Open Letter to Mr. Warren Buffet

July 11, 2016July 12, 2016 / apronsandappetites.com / 2 Comments

This little blog doesn’t make much difference in the world. Not like your billions can. All those billions you are dedicating to philanthropy.

Will this money go to better schools and universities? I’ve read where some of your club members — for that really is all your giving pledge group is, a club for billionaires to pat themselves on the back that they aren’t really keeping all that wealth –have already given to the sports programs at universities. I’m sure their name is on a building somewhere as it rightly should be. They did give the money to that sports program. I’ve also read where some have already given to Harvard for molecular causes of disease research and another to Cornell for medical research.

Will this money be given to the arts? Perhaps to the schools in rural counties that can’t afford any type of art program, or music program, or dance program, or, well, any program except basic classroom classes. Will there be a head honcho who decides who is in more need of these pledged billions? Say, Harvard or Gallatin County K-12?

Will this money go to provide a stronger foundation of learning where it needs to be strong: In the elementary schools, in the poor communities in dire need of funds, in the high schools in these same types of communities? These areas are where you will find your future Americans that will one day buy the products and use the services that made you the billionaires you are today. Perhaps one of those industrious persons will become a hedge fund manager themselves someday and boost their rags to riches stories. Anything can happen when one is given opportunity and has a drive for the bigger and the better.

The word “opportunity” is why I write this open letter that you will never see.

Most of the giving of the $373.25 billion dollars in private giving is given by U. S. citizens. (http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/cpid/42)

The giving per income level and amount given may rival your mighty pledges. The boasting of your wealth sickened me from the very first media outpouring. The fact that you are proudly giving your money away to charity also sickens me. I and my friends give to charity. With our paltry earnings we give substantial sums to charity. We will never have a wing of a university with our name emblazoned on it, but we may have given a child in our local school system a chance to go to Washington D.C. We may not be able to help with finding a cure for a dreaded disease, but we may have helped a family who has someone with that dreaded disease to eat and pay the bills. We may not be able to provide opportunities for those in the arts to progress and sell their wares so to speak, but we have provided those who have lost their jobs with smaller, less-paying jobs to provide for some of their needs.

This country needs less of your charity, Mr. Buffett, and more of your ingenious money-making ideas that will benefit its citizens, not just you and your chosen few. My first thought when I heard of your glorified club was Why doesn’t he take that money and provide incomes for people?

Build factories wherein you don’t make one dime, but the people working in it do.

Provide those gum-selling opportunities where people are given the chance to sell their wares with less risk and more gain.

Give children the chance to learn well: The chance to use new books instead of the hand-me-downs of classes and classes before them; the chance to see the world with a field trip that’s beyond the public park; the chance to embrace those arts you speak of so highly with an arts program in their school. This is just the tip of the iceberg. A man with your mental acuity, your influence on your billionaire buddies and their mental acuity, and all those billions you all are just eagerly waiting to give away should be enough to create jobs as well as promote all those things you want your billions to promote.

We need jobs, Mr. Buffett. Can you and your cronies not come up with this fantastic Giving Pledge to constructively help the backbone of America?

You want a museum in which to give a billion? Visit any small community whose coal mines are closing and businesses have dried up and blown away. Visit any river town whose docks are closed and boat traffic floated off. Visit any rural county. Visit any rural school.

I thought this article by thedailybeast right on point. I’ve been thinking this sentiment ever since your high and mighty giving pledge.

“Perhaps the most troubling issues posed by the Gates-Buffett crusade is its potential to intensify the inequities that exist both in the nonprofit world and in the rest of society.” wrote Pablo Eisenberg, senior fellow at Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute, in a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy column. “Foundations, corporations, and other forms of institutional philanthropy tend to favor the nation’s most-privileged citizens and neglect the neediest people and organizations.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/08/06/buffet-pledge-where-the-billions-will-go.html

my sis and her stickie self

July 6, 2016 / apronsandappetites.com / 1 Comment

My sis has a selfie stick. She got it last year and tried perfecting her selfie skill while we were in Hilton Head. So we got all kinds of cool selfies.

She got really good at it by the time we left as evidenced by the above pic with our bikes. It was rather hilarious on the first selfie shoot though. Notice the subtle differences from beginning to end.

You would think we were a bunch of old grannies trying to figure out some new-fangled gizmo. And how did Mom get in that picture?

I think she gave up after this one. The kind waiter snapped these of her valiant effort to accomplish a miracle. She could do a mean two-gal selfie, though, by the end of the meal.

And now I think she should go selfie pro! Look at this shot:

On Being A Gigi

May 26, 2016February 8, 2017 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

This past New Year’s Day, almost all the family was able to get together. In a previous blog I wrote about that and let you see for yourselves with some pictures. I had planned and prepared, everyone shared talents or enjoyed watching someone else’s talent, games were played, food was eaten, presents passed out by the little ones, and the day was just great. All the wee ones were happy as well as the not-so-wee ones.

As the day progressed, there were nine grands (ten if we count little Will who is just starting to say words — I claim them all) yelling “Gigi” for one reason or another. “Look at this.” “I have two talents.” “Thank you for my gift.” “Watch me.” “Can you get me (insert anything you can think of)?” “I have to go to the bathroom.” “Can you help me (insert anything you can think of)?” “How do you (insert anything you can think of)?”

Way back in 2002 I became a Gigi (pronounced geegee not jeejee) when my sweet Jack was born, my great-nephew. I didn’t know I was going to be a Gigi; I just knew I loved that boy and he loved me and we were going to have something very, very special.

And we did. So I began to search for a name for the special relationship, finally settling on Aunt Granny. I saw it at Dollywood, a restaurant or snack shop.

Food = Comfort = Aunt Granny.

Then my sweet Sam came along, and I fell in love all over again. I had two sweethearts instead of one.

It was about that time that little Jack started trying to say things such as “Aunt Granny.” Only it came out Gigi. At least that’s how we spell it. The two grannies in his life, his Aunt Granny and his great-grandma who everyone already called Granny were now Gigis. His grandma, my sis, was to be called Mawmaw which worked out very well because he could pronounce that.

From then on I was Gigi, and when my sweet girls, Kate and Ava, came along they picked up on Jack and Sam calling me Gigi, and that’s what they called me as well.

In the big teacup five years ago.

We are a close family and spend as much time as we can with each other (which was quite a lot at that particular time in my life) so it was very common for my grandgirls to hear the name Gigi often; thus using it themselves.

These little ones brought such joy to my life, and we played and played and played and… you get the picture.

My little-to-big Punkins

my sweet nephews

Along came Charlotte, Owen, Maci, Henry, Nia, and now little Will. Each one has enriched my life and brought me great joy.

I have had the opportunity to play with them, spend time with them, have lots and lots of fun with them. We swim in the backyard, dance on holidays (or any time because I love to dance), play board games or make-believe and dress-up, make tents, spend time in the sunflower house, play tag or hide-and-seek, read books, have sleep-overs. If I can’t think of something, they can.

Oh, the make-believe! Jack has my fun, make-believe gene, and that boy can lead the pack in superhero play or make a jungle out of a blah backyard or create ninja warriors (girl and boy ninjas) or have an awesome hide-and-seek game. Anything he starts, the rest of them follow. Our own pied piper. He is older now but still takes time to play with them. And they all love him. The superhero cousin.

He has all the makings of a Gigi.

At the end of all the New Year’s Day festivities, as we were all settling down, packing up presents and food, Maci turned to her Mawmaw and said,

“How do you get to be a Gigi?”

Putting Together Memories

February 24, 2016February 8, 2017 / apronsandappetites.com / 7 Comments

For Christmas, I went to Shutterfly to make a really cool Christmas gift for my brother and two sisters. Since so many of our memories of Mom are surrounded by her cooking for us, I wanted to make a cookbook of some of our favorites of Mom’s cooking. It turned out great!

Mom was a really good cook and cooked for whoever would show up for lunch, or she would bribe us with fried chicken and dumplings to come on weekends.

Her utmost joy was derived from feeding and caring the best she could for her children. And her grandchildren. And her great-grandchildren.

She might mutter and complain about Jill not knowing what good food was as she made her the requested grilled cheese while bowls of delicious food (mashed potatoes and dumplings and home-canned green beans and Mom’s coleslaw to name a few) sat on the table ready to be gobbled up by the rest of us. Just her way of saying, “I love you.”

Those were hard words to say by a little girl raised in the depression to become the hard-working woman who didn’t have time for frivolity. Not often anyway. Every once in a while if we begged she would get up and do what she called “The Shawneetown Stomp” with my older sister. It was great!! She would laugh and dance, and so would we. At least try to dance. Mom was a great dancer. So is Tish. And they looked awesome together!

Mom used to tell stories about growing up in her family, the hardships. As it does most people, that upbringing weaved its way into who she became. It caused her to worry about having the money for a home and food. She was frugal, very frugal. Yet I still had a beautiful dress for prom and homecoming that she made from royal blue velvet material. We still managed to get high school class rings, probably wanting us to have one because she didn’t make it through high school. Each of the girls had piano lessons, something she would have been good at considering her lovely voice when she sang and her rhythm when she danced.

And, of course, the only boy in the family received a really cool car on his 16th birthday. (No, I’m not mad about it anymore. Not that I ever was, really. Well, maybe a little. But not anymore. Hardly.)

A few of Mom’s recipes, most in her own handwriting, were included. This dumpling recipe was from the sessions Mom and I had as she tried to teach me how to make them. She was too weak by then to roll them out, but she sure enjoyed sitting there teaching me, smiling ear to ear.

There was a little bit of history of Mom’s family because they were a close bunch of sisters. And like my own family, one boy in all those girls. (Did I mention that my brother wrecked that really cool car by jumping over the levee and breaking it right in half?” Not that that bothers me or anything anymore.)

So along with pictures of kids and grandkids and recipes, I included a few pics like this one:And just so we wouldn’t forget that once upon a time our Mom had a real life, a life with laughter and flirtation, I included some like this one.

Being the middle child in a family of four children, my characteristics and qualities have been woven in ways such as those that made my Mom into who she was. And that is why on the back of the book I put a really good picture of me and a not-so-really great picture of the rest of them.

My brother is the one in the silly birthday hat. And I only used that picture because it was one of the best I had of him. Not at all because I may still be just a tad incensed by the fact that he got a car on his 16th birthday, and I did not.

If you want a free book, here is the link for you to get one. https://invite-shutterfly.com/x/SOm1IE

Looking back… Taking Kate to School

December 25, 2015February 16, 2017 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

It’s the end of yet another year, and I am going through WordPress, looking at anything left undone.

Because I am very very good at undone whether it’s leaving a project in such a state or getting myself into such a state. Here is what I found, and I thought it worthy to post. Even if it was nailed up and left to linger on the blog tree — oops — I mean post for, um, about four years:

Kate in the first grade

This week I have only taken Kate to school one day. It is a treat to take her… but I suppose it wouldn’t be if it was my job every morning to get her up and fight with her about her clothes and try to get her little sis ready to go as well.

She came bebopping out of the house, all pink and brown, with her little skirt and boots with the tassle balls, . Her boots were pink with the Disney princesses. We had gone shopping a few days earlier and she had new clothes and new shoes. Adorable. I should have taken a pic, but didn’t have my camera.

On the way to school we sing “Hi Ho Hi Ho It’s off to school we go.” Then I make up verses, but her favorite part, she says, is the chorus. We walk in the school together — unless she sees some of her friends. Then it’s a kiss and hug and off to walk in with the other kids. Kate is very social this year. She started last year in Pre-K getting a little more social, wanting to talk to people. She will be the traveling reporter who finds out all kinds of things about people because she is full of questions and interested in them. She also has a concern for everyone.

The trees will talk to us as we travel down the road; sometimes in a voice that sounds a lot like Gigi and sometimes in a voice that sounds a lot like Kate. They say things such as, “oooh, what a pretty little girl; I want her bear.” Because sometimes she takes her little blue bear with her in the car to school, leaving him to wait on her return trip home. Then a tree will respond with “No, I don’t want her bear.” Those trees are real talkers. And on every curve the wheels on my vehicle go “Errrrk.”

This year, she loves school. She loves her teacher and her classmates, and she loves learning the letters and numbers, sounding out the letters, making rhyming words.

Kate this year with Santa

We still hear the trees talk to us every once in awhile. Not as often as before because Kate is now in the fourth grade and Ava is in the first grade. Little blue bear stays at home now, replaced with her Ipod or IPhone. She is still very social. I am thinking politician. So is Ava. I am still thinking politician.

There are now two little girls bebopping out to the car. Kate has chosen the comfy jogging pants and comfy shirts over her cute little first-grade outfits. Ava choosing her cute little first-grade outfits. They both love school: A tribute to the teachers and staff at our school. And they both are good students, although Kate is still more interested in what’s going on around her, I think, than the school work, itself.

It is still a treat to get to take them to school, and we still listen to our Sunday School songs on the CD and make up little ditties to go along with songs we know, and we still look for things of interest along the highway. Of course, this is mixed in with the bickering. Ugh!!

Now, instead of one little girl there are two. Now, instead of walking them both in like I have up until this year, I stop at the door, and they grab their stuff and hop out, catching up with friends, forgetting they have a granny in the vehicle watching them with a heart full of love.

New Blog – New Theme Day

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 2 Comments

In my quest for just the right theme for my dear-to-me-yet-mostly-neglected blog in the last year or two, I am changing the theme (background and set-up of the page) about as often as I post a blog. I want something clear and easy-to-read.

This one looks promising.

I WILL find the perfect theme!

It’s bright; it states the name and purpose of the blog well at the top; I kind of like the apron signature on the top left with my mission statement and AAA, etc., at the top so anyone curious can click on them to find out a little more about me.

I haven’t changed much or any since I started blogging, so no need to update. Maybe I’ll swing by there to make sure. Maybe I should put an updated photo, but I haven’t changed too much there either: a few more wrinkles perhaps, a few extra pounds that will be gone by spring or sooner.

OOPS! NOT ME! MY DAUGHTER! But isn’t she beautiful?

Keep going all the way to the bottom, and it very precisely and easily lets you leave a message–

I LOVE MESSAGES!

— as well as gives you other sites to visit, “Tasty Tidbits,” or topics from which to choose to read, “Whet Your Appetite,” or how to subscribe to my blog. Free. You can subscribe to something for FREE! Now isn’t that an incentive?

On Being Me

November 7, 2015February 16, 2017 / apronsandappetites.com / 3 Comments

Soooooo I haven’t blogged in awhile. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to or I don’t have ideas flying around my brain in the middle of the night (when I really don’t want to get up and get on the computer because I would really like to sleep).

Soooooo I have chosen to change the theme of the blog periodically until I decide if I am going to keep blogging (more than sporadically) or chuck the whole project that I started those years ago. Annnnndddd, since I can never make up my mind about almost everything, I need your help, you faithful few. Check on me every now and then and tell me which theme you like best.

This one is One Strange Town (or something like that). I really liked it for a few minutes. Now, I’m not so sure.

Old Gringo Women’s Sora boot

The winner will receive an awesome prize. A prize worthy of Blogville. A prize-almost-not-quite-sort-of-like the prizes my favorite blogger Pioneer Woman gives away. She gives away the neatest stuff. Do you know she has a line of dishes at Walmart?!! And it is so cool.

She blogs about her dog a lot. And her cows. She even has a basset something-or-other in the dishwear. Is dishwear a word? It pops up with a red underline.

I need a dog… or some cows… I want to market my dishwear or underwear or whateverwear at Target.

My goal is to look around here and see what I have of interest to blog about (according to my college English classes that should really be “of which to blog”) (at least I think that’s what they taught me – it’s been a long time since I was in college).

My garage!!! I have so very much stuff in there with BIG personality.

I’m going to go check it out!

Cookin’ It Up

April 21, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 1 Comment

My Blue Apron meals have been entertaining and delicious! For $59 a week I get three different meals for two people. The first one arrived to much excitement and anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get into it to see what was cookin’ for the next week.

Once I got it opened, I was greeted with a letter from Blue Apron and all the recipes on these beautiful, big, easy-to-read cards. Nice people. Underneath the welcome letter was all the produce and knickknacks (spices, butter, vinegar, cream, etc.) for the meals. Everything is measured, with just the right amounts being sent: certain amount in ounces of greens, the required amount of veggies whether it’s one onion or several fingerling potatoes, enough meat for two, fresh herbs all packaged and labeled.

The packaging is eco friendly, with an insulated storage bag that could be reused to go to the grocery store (which comes in very handy in rural areas where the grocery store is at least 20 miles away). In the bottom of the box are two frozen ice bags keeping the meats cold. The whole kit and caboodle can be recycled.

Ingredients so far have included shrimp, cod, ground lamb and beef, ground turkey, chicken, and flank steak. Along with the vegetables I normally use such as garlic, onions, potatoes, and carrots, I’ve also been introduced to adding kale and spinach and Swiss chard and fava leaves and epazote and pea tips to the skillet to cook in with the recipe. Then there’s the red rice and barley that I have found are delicious as well as filling, making a meal satisfy all evening.

Time to start cookin’ it up!!!

the recipe cards

knickknacks

ingredients

Tonight’s meal was turkey meatballs in pita bread. I lined the pita with a vanilla yogurt, lemon juice, and diced cucumber dressing; added some of the lettuce from the salad, then placed the spiced meatballs in the middle. Not bad but it wasn’t one of our favorites. We aren’t big fans of ground turkey — too bland.

Spiced Turkey Meatball Pitas with Sugar Snap Pea & Bibb Lettuce Salad

The Navarin-style lamb meatball stew was one of our favorites.

Navarin-Style Lamb Meatball Stew with Pea Tips & Carrots

The chili blackened cod just needs a little tweaking for our tastes. Just a little less grapefruit cut up in it and little more finely chopped.

Chile-Blackened Cod with Epazote, Avocado & Red Rice Salad

The flank steak with peppercorn sauce, creamed spinach, and fingerling potatoes was super. Definitely will be making that one again.

Pan-Seared Steaks with Green Peppercorn Sauce & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Since the shrimp and fresh pasta meal, I may have to invest in a pasta machine. I had no idea the difference fresh pasta makes in a dish!

Lemon & Black Pepper Shrimp
with Fresh Linguine di Cavolo & Fava Leaves

The chicken was very good as well. The barley added flavor as well as kept us satisfied.

Pan-Seared Chicken Verjus
with Pearled Barley & Mushrooms à la Grecque

Blue Apron has raised my awareness of how I cook and how I eat. Only one dish has had much fat in it, and then not excessive. Learning to cook for two with no leftovers or very little leftover is a plus as well. The mingling of flavors of the herbs and vegetables and meats combinations has been a learning experience, things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing together.

The next shipment is Wednesday, and I’m looking forward to it. None of the meals have taken much time to prepare nor more than two pans. We have enjoyed critiquing each dish together. A “foodie” date night.

Sometimes I freeze the meat if I am not going to get to it within a couple of days, but the dishes are much better the quicker the use of the ingredients is. The meals turn out like the pictures on the cards (my nephew thought I was posting the web site pictures instead of my own when he saw them on Facebook) after you “plate” them.

I just need a chef hat… a really cool chef hat.

Little Red Hen’s Babies

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

butternut squash

It’s almost time. Time for my little babies to find a home. Time for someone to adopt them and care for them and reap the rewards of good parenting.

They are used to lots of attention and babying. As they should be. After all, they are my babies.

Last year, before enjoying a delicious oven-roasted butternut squash, I took out the seeds, washed them, and dried them. Then I put them in a brown envelope and labeled them.

This spring, after researching a bit, I made up some potting mix. Lucky for me I have a friend who has horses. Which means I have plenty of manure to mix in with my peat moss, perlite, and Epsom salt. I shall forever hereafter feel completely different about a horse’s ass. They aren’t all bad.

Next I got the seeds out and planted them. My name should be Little Red Hen.

Since my sweet husband got me the coveted greenhouse for Christmas a year ago, at the first of March I planted my darling seeds from last year’s meals and desserts. It was still cool at night, so my husband put a heater with a thermostat connected to it. Everything was ready.

The first babies to pop their little heads up through the dirt, some wearing their seed as a hat or in folded leaves as though praying, were the butternut squash. Next came watermelon and cantaloupe.

praying cantaloupe

Okra

Lemon cucumber was next. Along came my cute little okra wearing the hard, round seed on their heads.

But where were the tomatoes? I had to buy seed for those because I couldn’t find the seed I had saved from last year — or maybe I didn’t save them — but the dirt was just sitting there, empty. No little baby heads poking up through the dirt.

Finally, on a day that I forgot to open the greenhouse and it got about 120 degrees in there, they popped out. Tomatoes do love the heat! So now, I have baby tomatoes growing into beautiful tomato plants almost ready for adoption.

Such a bittersweet time here at My Babies Nursery.

Maybe, just maybe…

February 17, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 4 Comments

For the past few weeks I’ve been responding to articles and posts about churches and Christians being judgmental and cold. Because I don’t think they are. I’ve tried to explain why I feel the way I do, but either I’m not expressing myself well, (happens a lot) or I’m flat out wrong.

Maybe I have my head stuck in the sand. Maybe all these things are true, and I’m just not noticing it. Because the truth is I’m pretty busy on Sunday mornings. I play piano for my little church, so as soon as Sunday School is over, I go straight to the piano. After church is over, I’m back at the piano. So I’m a bit out of the loop, I guess. Perhaps all this negativity is going on around me that I don’t even know about.

But maybe, just maybe, we’re all too sensitive. Maybe, just maybe, I am too sensitive about these posts.

In defense of my sisters and brothers in Christ, though, sometimes we just don’t know what to do because no matter what one does, it’s going to be wrong. We were too pushy; we were too cold; we didn’t look at a person properly; we asked someone to do something. I have heard all the excuses. On the other end of that spectrum I’ve also seen some of the older members (most have died out now) protect their pew with a vengeance. And I remember the dos and don’ts of my mother’s era.

It boils down to Do you really want to be in worship with a bunch of people JUST LIKE YOU? Because that’s what it is. People full of faults trying to overcome those faults because they love Jesus and want to be more like him. Imperfect people saved by grace. People with personalities that sometimes clash, sometimes mesh, and sometimes seem distant due to circumstances in their lives.

I’ve been to many, many churches. I’ve seen people so happy they dance in the aisles; I’ve seen people so heartsick it was all they could do to muster up the energy to be in God’s house; I’ve been hugged, really hugged, by the best huggers in the world; I’ve been encouraged by the best encouragers ever; I’ve prayed with the mightiest prayer warriors. I’ve stepped over and talked to the quiet people, and I’ve joined the rowdy ones. That’s only a few of the personalities.

Jesus set the example for church attendance. Every week He was in the synagogue. I’m fairly certain there were quite a few people who did not like Him and were more than downright rude. But He went anyway. Maybe, just maybe, He had the option of several synagogues to choose from when He attended. But, unlike us, it probably wouldn’t have mattered to Him where He went. His mission was His priority.

Our country, my little town, is full of churches that are full of personality. Go until you find a church that is just where you belong. Hopefully, without bashing the one you just attended. There is a church personality to fit your personality, a church in tune with your thoughts and behaviors, a church that will feel like home.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s not the church folk who are cold and hard and judgmental. Maybe, just maybe, it’s you.