Scents that Evoke Memories

The House of Leaves – Burning 3

The smell of burning newspaper and leaves outdoors brings me right back to when I was a little girl watching my grandfather, in France, burn the garden debris in the late afternoons during my summer vacations. I would stand there with him, my tiny hand engulfed by his huge, strong hand. I loved my grandfather so much and I admired him so much as a man. That smell is one of my all time favorites.

Describe the unhealthiest meal you have ever eaten.

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postaday2011

I’ve had so many unhealthy meals in my lifetime from which to choose, that I’m trying to recall a memorable one. I remember one Easter break during elementary school, my best friend and I were about 12 at the time, my mother was working and I was to stay inside with my little sister. My best friend came over and when it came to lunchtime, we decided that we needed to have a feast, courtesy of the corner deli. So we scrounged around in my top drawer, my little sister pitched in her savings, and meanwhile my best friend ran back to her house to check out her piggy bank. All in all we came up with $7.00 dollars and off we went, the three of us to Steve’s delicatessen.

We ordered 3 heroes with turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato and mustard. That wasn’t so unhealthy, it was the rest that accompanied the heroes that made this a crazy junk food feast. We grabbed brownies, the ones that are packaged individually with the nuts on top of the frosting, we then grabbed ring dings, hostess cupcakes, ding dongs, suzy-q’s, powdered donettes, chocolate donettes, and Twinkies. We then systematically went through the chip aisle, grabbing Wise barbecue chips, sour-cream and onion, garlic and onion and my ultimate favorite Wise onion rings. We needed to grab drinks to wash all of this smorgasbord of unhealthiness down. So we grabbed 2 big bottle of diet Pepsi. Believe it or not, all of this food came up to cost just under $7.00 . Of course, we are talking about 30 years ago, but still, $7.00 would buy you one Subway sandwich. Ah, the good old days.

The 3 of us ran back to my house, and we started to pig out. I out-ate both my sister and my best friend, but I suffered the consequences later that afternoon and throughout the whole entire night. I didn’t get sick but I felt like an over-stuffed turkey, I couldn’t move, I could just lay there on my side making sure that my stomach was not constrained in the slightest. It was painful and I vowed to never do it again. I meant that vow until the memory of the discomfort and feeling of illness faded into a dim memory.

“Letter” to the Middle Class: “You Have Every Right to Make Government Work for You”

The biggest challenge for the next good politician is to reverse this disturbing notion that government is inherently inefficien­t, wasteful and bad. The emphasis needs to be redirected to the idea that the government is for the People, by the People and of the People. Our government can only be as good as the people who vote the government in, I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that our democracy is dependent on an educated citizenry well, we have work to do in that regard. Educate our citizens to reject the notion that demanding our rights to expect our government to work for us is fundamenta­lly wrong. We are not parasitic, the corporatio­ns who exist with extensive help from subsidies and tax code loopholes are the parasites. We need to message that idea broadly everywhere in the U.S.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reclaiming Oil Subsidies: Senate Democrats Prepping Bill That Would Recover Billions From Big Firms

I wonder how many campaign contributi­ons Senator Boehner is going to lose for his misstep on oil subsidies? Even if the end of oil subsidies does nothing to lower the price of gas, if all those funds are redirected towards investment in green technology researched here at home, green technologi­es manufactur­ed here at home, I think that will be a huge boon to the economy. We should be chomping at the bit to catch up to the green technology race instead of feeding the old fossil fuel industries­.
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Write about something that you used to believe

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postaday2011

What to write about, Santa? Well, why not? I remember how absolutely beautiful it was to believe in Santa Claus. To believe with all your heart that here was someone so loving and compassionate that you mattered to him even though he didn’t know you. That you were special to him and that your happiness mattered even if only once a year. This feeling comes into stark focus the day that you find out that there is no Santa and you realize that it was your parents all along. The disappointment was great, not because of the presents but because there wasn’t really a special person who personified goodness extraordinaire. It’s only when you become a parent and pick up the gauntlet that you realize just how much your parents loved you when it’s your turn to continue perpetuating the myth of Santa for your own children. The utter joy and excitement on their faces Christmas morning makes you feel nostalgic for that feeling all those years ago. Christmas is always more beautiful when Santa is involved and you see it in the little one’s faces. I think that is why I’ve gotten more intent on physically giving to the poor during the holidays, to keep the special spirit of Santa alive at least in my heart. Everyone needs Santa at least once a year.

McConnell Will Force Vote On Obama Budget In Retaliation For Reid Gambit

How childish, this is reminiscen­t of one-ups man ship in high school. Why are we not hearing anything about the People’s budget? Serious debate would be enriched by comparing the failures of both Ryan’s budget and President Obama’s of addressing the revenue problem of our economy while concentrat­ing solely on cutting programs to the People’s budget which focuses on that very problem of generating revenue by addressing the Bush tax cuts and eliminatin­g them. It also addresses health care costs but not by eviscerati­ng Medicare and Medicaid but rather treating the programs with similar strategies that the Affordable Patient Care Act does. I would then deem that the politician­s are treating our fiscal problems seriously.
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Architecture I Appreciate

Gardens at Versailles

The 9 West 57th Street building, it's my favorite skyscraper in New York Ciity and my husband did some construction management for the building so I was able to visit quite a bit.

The Chateau at Versailles, my parents took my sister and I there for a visit and it is breath taking.

The Lincoln Memorial, it is so beautiful it is humbling. I had the honor of admiring it in person years ago and it made quite an impression.

1Q GDP Slows As Inflation Rises At Fastest Pace In 2.5 Years

I just read the article that jobless claims have increased which surprised the experts so I am going to take this article’s optimism with a good dose of skepticism­. Since the jobs that are coming back, seem to be of the low paying wage variety, I don’t see how the American people can be expected to spend their way out of this endless recession yet again. The increased price of rent, gas and food are taking their toll across the board. I paid bills yesterday and everything has gone up, from Waste Management to propane to electricit­y. D.C. wants to be re-elected­, well they need to address how the American people should make their choices.
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House Republicans Lining Up Sweeping Cuts For Debt Limit Vote

It’s been reported that the CBO has issued an analysis that just by doing nothing and letting the Bush tax cuts the deficits disappear on their own. The powers that be in D.C should be addressing that issue because by not addressing it, they implicitly admit that they are beholden to the lobbyists and not the American people. Why enact painful cuts across the board that affect solely those in the population that have the least power and voice, when, instead you could simply let the tax cuts to those who don’t need them expire? The politician­s are making a gross miscalcula­tion to the stupidity of the American people in general or at least certain segments.
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Swiped: Banks, Merchants And Why Washington Doesn’t Work For You

If someone on capital hill doesn’t focus on jobs anytime soon, the interchang­e debacle will be a moot point because most of us will be too poor to even contemplat­e having a credit card or debit card. Moreover, if this article is not a blaring wake up call that something extreme needs to be done to strangle the hold lobbyists have on D.C., then I don’t know what else will wake people up to the absolute need to cut the lobbyists power off at the knees. As President Obama stated about his birth certificat­e, “we don’t have time for this silliness”­. Congress needs to concentrat­e on getting fair paying JOBS back to this country, they need to produce a simpler, more fair tax code, figure out how to address the runaway costs of higher education, figure out education all together, you get the picture. They have much to focus on and lobbyists are an abusive distractio­n. We can approach this problem from three fronts; eliminatin­g the revolving door between lobby groups and government­, strengthen public campaign financing and overturn Citizens United. Doing that, I believe, would be a huge victory for the average American and level the playing field between our common interests versus those of the corporate world.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost