How Hot is It?

People are posting their temps on their blogs, so not wanting to be left out, here's ours:

Cooler than some, but 100?  Really?  This is the "Southeast":  it's a "different kind of hot" than Arizona.  We have humidity.  As in 80% humidity.  What is it with the "heat index values"?  We know it's 100 degrees, do we have to know that it actually feels hotter than it is?  And, after you reach 100, could it really feel any hotter?  Why don't they tell us what the "heat index value" is in the middle of winter?  Is there such a thing as heat index in the winter?  There should be.
Let's just pray that the air conditioning holds up!

Let Freedom Ring in the Wed. Hodgepodge

1. What do the words 'freedom' and 'liberty' mean to you? Does your mind go more in the direction of not being persecuted or discriminated against or does it head in the direction of doing what you please?

Freedom & Liberty mean that we have "unalienable rights".  I decided to look that phrase up, and learned that the Declaration of Independence states that we have "unalienable rights", not "inalienable rights".  Huh.  I never knew that.  What's the difference?  Here you go:

http://www.gemworld.com/USA-Unalienable.htm

UNALIENABLE.
The state of a thing or right which cannot be sold.

Things which are not in commerce, as public roads, are in their nature unalienable. Some things are unalienable, in consequence of particular provisions in the law forbidding their sale or transfer, as pensions granted by the government. The natural rights of life and liberty are UNALIENABLE. Bouviers Law Dictionary 1856 Edition
"Unalienable: incapable of being alienated, that is, sold and transferred." Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, page 1523:
You can not surrender, sell or transfer unalienable rights, they are a gift from the creator to the individual and can not under any circumstances be surrendered or taken. All individual's have unalienable rights.
Inalienable rights: Rights which are not capable of being surrendered or transferred without the consent of the one possessing such rights. Morrison v. State, Mo. App., 252 S.W.2d 97, 101.
You can surrender, sell or transfer inalienable rights if you consent either actually or constructively. Inalienable rights are not inherent in man and can be alienated by government. Persons have inalienable rights. Most state constitutions recognize only inalienable rights.

Bet you had NO idea you were actually going to learn something when you clicked on my blog, did you?  (That's assuming you were in the dark as much as I was!)  You're welcome!  :)

2. Nathan's sponsors a hot dog eating contest every 4th of July. Last year over 40,000 people attended the event and almost 2 million watched it on TV. The winner ate over 60 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. How do you like your hot dogs?

I like my hotdogs with mustard & ketchup.  Sometimes with chili & onions, especially if I'm a little place called "Ebenezer Cafe" in a town outside of Charlotte, NC.  It's located in the town where we lived in SC, and it's just a run-down hole on the side of the road.  On Saturdays, it's hard to find a parking spot, even in the gravel parking lot behind the building.

3. If you were going to enter an eating contest what would be on the menu?

Cake, maybe?  

4. Do you run your house more as a dictatorship or a democracy?

Does the phrase "Our house, our rules" tell you anything?  As the boys get older, we get more lenient...to a certain extent.  They know not to come in during the middle of the night, waking up mama.  That's a HUGE no-no! 

5. Where was your favorite summer place when you were a kid?

The river in the mountains.  Just in case this is your first visit here, I'm the 8th of 10 children.  We didn't have air conditioning until I was in high school, so when it was really hot, we'd pile into the station wagon and head to the mountains for some splashing & tubing in the river to cool off.  

6. Do you have a guest room? Would you want to stay there?

Our house has 4 bedrooms, and we have 3 boys who are still in & out of the house, so, no, we don't have a guest room.  Maybe someday!

7. Next Wednesday America celebrates her independence. Do you have any special plans for the 4th of July? If you live outside the USA when and how does your country celebrate its own patriotic holiday?

No plans here.  It's going to be a very quiet 4th!

 One of my brothers usually hosts a swim party at his house, but they're going to NC to visit his oldest son, dil, and their 2 kids.  Boo.  Now I know where we rate!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

The school system where I work requires teachers to get some professional development (PD) hours on our own during the summer, or work the "Banking Days" designated during the school year.  This year, that number has jumped up to 30.  YIKES!!!  It really isn't that difficult to do:  we can do some free online courses that are 1 or more hours long, as long as we get a certificate for it as proof.  In the past, since the Speech Pathologists are "special", we have also had the opportunity to endure a day of a reading conference, and a day of a math conference.  They really aren't bad; there's usually quite a few sessions that we can translate into our field.  This year, however, we're having our own PD activities!  Hooray!!!  Today marks the first one, we have one in July,  then 2 consecutive days when the other conferences are going one.  That only means 6 hours on our own, and we can count after school meetings as parent conferences for those.   Or we can go ahead and get them some other way, or work during a Banking Day during the year.  Yeah, like that's going to happen!
Of course, this means that I'll be out of my pj's before 10:00!

Quickies

Nothing much going on here.  I thought I would entertain you with a couple of pictures so you can get another Laika fix!

 Notice all of the tufts of stuffing?  This is about the 4th toy that we've had forever that she's destroyed.  At least she was staying busy and didn't tear up anything she wasn't suppose to!

How could anyone deny this face?  I'm trying hard to keep her off of the couch, but she keeps trying!  I'm holding my ground, though!

This is a dish that one of the teachers made for our "TLC" (Tuesday Lunch Club) at school.  Very good, very light.  A perfect light dinner for those days when it's too hot to turn on the oven!

Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad

1 10oz bag of fresh spinach

8 oz. Grated Asiago Cheese

5-6 oz. chopped sun dried tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 can sliced black olives

1 lb penne pasta, cooked, drained, and cooled

2 whole grilled chicken breasts, sliced

Tear spinach into bite size pieces. Toast pine nuts at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, do not burn.  

Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing

Dressing

1 cup olive oil (or your choice)

4 Tbls white wine vinegar

2 tsp dry mustard

1 1/2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients and shake well to blend.  Pour over the pasta and spinach mixture and toss well.

CH & MS liked it; OS said he wasn't real crazy about it, and YS didn't have any because he had just had his wisdom teeth cut out.  I made the salad ahead of time and left out the spinach so it wouldn't wilt once I put the dressing on it.  Also, that way everybody could put however much spinach in it that they wanted.  I cheated a little and used the Perdue Grilled Chicken Southwestern Style (in the blue box).

If you try it and modify it, let me know so I can try it, too!