Afraid to give to bogus charities?

March 14, 2011
In the words of Dickens’ Christmas Present, “Mankind is your business.”With the crisis in Japan and the death toll rising, I thought my readers might be interested to know what they can do to help. Nobody likes their charitble dollars hijacked. If you want to give but want to get the most bang for your buck, there is a great website called Charity navigator http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.alpha&ltr=L. This website tells what part of the pie those running the charity take, what their overhead costs are and how much they spend on fundraising per dollar donated.
This site is easy to navigate and you can use their A-Z file to look up the non-profit you’re interested in.  Of course the organization must supply the information and some don’t.  You can usually look up the information on the organization’s web site if it’s not given on Charity Navigator. If you can’t find the info. on either site, I’d be shy about giving anything.
An interesting note, every year I get called by the Fraternal orders of this or that. One year I said I’d donate if I thought it was worthwhile after I saw a list of how they spent donations.  It turned out that the one I checked out is not even a charitble organization. The donations are not tax deductible. They were using the battered women’s shelter to get people to send money, but that year less than 3% went to the battered women’s shelter and the rest went to fund raising, food and drink for their meetings and the cost of parties. Other years they’ve used foster care programs etc.  But I digress.
The best of the best (in my opinion) is the LDS Humanitarian Fund. Every penny you give goes to buy humanitarian aid. All the overhead costs of transportation, labor, etc is paid through the tithing donations to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  (A completely separate and distinct fund) You don’t have to be Mormon to donate to this charity and it’s the most direct way to buy something a catastrophy victim needs. They’re often one of the very earliest on the scenes of disaster and the volunteers are already organized. The link is http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/  There are other excellent ways to help the suffering, (you know, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, succor the orphans and widows).Anyone can find a way to help in the particular way that suits them. My hope is that we’ll do our best to do what we can.

Where were Brandon Davies’s friends? (Wednesday Wondering)

March 9, 2011
I have never been prouder to be a BYU alum, and though I love watching Jimmer jimmer, it has nothing to do with him.  Well, maybe something to do with Jimmer because he attracted the spotlight of the basketball nation. Who wouldn’t think he’s a darn cute kid? He’s a special kid too that can receive all the glory and praise that being an atheletic superstar and STILL be darn cute. The whole team exudes eager energy. . .joie de vivre, pura vida.
Can you imagine the volume of courage it took for a young man, Brandon Davies, to confess to a sin that he knew would cause him to be suspended from the team. He had to have expected the media storm.  Every cougar that ever set foot in a Marriot Center b-ball game would be dismayed, disappointed. He might not have anticipated the outpouring of love and support and encouragement from his classmates and from alumni.
But if the Internet prattle is correct, he confessed. Brandon Davies conscience is in good working order and he couldn’t continue guilty.
   A fellow BYU alum told me about an instance when they knew about an honor code violation where a friend had a member of the opposite sex stay overnight at their apartment. This person said they decided not to “rat them out” because there wasn’t any funny business. (Meaning hanky panky I assume). The honor code doesn’t specifically require those bound by the code to report violations, but I was stunned by the use of the language, “rat them out.” If only someone had reported the first time Brandon Davies broke the visiting hours part of the honor code.  Nobody jumps into sin all at once, but takes little steps off the path enough times that eventually they’re completely off it. If only every kid who stepped off the strait and narrow path had someone to grab his arm and pull him back…early…before it got to the point of heartbreak for a young man and probably a young woman.
  The relevant points of this discussion are not whether BYU is correct in acting, whether whatever eventual action is just, or whether breaking a standard that happens to be the highest in the world for students justifies such painful consequences is appropriate. Every cougar, including the athletic teams and scholarship recipients, enters BYU with a covenant to keep the honor code. Brandon Davies courage in choosing to correct the problem even though the only choice he had was to do it publicly, should be saluted, as it has been.
   But as in this case, LDS Bishops give no statements at all about confessions. BYU states only that it is Honor Code violations that caused the team suspension. Yet the Salt Lake Tribune is citing “several sources” as reliably reporting that he committed fornication. Where were his and her friends, that are the likely “reliable sources” before it got to the point of serious sin? What did they know before they knew about the sin?  Was there not ONE with the courage to report the smaller infractions, or was he the one in a billion who leap from purity to evil in an hour?  Have we as a society been so corrupted that our desire for popularity and comfortable social relationships overrides our love and concern for those entering paths that will only lead to heartache and sorrow?Is there a difference between “ratting someone out” and protecting someone from their own weakness by reporting before the worse occurs? In the case of this kid, only a sophomore, about 19 years old, where were his friends on the watchtower?
 I congratulate him on his courage in applying the blood of Jesus Christ to repent of his sins, but I am disgusted with those who knew things were amiss in his life before it was serious and did and said nothing. I think they also have great need to repent. What do you think?
 

A good book for outside-the-box thinkers.

March 7, 2011
The advertising for “The Adjustment Bureau” reminds me very much of a book I recently read called, “The Bureau of Resurrection” by Kim Burnham. Following the plot is like following a drunk driver who knows exactly where they’re going. The author is a professor at OSU and though the book has a distinctly witty overtone, the undertone is a serious comment on places science ought not to go, and the disasterous effects of invasive government. It’s not political, but insightful and loaded with enough symbols to keep any poet busy for a day or two.  Kim is a fellow member of the Red Dirt Writers and you can get a feel for his writing style by going to RedDirtWriters.org and reading some of his (contest winning) stories and poems. His writing style won’t please everyone, but if you are one that can accept outside the box situations and science fiction that makes you laugh, I think you’ll really enjoy it. This is his first novel and he’s finishing up the editing on a non-fiction book that has already been accepted for publication, (I think next year). You can buy “The Bureau of Resurrection” on Amazon.com. 
  While you’re visiting RedDirtWriters.org, check out some of the other goodies there.  We’ve got some super talented people in this group.

Wednesday Wonderings, “The Measure We Meet.”

February 23, 2011

We judge people every day. It’s unavoidable, it’s often unconscious, and in many instances, it’s necessary. But so much rides on accurate judgment that doing it righteously is critical, (pardon the pun.)
After 50 years of gradually learning or trying to learn this skill, I think back on some symbolic mishaps. When we first moved to Colorado from the high desert of Southern California, we moved into a much bigger home on a much bigger lot. It was the end of winter in California and bulbs were about to bloom and the roses were budding out. But after a month of waiting for spring at our new home, (a mere 4500 feet higher in elevation), I finally decided that I couldn’t wait. I decided to add a strip of mixed wild flowers along the 75 foot driveway. Though much of our acre was shaded by pines, the driveway edged a nice little meadow area, perfect for wildflowers.
It took me three days of digging with a pick and rake, adding peat and manure, loosening the soil and waking every muscle in my back, shoulders and arms to pain before it was ready for seeds. I waited for a windless hour and sprinkled in the canister of wild-flower seeds. I watered by hand, and in about a month, my little area was covered with sweet little seedlings. The rest of the meadow also turned green.
After another month of careful nurture and much water, my new plants began to consider blooming, mostly single flowers on their spindly little stems. They were promising a fair display. . .eventually. But the rest of my meadow, the part I had left undisturbed and judged to be full of weeds was covered in wildflowers. Native wildflowers. I had wild geraniums, tall blue columbine, beardtongue, bear berry, mallow, sego lilies and alpine strawberries. They flourished as they had been doing for hundreds of years, right up to line where I had attempted to provide my idea of the ideal.
A year later, we had undertaken to build a new house on 5 acres and moved into a rental after the first house sold. Near the back door there was a fountain of bare sticks. They looked dead. When you broke one off, it showed no green at all, so I decided that the rental was a little neglected and undertook to cut down the sticks. I got about half way through and decided I didn’t know what I was doing and I ought to leave it alone. Spring came very late at that elevation. So I waited another month and those naked, dry sticks clothed themselves in brilliant yellow forsythia blooms. Who knew?
I’ve gradually learned to be more cautious in unfamiliar gardens, but sometimes I am even more surprised by how well I misjudge people. I’m capable of doing this either by giving them too much credit or too little. I’ve learned that the funniest looking people often have the most brilliant minds. The most ordinary looking folks have boundless imaginations. The quietest, beigest folks often have the most generous hearts.
Sometimes I find that those with the most outwardly pleasing personalities have the weakest characters. Rich people can be generous and poor people can be stingy. Able bodied folks can be lazy and handicapped folks can be diligent.
So, after 51 years of observing those around me I have come to the conclusion that my first judgments are not more accurate as time goes on. I have only learned that the more slowly a judgment is made, the more accurate it is likely to be.
My question for this first Wednesday Wondering is: What stereotypes do you tend to judge instinctually, or when have you seriously misjudged a person? (Published comments show at the bottom of the page, not immediately after this posting. I do moderate all comments before publishing and won’t post anything hurtful.)

Spiderman to the rescue

January 19, 2011

There’s more to “dress for success” than just a slogan. My husband Jeff and I gave our five-year-old grandson a Spiderman costume, complete with fake muscles. He tried it on on Christmas morning and seemed tickled with it.
The next day, my sons Daniel (about 205 pounds and bench presses over 300 and Thomas (about 180 and bench presses over 200) staged a wrestling match in the living room. When Daniel began to conquer, Thomas called “Help help! If only Spiderman was here to help me!” In rushed a blue and red clad stringbean with bulging muslces. He leaped onto Daniel and quickly defeated him. Thomas thanked him warmly. Spiderman didn’t seem to notice that Daniel literally twirled him around his arm and set him back on his feet. He flexed his “muscles” and disappeared into the basement.
A few minutes later, I went into the basement and there was Spiderman . . .without his hood! He seemed quite dismayed to see me. I pulled my slippers on and he whispered, “Grandma, please don’t tell anyone that it’s me that’s Spiderman.” I lied that I wouldn’t tell anyone. “And will you please help me get my hood back on so I can see out of it?” After I helped him, he gestured silence with his index finger to his lips.
I have never understood the power of a uniform!

Holiday recipes

December 12, 2010

Don’t take this wrong, I love getting phone calls around this time of year for recipes. But what if you’re in the middle of something and can’t reach me? I’ve decided to post some of my best recipes. Don’t be insulted by the details. I’m merely being specific in response to mistakes friends have made when they tried the recipe.
The first and most requested is for my potato roll recipe. For the uninitiated, it’s popular because I simplified it, cut out the saturated or trans fats and the rolls turn out light and flavorful. This recipe can be used for dinner or sweet rolls. It’s a pretty big recipe.

Dinner or sweet rolls (read the whole recipe before you start)

6 cups “baby bath warm” water (no don’t bathe your baby in it first, just get it to the temperature a baby would appreciate.)
1 cup white sugar
2 table spoon active dry or instant yeast. (I know there’s a difference, but I never notice it.)
1 1/2 cups instant potato flakes
2/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 Tablespoon salt
Stir in 6 cups of bread flour. You may use all purpose flour, or whole wheat flour, but I do notice a nice difference when I use the bread flour. If using a stand mixer, add three more cups of flour while running and then slowly add two or three moreuntil it forms a soft, slightly sticky dough. If you’re using your hands like I do, add three cups and get another one standing by. Mix well with your (clean) hands and add more flour as needed to make a soft, slightly dough that you can pick up in one piece, but it won’t necessarily be firm enough not to have part of it fall back into the bowl. Cover and let rise until double. Divide into 4 portions. For dinnner rolls, flour the surface and roll a portion into a medium pizza-sized circle. Cut into 16 portions like a pizza and roll from the outside in. Place point down, let rise until triple, Bake at 375 until golden, about 12 minutes.
For sweet rolls, divide dough in half and roll into a long rectangle about 12 inches wide and half an inch thick. Spread with 3 tablespoons soft butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, sugar raisins, or sugar and then orange zest. roll lengthwise, (so it’s long and skinny, not short and fat) and slice into 1 inch slices. Lay slices, half an inch apart on a greased baking sheet or pan, let rise until triple, Bake at 375 until golden, glaze while hot with icing made from powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, dash of salt, and water to make slightly runny.

My Razzleberry Pie (three large pies)

5 cups cold water
3 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cups lemon juice
2 t. vanilla
1 1/3 cups corn starch
2 16 oz (frozen)packages of triple berry blend. (The one I use has blueberries, bosenberries and raspberries)
1 16 oz package of frozen raspberries

Stir all except last package of berries in a large pot until thick. Fold in frozen raspberries until well blended. Cool while you make pie crusts.
Fill crust, top with crust, crimp edges tightly to make a good seal so filling won’t leak, trim excess, decorate with cut bits of dough, (I make holly leaves and berries), Bake 350 until golden (30-40 minutes)

NO (NEVER, NOT EVER) Fail Pie crust.

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup (butter flavor is good) shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vinegar
6 tablespoons of ice water

mix flour, salt and shortening until crumbly, (I use an electric mixer but a wisk (whisk?)will do),
add wet stuff and mix well, (I ususally use my hands). Divide into five balls and roll out between sheets of waxed paper. remove top sheet and lay dough into pan,(wax paper up) making sure the corners are filled. If you have a short edge, you can add a piece from a long spot. Remove
second sheet of waxed paper, leave ragged edges for a two crust pie, trim and crimp for a topless (like pumpkin) pie.

Extra good pumpkin pie

1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can evaporated milk (skim is fine)
2 large eggs,
1 cup BROWN sugar
1 t. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 ginger
1/4 nutmeg
pinch of cloves
(or replace spices with 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice)
Mix well, fill pie crust, bake at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 40-50 minutes until center is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
(I recently served this to guests and they noticed the caramelly undertone of flavor the brown sugar gives. It’s very tasty.)

Thanksgiving Yams and Apples (for Brian)

Bake or pressure cook or microwave 6 medium yams until tender. Peel and slice yams and 6 granny smith or other tart apples, layer yams and apples in a large, lightly greased casserole dish. Over medium heat, cook sauce until thick:
3/4 t. salt
4 T cornstarch
1 cup white or brown sugar
2 cups of water
1/2 cup butter (butter is so much better than margarine in this recipe!)
2 tsp cinnamon.
Pour sauce over yams and apples, try to fill the nooks and crannies, bake at 350 for 30 minutes. MMmmmMMMmmm.

Cheese Marbled Brownies

1 cup softened butter (or inferior margarine)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla (if you have Mexican vanilla, Bless you!)
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups good quality cocoa powder, (I prefer Hershey’s)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 cup chopped nuts if desired.
Mix butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, mixing well, add dry ingredients, spread in greased 9×11 pan. Then mix in order:
1/2 cup softened butter
8 oz softened cream cheese or neufatchel cheese
1/2 cup sugar. (try this recipe with brown sugar after you’ve tried it with the white sugar in the cheese filling)
3 tbls. flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Spoon over brownie batter, swirl with knife to marble, pulling up some of the dark to the top. Smooth, bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until brownie begins to pull away from the pan. Cool, frost if desired. ( I brown two tablespoons of butter, add 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 t. vanilla, thin with a little water (add one tablespoon and then a little at a time if needed to make thick liquid)

Other recipe requests, respond to my blog. These are my “most requested.”

Self Publishing is only for the sturdiest writers!

December 1, 2010

Tempted to Self Publish?

I’m becoming an expert on mistakes.

Today is going to be a busy day, but before I leave again, I’m going to write a five minute blurb to ALL authors or would be authors that are considering self-publishing a book. I have now read quite a few of these undertakings and there are universal pitfalls that will eventually destroy this potential avenue for writers, (in my ever-so-humble opinion)

1. Once the story is written, let it gel for a few weeks before you try to edit or rewrite. The longer the better. The words must lose their familiarity to the author before you can see the strengths and weaknesses.

2. Analyze the plot, characters, diction, and structure, finding as many FAULTS as you can. Then correct them.. You may love a certain part, or character etc, but if the writing is stronger without them, or with their character being more acutely defined, you must do it. If you can’t be harsh with your own story, find someone who can and tell them that is what you want. No pain, no gain. Never suppose that self-publishing is the easier way. It’s quite the opposite because you have fewer professionals helping produce something wonderful.

3. The most common mistake made by very intelligent people is redundancy. Give the reader credit for getting it the first time. If it wasn’t CLEAR the first time, rewrite so it is clear.

4. Rule of thumb: (meaning my left thumb which is half an inch shorter than the right thumb and some people say looks like a toe, but I digress.) My left thumb made up this rule: rewriting should take twice as long as the original creating, be ten times harder and one tenth as enjoyable. Rewriting is why a manuscript is called a “creative WORK”

4. No matter how literate you think you are, get at least three qualified editors to read/correct/make suggestions on your manuscript. I have read several books/manuscripts written by Ph.D.s where there were grammatical errors, misspellings, triteness, obscurity and wearisome redundancy. Just because you’re the smartest person in the room doesn’t mean you can spell. (Take it from ever-so-humble me!)

5. Run a global search for all the forms of the word “there, their and they’re” and make sure they are properly used. Try to identify every homonym you can and double check the spelling. “alter and altar, lose and loose, wench and winch.” If you’re stumped, one of my sons, who shall remain anonymous but whose (or is it who’s?) name starts with a ‘D’ and ends with ‘aniel’ managed to pick the wrong homonym in every instance as he wrote home from Mongolia for two years. He’s the one who’s (or is it whose?) going to BYU on scholarship.

6. Offer your book at the lowest possible price. Self publishing is already a disadvantage and overpricing is a double whammy. The reality of self-publishing is that YOU will be marketing it directly. Use the charts at Createspace to figure a dollar a copy after you pay 40% to a bookstore, plus the cost of production, plus the cost of shipping. You’ll see that already it’s (or is that its) getting expensive.

I wish you the best of luck and the will to work for success in your self-publishing venture!

Prophecy watch

September 7, 2010

In the book of Revelations, hail stones the size of a talent are prophecied. A talent weighed about 76 pounds. . . I saw on Discovery Channel the other day that ice bombs the size of basketballs are falling out of clear skies on calm days. One hit a house in CO and destroyed the kitchen. It came through the roof at about 160 miles per hour. They showed another that hit a car and demolished it. The frequency is increasing but they know the ice is not coming from outer space. It’s forming very, very high but otherwise they can’t explain it. They also ruled out the possibility of aircraft dropping their sewage tanks contents. Interesting eh?
Time for me to get back on the treadmill. I want to be around when the final prophecies are fulfilled.

July 29, 2010

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we spent Independence Day in Philadelphia. It fell on a Sunday this year, of course, and being the first Sunday in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it was fast and testimony meeting. The premise is that everyone comes to the Sacrament Meeting near the end of a 24 hour fast. This way, members are prepared to feel humble and worshipful and grateful.
I was eager for the meeting, since most of the members in my son’s ward are black. It’s always fun to visit wards where the culture is different from what I’m used to. This meeting was not disappointing. The members expressed themselves with great openness. They spoke of their gratitude for Jesus Christ and for the Gospel of repentance.
As I sat listening to a great big black brother, I suddenly got all teary eyed. Here we were, 235 years after Independence was declared and a member of a race that had been terribly oppressed, was expressing his love of Jesus Christ, in a Mormon Church. Nobody harassed him and he had no fear. It’s taken a long time and a great hard struggle, but we are a free people. God has given us so very much.
It strikes me also that I’ve visited all but about 5 states in the nation. There is so much ROOM! Our country is so beautiful and rich and blessed. The oceans on three sides are beautiful and forest and prairie and desert in between are also so lovely, I don’t have adjectives big or bright enough to describe them.
I am recommitted to doing what I can to protect my freedom. I vote of course, but I’m going to be more active in campaigning and tea partying than before. Freedom is a great gift that comes with this beautiful land, and I have a duty to protect it as well as I can.

July 29, 2010
After a great vacation touring the north eastern part of our nation and Canada, (patriots, eat your heart out, we spent the fourth of July in Philadelphia!) we’re home and in the thick of trying to make repairs, updates refurbishing and just plain cleaning. I MUST give a shout out to a great sight called “JustAsk.com” For $9.00 you chat with a professional who guides you through repairs.
When we got home, it was clear that changing the filters for the furnace on the master bedroom side of the house had not affected the function of the air conditioner. I realized that it wasn’t working at all! (I like it warm at night, but not THAT warm). I went out to look at the fan thing on the side of the house and it would buzz once in a while, but the fan didn’t turn. I logged on to “JustAsk.com” and requested a heat and air specialist. He directed me to unscrew a panel on the side and look at something he called an exploded soda can. Sure enough, it was all bulging out the top. He told me that I had a bad ‘capasitor’. I asked him when I could get a new one and he suggested two possible business if they were in our area. One of them was and had the part in stock. I loosened a couple of bracket screws, noted how the wires clipped on, and went and got the part for $23. For about 15 minutes of actual work, I replaced the capasitor.
Now, when someone says their air conditioner isn’t working, I can toss off to check their capasitor to see if it’s bulging. I have NO idea what the part does, but the fun thing is that I don’t need to know. The air conditioner is working great now. I had called an air conditioning tech to come out and he would have charged at house call for $75. and a diagnosis fee of $75, and all that is before parts and labor! I’m not smart enough to know what a capasitor does, but I’m smart enough to save a big fat wad of money!
I also used JustAsk.com to fix my dishwasher. The part that needed to be fixed was much simpler and easier than I had expected. It didn’t require any parts, just a simple fix and few minutes. The best part is that if they can’t help you, you don’t have to pay! I’ve been so tickled that I’ve tipped the guy a few bucks each time.
Now if only I had a way to fix the scratches on my dining room table without stripping the whole thing.
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