A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera.

He figured that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit, even though he knew that he was not speeding…

Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now he began to think that this was quite funny, so he drove even slower as he passed the area again, but the traffic camera again flashed.

He tried a fourth time with the same result. He did this a fifth time and was now laughing when the camera flashed as he rolled past, this time at a snail’s pace…

Two weeks later, he got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt.

AP

I got this pic off fox news here

Now I think I’ve heard of almost everything.  There’s a guy who has a business selling services to take care of your pet in the event you are Raptured.  See here for article.  If this guy really believes in the Rapture, then I don’t think he’d plan to hang around for what comes next.  If he doesn’t believe, then he is trying to capitalize on what others believe.  As we near 2012 I think we’ll see more of this stuff.  I think we’ll also start hearing more about aliens from outer space.  In fact, I think some of it will be propagated by our govt to further push their agenda.  How’s that for conspiracy speculation.

Today I’m joining Frugal Friday.

One way I try to be frugal is to take basic ingredients and keep them stocked in my pantry.  Then I try to use them in various forms.  For example, I do not know anyone who eats cream of mushroom soup as a soup, rather it goes into casseroles.  This year I want to learn to do the same think with condensed tomato soup.  Now is a good time to start.  It is soup season and you can get decent deals on condensed soups.  I usually buy a years worth of soups this time of year.  However, I always end up with leftover condensed tomato soup.  I use my cream of mushroom and chicken, but have not gotten creative with the tomato.  I did some research this year and found a few recipes.  I’ve not tried these but wanted to get a game plan before I brought in 100 cans.

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Here are a few ideas with my comments:

I am going to try this in my bread.  I’ve made herb bread using v8, but the next round I will use tomato soup instead of water.  I’ll add herbs and hope it is great.  I quickly searched the internet and did not find any similar that I wanted to try.

Tomato soup cupcakes with cream cheese frosting:  It sounds yucky but I read on and it looks like a spice cake.  I think this is one worth trying.  At least it is very creative.

Marinated Carrot Salad:  again I thought yuck, but there were 9 reviews that were very complimentary.

Tomato soup meatloaf: I use 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce in my meatloaf now.  I could use a can of soup instead and not have the half jar leftover.

Oldfashioned Goulash:  If I make this I’ll have to remain it.  Dave won’t eat anything called “goulash.”

Tomato Soup Cake: this one had a ton of good review.  Where have I been?  I’ve never heard of using tomato soup in cake!

BBQ Spareribs:  I think we’d like this one.  It looks like it would work in the crockpot too.

Chili: last time I made chili I used a couple of cans of manwich.  But using tomato soup might be good too.

Zesty Tomato Pork Chops:  I would have never tried this, but looks good.

Crab and Tomato Soup:  I have several cans of crab I got on sale at Walgreens.  So all I need for this recipe is cream and homemade bread.  I wonder if I could use vit D evap milk I got for free at Krogers instead of cream?  I bet it would work.

Please let me know if you have any tried and true recipes using this ingredient.

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While I was recovering from surgery last Friday, I watched several videos.  One was Return of the Daughters. I highly recommend this video.   My friend told me it might challenge me because it gives a path for our young adult daughters that is counter cultural.  Since I spent 16 plus years in the workforce, many would think I would be shocked by this video.  But the reverse it true.  I think, especially now, we are in an age where daughters need to be protected from the world and prepared for the world.  I am questioning the wisdom of sending our daughters away to college at age 18.  I’ve been thinking this for a while, but this video pretty much summarized my position.

The key is preparing our daughters for the world while they are at home – not making them weak naive young women who haven’t a clue of the world.  I have a doctorate degree, so ‘degrees’ are important to me.  However, we’ve become a society that loves ‘degrees’ but not necessarily education.  What does education really mean?   I am a lawyer, but am learning much more about our constitution and country’s founding in homeschooling than I did in law school.  So degrees do not equal education.  Degrees do not teach you to think.  They do, however, open doors and are still important.

We are trying to balance life learning with formal education.  We push the girls with academics, but want to push only to their capabilities.  And at home I want to push them to think about life.  For example, if you asked my two older girls for a decent price for fresh corn on the cob at the grocery store, they could tell you.  Recently they went to a nursing home with my mom’s church group and they were able to interact with the elderly.  Bethany even played the piano for the group.    Children having the ability to socialize with generations away from theirs is a needed skill in our day and age.   I want them to see the value in serving others and having good manners.

The hard part is not sheltering them so much that they become naive.  We have chosen to allow Bethany to read books that many in our circle would disapprove.  If she asks me a question about life, I give her a very real answer.  For example, she has noticed some of the Houston billboards for the clubs.   Since she asked, I explained exactly what goes on in these establishments.   Finding a balance with protection and preparation is a fine line and one that each family must determine.   If you’ve read my blog for long, you know I have extremely conservative tendencies.  However, we are surprisingly liberal in several areas in which I think religious society has set taboos not set by God.

We are far far far from perfect.  But this is the age to be counter cultural.  When you go down the road less traveled, you make mistakes.  But you don’t have to be perfect to change the world.  Just willing.

This is an inspiring video on couponing.  It does not mention, however, how she gets her coupons.  I spend at least $5 a week on papers in order to get the coupon inserts.  In addition I subscribe to the grocery game.  If she has these added costs, I think the $4 per week is deceiving.  But even if she does have additional costs, she is a remarkable couponer.

it went well.  thanks for all the notes.  short blog b/c only one hand will type

Tomorrow I have carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist.  It has been bugging me for years.   I’m getting it done now b/c it will improve my life.  And as a side note, I don’t want to ask the govt for permission in a few years.  So might as well take care of it now.  It is expensive, but pay now or pay later.  And later it might be worse.

Next I go to the eye doctor and finally get new glasses.  I drive Dave crazy with all the lights on b/c my glasses are too weak.  When you’re a mom, you get everyone else to the doctor but just patch over your stuff and move on.

I’m getting a post ready for Frugal Friday.  I experimented with homemade frozen cookie dough and am excited about the results.  I’m also really considering you tube cooking videos.   Maybe I can give Foodnetwork a run for their money!  That would be fun.

I used to be a food network junkie.  I recorded several shows and really enjoyed watching wonderful meals be prepared.  The last couple of years, however, I’ve almost stopped.  Looking back it was not a conscious decision but an evolution.  Either they changed or I changed.  I’m not sure and will let you be the judge.

I think a few years ago, I came away with more practical ideas.  Now it seems many of the shows have ingredients that are not in the frugal kitchen.  And they seem to constantly stress using quality ingredients.  How many times did I hear, use

• high quality extra extra extra virgin oil (real life – only evo if you can taste it)
• imported such / in / such cheese (real life:  kraft cheese you got with a coupon.)
• a rustic bread from your baker (real life:  If you get bread with oats on top, you splurged)
• organic meats (real life:  you shop at 9:30 when the clearance meat is out in abundance)
• wild salmon – not farm raised (real life:  you rarely buy Salmon b/c it is over $2 a pound – catfish is the fish of choice)
• fancy greens (like arugula) – (real life – your grocery store only sells romaine, butter, green & red leaf and iceburg)
• creme fresh instead of sour cream (real life – even I have never purchased creme fresh)
• fresh herbs (real life – only if you get them from your back yard)
• special salt from such / such sea (real life – special salt is mortons over the generic brand)
• real organic butter – (real life – a box 79 cent imperial margarine for baking and real butter saved for spreading on bread)
• eggs that you picked up from an organic farm (real life:  what ever is cheapest at the grocery store)
• chocolate imported from mars (real life:  getting nestle choc chips instead of the store brand )

If you’ve watched this network for long, then you know what I”m talking about.  One time I watched one of the guy chefs (not bobby flay but the one that looks like him)  make chicken broth.  He roasted an organic chicken, then boiled it.  After he was finished, he tossed the chicken.   I was yelling at the TV like guys do when watching a football game.   I do not know anyone who uses a whole chicken to make broth and then tosses the meat.  We roast a chicken, eat the chicken and then boil the bones for broth.

I’ve also noticed a political theme starting to run in their shows.  I have not enjoyed a Paula Deen show after she had on Jimmy Carter.  I have no problem watching a cooking show with a past President.  I’d even watch one with Michele and Obamma.  I respect the office.  But when Paula started drooling and expressing what a great man and how he had done wonderful things… again I’m yelling at the TV.  If I want to watch political spin, I’ll turn to CNN.

Then we have the social agenda.  I don’t mind watching non-traditonal family folks celebrating life together.  Some of my favorite neighbors choose lifestyles that don’t line up with mine.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love hanging out with them.   What I do hate is when it is put in a TV show with a social agenda.  When I watch Barefoot Contessa, it doesn’t bother me because she has a couple of guys over.  If my kids are in the room, it is not something that draws their attention.  However, their cake decorating show did a wedding cake.  The girls love making cakes so we were watching this.  And wouldn’t you know, it was two girls getting married.

Another reason I watched was for the quick fix and make ahead shows.  I really like Robin Miller.  But them more I watched, the more I saw how expensive it was to make these dishes.  For example, when she makes shrimp – it is jumbo shrimp prepared by the fish shop.  When I make shrimp, I got it at a rock bottom price which means it is smaller, with shell and frozen.  I have to defrost and prepare the shrimp.  So it is not a quick fix without the extra cost.  Quick fix can be really easy when you have no budget.

And let’s talk about cleavage for a minute.  I don’t watch a cooking show to see Giada’s breasts.  It grosses me out.  When ever she turns on a blender they zoom right into where she flips on the blender switch, which is about right around her chest area.  Yes, I know this is an accident.  I love her recipes, but am over the skimpy shirts that go down to her naval.

And I used to love Nagela Lawson.  This past weekend I watched her making chocolate dishes.  With all my bags of chocolate from the Kroger Mega Sale, I curled up ready to be educated on wonderful chocolate dishes.  The whole show was sexual innuendos.  It was over the top.  It was so distracting from what I was there to learn.  I love her accent and her cooking, but I don’t know if I can watch her again.

I wish there was a really good show that used frugal ingredients and stuck with cooking.  Food can be entertaining on its own – we don’t need the extra stuff.  But what they’re doing must drive up ratings.  Maybe I’ll start youtube videos one day.  Cooking with Kris.  We’d have to learn how to use our video camera first – now that is a whole store in itself.