"Just Me"
July 31, 2010
Lemon Merigue Cupcakes
Saturday, July 31, 2010 | 
Posted by
Anonymous
Ingredients
Makes 24- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 3 tablespoons), plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Lemon Curd
- Seven-Minute Frosting
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until just combined after each.
- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
- To finish, spread 1 tablespoon lemon curd onto middle of each cupcake. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large open-star tip (Ateco #828 or Wilton #8B) with frosting. Pipe frosting onto each cupcake, swirling tip slightly and releasing as you pull up to form a peak. Hold a small kitchen torch 3 to 4 inches from surface of frosting, and wave it back and forth until frosting is lightly browned all over. Serve immediately.
- One thing I did different, was instead of just laying the lemon curd onto the middle of the cupcake, I used the Wilton tip to take a piece out of the center of the cupcake and squeezed lemon curd into the center of the cupcake and out through the top of it. Then I used the same tip to pipe the frosting onto the top of the cupcake and then did the lightly browning the tops with the torch. Delicious!!!!!
Labels:
July 30, 2010
Tornadoes
As I sat here the other day when the storms were all around us, by myself watching the flashing lights of lighting through my skylights and heard the roar, and feet the rumbling of thunder all around me, it brought me back to a day in my life I will never forget!
It's a day back in 1976 while I was with child and had 3-3year old children to watch over and protect, Mine!
If not for the days events, my life could have turned out much different and to think even today how bad it could have been, I thank God for getting us through it.
I had triplets and was with child as I said, and my house wasn't always picture perfect and my husband had a bit of O.C.D, and therefore couldn't handle when the house was not in order. Needless to say, children have toys and in this house, they had one room that went from the front of the house to the back of the house and in my estimation, was pretty orderly considering triplets and all their toys.
But anytime I was angry for being called out on something, I cleaned.. I'm sure my husband knew this and pushed my buttons, but it was what I did anyway. So if not for that little tiny thing of my buttons being pushed, I would not have been cleaning all day and doing laundry just to satisfy my anger, not please him. The children would have been playing in that room that had a huge glass window in the front and a huge glass window in the back. They would have been taking their naps later, and on and on and on.
I happened not to want company from my mom that day because I was too busy cleaning and being angry. When I think that we also would have been spending time sitting in front of the windows where the children played in that playroom.
As the rumbling began to get louder and stranger as the storms were pressing on through the day, my sister called and said she was sick and was coming home from work and she would be walking to my home which was just down the street from where she worked. Midway Manufacturing was the name of the place. She said my mom could just pick her up at my house. My sister showed up and so did my mom. They stayed for a short while and while sitting chatting for a few minutes we were discussing the fact that storms were quieting down a bit strangely and maybe they might stop and yet we were seeing very dark clouds in the distance. My mom and sister just wanted to get home fast just in case they started up again.
When they left, I proceeded to take some laundry that I had just finished upstairs and also to let the children out from behind their gates because they had awakened. I was folding some sheets, when I noticed that the sky was an eery shade of green, and that the rumbling was getting so loud that it sounded like the jet planes that went over my house on a daily basis. Then without warning my front door crashed opened, I knew something was very bad because it was dead bolted! In those days, there were no warning, no signals, no sirens in the towns to warn you of bad things coming but that would also change because of the many tornadoes that struck so many un-suspecting towns that year! "1976"
I gathered up my children hoping I could make it down the stairway and into the closet under the stairs but I had heard crashing and glass breaking and because I was folding sheets, I had one in my hands and as I started to see that there was no way to get down the stairs, so I tied my babies to me and the railing of the stairs. If we were going, we were going together! My children were crying and scared and all I could do for them was keep their little heads and backs protected with my body. I kept telling them that mommy won't let anything happen to them and we will all be all right, it's just a nasty storm. "It's okay, my loves, it's okay" The crashing glass, the moaning sounds of the walls was horrific and my heart was beating a 1,000 beats a minute, or at least it felt like that. In what seemed like hours but in actuality was only minutes, the horrific sounds stopped, the crashing ceased and even the lightning and thunder stopped too.
I started to try and untie us from the railing but my hands were shaking so badly I could hardly stop them long enough to get hold of the sheet! My children were still sobbing and shaking too and I can't even imagine the terror that was in their hearts at that moment, but little did I know, that it would show it's ugly head for two years to follow in their night terrors.
I finally was able to untie us and started down the stairs. I came to the bottom and was horrified at the site!
Trees in my living room, through the roof and into the wall. A lamp that was in front of the window had embedded itself across the room into the opposite wall. The room where my children would have been playing, had all their little animals sitting on chairs riddled with glass from the windows all being broken. The wall on that room had also blown out partially and bowed at least 4 feet away from the foundation and the upstairs floor where the children and I had been folding the laundry, was halfway down into that playroom!
My children didn't have shoes on and neither did I, but as I looked at their tiny little shoes that were lined up on a shelf at the bottom of the stairs, all I could see was that they were filled with glass and I couldn't put them on them. I made them sit for one moment on the steps and promised I'd be right back because I had to find shoes so that I could carry them out of the house. They actually listened to me because I think they were too frightened not to. As I was trying to get through to my utility room to find another pair of shoes that might not have glass in them because they were in a closet, I noticed the havoc the storm had caused. I noticed our car that was crushed by the garage collapsing and thought to myself, how am I going to get my babies from this house in case it's ready to collapse? Just as I was thinking this, I heard voices from someone yelling "are you okay, are you okay in there?" I quickly answered and told them I needed help to get all my babies out of this house. It was March 12, and it was pretty chilly out too and I was still searching to find something to wrap my babies in that didn't have glass in it. There were live wires dancing in the street and the neighbors that were there to help were two young girls that had watched the tornadoes touch down from their home on the corner. We couldn't open the screen door to get the children out, because Christmas lights that were still on the house from Christmas, and were now intertwined into the frame of the door and the door itself and it wouldn't budge. I started handing my children one by one out the opening of the door that was left from all the broken glass. Perfect strangers I thought to myself, I'm handing perfect strangers my angels, but I had no other choice because I couldn't get out any other way. We walked very carefully through the debris and fallen trees and metal everywhere to get to the corner and safely into their home so I could try and get a call out to someone in my family to come and rescue us, to no avail because the phones weren't working but because it hadn't been but a half hour or so since my mom had left my house and the news on her TV at home was saying that Midway Manufacturing was devastated and a wall had collapsed on several people, my mom knew instinctively that something terrible had happened in my neighborhood and thank God my sister had been sick that afternoon and came home at lunchtime. I kept watching out the window in hopes that I would see someone I knew and then my moms car appeared and the girls that had helped my children and myself out of the house ran out and tried to stop them to tell them that we were safe and were in their home. My mom was crying frantically and my sister had already jumped out of the car to run down the street because it was impassible, screaming frantically our names with the thoughts in her head of seeing that something had indeed destroyed our home she just couldn't believe her eyes.
It's sad when you think back now, because my sister too would have been killed possibly because she worked right where the wall came down at Midway Manufacturing and killed at least two people that I remember. Chain of events!
To tell you the truth, the phenomena of the tornado and it's capabilities is really something because you can not believe the strange things that a tornado is capable of at all.
When I think of the strange things it did as I surveyed the damage better on the next day, I was amazed at it's power. The girls who helped me with my children said that it was a double twister that day and the company that saw how my house had shifted off it's foundation said it looks like we were hit in two corners of the house as if it was hit by two tornadoes and ironically the girls who helped me that day said that too.
Bricks and mortar, wood and shingles can all be replaced, but people can't! I am glad my chain of events for that day turned out the way it did because I could never replace my family and that was the most important thing in the world to me, and isn't it to all of us?!
By:
If not for the days events, my life could have turned out much different and to think even today how bad it could have been, I thank God for getting us through it.
I had triplets and was with child as I said, and my house wasn't always picture perfect and my husband had a bit of O.C.D, and therefore couldn't handle when the house was not in order. Needless to say, children have toys and in this house, they had one room that went from the front of the house to the back of the house and in my estimation, was pretty orderly considering triplets and all their toys.
But anytime I was angry for being called out on something, I cleaned.. I'm sure my husband knew this and pushed my buttons, but it was what I did anyway. So if not for that little tiny thing of my buttons being pushed, I would not have been cleaning all day and doing laundry just to satisfy my anger, not please him. The children would have been playing in that room that had a huge glass window in the front and a huge glass window in the back. They would have been taking their naps later, and on and on and on.
I happened not to want company from my mom that day because I was too busy cleaning and being angry. When I think that we also would have been spending time sitting in front of the windows where the children played in that playroom.
As the rumbling began to get louder and stranger as the storms were pressing on through the day, my sister called and said she was sick and was coming home from work and she would be walking to my home which was just down the street from where she worked. Midway Manufacturing was the name of the place. She said my mom could just pick her up at my house. My sister showed up and so did my mom. They stayed for a short while and while sitting chatting for a few minutes we were discussing the fact that storms were quieting down a bit strangely and maybe they might stop and yet we were seeing very dark clouds in the distance. My mom and sister just wanted to get home fast just in case they started up again.
When they left, I proceeded to take some laundry that I had just finished upstairs and also to let the children out from behind their gates because they had awakened. I was folding some sheets, when I noticed that the sky was an eery shade of green, and that the rumbling was getting so loud that it sounded like the jet planes that went over my house on a daily basis. Then without warning my front door crashed opened, I knew something was very bad because it was dead bolted! In those days, there were no warning, no signals, no sirens in the towns to warn you of bad things coming but that would also change because of the many tornadoes that struck so many un-suspecting towns that year! "1976"
I gathered up my children hoping I could make it down the stairway and into the closet under the stairs but I had heard crashing and glass breaking and because I was folding sheets, I had one in my hands and as I started to see that there was no way to get down the stairs, so I tied my babies to me and the railing of the stairs. If we were going, we were going together! My children were crying and scared and all I could do for them was keep their little heads and backs protected with my body. I kept telling them that mommy won't let anything happen to them and we will all be all right, it's just a nasty storm. "It's okay, my loves, it's okay" The crashing glass, the moaning sounds of the walls was horrific and my heart was beating a 1,000 beats a minute, or at least it felt like that. In what seemed like hours but in actuality was only minutes, the horrific sounds stopped, the crashing ceased and even the lightning and thunder stopped too.
I started to try and untie us from the railing but my hands were shaking so badly I could hardly stop them long enough to get hold of the sheet! My children were still sobbing and shaking too and I can't even imagine the terror that was in their hearts at that moment, but little did I know, that it would show it's ugly head for two years to follow in their night terrors.
I finally was able to untie us and started down the stairs. I came to the bottom and was horrified at the site!
Trees in my living room, through the roof and into the wall. A lamp that was in front of the window had embedded itself across the room into the opposite wall. The room where my children would have been playing, had all their little animals sitting on chairs riddled with glass from the windows all being broken. The wall on that room had also blown out partially and bowed at least 4 feet away from the foundation and the upstairs floor where the children and I had been folding the laundry, was halfway down into that playroom!
My children didn't have shoes on and neither did I, but as I looked at their tiny little shoes that were lined up on a shelf at the bottom of the stairs, all I could see was that they were filled with glass and I couldn't put them on them. I made them sit for one moment on the steps and promised I'd be right back because I had to find shoes so that I could carry them out of the house. They actually listened to me because I think they were too frightened not to. As I was trying to get through to my utility room to find another pair of shoes that might not have glass in them because they were in a closet, I noticed the havoc the storm had caused. I noticed our car that was crushed by the garage collapsing and thought to myself, how am I going to get my babies from this house in case it's ready to collapse? Just as I was thinking this, I heard voices from someone yelling "are you okay, are you okay in there?" I quickly answered and told them I needed help to get all my babies out of this house. It was March 12, and it was pretty chilly out too and I was still searching to find something to wrap my babies in that didn't have glass in it. There were live wires dancing in the street and the neighbors that were there to help were two young girls that had watched the tornadoes touch down from their home on the corner. We couldn't open the screen door to get the children out, because Christmas lights that were still on the house from Christmas, and were now intertwined into the frame of the door and the door itself and it wouldn't budge. I started handing my children one by one out the opening of the door that was left from all the broken glass. Perfect strangers I thought to myself, I'm handing perfect strangers my angels, but I had no other choice because I couldn't get out any other way. We walked very carefully through the debris and fallen trees and metal everywhere to get to the corner and safely into their home so I could try and get a call out to someone in my family to come and rescue us, to no avail because the phones weren't working but because it hadn't been but a half hour or so since my mom had left my house and the news on her TV at home was saying that Midway Manufacturing was devastated and a wall had collapsed on several people, my mom knew instinctively that something terrible had happened in my neighborhood and thank God my sister had been sick that afternoon and came home at lunchtime. I kept watching out the window in hopes that I would see someone I knew and then my moms car appeared and the girls that had helped my children and myself out of the house ran out and tried to stop them to tell them that we were safe and were in their home. My mom was crying frantically and my sister had already jumped out of the car to run down the street because it was impassible, screaming frantically our names with the thoughts in her head of seeing that something had indeed destroyed our home she just couldn't believe her eyes.
It's sad when you think back now, because my sister too would have been killed possibly because she worked right where the wall came down at Midway Manufacturing and killed at least two people that I remember. Chain of events!
To tell you the truth, the phenomena of the tornado and it's capabilities is really something because you can not believe the strange things that a tornado is capable of at all.
When I think of the strange things it did as I surveyed the damage better on the next day, I was amazed at it's power. The girls who helped me with my children said that it was a double twister that day and the company that saw how my house had shifted off it's foundation said it looks like we were hit in two corners of the house as if it was hit by two tornadoes and ironically the girls who helped me that day said that too.
Bricks and mortar, wood and shingles can all be replaced, but people can't! I am glad my chain of events for that day turned out the way it did because I could never replace my family and that was the most important thing in the world to me, and isn't it to all of us?!
By:
July 25, 2010
Hot air Ballooning
In the meantime, my experience on the tethered one as of July 2, was wonderful. I was able to control the flame to get me up and down and on a seat rather than in a basket! I was only allowed to go up about 100 feet, but for me it was absolutely wonderful!
Later in the day I was to be joined by my best friend and 3 of my grandchildren, so that they could get on the evening flight within a basket but the balloons never could leave the ground because the wind was stronger than 15 miles an hour. I guess it has to be 10 or less for them to take off. Well at least at the Lisle fest that is and I'm not sure about anyone else, but there that is how it was. So of course the kids were disappointed, but safety first. I am glad that I was able to try it out in the wee small hours of the morning and in such a way that it made for a great experience .
The pictures here are from that special day for me because I was able to hop aboard because of a very nice balloonist!
Another great experience to remove from my bucket list, and "I loved it"!!!
July 18, 2010
Italian Fest in Milwaukee
I had a lovely day at the Italian fest in Milwaukee yesterday even though it felt like it was 100 degrees when you sat in the sun for more than 3 minutes!
I think the day was made great because I had a very good friend with me who really goes out of her way to try and please everyone, and she especially is always kind and considerate of others when understanding their perils of life also.
She always takes the time to understand that although I try to do many things on my own, that driving isn't very easy for me and because of that, she goes out of her way to make sure that if I really want to do something special, she'll be there to not only take me, but we'll laugh all the way there,during, and on our trip back. So to that special friend of mine, thank you so very much and know that you are greatly appreciated and Loved!!
This was a man sculpting with sand
and up close, it was pretty amazing!
By:
I think the day was made great because I had a very good friend with me who really goes out of her way to try and please everyone, and she especially is always kind and considerate of others when understanding their perils of life also.
She always takes the time to understand that although I try to do many things on my own, that driving isn't very easy for me and because of that, she goes out of her way to make sure that if I really want to do something special, she'll be there to not only take me, but we'll laugh all the way there,during, and on our trip back. So to that special friend of mine, thank you so very much and know that you are greatly appreciated and Loved!!
This was a man sculpting with sand
and up close, it was pretty amazing!
By:
July 16, 2010
"Wasted"
I listened to a song that's been pretty popular by Carrie Underwood today and although I have heard and loved this song so much, I never stopped to think about it's meaning and how it can affect you and how sometimes it makes you think about what you've wasted in your life?
Have you wasted time starting a family? How about getting your career started? What about not making the time to say I'm sorry? What about staying in a loveless marriage? What about an abusive relationship? What about not saying I Love you to your mom and Dad, sisters and brothers, kids!?? Making the time to be with your friends, relatives? What about never going on vacations because you don't have the time? What about not making the time for simple pleasures in life, like a picnic in the middle of the week, or a train or bus ride just because? How about the times you just didn't even take time for YOU!????
Maybe it's time you give this a little thought and understand that you, your feelings, and time,are very precious things and that if you feel it, you should say it, do it and feel it, as long as it doesn't hurt others.
Be who you are, trust what you feel, take charge of your life!
And always try to remember that when taking charge of the "Who,what,when,where,why and how" in your life, that what you do does affect others even if it's in some small way, but if you live a lie for just the sake of others, you will never be able to truly be the person that maybe you would be if there weren't so many things that keep you stifled or whole in your relationship. You will never be able to give to yourself the right to let your guard down or give 100% to a relationship, and therefore you've just lied to yourself! A marriage or any kind of relationship takes work, trust, compassion, loyalty and honor between someone you love or even just with friends or children. Just remember to judge your feelings with a healthy attitude so that you know you are not making the wrong choices out of selfishness, or a self centered attitude. Make sure that you know what the consequences could be, so that you will not be choosing unwisely or with regrets. Make sure that the choice you are making which could affect your life for a long time is not you blaming others for the choices you have made in your life. Take responsibility for your part in the role you played in it. Own it!
Have you wasted time starting a family? How about getting your career started? What about not making the time to say I'm sorry? What about staying in a loveless marriage? What about an abusive relationship? What about not saying I Love you to your mom and Dad, sisters and brothers, kids!?? Making the time to be with your friends, relatives? What about never going on vacations because you don't have the time? What about not making the time for simple pleasures in life, like a picnic in the middle of the week, or a train or bus ride just because? How about the times you just didn't even take time for YOU!????
Maybe it's time you give this a little thought and understand that you, your feelings, and time,are very precious things and that if you feel it, you should say it, do it and feel it, as long as it doesn't hurt others.
Be who you are, trust what you feel, take charge of your life!
And always try to remember that when taking charge of the "Who,what,when,where,why and how" in your life, that what you do does affect others even if it's in some small way, but if you live a lie for just the sake of others, you will never be able to truly be the person that maybe you would be if there weren't so many things that keep you stifled or whole in your relationship. You will never be able to give to yourself the right to let your guard down or give 100% to a relationship, and therefore you've just lied to yourself! A marriage or any kind of relationship takes work, trust, compassion, loyalty and honor between someone you love or even just with friends or children. Just remember to judge your feelings with a healthy attitude so that you know you are not making the wrong choices out of selfishness, or a self centered attitude. Make sure that you know what the consequences could be, so that you will not be choosing unwisely or with regrets. Make sure that the choice you are making which could affect your life for a long time is not you blaming others for the choices you have made in your life. Take responsibility for your part in the role you played in it. Own it!
Maybe some things are just meant to be and therefore should!
So for all of you young girls,boys,women and men out there that think life will be perfect, think again, and don't just accept things because you feel you must, accept things for how they make you feel, because you and your feelings really do know best! Always take responsibility for your actions and know that the world doesn't revolve completely around you but that you are a very important part of it and you deserve goodness in your life!
Don't wait until you get old to realize that some of your decisions were not good ones just because you didn't take the time to think about them before you acted on them! Make sure that you don't settle for anything less than what makes you feel right.....Sometimes if you do anything less than what is for the good of the whole, you will have those regrets and become defensive,bitter, and a non trusting person of others!
So be true to yourself and your heart and in the end, life will be good to you.
By:
So for all of you young girls,boys,women and men out there that think life will be perfect, think again, and don't just accept things because you feel you must, accept things for how they make you feel, because you and your feelings really do know best! Always take responsibility for your actions and know that the world doesn't revolve completely around you but that you are a very important part of it and you deserve goodness in your life!
Don't wait until you get old to realize that some of your decisions were not good ones just because you didn't take the time to think about them before you acted on them! Make sure that you don't settle for anything less than what makes you feel right.....Sometimes if you do anything less than what is for the good of the whole, you will have those regrets and become defensive,bitter, and a non trusting person of others!
So be true to yourself and your heart and in the end, life will be good to you.
By:
July 10, 2010
Peanuts, to band or not to band!
Put two people in a room one with a peanut allergy and one with a gun. Which of the two is in worse danger? Both are equally dangerous, but with the gun you have the choice not to pull the trigger! With an allergy to peanuts you are at anyone’s mercy, anyone who just opens the shell!
Congress has given Department of Transportation mixed signals on this issue. Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination against those with disabilities by U.S. and foreign air carriers, and The DOT require airlines to accommodate travelers with disabilities unless doing this would cause an “undue burden” or require the airline to “fundamentally alter its services”. But in 1999, when Department of Transportation informed airlines that this applied to peanut allergies, Congress withdrew DOT Department of Transportation funding for any restriction on airline peanut practices. Usually funding restrictions like this last for only one year, but Senator Richard Shelby, the Senator from Alabama responsible for adding this item to DOT's 1999 appropriations bill, worded the restriction to apply to funding “under this Act or any other Act.” DOT has clarified that it realizes that this language means the restriction is still in effect – a move that was praise by two Representatives of Georgia,Sanford Bishop Sanford Bishop and Jim Marshall But there’s another way in which the 1999 funding restriction was unusual: The restriction applies only “until 90 days after submission to the Congress and the Secretary [of Transportation] of a peer-reviewed scientific study that determines that there are severe reactions by passengers to peanuts as a result of contact with very small airborne peanut particles of the kind that passengers might encounter in an aircraft. So, it comes down to whether there’s data about the seriousness of the problem.
As a semi frequent traveler and the grandmother of 12 grand-kids and 7 of them with multiple food allergies, I understand how complicated this type of rule making can be. The “rights” of the peanut allergy sufferer are in direct conflict with the “rights” of the passengers that want to eat peanuts. We have decided to travel on airlines that don’t give snacks rather than to avoid flying all together, but most times we will just go short distances to make sure the kids are safe. This is not always a reasonable option for everyone since it can be very time consuming driving vs. flying.
Then as my grandson’s get older and they will start to entertain the idea of traveling, they can’t reasonably get to far destinations via car. So we choose our airlines carefully, carry multiple Epi-pens, pack their food from home, and we all pray.
It’s a very scary proposition being 35,000 feet in the air over the open ocean, knowing that each Epi-pen is effective for approximately 10-15 minutes. We wiped down the seat, headrest, seat in front of us, window and then one of us acts as his buffer to the food cart.
This is a scary and risky proposition with a 10, 8,7,6,5,4 &3 year olds who can’t always quickly determine their own symptoms.
The problem with peanuts and tree nuts is that they are dry and flaky so can readily become airborne. Their oils are sticky and stubborn so they can endure even through a vigorous scrub with soap and water. Our Clorox wipes are always in our purses, diaper bags and emergency bags!
Some of my grandsons are also allergic to wheat, milk and eggs. Nobody talks about banning them because they don’t have the above mentioned properties of peanuts and tree nuts. But with one of my grandsons, his wheat allergy is so severe that his mom fears for his life every single time he is around any other children that even have a sandwich, so for her, travel is out of the question. One of my grandsons was allowed to try lunch at school just to try to let him have a normal life, and the first Friday that they had this egg sandwich day at school just because he was sitting at the table where others were eating this sandwich and touching the table, and he would touch it afterwards, the reaction was so severe that almost a week later he was still having reactions. Luckily when he told his teacher that his throat feels like he can’t swallow, she called his mom immediately (because they are all aware of his allergies) and she not only had to rush to school to pick him up, but she had to keep him on Benadryl for two weeks to get it out of his system and that was just from being at the same table. Somehow, it’s chemical factors were airborne and left residue. Imagine if he had ingested it?
He now has to sit at his own table by himself or with another child who has the same allergies as him. He does go home for lunch now on the egg day.
Traveling the world is an invigorating and enlightening experience that many would argue is as important as the structured education that we experience from 12-16+ years. Many people have to travel for work and others are required to relocate to keep their employment, then back to the question of your rights or mine, I prefer to live in an educated, enlightened, fulfilled, and respectful society.
If my donut is going to set off your diabetes, I will gladly forgo the donut for six, twelve or even twenty four hours. I can live without it even if I don’t know you!
Everyone can live without peanuts and tree nuts. So let’s be reasonable and let all safely travel. Ban the nuts and see how many more families get on board. Airline revenues will probably go up and that’s a good thing.
I’ve flown only once with my grandson who has severe peanut allergies, and as they started to pass out the peanuts I asked the young man sitting next to me if he would please just refrain from even accepting them or opening that bag of peanuts while my grandson is sitting here and he obliged me once I explained why.
Please go to; http://www.FoodAllergiesToGo.com for my more airline specific opinions regarding food allergies and food allergy friendly restaurants in many corners of the world.
So next time, before you decide to open that bag of peanuts, try to think which is more dangerous, a gun or a peanut, and please think again!
By:
Jan
Congress has given Department of Transportation mixed signals on this issue. Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination against those with disabilities by U.S. and foreign air carriers, and The DOT require airlines to accommodate travelers with disabilities unless doing this would cause an “undue burden” or require the airline to “fundamentally alter its services”. But in 1999, when Department of Transportation informed airlines that this applied to peanut allergies, Congress withdrew DOT Department of Transportation funding for any restriction on airline peanut practices. Usually funding restrictions like this last for only one year, but Senator Richard Shelby, the Senator from Alabama responsible for adding this item to DOT's 1999 appropriations bill, worded the restriction to apply to funding “under this Act or any other Act.” DOT has clarified that it realizes that this language means the restriction is still in effect – a move that was praise by two Representatives of Georgia,Sanford Bishop Sanford Bishop and Jim Marshall But there’s another way in which the 1999 funding restriction was unusual: The restriction applies only “until 90 days after submission to the Congress and the Secretary [of Transportation] of a peer-reviewed scientific study that determines that there are severe reactions by passengers to peanuts as a result of contact with very small airborne peanut particles of the kind that passengers might encounter in an aircraft. So, it comes down to whether there’s data about the seriousness of the problem.
As a semi frequent traveler and the grandmother of 12 grand-kids and 7 of them with multiple food allergies, I understand how complicated this type of rule making can be. The “rights” of the peanut allergy sufferer are in direct conflict with the “rights” of the passengers that want to eat peanuts. We have decided to travel on airlines that don’t give snacks rather than to avoid flying all together, but most times we will just go short distances to make sure the kids are safe. This is not always a reasonable option for everyone since it can be very time consuming driving vs. flying.
Then as my grandson’s get older and they will start to entertain the idea of traveling, they can’t reasonably get to far destinations via car. So we choose our airlines carefully, carry multiple Epi-pens, pack their food from home, and we all pray.
It’s a very scary proposition being 35,000 feet in the air over the open ocean, knowing that each Epi-pen is effective for approximately 10-15 minutes. We wiped down the seat, headrest, seat in front of us, window and then one of us acts as his buffer to the food cart.
This is a scary and risky proposition with a 10, 8,7,6,5,4 &3 year olds who can’t always quickly determine their own symptoms.
The problem with peanuts and tree nuts is that they are dry and flaky so can readily become airborne. Their oils are sticky and stubborn so they can endure even through a vigorous scrub with soap and water. Our Clorox wipes are always in our purses, diaper bags and emergency bags!
Some of my grandsons are also allergic to wheat, milk and eggs. Nobody talks about banning them because they don’t have the above mentioned properties of peanuts and tree nuts. But with one of my grandsons, his wheat allergy is so severe that his mom fears for his life every single time he is around any other children that even have a sandwich, so for her, travel is out of the question. One of my grandsons was allowed to try lunch at school just to try to let him have a normal life, and the first Friday that they had this egg sandwich day at school just because he was sitting at the table where others were eating this sandwich and touching the table, and he would touch it afterwards, the reaction was so severe that almost a week later he was still having reactions. Luckily when he told his teacher that his throat feels like he can’t swallow, she called his mom immediately (because they are all aware of his allergies) and she not only had to rush to school to pick him up, but she had to keep him on Benadryl for two weeks to get it out of his system and that was just from being at the same table. Somehow, it’s chemical factors were airborne and left residue. Imagine if he had ingested it?
He now has to sit at his own table by himself or with another child who has the same allergies as him. He does go home for lunch now on the egg day.
Traveling the world is an invigorating and enlightening experience that many would argue is as important as the structured education that we experience from 12-16+ years. Many people have to travel for work and others are required to relocate to keep their employment, then back to the question of your rights or mine, I prefer to live in an educated, enlightened, fulfilled, and respectful society.
If my donut is going to set off your diabetes, I will gladly forgo the donut for six, twelve or even twenty four hours. I can live without it even if I don’t know you!
Everyone can live without peanuts and tree nuts. So let’s be reasonable and let all safely travel. Ban the nuts and see how many more families get on board. Airline revenues will probably go up and that’s a good thing.
I’ve flown only once with my grandson who has severe peanut allergies, and as they started to pass out the peanuts I asked the young man sitting next to me if he would please just refrain from even accepting them or opening that bag of peanuts while my grandson is sitting here and he obliged me once I explained why.
Please go to; http://www.FoodAllergiesToGo.com for my more airline specific opinions regarding food allergies and food allergy friendly restaurants in many corners of the world.
So next time, before you decide to open that bag of peanuts, try to think which is more dangerous, a gun or a peanut, and please think again!
By:
Jan
July 6, 2010
Dolce ads
Check out the new ads for Dolce and Gabbana featuring Madonna! She looks great and I love the old Italian style pictures.
July 5, 2010
"The Taste of Chicago"
I have loads of pictures for this outing, but I am trying to figure out how to load them. In the meatime, here's a wonderful day I shared with some of my children and grandchildren.
I haven't been to the Buckingham fountain since I was a kid and my parents would go for rides every weekend.
My dad never got lost no matter where you took him. No matter where you wanted to ride, he knew where he was going and how to get there and home.
Seeing the fountain brought back that instant flashback and when it came to my childhood, that was a nice flashback!
The taste was made special because of the company I went with. My two daughter in laws that are just like very special friends and 6 of my twelve grandchildren (5 boys and 1-15 month old little girl) Three children in strollers and 3 running around looking at everything. I don't know what the bigger kids (12, 10, & 8 ) thought or expected it to be, but we had a great time exploring with them and begging them to try everything we were trying. Not all cooperated. As far as us adults were concerned, we were only going to try things that were different so that we could experience what this was all about. Some good things and some not so good. We bought the tasters portions which was a pretty good choice because this way we got to taste without being too full. When I and the children pooped out later in the day, we sat in the open park area where the bands were going to play and the kids could run and climb and be silly. The 2 moms ran off to get ice cream for them but it was all the way on the opposite side of the park where we were now. Yes, you guessed it, they came back holding 6 ice cream cones dripping all down their arms but they were laughing and having a great time. Stories to be told just about their walks or partial runs back too.
The kids were excited just to see they got exactly what they wanted in spite of the dripping cones.
The children were adventurous when it came to the family park that had things to do for the children including the grossness of having a tarantella, a millipede, and a giant Asian cockroach walk on their hands. My one daughter in law tried all three of them and the boys tried only the tarantella. You go girl, but not for me!
All I can say is "What a blast" I wish I had the strength I once had, but for me, I did okay for myself.
After leaving the park, we walked over to see the bean which the kids including the little ones were let loose to run and run and run. They laid under the bean to look above them and see their reflections and even the baby piled on top of all of them when they decided to have a pileup under the bean as well. Lots of laughter from all of us. On to the water fall with the faces on it that keep changing expressions and once in a while squirt water out of their mouths and the children standing under it. The children just ran, laughed and played in the water.
The place where they have the ice skating ring in the winter is where they have a wonderful outdoor cafe during the summer and it looks fabulous! Maybe someday we'll get to try it.
So experiencing all this today was wonderful, and all we adults can hope for is that the children will remember and share in our memories of it one day as a very happy one.
I as a grandmother, am a very happy one and I am blessed that I am allowed to share in the making of so many of the memories of my children and grandchildren. Sometimes this doesn't happen because of petty little things between in-laws, when it should just be about the joy that grandchildren bring to the hearts and mind of grandparents, and how the grandchildren just love them and the grandparents love them back!
I can hardly wait for another adventure!
By:
I haven't been to the Buckingham fountain since I was a kid and my parents would go for rides every weekend.
My dad never got lost no matter where you took him. No matter where you wanted to ride, he knew where he was going and how to get there and home.
Seeing the fountain brought back that instant flashback and when it came to my childhood, that was a nice flashback!
The taste was made special because of the company I went with. My two daughter in laws that are just like very special friends and 6 of my twelve grandchildren (5 boys and 1-15 month old little girl) Three children in strollers and 3 running around looking at everything. I don't know what the bigger kids (12, 10, & 8 ) thought or expected it to be, but we had a great time exploring with them and begging them to try everything we were trying. Not all cooperated. As far as us adults were concerned, we were only going to try things that were different so that we could experience what this was all about. Some good things and some not so good. We bought the tasters portions which was a pretty good choice because this way we got to taste without being too full. When I and the children pooped out later in the day, we sat in the open park area where the bands were going to play and the kids could run and climb and be silly. The 2 moms ran off to get ice cream for them but it was all the way on the opposite side of the park where we were now. Yes, you guessed it, they came back holding 6 ice cream cones dripping all down their arms but they were laughing and having a great time. Stories to be told just about their walks or partial runs back too.
The kids were excited just to see they got exactly what they wanted in spite of the dripping cones.
The children were adventurous when it came to the family park that had things to do for the children including the grossness of having a tarantella, a millipede, and a giant Asian cockroach walk on their hands. My one daughter in law tried all three of them and the boys tried only the tarantella. You go girl, but not for me!
All I can say is "What a blast" I wish I had the strength I once had, but for me, I did okay for myself.
After leaving the park, we walked over to see the bean which the kids including the little ones were let loose to run and run and run. They laid under the bean to look above them and see their reflections and even the baby piled on top of all of them when they decided to have a pileup under the bean as well. Lots of laughter from all of us. On to the water fall with the faces on it that keep changing expressions and once in a while squirt water out of their mouths and the children standing under it. The children just ran, laughed and played in the water.
The place where they have the ice skating ring in the winter is where they have a wonderful outdoor cafe during the summer and it looks fabulous! Maybe someday we'll get to try it.
So experiencing all this today was wonderful, and all we adults can hope for is that the children will remember and share in our memories of it one day as a very happy one.
I as a grandmother, am a very happy one and I am blessed that I am allowed to share in the making of so many of the memories of my children and grandchildren. Sometimes this doesn't happen because of petty little things between in-laws, when it should just be about the joy that grandchildren bring to the hearts and mind of grandparents, and how the grandchildren just love them and the grandparents love them back!
I can hardly wait for another adventure!
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