COME TREASURE HUNTING WITH US!
This issue is dedicated to those of you -- mostly guys -- who do all their Christmas shopping on Christmas eve at Wal-Mart. Leaving y'all with plenty of time to tippety-tap on the computer keyboard. It's also dedicated to those of you -- mostly women -- who finished Christmas shopping in September, finished decorating the day after Thanksgiving, and who likewise have time for the computer. Since man works from dawn to setting sun but woman's work is never done, let me mention the cookies you probably should be baking. See "Very Special Cookies" in table of contents.
----Table of Contents----
1. Make Your Gifts Count
2. Cancel the Funeral
3. Student Loans
4. Cat Puke
5. Shopping as a Public Service
6. Very Special Cookies
7. Recipe: Mother's 12-Hour Salad
1. MAKE YOUR GIFTS COUNT
People gave so generously to the tsunami and Katrina victims that charities doing other really needful things are running out of money. So if you're looking for a gift for someone who doesn't need anything -- or for a generous soul who puts others' needs first -- do consider a charitable donation in their name.
The wonderful Charity Navigator website will help you rate more than 3,500 charities according to how much of the money raised actually goes to the work being supported. The tsunami and Katrina brought us bogus websites pretending to aid victims. Charity Navigator can also help with those, along with "Tips for Older Donors," and "Guide to Donating Noncash Items."
You can see an alphabetical listing of their 3500 charities, or select according to topic, such as animals, environment, or health. They say that 35 percent of American charitable giving goes to religious groups, and they list many Christian organizations. Ratings of all their charities "show givers how efficiently we believe a charity will use their support." Once you zero in on a charity, you can ask for detailed information -- even the CEO's salary! Won my heart right there.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
2. CANCEL THE FUNERAL
I am still stunned. Six weeks ago I opened the Tastebud Tango shopping cart with special condiments you can't buy in the stores. A week later, no one had purchased anything. Well, sometimes people take awhile to make up their minds. A second week went by. Not one purchase, although the visitor counter was moving right along. Third week, still not one purchase. I began to feel like my heart was in a vise, and the vise was getting tighter each day. This was not working! I had spent weeks lining up suppliers, put hours of labor and much expense into the site, had four different kinds of advertising going, and . . . nothing. At the end of the fourth week, hope died. Rightly so, as purchases were just as dead. More than 2,300 visitors had come, looked things over, and rejected me and mine. That was it.
I held a mental funeral and shed some tears, as I'd put a lot of hope into that shopping cart. But it was dead.
Then a woman e-mailed to say she had tried to order barbecue sauce. The shopping cart kept insisting on more shipping information, though she'd entered it. Mike Hodapp, who manages the website, thought she was just "loading out of the cache." Two days ago someone else e-mailed that he'd tried to order, and the shopping cart kept insisting on more shipping information. That did it! Mike found there was a problem that kept anyone from purchasing, and he fixed it.
Now I'm bewildered. Lazarus's sisters must have felt the same way when HE was raised from the dead. Despite three weeks of mourning and an in-depth, week-long funeral, my Tastebud Tango shopping cart has risen from the dead. You are invited to look it over to find unusual Christmas gifts and treats for yourself. It's now in working order. What else can I say?
http://my-url.us/pv-spice.html
3. STUDENT LOANS
If you're in college or have a son or daughter in college, you probably know that, due to the expenses of Katrina-Rita-Wilma, the government has made it harder to get student loans. Spending some Christmas vacation time studying the situation might help you find a special niche that will qualify you or yours for special funding. And if you don't find that niche, you'll at least have a better understanding of the situation.
For an education in education, go to the AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION (ACE) website and cut to the chase by selecting Financial Aid. Click below to see the offerings they have there:
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Fin_Aid&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=72&ContentID=12350
You may also be interested in the ACE's Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity, the Adult Learner, the College Is Possible program, or other similar programs. Click below for a section on these:
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Programs_and_Services
And while you're looking and learning, try the
U.S. Department of Education. Click on the following page to find the portal for student aid, publications on student aid, and what to look for in a career college or technical school:
http://www.ed.gov/students/landing.jhtml?src=fp
4. CAT PUKE
That's it . . . let it out. Let it ALL out: a piece of sound advice any cat can give you. If you think cat puke is funny -- and there seem to be a lot of us out there -- try this site, by a lady deeply and intensively experienced in the field. Oh, and, hey! You can send in your cat puke stories too. Here's one from the site, a real gem: "I was sleeping soundly one night with my cat nestled on top of my head and several others on the bed. I woke suddenly to the sound of cat puke and determined it was coming from the cat on my head. With lightening quick reflexes I managed to catch the cat puke in hand, jump out of bed and throw it in the toilet with a minimal amount falling on the floor. Not bad for a nearly blind chick at 3 a.m.!"
http://www.katpuke.com/
5. SHOPPING AS PUBLIC SERVICE
Yahoo's Shoposphere is another "what will they think of next?" They say, "Users can share their knowledge about products they've researched for the benefit of the community. Anyone can view a Pick List in the Shoposphere, rate it, and comment on it."
Yahoo has also improved its product search feature. You can learn more about that from this Yahoo page.
The page is actually part of Yahoo's blog, and you can post your comments at the bottom. The first time I saw it, there were several negative comments. I notice all but one have been removed.
Nevertheless, if you are a serious shopper who INVESTIGATES products to find the best quality and best buys, you can now share your expertise with the general public. Click below to learn how to become a public benefactor:
http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000214.html
6. VERY SPECIAL COOKIES
The last newsletter mentioned June Meyer's special website with Hungarian food. After the newsletter went out, I realized I should have told you about that website's remarkable Christmas cookie recipes.
You may be thinking, "Hungarian cookies?" But they are special. Before the Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled after World War I, its people made two great contributions to civilization. The first was music (think Mozart and Mahler). And the second was pastry (think Sacher torte). Which contribution you consider more important to humanity depends upon your feelings about music and how hungry you are. However you view them, June Meyer's old Hungarian pastry recipes are part of a noble Central European tradition. Find her introduction to Christmas cookies here:
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/christmascookies.html
For the cookie recipes, scroll down and click on "Go back to June's recipe index page."
7. RECIPE: MOTHER'S 12-HOUR SALAD
My mother used to take this fruit salad to family Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I always considered it far better than other fruit salads but thought maybe that was just me. My sister-in-law cooked Thanksgiving dinner for our extended family this year. I offered to bring the salad, and, since her own family tradition doesn't include fruit salad at Thanksgiving dinner, she served it with breakfast the next morning. People kept "ohing" and "ahing" over it, and I thought that, since they liked it THAT much, I'd better tell the Tastebud Tango people about it. So here it is.
I cut back calories a trifle by leaving the butter out of the custard sauce -- tastes just the same without it -- and by adding half again as many grapes. I could probably have gotten away with doubling the grapes.
MOTHER'S 12-HOUR SALAD
2 eggs
5 tablespoons lemon juice (2 lemons)
5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 lb. miniature marshmallows
2 cups diced pineapple
#2 can Royal Ann cherries, halved
OR 2 cups purple seedless grapes, halved
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 c. cream, whipped*
Add sugar and lemon to beaten eggs in top of double boiler. Stir constantly until thick and smooth. Remove from heat, stir in marshmallows, and cool. When cold, fold in whipped cream and fruit and nut mixture. Let set overnight in refrigerator.
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* Instead of whipped cream, you can use 1 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Freeze evaporated milk halfway, then whip. Warning: the evaporated milk version does begin to weep a little during its second day.
© Copyright 2005 Janette G. Blackwell. All rights reserved. You may copy and use portions of this newsletter for noncommercial, personal use only. You may forward a copy to someone else as long as the copyright notice is included. Any other use of the materials in this newsletter without prior written permission is prohibited.
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Janette Blackwell