HaPpY BiRtHdAy to me!
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26Dec
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 2
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25Dec
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 0
By Jenny Nyström
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10Dec
Categories: Blonde Things, Giggles for the day Comments: 0
Not only do my dad and I work for the same company, but we work in the same building (before I was laid off early this year – my desk was ironically right out side his office). Now that I have been re-hired at the bank, I work on the other side of the building.
My dad is a “Chief Credit Officer” for commercial banking in NYS (I think that’s his title) – so he is high up on the hierarchy ladder, and customers and other clients send him gifts every year for Christmas, mostly food baskets filled with goodies. Maybe they’re hoping for a better interest rate on their loan?
Anyway, the mailroom delivered a package to my desk to day because it was addressed to “Churchill,” so without thinking or looking at who it was from I signed for it.
Then I opened the package – and ate the contents.
My dad is an extremely picky eater (he doesn’t eat anything green, and he doesn’t like turkey, so on Thanksgiving my mom always makes him his own chicken dish. It’s actually quite amusing.). Usually, when he receives these gifts he puts them on the communal filling cabinet, and the whole office has a free-for-all. My point being, he most likely wouldn’t have eaten the delicious chocolate covered pretzels that were gifted to him.It said my name – I think that’s an honest mistake, right?
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08Dec
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 1
My great grandmother came to this country from Sweden during the Great Depression, and she married my great grandfather who came to America from
FinlandNorway. It being a depression and all – they were very poor, and they couldn’t afford any ornaments to put on their Christmas tree. Later in life when they had their four children, they decided to buy an ornament for each of their kids every year – so when they had their own families they would be able to decorate their tree. (Every year I hear this story, and I’m pretty sure that’s how it goes.)
2009 Ornament - a Swedish tomte (Christmas gnome)
Giving ornaments has become a family tradition because my Mor-mor passed this ritual to her three girls, and my mom continued it with my sister and I. Every year since I was born my mom gives me a new Christmas ornament, and on the bottom she writes my name and the year she gave it to me.
Decorating the Christmas tree is one of my favorite traditions because every year I dust of the box storing my ornaments and unwrap them, looking at each and remembering the story of why this tradition was started so many years ago.
God Jul – Merry Christmas
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04Dec
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 1
Both Sam and I are cautious of what we fuel our bodies with. The majority of our grocery cart is filled with items from the produce aisle, and this past summer we even grew our own food (100% organically). Having said that and knowing the unhealthy chemicals today’s famers spray on our produce is overwhelming and a shocking thought, so when we can Sam and I try to buy organic or in-seasons items.
After watching Food, Inc., I have to admit the raw facts certaily put a lot into perspective. Honestly, I can’t quite wrap my brain around the fact that people would rather be rich than healthy. Regrettably, I have always known (and can only imagine) what goes on inside meat factories, but it is one of those things where you know what is going on and choose to do nothing about it. I don’t know about you, but it’s time for a change. Everything we buy and purchase is based primarily on supply and demand – from what we buy to how it’s produced. People want bigger chicken breast, tender meat – hey let’s give it to them. People want food to be cheap – hey let’s start taking out the good stuff (like vitamins and nutrients) and replace it with cheap chemicals and hormones until eating is based solely on our desire to feed our taste buds rather than fuel our body (beause eating a cheese burger at McDonalds is better than eating a healthy salmon dinner – NOT).
Food, Inc. fact - chickens in today's farms are pumped so full of hormones to make them grow bigger that they can't even stand up, and dozens of chickens die each day as a results.
On occasion Sam and I have purchased our meat from smaller farms that choose to raise grass fed animals. A few weekends ago Sam, and I went to the Schenectady Famer’s Market to stock up on grass fed meat. Our grocery cart:
1 pasture raised T-bone steak 1.65 lbs
1 pasture raised boneless Boston butt pork roast 1.16 lbs.
2 pasture raised chicken breast with bone 1.58 lbs.
1 package of pasture raised maple bacon 1.07 lbs
Total cost: $87Honestly, I don’t think our wallets can afford this every time we buy food or dine out because the market economy just isn’t there yet, but I will say that every time I put something into my mouth I’m going to remember where it came from and how and why it landed on my plate.
• In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
• In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
• The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year.
• 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
• 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.
• E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether it is from spinach or jalapenos. In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened from the E. coli virus.So, when you go to the grocery store and you see the cashier scan the bar code (or when the cashier stupidly asks you what kind of mushroom you have because there is no little sticker with a number on it) – remember a little electronic waive goes from the bar code into the computer; then into a database; and a report probably prints out and says “hey more people are buying the organic portabella mushroom and not our pesticide mushroom; then those rich unhealthy asses who grow our food will say ‘hey people want organic.’ And maybe someday, the market economy will supply us with more healthier, (cheaper) organic meats and produce because we ALL want to be healthy, am I right?
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02Dec
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 2
At four and a half years old, Molly, my toy pup finally got spayed. I have been dreading getting her fixed because every time I go to the vet they print out this sheet with very big numbers on it of how much it will cost. The vet also recommended a teeth cleaning, which is also very costly because they have to be under anestesia.
Pomeranians like Molly and other small breeds have very bad teeth (which causes atrocious bad breath). Unfortunately, Molly’s bad breath is a result of a very progressive stage of periodontal disease, which is irreversible because the disease rots the teeth and bone. Over an hour and a half of anesthesia; several stitches; eight X-rays; minus two ovaries and four teeth; and $1,503.88 dollars less in my bank account, Molly was allowed to come home.
Last night was rough, as the little stinker was very sore and completely out of it, so we made her a little nest of pillows and blankets on the floor.
Twenty four hours later she is on her way to a fast recovery, eating and even wanting to play with her toys. This face is worth every penny.
one swollen pup
