This Friday, February 13th will be 17 years that Randy proposed to me. It was very late Friday night and he had just come home from a week away on a Project in Montreal. I had made a late dinner and dessert & had a bottle of sparkling cider in the fridge. We got married 8 months later!

If you've forgotten, here's some great deals at Amazon and free 1 day shipping!

Even if you're single, go ahead and spoil yourself!

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

Here we go! My first posted recipe! I had a bunch of carrots left from other dinner recipes and didn't want them going bad so I looked up recipes to use them in. I came across this recipe and it's soooo good! Tastes just like a carrot cake would, but not dry or crumbly like some carrot cakes are.

You'll notice the ziploc bag with some "black stuff" in it. I didn't have ground cloves, just whole ones, so out came the ziploc bag and the rolling pin *snicker*. Hey I only needed a dash of it!

I used my Kitchen Kutter from KitchenCraft. These are great products and I'll blog about them later.

Kind of goofed here, I didn't need to roll them into balls. Just scoop about a Tablespoon out.

Tadaa! I left them unfrosted as we don't have that much of a sweet tooth and basically I just didn't have any cream cheese!

Cookie Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl or in your Kitchenaid Mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and mix well.
Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, salt and combine well. Stir in carrots (and raisins and walnuts if you are using them). Place spoonfuls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a rack.

Frosting Directions
Cream butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Add more or less powdered sugar for how thick you like your frosting. Spread over cookies and add chopped walnuts on top too if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

When it comes time to settling down and raising a family, many people desire leaving the big city lifestyle behind in favor of a white picket fence and large backyard. However, the best areas to raise children in are less dependent upon the size of the city and more dependent on what the city has to offer in terms of activities, education, safety, and familial ethics. With these in mind, here are the top five cities that provide children with a safe, warm atmosphere:

1. Charlotte, North Carolina

A thriving area, Charlotte is North Carolina’s biggest and most densely populated city. That being said, while the downtown area is filled with urban condos, there are plenty of suburban areas on the outskirts of Charlotte, offering families the best of both worlds. Charlotte is near the Catawba River and Mountain Island Lake, which are great areas for hiking, swimming, kayaking, and fishing. Additionally it has a great school district, and low crime rates for being such a large city. However, if you are still interested in home security, a great place to start is with http://homesecurity911.com/local-home-security/North-Carolina/Charlotte/.

2. Newton, Massachusetts

The community in Newton places an emphasis on education. Not only is Newton home to Boston College, it is also near Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which partners with many of the local schools. Newton is full of the classic New England architecture, as it has gorgeous historical buildings and well-maintained neighborhoods. Most locals do not worry much about crime, and feel safe letting their children play outside or at Charles River. Plus, Boston is only a few miles away. While Newton feels like a classic small-town, the big city is just minutes away.

 3. Royal Oak, Michigan

This Detroit suburb has highly rated schools and community supported recreational programs, making Royal Oak a true kid-friendly city. The crime rate is lower than the national average, and with over 50 parks available for kids to play at, most parents feel comfortable letting their kids spend their afternoons at the parks burning off their energy.

 4. Palo Alto, California

Although Palo Alto is one of the pricier areas, the safe city, gorgeous climate, and exceptional school district makes the steep expense worth it. Being located near Stanford, there are plenty of educational opportunities for kids to take advantage of, including Stanford’s expansive library. Additionally, there are plenty of outdoor activities, such as hiking, kayaking, surfing, and biking.

5. Brentwood, Tennessee

This southern town is charming with its top-rated schools, proximity to professional sports venues, parks and entertainment, and safe communal atmosphere. The Brentwood Library is one of the highest rated children’s libraries. With plenty of books to choose from and kid-friendly events happening often, it is a great place for children to learn. Brentwood has that small-town charm that makes it an ideal location for children to grow up in.  

When it comes to finding the right city, take the time to research the aspects that are the most important to you and your family in order to settle down in a community perfect for your family’s growth. 

There's been several recent events that just irritated the hell out of me...

Snowstorm Press Conference

After the New York Mayor de Blassio Press Conference on the Snowstorm last week there's been several reporters writing about how "bizarre", "theatrics", "ridiculous" the ASL interpreter was. Some doubted if it was real, others mocked it.

Jonathan Lamberton, the Interpreter, explains, “I think ASL has typically been depicted to the public in the ‘nicer’ form that hearing people are able to use, and that deaf people typically use with hearing people. The ASL that deaf people use among each other hasn’t been seen on screen much so I think that’s part of the reason people reacted so strongly.”

Most of the "message" is conveyed through facial expressions and body language. If they had a timid, quiet interpreter, it'd be like listening to Ben Stein's monotonous lecture. "There's a snowstorm coming, do you understand? Anyone? Anyone?"

These hearing people need to mute their TVs and turn off the captioning and then try and tell me what's being said, the urgency and importance of the news? Can they? Seriously if these ignorant people were at a Deaf Club,, they'd freak out! They'd probably go in expecting it to be all quiet and noiseless *scoff* they'd be soooo wrong! Music blaring til it shakes the floor, people lively signing to each other, howls of laughter, floor stomping to get another's attention, and yes even yelling at them while vigorously waving. ASL is a beautiful, vibrant, lively, and visual language and can express far more than English can!


Medeas Movie

This movie was released in January. It's about a portrait of a rural family's inner lives and their relationships. The father is a stern, hard-working dairy farmer struggling to maintain control of his family. His wife, Christina who is deaf, retreats into herself, progressively disconnecting from him an their five children.

Now why would a movie about a deaf character irritate me? Because the actress who plays Christina is HEARING! They put a hearing actress into a deaf role! There's scores of deaf actors and actresses out there who can play the part and UNDERSTAND the role better too! What if someone decided to cast a white person, paint him black and put them in a African-American role? Can you imagine the shitstorm that would cause?

Am I the only one? No! Check out the #deaftalent Twitter feed and you'll see scores of Deaf people's outrage, concern, hurt and informative tweets. What made it worse is that Madeas removed all comments relating to #deaftalent off their Facebook page and they're upset with us! Seriously? Now THAT'S ignorant!

So yeah I'm irritated! Tired of the ignorance, mocking, and plain stupidity of some people! To these people...DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Learn about Deaf Culture, Sign Language, and Deaf Society as a whole before you jump to your lame conclusions! 

Right now I can think of a few "bizarre, ridiculous, lively, animated, overacted" cuss words for these dumbasses who call themselves reporters.

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

Sign language has been a proven useful tool for parents and kids for many years. Apart from needing sign language as a method of communication for parents and kids who having hearing loss, sign language can be used in any family to help kids better communicate at a younger age and give families a way to connect. Sign language can be beneficial in any home, but still there are many families who are reluctant to use this tool or who struggle to get their kids to use it. There are a lot of things that parents can do to help their kids learn sign language. Parents not only want to help their kids master the art of sign language, but they also want them to enjoy the experience of learning and using sign language inside and outside the home. Parents can use different ideas to accomplish all of these things and make sign language a fun part of their family. Here are five tips for helping kids learn sign language. 

Start at a young age

Sign language is a great way to communicate with kids even before they are old enough to talk. Some kids are able to learn sign language as young as 6 months old. Parents can start with simple signs that indicate typical needs and work their way up to more complex ideas. This is a simple way for any parent to communicate better with their children

Use Video and TV shows

There are a lot of great videos online that can help parents and kids learn sign language. Simply following along to a video every day can help anyone pick up the basics of sign language right away. Additionally, there are some channels Dish Network in your area that will have sign language lessons for kids, making learning sign language a fun break from everyday learning.

Use verbal communication and sign language simultaneously

Parents can help their kids learn sign language faster and remember it longer by giving them the sounds with the sign every time. Parents can either say the words themselves or use a recording to help kids understand the connection between spoken language and sign language right away. This is a great tool to use throughout life to help people learn sign language quickly and easily.

Make learning into a game

Learning something new should be fun for everyone. Parents can create games centered on learning sign language to make learning new signs fun and exciting for the whole family. Parentscan create competitions on who can remember signs the fastest and give prizes to the winners. 

Utilize sign language apps

There are a lot of great mobile apps that parents and kids can use to help them learn sign language. These apps give kids fun games to play that help them learn and recall the signs that they will use most often. This is a great idea for long road trips or other down times.