Friday, December 23, 2011

A HOLIDAY GREETING

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
FROM THE
LADIES OF GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED

L. Barnett Evans & C.V. Rhodes
a.k.a. Bea Bell, Hattie Collier, Connie Palmer and Miss Fanny

We'll see you next year with more blogging fun when we resume
on
January 6, 2012!

Friday, December 16, 2011

WORDS OF WISDOM

This week it’s me, Hattie Collier, writing my thoughts about a couple of things I’ve learned over the years.  I’d be the first to admit that although I think of myself as intelligent, I’m not a scholar.  I do read the newspaper and listen to the news every day so as far I’m concerned, that and the fact that I have sixty something years of life experience under my belt, has given me a degree of knowledge that I have come to appreciate.   At times I’m surprised at what I’ve learned about life.  So, I decided to put a few of those things in categories and write down my thoughts about some of the wisdom I’ve acquired.
AMERICA
As someone who has lived through some of the worse times when it comes to race in this country, it can be said that things have gotten a lot better than in the past.  However, despite the 2008 election which resulted in an African American president, America is not “post racial.”  The word post racial only means that as usual people don’t want to talk about the country’s racial problem.  So when the continued silence blows up in our faces in the form of racial strife, we shouldn’t be surprised.
THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
My first thought was that I’ve never seen such a bunch of idiots in my life.  Then after I thought about it more, I could see that they might not be as clueless as I thought.  After all, if you’re an upper middle class or wealthy American (because poor people don’t run for office on a national level) who can raise a lot of money for a campaign (and I do mean a lot!) and win, you can enter the U.S. Congress under the noble disguise of wanting to “serve the people” and end your Congressional wealthier than when you entered!  What a deal, and at our expense.
THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES
In America, if you’re at the bottom of your college class or a C student in an Ivy League college, you can be considered a serious contender for President or become President of the United States, as long as your family is wealthy or well connected.  Obviously, intelligence does not matter.  However, if you’re  from the working class and you’ve gone to school on scholarships, grants and loans and  graduate at the top of your college class, and worked most of your life to pay back student loans you’re called an “elitist” if you run for President of the United States.  It all seems kind of backward to me.
EDUCATION VS SPORTS
If it ever came to a battle between the two, it has become obvious to me that sports would be the winner.  Over the years I’ve noticed that football and basketball programs have become more important in most colleges and universities in the United States than academic programs.   I bet that most institutions of higher learning would willingly give up one of their educational departments rather than disband its football or basketball programs.  Any male dominated sport in this country that brings in a buck or two is much more important than educating the future generation of this country.  I know where I live the city will build a brand new sports stadium before they fund the public school system adequately—as a matter of fact it has built not one, but two stadiums, both proof  of  what is more important in our city.
There are a lot more things that I’ve learned over the years, but I’ll share those with you later.  Right now I’d better sign off because the more I think about all of the things I’ve mentioned, the madder I’m getting. I’ll leave you to do the musing.


Friday, December 9, 2011

KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION – 5 GUARANTEED DIET PLANS

           
This is Connie Palmer here to remind you that Santa Claus is coming to town.  As soon as he leaves you’ll be faced with another year of reflection.  That’s right, another year of New Year’s Resolutions, the annual ritual of making a list of promises you either won’t or can’t keep.  This time around, I’m not going to participate in the yearly blood bath of disappointment.  This year I’m here to help you.

The number one resolution, especially for women, is weight loss.  We all know that being closer to your “ideal” weight is better for your health and possibly your well-being.  The problem is a lot of us try to lose pounds as quickly as possible and be done.  When it comes to weight loss we have a “fix it and forget it” mentality when we know we need to make lifestyle changes.  For those of you who still want a quick fix, I have a guaranteed solution.   There is no limit to the number of fad diets and chances are you’ve tried one or more.  These diets are guaranteed to work.  The weight loss resolution-solution is not how or if you try the fad diets, but when you try them.  Here are five of my favorite fad diets that won’t leave you behind the eight ball on next December 31. 

THE 1 DAY DIET  – On this plan you’re guaranteed to lose1 to 2 pounds.  Now the diet can’t be repeated more than twice a week, but if one day is all you can last on a diet, this plan is the one for you.

THE 7 DAY ALL YOU CAN EAT DIET  – If you like fruits and vegetables, you’re a winner because you can have all the fruits and vegetables you want the first three days of the plan.  On the fourth day, you eat 5 bananas with 5 glasses of milk.   On Friday, the fifth day, eat all the fresh vegetables and fruit you want, plus you can add 3 ounces of beef, chicken or fish steaks.  Saturday is vegetable day with 3 ounces of beef steak.  Sunday repeat Saturday’s menu.  This is bound to work because; depending on your system most of this food will most likely come out of one end of your body or the other for a guaranteed five pound weight loss.

THE CABBAGE SOUP DIET - This diet lets you eat homemade cabbage soup whenever you’re hungry.  Personally, I really enjoyed the soup even when I wasn’t trying to diet.   I would suggest investing in a large supply of Beano, GasX, or some similar product while on this diet.  

 THE HOLLYWOOD DIET -   I remember when this was a diet plan that many stars raved about, and why not?  It’s nothing but juice and a total of about 400 calories.  Follow this diet long enough and you could look like a starving actress or a dead model in no time.  According to Faddiet.com you can expect to lose 3-4 pounds on this type of diet fast.  

THE GRAPEFRUIT DIET –.  Believe it or not, this diet may actually work because you either eat ½ grapefruit or drink 8 ounces of grapefruit juice a day.  You must drink 64 ounces of water a day and the rest of the plan calls for a menu to follow. This is great if you like grapefruit and you don’t mind possibly getting an ulcer.  Either way, with all the liquid you consume some water loss is guaranteed.

I know you ladies and gentlemen are astute enough to remember that I said some weight loss is guaranteed with these plans, and here’s how:  I suggest making your resolution on New Year’s day 2012 but start your diet on December 25, 2012  By December 31, 2012, you can honestly say you lost some weight during the year.

I was browsing Daniel Worona‘s website on humor and ran across this quote:  People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.  ~Author Unknown

It seems to me that the advice in this quote is absolutely perfect to assure  a successful weight loss plan for the new year.  Happy musing!

Friday, December 2, 2011

BRAIN FART: HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS, KICK THE KIDS OUTSIDE

I have to admit that I, Fanny Collier, was practicing the yearly spending ritual that we call Christmas shopping when I ran across a retro toy shop.  They were selling toys that were popular when my son was a child and even some toys from when I was little.
There were jacks, jump ropes, Tonka trucks, and even a Lionel train set.  It all made me long for the “good old days”.  Now that’s something I seldom do because I know that time marches on and those days were old but not often as good as we remember.
Seeing those toys got me thinking about a conversation I had with my grandson when he was younger.  I was telling him about games that I played growing up.  There were games like jump rope and kick the can and hand-clapping games like Mary Mac.  As I was recalling how much fun I used to have, my grandson shot down my moment of nostalgia by asking me if we were too poor to afford toys.   Was he serious?  Taking a deep breath, I explained that we did have some toys but we didn’t need a bunch of commercial toys because we played games that were fun and imaginative.   When he continued to stare at me blankly, I just told him to go outside and play.
Then it hit me! Do parents make their kids go outside to play anymore?  There were not many days, especially during the summer, that our parents didn’t send us outside.  They really didn’t care rather we wanted to go out; we were not allowed to sit in the house all day unless we were doing some chore.  The fact that we kids were given jobs to do around the house was enough to inspire going outside to play.
When you think about it, games haven’t really changed that much.  I used to complain that the games today are more violent, but in reality the ones that children played in the past, like cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians were violent as well.  The only difference was that the blood and gore was implied and not visible like they are in today’s video games.  Back then everyone wanted to be the good guys.
Of course much tamer games like hopscotch, jacks, tag, hide-and-seek, etc.  may be considered by young people today  as “lame” or “stupid”,  but such games provided exercise and fun, fresh air and sunshine, to say nothing of developing coordination. 
Even if the games of the past are lame, stupid or just old-fashioned, they’re better for our kids than video games.  At best the latter develops good thumb coordination and at worst, they teach stealing and killing skills.  Either way the child is being programmed instead of learning to think.
As you shop for toys this Christmas, you can spend a fortune for games for your kids that promote cave-man-like qualities, but I’d like to suggest that you kick your kids outdoors to play—especially if it’s cold and snowing.  I’ll bet they’ll use their imaginations then.  So muse on that!