america

This morning my parents and I had a discussion on America. They said it is a Christian nation, I say I believe in separation of church and state. I quit giving my point of view as soon as they got upset, as always, but Dad did end by telling me to read the constitution. So I did.

(Isn't google great?)

Constitution

I did NOT find any mention of God, except that it was signed "the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven".

Even the President's Oath of Office does not mention God.

Then, while doing a bit more googling, I found that John Adams and the US Senate signed a treaty with Tripoly in 1797 that specifically said "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion".

treaty with tripoly

Interesting, huh? They were trying to avoid problems with Muslims, no less. HA!


Have a good week,
Anne

Cat brushing

Julie commented she is bored because I haven't posted, but the only thing I have done besides read books for the past few weeks is brush the cat. I do have some good info tho, if you ever were to obtain a cat and wish to brush it!

Most of our cats have been short haired and not brushed. My current cat has semi-long hair, and she sheds like crazy, so I try to brush her at least every other day.

At first I used a brush with bristles like a regular hair brush. It is fairly useless, just picking up any random hairs that are already almost falling off the cat. So when I saw the commercial for the "shedender" or "furminator", I thought they sounded fabulous. The one I purchased, I don't remember which, claimed you only had to brush ONCE every SIX months. Wow! What a bargain! The problem is that the cat does NOT stop shedding for six months. She shed the exact same amount, no matter how many fist fulls of hair I removed with the high tech tool. Eventually, in fact, she started getting bald spots. And still shed just as much.

Then I thought, what if I trimmed her hair shorter? Perhaps we didn't notice the other cats' hair cuz it was shorter! After much research, I bought a comb (for people hair) that had a razor in it. It is supposed to cut as you comb. Frankly, it did a nice brush job, but except for one whisker I accidentally caught, I don't think it cut her hair at all. Perhaps cat hair is too soft? The other end of the razor comb was a plain comb. I tried that, and it got just as much hair as the other types.

I also have tried, at some point, the gloves that have rubber nubs and are supposed to groom as you stroke. I haven't found a cat yet that likes them at all.

So my recommendation is to purchase a cheap fine tooth comb. And go at it!

Also, the pet hair velcro roller thing works well on the back of drapes...

Or, don't get a black cat.

Happy now Julie?

Have a great week,
Anne

book of the month

I haven't recommended any books lately, cuz I have mostly been reading fiction. I don't like to recommend fiction choices because everyone likes different stuff. With non-fiction, if you are interested in the subject, you are good.

Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior
by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman

I just liked this book. It has lots of psych studies, which I enjoy. It explains why we do such stupid things at times- and how to avoid this.

One funny section involved "who wants to be a millionaire". In France, one contestant blanked on "what revolves around the earth? mars, venus, sun or moon" and had to ask the audience. 56 percent said the sun, and he went with it, and the audience LAUGHED. They had lied, on purpose, cuz they thought he was too dumb to deserve the money. In Russia, contestants never use the ask the audience, because they always lie. They don't think anyone deserves money "on the backs of others". Interesting, huh?

Another good study was done with 2 people. One was giving money, say a hundred bucks, and told to divide it up with another person he had no contact with. The other person could accept it, or deny. If denied, no one got money. In America, most divided it 50/50 and were accepted. If they divided it ANYTHING less than that, the second person was willing to walk away with NOTHING instead of less than half, just on the "it's not fair" principle. In a small bush town in Africa, the most common division was 85/15 on the principle that the 2nd person didn't really deserve anything, so any amount was a gift, and it was almost always accepted. The only people that rejected it were found to have spent time with Americans and felt fifty fifty was fair. Would you give up, say, 40 bucks on principle? Or just take it happily?

An all around interesting book!

Have a good weekend!

Anne

stupid commercials

I have been really sick, so I am easily irritated. Here is a list of commercials that make me want to scream.

My most hated is the Swiffer one. First, swiffer is the most chemical laden thing you can bring into your home. The Norwex lady said it is the leading bad product. Second, I thought I HATED the "baby come back" version. I screamed every time I heard the song start. Until, that is, they replaced it with the "who's that lady" version which taught me the real meaning of hatred. Why oh why do I want to listen to the stupid song while the mop and feather duster fall in love??? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hate it. I cover my ears and close my eyes and scream in my head until it is safe to come out. I can't believe I thought the mop getting on the bus with a suitcase of clothes was dumb. Dusting and cleaning tools having dinner in the garage is WAY worse.

Next is the pregnancy test one where they say "80% of women misread the leading pregnancy test". Every time I hear this I scream "READ THE DIRECTIONS YOU IDIOTS!!" and really hope it is negative cuz they seem too dumb to have kids.

I really really hate all the commercials promising to get you out of paying your back taxes. "Owe fifty billion? We can get the IRS agree to five bucks!!" Why not just pay your freaking taxes? Why is there is a whole industry devoted to NOT paying your taxes???

I also hate the mystyle.com "test drive" commercial for the twenty two dollar SUCKER. They claim the people they polled thought TWENTY TWO dollars was a good price for the sucker cuz it has a bedazzled stick. Who are they polling? Who would drop twenty bucks on a sucker? Obviously someone on drugs....

I really really can't stand the Mr. Clean commercial where one sponge says to the other, "he's cleaning a shoe!" and the second sponge says "what's a sheee ow?" Hello. The first one says it right, but the second one can't???

My current rage is at the Walmart roll back commercial. The nice truck driver says he planned his route better and saved Wal MILLIONS of dollars. Why oh why wouldn't they have done this twenty years ago if it really saved that much money??? How much was that driver spending on gas? A trillion bucks a year? so confusing.

Hope this helps you appreciate tv a bit more,

Anne

card class

Jodi wanted to start a non-buying stuff card club, and asked me to do the projects. For the first class, I decided on graduation and mother's day. The meeting was last friday, and it was much fun. We only had four people total, so everyone got to make as many cards as they wanted. Mange did a neat birthday card using the mother's day supplies, but I didn't have my camera. :)

Next meeting is the 30th, with father's day and birthday as the theme.

This is the first graduation card. It was fun to see the ladies use the supplies in different ways to personalize the cards.

This is the second grad card. I had several different primary colors so they could match school colors for graduates if they wanted.

For the mother's day, I wanted to try my new cuttlebug embossing folders. I had supplies for sanding the cardstock after embossing or inking. The cardstock for these was white-core, so it sands nicely.

This one is a bit romantic for Mom, but would be a good love or wedding card.

Don't you wish you were there? :)

Jodi donated some paper for supplies for next class, and I already have ideas floating around in my head.

Have a great week,

Anne

buying stuff

So I bought a bunch of stuff last month when HSN had free shipping on all craft items. I was feeling a bit badly about it, but today I did a cool project with one of the new tools, and I LOVE IT. I could see doing a million things, and many fam members wanting to also, so it was worth it. :) Okay, so a few other things I haven't tried yet, but I will get to it!

I found out this week that Stampin' Up! is retiring a BUNCH of colors. This caused a huge uproar on the stamping forums, but didn't really affect me until I realize they are retiring Blush Blossom. The paper I use for flesh tones for paper dolls. They have NOTHING else to replace it in peach flesh tones either. And I already have searched all over before buying Blush Blossom, cuz it is expensive for paper dolls. Guess I have to purchase a few packs to have on hand for years to come... I do like the other new colors tho, and I don't worry about matching ink to paper like the other forum people seem to. I purchased light and dark inks of all the colors, not all of them, so I am good there.

Have a great week,

Anne

great giveaways

Samantha, who has a great SU! blog, is giving away masses of free stuff from doing her spring cleaning. Head on over and sign up for some goodies!
It's a way to get some supplies without the cost. :)

http://thescrapmaster.blogspot.com/

Have a great holiday,

Anne