Like most people, I hate dusting. But our house gets very, very dusty and it has to be done periodically. I had to dust my office today. I’m still sneezing from it. lol. I’m allergic to dust mites. Anyway, here is a tip I figured out a while ago and and is still a very good tip, so I thought I’d share it. It’s kind of a double use item tip. Anyway…

I like to use the dry sweeping cloths from the Swiffer Sweepers as a dust cloth. The ridges on them and the static nature make them excellent for dusting. I find that they work far better than the handle things, plus since it’s a cloth it makes it very easy for running over computer equipment and printers without getting little dusting element pieces stuck in them.

It seems like each day we hear more bad news. People losing their jobs and houses, food prices going up, more taxes, etc. All of these things bring us down. What’s a person do? I’ll tell you what to do. Focus on the good things you do have. Yes, money is tight. But do you have a house to live in? Do you have a car to drive? Do you have food to eat? There are some people that do not have these things, in our country and others.

I sponsor a child in Ethiopia through World Vision. I received a letter from her recently where she told me of her living conditions. Her entire family lives in a two room hut-a kitchen and a living/sleeping room covered with mud and straw. They have to use animal dung to make a fire to cook with, but they are happy for every little thing that they can get. We should be the same way.

I tell you that if you start feeling down just think about the good things that you do have and you will find some measure of peace within your circumstances.

Philippians 4:8-9 (New American Standard Bible)

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

If you are interested in working at home. You have got to check this out. CWAHM is a great organization and has some excellent information to share.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not too happy with the new economic stimulus package. The way it was approved is appalling and some of the ramifications of it is sickening. And why does our government think that the way out of a recession is to spend more? Just what are they spending it on? And where is all that money going to come from?

First, let’s start with the way it was enacted. Contrary to what Mr. Obama said, the American public never had a chance to see the details of the bill and make their opinions known to their representatives before voting. So much for government of the people. Then a senate vote was held less than 24 hours after making the details known to those voting on it. Many voted without even reading it.

Now let’s talk about some of the ramifications of this new bill. Healthcare in particular. Because I am studying natural healthcare and hubby works for a hospital, this particularly interested me. The government will now be able to decide who gets treatments for certain conditions based on whether they feel it’s cost effective or not under the universal healthcare system. That scares me. No longer will you and your doctor be able to decide what course of action to take, the government gets to make that decision for you and it’s strictly by the numbers. Plus, doctors and hospitals that don’t play by the government’s rules could be fined or lose their funding or privileges. Ouch.

Now, I agree that healthcare in this country can be staggering, but I don’t like having my choices taken away. If you’re on an HMO that doesn’t cover something, you can choose to go to a different insurance. If no insurance will cover it, you can choose to pay for it yourself. Potentially with this new bill doctors won’t be able to perform those procedures privately or risk penalties from the government. This is the same kind of system that the UK and Canada have in place. Except in Canada it is illegal for doctors to perform private procedures outside of the system. What do Canadians do when the get sick? They come to the US. Where will they go when our system gets as bad as theirs? It is still unclear what the penalties will be for doctors and hospitals, but the penalties to the American public is already severe. What happens to that otherwise healthy 60 year old that needs a heart transplant but gets told no because he’s above the age limit. Or the elderly person with macular degeneration that’s told she can’t have the costly treatment to save her eyesight because it’s not cost effective to treat two eyes, but if she went blind in one eye could have the treatment to save the sight in the remaining eye because it’s only one. Seriously folks. This is the sort of thing that’s coming.

Mr. Obama promised change, but not all change is good. He lobbied for a plan that had these potentially catastrophic ramifications in it and used partisan politics to get it passed without even letting American public see it. Just like he promised to find a middle ground on the pro life, pro choice issue and then quietly reinstated a rule that allows tax dollars to be used for abortions (unlike all the other things he did very publicly).

We need to get involved people. Find out who your congressmen are and let them know what you think. Start with the economic stimulus bill. You can read it at www.readthestimulus.org. See what your government is doing.

And before you Obama-lovers start bashing me. I’d say the same thing about any president that put out this abomination. At his inauguration ball Mariah Carey sang “Hero” for him. He’s not a hero, he’s just a politician. Don’t put your faith in a man.

One of the biggest issues when dealing with food allergies is baked goods. It’s hard to make something that tastes good that is free from common food allergens. My daughters have major food allergies. They cannot have milk, wheat, eggs, corn, soy, fish, shell fish, peanuts or tree nuts. Now how do you cook for that?

This is a recipe I came up with that I’d like to share. It can be found in my allergy free recipe booklet available real soon. Reserve your copy today. (Shameless plug ) If you like this recipe, I’d like to know what you think of it. As a bonus, this recipe is also cholesterol free since it uses no eggs. However, it is not gluten free, because it calls for oat flour, but can be made gluten free very easily. Please contact me for details on doing that. This recipe calls for some specific ingredients to make it work, but not exotic hard-to-find items. All of the items listed can be found and just about any whole food store and some grocery stores.

Please do not put this recipe on any recipe sites or publish it in any way without permission. I’ve worked for years developing allergy free recipes and would prefer to not see my work undone.

So here it is. Read more »