Focused at Fifty

Please watch this slick, hip video. This concept is incredible:  To have roads set with solar panels which will spur the creation of a new industry allowing our country to move towards a self sustaining future away from oil, natural gas, and coal.  I watched this video several weeks ago and wanted to share my thoughts and concerns. I would love to see it happen but I feel it would take such large scale investment by the government. It would create thousands of jobs but the initial investment would have to be incredible. And although it is a great idea, it gives no specifics in terms of start up costs or total costs on the large scale. One has to remember though that most of the great inventions started small through prototypes by someone with an idea, passion, resilience, determination, and focus. I am concerned though, with the resulting future effect on the construction and infrastructure industry.  Yes, we would be creating a new industry but we would also be ending a

A nice cut of meat! Marinade used was Lawry's Steak & Chop This blog post is not so much about one specific recipe as it is a memory of a favorite family meal. London Broil was a special "staple" within my family. We had it at least once a month. Mom and Dad rarely bought steak but they did treat us to London Broil. Mom would season it up and pop it into the oven. I remember Dad taking it out, letting it rest, and then slicing it up on our large wooden cutting board with the longest knife we owned. He would slice it so very thin, the more tasty rarer pieces in the center. We three kids would fight for the crunchy charred ends. Sometimes, he would sneak us a piece before we sat down to eat.  YUM! Came out perfect! I use several different approaches to seasoning my London Broil. At the very least, you should always salt and pepper the meat to enhance the flavor. Sometimes I use a homemade or store bought seasoning rub. Other times, if I don't have t

Ingredients are ready! My Mom's pasta sauce could not be beat. Unfortunately she did not create a recipe card for it, but every time she made it, it came out incredible. It was always a favorite requested by us kids for special occasions like our birthdays. And like a truly good pasta sauce, the spaghetti leftovers were even better the next day. I remember waking up on a Saturday morning as a teenager with my brother Adam and sneaking a spaghetti breakfast.  I have tried to replicate my Mom's sauce and it comes out good but never seems to be like hers. I just don't have a jar of "made with Mom's love" lyin' around! Just waitin' for the oven to heat up. We always had a loaf of crusty bread with the pasta. She would heat it up in the oven, then slice it up, plop it in a wicker basket covered with a cloth napkin and onto the table it went. Mom found THIS particular recipe in her later years and swore by it as an easy tasty recipe for Parmesan br

Butler's New American Practical Arithmetic I seem to be going through a phase of where papers are literally falling out of books. Why can't it be hundred dollar bills? Heck, I'd take tens or twenties at this point. If you remember, just the other week a suicide note fell out of a vintage book that John had bought me and I wrote a blog about it: http://frazzledatforty.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-suicide-note-from-angie.html  . Well last week, John had bought a raggedy 1881 arithmetic book at a yard sale. We were looking at it trying to decide whether to keep it or sell it and out fell two Victorian era poems. It's such a cool experience when something unexpected like this happens. (Although I am still uneasy about the suicide note falling out of the other book.)   Two lost poems found.  The poems are not long, just four lines each. They are sweet, but honestly nothing spectacular. Though this doesn't diminish their beauty from a bygone era. The paper is y

"Waiter, there's a fly in my glass, no there really is!" I am turning 44 today. Multiply that by two, you get 88. When I turned 40, I figured I was at the halfway point of life til 80. I think 88 is one of the last reasonable ages I could live to, so technically I am at or over that halfway mark. Getting older is an eye opening experience as you realize that time is limited. So G-d damnit, you might as well start enjoying things while you are here and start having some fun! Getting older also means taking care of yourself. When we were younger, it seemed that most of us worked out to look good. We felt invincible, immortal. As you get older, health issues crop up. So these days, working out to be healthy is just as important as looking good. And a shit load of eye creams help to. Remember when we used to think how strange it was when our parents were in their 40's? I thought they were so ... OLD (shudder). And here I am, 44.  Little did I know that I would be