My new garden journal

In herb class today at Lakeside we made garden journals from plain brown 3 ring notebooks. We covered them with scrapbooking paper, magazine clip art, poetry, quotes, or our own art work. The instructor gave us 3 hole punch sheets with calendars, notes, layout sheet, wish list, etc. and 3 hole dividers to which we could add envelopes for saving notes.

I pasted this quote on the cover: "I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error." Sara Stein, 1988.

Donald Hall, poet laureate of the U.S. 2006

During 2000, I carried a small 3/5 notebook in my purse, making notes on everything from recipes, to grocery lists (ground chuck was $.99--really?), to things to take to Illinois when I visited my Dad, book reviews, and an item about an 1820 brick house for sale with 8 fireplaces and 41 acres for $263,000 (it was either near Pitsburg, OH, or New Pittsburgh, OH or Pittsburgh, PA--can't tell).

And flipping through the notebook I see I recorded a poem that really resonated with me, published in the Atlantic, April 2000, by Donald Hall. This was 5 years before he was selected as Poet Laureate for 2006--I could spot a winner.

"You think that their
dying is the worst
thing that could happen.

Then they stay dead."

His wife, Jane Kenyon, also a poet, had died of leukemia, and this was within a series called Distressed Haiku.

To hear Hall read his own works.

New notebook time!

The one on the left is the new one--designed by Legacy Publishing Group, Carol Rowan artist. The used up one is called Pattern Play, designed by Jaqueline Savage McFee for Carolina Pad and Paper.  Both, of course, made in China, but "created" and sold by U.S. companies.  Pattern Play has a nice feature of dividers with envelopes--I have another one in a slightly different pattern, but thought I'd switch to a floral theme.

People at the coffee shop think I'm journaling, and I am, sort of, but it usually ends up on one of my 12 blogs.

Items too short for a blog

Today I replaced my 50 year old glass measuring cups and 2 qt. casserole. I couldn't read the marks on the cups, and the lid broke about 40 years ago for the casserole. Unless they break, these will probably last the rest of my life.

My husband thinks my smocked, loose t-shirt looks like a maternity top, but pregnant women these days wear tight form fitting body shirts. Besides, at 70, I doubt that I'm confusing anyone.

The cat is coughing, snorting, gagging and sneezing less--down to about once a day--so should I risk not getting a refill of the antibiotic?

Can I finish reading Dearest Friend; a life of Abigail Adams in time to recommend it for the 2010-2011 reading cycle? It's a rule--we can't recommend a book unless we've read it.

It really irritates me that I can't find Palmolive hand soap anywhere. It's probably still made, but I haven't seen it in years. It's far superior to all the other green bar soaps. Meijer's used to have a knock off, but can't even get that.

A friend of mine has written a book about our home town, and I'm really learning a lot. I've bought 2 more copies to give my siblings.

I don't like this month's book selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I suppose I shouldn't read it in the evening. I think I have Sundowner's.

Good news about vitamin supplements, especially calcium, decreasing the breast cancer risk. And only 4 years after they warned us they might increase the risk of cancer. I love research, don't you?

There's a guy on death row here in Ohio fighting execution because he says he has allergies to the injection material. So. . . what's the worst that could happen? He might die?

It appears I've sold my one little piece of Teco for $500. I had a blog entry about it. I went online and looked at another piece at Treadway in Cincinnati, about twice the size and a bit more complex. It was $74,000. We plan to use the money for Haiti.

Abigail's Tea Room at Lakeside was auctioned Saturday. Cold, windy day. We loved going there the last 30 years or so (until 2008). Very sad day for all of us. The Association didn't get it.

I've volunteered to help with English conversation class at our church, but orientation has been cancelled for the third week. Maybe I'll start in the fall. Hardly seems worth it for the spring since we're gone in the summer.

Got a wonderful new notebook for blogging. More expensive than I usually pay, but more pages. "Ebony and Ivory" by Drew Strouble.

It's new notebook time

I've loved my Barnes and Noble lined 6 x 9 journal, with a sewn binding and a cover photo by Mark Barrett. He must be one of the most fabulous equine photographers in the world. I began this notebook on November 1, All Saints Day, and today turned over the last sheet.

Stock Horse Photography Library

New notebook time and new word for the day

The notebook I started Dec. 5 is full. Last week I bought four spiral bound, hard cover note books, 8.5 x 5.3, lined, 100 pages, at Marc's for $.67 a piece. There is a clear acrylic over the front cover. They are called "Sherbert Notes Journal" and I bought them in pink, lime, pale blue and lilac. The stationer is FYI Stationers and the producer Carolina Pad of Charlotte, NC. Marc's carries overstocks, remaindered and seconds so if you see something you like, buy it--it won't be there when you return 10 minutes later. A few weeks ago I saw some plain white, Mikasa china bowls (probably seconds), 2 for $.99. I have white china with a silver band and am short a few bowls (replacements cost about $60.00), so I thought I could work with something similar, and they looked fine, but when I went back there weren't any more.

Now for the new word. About 20 years ago I was a volunteer in a nursing home with a young woman who had suffered a brain aneurysm when she was 18 and was totally paralyzed. She needed people with her during her waking hours because she couldn't generate thought (a theory of another volunteer). Fortunately, she had parents and sisters and not a husband who wanted to be free of her, so no one starved her to death to end her life, but she did eventually die at about age 50. She couldn't talk, move voluntarily or see, but she could definitely experience emotion, as I found out if ever I said "Would you like some sherbert." She is the one who taught me that there is only one R in sherbet. It took 10 minutes to spell it on her message board which involved rows of letters each assigned a number and holding her hand to see if I could detect a movement if I called out the right letter. So when I saw that these notebooks were titled, "Sherbert Notes," I decided someone didn't know how to spell sherbet. But when I looked in my dictionary, here's what I found:

sherbet n. Turkish and Persian from Arabic Sharbah for drink. 1. a cold drink of sweetened and diluted fruit juice 2. or sherbert, an ice with milk, egg white, or gelatin added.

Even my spell check tried to drop that second R. And this is my new word for today.

New Notebook Time

The "latte" journal I started October 28, and used the last page December 5.



The new one should be cheery. It's published by Legacy Publishing Group, the artist is Teresa Kogut. I bought it at the Shade Tree at Lakeside this past summer. The old one (I bought a bunch of these) was $1.00 at the Discovery Shop. The artist is Deb Strain, an Ohio artist (according to the back inside cover) who left the classroom in 1994 to devote herself to her family and art.

Lots and lots of notes here I never used. So here's what I didn't write about--but will briefly note it here.

Correction--California Teachers Association only donated $1.25 million to oppose Proposition 8, not $3 million as originally reported in WSJ. That was the ballot initiative to overturn the State Supreme Court ruling that allows gay marriage. Can you get a teacher's job if you don't join the union?

70% of subprime loans that defaulted before they reset contained some kind of misrepresentation by the borrower, lender, or broker, or a combination of the 3. (no source)

Hutu Tutsi conflict continues in Congo. Rebels advanced toward Congo's eastern provincial capital. U.N. is there. Wonder what they have been doing since the genocide in Rwanda 14 years ago?

Will the left be happy now? Wal-Mart will continue its international expansion, but growth is flat in U.S. NIMBY attitude in many communities, so we all lose. They didn't even wait for President Obama to add more environmental regs, higher taxes, restrictive hiring practices, more punitive health care demands. And we wonder why business leaves?

Hand washing--a cost cutting campaign years ago at OSUL--my idea, but it wasn't accepted. Notes on soap dishes, keyboards in libraries, tables, chairs, etc.

Obama's ties to ACORN, John Fund article WSJ October 30.

There are 39,000+ runners in the NYC marathon--26 in the 80-90 year old division. In my dreams!!!

Lake Geneva real estate ad--$4.5 million--looks like an Hawaiian plantation. I wonder why you wouldn't go to Hawaii and get a real one?

Theresa Hogan has an op-ed saying don't make this a single issue election--abortion. Why not? I might not word it that way but we do need a leader with character, not one who gets a 100% rating from NARAL.

Friend highly recommends Fireproof at the AMC Dublin 18.

Another icon the left hates--McDonalds. In France it is opening 29 stores in 2008--its biggest earner outside USA.

Bank failures in 2008--17.

When was the last time you changed your mind on something BIG? I listed 8.

Pat Wynn Brown "Love is in the Hair"--she's a local actress, writer, cancer survivor. I remember reading her columns when she wrote for one of the free-circs. The event helps women who have lost their hair to chemo.

I'd forgotten these guys--Ricky Nelson's sons, Matthew and Gunner. Playing at the Alrosa Villa.

The clerk had a terrible cold--please send her home.

50 women to watch world wide (WSJ) Only 3 appear to be African or African-American. 26 are over 50. Whoopee.

Abstinance is 100% successful in controling the spread of AIDS and in reducing poverty, but it's a political wasteland with the pro-abortion crowd. There's no money in abstinance.

I'm ignoring Peggy Noonan.

In NY the UN Secretary looks up from his latte and polished desk and says he's "concerned" that women and children are being raped; homes burned and sons murdered. Someone buy this puppet a ticket to the Congo.

I wonder why the more government funding a disease gets, the more it expands? New cases of diabetes--increased by 90% in 10 years. Spending on drugs to control diabetes almost doubled between 2001 and 2007 from $6.7 mil to $12.5 mil. Must be a relationship. Ya think?

Oxymoron--mandatory volunteer

Theodidacti--taught by God

Hunger--now "food insecurity"

Illinois leads the country in allowing retailers to keep some sales tax--$126,000,000. Apparently costs 3.1% of the sum collected for the retailer.

Sea lamprey has "evolved" and now makes Vermont its home in Lake Champlain. Havoc on salmon and trout. No one seems to know how it got there.

Recipe for Buckeye Pie

Book review of "Breathing the fire" by Kimberly Dozier, Meredith Books, 2008, reviewed in JAMA Oct 1, 1595-96. Looks really good.

Lies about stem cell research.

Hank Greenberg (AIG)--huge losses in his foundations.

Just one or two drinks can impair memory--seems to interfer with how memories are stored.

In Jos Nigeria clashes of ethnic violence have killed over 400 and displaced over 7,000--mainly Christians by Muslims. I'm not going to say it was buried in the back pages of the paper because the victims were Christians, but I will say it was because they were Africans. But when you've killed millions by taking DDT away from them, what's a few more? Where are the happy-clappy, sappy-crappy one-globe folks when you need them?

June Kronholz, WSJ 12-4-08, "Massive bureaucracy promises exciting new opportunity." Sigh. She notes: Workforce is older; only 17% of Americans trust the gov't; very sluggish; outsiders are not hired; it takes years to remove an ineffective worker; hiring one employee can involve 110 steps; pay and promotion are not tied to performance.

McCain was the creator of the system that brought him down--the McCain-Feingold. "By not trusting the American people he allowed the worst, most corrupt money machine in history to decide our election."

Gasoline in Ohio is around $1.50/gal. Auto dealerships are closing. Columbus mayor is closing eleven recreation sites.

That's a lot of not writing.

New Notebook Time

When we were having coffee yesterday, AZ asked me about my new pink notebook. I wasn't finished with the brown Cafe Latte one--it had maybe 4-5 blank pages and usually I go right to the end and around the corner and onto the back cover, but the more I thought about it, the better it sounded to start a new month with a new notebook. I got this cheerful, happy notebook at Barnes and Noble for $4.95--the paper is pink and narrow lined, very unusual for a notebook this size. Here's what I didn't blog about in May.

1. Girls' disadvantage in career choices because they skip physics in high school.
2. How to improve the Columbus schools (based on a Columbus school teacher's opinion).
3. Virginia's response to 6 tornadoes.
4. Five hot business books authored by big idea people. None by women.
5. Boston Legal on Save our Shows list. Only conservative character on the show has dementia. Maybe they should write to a larger audience?
6. Where the 2001 rebates went: 64.1% went to the movies!
7. It costs $9 a pack to smoke legally in NYC.
8. Experienced crew manager at McDonald's list of benefits includes a car and paid education. Can add $100,000 to annual sales if good.
9. Only 10% of America's multi-millionaires inherited their wealth.
10. The model in the Aetna full page ad looks like she could die next week of an eating disorder.
11. Turkey chickpea chili--on the menu at Panera's. Yuk.
12. The problems of biking to work.
13. Gov't subsidized housing in Columbus.
14. Everything I learned I got in Vacation Bible School.
15. L. Gordon Cravitz on web 2.0
16. Those who identifiy themselves as conservative are more likely to be happy, to attend worship, to marry and have children.
17. "Kids are using their technological advantage to immerse themselves in a trivial, solipsistic distracting on line world at the expense of more enriching activities--like opening a book or writing a complete sentence." David Robinson.
18. Prescription drug use (not misuse) grows and the media sees this as a cause to worry.
19. Car pooling and bus ridership up in Columbus.
20. Bad advice from Dear Abby on who should learn to cook.
21. "Keep the immigrants; deport the multiculturalists."
22. Al-John McGore. It's really tough to support McCain.
23. Testosterone in the news (list of all the brief newsstories, usually in the Metro section) about men stabbing, shooting, looting, drinking, snorting and driving into or over each other. Includes occasional pedophile teacher.
24. Why conservatives don't like McCain. He's not conservative.
25. Picture a little boy in a row boat going out to sea to charge a naval fleet with a Soro's logo on his briefs.
26. Brian McLaren and the emergent church.
27. Signs of human life on Mars; they can't find it in the womb so they go into space.
28. Seen at the coffee shop. Men in expensive suits; women in anything they pull on in the morning. Could there be a glass ceiling in the closet? It's pathetic that a retired librarian is dressed better than 50% of the women going off to work.
29. WSJ, which has always had mostly liberal news stories, is now cluttering the opinion page with liberal columnists.
30. 45% of women 25-34 have college degrees compared to 36% of the men.

4597

New Notebook Time

There just wasn't enough time, space or pixels for everything in the last one. So here's what I didn't write about.

Deaths of journalists--I had noted particularly Mexico and Africa

Role disability--53.4% of us according to Archives of General Psychiatry

What the Constitution says about the religion of candidates

What Anabaptists say about Doctrine of Justification

November consumer spending rising fastest in 3.5 years

Americans aren't saving enough--GAO

Schwarzenegger's $14 billion health care plan

Public housing solutions in architecture journals--40 years of reading this

Social worker jargon for staff workshops

Should churches and religious groups be paying real estate taxes

Consumer changes 2005-2007

AMT, Bush tax cuts

Recipe for Chicken Merlot

13 fudge factor phrases (I'll probably still use this for a TT)

Free genealogy sites on the web

My "new" first issue (1895)

"If you're not hungry several times a day, you're eating too much."

New strain of MRSA in MSM

"Overcoming the worry gene" was most e-mailed WSJ story

Abortion front page story in Dispatch--word choices of reporters show hostility to pro-life supporters and advocates

The 2001 rebates

Lithuanian Jews "The Unknown Black Book"

Black 17 year old, accepted at 6 colleges, comments on Obama are really strange

How will your candidate handle Jihadism?

Posting calorie counts in restaurants

Stomach banding also cures diabetes - better than lifestyle changes - JAMA

Edwards' rich-poor gap a lie - Thomas Sowell

Freddie Mac swindles Ohio pension system

When half as much is twice as good

Top 1% of income earners paid 39.58% of all income taxes in 2005

Do not smoke or drink during Super Bowl--health risk

Notebook by Colorbök, Inc. 2716 Baker Road, Dexter, MI 48130, made in China, of course. Each page has narrow lines, and either the pinto (verso) or the sorrel (facing) with head turned. I also bought earlier a small nesting box with four horses in this design which includes a butterscotch/palamino color horse.

4063

It's new notebook time

This notebook, with a pink/coral hydrangea design by Tina Higgins, is all used up. I started it June 13. Looking through it, I see many things I never added to the blog, so you are welcome to them. In May 2006 I listed 44 items I didn't blog about that were in the used up notebook. In October I listed over 30 blogging leftovers I didn't use. Here's the summer of 2007 list.

1. EPA estimates of removing 100 lbs from the trunk of your car. I may still use this one in a weight loss blog, about removing excess from your own trunk.

2. Fashion advice for Father's day. This was a photo essay in the Columbus Dispatch. Idea was not to be so sloppy and don't wear clothes too big.

3. Amnesty. Biggest issue of the summer. I probably used these notes, especially about Ted Kennedy's role in this mess.

4. Where Bush has failed conservatives--think I used some of the notes in various blogs.

5. Anne Graham Lotz quote about a PBS special on her Mom (Mrs. Billy Graham) that managed to never mention the name of Jesus.

6. FBI hiring 4,564 agents since 9/11 and what they are looking for (sounds like all the same skills that librarians treasure).

7. Alli--that new weight loss product that has the side effect of oily discharge. Yuk.

8. Diabetes death rate lower in men than women--may have noted this.

9. Nicotine patch success rate same as placebo.

10. Global pedophile ring--ring leaders are British.

11. John McGoldbreck, MD--reader writes to WSJ on how his family has more money now that they live on one income. I may still use this one--looks good to go up against the Dims for wanting to raise taxes, and the Repubs for not doing anything about the AMT.

12. Bush vetoes stem cell bill.

13. My stolen identity.

14. 70 year-old wearing shorts to the coffee shop. This didn't seem too alarming after I got to Lakeside and see most 80 year-olds in shorts.

15. Direct and indirect costs of heart failure, CHD and stroke.

16. Direct and indirect costs of obesity as identified in workers' comp claims (Arch. of Int. Med.: 2007;167:766-773).

17. Cleveland's crime rate--problems with police and firefighters as perps.

18. NOLA's deaths up 47%. Look at how cities run by Democrats for decades are faring.

19. Cream cheese use at the free snack table at Panera's. Guess who?

20. Alison E. Burke, medical illustrator. I like her stuff.

21. God and the blow fly. Illustrates all the reasons I don't believe in evolution. Using a hbc bear, the ODNR staff observe the blow fly maggots at work. It's an incredibly complex and precise schedule, and the information is used to determine time of death in humans.

22. Death of Bob Evans, 1918-2007.

23. My IQ test in elementary school, 126.

24. $54 million pants litigation. This was so well covered by comedians and reporters, there was no need for me to weigh in.

25. Where is your reading nook? Based on a Home Magazine survey.

26. WSJ subprime article based on 3 complaints out of 60,000 loans in 2006-2007.

27. Value of $1 million. Gas prices.

28. Democrats and Talk Radio--why they can't walk the talk.

29. People who grieve for those in Darfur, but are willing to kill the unborn. You know who you are, and I don't get it.

30. Wellness seminar. My way is too boring.

31. Wearing the U.S. flag on your butt.

32. Jill Rappaport [Today show] how many trees died for her home in the Hamptons? (Architectural Digest, June 2007)

33. More people in Cleveland die without a verb than in Columbus.

34. My favorite lunch.

35. Plain Dealer travel ideas. www.blog.cleveland.com/travel

36. Campbell's Soup is going to market canned soup to Russians.

37. How to kill an already struggling state--Michigan. John Dingell's idea for a carbon tax.

38. Separate is not equal; it is better. Why the ACLU wants Cleveland to scrap successful one sex schools.

39. Sanctimonious celebrities and environment issues.

40. Friendships--how many in a lifetime? On the decrease according to PD reporter John Campanelli's figures.

41. National ice cream day.

42. Barns. A barn in Burton Township in Geauga Co. had been cleaned up for the wedding of the owner's daughter.

43. Going green is anti-female.

44. Mega veggie diets and cancer.

45. Nationalizing health care--what Obama and Hillary want.

46. New Harry Potter book. (no need to report)

47. What if Obama's mama had been black?

48. Novak's Prince of Darkness book.

49. Cleveland Public School scores, as reported in the PD, compared to the rest of Ohio and private schools and charter schools.

50. Democrats and the poverty theme. This one will definitely need to be resurrected, especially in light of John Edwards' investments in funds that hold subprime loans for homeowners in New Orleans.

51. Short term missions by Christians.

52. Silly car ads--I'm looking for 13 but only have 9.

53. Hurricane statistics.

54. 13 reasons to read JAMA--this is in draft form, but essentially finished.

55. Large companies that recruit the disabled. I found 13 points in an article featuring Walgreen's plan--might use it for a TT.

56. Photo of Tom Drake (movie star, dancer) in the paper. He's the uncle of my sister-in-law.

57. Meeting Roger's daughter-in-law in the coffee shop.

58. The faith of scientists in science.

59. The conditions of local bridges.

60. hyphens

61. Student loans, based on Ana M. Alaya's article. This was almost too easy to poke fun at, but I may still use it. Predatory lenders are causing a college grad to take a roommate and ride the train because of high repayment amounts.

62. Review of "The two income trap" by Amelia Tyage, apparently doesn't tell the whole story--biggest increase in costs since the 70s is our tax bill (140%), and Democrats want it to go even higher. Reviewed in WSJ by Todd J. Zywicki (hard to read my writing).

63. James B. Stewart on the amazing economy which just keeps expanding despite the perfect storm.

64. Pay raises: who gets the biggest. War for talent: 1) signing bonuses for IT, finance, administration, marketing and sales. 2) Flexibility

65. What dredging of the St. Clair River is doing for Lake Erie and to Lakes Huron and Michigan.

My goodness, that's a lot of stuff I didn't write about. Once I put the notebook in the cabinet, it's pretty much forgotten.

3895

New notebook

Today was new notebook day. I don't know if I have the nerve to record everything I didn't blog about since May 4 like I did last year here (44 items).

Still, sometimes I wonder . . .

44) Poetry editor of JAMA is Charlene Breedlove--she published a poem by Joannie Strangeland. Am I the only one who finds that funny? Pseudonyms?

3784

Please scratch that itch at home

While refilling my coffee cup the other day at Panera's, I saw a very large woman with her hand down the inside front of her capri pants. Later I looked up from my blogging notebook to see a man at the counter with his hand inside the back of his knee length jersey shorts scratching his bottom. And it wasn't even casual Friday!

Speaking of notebooks, I start a new one today. The one I'm using was started Mar. 22, and is a Kathryn White design represented by Art in Motion of Vancouver, BC. I found an interesting blog called Notebookism which features not only interesting notebooks for a variety of purposes (most too expensive for me), but also stories about notebooks of various artists, writers and poets. I like stiff covers and a spiral bind, because the sewn or glued pages often don't hold up to writing on the verso.

3437 Just the write notebooks

Most of my blog entries are drafted on paper--unless you have written something on your blog that leads me to some research, or I read something in an on-line publication. (Ms. Loyal American Living in Europe [see comments] thinks I live in Iowa and don't read anything--woo, woo, is he wrong not only about me but about how well informed Iowans are!) So I have to have just the right note book and a #2 BIC pencil. I like spiral bound, hard cover, about 5 x 7, wide line. The one I'm using right now has blue paper, and I can't wait to use it up. Hard to read what I wrote. I thought I'd swoon when I saw these nice horse covers at CVS. There were only two, and a Google search indicated the company had been purchased since they were made, and I didn't see them on the web site. So I went to another CVS and found a bunch of them, plus some with a light house for only $2. I didn't really need 4 new notebooks, but with 10 blogs, you never know. One notebook lasts about 8 weeks. So I'm all set till Fall.

2490 New notebook time

My new notebook has pretty roses. I blog a lot, but in going through the old one, I found 40+ topics I had noted, but either wrote about something else, or decided against it.

1)Karen Schoemer's book, "Great Pretenders; my strange affair with 50's pop music." This article about how she meets and admires Pat Boone was in American History, March 2006.

4) Poetry in medical journals, Cancer prayer. "Hope is sometimes a puddle/of stale rainwater for a parched mouth. . ." Marc J. Straus, MD

9) Movies that got it wrong.

11) Rituals of our lives.

12) Childhood obesity--watching mothers pick up their children at pre-school.

13) 13 things to lie awake and worry about (for a Thursday Thirteen).

14) Automobile advertising--photo doesn't match the small print.

15) Textbooks in libraries.

16) What I remember from the 70s.

20) End of life laws in Britain.

22) $150 billion--Americans paid to tax preparers and accountants for help with taxes

23) "Sometime we get manuscripts from dead people. I don't mean the living dead, though we get those too." Poetry editorial, March 2006.

25) Letters to the editor; put downs and set ups. [This one's practically finished--I'll have to take another look on a slow day]

26) Did I ever tell you about my Mustang? [for a Monday Memories]

27) Social changes in our society with self-employment/at home employment.

28) Cigna ad "Benefits of caring."

29) Dumbing down curricula to raise performance of low-income and immigrant children.

30) Verizon's content guidelines--seem to be much stricter than churches, TV, libraries, etc.

31) The gene that protects against alcoholism

32) OSU Lantern ad--is this ethical?

36) Do adverbs matter? darkly striking, smiled sweetly, closely followed, probably true

38) Two men sharing a loaf of cinnamon bread [this was for Coffee Spills]

39) Bush's tax cuts--capital gains revenues have increased by 79.9% 2002-2004. Total income slice going to the richest 1%, 5% and 10% of Americans is lower than during the Clinton years.

40) Lots of real estate ad stories, like the furnished 2 bdrm in Bayfield overlooking Madeline Island with fireplace, deck, kitchen, for $190,000.

42) Ilaria Montagnani and kick boxing.

43) Government growth under Bush. (sounds like a gardening story, doesn't it?) Biggest growth in gov't regs is in Security and Exchange Commission, FDA, IRS and ATF--we've got 66,000 more snoopers. Gov't regs are costing us about $8,000 per household.

44) Poetry editor of JAMA is Charlene Breedlove--she published a poem by Joannie Strangeland. Am I the only one who finds that funny? Pseudonyms?

And to think I have a box of these old notebooks--all with stories hoping to be written. Instead, they languish in blog hell.

1789 Time for a new notebook

and I don't mean a computer--the old fashioned, use a #2 pencil, 6" x 8", spiral bound, hard cover, lined paper notebook. I don't write these blog entries out of the air, you know, (well, sometimes I do). I read and take notes in long hand, then I think and decipher my scribbles and look for links to see what American Daughter or Dr. Sanity or Jane Galt or Neo-Neocon and Barbara Nicolosi are writing about. Usually, they aren't blogging about my topics, but that takes another two hours. Anyway, a notebook can last for three months, but the last one was begun on September 1, and I had way too much to say about Katrina and the liberals who claimed the federal government should be the first responder. So by November 1, I only had 15 pages left. I actually ran out on the 14th, and was scribbling in margins and on the covers. So today, it is officially, NEW NOTEBOOK DAY.

New notebook on left. I think I bought it at Meijer's. The notebook on the right (Sept-Nov) was purchased at Wal-Mart and is one of two styles I buy by Day Runner that includes passages from the Psalms, King James Version, every 3rd page. It started with 3:3 and ended with 86:12