satx210

Hey have you heard the news about the upcoming season for Dancing With The Stars?  Donny Osmond just confirmed that he will be following in his sisters’ footsteps, so to speak, and will be one of the contestants.  In case you did not already know, Donny and Marie have a standing variety-show engagement at the Flamingo Las Vegas.  They have been performing a lot of their old songs and it should be fun to watch Donny strut his stuff. lol   He has apparently been talking smack lately and saying that he taught Marie how to dance.  I think that is funny.  After all of these years, they still tease each other just like the good old days.  It should be fun to watch and see if he actually decides to go through with everything and become a contestant on the show.  The new DWTS season begins in March.

Hey do you remember when you used to get up on Saturday mornings to watch the Jetsons?  Do you remember thinking to yourself how cool would it be to be able to drive and fly around just like our adorable cartoon family did on tv?  Well hold on to your seats folks, a company in Boston, MA is set to release its version of this flying car called “Transition” later on this year.  According to my source, you will be able to fly about 500 miles on a tank of gas!  It takes regular unleaded.  Hopefully if this thing takes off … ha ha … it may consider going GREEN!  When you land, the wings of the plane will fold up and you will be able to drive it around like a regular car.

So if you are like me, you’re probably thinking that this is pretty darn cool and you may be asking yourself should I?  If  you are in the market for a flying car and you’re wondering just how much it would cost to own your very own Transition, you can expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of about 200k.  Granted I don’t keep that sort of pocket change lying around my house, but it’s still much less than I originally thought it would cost.  How cool is that?!  

I just read that today President Barack Obama’s made a decision to end a so called “global gag rule” on abortion which is drawing praise and criticism.

Government officials are saying that Obama signed an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the procedure.

Of course both Liberal groups and abortions rights groups have conflicting opinions regarding this.  Liberal groups are welcoming the decision while abortion rights foes are criticizing President Barack Obama.

Tod Preston of Population Action International says Obama’s action will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, deaths from high-risk pregnancies and abortions.

Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee says dropping the ban will effectively guarantee more abortions.

The ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since GOP President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984.

President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, shut down secret overseas CIA prisons, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans and overhauling America’s image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

“The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals,” the president said.

Hello!  Wow, what an amazing 24 hours it has been.  I went to sleep last night with such peace of mind after watching a lot of the events unfold yesterday.  I don’t know if any of you got a chance to watch President Obama and Mrs. Obama dance their first dance last night, but it brought me to tears.  Beyonce did a beautiful job singing At Last, it gave me goose bumps. lol

I could not find anything with Beyonce singing at the Neighborhood ball last night.   But if you can look it up on youtube, I am sure there will be some clips of it to watch later on.  By the way, I just loved looking at all of the beautiful gowns the celebs had on last night.

What a day!  Today was the inauguration for the 44^th president of the United States, Barack Obama.  Thank God we have him to lead us out of the mess we’re in.  I am so proud to call myself an American.  The last 8 years has been an embarrassment that I hope we can all soon forget.  What a mess Bush left our country in.  Although I did not see anyone throwing any shoes at the podium when he came out for the last time, there were very audible boos throughout the crowd.  I felt the same way, but I don’t think I would have booed him in public.

I found myself crying at times throughout the day because of the reality of what today means for so many forgotten Americans.  For once I feel like we all are being thought about and that we have a leader that wants to really make a difference in all of our lives, not just the elite and wealthy of this country.

So God bless you President Obama.  May you and your family be blessed and protected.  Thank you for fighting to get to where you are.  You make me so proud to be an American.  God is with you.  Always be blessed.

This weather that we have been having down here in south Texas is nothing short of surprising.  It has been more of a roller coaster ride with the temperatures going up and down.  Although I really should not be complaining about how cold it is when the people living on the east coast and most north of us have been getting some VERY cold weather.

I was watching the news today and they were towing the plane that went down in the Hudson.  From what I heard they were able to locate a once thought missing engine.  The water is so cold in the Hudson, you could see parts of it icing over.  I cannot even begin to imagine how challenging this task has been for all that labor to relocate the plane back to the airport. 

I’m sure you may have already heard on the news about the airplane going down and ending up in the Hudson River yesterday.  It was all over the news here and pretty much everywhere.  Let me just say that if it had not gone down where it did, for instance had it crashed into the ocean, I don’t think we would have witnessed so many people living.  All I can do is give a huge way to go to everyone that responded so quickly in saving all of those passengers and crew from that flight.  Although there were a few that were injured, it could have been so much worse. 

Today is a very windy day here in San Antonio.  In fact the weather in general has been similar to riding a roller coaster.  lol    I have not decided what to make for dinner just yet so I thought I’d talk about some health issues that have been reported recently on the news. 

There is a Salmonella outbreak that has been going on.  So be careful with the items that you purchase especially if it comes from outside the U.S.  I read somewhere that there were also reports of contaminated peanut butter here in the United States that is also contributing to the recent string of reported sickness.  I also read that an elderly lady recently died from complications from contracting Salmonella poisoning.  This of course is more drastic in nature because most people do not die from getting it.  Her immune system may have already been compromised.

Some of the symptoms begin with nausea and vomiting and progress to abdominal pains and diarrhea. Additional signs and symptoms include fever, chills and muscle pains, and can last anywhere from several days to two weeks.  You may even think that you are getting the flu instead of having Salmonella poisoning.  So if you start having any of these symptoms, you may want to seek medical attention. 

Other than this, you should think about washing your hands more often.  And ALWAYS wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating.

Well we are now in 2009.  I can’t believe it is already a new year.  2008 seemed to fly by pretty darn fast.  I guess time flies when you are having fun? lol   

We stayed home and celebrated this year, as we do most every year.  I am not much of a drinker and I did not want to be out driving around with a bunch of drunks on the road.

We watched movies and then after my son fell asleep, I turned the television on to watch the ball drop in New York and then I watched the Tower of Americas light up here in San Antonio.  The fireworks display went on for about 15 minutes, so that was pretty good.  And although our county is currently under a burn ban, which prohibits setting off fireworks within the county, it sounded like a war zone outside. Lol

I am going to start posting my favorite recipes starting sometime this weekend.