DenimDaze

15% off at Harmony House foods - having a stash of commercially dried and sealed in a plastic jug vegetables, freeze dried fruit or precooked beans is a wonderful thing. In everyday life, the 'pantry stuffer' is amazingly convenient. If you happen to be out of celery - no problem! rehydrate some. Recipe call for shallots? or leeks? You've got it covered! I love it. Having a jug of jalapenos has also been convenient for my heat loving teenage sons <g> The free shipping is nice too... 'MOM' is the coupon code.

15% off Honeyville grains April 9-14th, BUNNY is the discount code

This will be another step back to being the Land of the Free! http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/...ts-say-con.html There have been people refusing to fill Birth control scrips because they do not believe in Birth Control. I found this completely unacceptable. If you work in a pharmacy your job is to give me my meds, no matter what your beliefs. Otherwise, you are inflicting your beliefs on me. What is next? not believing in pork? not allowing working during muslim prayer time? Scientology doesn't believe in mental illnesses(I think?) so do they get to not recommend psychiatrists? Are we all obligated to allow a PETA people to not ring up meat purchases in grocery stores? Its a slippery slope, I don't want to go down it at all - and we had been. So I am very happy this is being overturned. It is a very bad precedent.

this one is fantastic:

I now own 3 hand canopeners, 6 p-38 GI can openers and the electric one that is in the basement somewhere...

My knives came and we did some slicing and comparing with my old set. Holy cow! I was cutting paper thin slices of onion effortlessly. I had sort of assumed that doing that needed more training and patience then I posess. I thought 'finely dice' was something my impatience and not-so-great fine muscle control made impossible. My oh my oh my. I am so glad I indulged myself. It was not me, it was my cheap and old knives! However - if you need knives and cannot drop the money for the whole set, consider this: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=224 You can do most things with the paring knife and a big chef's knife. Wusthoff is the best German brand. Japanese knives are also excellent, but I prefer German to Japanese because the German is sturdier. The 'Le Cordon Bleu' line has been discontinued which is why the price is less. This is also true for the Grand Prix and Grand Prix II line, if you prefer them more. There has also been a price drop from the recession, which I am taking advantage of. The listed prices are what the knives where selling for pre recession and pre the line being discontinued. http://reviews.cookingcache.com/wusthof-knives-review.html This is a nice site for reviews - and the site I bought the knives from, Cutlery and More has the best prices for Wusthoff. I spent about 10 hours reserching this and searching for the best prices. If you want to handle the knives, Williams-Sonoma has the Classic and the Ikon line. THe Cordon Bleau is the Ikon blade with the classic handle, pretty much. I couldn't hold the Grand Prix knives, so I cannot say anything about them. I tend to think you can adapt to a handle though, and you'll be willing to for an exceptional blade.

So I have been learning to make everything from scratch in the 15 or so months I have been busting my butt learning to prep. I've learned a lot, perhaps even doubling my knowledge of cooking. I have been using a set of revere knives very similar to this: http://www.builderssquare.com/xp_12073652-...et_FR61107.aspx So Sunday I bought a super nice set, one that will last me the rest of my life. Here they are. http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=14171 Yes, it was a LOT of money. But...for the rest of my life, I will be set. And I worry that I will not be able to do such a purchase in a year or five from now. I think perhaps this set would have been quite good enough: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=10855 Half the price and still a very nice set of knives. I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference between the 2 sets...I am a good cook, but I do not consider myself a chef. I get them tomorrow. We'l see if I send them back for the ones half the price. A good set of knives is very much something I need, but did I need the best of the best?

...to expect to be able to talk news or politics rationally. I will only use this board for food type prepping information from now on. Survivalistboards.com is a far better place for news and discussing just what is going on. The people there are far more polite and accepting of other viewpoints. A fair amount of them think about the news and try to figure out what is going on. Heck, even Zombie Squad is a better news and opinion source. Even a lot of the people posting from the far right think! Wow! I can ask 'What does this mean? What do you think is going on?' and get researched and thought out opinions from all viewpoints. What a nice change!

the latest poll shows about 40% Democrat, 26% unaffiliated 32%Republican. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_con...partisan_trends Not all Democrats are against the 2nd ammendment, not all Republicans are for it. You pick a party that is closest to your viewpoint, or you are independent. If you think for yourself at all, how can any party match your views exactly? A party is not a religion, you should not blindly and faithfully follow all its planks. At least, you shouldn't if you truly understand what Democracy is suposed to be about and you know your American history at all. In a Democracy, sometimes you vote for the 'lesser of two evils'. This does not mean you are obligated to agree with everything about the one you voted for.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/cor...ve_beliefs.html very interesting. The question is, do Conservatives really think like this? They sure managed to get every progressive stance wrong - and in the ususual sneering way I've learned to detest from conservatives. I wonder if I can find the same sort of article from the other viewpoint? this is close, the sneering is no more attractive the other way... patriotism progressive style: no sneering, which is nice.

Social conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes the government has a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. A second meaning of the term social conservativism has developed in the Nordic countries and continental Europe. Here it refers to liberal conservatives supporting modern European welfare states. Social conservatism is distinct from cultural conservatism which focuses on cultural aspects of the issues, such as protecting one's culture, although there are some overlaps. The accepted meaning of traditional morality often differs from group to group within social conservatism. Thus, there are really no policies or positions that could be considered universal among social conservatives. There are, however, a number of principles to which at least a majority of social conservatives adhere. Social conservatives in many countries generally: favor the pro-life position in the abortion controversy and oppose embryonic stem cell research; support the death penalty, promote traditional marriage and the nuclear family model as society's foundational unit; oppose expansion of civil marriage and child adoption rights to couples in homosexual relationships; promote public morality and traditional family values; oppose secularism and privatization of religious belief; support the prohibition of drugs, prostitution and euthanasia; and support the censorship of pornography, obscenity, indecency. That doesn't make it sound too bad, does it? The problem is, Social Conservatives have among their number the nastiest and rudest people it has ever been my misfortune to meet. If you disagree with any of their sacred cows - they show you just how Christian they ARENT. Their tolerance is nonexistant - I do not want such people running anything I have to be a part of. I remember Pat Robertson and his agenda. As we shouldn't allow the second ammendment to be weakened by gun haters, we should not allow social conservatives to work toward legislating morality. I do not want to live in a country run by Social Conservative rules, it would just be a 'Christian' version of Saudi Arabia. Lets keep America the land of free gun owners, 'k?

What's most outrageous is to witness the GOP suddenly gain renewed religion when it comes to fiscal prudence. From 2000-2007, the GOP controlled government spent our money like there was no tomorrow, as shown in this graph: Notice the two rising red lines. The deficit as a % of GDP has risen under Reagan, Bush I and Bush II. It's hard to imagine Republicans becoming any more of a joke. from: http://theangryliberal.blogspot.com/ Obviously Republicans are bad for the country and bad for business. Laughing some more...

I plucked. Then I dyed Now I'm lovin' the gray I'm sure I'll be back to dyeing soon. I need the psychological boost, I have kids to keep up with!

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. George Carlin There it is. Why we need to have the seperation of church and state explained perfectly. Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. George Carlin That would be me. I am disappointed and disillusioned by the Republican party. It is not the party of Reagan or my childhood. Until it quits pushing religion, fear and closed-mindedness I will be a Democrat. Being called a liberal when I'm rather moderate is far better then having anything to do with the horror that is this decade's (or is it the past two decades?) Republican party.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." -- The "godless" Pledge of Allegiance, as it was recited by generations of school children, before Congress inserted a religious phrase, "under God," in 1954.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/con...s_b_164066.html very interesting POV. It agrees with what I have seen the past 4 -8 years too. I think we need a balance of the two politrical positions. If progressives run things too long, you do tend to see too much social progerams and taxes. Too much means that business starts to suffer, which harms us all. Unfortunately, when conservatives run things for too long you get...well, what is happening now as a worst case. A general case of 'the rich get richer and the poor get poorer' tends to apply in milder cases. There was an old rule/saying from my childhood in Massachusetts. 'Let the Republicans run things for two turns then the Democrats for one. The republicans will be busy fixing what the democrats messed up.' I'm sure that isn't quite the quote, but its the gist. I'm wondering if we need to try to do one term each now? Both parties seem to be very good at messing things up.. Of course, the parties were very different 40 years ago. The South was just beginning to be Republican, and the Democratic party was not where all the moderate people fled to, disgusted by the neocons.

I know I own two manual and one electric, which I put away so we could all get used to using manual ones and to save a few pennies of electricity. So when one broke today (and the kids didn't tell me) I should have been fine. I could not find the other manual and the electric is in the completely overcrowded and rather disorganized cellar store room. After ten minutes search and getting very mad at myself for putting the cleaning and organizing off while I search for news on the internet, I gave up. We are having a 'momcoction' for dinner. This time the Mom-coction is basically pasta sauce made with chicken broth instead of tomato because the broth is in a cardboard container. It has sausage, burger, onions, garlic, some spices....and peas. Why not? They are colorful in there anyway. My 13yo son says it looks and smells great, but he will eat anything. It was rather good. What is the Ranger saying? Something like Adapt, Improvise and overcome? I did!

how neat! I have Conservative:the various survival sites Liberal:HuffingtonPost.com Mainstream:CNN.com and MSN.com and now Progressive! alterNet.org given enough POV's I can figure anything out. I sent a thankyou to the guy who posted the link. Survivalistboards.com is a good news site and the people can disagree with you and stay civil! I am reminded why I generally prefer male company to female. They can disagree without hating you and your family too Then there is the New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/index.html I didn't knw that was online! I remember hearing about it before this election and economics forced me to pay close attention to politics. It is informative and complex enough to really make me think. I like it when that happens.

The Dow went below 8,000 for 2 days. The 8k mark is supposed to be a psychological benchmark. From what I wunderstan, this means if the DOW stays under 8k, it will start creeping down toward 7k. This is bad because the stock market is basically money being saved in the expectation a company or a group of companies will do well. So, the DOW and the stockmarket are important to keep an eye on wether or not you have money in it. It tells you what Americans who have money think. There is also an unending stream of bad reports about the economy coming in. This both feeds into the slipping DOW and makes people tighten their spending more. This action feeds back into the reports and the DOW. Around and around we go, where we stop nobody knows...

There is an interesting thread going on in MrsS involving Ladylike behavior. I have known most of my life that 'lady' and 'ladylike' where terms used to control behavior, from what I read on the thread, I am right. I have been saved from most of the conditioning by my pig-headedness and the rather obvious fact that anything a normal man can do, I can too. I am so glad I am tall and strong naturally! There is a different version of Ladylike in the South apparently, but I do not think I can judge it fairly. Historically, a Lady is weak, passive and gets to do nothing I would consider fun. Who needs it? I have taught my children that Lady is the opposite of Man, hopefully keeping them from the negative and resentfull feelings I get when I hear the word. Manners should be the same for both sexes. You should hold the door as a courtesy to anyone and you should give their nutball beliefs the same courtesy you want yours to get. http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/0...ling/index.html this was neat. We owe it all to bicycles? http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/notes/ After reading the article at the bottom, YES I am a feminist. Most women are though we have been taught to only have negative connotations to the word feminist. The women who aren't feminists at least had the right to make the choice not to be. Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullability, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck. Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, December 8, 1822

...rumors of a shortage are a good enough reason to stock up on the item. And if the rumor isn't true, who cares? you have another prep! That is never a bad thing...

you are pleased to find that 5lbs of flour in its store bag fits nicely in a gallon ziplock bag. This will help in stacking and you won't have to write what kind of flour and what the expiration date is on the bag. Its a little extra insurance against breakage too. Who wants to clean up flour? So, there the bag is all ready to go in the freezer for a few days when you find yourself wishing you had a vacuum sealer to get the nasty Oxygen out of the bag....then you realize, you can do it yourself...and that sucking the air out of a ziplock baggie is just not a story to tell ANYONE except MrsS friends. So, You might be a Survivalist if sucking out the excess air you couldn't smoosh out with your hands from a baggie seems a rather clever thing to do.

Yes, this financial situation is not a normal one. I would be tempted, if I didn't already have my 3 months reserve of cash now to charge my groceries until I did have it. This is NOT generally a good idea, of course! But right now? with the unsteady financial system? when you would have the cash onhand to pay off the credit debt if you have to? It is an option to think about. I would really like to have 6 months food. That would get me through the long hard winter we have up here in the North. I have more then 3, but I'm not sure how much more.