How You Found the Geranium Farm (5)

Wow, this has been full of surprises and blessings to find out how you all connected with the Farm. Your "journeys" are funny, interesting, and touching.
You guys are the best!

How I Found The Geranium Farm (#5)

How You Found the Geranium Farm (4)

More of your stories.

How I Found The Geranium Farm (#4)

How You Found the Geranium Farm (3)

More of your wonderful stories.

If you don't have the PDF reader on your computer you can down load it here:
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How I Found The Geranium Farm (#3)

How You Found the Geranium Farm (2)

Here's the second installment. Enjoy!
If you don't have the PDF reader on your computer you can down load it here:
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How I Found The Geranium Farm (#2)

How You Found the Geranium Farm (1)

You have all been so generous with sharing your stories of how you came to find the Geranium Farm. With Matt our web dude's help, they will be posted a few pages a day as PDF file's.

(In no particular order, as they say.)

If you don't have the PDF reader on your computer you can down load it here:
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Thanks again everyone - Happy Reading!

How I Found The Geranium Farm (#1)

Oh My Goodness . . .

. . . how you all responded to the call out for your stories of how you found the Geranium Farm! Barbara's eMo's go far and wide! So next week, will be your week. So check in and read all the funny, unusual, personal, and some touching stories of how you found your way to the "Farm". You guys are great!

Debbie

Update on the Wedding License

Some of you may remember a story from last April about me renewing my driver's license and the problems I had when I couldn't find my official wedding license to use as a proof for the renewal. See:
http://geraniumfarmhodgepodge.blogspot.com/search?q=driver%E2%80%99s+license+

Well, as they say, the story doesn't end there. When we last left off I was to pick up the license from the other town where it was to be properly re-registered. I let, I thought a considerable amount of time pass, and then stopped by one day when I was in the area. Nope, they didn't have it. They in turn had to send the paperwork they had received into the state for it to be properly filed there, and hadn't gotten anything back yet. I was told don't bother to come back we'll just call you when it comes in. So . . . I had forgotten all about it until just a couple of weeks ago. I figured they'd have to have gotten it in by now and they just didn't remember to call. Again, I stopped by to inquire. They looked through all their record books . . . nothing. It isn't there! I'm given a paper with the number I need to call the state office to see what they have on file and if the change had been recorded. Oh great, I think as I leave, paper in hand, fat chance I have getting anywhere calling a state office! I go home, make my call, get an actually person to talk to but they can't find the information and transfer me to another line where I get a voice mail and I leave a message. The next day I get a message of a person to call. I call back and miss them and leave another message. Then I get a call back and I said I was so happy to actually get to speak to someone. I explain the whole situation to her and she then tells me the person that would have taken care of this is on maternity leave. "I'll check through her records and call you back." A short time passes and she says she found the information, she'll send it out, and to wait a week and then stop by the local office to pick up the license. I call the local office and tell them it has been straighted out, they'll receive the papers shortly, and I'll be by to pick them up. They should have been there before a Friday, but I wait until Monday. I go to the office expecting to leave with papers in hand . . . yea right. Nope . . .the paper they got was just a paper the state sent that said the records had just been re-registered. I said I couldn't believe that I had started out almost a year ago and this still wasn't done. The lady took down my address and said, "Look, I'm not going to charge you. I'll just put it in the mail when I get it." Lo and behold, February 15th, we get an envelope with three pieces of paper. The top sheet says in big letters, "Happy Valentine's Day - Sorry it took so long." Underneath, two copies of our wedding license. Well, nice to know that after thiry years, it's official!

So What's Your Story?

I had been exchanging some emails with Geranium Farm reader, Linda, and then the other day she sends me the folllowing:

"The things I have learned from all of you at the Geranium Farm! I would never have known of it had I not landed in Carrollton,GA after Hurricane Katrina and Rev. Hazel Glover of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church (Hazel saved my soul and sanity) wrote /quoted something Barbara wrote about The Devil Quotes Scripture*. I read it and I was hooked! I love to browse around the Farm and I get the emails from you, Barbara and DJ. - Linda"

* http://www.stmargaretsga.org/March1.pdf

I thought it was an interesting story of how she "happened upon" the Farm and I was wondering if others of you out there might have an interesting story of how you came to know of the Geranium Farm . Have one? Send it along and I'll post it.
(Put "My Story" in the subject line.)

Help in Managing Your Money

https://www.wesabe.com/

"Wesabe is a community of real people dealing with real money issues." It is a free service designed with the privacy and security of its members in mind, where pooling information on where we all spend can help you make better financial decisions. It will help you take control of your money to reach financial goals.
The three-minute video tour shows how Wesabe helps you understand your spending through the free tools they provide and the advice of their community.

Read news and reviews about it here:
https://www.wesabe.com/page/news

Where Can Your Kids Eat for Free?

You can click on a state for a listing of restaurants with "Kids Eat Free" programs and also submit a place to be listed.

http://www.kidseatfree.com/

Speed Trap Exchange

At this website you can:
Add a Speedtrap
Find Speedtrap Listings
Information on Fighting A Speeding Ticket
Read about Speedtrap Laws, How To Eliminate Speedtraps and Speed Limits: Fact & Fiction

http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp

Be sure to go to the bottom of the homepage and Learn About Motorist Issues Through The National Motorists Association Website such as:

Speed Limits
Red Light Cameras
Toll Roads
Black Boxes
DUI/DWI Laws
Automobile Emissions
Lane Courtesy
Seat Belt Laws
Traffic Calming
Daytime Running Lights

Be Safe Out There and Don't Speed!

(Thanks Carrie for passing this along.)

Wedding Rings

Why should the wedding ring be worn on the fourth finger?

You really won't believe it - but it is, as it says, Amazing.
There is a beautiful and convincing explanation given by the Chinese.

Thumb represents your Parents
Second (Index) finger represents your Siblings
Middle finger represents your-Self
Fourth (Ring) finger represents your Wife/Husband
The Last (Little) finger represents your children

Firstly, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back

Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip
(As shown in the figure below):

Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents)..., they will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.

Please rejoin your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings), they will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Now rejoin the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children), they will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, rejoin your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse).

You will be surprised to see that you just CANNOT, because Husband & Wife have to remain together all their lives - through thick and thin!!

(Thanks Joan for passing this along.)

Get Ready for Valentine's Day

Here's a website with all kinds of stuff for you for Valentine's Day:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentines-day.html

History
History of Valentine's Day
Pagan festivals, Christian saints, Chaucer's love birds, and the Greeting Card Association of America
Valentine's Day by the Numbers
Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau
Spelling Love with Candy Hearts
Ten new ways to convey those immortal words
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Capone and Co.'s botched plan

Love
Famous Love Stories
Legendary couples from Antony and Cleopatra to Abigail and John Adams
Fictional Love Stories
Love stories in literature, opera, and television
American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Love Stories
From Casablanca to Jerry Maguire
Quotations from Classic Love Poems
Shakespeare, Virgil, and Edna St. Vincent Millay
Classic Love Poems on the Web
Words of love are only a click away
From Reel Love to Real Love
Movies that inspired offscreen romances

Fun Stuff
Valentine Heart Slider New!
Valentine's Day Hangman Game New!
Valentine's Day Crossword Puzzle
27 Down: ___ a Valentine's Day card to that "special someone."
Famous Couples Crossword Puzzle
11. Down: Sonny's partner in love and song
Wedding Lore and Traditions
From bridesmaids to tossing the bouquet
Encyclopedia: Saint Valentine
A Roman martyr priest, circa 270
Encyclopedia: Saint Valentine's Day
The Western holiday was originally known as the Roman feast of Lupercalia

P.S. - For a free Valentine's gift - An email subscription to Hodgepodge! : )

Fruits and Vegetables

The following is one of those things going around the internet. I thought it was interesting and I'm just passing it along as I got it. Debbie

"You are what you eat, so eat well. A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called 'The Doctrine of Signatures' was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater. Here is just a short list of examples o f Whole Food Signatures. "

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? ... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Grapefruits, Oranges , and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

Gluten Free Camp

I have been working with Camp Manitou-Lin in Middleville, Michigan and have arranged a week for g/f kids to come. Can you add our gluten free Michigan camp to your page?Thank you for your consideration. - Nicole

Gluten Free Camp coming at Manitou-Lin in Middleville, MI

Date: Aug 17 - 22
Cost: $419/week (includes meals)
10 to a cabin
Ages for overnight camp are 7 - 15

Links are below as well.

http://www.campmanitou-lin.org/

Capital Area Celiac/Dh Web address (Michigan adults with celiac)
http://micapitalceliacs.atspace.com/

Cel-Kids (Michigan kids with celiac)
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/cel-kids/

(I don't know anything personally about this camp. I'm just passing along the information. Debbie)

HP Reader's Casserole Recipes in Response to 2/1/08 Request

Any more? Send them along. I'll forward them to Joanne and then post them when I get a bunch.

Gebby Smith sends along this: Here's a good site:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,easy_casseroles,FF.html

From: Judith Van Dyne, Saint Paul, MN
Here is a recipe for a quick chili with chicken or without.

2 cans Amy’s Organic medium chili
1 can Amy’s Organic spicy chili
1 can organic corn
1 large green pepper
1 onion, sliced (in case folks don’t like onion – easy to remove)
1/8 tsp cumin
2 tomatoes, sliced in chunks
1 whole chicken breast, skin off, sliced in pieces

Heat, cool, freeze. Serves 4.
Serve with corn bread (small pkg. of Jiffy’s) or french bread,
salad, bottle of red wine (Frey’s organic red - $10.99)

From: Dee in Las Cruces
Beef Stew
In a plastic or paper bag, place l cup flour, l teaspoon salt and a
little pepper; place stewing beef in bag, close and shake around to coat
pieces.
Brown in electric fy pan l/4 c. vegetable oil, 1 pound of the beef stew meat
Remove to separate plate and turn heat down.
Sprinkle 2 T. flour into a frying pan - you can include also any left over from the bag.
Stir with fork. Add 2 cups of hot water which include 1 Tablespoon
chicken or beef bouillon powder (or 2 boxes liquid bouillon)
Turn up heat, bring to boil and stir until liquid is thickening.
Add back beef; also add several carrots peeled and chopped into "coins",
2-3 potatoes peeled and cup up into small pieces, and celery chopped
(about 2 cups).
Bring all to boil; lower heat and then turn heat down to simmer;
Add at least a half packet of frozen peas. Let simmer again for at
least half an hour.
This can be divided up into smaller packets; or it can be frozen ahead
of time and given out as needed; or it can be doubled and given as needed.
Enjoy!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Fill stew pan with water; bring to boil with l tsp. of salt
Add l box of macaroni noodles and boil until done
Meanwhile, in double boiler or anything you use to make this sort of thing work, melt 4 teaspoons butter; add 1 t. salt,
pinch of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard powder (Coleman's); l T.
onion powder and at least 2 1/2 cups of milk or Mocha Mix - either will
work.
Let get very hot.
Then add in at least 3-4 cups of shredded Tillamook Brand medium cheddar
cheese - it's the best one.
Let cheese melt into liquid until it becomes a sauce.
Place strained macaroni into casserole; add cheese sauce over; you may
add bacon bits into this if you like. Stir to place sauce evenly
throughout noodles.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. This is the best macaroni and cheese I've
ever had - my family loves it. Enjoy!

I asked Dee what Mocha Mix is and she replied: "Mocha Mix is a soy-milk substitute which I've used for years in all sorts of cooking - I can't tell it different from regular milk and it cooks the same."

From: Mary Smith, Richmond, VA
Here is my favorite: SWEET'N'SOUR CHICKEN or MEATBALLS

1. Think about how many people you want to feed
2. Fill a size-appropriate pyrex or corning ware baking dish 3/4 full with either meatballs OR baked chicken fingers cut into 3-4 pieces (so they are about the size of a meatball)
3. In a separate bowl, stir together
- 16 oz French or Thousand Island Dressing
- 16 oz Apricot or Peach Preserves
- 2 packages of Onion Soup Mix
4. Pour the liquid over the meat until it covers it
(At this point, you can freeze it -- and it freezes beautifully!)
5. Microwave it until it's nice and hot.
Now, you can serve this one of several ways:
- in a crockpot with toothpicks (finger food works well in periods of crises)
- or on a dinner plate, over rice OR noodles -- and either is delicious.
I hope it helps somebody down the road -- either the giver, or the receiver.

Updated Information on Stroke Symptoms

This is the latest that is going around about Strokes:

New Sign of a Stroke ------- Stick out Your Tongue
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

I asked my nephew, an ER doc and runs ER's in two hospitals, for his imput and he emailed me the following:

"Your timing is very interesting since I spent all day yesterday in meetings with The Joint Commission, attempting to get my hospital credentialled as a primary stroke center."
"The information is correct. Tongue deviation may be a sign of stroke, but it is unlikely that this would be the only symptom. The correct way to test for tongue deviation is to ask the person to stick out their tongue. The tip of the tongue should point straight forward. If not, it could represent problems with the 12th cranial nerve (hypoglossal nerve). This nerve exits the brain very low (just above the spinal cord) so its unlikely that a stroke would only affect this nerve."
Keep up the good work.
Ian

To see the original posting on Strokes go to:
http://geraniumfarmhodgepodge.blogspot.com/search?q=Recognizing+a+Life-Threatening+Stroke

How To Close A Bag Without A Bag Clip

Now I went to open a bag of pretzels the other night and the bag split at the top, as they often do. I got out the roll of clear wide packing tape and went all the way around the top where it started to tear. Then I thought if you just did this before you opened it I don't think it could split. So . . . try running some tape around the top and then snip it open with scissors!

(My thanks to Matt our Webmaster for setting up the clip.)

Teaching/Learning the Multiplication Table - Revisited

More about the Multiplication Table

A Hodgepodge reader wrote to me with a concern about the posting for teaching/learning the Multiplication Table. She was afraid people wouldn’t go to the link and see the steps, but just print out the Multiplication Chart with the facts. Actually there is a good way to use the chart and here’s how:

#1 Use it to let the child see patterns in the multiples.

#2 Let them use a highlighter marker to highlight the rows and columns as they learn them.

So . . . . . I started with was on the link and expanded upon it.

Each Row and Column is Highlighted only after it is learned.

#1 –The 1’s - Any number multiplied by one is the number itself.
Highlight - Row 1 & Column 1

Skip Counting – It’s sometimes helpful for kids to use their fingers in doing this.
You could even practice this riding in the car.
By doing the skip counting they can learn their 2, 3, 5, & 10 multiple facts.
Patterns - Sometimes there are patterns in the multiples.

Flash cards are most helpful for learning and for the reinforcement of facts. Once they show mastery of a multiple with the flash cards they can highlight the row and column for that number!

#2 – The 2’s - Skip Count by 2’s up to 24.
Highlight – Row 2 & Column 2

#3 – The 10’s - Skip Count by 10’s up to 120.
Highlight – Row 10 & Column 10

#4 – The 5’s - Skip Count by 5’s up to 60.
Highlight – Row 5 & Column 5

#5 – The 3’s - Skip Count by 3’s. A litter harder but you can do it!
Highlight – Row 3 & Column 3

#6 – The 11’s – See the pattern here?
Also the 11 Times for two digit numbers rule. Write the number you are multiplying 11 times with a space in the middle. Then add the two numbers and put that answer in the middle.
So: 11 x 10, 1___0, 1 +0 = 1, so 11 x 10 = 110
11 x 11, 1__1, 1 + 1=2, so 11 x 11 = 121
11 x 12, 1__2, 1 + 2=3, so 11 x 12 = 132
Highlight – Row 11 & Column 11

#7 – The 12’s – By now after what you’ve already highlighted you only have to learn 12 times 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12. Look down the column.

Can you see a pattern?
Highlight – Row 12 & Column 12

#8 – The 9’s – You’ve only got 9 times 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to learn.

Again look down the column and see the pattern.
Another trick, just if you get stuck, because you really need to memorize the facts.
Hold your hands in front of you with your fingers spread out.
For 9 X 3 bend your third finger down.
You have 2 fingers in front of the bent finger and 7 after the bent finger.
Thus the answer must be 27.
This technique works for the 9 times tables up to 10.
*Another trick for the 9 times table is that every sum up to 9 X 10 adds up to 9. For example: 9 x 3 = 27 and 2 + 7 =9.
Highlight – Row 9 & Column 9

#9 – The 4’s – You’ve only got 4 times 4, 6, 7, and 8 to learn. See a pattern?
Highlight – Row 4 & Column 4

#10 – The 7’s – You’ve only got 7 times 6, 7, and 8 to learn.
Highlight – Row 7 & Column 7

#11 – The 8’s – You’ve only got 8 times 6, and 8 to learn.
Highlight – Row 8 & Column 8

#12 – The 6’s – 6 x 6 and that’s all of it!
Highlight – Row 6 & Column 6

*Sent in by HP Reader Meghan W.
Debbie Sharp Loeb © 2008 – Hodgepodge from the Geranium Farm

Article on New Orleans

This article was emailed to me by Hodgepodge reader Linda who says:
"I wanted to get the word out about New Orleans- we are still a broken city but our spirit is not. If you choose to put it on Hodgepodge I would be forever grateful- spread the word all over the country and world! "
Thank you- Linda

Benham column: New Orleans' Life Never Tasted Sweeter
BY HERB BENHAM, Californian staff writer
Thursday, Jan 31 2008 1:03 PM

In New Orleans, talking to yourself is accepted, encouraged, even celebrated as part of the local flavor, but the cab driver who picked us up at the airport and delivered us to our hotel in the Garden District raised talking to herself to an art form.

We visited New Orleans recently. I had no idea what to expect. I'd never been and after Katrina, it seemed like a whole lot of money to see a whole lot of bad news.

I couldn't have been more wrong. More surprised. More intrigued.
First of all, the food hasn't gone anywhere. Those people know how to cook. How to eat. How to sit for two hours and let the pleasure of company and a good meal sink in.
Crayfish bisque at Commander's Palace, sweetbreads at Clancy's and beignets at Cafe Du Monde (yes, they are better there).
That's just the food. Not that food isn't important. Especially when you combine a beignet with good strong coffee and lump crab meat with ice-cold champagne.
It's all about the people. Some have left. The city, now with 270,000, is a third smaller than it was before Katrina rolled through and flattened the place.
However, 270,000 is 270,000 and those who stayed, believed. They left when they had to, but like the couple we met at Clancy's restaurant, they have returned. It took 18 months, but they put on the hip waders, sloshed in and rebuilt.
So did the blond, 30-ish waitress at Galatoire's, who said 75 percent of her neighbors returned to her Gentilly neighborhood, built higher off the ground and are now throwing neighborhood barbecues again.
So did our black cab driver who gave us a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward, which he finished by driving by his recently restored 100-year-old house.
"We're going to be all right," he said. "We're going to be all right."
So did Sal, the middle-aged, white cab driver who took us to Preservation Hall one evening. Sal, a Catholic, slept on the floor of a Baptist church for six months and couldn't stop preaching the gospel of hope.
"We saw thousands of young people come here, work, tear down houses and clear streets," he said. "This is the greatest country on earth and you can tell people that."
Cab drivers, people in restaurants, visitors from Baton Rouge, what is it about the South? They have souls sweeter than the powdered sugar heaped on beignets.
New Orleans was cold, windy and rainy but the people weren't. Can you be beat up and upbeat at the same time?
Beat up but still warmer than a hot water bottle. Sit in a restaurant in New Orleans and you talk to your neighbors. You have no choice. It's not family style, but they might as well push the tables together.
This is what I heard: Come and visit. We're here, we're not going anywhere and we'll treat you better than about 99 percent of the places in the country.
I know I sound like the chamber of commerce, but I'm ready to drive the welcome wagon.
Sal, the cabbie who spent six months on the floor of the Baptist church, had four cataract surgeries at East Jefferson General Hospital after Katrina.
"I've never been treated better," he said. "I had the best nurses. Two of them were part of a group who won the $80 million lottery a couple days ago."
Good things happen sometimes to good people. To people, to neighborhoods, to a city that may be talking to itself, but refuses to quit.
I wouldn't bet against them.
Chuck Robinson, owner of an antique store in the French Quarter, compared New Orleans to gumbo - thick, rich and spicy. The soup needs time. Patience too.
We might find that a taste for good gumbo is a hard habit to break.

Requesting Your Casserole Recipes

To my Hodgepodge readers - Barbara received an email from Joanne from Richmond, VA with the following request:

"Can you put me in touch with someone who successfully operates a Pastoral Care Committee who may have a variety of simple recipes for casseroles a committee could fix and freeze ahead of time to take to parishoners who have a crisis in their family?
We have had a first-rate committee made up of young mothers to do this work of the church but they are, as my Mother would say, "worn to a nub".
I thought, if I could get recipes, I would ask a bunch of folks to bake, mix, etc. casseroles and have them at the ready in the freezer for quick response."
"Help!"
So . . . email me your recipes at: debbie@geraniumfarm.org putting "Casserole Recipe" in the subject line and remember they need to be freezable, and to reheat well.