where is the "cooler" summer? update...

Remember back in June the weather guy predicted a "cooler than normal" summer for North Texas?

HA!

this is our current 7 day forcast

our yearly average for this time of year according to the Almanac-

Average High: 96°

Average Low: 75°

Record high/year: 106° (1998)

Record low/year: 60° (1971)

Sunrise: 6:42 AM

Sunset: 8:27 PM

Looks like another record coming soon. 

UPDATE- oh goody they revised the forecast!

President Obama

I’m trying to understand, Mr. Obama, but it just doesn’t make any sense. Why would you work so methodically to increase the occurrence of something so ‘heart-wrenching’?

If the choice to 'terminate a pregnancy' through abortion is merely about a woman’s right to privacy and autonomy, there should be nothing difficult about it at all. If there are no grounds to declare it illegal, inhumane, or morally wrong, then indeed there should be no conflict of the heart whatsoever.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - I have in front of me a letter I received from you in response to a letter I wrote to you regarding abortion in the U.S. You thanked me politely for taking the time to share my views on abortion and said, “This is a heart-wrenching issue.”
I just haven’t been able to get one little question out of my mind since reading your letter. Why?

Why is it heart-wrenching? Why would my heart be rent by making a perfectly legal and morally acceptable choice to have an abortion? Why should anyone’s heart be torn by this choice? The highest law of our land says that there is nothing wrong with choosing abortion. If no law is being broken, why should my heart or anyone’s heart be troubled?

In the short time you’ve been President, you have strategically worked to expand abortion access around the country. In fact, you promised in your campaign that your first task upon taking office would be to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate virtually every existing restriction on abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and even lift the ban on partial-birth abortion. (You said you considered that one a legitimate medical procedure.)

I’m trying to understand, Mr. Obama, but it just doesn’t make any sense. Why would you work so methodically to increase the occurrence of something so heart-wrenching?
As a woman, I can testify to the fact that when I make decisions to protect my privacy or the autonomy of my body, there’s nothing heart-wrenching about it. I am not the least bit torn or conflicted about defending myself in those ways. Indeed, it is my body – the one God gave me and the one He expects me to care for wisely and honorably. My body – like yours – was made to be holy.

If the choice to “terminate a pregnancy” through abortion is merely about a woman’s right to privacy and autonomy, there should be nothing difficult about it at all. If there are no grounds to declare it illegal, inhumane, or morally wrong, then indeed there should be no conflict of the heart whatsoever.

But you and I both know that is not the case, because you and I both know quite well that there is something very, very morally wrong with abortion.

No one can pretend the other person in this equation doesn’t exist. No one – not even you – can deny that abortion ends a human life. Whether the medical profession classifies that person as an embryo, a fetus, or a newborn, the indisputable fact is we’re talking about a new human being. Not an eggplant or a seahorse. This person is not an extension of her mother’s body, but a distinct, separate individual with her own body and soul.

Abortion does not tear the mother’s body limb from limb, or burn her body with chemicals, or suction her body into a vacuum, or stab a hole in her skull and suction out her brains. Abortion does all these hideous things to another human being. That is the reality of this wretched “choice.”

No thinking, civilized person can deny it. We all know in our hearts, in the depths of our souls that abortion kills a human person. There is a very strange and powerful sort of delusion going on, then, for that is the only way to explain how so many people can stubbornly, arrogantly and blindly cling to the notion that abortion is legitimate “reproductive health care” and a “right” of all women.

I ask you again: what is so heart-wrenching about availing myself of legitimate reproductive health care?

Those who demand abortion rights must constantly prop up the illusion in their minds that they’re not hurting anyone or doing anything wrong. It helps their cause to use more palatable language, like “terminating a pregnancy” rather than killing a baby. (Mr. President, I’ve been pregnant four times and I can assure you that every single time, I was pregnant with a baby. The only way to terminate a pregnancy is to terminate the baby.)

Ah, the baby… could that be the source of all the heart-wrenching? But we’ve already decided we’re not going to even acknowledge the humanity of the baby, so what’s the problem? Just get rid of the unwanted tissue already and be done with it.

"Pro-Choice" advocates must continually shout the mantra of “women’s rights” in order to keep from thinking about the mangled little body lying on the instrument table after the “procedure.” If they stop for even a moment to consider the actual results of abortion, all arguments for its legality would necessarily collapse in a heap around them. No one with an ounce of humanity could stomach this gruesome brand of “medicine” without the protection of narcissistic and evil delusions of choice and rights.

The enemy of every human soul has deceived and deluded us into rationalizing the unjustifiable murder of our own children. Youre being deceived, Mr. President, by the father of lies. The prince of darkness has persuaded many of us to reject our natural instinct to protect our young. He has convinced too many women that they can simply destroy their own child and walk away unscathed. It is not so. Abortion leaves only a trail of death and despair. It is not freedom for women; it is bondage to brokenness.

You now stand in a position to set in motion changes to our nation that may last for decades or longer. You can either use the power in your hands for life or for death. I grieve to think that you will persist in your path of death for our country; that my children will inherit the destructive fruits of all that you seem intent on pursuing. I beg you to hear the truth, to hear the cry of the voiceless little ones. I beg you to choose life.

Do not include abortion funding in your health care reform. The purposeful death of a human being can never be considered health care. Do not continue to demand that our nation’s collective tax dollars be spent on the mass-killing of the unborn. The truth is laid out before you in the purest light; without shadows, without doubt. “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

There is nothing heart-wrenching about choosing life, Mr. President. No shame, no regrets, nothing lost. Only blessings gained. I continue to pray for you, that you will have the courage to protect all human life, especially the weakest and most defenseless. I pray that you will use your position of power to bring life – not death – to our nation. I pray that the Lord of Life and Prince of Peace will bless you and guide you and that you will welcome His revealing light. Choose life, Mr. President. It is the only way we will survive.

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by Jennifer Hartline

• 8/14/2009
• Catholic Online

Sneaky Chef: Sneaky S'mores

CBN.com – Sneaky S’mores
Makes 2 dozen

• One and one-half cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1⁄2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1⁄2 cup Orange Puree (see Make-Ahead Recipe #2, below)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg yolk, Orange Puree, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Stir in 1⁄2 cup of the chocolate chips. Pinch off tablespoon amounts of dough and roll about 24 balls in your hands (wet your hands with water or spray them with oil to keep from sticking to dough). Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet about an inch apart. Gently press your thumb into the center of each ball to make a deep indent.
Bake 16 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and fill each indent with a couple of chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Return cookies to oven for just 1 more minute to just slightly melt the marshmallows and chocolate chips.
Per Serving (1 smore, 58g): Calories 130; Total Fat 6g; Fiber 2g; Total Carbohydrate 19g; Sugar 12g; Protein 1g; Sodium 101mg; Cholesterol 12mg; Calcium 20mg

Sneaky Chef Make-Ahead Recipe #2: Orange Puree

• 1 medium sweet potato or yam, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 medium to large carrots, peeled and sliced into thick chunks
• 2 to 3 tablespoons water

Place the sweet potatoes and carrots in a medium-sized pot and cover with cold water.     Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes, until carrots are very tender. Careful—if the carrots aren’t tender enough, they may leave telltale little nuggets of vegetable in recipes, which will reveal their presence to your kids, a gigantic no-no for The Sneaky Chef.
Drain the carrots and sweet potatoes and put them in the food processor with 2 tablespoons of water. Puree on high until completely smooth—until no pieces of vegetable show. Stop occasionally to push the contents to the bottom. If necessary, use another tablespoon of water to smooth out the puree, but the less water, the better.
This recipe makes about 2 cups of puree. Orange Puree will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or you can freeze 1⁄4-cup portions in sealed plastic bags or small plastic containers, and store for 3 months.
For more free recipes, visit www.SneakyChef.com

I have crafting ADD

I am looking around my house as I get ready for the carpet guy to measure at all the craft stuff everywhere! I keep starting a project that I see on a blog then find another project and quit the first and then ... well you get the idea.

So right now I am painting my wrought iron coffee table, side table and sofa table with primer. I have 1 90% finished by hand and I think spray primer is on the shopping list now. I have flowers like Pleated Poppy in varying states of finished. 1 iron on transfer on drop cloth waiting to be made into a pillow with 2 more transfers in line behind that.My curbside freebie is still waiting on shelves whenever Hubby gets time. A 3 foot stack of Better Homes and Gardens magazines needs sorting and tossed. Garden is half weeded. A shelf leans against the wall I painted a few weeks ago but I don't like the color anymore. I bought 2 lamps at Goodwill to do a Pottery Barn knockoff project...1 is painted and ready to assemble the other is just in pieces.

And that is just in the living room. Not gonna talk about the kitchen. Really not talking about the projects stacked in the bedroom!

sigh

I am so glad Hubby is patient with my ADD and doesn't mind shoving craft stuff over so he can sit. :)

It is going to get back up past 100 degrees this week so I am going to stay inside and bust out some crafts...and search for more ideas ;)