Realism or Terrorism?

Several weeks ago now, it was all over the news that ISIS had burned a captured Jordanian pilot alive. Fox News was supposedly the only outlet to air the entire, unedited video online. 


They took a lot of flack for that, with professionals in Washington griping about how doing so just aided the terrorists by spreading terror. To a degree, I see their point. 

On the other hand, I was surprised by the level of vitriol spouted in their direction. It was clearly marked as graphic and violent, and you couldn't stumble on it by accident - you had to intentionally search to find the video, and it'd be darn hard not to recognize what you were about to see before you clicked on it. 

Was it a horrific event that no sane person should ever hope to witness? Absolutely. But that doesn't make it any less real.

It happened, and in the face of apologist politicians, the gags of politically correct speech, and the wave of young people from democratic western nations abandoning their lives to go join militant Islamic causes in misguided perceptions of glorious holy wars, it seems like there may very well be a legitimate place for such appalling realities in our media and news coverage. 

Would those young people still perceive ISIS and its ilk in a positive light if they were confronted with this kind of carnage in all its too-real horror instead of the sanitized, "professional" summaries and carefully selected stills that populate most news reports? Would our politicians still talk about peace and compromise if they had to watch the video and imagine their sons and brothers in that pilot's place?

This war may not be happening on our own turf right now, but that doesn't mean it doesn't affect us. We have men and women in harm's way too, and they could be subject to this kind of horror just as easily. Burying our heads in the sand by suppressing these kinds of videos puts us at a disadvantage. It allows us to pretend or ignore or mitigate cold, harsh realities, and leaves us unprepared when they come crashing into our world. (9/11 anyone?)

The world can be a rough place, and I've no desire to make it any tougher on people by subjecting them to daily onslaughts of all that is dark and evil in the world. But trying to hide it and pretend that such things don't exist by simply refusing en masse to publish the evidence is a foolish and self-handicapping approach to dealing with the challenges we face. We can do better, and we should. 

What do you think? Where is the line between facing reality and unnecessarily spreading terror?

Blue & White Quilt - Finally Finished!

At the beginning of the year, I determined that I was going to finally tackle the pile of neglected quilting sprawled across our library. I hadn't been intentionally avoiding it. But between being very busy, multi-tasking my sewing space, and not having a clear plan for what needed to happen next, I just wasn't making any progress on it. 

I spent whatever free time I could find in February sorting, ironing, and organizing. As I got things put in some kind of order, I selected a blue and white quilt top as my first project to be finished. I picked a light blue cotton sheeting for the back, and re-purposed an old blanket as thick, warm batting. I found a very pretty dark blue fabric with a flowered print to use as a binding, and blanket-stitched it on for variety and durability.

It took longer than planned (everything always does), and I wasn't sure it was all going to come together, but I'm very happy with the finished product!  The darker binding really made it all work. 

It's an over-sized lap quilt, perfect for snuggling on the couch when it's stupid cold and gross outside or for dragging outside to lounge in the sun this summer. (Not that we actually ever have time to lounge in the summer, but it's a nice idea!)

Happily, all the sorting and ironing that went into prepping for this one set me up for success for the second finished quilt top from my stack! I found backing fabric for it, and it's all pinned up with batting and backing, and waiting to be stitched together. Hopefully I'll make time to stitch and bind that this week, and have another happy quilting post for you soon!  :)

Winter: 2; Ash Bucket(s): 0

It's pretty universally agreed that the majority of the country is tired of winter right now. To say there has been a TON of snow, and that it has been crazy cold, is an understatement.

But nothing really brought the point home like killing two ash buckets in less than a month. We heat the house almost solely with wood, which is generally awesome, but when it's stupid cold and we're burning hard the ashes can pile up quickly, no matter how efficient we try to be.

When I went to pick up the first bucket from where I'd left it outside the front door, and bottom completely detached from the top, I wasn't really upset. It was inconvenient, but it had come with house. If everything else we've seen was any indication, it was probably cheap to begin with and God only knows how long the previous owners had had it. I figured it didn't owe us anything. 

Then I found out how expensive those things are! After I got over being appalled that someone would expect me to pay $70 for a bucket that I would use six months a year to dump fireplace ashes, I told myself it would probably last us forever. That would make the cost per use really low, and make it qualify as an investment...  Until it broke, two weeks later. 

Seriously?! Two ash buckets in less than a month?! *sigh*

Thankfully, I had filed the receipt so I can return it. I also discovered that such buckets can be bought cheaper... at Tractor Supply, of all places! So ultimately, it will work out to be a good thing, but I still take the demise of such utilitarian tools as a mark of nasty this winter has been.

We're on track to put the final nail in the coffin of our "indestructible" maul this year as well. No one said heating with firewood was easy on the tools! Still, I'm tremendously grateful that as our neighbors deal with high (electric/propane) heating bills and dump money into yet another pallet of pellets, we still have firewood from our own land laid up to see us through. We will definitely adjust our estimates of much to lay in every year based on this experience, though! And hopefully, the next ash bucket we buy will be the last...

Cocoa Toasted Cauliflower (Paleo/Whole 30 Approved)

Photo from The Clothes Make the Girl (link at left)

When I picked up Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed and Well Fed 2 cookbooks, I was a little skeptical of her recipe for roasting cauliflower with cocoa. Honestly, I haven't ever been much of a fan of cauliflower and have had a hard time wrapping my head around the apparent Paleo obsession with it.

However, having some frozen cauliflower on hand I gave it try anyway... and it was really good! Very different than anything I've had before, and not quite what I expected, but super easy and excellent.

Get the recipe free online at her site The Clothes Make the Girl.

(It's Whole 30 approved, so you know it's clean!)

Happy National Handcuff Day

Did you know that today is National Handcuff Day?

As I did last year, I would like to take this opportunity to suggest that you take a moment to go read the excellent post from ITS Tactical on how to escape from zip ties (which you're much more likely to be bound with than you are to be snapped into handcuffs in the event of a home invasion or other illegal attack).

Escaping From Zip Ties @ ITS Tactical

And, because no reference to handcuffs would be complete with a mention of the Doctor and his beautiful River:

Alternative Pizza Crust Roundup

Since going wheat-free in December, I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that it was less difficult than I anticipated. (Albeit mostly because I can get decent rice-based pasta so I didn't have to completely give up my repertoire of last-minute back up recipes when I'm in a pinch.)

The biggest challenge has been figuring out what to do about our long-standing tradition of Pizza Fridays. I have been trying to avoid buying GF flours because I seriously doubt the quality of what I can get around here. I am capable of making my own, but officially too lazy to get into that right now. (Although a friend did send me a tried and true recipe if I find some good flour and decide to give it a go.)

Eggplant Pizzas - photo by Eat Good 4 Life

So, I scoured the web and looked at my alternatives. I finally settled on trying crusts made from cauliflower spinach, and eggplant. The verdicts?

Cauliflower: Good, but not a substitute for pizza crust. Might be a nice alternative breadstick option, but just didn't have the right consistency to work for pizza.

Spinach: Similar to the cauliflower, this was pretty good but not a substitute for pizza crust. Interestingly, I was way more impressed with this the next day when eaten cold.

Eggplant: I actually thought these would be great party appetizers. They were very cute, easy to put together and yummy. They were not, however, a substitute for pizza.

The end result of all this testing? We're switching Pizza Fridays to Cabonara Fridays until I find/break down and make decent GF flour to try my friend's recipe with. I'll make an occasional pizza with my beloved wheat crust for my husband, because he loves it and I love making the dough - I'll just do it when I don't plan to be home for dinner, or when I've got something else I'll enjoy just as much to eat.

Although not appropriate as pizza substitutes, all the recipes linked above were healthy, delicious, cheap, and tasted good. (And can be topped with any combination of things that sounds good.) So if you're looking to change up your recipes or try something new, give them a go!

South Dakota Calls on Congress to Abolish the U.S. Department of Education

Ask people how they feel about the state of education in American, and you're almost guaranteed to get unhappy answers. Though what any given person might choose to claim as their biggest source of dissatisfaction will vary, overall there's a general disapproval over how things are being run.

The South Dakota House of Representatives decided to make their complaints formal a few weeks ago by passing a resolution calling on Congress to get rid of the federal Department of Education. As with most such plans, it's more about making a statement than actually expecting anything to come of it, but I thought it was rather telling.

Given the extravagant sums of money tied up in the federal Dept. of Education, eliminating it would substantially improve our national budget issues - assuming, of course, that spending didn't just get shifted to another department to keep funding the same nonsense under other names.

Personally, I don't believe that education was ever intended to be administrated from the federal level. Nor do I believe that the experiment in allowing it to be run from level has benefited us at all. Although it would be a massive (and initially messy) undertaking to dismantle it and return all power to the states, the potential positive consequences of such an action are fascinating to consider.

I'm not naive enough to think that state control will fix all of the problems with our educational system, but I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't have to improve things to a noticeable somewhat by default, simply by removing so many layers of political nonsense and ending the litany of unfunded mandates.

What do you think?