The twisters of November
Several random flashes of lightning danced across the cloudy evening skies above Long Lake, MN, on November 10th, 2012. I have seen lightning in November before -over the skies of Dinkytown in Minneapolis back in 2005- but then it was the harbinger of oncoming storms.
These flashes of lightning came and went without apparent rhyme or reason after a rain shower had passed through, and there was not so much as one measly clap of thunder after them; weird. It had been unusually mild all day and storms were forecast for later.
What I saw over the skies of my home suburb was but a prelude to what came later that evening when two massive claps of thunder made me shudder from head to toe as I lay in bed. They announced the arrival of a more substantial storm front riding on the leading edge of a cold front; the same storm that was renting the night air with sound was also dumping a bunch of snow over North and South Dakota.
A few days (and a dusting of snow for the Twin Cities) later I discovered an even more substantial weather anomaly to a month more accustomed to snow storms had occurred: tornadoes had hit the southern, southeastern and northeastern suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul! All rated EF-0, one packing winds up to 80 MPH had carved a small path across Burnsville, another two each with winds up to 75 MPH had nicked Mendota Heights, Eagan, and Lilydale and a fourth boasting the strongest winds -85 MPH- had marched across Mahtomedi.
Damage was largely confined to trees and power lines, with some landing on the latter, on homes, and on vehicles, and a stop sign destroyed and a grill lid catapulted 200 yards by the Burnsville twister. Downburst wind damage also occurred in the vicinities of the tornadoes.
Thankfully no fatalities or injuries were reported. However, they were the last thing I thought possible this late in the season. They also are proof positive of the growing anomalies associated with our ever changing weather in this day and age of climate change.
Plan New Orleans trips ahead if you're a sports fan
OK sports fans, listen up: One thing I have a ton of experience with is New Orleans and major football sporting events. I can tell you with certainty that if you are planning a trip to NOLA for either the Sugar Bowl in January or the Super Bowl in February, you need to book hotels very, very early.
I know that's hard to do when you aren't sure whether your team is going to make it, but book now and cancel later. I'm hoping that maybe I can offer some tips and tricks to make your sporting event planning in the Big Easy a little easier.
First off, let's talk about the Sugar Bowl: It's one of the bigger games in the Bowl Championship Series, and it's a fantastic experience. Even if your team isn't in it, trust me, it's a blast! The 2013 Allstate Sugar Bowl will be held in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2013. Now, if you want to make a big vacation out of it, you can try to snag a hotel through New Year's Eve. Party your head off on NYE and New Year's Day and then spend a few hours recovering before heading to the game on January 2.
Next up: Super Bowl XLVII will be played on February 3, 2013, in the Superdome. As soon as the date was announced, I started trying to book a hotel in NOLA and I'll tell you straight up -- it was nearly impossible. So many companies book blocks of hotel rooms for sporting events this big, so the pickings were slim several months ago. Unless you get extremely lucky, you probably won't be able to get a hotel room in New Orleans for the upcoming Super Bowl.
What can you do if you don't see any available New Orleans hotel rooms for either the Allstate Sugar Bowl or the Super Bowl? Here's my suggestion: Call each hotel individually and see if they have a waiting list. If so, put your name down and follow up with them every few days.
And my other big suggestion: Spread out. Start searching for hotels in nearby towns and parishes. Start with Mandeville, Lousiana, just a short drive into NOLA proper. Then look a bit further away. Try Slidell, Louisiana, and even Hattiesburg, Mississippi if you have to. Hattiesburg is a bit of a drive (about 100 miles) to New Orleans, so keep that in mind. Also, check for hotel availability in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. We've made the trek to Baton Rouge from NOLA more times than I can count, and it takes about an hour and a half. It's an easy drive, even with heavy traffic.
I hope that you'll be able to stay in New Orleans for your big game, but if not, be flexible and be prepared to drive.
Your top Black Friday deals
Last year's Black Friday deals don't even compare to the savings you can expect to find this Black Friday. I don't know if the drastically reduced merchandise is in any way related to the bad economy, but it doesn't matter to me if it means I can save hundreds of dollars on my Christmas gifts. Here are a few of the biggest deals I've spotted so far.
Old Navy:
All Adoraboots are on sale for $12 (this includes infant, children and women styles)
Fleece half-zips and graphic tees are both $5
Adult Old Navy Famous Jeans are $15
Coats for under $19
Best Buy:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 $179
Toshiba Classic 40” LCD TV for $179 (A whopping $240 savings)
Lenovo 15.6” laptop for $187 (I'm all over this deal)
Toys R' Us:
Rock Star Mickey Mouse $19
Leapfrog Tag Reading System with book $19
Power Wheels motorized quads for kids $49
Guy 1 Get 1 Free on all Toys R' Us batteries!
JC Penney:
Women's boots $25
Kids boots $12 and $15
Puffer jackets $30
Jewelry pieces $10 to $30
Free buttons given out at the store that could lead you to win one of many great prizes
Kmart:
Nintendo Dsi for $79
Uniden phone with three headsets for $29
Any size complete bed sets $28
Jewelry for 80 percent off
Children's fleece separates $4
Save 50 percent on footwear
Keep in mind that each of these stores starts their sales at a different time. Kmart is even open Thanksgiving morning. Other stores are open Thanksgiving night and others actually open on Black Friday.
Free Tums Freshers
Who doesn't get heartburn from time to time? While I don't get heartburn often, I prefer to keep a bottle of Tums in my medicine cabinet. I also use it with my daughter, who has had acid reflux since birth. I was excited to learn that Tums is offering a free sample of their new product—Tums Freshers. The sample is being provided by Target. It gets rid of heartburn while freshening your breath at the same time.
In order to get the free sample of Tums Freshers you'll need to head to Target's free sample page. Click on the image of the Tums Freshers product. Now you must answer three survey questions, pressing the “Next” button each time. Now fill out your full name and mailing address.
There are two boxes at the bottom that you can leave checked if you'd like to receive future emails from Tums and its partners. I unchecked the boxes before I clicked the red “Next” button. Finally, you have to confirm your details and answer a security question to make sure that you are not a robot. My questions was “What is 1 plus one?” Click the red “Submit” button and you're all done. It's that easy.
Target will let you know that the free sample will arrive in eight to ten weeks. If you're anything like me, you'll forget about the sample until it shows up in your mailbox. I can't wait to try it though, as I normally like the products Tums produces. The fresh breath addition makes the product perfect for taking on the go to restaurants and evenings out with friends.
Free Christmas cards
Good Samaritans Missions Services is a Christian Humanitarian Organization that began in 1977. They currently have three ministries. They provide bears to sick children, funds for families that have children with medical and transportation needs, and free greeting cards to anyone that wants them. Right now you can get five free greeting cards to use this Christmas.
Head to Good Smaritans website where you can fill out the form to get the greeting cards. There is a picture at the top that shows you which cards you will be getting. Below the picture you must enter your first name, last name, e-mail address, mailing address, the date and time. The date and time was already filled out for me, so I'm guessing it will be for you as well. Click “Submit Info” when you are all finished.
I did have a little problem when I tried to submit my info. It said I had too much information in the fields. You can email good.samaritan@1goodsam.org if this happens to you, but I was able to fix it by abbreviating my city. I'm sure not all cities can be abbreviated though.
Although you can get the scripture Christmas greeting cards completely free with free envelopes and free shipping, there is a donate button on the left-hand side of the page. The organization relies on donations to continue on with its ministry, so if you find that you really enjoy the cards and want to make it possible for the program to continue so that other people can get the cards, you may want to consider making a donation.
A day in the life of a homeschooler
If you don't homeschool, chances are you have the wrong idea about homeschooling. I come across this almost on a weekly basis when people ask my daughter where she goes to school and I give the famous, “She's homeschooled” answer. Because there is such a misconception associated with homeschooling, I decided to write about a typical homeschool day.
6:00 am Everyone starts waking up.
6:30 am Breakfast is under way. I begin packing a lunch for my special needs child who attends our local Special Services School. Then I give her her morning meds. My oldest daughter feeds her cat.
7:00 am My daughter gets dressed. I dress my special needs child.
7:30 am School begins. I set the school books on the dining room table. We put them away one by one as we finish each subject.
8:15 am I give my daughter any instructions she'll need while I wait for my special needs child's bus to arrive.
8:30 am I check the work my daughter has completed so far. I usually give her the independent work first thing in the morning because I have to get my other daughter on the bus. Now it's time to do the rest of her subjects that require me to teach.
10:30 am We stop to make lunch. Some days we have actually finished school by now.
11:00 am We eat lunch.
11:30 to 12:30 pm We finish up school. Usually my daughter spends this time working on the book she is writing for NaNoWriMo.
12:30 to 2:30 pm We work on household chores. If we get done the chores early, I get started on articles and my homeschooler starts chatting with her friends on her iPod. Sometimes she'll listen to music and other times she'll play her piano.
2:30 to 3:00 pm I wait for my special needs daughter's bus to bring her back home.
3:00 to 4:00 pm The kids play and I work.
4:00 to 5:00 pm We run my homeschooler to her horseback riding lesson.
5:00 to 6:00 pm Time for dinner.
6:00 to 7:00 pm The kids play and I work.
7:00 to 8:00 pm We watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
8:00 pm Time for bed.
Of course this is just our Friday schedule, but my daughter also spends two weekdays hanging out with her homeschooled friends from 12:30 to 3:00 pm. There are also a few nights we have church events. Thursday night she baby sits for another church. There are times when she's involved in plays and musicals as well.
Create your own "Tree of Thanks"
Each Thanksgiving I like to create a “Tree of Thanks.” This tree makes it easy for the entire family to display what they are thankful for this particular Thanksgiving. If you want, you can save them each year and spend some time reviewing the previous year's Tree of Thanks. I haven't done this, but it would be an excellent family activity if you have the time.
You will need the following items to make your Tree of Thanks:
- Poster board
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tape
Follow these instructions to make your Tree of Thanks:
Step 1:
Color a sheet of poster board so that it looks like you have sky and land. You are going to use this as the background for your tree. I usually color about ¾ of the poster board sky blue and the other ¼ green.
Step 2:
Cut out a tree trunk from a sheet of brown construction paper and glue it on the green section of your poster board.
Step 3:
Cut out several branches growing up and out of the tree trunk. Glue them to the tree trunk, reaching up over the blue section of your poster board.
Step 4:
Cut leaves out of construction paper (use orange, yellow, red, and brown). If you have a large family, you may just want to use one leaf per person. Smaller families could be given two or three leaves each.
Step 5:
Place the leaves at each place setting on the table. Instruct each family member to write what they are thankful for on the leaves.
Step 6:
Tape the leaves to the branches on the tree after your meal is complete.
Serve your guests Shirley Temples this Thanksgiving
One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories growing up was meeting my grandparents at the Inn near their home and ordering a Shirley Temple to go along with my meal. It was the only time of year I ever got one, and even my father and a few other family members would order one. Now that I'm the adult, I suggested to my sister that we make our own Shirley Temples to serve with Thanksgiving dinner. She agreed that it would be fun to introduce our children to this tasty drink.
Shirley Temples are so easy to make. They only require a few ingredients so you won't add much in the way of expense to your Thanksgiving meal. Follow the instructions below to create your own Shirley Temples.
You will need the following ingredients to make a Shirley Temple:
- 7-Up
- Maraschino cherries
- Grenadine
- Ice cubes
- Drink umbrellas
Follow these instructions to make your Shirley Temple:
Step 1:
Set out one glass for each Thanksgiving guest.
Step 2:
Fill the glasses ¾ of the way with ice cubes.
Step 3:
Pour 7-Up in each glass until it reaches the top of the ice cubes.
Step 4:
Add 2 Tablespoons of grenadine to each glass.
Step 5:
Drop 2 maraschino cherries in each glass followed by 1 teaspoon of the liquid in the maraschino cherry bottle.
Step 6:
Stir the ingredients together and decorate with a drink umbrella. Serve immediately.
Warning:
You will need backup supplies. Your guests are going to be so delighted with their Shirley Temples that they are bound to request a second serving. Shirley Temples go great with dessert as well!
Muslims Fighting against Tolerance in Malaysia
In the country of Malaysia, a land where Islam is the official state religion, there has been a recent rise in the beliefs of pluralism. This belief is one that expresses that God looks upon all religions as equals and that there should be increased tolerance in the Islamic community towards those that see things differently. Most would think this to be an excellent way to promote understanding and help to end conflict between Muslims and those of other religions, but some within the Islamic community are calling for resistance to this transformation.
Their primary worry is that those who are Muslim now may end up with different faiths in the near future if pluralism is allowed to continue. To me, this shows a distinct lack of faith, suggesting that people are drawn away from Islam against their will and that God does nothing as this happens. If pluralism is so obviously wrong in their eyes, why feel the need to act as judge when God already performs that role?
To fight these changes, a call has been sent out for people to unite, resist and implement “strict religious action and enforcements to eradicate such ills”. This sounds like aggressive speech and the likely result will be violence against those who don’t adhere to the limited view of Islam that these particular Muslims are preaching.
If we want to move forward in this world, violence and condemnation are not the best tools. It will do no good to try to stop a trend that is the obvious next progression of the Islamic religion. In order to thrive, Islam must branch and form many beliefs, the same as Christianity has in the past. People in the modern world are falling away from their faith because of the narrow-minded views of their teachers. If there are many teachers with many interpretations of the Koran, then people are much more likely to stay within their own religious background instead of looking outward for their answers. Only acceptance of many beliefs can make this happen, and so the outdated views of those adhering to only one narrow road need to be put aside so that all religions can live side-by-side in peace.
The Continuing Conflict in Palestine
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades, ever since the Israeli forced occupation of the region. Back and forth the problems continue, with both sides to blame for the seemingly endless violence. Israel wishes to assert its control over Palestine, even going so far as to commit countless human rights abuses. Palestine seeks to break away from Israel’s grip and many within the country see aggressive action as the only option to make this happen. But regardless of the reasons, the end result is death.
Now, the cycle begins again. Palestine has been firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities and Israel has been striking back with air raids. This powerful weaponry is aimed at military targets primarily, but the numbers of deaths show mostly civilians suffering. So far, the body count of Palestinians is 13 militants and 16 civilians - half of those being children. On the Israeli side, only three are dead, but all of those are civilians.
In the end, Israel has the obvious advantage in the conflict, being armed with much better technology and having a far superior economy to support war efforts. But that doesn’t encourage Palestinians to back off, as they see their freedom as a necessary condition of them ending the violence. Israel is not likely to grant that freedom anytime soon, so the fight will rage on.
With these latest attacks, we may see a final end to the conflict, for better or for worse, or it may end up being just one more battle to add to the history books. Others are stepping into to try and stop the violence, both supporters of Israel and supporters of Palestine, but in the end it’s up to the two groups themselves. As long as they persist in this feud, more innocents will die, but this doesn’t seem to faze the leaders of the two opposing armies.
Hopefully this time will herald in new changes, but, in my opinion, nothing will ever get done until the world does more to recognize and scold Israel for their human rights abuses. Perhaps a sense of justice will calm the minds of rampaging Palestinian warlords. Or maybe I’m just being optimistic…