ingredient list), expect them to start spoiling after a month.PS: although foods with long shelf lives are usually highly processed and offer plenty of sodium, sugar, trans fats, and/or artificial preservatives, they do not take that same amount of time to be digested.

Big boxing palm

a {Decorating} bug...

For the last few weeks I have been working on my parents house re-decorating a few rooms. It seems like this time of year...every year...either my mom, or I, get the bug and re-do a few rooms. We decided since there are getting to be more and more babies (no, that doesn't mean anyone else in the family is pregnant, just me!) anyway, that there should be someplace for the kids to take naps, as well as, a place for my Grandma Kunz to stay. I had my mom clean out her old sewing room (she never used it anyways!) and I got to work on a the NEW and IMPROVED NURSERY...I wish we had before pictures, but once the woman got started cleaning out the room there was no stopping her!The lighting is terrible...Im sorry!First she cleared EVERYTHING OUT. I didn't re-paint the room because we painted it only a few years ago. The lighting is bad...{sorry}... but the back wall is a dark brown, and the rest is a light cream. Very monocromatic. I used a teal-blue and golden yellow as accent colors, (strange? I know, but it worked!) The biggest key to re-doing a room is starting with a clean slate, if you only take a few things out and try to re-arrange it will never feel different, you'll just end up with the same thing, only with a few things moved around. We then went to Target and we got this Crib for $150 and the bumper. I had my mom make the curtains and bought the fabric at Home Fabric's in IF. We also bought the bedding at KMART for less than $100...cheap! And it worked perfect with our colors. The frames we bought at Porters, I just bought some Scrapbooking alphabets and made each grand-child their own frame. I am in the process of printing off each babies newborn picture black and white to put in these frames, these turned out so cute. The twin bed was an old one they had in storage. And my mom made most of the pillows with left over material from the curtains and we even threw in a few that weren't to matchy-matchy to liven it up...not everything needs to match perfect!I did all the frames different and all I used was pre-cut alphabets and chip board cutouts that matched my color scheme. I then just went around her house and picked up a few odds and ends to tie it all up. So Simple...I think the overall effect turned out so chic...it reminds me of a Pottery Barn Room...love! The only thing I want to do now is hang a old quilt on a rod above the crib, my mom is in the process of making one with her old scraps.{OK...and now I guess the Cat's out of the Bag- so to speak! We have decided to name our baby Carmen. That is why the 4th frame says Carmen! Hopefully it fits when we actually see her for the first time, because we are pretty set on that name. Randall picked it out and it stuck, I must say it has grown on me. The more I say it the more I love it. I think its pretty classic and unique too. So if you dont like it, or know someone named Carmen that you dont like, just keep that tid-bit to yourself!! We are happy at the moment with this name!!}Anyway, so what did I do with my mom's sewing room? Well, last fall my parents built a new office for their business and were able to move their office out there, leaving this room unused. So once again my mom got everything moved out and re-organzied, then I had her and Melinda paint the room a fresh new coat of tan, and the trim and ceiling a darker brown. We also had new formica put in, put new hardware on the cabinets, and moved out some filing cabinets. Then I found these fun wire baskets at Porters and I hung them on the walls, this way she is inspired by her fabrics, seeing things on display like this always motivates me to do projects! This is just one side of the room, Scott was doing homework so I didn't take a picture of the other side, but you get the idea. For such a simple change it was a lot of work. I think for the moment I am done with the big projects I have wanted to do before this baby comes...well, nevermind, I still havent finished re-doing the cradle I bought off craigslist! Im so excited! Ill post some pics as soon as its done! Its so cute.So there you go, I told a few of you I would post some pics of what I have been doing... here you go!

Match Report: West Ham United 0 - 3 Liverpool

Steven Gerrard scored twice against West Ham to send Liverpool top of the Premier League and keep alive their slim title hopes.With Manchester United playing on Sunday, Rafael Benitez's men overtook them on goal difference - but time has almost run out and they only have two matches left.United have four games and may not need them all to secure the title, although the efforts of Gerrard has at least stretched them well into May.The 28-year-old's goals at Upton Park took his tally to 23 for the season, with Ryan Babel adding a late third to seal the win.Liverpool's hopes this season have been built on the firepower of Fernando Torres and Gerrard - and the pair combined after 76 seconds for the opener.Torres, back fit after a hamstring problem ruled him out of the win over Newcastle, received the ball in midfield but was given the time to turn and pick his pass, threading ball through to Gerrard beyond the Hammers defence.The hosts were claiming offside but James Tomkins had played Gerrard on, with the England midfielder taking the ball around Robert Green and finishing into an empty net.The early opener stunned the hosts, who kicked off knowing Fulham had won and Tottenham picked up a point earlier in the day in the race for the Europa League next season.Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola believes four more points will see them secure seventh place - which will get them into Europe if UEFA grant them a club licence - and they had their moments after the setback of Gerrard's opener.As they attempted to find a way back into the game, Diego Tristan flicked a header at goal from Mark Noble's free-kick that required Jose Reina to save.They got a little closer just before the half-hour mark when Noble earned a free-kick on the left and swung the set-piece into the danger area. Radoslav Kovac got in front of Reina to meet the ball but his header flew over the crossbar.Their progress was undone when Luis Boa Morte suffered a nightmare 30 seconds which resulted in conceding a penalty just before the break.He was furious that no free-kick was given when Javier Mascherano brought him down, then chased back to own penalty area and hauled down Torres when Yossi Benayoun scooped the ball through.Green saved Gerrard's spot-kick but the rebound fell to the Liverpool captain to tap home.David di Michele should have pulled a goal back when he seized on a mistake by Jamie Carragher. He raced through and got his feet tangled up as he tried to take the ball around Reina.It was a shocking miss and referee Alan Wiley rubbed salt in the wound by booking the Italian for diving.Boa Morte was trying to atone for own his first-half error after the restart but one powerful run was ended by Fabio Aurelio, earning the full-back a caution.Liverpool threatened to score a third, with Benayoun volleying over from Dirk Kuyt's cross and Torres looping a header just over the crossbar.The Hammers defence looked under pressure but Matthew Upson was exposed in a different way when he received a bloody nose - the centre-back had to strip down to his underwear on the sidelines to change his kit.Upson was among the players racing back when Liverpool broke on the hour mark, with the hosts saved by Green rushing out to block Kuyt's effort.Benayoun then exchanged passes with Torres before shaving Green's post with a drive.There were ironic cheers when Di Michele was taken off for Freddie Sears, as there were when Tristan put the ball in the net after clearly being offside.The visitors were able to keep out any genuine efforts and added a third through Babel with five minutes remaining.Kuyt crossed for his fellow Dutchman, Green saved the initial header but the rebound was tapped home.

Has This Third World Scientist Really Invented A Water-powered Car, Or Is He Just Nuts?

Daniel Dingel has been a curiosity for the past four decades or so, mainly because of his water-powered car thats so shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories that its not difficult to resist the temptation to dismiss it as a hoax. But is it not? FHM Philippines chats with the man to basically ask the question: Whats up with that? What will free us from fossil fuel is gathering dust in the garage of Daniel Dingel: a water-powered 1996 red mica (with some odd panels) Toyota Corolla GLi. This is the same car that has made the rounds of news coverage where the man demonstrates how, with a liter of water and only water, he can drive for up to an hour& Click below to enlarge and read:

The Pope Bends Over For Islam - But Not Far Enough

Pope Benedict made his first landfall on his Middle East Trip in Amman, Jordan, expressing his 'deep respect for Islam..and the values it proclaims."Unfortunately, he didn't quite abase himself far enough in the eyes of Muslims:Jordanian clerics expressed disappointment that Pope Benedict XVI in an address to Muslim leaders on Saturday failed to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam."We wanted him to clearly apologise," Sheikh Yusef Abu Hussein, mufti of the southern city of Karak, told AFP after the pope's address in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque."What the pope said (in 2006) about the Prophet Mohammed is untrue. Islam did not spread through the power of sword. It's a religion of tolerance and faith," Hussein said. Mufti Hussein's words are highly illuminating when it comes to the unfortunate state of mind of many Muslims. They are particularly ironic in the wake of the peace and tolerance exhibited by many Muslims the world over in recent years. The events that happened after Pope Benedict made his original speech in Regensburg are an example - the violent riots, the firebombing of churches, threats to church property like the the Church of the Holy Sepulcher still in lands under Muslim control, death threats and the actual murder of several priests and nuns.As for Islam not being spread by the sword, the Mufti and Muslims who think like him have willfully blinded themselves to the sack of Byzantium, the jihad against India and the Islamic invasion of Southern Europe, among many other events of Islam's bloody history. And that's not to mention the body count of the modern Islamist war against the west, which is still ongoing.This Pope, as I've noted before, has already participated in a number of events designed to show his submission to Islam and Islamism. He's morphed into the classic dhimmi, indulging in appeasement out of fear.It's interesting to contrast Pope Benedict's attitude towards Islam with his atitude towards Jews and Israel.He started out by courageously linking the fate of the Church and the Jews, but has moved to the other end of the spectrum with astonishing speed.During his time as Pope, there has been the movement to beatify Pope Pius XII , the head of the Church during the Holocaust and later make him a saint. There have been the Church's issues with Israel, such as the ridiculous statements from Papal officials likening Gaza to a concentration camp and the constant shilling for the Palestinians in an effort to preserve Church property even as Arab Christians are being deliberately driven out of the Holy Land by Muslims. There was the abrupt closure of the Vatican's Holocaust archives and the refusal to cooperate with both Catholic and Jewish scholars researching the Church's actions during the Holocaust, the re-instituting of the old Pre-Vatican II Latin mass calling for the conversion of the Jews.Finally there was the clumsy attempt at rehabilitation and restoral to the Church's bosom of a bunch of unrepentant Jew haters and Holocaust deniers, and Benedict's absolute refusal to discipline or censure openly anti-Semitic Church figures like Poland's Cardinal Joseph Glemp or Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Meridiaga, the Archbishop of Honduras who, among other things blames "the Jews"for the Church's scandals involving priests and sexual abuse of young parishoners and calls for Jerusalem to be taken away from Israel as its capitol.When Iran's Ahmadinejad made his foul speech at the UN earlier this week, virtually the only European delegation not to walk out was the one from the Vatican.And the Pope himself recently made a fairly plain statement by accepting and wearing a Palestinian kefiyah, a symbol of Palestinian 'resistance' in Rome, the equivalent of donning a swastika armband whether he fully realized it or not.Given Pope Benedict's superb intellect, there's no doubt in my mind that he fully understands what he's doing and what direction he's taken the Church.Like Pius XII in the 1930's, Pope Benedict appears to have made a conscious decision to avoid a battle with the Church's enemies and to focus on political expediency.He has chosen appeasement, and it will cost the Church dearly in the future, because Islam is not a religion of tolerance and there's no amount of supplication Pope Benedict can do that will satisfy it. And as for the Jews, no amount of concilliatory, facile remarks on his part are going to change the fact that he has chosen to ignore the anti-Semitic bigotry in the Muslim world and in his own Church as part of that supplication.

Gift Idea: Newly Pregnant Mom at：2009-05-12 22:44:59 Click: 0 I'm so excited! I just found out my youngest brother and his wife are expecting their

I'm so excited! I just found out my youngest brother and his wife are expecting their first baby. I immediately set to work trying to find an expectant mom mother's day gift for my sister-in-law. I finally decided upon the Braelyn Bounty Bug Pregnancy Planner. It is a 7.5" x 9" binder-style planner that can be carried around in Jenn's purse. It has tabs that divide the contents into nicely organized sections. Included in those sections are :-A 12-month undated calendar -Pages to hold critical information such as OBGYN/Midwife contact information, hospital information, insurance information, pharmacy information, test results, questions for the physician and a chart to assist in keeping track of monthly progress-Interview questions for potential pediatricians -A nursery checklist to assist with registering for baby showers and keeping track of what items have been fulfilled and what hasn’t -A gift log -A checklist of things to do before baby arrives -An area for the birth plan -A hospital packing list for Mom, Dad and Baby -A family and friends call list -A post delivery checklist -Space for postpartum visit questions -A handy pocket for paperwork It comes in three colors. I couldn't really decide what color would be best but Jenn is a very fun girl who loves to decorate for every holidays and wear fun, funky socks to celebrate those holidays so I decided to go with the fun, funky zebra print: The Braelyn Bounty Bug Prego Planner in the Zebra Print can be found online at Babies R Us for $24.98.

Samsung range cooker - new electric ranges

[KBIS 2009 Review] Samsung range cooker, FTQ387 is the new electric range with a large 5.9 ft³ of oven space, that allows you to cook large meals with greater ease. It comes with a beautiful, easy to clean, fast heating 5-burner ceramic cooktop, including a triple burner, a dual burner and a warming center. For incredible performance and cooking convenience, the electric range also includes a fast boil element, which can boil a pot of water 6 minutes faster than traditional 6"/9" burners. The large oven offers some of the high end features normally found in more expensive ranges. This stainless steel Samsung range cooker comes with 8-pass hidden bake element, a 6-pass broil element and 3-fan true convection cooking system, called Surround Airvection, which combines a true convection oven with a multi-fan system to circulate heat evenly throughout the oven. The On/Off fan control maintains the ideal temperature. The oven is also easily cleaned with the help of energy efficient Samsung SteamQuick function. Just pour 10 ounces of tap water into the range oven, close the door and press the button. 20 minutes later, simply wipe the oven clean. The 600 watt warming drawer with stainless handle has 3 temperature settings to keep meals ready. Other features of these 30" wide electric ranges include Sabbath Mode, glass touch controls, 2-color LED display, multi position chrome oven racks and pyrolytic cleaning. Price for this Samsung electric range cooker is $1,300. For those of you who can live without European 3-fan convection cooking, glass touch controls and a 2-color LED display, check the FTQ353 electric ranges, available in stainless steel for $1,000 and white and black for $900. Samsung

Get Ready for Sustainability Now 2009

This is a quick public service announcement from Phil Clark, a journalist at UBM Built Environment in the UK. He blogs
at Zerochampion and previously wrote a guest article on this site. Want to hear from experts and professionals on their experiences of sustainable design and construction? All from the comfort of your home or office? Well a new virtual event I’m running next week, called Sustainability Now, may well be up your street. It’s free to attend and offers a flexible way for finding green content, from reports, articles, and data to video and audio shows. You can also connect directly with your peers in green architecture, engineering, and building at a lounge area, which offers instant messenger communication for users.
Although some of the focus of the event will by UK sustainable legislation, there should be enough during the two days – next Wednesday and Thursday (May 13 - 14) – to help you shape your attempts to green the built environment stateside. We will be looking at the Passiv Haus green method and how this could be used as a basis for low-carbon design for houses and other building types. A live web seminar will also look at how best to tackle upgrading existing housing to ensure already-built houses don’t continue to leak heat or consume considerable electricity and water.
I’ve been long interested in how different regions and countries can share and collaborate in the green building movement to accelerate innovation and change. My last post on this site was on the prospect of a global green building standard. This seems a closer prospect after the announcement in March of an accord signed by the organizations behind the USGBC LEED standard and the UK BREEAM method to work on a common method of measuring carbon emissions from new buildings.
With this is mind I’m planning to run an American hour at Sustainability Now on the second day of the show. This will be towards the end of proceedings to allow for the time difference (unless some of you are keen night owls and want to log in during the early hours). I’ll be inviting some experts in the U.S. to discuss challenges they face in cutting carbon from new and existing buildings – from the technical as well as policy perspective. You’re all welcome to take part in what I hope should prove enlightening and entertaining event.

It's the little details that REALLY make a home.

Okay, I won't force you to view any more grandbaby pictures today. I promised you that yesterday and I meant it. I had my camera with me this past weekend when we stopped by the Sewing Queen's home. I was looking around and I realized that the thing that makes her home so charming are the details.(I shared a couple shots about a year and a half ago, but these give a better idea of her style.) I thought you might enjoy a little tour of her niceties. It's a mobile home, and it is absolutely the most adorable cottage ever. I tell you this because so many of you email me saying you don't think you can do these things with the place you live, whether it be large or small, an apartment, a mobile home, a modern styled loft, or a "fixer upper". I want you to understand that it's not about the size or style of your place, it's what you do with your space. Make it cozy. Make it charming. Make it yours. You see, it's really all in the details. This little piggy has made it through three moves. He used to be a sort of monochromatic cream color if I am remembering correctly, but with this last move, the Sewing Queen and I decided he needed a make over to go with her newly redone kitchen, so we painted him up and sealed him with a nice coat of verathane. He's perfect on the kitchen counter now. The kitchen cupboards were in good shape, but the cupboard doors were outdated, so the Sewing Queen had a contractor make new doors from bead board. We wallpapered the area above the cupboards to carry out the cheery cottage look...pretty charming, huh? And all done with one roll of wallpaper!(Of course, the Sewing Queen made the custom valace for the window, as well!) Her ceiling lights in the kitchen, dining and gathering room (where she keeps her computer set up) all came from Lowe's. We painted them sage green and added some flowers and shades to give them a custom look for nearly nothing. Speaking of her computer area, look at the easy fix for a basic folding conference table. She simply skirted it...it adds a lot of personality and it hides whatever she needs out of sight. Her guest bath is darling as well. She keeps it looking roomy by using lots of creams and lace. A vintage chair covered in a chennile type fabric holds towels and adds a sweetness to the room. Her bedroom is full of cheery cottage bedding. Click on the picture to see all of those adorable pillows. I love mixing and matching patterns within a color group. It adds a custom feel. (Oh dear. I see that I quite accidentally have a grandbaby in that photo. How did that happen?!) One thing you might have noticed is that her entire home is done with the same colors in each room. The bedroom pulls more yellow and the kitchen more green, but the rooms flow thanks to the colors being compatible and it gives her home a nice feel. Also, this enables her to move items from one room to another so she won't tire of them and the rooms always seem fresh. I hope you've enjoyed the tour. Just remember...life is in the details.

Baby Makes Two

Actually, on with movie star gorgeous Giada this morning on Today was, not only Jade (too cute!), but Matt and Meredith during a Mother’s Day breakfast dem. And there was a quick on-camera sighting of Todd, plus Al and Ann came in at the end.Jade was sitting next to the dem bench in a high chair and I got extremely nervous that with no adult nearby she would stand up and fly out of the chair. MATT (not Meredith, who was standing the closest) realizes there’s a problem and goes right over. Jade doesn’t like this strange man at first, but then she warms up to him.Hold it a red hot minute! Giada is showing us how to use a BOXED waffle mix?!! Oy! That is NOT what I paid for! I’m just going to watch the baby. Matt is feeding her pieces of waffles, which is far more interesting than the nothing-to-write-home-about recipe, although the espresso nightcap (strange name for a brunch drink) looks good. Giada, cooking anything, is at least a feast for the eyes and that baby is hard to resist.This pound cake recipe, shown later in the morning, is definitely worth a try and unusual with the addition of cream cheese

Kukup

We actually ended up in this place by accident.We missed the left turning to Piai and ended up at the end of the road to a place, which is haven for seafood lovers.Kukup is actually a Chinese fishing village.There are many seafood restaurents over here, and of course mainly Chinese. Many came in big families and were seen having some big feasts on the table with all kind of exotic seafood, making a scene reminded me of Bukit Tambun.The jetty over here is also the boat terminal for Indonesians travel to and fro from Pulau Kerimon. We were told the boat ride cost about RM90. An immigration office is also located here to facilitate visitors.Opposite this end is a small island made entirely of mangrove swamp and jungle, took us less than a 5 mintues boat ride costing RM5.Entry to this national park cost another RM5. Someone advised us against going there as there would not be much thing to see other than 'trees'.Nevertheless, since we were already there, why not just spend another 'once in a life time'?I was told there could be snakes around, but I was disappointed to just see small crabs and sea shells.Well, there was just another fun of walking past this hanging bridge just for the feel of it, nothing so great about it, but heck, I was here for once.The boat ride actually included trip to some fish farms located between the mainland and the island. We were shown some of the fishes rear in captivity like giant Garoupa, shark and some interesting 'spitting' fish (unsure of name).

LFTC - Obama's Convenient Churchill

Historian Arthur Herman, in a superb column, eviscerates President 44's dubious citation of Churchill as having opposed torture, noting that 44 apparently relied upon a blogger, rather than the history book UK PM Gordon Brown gave him.p AH deals with the torture issue:"There is no place for compromise in war," Churchill wrote. In choosing between civilized restraint and the British people's survival, he never hesitated. He contemplated using mustard gas if the Nazis invaded England. He authorized the fire bombing of German cities, the so-called terror bombings, in order to cripple the German war effort and morale. He was prepared to let Mahatma Gandhi die during his hunger strike in 1943 rather than be blackmailed into abandoning India, the last bastion against Japanese domination of Asia.As for German POWs and spies, Churchill left matters in the hands of his interrogation master, Col. Robin Stephens, nicknamed "Tin Eye" because of his monocle and martinet manner. It's true that Stephens told his interrogators that "violence is taboo" -- the source of Sullivan's claim that Churchill didn't allow torture. Stephens, however, felt perfectly free to use every degree of psychological pressure on his detainees, including sleep deprivation and hooding prisoners in solitary confinement for long stretches. He'd have tried women's bras and caterpillars, like our own interrogators, if he'd thought of it.But there's another, more powerful reason why the British didn't torture their captured German spies. They didn't have to. Thanks to the Ultra code-breaking program, British MI5 had access to nearly every major German High Command decision. Had Ultra not existed, the attitude toward captured German spies would've been a lot less casual. (Sixteen were in fact executed for espionage before war's end.)Likewise, if America hadn't had the Clinton-era intelligence "wall of separation" that prevented the CIA and FBI from sharing information before 9/11, a place like Gitmo might never have been necessary.Yet those who today denounce Gitmo as an American gulag -- including our president -- are the ones who complained most bitterly about warrantless wiretaps. They refuse to see that the need for the one resulted from the lack of the other."Moral force," Churchill once said, "is no substitute for armed force, but it is a very great reinforcement."Bottom Line.p President Obama would profit greatly by learning more about what Winston Churchill really thought about fighting atavistic enemies in a war of survival.p Better he learn it the easy way, by reading Churchill, than the hard way, by what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1978 (referring to the Soviet Union) called "the pitiless crowbar of events."p The event came 18 months later, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Jimmy Carter--shocked that Soviet boss Leonid Brezhnev had lied to him--said that he had learned more from the invasion about the Soviets than anything else before had taught him.p Watching presidents go to foreign policy school in public can make us witnesses to a painful spectacle.

Do you think taking nap is a good thing?

I am a guy like to take nap.without nap, i can't work well in the afternoon.

but, in office, you can only take a nap on your desk.painful.only ten minuts,

my arms are rigid and can't move a little.why life is so hard? last week, i

dicided not take nap. only five days,i can't insist.i am sleepy

all afternoon.the boss was angry with me. he abused me in a meeting.of

course, he didn't mention my name.

Cape Town Cameos #2

Continuing our trip to the Mother City, we went to bed after a hectic day and woke up the next morning to ash in the doorway. Going up onto the rooftop deck, with its wonderful 360 degree views, we were greeted by the sad sight of Table mountain burning, and the drone of helicopters shuttling back and forth with giant buckets of water to release on the flames. The fire had burned all the way over the mountain from the Rhodes memorial side and was burning right down to the city limits. However the sadness caused by that sight was lifted by a stunning sunrise over the City.... Even the ugly crane that that hovered over the Waterfront skyline took on a brief glorious etherial beauty After a leisurely breakfast on the delightful little patio overlooking the street, we went to town to stroll around and check out some art galleries. Being the oldest town in South Africa, Capetown has a delightful city centre, an ecclectic jumble of historic and new, with influences from many different cultures. To just park the car and wander around soaking in the sights and sounds (not to mention the delicious aromas of coffee and Malay cooking wafting from corner cafes as you pass!) is a rare treat. First stop on the gallery circuit was 34 Long St, an old building wedged between tall modern ones on either side, but very contemporary inside!Finally the coffee aromas got too much for us, and we ended up enjoying cappuchinos in a lovely Italian Cafe with an entire wall of driftwood encased between two sheets of glass.We eventually ended up having lunch at a pavement cafe in Greenmarket Square, being entertained by the Ganga Muffins, a jazz/blues duo with a distinctly Cape flavour to the music... it was such fun!We then went for a drive around the mountain to check out some of the panoramic views from up there, before heading across to the back of the mountain for a bit of shopping in Newlands. From above Sea Point we got a view of the half finished Greenpoint Stadium, and the infamous Robben Island with the Greenpoint lighthouse in the foreground. We rushed back to change, then straight off to run the gauntlet of the rush hour traffic, and off to Camps Bay, for dinner and a show at the Theatre on the Bay. it started drizzling just as we arrived. And then cleared a bit and rounded a perfect day off with this sunset from the theatre dining room.The show was very good, an Italian called Ennio Marchetto who is uses origami in a very original way, to make costumes and change rapidly between characters. A good laugh, and then off for a well earned sleep..........check out Ennio in action Thanks for the visit. Please note that all photos are clickable if you want to see them full size.

Math Journaling

Once upon a time...Shonda asked to hear more about our math journals. It's been a while ago now, but I'm ready to answer! The idea of writing in math has been around a long time. When I was still a classroom teacher in Maryland in the 90s it was all the rage and math teachers were trying to figure out how to manage it.Since my kids enjoy math puzzles and like to try and figure out longer problems or hands on problems or just otherwise interesting problems outside of their math workbooks, I thought I'd try out the math journal.I was further inspired by and article in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine back in February- when I became enthralled while flying to Denver. The article is from the Winter 2008-2009 issue and is entitled, Mind-Mannered Math No More. The author, Cheryl Bastarache, explains how she organizes a math journal for her kids. Actually, that issue had several math articles another one I enjoyed was about Integrating Math into Everyday Life. I find we talk a lot about how to solve everyday problems as we go about our day. For example, the day I made the bubble solution we needed 2.5 quarts of water. I told the kids that 4 cups equaled a quart. I-6 said we'd need 8 cups then. When told him we actually needed another half quart he replied, without missing a beat, that it would mean 10 cups. This would make a fine math journal entry!You have to make a choice about what kind of notebook you will use for a math journal. You can use bound notebooks, three prong folders, or a loose leaf binder with dividers. I like the flexibility of the binder so that's what we've gone with. Mrs. Bastarache suggests the following sections within the journal:copywork- lists like days of the week using StartWrite or math quotations which she says you can Google.research-facts from math biographies, history of math or other topics of interest- her family studied the history of the calendar, the history of the Canadian dollar (she's Canadian), and early calculators. They've also done the mathematics of cartography, tessellations, probability, and genetics. They've used lots of creative methods to share the research like lapbooks, skits, comics, etc.challenges- puzzles, games and anything that requires them to think beyond where they are right now. The key is to make sure they explain how they got an answer.responses- this could be answers to open-ended questions, making up their own problems with solutions, and logs about math literaturefun stuff- puzzles from magazines, printouts from computer games, sketches of answers to domino problems, and work from the Roddles book or pattern block activities, or even making their own math games.R8's math journal- She's been working from Math for Girls- this was a problem about hairShe had to figure use doll measurements and her own measurements to decide whether or not if she was the size of her doll if the doll's clothes would fit her. Turns out no! This was all about proportion.Measuring her own proportionsAnother source for math journalingThis was a great activity on understanding when to multiply and divide.I found the April Math Calendar at Homeschool Math Blog.Looking forward to when the May calendar is posted!A math puzzle for E10 from the book The Junior Big Book of Games published by Games Magazine. Remember that one? I used to use this puzzle book for my skills classes back in the day.This is where E10 does his Life of Fred math so far. This is a superb little program that is all about well Fred. You HAVE to get your hands on Fred. Make sure to visit the website and read all about Fred. Both of my older kids sat down and read the whole of Fred when it arrived. It's all about a 5yo boy who teaches at Kittens University and how he wants to buy a bike.Math webites and blogs to check out:Homeschool MathHomeschool Math BlogLet's Play MathCritical Thinking Puzzles- a puzzle each day. Sweet.We use Horizons Math as our math curriculum. It's thorough, visually pleasing and cheap. There is a lot out there for math. I don't plan to change things now. We are invested with Horizons having all the teacher materials through grade 6.I have to bend and stretch Horizons to make it fit every child. However, it does provide our core program. I wonder if I can be brave in the future...brave enough to make math journaling the main piece of the curriculum. First I think I'll get I-6 started on one and see what he can do.

The Flip side of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

This is a guest post by one of my good friend Rajagopal. Quite a thinker.National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) act was passed in August 2005, which provides a guarantee for 100 days of employment(unskilled labour) to atleast one adult in every household. Though enacting the same took some more time, it is in place now, and rural dwellers below and near poverty line are definitely benefited by this. The laymen call it "The 100 days of employement Plan". Though this plan appears to be something that would make a positive impact on our economy in the long run, there is a flip side to it which is due to the lack of policies or thoughts put into making this scheme beneficial in the long run, coupled with the attitude of the beneficiaries towards work, and improving their own economic status.What do you think is be the work being given to these employees?The act states that it should be public work. That sounds good! This act should ideally provide employment and at the same time get rid of some of the infrastructure and developmental issues associated with the villages, such as bad road, lack of canals into the farming fields, etc.But in reality, the people responsible for this in the Panchayat boards seem to lack interest or intellectual ability, and incentive to identify the real issues and address them using the funding that comes through this scheme. It seems that these Panchayat boards aren't being held accountable for getting constructive work done out of these resources, but just to be able to use up these resources to keep the act active."This 100 day employment programme is a boon to us. My daughter-in-law gets paid Rs 80/- per day of employment, without having to do much work. She just signs in an entry register, deweeds the place for an hour, informs the supervisor that she needs to milk the cow at home and comes home, goes back in the evening to sign the leaving register." said a member of a family being benefited by this plan."They would just give us a Shovel(Mannvetti), and ask us to uproot the weeds in a field(specifying which area it is)." said the lady when asked about the nature of work. She also added that it is the same field all the time :-)The Panchayats are empowered to figure out what development work could be done in their village, and get approval from the Panchayats at the higher level(according to point 13 in the Gazette for this act). The people administering these village panchayats seem to not have the ability to identify, plan, raise fund, manage and execute on real development activities that would benefit the village in long term. And moreover, when they are accountable only to provide 100 days of employment to all households, and there is no incentive from the top down to get any useful byproducts out of the same, why would some one do it, unless they are passionate about making the village better.Now lets get to the other part of this programme which indirectly affects agriculture."Most of the workers who used to come for deweeding, ploughing, cultivation and other activities needed to carry out agriculture no more are ready to work in the fields due to the 100 days employment plan, since they get paid without doing any work. The plan had made them lazy. Given that they get rice at Re.1 per kg, they could get enough money to keep them away from hunger for the year through this plan. Though they could come for the farming activities apart from the 100 days of employment and get paid more, they don't do that. Agriculture is no more easy to manage given the lack of manpower. The lack of manpower is also fuelled by the self help groups that have emerged. Seems like we'll just have to sell off the farming fields to these builders and go to the cities where our wards live." says a farmer in the village, who had been cultivating different crops and been providing employment to a lot of people over several years. This resounded with a few other farmers that I happened to interact with.There two things that appear scary to me in this:1) The availability of subsidized rice and guaranteed income through NREG is making the rural dwelling unskilled people lazier than before. They lack the incentive to work, learn skills, earn more, etc. They would gradually turn unemployable along with being unskilled, and would become more dependent on the availability of the subsidy over rice from the government.2) Due to unavailability of manpower forces the conventional farmers to sell off their cultivable lands and head towards the towns and cities. Given that there is already a decline in the percentage of farmers in India due to monsoon dependency of farming, further decline in farming activities would just make things worse. This might even lead to a state where there might be a requirement to import grains if enough attention is not given to the issue.These are just things that came OTOH, and there might be more.The NREG Act would greatly benefit the economy if:1) The Panchayat officers are given management trainings, and educated and incentivized enough to handle this scheme in a constructive manner.2) Social Entrepreneurs enter this arena, and provide consulting services to these village Panchayats on effectively handling this.3) Self help groups be encouraged to do farming activities as well; not just commodities. Self help groups have been developing some skilled labour, and had been stimulating the microeconomy of these villages and continue to exist.4) Educated people should start looking at agriculture in large scale with modern equipments, and farming methods(that require less manpower). This might help sustain the self sufficiency of food in the country. Risk management could also be done by selecting a set of regions that have differing demographics interms of monsoon. Easily said than done, but operational efficiency would become the core of agricultural success.The first two suggestions are aimed at equipping the Panchayats to be able to make the right plans and decisions locally without having to expect developmental plans to come from the higher ups. This also would ensure that the human resources are being utilised in a constructive manner.With appropriate incentives and accountability in place for people executing on these plans, this plan would transform the economy in a positive way. But that doesn't seem to be the current scenario.PS: All the conversations above are from a small sample set of people in a few villages in the Cauvery Delta Region(Near Poompuhar) of Tamil Nadu, India.-- Rajagopal(One of those a***oles sitting in his cubicle cozily with a Mac Laptop and typing out a blog post with the dreams of a Knight in White Horse emerging out of nowhere to make these transformations)