Picture Collection #4

Stephen & his new and improved Boar's Nest retreat. No more wet ammo!!!

New screen saver

The 90's seems so long ago.

[/sarcasm] Yep, putting America back to work. [sarcasm]

 

Curiosity Rover images of Earthrise.

Link to article ... Earth is the lowest "dot".

 

 

 

 

 

Space Shuttle Cockpit

For my brother...here's a new screensaver for you. Van Gogh style

Election Prediction

I've gone out on a limb a few times since I've started this blog, and I'm gonna go out on it again. I am predicting that President Obama will win a second term. I know that this is an unpopular position to take, especially in the blogging world.

Here is my reasoning:

1. Population of USA:  311,591,917 . Which we will round up to 312 million.

2. "During the 2008 presidential election, there were 132,645,504" people that voted. I'm going to round it up to 133 million people.

3. SNAP ( Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ) / WIC recipients will likely vote for their master. If someone is "giving" you money, are you going to vote for someone that wants to take it away? I don't think so.

***3A. "As of August 2011, 45.8 million persons were participating in SNAP."
             This is 14.679% of the US population.
***3B.  "9.17 million people who received WIC benefits each month in FY 2010"
             I believe that this number is even higher now, considering the current economic conditions.
             This is 2.93% of the US population. Most of these recipients are children, but I'm sure that the parents will remember where their food is coming from.

"In 2010, the average SNAP client received a monthly benefit of $133.79, and the average household received $289.61 monthly."

This equals roughly around 17.6 % of the Total USA population. This number will carry over to the percent of  people that vote. The voter apathy of the poor can be negated by liberals, if not more.

4. I will also make the assumption that registered voters will continue to vote along their party lines. Which leaves just the independent voter as the most courted group of voters.

"169 million registered - 86 million Democrat- 55 million Republican - 28 million others registered."

Even if Romney captures all 28 million Independent votes, he is still 3 million voters short, and this doesn't take into account ethnicity nor food stamp recipients in item #3

5. Cash, yes cash. We also need to look at who has how much.It is currently reported that Romney has $60 Million more than  Obama.

6. The Liberal Media will pick and choose what news is "worthy" to report. Obama has the advantage.

7. The incumbent usually wins.

 "There have been 31 presidential elections in which a sitting president has run for re-election. (This includes Franklin Roosevelt running for this 3rd and 4th terms) Of those 31, the incumbent won 21 times. That is a reelection rate of 67.7%"

8. The economy will also be a factor this year, like every election year.  I think that the economy has been bad for so long, coupled with the American attention span, that any small good news will greatly benefit Obama. The price of gasoline and the pocketbook of Americans has always been closely related, and the recession/depression is keeping the price of oil down.

9. Point two about the economy. Around 80% of Mitt Romney's contributions are from large individual contributions and the top five campaign financiers are the banking/stock industry. The economic climate does not favor the silver-spoon-in-the-mouth candidates. Mitt will try to distance himself from the rich, but the harder he tries the more obvious it is.

	Small Indiv. Contrib. Large Indiv. Contrib.	$37,310,424 $156,626,329
Total Individual contributions		$192,355,237

10. Obama's campaign contributions are about 40% from small individual contributions. These people are invested in the Obama campaign. If you are invested, you're going to vote for them.

	Small Indiv Contrib. Large Indiv. Contrib.	$137,921,783 $213,696,880
Total Individual contributions		$347,909,254

This is just my unbiased opinion. In all likelihood, I will not be voting this year. The United States of America is really in trouble if this is the best two candidates that America has to offer.

"Keep Right On" prepping and getting ready!!!
Comments are always welcome.


SOURCES:
(http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&idim=country:US&dl=en&hl=en&q=population+of+us)

(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_registered_voters_in_the_2008_Presidential_election)

(http://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/#howmany)

http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/faqs/faq.htm#3
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_trends

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_registered_voters_in_the_2008_Presidential_election
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110512141245AAUeDCz
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/index.php

............

8:46am

 

Never Forget.

MRE Monday - Maple Muffin Top

Still running a little late getting these posted, but it's here! This is the other MRE my wife was ready to sample.

Nutritional Information:

Serving Size: 2.2 oz.

Calories: 270
Calories from fat: 130
Total Fat: 14g or 22% DV

Trans Fat:1.5g

Cholesterol: 45mg or 15% DV
Sodium: 300mg or 13% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 32g or 11% DV
Dietary Fiber: 0g or 0% DV
Sugars: 18g
Protein: 3g
Vitamin A: 6% DV
Vitamin C: 0% DV
Calcium:  2% DV
Iron: 4%

Expectations:

My hope is that it is like a homemade muffin top, probably a little more cake like or moister.

Realities:

Red Ant, our 3 year old, took two bites before he decided to pass it on over to Sweetheart. She did happen to get Red Ant to take another bite. I did ask him what he thought, and Sweetheart offered to options of yummy or kinda yummy. He chose kinda yummy, but for him to eat 3 bites was a real good sign that he liked it. Otherwise, he would flat out refuse to eat any more.

Row, our six year old, got excited and said, " It smells like syrup! ( chew ) It taste like syrup too!" He ate a third of the muffin top and when I asked him if he wanted more he replied that " I want some more, I want it all." An excellent sign.

The family food critic, my wonderful wife, after taking a bite said that " It's the best one we have tasted...period." She compared the smell to an early morning when the pancakes have cooled and the house is drenched in the smell of pancakes and syrup. She also noted that the first taste had a strong maple syrup flavor, but mellowed out into a more subtle cake flavor. The texture was also a big improvement from other MREs we have tried. The ever present slight chemical taste was also absent..another first.  ( I sometimes wonder if she is a super-taster. )

Her critique is hard to follow, but I also liked the maple muffin top. I thought that the texture was much improved and the moisture level was good too. I thought it would be similar to the maple sausage sandwich from Mcdonalds and it was close taste-wise, but much moister.

Final Thoughts:

We thought it was a good product, but really excited that Row was all about the maple muffin top. He was more excited about this product than anything we have tried so far. They will be reordered at $1.25 each, and would make a great morning meal.

Stars: * * * * ( 4 ) 

  

 COUNTDOWN TO BOOK BOMB DATE OF SEPTEMBER 25th: LINK TO MY STORE

15 DAYS

Picture Collection #3

Aurora Borealis from the ISS and my new screen saver

Chest Radiograph with Elemental mercury contrast

 

 

 

 

My school's IT Dept Yearbook photo

Perhaps my favorite.

Southern Gun Control

Poor Decisions

I have been going over this post for a few days now, and have finally had the time to sit down and put my thoughts to paper. I'll do a quick update for the newest followers. We have been actively preparing for my full time student status, and it's here. This is the planning and foresight part.

This has meant getting out of debt, couponing, saving six months living expenses, stockpiling food, and generally being frugal with our money. We also refinanced our house to drop our house payment in half. Now, this hasn't meant eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for six months, but rather seeking out sales and good deals.

My number one personal goal during these two years of one income is to keep our financial safety net in tact. Don't go into debt and to pay cash for school. I don't relish the idea of saving money for another two years to replenish our safety net.  I would also like to expand our food storage to at least a year, while buying some quality camping gear for the family.

I'll be shifting some of my emphasis on this blog to cheap meals for my family. This is the biggest hit that we have taken on our budget. We used to have $320.00 budgeted for every two weeks for groceries, now it is $180.00. Heck, I'll just post our envelope cash budget. A big thank you to Dave Ramsey.

This is our old/new budget for two weeks: 
=========== OLD ======== NEW
Groceries.........$320--------------$180
Gas..................$140--------------$120
Car Repairs......$60---------------$20
Restaurant........$75---------------$0
Gifts.................$100--------------$40
Clothes............$50---------------$20
Haircuts...........$40----------------$20
Entertainment...$50----------------$0
Allowances......$20----------------$20....for Kids
Mad Money.... $100--------------$80

This is an all cash system that we use, so no overspending.

I figure that our tax refund will be used for a summer vacation, and to plug any gaps that have developed in our finances. Ex: New tires, etc....

Here is our current situation. We get paid on Friday and have $12.00 in the grocery envelope. Today, we did make it to Chinamart to round out the frig.

I did spend about $20.00 to make homemade beef jerky last week, and they had Community Coffee on sale for $4.99. Nearby was a hanging coupon dispenser that had a dollar off coupon that dropped the price to $3.99 each, so I bought 12 bags. That kinda killed the weekly grocery budget this pay period. They also had chips on sale for $2 each, so I bought 12- 14 bags.

The rest of the week we have on the dinner menu:
Tilapia
Breakfast Night / Eggs / Pancakes
Grilled Chicken when brother, sister, and kids come over for dinner on Wednesday.
Spaghetti

Lunch for Row and myself includes portioning out potato chips ( $2 for Lay's and Ruffles - on sale ) and peanut butter sandwiches. I take water while Row has a juice box and a fruit Rollup. The peanut butter is coming out of the stockpile, and we have around 15 9 jars put back. I'll wait a few more months, and hopefully replenish our stock.

It does make it easier knowing that we have a large amount of food set back for this time. I really feel for people that can't make ends meet. Here are my photos of some of our storage.

Drinks, Snacks, Mac & Cheese, Pasta, etc

Nuts and some of the longer term storage

8 cases of water, 8 seven gallon jugs not shown.

Sugar, Cornmeal, Rice, and Some Overflow.

Canned meat, Tang, Veggies, sauce, spices, and condiments.

We are going to have to learn to make poor decisions.

Happy Labor Day Video

Here is to all of the workers, blue collars, craftsmen, help, nine-to fivers, wage earners, working stiffs, breadwinners, serfs, cooks, waiters, producers, earners, and heroes.

Keep Right On !

John Lennon had it right...

As soon as you're born they make you feel small  
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all working class hero is something to be  
 A working class hero is something to be
 They hurt you at home and they hit you at school  
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so crazy you can't follow their rules  
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be  
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
 Then they expect you to pick a career  
 When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be  
A working class hero is something to be
 Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free  
But you're still peasants as far as I can see  
A working class hero is something to be  
A working class hero is something to be  
There's room at the top they are telling you still
 But first you must learn how to smile as you kill  
If you want to be like the folks on the hill  
A working class hero is something to be
 A working class hero is something to be
 If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me  
If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me

$10 for Two Dinners - Grilled Chicken and Chicken Dumplings

This is a new routine that I have been doing for cheap dinners for the family. The chicken and dumplings recipe is from my very country Ex-mother-in-law.

Finished Product w/ pepper on top

I purchased two whole chickens for under $10.00. I should have taken a picture, but the total came to $8.94. We added a few veggies for the grilled chicken on our first meal, and it all came in under $10.00

I'm going to save people a lot of money over their life time by posting this video. It's how to cut your own chicken...I did the math and it comes to about $26.00/hour that you can save for your time. This is one of the best videos on Youtube for learning how to cut your own chicken. It's only 4:23 minutes, and cutting a whole chicken while watching it was very helpful the first few times.

The first dinner I grilled two chickens to feed the family. This was to make sure that we had leftovers to use for the chicken and dumplings. I'd like to say a special thanks to Pioneer Woman Cooks Ree Drummond for the great pictorials of her recipes. I liked the idea so much, I'll be using her technique.

A large stockpot and 4 quarts ( 1 gallon ) of warm water.

1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon  per Quart of water

Add your chicken necks, backs, and any other scraps to the chicken stock

Cook the chicken until done on a simmer.

Okay, when a recipe says simmer it means just barely boiling. Bring it to a boil, then keep knocking it down a few notches on the dial until it is just barely making bubbles. All of this is happening while I'm grilling the chicken outside. Cook the chicken until it is done - around 30-45 minutes.

After the stock is done, I like to refrigerate it and save it for tomorrow night. Pull the chicken out of the stock and refrigerate them too.

Clean the leftover grilled chicken, remove the skin, and put in a baggie.

The next day, I'll pick and clean the chicken stock scraps since they are cool. 


DAY TWO: Bring the stock back to a boil. Collect a cup of warm stock to use for the dumplings.

Here is the cleaned chicken from the night before ready to be added to the stock. Be sure to clean the backs for any meat that can be added to the dumplings.

The skin shouldn't be used in the finished product, but be sure to use it for the stock....it's flavor!

One cup of flour for the dumplings. Don't be scared because this is real easy!

Make a flour volcano with the flour on a cutting board.

Add enough warm stock to make the "lava" in the volcano. Don't worry about how much liquid to add because you really want to have too much to start. We are going for a certain texture of the dumplings.

Mix it up and make a dough. It should feel a bit softer than playdough. Add more flour until you get the right consistency.

Spread it out very thin!

I placed a dollar near the cutting board for a comparison shot. Cut the dough with a butter knife.

To give you an idea of how thick.

Bring the stock w/ the chicken to a rolling boil before adding the raw dumplings.

Add the raw dumplings one at a time, then reduce to a simmer.

Notice that it took an hour and the drop in the liquid level in the pot.

Sample the dumpling to make sure that they don't have a "doughy" feel...you'll know it if they aren't done yet.

My plate!

Row's new favorite soup!

If you really wanna go Southern, serve with a loaf of white bread to "sop up the juices".

Enjoy!

Comments or questions are always welcome.