Let's Compare

Do we actually save that much money when we buy fillers?  And at what expense nutritionally, do we save a few pennies?

First Pasta then Spaghetti Squash

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 cup of cooked
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 12 Calories 220
% Daily Values*
Total Fat 1.29g		2%
	Saturated Fat 0.245g	1%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.444g
	Monounsaturated Fat 0.182g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 325mg		14%
Potassium 63mg
Total Carbohydrate 42.95g		14%
	Dietary Fiber 2.5g	10%
	Sugars 0.78g
Protein 8.06g
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 1% Iron 10%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.  Nutrition Values are based on USDA Nutrient Database SR18 Spaghetti Squash Nutrition Spaghetti squash may have a curious name, but its health benefits are no joke. An unsalted one-cup serving boasts: no fat only 42 calories just 10 grams carbohydrates 1 gram protein 3 percent of the day's vitamin A, calcium and iron 8 percent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin B6 9 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement. Of course gluten is not an issue with spaghetti squash either.   Price comparison.  One pound package of pasta is about $1.89 which will make 4 cups when cooked.   One 3 pound spaghetti squash at 69¢ a pound is just over $2.00 and also yields about 4 cups when cooked.

International News

An American family made headlines across the water for something good!  It's so refreshing to see positive foreign headlines about something America is doing.  As homeschooling seems to be becoming a wise choice, you may want to consider the example of these parents.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2311690/The-family-sending-home-schooled-children-college-age-12.html

Hopefully they aren't looking at years and years of student loan debt.

I'm not the formal education advocate I once was, but I do believe we should learn and want to learn, every day of our lives, for as long as we live.  This family certainly gives credence to possibility of a superior education found in home schooling, by encouraging their children's gifts and nurturing their natural abilities.  Seems to have been much more productive than programming and indoctrination!

Evicting Mice

For those who live in the country, the season is upon us that critters are also seeking shelter for the winter.  Most of us have experienced a mouse in the house, and those of us in the country probably experience it quite regularly.  There used to be an "old saying" about building a better mouse trap.  Well, I haven't, but I have discovered a way to make them feel unwelcomed.

First, of course, I have a cat, but he doesn't live in the house, so for a time, I think the mice actually sought shelter from the cold and the cat by coming indoors.  I hate emptying mouse traps, and eventually living in the country, it seemed as if the mousetraps were just fixtures.  I theorized the mice knew how to work around them.

One day at the farm store, my country girl life was changed!  I saw a "mouse repellent" for sale.  I looked at the ingredients and voila, I had that.  I then got to thinking about the places mice don't usually seek refuge and it made sense.  I make my own tooth paste, so that means at least twice a day, the lid comes off of my tooth detergent jar and the aroma of peppermint fills the air.  I've never seen any signs of a mouse in that bathroom.

I've now done this consistently for 3 months and for the first time since moving to the country over 8 years ago, I've not seen a trace of a mouse in the house.  I considered drawing an illustration of them packing up and moving when I took action.  Granted, they never lived long in my house, but those illustrations would involve traps and death . . .

Here is what I did.  I placed peppermint oil on cotton balls, set them on gauze in all the closets, laundry room, and pantry; refreshing the oil monthly.  In the kitchen, I placed the oil on napkins and set them in the corners of my counters, so the entire room is affected by the fragrance.  I almost forgot, as I think this is essential.  Under the kitchen sink and guest bathroom, where the plumbing comes in, I have a peppermint gauze right by the pipes.

For the first time in over 8 years, I've gone an entire season without a battle.  I have claimed the dominion granted to me by our Creator!  No creeping things creepeth in my home any more.  HalleluYah!

And G-d said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  Torah of Holy Scripture

The Rainbow is Already a Symbol

Having just read the Torah portion in which the rainbow first appeared, I'm not trying to argue against anyone else's personal perspective of "choice or no choice."  I understand what it is to not be accepted.  I understand what it is to be shunned for who I am, while others are embraced, and it is quite disheartening to watch.  I can tell you first hand what it feels like to have society think and affirm one thing, while the actual circumstances are not what others see.  Rejection and exclusion doesn't just happen to the LGBT community.   What we do about our feelings and inclinations is a choice.  What we do in response to rejection or acceptance is a choice.   To socially redefine right and wrong really isn't our choice.

The rainbow has significance for many of us.  It first appeared in Scripture between our Creator and Noah, the man reported to have built the ark.

http://endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/days-of-lot-betty-crocker-gets-on-gay-marriage-train/

Since this is offered to young boys, and gets to remain exclusive; why harass the Boy Scouts of America?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/07/15/_you_are_you_looks_at_a_gender_nonconforming_camp_for_boys_photos.html

What about the comfort level of the children who gender identify with their anatomy?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/12/california-gov-brown-signs-transgender-student-bill/

And G-d said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:  And I will remember My covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.  And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between G-d and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.  Genesis 9:12-16