John Maynard Keynes talked about life without the means of exchange as "a perigrination in the catacombs with a guttering candle". Now that the European banks are stuffing their money into their reserves and governments are committed to spending as little as possible, that perigrination seems worryingly closer.
This is what we can do:
http://neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/21/how-to-avoid-the-peregrination-in-the-catacombs
The extra costs of the big IT systems
My book The Human Element came out last month and it has been fascinating how people have responded – I got a Facebook message last week from a doctor in New Hampshire explaining how the fake efficiency being peddled by managers at her local hospital was adding to costs.
Then sometimes I run slap bang against new evidence myself. Because I hadn’t until last week used the new NHS Choose and Book appointment system.
The first I knew that I was using it was a letter asking me why I hadn’t called them up to book my appointment with a consultant. I hadn’t in fact received the original letter from my doctors, but didn’t know that at the time.
I called their appointments line. They couldn’t talk to me because I didn’t have a password.
Now I’ve recently been refusing to accept passwords. I have vast numbers of them already for every public and private agency I deal with. It means I have to keep them in a notebook.
Far from making my identity more secure, it is actually making it less so – like the phenomenon of people putting their daily password on a post-it note on their office computers.
So I said I wasn’t accepting any more passwords. Long conversation with the manager who eventually put the phone down on me. Stand off. They said I had to get back to my GP. My GP’s receptionist said I had to go back to the appointments line.
I felt excitingly embattled, but my resolve crumbled when I got my GP on the phone. I don’t want to make her life any more difficult, after all, so I meekly accepted my password.
It is (surely you’re not going to publish your password? I am, really, it’s no use to me) ‘estate tomato’.
The magic words finally got me through the appointment system phone line. They gave me another number to call, which got me through to King’s College Hospital. There a very nice lady said they would send me an appointment date in the old way.
I asked why that required a password like estate tomato and four phone calls. She said that, in practice, the new Choose and Book appointment system – imposed at vast expense by one of the ubiquitous IT consultancies – was so useless that they had opted out.
Why was it so useless? Because as students of the systems thinker John Seddon will know, these centralised IT solutions can’t deal with diversity. They are inflexible and therefore lock in costs.
Was there really a problem of people not being able to prove their identity under the old system? People stealing each other’s hospital appointments? I don’t believe so, yet the IT consultants have clearly made out that there was.
Maybe you need extra safeguards if you have a huge national system. It is another way that big scale solutions lock in costs.
So here we are, another way in which the legacy of New Labour still infects Whitehall. A more expensive system which works less well than it did before because it rules out informal solutions – very urgent appointments, anything which requires face to face judgement.
Inflexible solutions means higher costs. No wonder the deficit is rising.
What can we do? Well, we can refuse to accept any more passwords, but – I have to admit – I failed on this score at the first hurdle. I’ll do better next time.
Then sometimes I run slap bang against new evidence myself. Because I hadn’t until last week used the new NHS Choose and Book appointment system.
The first I knew that I was using it was a letter asking me why I hadn’t called them up to book my appointment with a consultant. I hadn’t in fact received the original letter from my doctors, but didn’t know that at the time.
I called their appointments line. They couldn’t talk to me because I didn’t have a password.
Now I’ve recently been refusing to accept passwords. I have vast numbers of them already for every public and private agency I deal with. It means I have to keep them in a notebook.
Far from making my identity more secure, it is actually making it less so – like the phenomenon of people putting their daily password on a post-it note on their office computers.
So I said I wasn’t accepting any more passwords. Long conversation with the manager who eventually put the phone down on me. Stand off. They said I had to get back to my GP. My GP’s receptionist said I had to go back to the appointments line.
I felt excitingly embattled, but my resolve crumbled when I got my GP on the phone. I don’t want to make her life any more difficult, after all, so I meekly accepted my password.
It is (surely you’re not going to publish your password? I am, really, it’s no use to me) ‘estate tomato’.
The magic words finally got me through the appointment system phone line. They gave me another number to call, which got me through to King’s College Hospital. There a very nice lady said they would send me an appointment date in the old way.
I asked why that required a password like estate tomato and four phone calls. She said that, in practice, the new Choose and Book appointment system – imposed at vast expense by one of the ubiquitous IT consultancies – was so useless that they had opted out.
Why was it so useless? Because as students of the systems thinker John Seddon will know, these centralised IT solutions can’t deal with diversity. They are inflexible and therefore lock in costs.
Was there really a problem of people not being able to prove their identity under the old system? People stealing each other’s hospital appointments? I don’t believe so, yet the IT consultants have clearly made out that there was.
Maybe you need extra safeguards if you have a huge national system. It is another way that big scale solutions lock in costs.
So here we are, another way in which the legacy of New Labour still infects Whitehall. A more expensive system which works less well than it did before because it rules out informal solutions – very urgent appointments, anything which requires face to face judgement.
Inflexible solutions means higher costs. No wonder the deficit is rising.
What can we do? Well, we can refuse to accept any more passwords, but – I have to admit – I failed on this score at the first hurdle. I’ll do better next time.
The perils of payment by results
Payment by results, much beloved of the coalition - good idea in principle. The trouble is that Whitehall has not really grasped what went wrong with their targets regime and therefore don't understand the perils of their new payment by results regime, as I discovered during a seminar in a Whitehall department last year.
The real problem is that payment by results will inevitably end up with targets again, as I explained in the new edition of Local Economy journal:
http://lec.sagepub.com/content/26/8/627.full.pdf+html
The real problem is that payment by results will inevitably end up with targets again, as I explained in the new edition of Local Economy journal:
http://lec.sagepub.com/content/26/8/627.full.pdf+html
Why Clegg was right to choose Popper
Imagine yourself in the coffee houses of 18th century Edinburgh, in the elegance of the New Town when it really was new, the civilization of those paved streets, and the intellectual excitement of the Scottish Enlightenment.
It was there that the philosopher David Hume first cast doubt on scientific method, peering at ideas about what causes what and finding there was nothing there. All you can do, he said, is say that events tend to happen together.
Yet, if we can see nothing causing things under the philosophical microscope, that hands the scientists a big logical problem. It doesn’t matter how many times they do an experiment, or watch the sun rising bang on time, it doesn’t mean these events are any more likely to happen tomorrow.
Two centuries after Hume was writing in Edinburgh, the Viennese philosopher Karl Popper, a refugee from the Nazis, came up with an interim answer. But, more importantly, he also applied it to politics and organizations. You may not be able to prove what you believe about the world, no matter how often an observation or experiment takes place, but you can disprove it.
Popper used the example of swans. It doesn’t matter how many white swans you see, it still doesn’t prove that all swans are white. But if you see a black swan, then you know they are not.
Popper was writing during the Second World War, his home city was in the hands of totalitarians, and he quickly found himself applying this insight to politics too. In doing so, he produced one of the classic 20th century statements of philosophical liberalism, The Open Society and its Enemies (published in 1945).
He said societies, governments, bureaucracies and companies work best when the beliefs and maxims of those at the top can be challenged and disproved by those below. This has huge implications, not just for effective societies, but for effective organizations too.
Popper was flying in the face of the accepted opinions of the chattering classes at the time. They may not have liked the totalitarian regimes of Hitler or Stalin, but people widely believed the rhetoric that they were somehow more efficient than the corrupt and timid democracies.
Popper explained why they were not and why Hitler would lose. Anybody who has read Antony Beevor’s classic account of the Battle of Stalingrad, and the hideous slaughter and inefficiencies brought about by two centralized dictators who had to take every decision personally, can see immediately that Popper was right. Real progress required ‘setting free the critical powers of man’, he said.
The possibility of this challenge – in what he called ‘open societies’ – is the one guarantee of good and effective government or management. Those human beings at the front line, those most affected by policy, will always know better about their own lives or their own work than those at the top.
Open societies can change and develop; closed societies can’t. Hierarchical, centralized systems, by their very nature, prevent that critical challenge from below.
Why this rant about Popper? Because he is the critical Liberal philosopher of the twentieth century. I kept saying so during the process that produced the Liberal Democrat philosophy document It's about freedom, but still failed even to get him a name check.
But also because he is the central figure of Nick Clegg's important speech today on the open society to Demos (though again Popper only gets one name check). The speech is vague about Popper, vague about precisely why Popper said open societies work and closed ones grind to a halt, but it chooses exactly the correct philosopher - exactly the right underpinning to make Liberalism distinct now.
It is also, as it happens, the philosophical justification for Liberal-style localism - it is about "setting free the critical powers of man".
It was there that the philosopher David Hume first cast doubt on scientific method, peering at ideas about what causes what and finding there was nothing there. All you can do, he said, is say that events tend to happen together.
Yet, if we can see nothing causing things under the philosophical microscope, that hands the scientists a big logical problem. It doesn’t matter how many times they do an experiment, or watch the sun rising bang on time, it doesn’t mean these events are any more likely to happen tomorrow.
Two centuries after Hume was writing in Edinburgh, the Viennese philosopher Karl Popper, a refugee from the Nazis, came up with an interim answer. But, more importantly, he also applied it to politics and organizations. You may not be able to prove what you believe about the world, no matter how often an observation or experiment takes place, but you can disprove it.
Popper used the example of swans. It doesn’t matter how many white swans you see, it still doesn’t prove that all swans are white. But if you see a black swan, then you know they are not.
Popper was writing during the Second World War, his home city was in the hands of totalitarians, and he quickly found himself applying this insight to politics too. In doing so, he produced one of the classic 20th century statements of philosophical liberalism, The Open Society and its Enemies (published in 1945).
He said societies, governments, bureaucracies and companies work best when the beliefs and maxims of those at the top can be challenged and disproved by those below. This has huge implications, not just for effective societies, but for effective organizations too.
Popper was flying in the face of the accepted opinions of the chattering classes at the time. They may not have liked the totalitarian regimes of Hitler or Stalin, but people widely believed the rhetoric that they were somehow more efficient than the corrupt and timid democracies.
Popper explained why they were not and why Hitler would lose. Anybody who has read Antony Beevor’s classic account of the Battle of Stalingrad, and the hideous slaughter and inefficiencies brought about by two centralized dictators who had to take every decision personally, can see immediately that Popper was right. Real progress required ‘setting free the critical powers of man’, he said.
The possibility of this challenge – in what he called ‘open societies’ – is the one guarantee of good and effective government or management. Those human beings at the front line, those most affected by policy, will always know better about their own lives or their own work than those at the top.
Open societies can change and develop; closed societies can’t. Hierarchical, centralized systems, by their very nature, prevent that critical challenge from below.
Why this rant about Popper? Because he is the critical Liberal philosopher of the twentieth century. I kept saying so during the process that produced the Liberal Democrat philosophy document It's about freedom, but still failed even to get him a name check.
But also because he is the central figure of Nick Clegg's important speech today on the open society to Demos (though again Popper only gets one name check). The speech is vague about Popper, vague about precisely why Popper said open societies work and closed ones grind to a halt, but it chooses exactly the correct philosopher - exactly the right underpinning to make Liberalism distinct now.
It is also, as it happens, the philosophical justification for Liberal-style localism - it is about "setting free the critical powers of man".
The critical importance of geographical place
It hardly matters what kind of policy meeting it is, it's always the same when you talk about community. Someone will pipe up and talk about the shift to virtual communities, or communities of interest.
Which is true, of course - but only up to a point. Localism is impossible without real geographical communities. So are most solutions to social problems. So are most public services. But at last politicians are beginning to remember the importance of place, and among them is Nick Clegg:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/15/the-vital-importance-of-place-for-re-growing-economies
Which is true, of course - but only up to a point. Localism is impossible without real geographical communities. So are most solutions to social problems. So are most public services. But at last politicians are beginning to remember the importance of place, and among them is Nick Clegg:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/15/the-vital-importance-of-place-for-re-growing-economies
Money: why the UK political classes are deaf to the problem
Why is Merkozy so jealous of the City of London? Isn’t it obvious? It’s because:
1. It is so focussed on short-term fluctuations that it corrodes the value of businesses that think ahead (a nasty continental habit).
2. It allows a handful of none-too-bright traders to spend £70,000 on an office Christmas lunch, using profits won from betting against their fellow countrymen (that’s competition, right?)
3. It completely ignores the financial needs of the businesses of the future (why should we want hundreds of tiny banks investing in every community like the French and Germans – that’s socialism, isn’t it).
4. It sucks talent and investment from the productive economy (that’s the modern way).
5. Every generation or so, it requires bailing out, using most of the tax revenues generated from their activities (that is the unfortunate consequence of buccaneering Anglo-Saxon risk taking).
Yes, it is dysfunctional. Yes, it is corrosive. Yes, it does immense harm to real, productive business all over the country – and pays £53 billion into the exchequer so that its leading members are allowed to carry on getting repulsively rich. But at least it’s British. It must therefore be the Envy of the World.
All of which explains a little about why Sarkozy and Merkel and their colleagues are jealous of Britain’s financial sector. The answer is: they’re not – but they would prefer not to let the City of London corrode their economies like it corrodes ours.
But (seriously now) there is a pattern here which needs articulating.
The criticism which the new economics levels at the City of London, and the rest of our supremely dysfunctional financial service sector, is not understood by the political classes – not even really heard.
We are not arguing that the City is privileged (though it is). Nor are we just arguing that it isn’t fit for purpose (though it clearly isn’t). We are saying that it is actively corroding the UK economy.
Why do the chattering classes not grasp this, and thereby see David Cameron’s ‘veto’ a little more clearly?
The answer, I think, is that they assume the arguments about the City are traditional UK political arguments – that they derive from class envy – and they therefore discount them.
It is precisely the same with two other crucial arguments about the economic future of the nation.
We are not complaining that the concentration of economic power in a handful of mega banks because of class envy – we are saying they are actively failing the UK economy.
We are not complaining that clone town mega-retailers dominate too many regional economies because of class envy – we are saying that they are actively dismantling local economies.
The mainstream media, including the BBC, are so stuck in the traditional UK political groove – the game the political classes play with each other – that they don’t hear the argument.
Nor do they hear the real debate about the City, because they assume it is a familiar move in a familiar game: Britain versus the continent, the UK versus Brussels, England versus Rome.
Somehow we have to break through this political complacency. If we want a thriving economy, somebody is going to have to tackle the City so that it does what it says on the tin – providing finance to new business and innovation.
Someone is going to have to tackle the banking oligopoly so that we can have the benefits of an effective local banking infrastructure that they enjoy across most of the continent.
Someone is going to have to tackle the huge privileges given to supermarkets so that we can have thriving local economies.
The bottom line is this: why should Britain have a more dysfunctional economic infrastructure than those on the continent? Why do we allow it?
1. It is so focussed on short-term fluctuations that it corrodes the value of businesses that think ahead (a nasty continental habit).
2. It allows a handful of none-too-bright traders to spend £70,000 on an office Christmas lunch, using profits won from betting against their fellow countrymen (that’s competition, right?)
3. It completely ignores the financial needs of the businesses of the future (why should we want hundreds of tiny banks investing in every community like the French and Germans – that’s socialism, isn’t it).
4. It sucks talent and investment from the productive economy (that’s the modern way).
5. Every generation or so, it requires bailing out, using most of the tax revenues generated from their activities (that is the unfortunate consequence of buccaneering Anglo-Saxon risk taking).
Yes, it is dysfunctional. Yes, it is corrosive. Yes, it does immense harm to real, productive business all over the country – and pays £53 billion into the exchequer so that its leading members are allowed to carry on getting repulsively rich. But at least it’s British. It must therefore be the Envy of the World.
All of which explains a little about why Sarkozy and Merkel and their colleagues are jealous of Britain’s financial sector. The answer is: they’re not – but they would prefer not to let the City of London corrode their economies like it corrodes ours.
But (seriously now) there is a pattern here which needs articulating.
The criticism which the new economics levels at the City of London, and the rest of our supremely dysfunctional financial service sector, is not understood by the political classes – not even really heard.
We are not arguing that the City is privileged (though it is). Nor are we just arguing that it isn’t fit for purpose (though it clearly isn’t). We are saying that it is actively corroding the UK economy.
Why do the chattering classes not grasp this, and thereby see David Cameron’s ‘veto’ a little more clearly?
The answer, I think, is that they assume the arguments about the City are traditional UK political arguments – that they derive from class envy – and they therefore discount them.
It is precisely the same with two other crucial arguments about the economic future of the nation.
We are not complaining that the concentration of economic power in a handful of mega banks because of class envy – we are saying they are actively failing the UK economy.
We are not complaining that clone town mega-retailers dominate too many regional economies because of class envy – we are saying that they are actively dismantling local economies.
The mainstream media, including the BBC, are so stuck in the traditional UK political groove – the game the political classes play with each other – that they don’t hear the argument.
Nor do they hear the real debate about the City, because they assume it is a familiar move in a familiar game: Britain versus the continent, the UK versus Brussels, England versus Rome.
Somehow we have to break through this political complacency. If we want a thriving economy, somebody is going to have to tackle the City so that it does what it says on the tin – providing finance to new business and innovation.
Someone is going to have to tackle the banking oligopoly so that we can have the benefits of an effective local banking infrastructure that they enjoy across most of the continent.
Someone is going to have to tackle the huge privileges given to supermarkets so that we can have thriving local economies.
The bottom line is this: why should Britain have a more dysfunctional economic infrastructure than those on the continent? Why do we allow it?
Cameron wields veto to defend Fred the Shred and a dysfunctional City
It is a depressing thought that David Cameron has ridden into battle in Brussels in defence – of all things – of the conglomeration of short-termism, bonuses and economic corrosion represented by the City of London.
One of the few benefits to the UK economy of the euro crisis might have been that the European Commission would have stirred themselves into some kind of financial reform.
We have lived too long with a dysfunctional City, sucking up capital and talent that might have been used productively.
Sadly, we are going to carry on doing so.
Cameron was stirred into sacrificing the euro rescue on the altar of the City by a brilliantly timed, but mistaken, report by the think-tank Open Europe.
Earlier this week, their report Repatriating EU Social Policy warned in mildly hysterical terms that the City of London was in danger from EU regulations in the pipeline.
It made a series of debatable assumptions and knitted them together into a nationalistic panic, which deserves more critical scrutiny than it is currently getting.
The report made front page news, especially in London, where – as usual – they wheeled out City of London MP Mark Field to harrumph like Colonel Blimp in a Turkish bath.
The trouble with its two major assumptions is that neither is correct:
Assumption #1: That the City of London, as presently constituted, plays a crucial and important role in the UK economy.
Assumption #2: That the current EU proposals on financial reform are designed to stifle Britain’s financial sector.
Yes, the City pays £53 billion in taxes, which is certainly important, and would be a sign of UK economic success if this came from the City playing a useful role nurturing and supporting the real economy – but, as it currently stands, it signally fails to do so.
The tragedy is that the City has become a huge engine designed for its own self-aggrandizement, vacuuming up the talent and resources out of the UK’s economy in order to make its key figures immensely rich.
It is allowed to continue this largely useless work of enriching itself purely by paying large sums to the exchequer. Any threat to its privileges, and everyone looks at their tax revenues and leaves them alone.
Or vetoes European treaties.
As a result, we are stuck in the UK with an ineffective engine of economic development, when other EU nations – the ones Open Europe believes are so jealous of us – have effective engines.
As a result, our enterprises and entrepreneurs are starved of the credit they need, our communities are abandoned when they most need financial infrastructure, and our best and brightest dedicate themselves to a life of corrosive speculation rather than long-term investment.
The rhetoric around the Open Europe report also implies that this is somehow based on pique and jealousy on the part of the nations of the eurozone.
In fact, France and Germany and many of the others, already have a thriving and stable local banking network that is able and prepared to invest in their entrepreneurs. We have a dysfunctional, highly centralised oligopoly which is neither.
So when the EU bring forward proposals to break up the cosy monopoly of big accounting firms, or to tax speculative financial transactions – both ideas that would enormously benefit the real economy, not just in the eurozone but here in the UK – we should support them vigorously.
Not to do so will tragically entrench a dysfunctional UK economy and a City dedicated to speculation rather than real investment.
History will look back at Cameron wielding his veto as a huge opportunity missed. The bottom line is this: Britain's interests lie in financial reform.
One of the few benefits to the UK economy of the euro crisis might have been that the European Commission would have stirred themselves into some kind of financial reform.
We have lived too long with a dysfunctional City, sucking up capital and talent that might have been used productively.
Sadly, we are going to carry on doing so.
Cameron was stirred into sacrificing the euro rescue on the altar of the City by a brilliantly timed, but mistaken, report by the think-tank Open Europe.
Earlier this week, their report Repatriating EU Social Policy warned in mildly hysterical terms that the City of London was in danger from EU regulations in the pipeline.
It made a series of debatable assumptions and knitted them together into a nationalistic panic, which deserves more critical scrutiny than it is currently getting.
The report made front page news, especially in London, where – as usual – they wheeled out City of London MP Mark Field to harrumph like Colonel Blimp in a Turkish bath.
The trouble with its two major assumptions is that neither is correct:
Assumption #1: That the City of London, as presently constituted, plays a crucial and important role in the UK economy.
Assumption #2: That the current EU proposals on financial reform are designed to stifle Britain’s financial sector.
Yes, the City pays £53 billion in taxes, which is certainly important, and would be a sign of UK economic success if this came from the City playing a useful role nurturing and supporting the real economy – but, as it currently stands, it signally fails to do so.
The tragedy is that the City has become a huge engine designed for its own self-aggrandizement, vacuuming up the talent and resources out of the UK’s economy in order to make its key figures immensely rich.
It is allowed to continue this largely useless work of enriching itself purely by paying large sums to the exchequer. Any threat to its privileges, and everyone looks at their tax revenues and leaves them alone.
Or vetoes European treaties.
As a result, we are stuck in the UK with an ineffective engine of economic development, when other EU nations – the ones Open Europe believes are so jealous of us – have effective engines.
As a result, our enterprises and entrepreneurs are starved of the credit they need, our communities are abandoned when they most need financial infrastructure, and our best and brightest dedicate themselves to a life of corrosive speculation rather than long-term investment.
The rhetoric around the Open Europe report also implies that this is somehow based on pique and jealousy on the part of the nations of the eurozone.
In fact, France and Germany and many of the others, already have a thriving and stable local banking network that is able and prepared to invest in their entrepreneurs. We have a dysfunctional, highly centralised oligopoly which is neither.
So when the EU bring forward proposals to break up the cosy monopoly of big accounting firms, or to tax speculative financial transactions – both ideas that would enormously benefit the real economy, not just in the eurozone but here in the UK – we should support them vigorously.
Not to do so will tragically entrench a dysfunctional UK economy and a City dedicated to speculation rather than real investment.
History will look back at Cameron wielding his veto as a huge opportunity missed. The bottom line is this: Britain's interests lie in financial reform.
Partnership banking: how to make our banks fit for purpose
It really is extraordinary how long this debate is becoming. We have a highly centralised, dysfunctional banking system. Most of our trading partners also have an effective decentralised local banking system as well, fuelling their economy. We don't.
It isn't really rocket science, yet there is David Cameron weighing into Europe to defend what our corrosive City institutions which - apart from paying a humungous amount of tax - don't do the job they are required to do. Worse, they suck imagination, energy and investment away from productive local economies.
But maybe the answer lies in something a bit like the Bank of North Dakota:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/08/making-banks-fit-for-purpose
It isn't really rocket science, yet there is David Cameron weighing into Europe to defend what our corrosive City institutions which - apart from paying a humungous amount of tax - don't do the job they are required to do. Worse, they suck imagination, energy and investment away from productive local economies.
But maybe the answer lies in something a bit like the Bank of North Dakota:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/08/making-banks-fit-for-purpose
The lamps are going out all over Europe - if we let them
Yes, a new European treaty that will enforce effective fiscal union may save the euro - and save our economies for a while. Certainly the alternative is a frightening prospect. But the consequences of tightening the euro screw in the euro zone may also be terrifying and far-reaching, because - although a common European currency is a civilised and importat idea - a single currency was always a flawed concept:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/07/the-lamps-are-going-out-all-over-europe-if-we-let-them
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/12/07/the-lamps-are-going-out-all-over-europe-if-we-let-them
Homemade croutons...
Yummy, crunchy croutons. Who doesn't love 'em? That's usually everyone's favorite part of a salad, right? Well, why buy premade croutons when you can make your own?
First, choose the bread you want to use. Here I used whole wheat bread, but I have also used day-old rolls, French bread, or white bread. Cut them up into the size croutons you and your family like.
Here's where you get creative- spices. Salt and pepper are needed for whatever other spices you choose. Today I used Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Use whatever favorite flavors your family prefers and sprinkle about a teaspoon of each over all your cut up bread.
We LOVE garlic in our family and always make sure we use TONS of it.
After you've added the spices you like, drizzle olive oil over the bread cubes. Start off with 3-4 T and, using your hands, toss the bread cubes around, making sure that all the bread is covered in oil. The spices that you added earlier will be tossed around, too, to make sure they are more evenly distributed. If the bread still looks too dry, then add a little more oil and toss.
Here they are! All ready for the oven!
Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes, taking them out to toss them around in the pan every 10 minutes. Watch closely to make sure that they do not burn. You want your croutons nicely browned all over, but not burned.
Mmmmmm!!!! The finished product!! Yummy, crunchy, flavorful, homemade croutons!!
Bar Keepers Friend...
This product, ladies and gentlemen, is my new best friend!!! For YEARS I have heard how awesome Bar Keepers Friend is. For some odd reason, I only thought this product was at specialty stores so I never bothered to look for it. Lo and behold, there it was last week at Walmart of all places! Sitting on the bottom shelf, just waiting for me to bring it home and give it a try.
Mr. U suggested that I clean the worst pot first. I got my stainless steel pots and pans almost 2 years ago and this pot is the one that I always use to steep tea bags in to make sweet tea. The pot is THIS STAINED in less than 2 years of making tea!!
But just LOOK at how shiny the same pot is after I used Bar Keepers Friend!!!
I am SOLD! I will most definitely keep some on hand now- at all times!! So far I've scrubbed TONS of things. What is it about a new cleaning product that makes you want to clean and clean? LOL!!!
Do any of y'all love Bar Keepers Friend? If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it!!
Whe we need to build homes - and give them away
Is it possible that Mrs Thatcher was half right about housing? Whether she was or not, the current price of homes condemns both partners in many couples to 25 years of indentured servitude, cut off from their families, working at jobs they despise. The time has come to build new homes and then give them away:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/21/why-we-need-to-build-homes-again-and-give-them-away
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/21/why-we-need-to-build-homes-again-and-give-them-away
Are there better kinds of efficiency?
And while we are about it - on the 200th anniversary of the start of the Luddite campaign - was there anything we might learn from the Luddites before we consign them to another century of oblivion? Fro example: the critical importance of real human beings in our public service systems.
That is what I said at the recent RSA debate with Halima Khan and John Seddon, and this is the audio of the debate:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/18/audio-is-there-a-better-kind-of-efficiency
Buy the Human Element...
That is what I said at the recent RSA debate with Halima Khan and John Seddon, and this is the audio of the debate:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/18/audio-is-there-a-better-kind-of-efficiency
Buy the Human Element...
What to do in the case of economic armageddon
Policy-makers have ben talking about economic armageddon. That is strong stuff. Of course, we don't need to worry because David Cameron has asked the Treasury - the high priests of There Is No Alternative - to look at contingency plans.
Luckily, I had some time on my hands so I've given them a little help:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/14/how-to-prepare-for-economic-armageddon
Luckily, I had some time on my hands so I've given them a little help:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/14/how-to-prepare-for-economic-armageddon
Who knew? Cleaning your washing machine!!!!
Will someone PLEASE tell me that I am not the last one to learn that we are supposed to clean our washing machines???? Seriously, I had no idea! Yes, I wash the outside of the machine, but I never gave any thought to the inside of it!! So what's a girl to do? Yes, GOOGLE THE ANSWER!! And here's I found...
Throw in dirty clothes, add some detergent, turn a dial and come back later to clean clothes. Ever wonder where all that dirt goes? Most of it rushes away with the drain water; but some lurks in your machine and can cause laundry to appear dull and gray...
Keep reading....and then be sure and tell me if you've ever cleaned your washing machine!!
The missing explanation for public service failure
Because New Labour 'reform', in practice, meant excising the human element, imposing sclerotic and centralised IT systems and driving out the most effective people from front line positions:
http://www.libdemvoice.org/david-boyle-writes-the-missing-explanation-of-public-service-failure-25847.html#comment-187949
http://www.libdemvoice.org/david-boyle-writes-the-missing-explanation-of-public-service-failure-25847.html#comment-187949
Can Europe survive a Napoleonic euro?
I'm one of those Liberals who was sceptical about the euro from the start. Not because I was sceptical about Europe - quite the reverse: it seemed to derive and encourage Europe's darker side.
I even said so in a speech to the Lib Dem conference in 2000. I can't find that now, but just over nine years ago, I gave the New Economics Foundation's Alternative Mansion House Speech at the Old Bank of England pub in Fleet Street, warning that the euro was like the disastrous 1925 return to the Gold Standard – an illusion that currencies were based on real, objective values.
We at nef warned then, and in our pamphlet that same year, that the euro could lead to fascism in the outlying areas of Europe.
This is what I said in 2002:
So common currencies, yes – that is the logic of European integration. But single currencies are Napoleonic projects which inevitably require iron control if they are not to spiral out of control, as this one is doing.
The real question, now that the euro is being re-organised, is this: can a civilised and peaceful Europe survive that kind of Napoleonic control where the rich countries are so favoured by the currency?
Let me say quickly that I'm a convinced European. I am not a Europhobe, still less a xenophobe. But there is still a fundamental problem at the heart of the euro, and any currency based on the idea that money's the same everywhere, like gold. And it's this: single currencies tend to favour the rich and impoverish the poor.
They do so because changing the value of your currency, and varying your interest rate, is the way that disadvantaged places can make their goods more affordable. When you prevent them from doing that, you trap whole cities and regions - the poorest people in the poorest places - without being able to trade their way out.
Now of course the USA has one currency. So does Britain. But if we're honest about it, we know that hasn't been satisfactory either - because central banks set their interest rates to favour their capital cities. Eddie George admitted as much on the Today programme just before Christmas.
Look at the great gulfs between rich and poor in the USA. Look at the plight of cities like Detroit or states like West Virginia. And over here, look at the way interest rates are set to suit the City of London, while the manufacturing regions of the north struggle as best they can.
Across a continent, the effects are so much worse. That's why Ireland's economy has been overheating, while east Germany's is languishing in poverty. That's the danger of the euro as presently arranged, and don't underestimate it. It means success for the cities that are already successful. It means a real struggle for the great reviving cities like Newcastle and Sheffield. It means a potent recruiting ground for Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Different cities, different communities, value different aspects of life. And single currencies are not the universal measuring rods they claim to be.
So common currencies, yes – that is the logic of European integration. But single currencies are Napoleonic projects which inevitably require iron control if they are not to spiral out of control, as this one is doing.
The real question, now that the euro is being re-organised, is this: can a civilised and peaceful Europe survive that kind of Napoleonic control where the rich countries are so favoured by the currency?
How the campaign is growing against defunct economics
Something is going on out there. The death knell of our current narrow and useless version of economics seems to be tolling - when economics students walk out of their lectures in Harvard, you know something is up.
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/07/how-the-campaign-against-defunct-economics-is-growing
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/07/how-the-campaign-against-defunct-economics-is-growing
Why the protesters are going to win - in the end
Because neither Labour nor Conservatives now represent the middle classes, and - although the middle classes may not identify with the Occupy protests - they do feel furious, not just with the banks but with our extractive financial system.
Labour and Conservatives - and let's face it - much of the Lib Dems remain trapped in the old paradigm, that somehow wealth must trickle down, when it quite patently trickles up. No political force is prepared to take on the financial system and hammer out ways of making it humane and effective.
But what the middle classes want, they tend to get:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/02/why-the-protesters-are-going-to-win
Labour and Conservatives - and let's face it - much of the Lib Dems remain trapped in the old paradigm, that somehow wealth must trickle down, when it quite patently trickles up. No political force is prepared to take on the financial system and hammer out ways of making it humane and effective.
But what the middle classes want, they tend to get:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/11/02/why-the-protesters-are-going-to-win
Why the St Paul's protest is significant
The vote on Any Questions on Friday night, broadcast from Newcastle, suggested that at least half the chattering classes are in favour of the protests in so many cities now against the disastrous financial status quo – including the one next to St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
I certainly am, despite the pompous dismissal of them by both the Labour and Lib Dem representatives on the Any Questions panel (sorry, Jeremy, but you were).
That doesn’t mean that I am somehow against the Church of England or the cathedral authorities, who – sticking to the terrible advice they have been given – have now given the go-ahead for eviction.
So we felt that the best way we could demonstrate this was by visiting the camp and also going to choral eucharist in the cathedral. I don’t suppose anyone on either side understood the significance of my family, and my two small boys, being present in the cathedral, but there we are. It felt good at the time.
Seen side by side, there is no doubt that St Paul’s wins the battle for beauty. The tent city outside, though it is scrupulously well-organised, clean and litter-free, is not beautiful. Nor did I get much encouragement from the deadly discussion on political correctness from the camp’s ‘assembly’ on the steps.
But I did get to hear the excellent sermon, suggesting – in a distinctively Anglican way – that the real question is not what Jesus would have done, but what is he doing now? I don’t know the answer that that, of course, but suspect that he will be providing challenges from unexpected directions and people that will jolt us out of our complacency.
That is why I believe the camp represents an important challenge. Not just the one at St Paul’s, but the one in Denver which was pepper-sprayed by police over the weekend, not to mention the protests in Syria which this movement is part of – confronting the tyranny of finance over life. The Arab Spring was always about economics at least as much as it was about democracy.
Also on the steps of St Paul’s, I ran into one of the great names of the new economics, who I won’t quote by name because I haven’t asked him. But he set me thinking about what Gandhi would have done, and suggested it would have been to encourage camps everywhere outside churches.
This is not to confront the churches. The churches are not the enemy. But it would be to challenge them to show the leadership they should be showing, understanding the urgency and overwhelming nature of the issue. It is a challenge to the churches, like Luther’s 95 Theses, to take their rightful place in the lead of the campaign against usury.
Will they rise to the occasion? On present evidence, probably not. But this is just the beginning.
I certainly am, despite the pompous dismissal of them by both the Labour and Lib Dem representatives on the Any Questions panel (sorry, Jeremy, but you were).
That doesn’t mean that I am somehow against the Church of England or the cathedral authorities, who – sticking to the terrible advice they have been given – have now given the go-ahead for eviction.
So we felt that the best way we could demonstrate this was by visiting the camp and also going to choral eucharist in the cathedral. I don’t suppose anyone on either side understood the significance of my family, and my two small boys, being present in the cathedral, but there we are. It felt good at the time.
Seen side by side, there is no doubt that St Paul’s wins the battle for beauty. The tent city outside, though it is scrupulously well-organised, clean and litter-free, is not beautiful. Nor did I get much encouragement from the deadly discussion on political correctness from the camp’s ‘assembly’ on the steps.
But I did get to hear the excellent sermon, suggesting – in a distinctively Anglican way – that the real question is not what Jesus would have done, but what is he doing now? I don’t know the answer that that, of course, but suspect that he will be providing challenges from unexpected directions and people that will jolt us out of our complacency.
That is why I believe the camp represents an important challenge. Not just the one at St Paul’s, but the one in Denver which was pepper-sprayed by police over the weekend, not to mention the protests in Syria which this movement is part of – confronting the tyranny of finance over life. The Arab Spring was always about economics at least as much as it was about democracy.
Also on the steps of St Paul’s, I ran into one of the great names of the new economics, who I won’t quote by name because I haven’t asked him. But he set me thinking about what Gandhi would have done, and suggested it would have been to encourage camps everywhere outside churches.
This is not to confront the churches. The churches are not the enemy. But it would be to challenge them to show the leadership they should be showing, understanding the urgency and overwhelming nature of the issue. It is a challenge to the churches, like Luther’s 95 Theses, to take their rightful place in the lead of the campaign against usury.
Will they rise to the occasion? On present evidence, probably not. But this is just the beginning.
At last, Carey speaks a little sense
There are always one or two people in public life who are a kind of touchstone. They only have to open their mouths and you find you disagree with them. Michael Howard, for example, and don't let's forget Polly Toynbee.
Former archbishop George Carey was another. But, would you believe it, he has said something which I emphatically agree with, in his article about the St Paul's protest, and the moment when the cathedral gave sanctuary to the protesters. He wrote:
"For countless others, though, not least in the churches, this was a hopeful sign that peaceful protests could indeed take place at a time when so many civil liberties have been eroded. Furthermore, it demonstrated that the Church is willing to play a sympathetic role in the lives of young people who are drawn to a movement calling for economic justice.
"However, after their initial welcome to Occupy, the cathedral authorities then seemed to lose their nerve. In daily-changing news reports, the story see-sawed between a public debate about the merits or otherwise of the protest, the drama of internal disputes at St Paul’s over lost income from tourists, and the ill-defined health, safety and fire concerns that caused it to close its doors to worshippers.
"One moment the church was reclaiming a valuable role in hosting public protest and scrutiny, the next it was looking in turns like the temple which Jesus cleansed, or the officious risk-averse ’elf ’n safety bureaucracy of urban legend. How could the dean and chapter at St Paul’s have let themselves get into such a position?"
Good question. Sadly, Carey gets almost as muddled as the cathedral authorities as the article continues, talking about 'anarchist protesters threatening the right to worship'. For goodness sake, how does he work that one out?
But I absolutely share Lord Carey's frustration with the church over this issue, and especially when it comes to the Bishop of London's intervention, claiming that the protests are a 'distraction' from the cathedral's own role in building a dialogue with the bankers and financial world.
It is fine, and right, that the Church of England should have a dialogue with the financial world. But if this is the only tone of voice they are prepared to use against the tyranny of finance over life - the most important and urgent threat to civilisation - then they are not living up to their role of the body of Christ in the world.
Worse, Dr Chartres implies somehow that the church is some kind if ineffable BBC, endlessly balanced and unbiassed on every issue, however desperate. As Churchill once said to the BBC: how can you be unbiassed between the fireman and the fire?
Former archbishop George Carey was another. But, would you believe it, he has said something which I emphatically agree with, in his article about the St Paul's protest, and the moment when the cathedral gave sanctuary to the protesters. He wrote:
"For countless others, though, not least in the churches, this was a hopeful sign that peaceful protests could indeed take place at a time when so many civil liberties have been eroded. Furthermore, it demonstrated that the Church is willing to play a sympathetic role in the lives of young people who are drawn to a movement calling for economic justice.
"However, after their initial welcome to Occupy, the cathedral authorities then seemed to lose their nerve. In daily-changing news reports, the story see-sawed between a public debate about the merits or otherwise of the protest, the drama of internal disputes at St Paul’s over lost income from tourists, and the ill-defined health, safety and fire concerns that caused it to close its doors to worshippers.
"One moment the church was reclaiming a valuable role in hosting public protest and scrutiny, the next it was looking in turns like the temple which Jesus cleansed, or the officious risk-averse ’elf ’n safety bureaucracy of urban legend. How could the dean and chapter at St Paul’s have let themselves get into such a position?"
Good question. Sadly, Carey gets almost as muddled as the cathedral authorities as the article continues, talking about 'anarchist protesters threatening the right to worship'. For goodness sake, how does he work that one out?
But I absolutely share Lord Carey's frustration with the church over this issue, and especially when it comes to the Bishop of London's intervention, claiming that the protests are a 'distraction' from the cathedral's own role in building a dialogue with the bankers and financial world.
It is fine, and right, that the Church of England should have a dialogue with the financial world. But if this is the only tone of voice they are prepared to use against the tyranny of finance over life - the most important and urgent threat to civilisation - then they are not living up to their role of the body of Christ in the world.
Worse, Dr Chartres implies somehow that the church is some kind if ineffable BBC, endlessly balanced and unbiassed on every issue, however desperate. As Churchill once said to the BBC: how can you be unbiassed between the fireman and the fire?
Mothering on our Knees...
I love this post from Lorie. While I do not (yet) have the resource she recommends, I can gain a lot from the 10 prayer topics she shares.
As she says, "Good mothering must always begins on our knees."
Why we need to rediscover the human element in public services
And if we don't, we can expect them to get much less effective and much more expensive. It's time to call a halt to inappropriate systems, huge centralisation by IT and the marginalisation of the ability to make relationships with clients. It also means smaller-scale institutions:
http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/2011/10/25/rediscovering-human-element/
http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/2011/10/25/rediscovering-human-element/
St Paul's: where would Jesus pitch his tent?
Where would Jesus pitch his tent in the stand-off outside St Paul's Cathedral, I wonder? Well, I know one thing - he is unlikely to have prioritised health and safety:
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/10/25/st-pauls-where-would-jesus-stand
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2011/10/25/st-pauls-where-would-jesus-stand
St Paul's and the moment to decide
"Mony, mony, get money still –
Let virtue follow if it will.”
That was what William Blake said he heard when he listened to the sound of London.
When you listen to the City of London now, with its subsidised banks and their lights blazing all night – the very centre of the global financial engine – you wonder whether there are any other noises at all. Certainly any spiritual noises.
The mosque in Whitechapel, just outside the City, has nearly 25,000 worshippers on its books; many of them attend four times a day. Compare that to the echoing dusty, baroque churches of the City – a symbol of the spiritual bankruptcy that goes hand in hand with the power of finance.
I am not at outsider in this. I am a baptised and practising member of the Church of England, so when the cathedral authorities at St Paul’s invited the protests to stay, it did seem for a moment as if the church had woken from its long moral doze.
It seemed to be sole recognition that the church was aware of the critical importance of these issues, not just for spirituality, but for the future of civilisation – which would be in doubt in the event of a full financial crash.
It was a recognition of a historic moment of decision – that the church understood that the financial world is vacuuming up the wealth, not just from London but from around the world. A belated acknowledgement that our financial institutions are actively impoverishing the globe.
Now they have closed the cathedral. The Blitz closed it, and now apparently its that modern catch-all 'health and safety'. None of the other surrounding businesses have closed, but the cathedral has - which strikes me as just a little pathetic. The moment of decision has arrived and they close the cathedral.
So while the cathedral authorities are right that St Paul’s is bigger than the protesters, that is only the case if the church rises to the occasion. It is not the case if they continue, ostrich-like, to ignore what has been happening in the tyranny of finance over life.
I understand the inconvenience. I understand that, from an administrative point of view, it is awkward having tents within sight of their tea rooms - just as they did in medieval times at the gatherings at St Paul's Cross - but once to every man and nation/comes the moment to decide. This is theirs.
Let virtue follow if it will.”
That was what William Blake said he heard when he listened to the sound of London.
When you listen to the City of London now, with its subsidised banks and their lights blazing all night – the very centre of the global financial engine – you wonder whether there are any other noises at all. Certainly any spiritual noises.
The mosque in Whitechapel, just outside the City, has nearly 25,000 worshippers on its books; many of them attend four times a day. Compare that to the echoing dusty, baroque churches of the City – a symbol of the spiritual bankruptcy that goes hand in hand with the power of finance.
I am not at outsider in this. I am a baptised and practising member of the Church of England, so when the cathedral authorities at St Paul’s invited the protests to stay, it did seem for a moment as if the church had woken from its long moral doze.
It seemed to be sole recognition that the church was aware of the critical importance of these issues, not just for spirituality, but for the future of civilisation – which would be in doubt in the event of a full financial crash.
It was a recognition of a historic moment of decision – that the church understood that the financial world is vacuuming up the wealth, not just from London but from around the world. A belated acknowledgement that our financial institutions are actively impoverishing the globe.
Now they have closed the cathedral. The Blitz closed it, and now apparently its that modern catch-all 'health and safety'. None of the other surrounding businesses have closed, but the cathedral has - which strikes me as just a little pathetic. The moment of decision has arrived and they close the cathedral.
So while the cathedral authorities are right that St Paul’s is bigger than the protesters, that is only the case if the church rises to the occasion. It is not the case if they continue, ostrich-like, to ignore what has been happening in the tyranny of finance over life.
I understand the inconvenience. I understand that, from an administrative point of view, it is awkward having tents within sight of their tea rooms - just as they did in medieval times at the gatherings at St Paul's Cross - but once to every man and nation/comes the moment to decide. This is theirs.
Homemade Butterfingers????
Oh y'all!! I am on Pinterest (who isn't, right?) and recently found a recipe for homemade Butterfingers! And the secret is..... are you ready??...... CANDY CORN!!!
The texture is not exactly like the store bought Butterfingers, but the taste is very, very close to it. Mr. U is a major Butterfinger fan and REALLY likes these.
So since they are sooo easy, why don't you give Homemade Butterfingers a shot? They are DELICIOUS, for sure!!
Housework, Again?
“I’ve swept the floor three times already and it’s dirty again!”
Does this reality discourage you, make you want to walk away some days?
Keep reading what Kelly shares at Generation Cedar....
Do you know the bones of your Bible?
Thank you to Do Not Depart for a GREAT article reminding us why we need to memorize the books of the Bible!!! Read here...
Homeschool Classroom Tour...
My friend Gretchen has a wonderful homeschool classroom!! She is GREAT with organization and she offers some great tips. Thank you, Gretchen!
A Fun Giveaway!
A new website called Your Home. Well Done. has some GREAT ideas to encourage the homemaker AND the homeschooling mom! Gretchen, the owner of Your Home. Well Done. says,
Be sure and visit Your Home. Well Done. on Facebook and enter to win!!!
"Do you find yourself getting overwhelmed by the how’s? How will I find the time to get all my tasks accomplished? How do I manage my family’s schedule? How do I home educate my children when I don’t even remember grammar rules, the presidents, who did what when, etc? How do I sneak some “me time” in when I can’t even catch my breath?!
Do you find yourself wanting help but don’t even know where to start? Are you ready to roll up your sleeves, take action, and see lasting results? You are not alone. Let’s do this!"
And guess what? Gretchen is having a giveaway to celebrate!!! Here's how to enter!!
Your Home. Well Done. is celebrating "Back to School" week. This week on my website I will be posting activities, projects, tour of our school room, and will be having a prize giveaway! It is for a year subscription to FamilyFun Magazine. The deadline is Tuesday, August 16th EST 12:00 and the winner will be announced on Wed. August 17th. In order to participate in the drawing become a fan on my Facebook page- Your Home. Well Done. If they don't have a Facebook account then they can email me their name at yourhomewelldone@gmail.com
Be sure and visit Your Home. Well Done. on Facebook and enter to win!!!
Cleaning tips from all of you...
On this post, I asked for cleaning tips and WOW did I get some great ones!! Listed below are all the tips that y'all shared. Thank you so much, ladies, for sharing all of these!! I know many of us will benefit greatly from them!!
-Oh boy, cleaning tips...keep it natural (store bought or homemade cleaners) and I love baking soda and vinegar! They have so many uses. Oh, and I like to put half lemons in the garbage disposer to freshen up about once a week :-)
-My tip is to make a cleaning check list for my non-readers. I took pictures of the things that needed cleaning and then used the pictures to make a check list for the room they were responsible for.
-I really love Barkeeper's Friend for stubborn countertop stains and for cleaning the sink and stove.
-Cleaning tips? Get rid of what isn't used and declutter every nook and cranny every 6 months. and those wet / dry covered swiffer heads work great to pick up dog hair that sweeping leaves behind.
-As far as a cleaning tip, one thing I found is that while you are waiting for something, talking on the phone, watching the kids in the tub, do cleaning the in room you are in. If you are on the phone, cleaning goes by fast and it is amazing how nice it looks and you got a visit with a friend. While the kids are in the tub, shine the sink, wash the toilet (crack the window if you are worried about fumes) and sweep the floor, wiping around the toilet too. Give the kids a wash rag and some baking soda and have them clean the tub. The baking soda won't hurt them and it will get the tub cleaner!
-I think one of my best cleaning tips is getting the children involved! When they help so much more can be done! And with things like Norwex microfiber cloths being available they can do so much more to help!
-Tip: Train your young ones to help, and when they get older, they can take over most of the cleaning/laundry/yardwork
-Hmm, a cleaning tip from me is one I've often gone back to that I learned from Fly Lady: Do something everyday. Start with the kitchen sink. Even when it seems overwhelming, just keeping ONE thing sparkly (the kitchen sink) and it will spur you on.
-My one cleaning tip: wipe something up or off EVERY time you are in the bathroom. If you are drinking enough water you will be in there lots. This really does KEEP the bathroom clean!!
-Tip: I clean the bathroom while my girls are in the tub. I can be right there and keep an eye on them, but get some cleaning done. I use Trader Joe's multi-purpose cleaner so no worries about fumes.
I also have my 3 & 4 year olds help with the laundry. They fold the towels and their clothes and are getting really good at it. They also sort the laundry for me. We make a game of it and they LOVE laundry time. You would think I was giving them a huge reward.
OxiClean is wonderful for getting stains out of the carpet and I put a half of scoop in with each load of laundry (placed in the tub with the clothes) and it keeps the whites so white and pretty and they come out so fresh and clean smelling.
I also have my 3 & 4 year olds help with the laundry. They fold the towels and their clothes and are getting really good at it. They also sort the laundry for me. We make a game of it and they LOVE laundry time. You would think I was giving them a huge reward.
OxiClean is wonderful for getting stains out of the carpet and I put a half of scoop in with each load of laundry (placed in the tub with the clothes) and it keeps the whites so white and pretty and they come out so fresh and clean smelling.
-Cleaning tip: Using a couple of drops of liquid dishwasher soap and a scotchbrite pad makes stainless steel sinks sparkle and removes stains. Just be sure to rinse it well.
-I'm not sure this is the best cleaning tip...but we like clean kitchen floors. When we have company coming, of course we scrub and clean. After everyone leaves (usually it's a large family) I feel the floor is dirtier than it was before they came! So my option is to just spot clean any major dirt quickly before the company visit and do a good scrub after they leave! Like I said...maybe not the best cleaning tip, but it works for us. :)
-White Vinegar and Baking Soda make a wonderful cleaning paste!
We even washed our clear vinyl shower curtain in this - came out looking like new!
We even washed our clear vinyl shower curtain in this - came out looking like new!
-My cleaning tip is: to make a chart and list things to do daily in blue and then have one or two weekly chores added as well in red.
-My cleaning tip would be to establish a schedule to maintain cleanliness and prevent you from having to pull out the super harsh chemical products.
-One of my favourite cleaning tips is to spread the cleaning tasks and laundry over the week instead of doing a whole house clean or all the laundry once a week. I prefer this to the giant clean-a-thons.
-Cleaning tip: we are in the process of selling and relocating and so in order to put our house on the market and keep it clean, I had to declutter, declutter and declutter some more. :-) Now that I've gone through things to prepare for my move, I realized how much stuff I didn't really need. I think setting aside time to declutter (even if your not moving) can really motivate you and encourage you to do the next thing on your list.
And the winner is....
Congratulations, Deb!! You are the winner!! I will contact you and get your email information.
And by the way, if y'all have never been to Deb's blog before, please stop by!! She is talented, loves the Lord and seems so warm and friendly!
Do YOU like to have a clean home? A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you read 31 Days to Clean by Sarah Mae? Were you wanting more challenges?? If so, you are in luck!!
Jennifer Ross of Renewing Housewives has written a follow up entitled Encouraging Challenges- The Month After 31 Days to Clean. Jennifer said she enjoyed Sarah Mae's ebook so much that she wanted MORE!! So Sarah Mae encouraged Jennifer to write the follow up. And she did just that!!
Even if you did not read 31 Days to Clean, Jennifer's ebook, Encouraging Challenges, is STILL a must have! SO many inspiring words and helpful hints!
Encouraging Challenges is chock full of more encouragement and more cleaning challenges for you!! And the great thing is, I get to host a giveaway!!!
Here's how to enter....
1)Be sure and leave a comment below and I'll enter you in the drawing for this FABULOUS ebook!!
2)Share a cleaning tip that's been helpful for you and I'll enter your name twice!!!
3) Go visit Jennifer's blog to see all the wonderful ideas she has to spur us homemakers on in our roles!! Be sure and let me know that you have visited her!!
BUT WAIT!!! IT GETS EVEN BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jennifer's husband, Jason Ross, also has a new ebook out. It's entitled Nurturing a Godly Wife. Jason has included tips and analogies to help our husbands understand us wives a little better. Always a WONDERFUL thing!! And you can win THIS, too!!
Don't forget to enter! And be sure and tell your friends!! Both of these ebooks are certain to encourage and grow you and your family! And even if your name isn't drawn, you can still purchase both of these ebooks through the links I've provided- Encouraging Challenges and Nurturing a Godly Wife.
The deadline to enter will be 12:00 midnight EST this Thursday, August 4th, EST. I will announce the winner on Fruiday, August 5th.
Worth reading...
Here are two articles I found very encouraging lately. I hope you enjoy them, too!
Motherhood is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank)
Home: A Woman's Domain
Saying I Love You with Food...
From Living On a Dime...
In this day and age of fast food restaurants and convenience food, we tend to think that most people, when going through a hard time, don't need a meal or a jar of soup brought to them.
Many years ago, before there were stores or fast food restaurants on every corner or microwaves in every kitchen, a neighbor bringing in a meal was sometimes a matter of physical survival. That isn't usually the case these days.
Even so, I hate to see bringing a meal to someone who is sick, has just had a baby or has lost a love one fall by the wayside. We often think the person or family can just pick something up or cook something easy in the microwave. They probably can but there are a couple of reasons why it is still nice to bring someone a meal.
Usually at these stressful times people are exhausted, both physically and emotionally. When this happens it is so hard to think and make decisions. Just ask anyone who has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Trying to decide what to cook or buy for a meal can be very overwhelming. It's often the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Having someone call and say, "I'm bringing a meal for you tonight," can help so much to ease a persons mind, which is probably overloaded with other things. It is just one less decision to make.
Bringing food is a way of saying, "I love you," or, "I care." Food is comforting to most people. (I'm not talking about people overeating to comfort themselves so please don't comment on that). Being a grandma, the minute I know the grandkids are coming, I get out the cookies and candy and, when friends arrive, the first thing I do is bring out a plate of cookies or put on the kettle.
Taking a plate of cookies to a new neighbor says, "Welcome! We are glad to have you!" Taking a meal to someone who is sick says, "I care." Let's not let another way of saying, "I care," fall by the wayside.
I will try to share more ideas on this subject in a future post but, for now, here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Make things as easy as possible for the person you are helping. Send napkins, plastic forks and spoons.
- Start looking now for inexpensive bowls, platters and dishes at garage sales. You can leave these dishes when you take food to people so they don't have to worry about returning the dishes. When you can, try to use disposable pans and dishes so the people who are already overwhelmed don't have to wash dishes.
There is a time and place to save the environment and this is not it. I save and wash most of the containers that I get when I buy things at the bakery or the grocery store and reuse them at these times. You would be surprised how many containers you get every day that would work great if you remove the labels and wash them.
Some good blogs I've visited lately...
Here's a few of the great blogs I've recently discovered...
- The Practical Housewife- Many of y'all will remember Mrs. Catherine from her former blog, Making It Home, a few years ago. She's SO encouraging to me to get my home clean for my family. She's starting a week by week cleaning challenge next week. YAY!!
-Mommy Evangelism- How in the WORLD are you still able to share your faith AND mother little ones at the same time?? Help (and encouragement) is here!
-Inspired to Action- I LOVE how Kat has a plan to keep herself focused on daily seeking the Lord FIRST and she also makes sure that she fits in exercise to keep herself physically healthy to serve her family.
-Renewing Housewives- Written to encourage us homemakers in our calling. GREAT blog!!
- The Practical Housewife- Many of y'all will remember Mrs. Catherine from her former blog, Making It Home, a few years ago. She's SO encouraging to me to get my home clean for my family. She's starting a week by week cleaning challenge next week. YAY!!
-Mommy Evangelism- How in the WORLD are you still able to share your faith AND mother little ones at the same time?? Help (and encouragement) is here!
-Inspired to Action- I LOVE how Kat has a plan to keep herself focused on daily seeking the Lord FIRST and she also makes sure that she fits in exercise to keep herself physically healthy to serve her family.
-Renewing Housewives- Written to encourage us homemakers in our calling. GREAT blog!!
Why memorize Scripture?
As Christians, we should be memorizing Scripture-hiding God's Word in our hearts. We are to have the mind of Christ and how better to do that than to truly know them by heart?
How to get started? Here are a few helpful ways from...
1) A Holy Experience
2) Living Proof Ministries (Beth Moore)
3) Revive Our Hearts (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)
And here's what John Piper has to say about memorizing God's Word....
So... what are YOU memorizing right now?
How to get started? Here are a few helpful ways from...
1) A Holy Experience
2) Living Proof Ministries (Beth Moore)
3) Revive Our Hearts (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)
And here's what John Piper has to say about memorizing God's Word....
So... what are YOU memorizing right now?
What came in the mail today....
YAY!! Today I received the newest Duggar book in the mail!! I'm in chapter 4 already and LOVE A Love That Multiplies. The book gives many details that were covered on the show, but tells more about each situation. Very interesting and, as always, very encouraging in the Lord.
Spaghetti Bolognese...
I'm a big fan of Mad Hungry (the cookbook AND the cooking show). Lucinda Scala Quinn's recipes have all been super delicious and easy to follow. This Spaghetti Bolognese of hers is DELICIOUS! Our whole family heartily recommends this!
Chocolate Bird Nests for Springtime...
Our family has a tradition of celebrating the change of each season with a special tea. Elizabeth really gets excited about these and even counts down the days! She was so happy when I told her she could pick out our special dessert for our Springtime tea and she chose these Chocolate Bird Nests. They were very simple to make and she LOVED being so involved with all the ingredients. Her favorite part? Licking the bowl, of course!!!!
Homemade Peanut Butter...
Elizabeth received a new cookbook for Christmas, Sesame Street C is for Cooking, and she LOVES it. The first recipe she wanted to make was peanut butter.
The recipe is very simple and, with the help of my blender, we whipped it up in no time!! When it was first finished, it was warm and runny. But after it spent the night in the refrigerator, it was PERFECT!! It was even more perfect on a piece of toast. Yum!!
Cookie Monster's Homemade Peanut Butter1 pound (3 cups) dry roasted peanuts, unsalted or lightly salted1 to 2 tablespoons olive oilIn large bowl, combine peanuts with oil. With a spoon, stir to mix well.Pour the oiled peanuts into a food processor (I used a blender). Process until very smooth, about 3-4 minutes.Using a rubber spatula, transfer the peanut butter to a container with a tight-fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
I'm linking up with....
Today at Raising Homemakers...
Today at Raising Homemakers...
Over the years, the “picture” of what a homemaker is, or should be, has faded into one of drudgery, where a dull-minded, incapable woman fulfills her endless, boring duties of cleaning toilets, washing dishes, and vacuuming, reaping no rewards or satisfaction. She has a few children, which makes her job even harder, and the best she can hope for is the day they start school. This picture is being constantly promoted, devastating the sanctity of home and any desire to guard and keep it....(keep reading)...
Happy National Pie Day!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, well, yes, I will admit that I am a day late, but still, y'all, let's CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do have a good excuse for missing yesterday. A sweet lady from church and her granddaughter and grandson-in-law invited us to go out to eat with them after church. I had planned on celebrating National Pie Day yesterday, but I think celebrating dear friends visiting is way more important!!!
On with the pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In honor of the day, I chose to celebrate with a simple quiche this year!!! Nope, no dessert pie here this year, but in it's stead a yummy and super easy bacon and cheese quiche. Yum!!
Bacon and Cheese Quiche
1/2 lb cooked bacon, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice (I used mozzarella and parmesan)
1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust (uncooked)
4 eggs
1 cup half and half OR whipping cream
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
dash of garlic powder
Place bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust. In a bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients and pour into pie shell. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until center is puffed. Allow quiche to stand 5 minutes before cutting.
(Note: I usually use PioneerWoman's pie crust recipe, but this time I used the Cream Cheese Pastry Dough from Mad Hungry.)
To do today....
To do today.....
1) 4 loads of laundry
2) dust ceiling fans
3) vacuum
4) clean master bathroom
5) steam and freeze Caroline's food
6) read and play with the girls
Good Morning Girls...
Are any of y'all involved with Good Morning Girls? The next session is starting up on January 15th and I'd love to be part of a group!! Let me know if anyone is interested!
His,
Mrs. U
Let's celebrate National Pie Day 2011!!!!...
Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to start deciding what pie you will be baking for your family to celebrate National Pie Day this year!! It'll be celebrated on Sunday, January 23, so you've still got a bit of time to pick the pie you want to bake and serve that day!!
So, anyone else want to celebrate National Pie Day with me this year?
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