Quiche!!! Lorraine!!!

I love quiche. I've never actually made it before though, I've always ended up making fritattas (sp?) in a cast iron pan and praying to God that I didn't cook it too long. Well, I did that last Fall when I had some friends sleep over. I felt bad, but I think everyone was hung over enough where they ate it anyway. Oh, well. I've always bought those individual quiches in a blue package that come frozen and all you do is put it in the oven for awhile.

I decided that it's time for me to grow a spine and try to make quiche. I found this recipe on the food network website and I tweaked it to my liking. I'll be in Minneapolis this weekend, so I'm going to try and make it tonight or tomorrow night. We'll see how busy I am!

1 (9-inch) prepared pie shell (unbaked) that you get in the baking aisle
1 cup grated Swiss
1/2 cup grated marbled jack
3 tablespoon grated Romano, plus another handful
1/2 cup chopped medium onion
1 cup broccoli florets (fresh)
1 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt & pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
7 or 8 cherry tomatoes if you like them, I do

Preheat oven to 425 degree F.
Sprinkle the cheese over the bottom of the pie shell, then evenly distribute the onion, broccoli, and mushroom over the cheese layer. Mix the eggs and the spices together in a bowl. Add the milk and half-and-half and mix well. Pour over contents in the pie shell.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and place, cut side up, in a ring on top of the mixture. Sprinkle the extra handful of Romano over top. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 300 degrees F and bake an additional 45 to 55 minutes or until cake tester inserted in middle comes out clean.

PSH

Big Ten Network and my Golden Gophers

Organizing My Photography

It's a job that I swear is larger than life. I've had 8x10's from high school lying around the apartment, taken them out of their binders and somehow, they've ended up all over the apartment. Yesterday, I took an hour and sat on the floor in our bedroom and stuck them all back into their binder.

1. I put all the photos (I hand printed, enlarged, etc... myself in college, so they're still a little smelly, but at least I have them ALL) into plastic sleeves so that I could put them all into a 3-ring binder.
2. As I shoved them all into the 3-ring binder, I didn't really organize them by time period or subject, because I just wanted to get them out from under the bed and away from the desk, the bookcases in the living room, and just out of the living room, period.
3. When I have more time, and when I get new portfolios, I will most definitely organize by subject. But as you can tell, there's not too much time in my life for doing these things in one day. Plus, we don't have much money for organizing - I mean, we live in a 640 square foot apartment for Pete's sake. I'm not about to spend money when we're not going to live here forever!

I definitely feel much better, but I know that when I only have time for some things, that's all that I have. I've been very good about trying to follow the flylady.com's schedule, but I'm not exactly about to "shine my sink" on a nightly basis - as I wake up the next morning and CJ's usually made a mess of it again anyway. I'll have to train him.

My Photography Business

Finally has it's own website!!!! I am completely jumping for joy right now, the only thing that I really need to do is put together more galleries and add more images, right now it looks like I've only done one wedding and that is so NOT true. So in any case, enjoy my professional photography. Eventually I will be adding more and more to it, not only to make sure that people know that I am a "real" photographer, but to have my own domain name instead of using a blog to promote my stuff. Not only is it way more professional, but I'm also a lot more proud of myself for making it myself.

www.psphotographyonline.com

PSH

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Basically, crockpot chicken tacos. Yum! Thank you Nesties!

- 3 or 4 chicken breasts
- one jar of salsa
- one can of drained & rinsed black beans
- one pack of taco season OR 1 tbsp chili powder and 1 tblsp cumin and salt & pepper
- 1 package frozen corn (optional)
- 8 oz sour cream

Cook until chicken breasts are done (6-8 hours on low). Take chicken out, shred, put back into the crockpot along with frozen corn and sour cream. The sour cream cannot be cooked all day because it is a dairy product - put in 30 minutes before you are ready to serve this meal. Put in tortillas or serve over rice.

I don't usually make this with sour cream because my hubby's not a big fan. With the leftovers we make nachos and quesadillas. I also do a cheesy chicken dip too if there's enough left over and bring it to work the next day with tortilla chips.

Work Related Jokes - They Cheered Me Up Today!!

I'm not normally in such a bad mood, but lately it's been awful! So I did a search for workplace humor and these ones made me laugh. Outloud. In any case, there are some people at my work who look down upon secretaries, and let me tell you... I will not be a secretary forever and so those people can kiss my butt in two years when they're still here and I'm in a spacious chalet in the Swiss Alps. They could've been invited, but karma bit them in the butt and I won't return their attitude.

I always treat people the way that I would like to be treated and here I don't get much in return, and so my mom always told me, "Don't you hate it when karma bites you in the ass???"


Dilbert's Words of Wisdom
1. I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow's not looking good either.
2. I love deadlines. I especially love the swooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
3. Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
4. Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
5. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time you need him, chances are you won't be needing him again.
6. I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
7. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
8. I don't suffer from stress - I'm a carrier...
9. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo...
10. Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.



WAYS TO KEEP A HEALTHY LEVEL OF INSANITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Page yourself over the intercom. (Don't disguise your voice.)
Find out where your boss shops and buy exactly the same outfits. Always wear them one day after your boss does. (This is especially effective if your boss is a different gender than you are.)
Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, "I can't talk about it".
Send email to the rest of the company telling them what you're doing. For example "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom."
Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say "Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye".
"Hi-lite" your shoes. Tell people that you haven't lost your shoes since you did this.
Put up mosquito netting around your cubicle.
Every time someone asks you to do something, ask them if they want fries with that.
When someone hands you a piece of paper, finger it, and whisper huskily, "Mmmmmmm, that feels soooooo good!".
Put your garbage can on your desk. Label it "IN."
Determine how many cups of coffee is "too many."
Put decaf in the coffeemaker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
Walk sideways to the photocopier.
Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark 17 inch paper, 99 copies.
While riding an elevator, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.
If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
When driving colleagues around insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep 'em tuned up."
Say to your boss, "I like your style" and shoot him with double-barrelled fingers.
Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask "Did you get all that, I don't want to have to repeat it".
Reply to everything someone says with "that's what YOU think?".
Practice making fax and modem noises.
Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle.
Finish all your sentences with the words "in accordance with prophesy."
Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears and grimacing.
Shout random numbers while someone is counting.
Staple papers in the middle of the page.
Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a croaking noise.
TYPE ONLY IN UPPERCASE.
type only in lowercase.
dont use any punctuation either
Repeat the following conversation a few times: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now."
As much as possible, skip rather than walk.
When nearly done, announce "no, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.
Ask people what gender they are.
While making presentations, occasionally bob your head like a parakeet.
Sit in the car park at lunch time pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
Ask your co-workers mysterious questions and then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about "psychological profiles".
Why not try some of the following neat little exercises, not only will it make meetings more interesting but your fellow workmates will become suddenly more alert and maintain a respectful distance. By following these simple guidelines during important meetings, you too can be an unmitigated success:
Discreetly clasp hold of someone's hand and whisper: 'can you feel it?' from the corner of your mouth.
Draw enormous genitalia on your notepad and discreetly show it to the person next to you for their approval.
When refreshments are presented, immediately distribute one biscuit to each of the attendees, then systematically smash each one with your fist in front of them.
Chew tobacco.
Wear a hands free phone headset throughout once in a while drift off into an unrelated conversation, such as: 'I don't care if there are no dwarfs, just get the show done!'
Write the words 'he fancies you' on your pad and show it to the person next to you while indicating with your pen.
Respond to a serious question with: 'I don't know what to say, obviously I'm flattered, but it's all happened so fast'.
Use Nam style jargon such as 'what's the ETA?', 'who's on recon?' & Charlie don't surf'.
Reconstruct the meeting in front of you using action figures and when anyone moves re-arrange the figures accordingly.
Shave one of your forearms.
Draw a chalk circle around one of the chairs then avoid sitting on it, when the meeting starts. When someone does eventually sit in it, cover your mouth and gasp.
Turn your back on the meeting and sit facing the window with your legs stretched out. Announce that you 'love this dirty town'.
Walk directly up to a colleague and stand nose to nose with him for 1 minute.
Mount the desk and walk along its length before taking your seat.
Reflect sunlight into everyone's eyes off your watch face.
Gargle with water.
Repeat every idea they express in a baby voice while moving your hand like a chattering mouth.
Gradually push yourself closer and closer to the door on your chair.
Hum throughout.
Pull out a large roll of bank notes and count them demonstratively.
Bend momentarily under the table then emerge wearing contact lenses that white out your eyes.
Drop meaningless & confusing management speak into conversations such as:' what's the margin, Marvin?"When's this turkey going to get basted?" If we don't get this brook babbling we're all going to end up looking like doe-eyed labradors'
Produce a hamster from your pocket and suggest throwing it to one another as a means of idea-exchange.
Use a large hunting knife to point at your visual aids.
Announce that you've run off some copies of the meeting agenda. Then hand out pieces of paper that read:My secret agenda1 Trample the weak2 Triumph alone3 Invade PolandRe-collect them sheepishly and ask everyone to pretend they haven't seen them.
Attempt to hypnotise the entire room using a pocket watch.
Leave long pauses in your speech at random moments. When someone is prompted to interject shout 'I AM NOT FINISHED'.

Getting Creative Ideas

I'm starting to get together ideas for a more well rounded and organized bedroom. I know what I like, it's just putting the whole entire room together. To the left are the dressers that I absolutely love from Ikea. The only problem - there's not an Ikea near me. And so for shipping these things, it's well over the actual prices of the furniture. Pretty much, double the price and that's the shipping cost. Absolutely ridiculous! But, the store is meant for you to pick up your furniture at the store and put it together yourself, so I don't blame them! I just have to look for furniture like these, or maybe do some temporary shopping. I'm onto the Container Store next. I think I need some closet organizers, maybe some new bedside tables for organizing the clutter. I'm not sure. This is such a work in progress that I'm a little afraid almost to think too far outside the box - mostly because we'll be moving into a new place next year and I don't want to customize this apartment.

The joys of being a renter. Ugh.

PSH

Beer Bread

I absolutely LOVE the Tastefully Simple Beer Bread recipe. I mean, I could eat that bread for days and I'd be the happiest person in the whole entire world! In a perfect world, I would absolutely love to sell Tastefully Simple food, in fact, I would probably have food parties every single weekend! But, alas, I'm stuck in Indiana and that's not possible on my salary. So here's one of my beer bread recipes that's KINDA like the Tastefully Simple mix.

BEER BREAD

Pam cooking spray with flour
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces Guinness (you can have a sip or two, or maybe even 3)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat an 8-inch loaf pan with cooking spray (or you can stick your hand in a sandwich bag, then stick your hand covered by the bag into a margarine tub and just rub the pan with your fingers, that's easy too)

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center. Pour in beer and olive oil and mix until just blended. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve warm with butter or margarine. This tastes fabulous with broccoli cheese soup or really, any soup at all.


PSH

Tiramisu - Patty Harayda Style

Chocolate, whipped cream, coffee and liquor. My favorites all rolled into one delicious dessert. Who in their right mind would ever come up with this? That, I'm not sure, but I do know that it is really, really hard for me to say no to Tiramisu. This is one recipe that I got from the foodnetwork.com and I have made my own. I decided to omit eggs, because I'm kinda not a fan of salmonella and I know that I probably wouldn't get it, but I still don't take the risk, so this recipe uses cream cheese instead.

Tiramisu

8 ounces light cream cheese
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar/powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whipped cream, divided
1 package ladyfingers
1 cup coffee-flavored liqueur
1 tablespoon powdered sugar for topping
1 tablespoon chocolate chips

In a medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Fold in 1 1/3 cups of whipped cream. Dunk ladyfingers in prepared liqueur. Halve and place layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of tall deep glass bowl/fancy dish. Spoon half of cheese mixture over ladyfingers. Top with another layer of ladyfingers and remaining cheese mixture. Top with remaining ladyfingers. Spoon remaining whipped cream over top. Sift powdered suger over whipped topping and garnish with chocolate chips.

You can even split the mixture between four tall glasses if you're having a small party or just dinner with friends.

Yum!



PSH

The Easiest Beef Enchiladas

Ok, so I get cravings for Mexican food a lot! I always crave enchiladas because they're like tacos that you have to eat with a fork. My husband has never had an enchilada before last night (even though I ALWAYS order them at restaurants, especially at La Charreada, yum!). He surprisingly enough, really like them!

Patty's Easy Enchiladas

1/2 lb ground beef
1 12 - 15 oz can black beans
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 - 6 fajita size flour tortillas
1 small can of store brand enchilada sauce
1/4 cup salsa verde
1 Tbsp Chili powder
1 Tbsp Cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup of grated cheese, any kind is fine
Greased or buttered 9x12 glass baking dish (make more enchiladas if you want to use a larger baking dish)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

Saute onions in large non-stick pan over medium heat until clear. Add beef to pan and brown. Drain the can of beans and rinse, pour half the beans into the pan, smash the rest of the beans in the can with a fork. Then pour the rest of the beans into the pan. Add chili powder, cumin, salsa verde, coriander, salt & pepper to the pan. Cook until all is heated through and it is thoroughly mixed.

Fill flour tortillas with even amounts of the beef & bean mixture. Roll them up and put them seam down into the glass baking dish. Pour the can of enchilada sauce (you may need two cans if you're making a HUGE dish of enchiladas) over the tortillas, coating all of them evenly. The sauce will go to the bottom of the pan and bubble up, yum! Top with ALL of the cheese, cover with foil and put into the oven for 20 minutes.

Take off the foil and return to oven for another 10 minutes. Let cool and serve warm.

Patty's suggested toppings: salsa, green onions, lettuce, more cheese, refried beans.

Yummy! Everyone should try this one, it'll give you a good excuse to make some homemade take-out! Fabulous, easy and cheap, just the way that food is supposed to be!

PSH

Special K Bars

So I try and make these spontaneously for people at work or for someone's birthday. Betty's birthday is next Thursday and since she makes the best food ever, I've decided to make the best food for her! So I've decided to make 7 layer dip with tortilla chips and Special K Bars (but I'm not putting the Special K bars IN the 7 layer dip) - I make both of these recipes the best so why not make both???

Special K Bars

½ cup light Karo Syrup
½ cup sugar
¾ cup peanut butter
3 cups Special K cereal

Mix Karo syrup, sugar and peanut butter in a large sauce pan. Heat until boiling around the edges. Mix in Special K cereal. Put in lightly buttered 9x9 inch pan and press until flat. Cool

Top with Chocolate frosting


PSH

The Bedroom

I have to get it organized and I just don't know how. So it's being manhandled by clothes, too small dressers and our big bed - we need new HUGE dressers to fit all of our stuff but CJ doesn't want ANY new ANYTHING. I think I might just have to go shopping on my own - to IKEA next time we drive by one which is either in Chicago or Minneapolis.

In any case, I feel kinda stupid for doing this but I really need help. I joined the Yahoo Group FlyLady.net - and I have to tell you, I feel like I'm being told to clean by my mom. I'm a naturally messy person, but I thrive when everything is clean. At the moment, I can't sleep because our bedroom is so messy! I need Feng Shui like there's no tomorrow! We have a television in our bedroom and I feel like watching HGTV and cleaning, but I have no clue as to where to start. I'm a bit of a nervous wreck right now trying to even THINK about cleaning and organizing it. The Ferrari flag has come down and I do sleep better knowing that I have pictures on the wall that are calming and sleep inducing, but still! I need some organization!

Tonight I have a plan, I'm going to try and purge some stuff. Then I'm going to decide what CJ & I need to become more organized. Then I'm going to do it.

Slowly but surely.

PSH

Me!!!

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Shells Florentine

Last night I wanted a quick dinner - but I wanted a good vegetarian filling meal. I was glancing on the foodnetwork.com yesterday afternoon for a good menu but I couldn't find one that I wanted. I ended up making stuffed shells florentine - 3 or 4 shells is enough to fill you up too, plus you'll have leftovers for the next day!

1/2 box of large shell pasta - Barilla
1 large jar of marinara sauce
1 small container ricotta cheese
1 small onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 box frozen spinach, thawed or 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 Tbsp olive oil for the pan


Preheat over to 475 degrees.

Bring large pot of water to boil - cook pasta until al dente, or until just before they are done. Salt the water liberally. After finished cooking, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Put onions and garlic in a large shallow saute pan. Saute for about 7 - 8 minutes over medium heat. The onions should be clear and the garlic fragrant. Add the spinach, ricotta, basil, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook until ricotta has melted and spinach is warmed through.

Pour 1 cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of shallow glass baking dish.

Stuff shells with ricotta & spinach mixture - put each shell directly into the marinara sauce in baking dish until dish is full. Pour one more cup of marinara sauce over the stuffed shells. Top with shredded mozarella cheese and sprinkles of parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil, bake for 20 minutes. Uncover dish and bake until cheese is bubbly and brown. Serve with green salad.

Yum!

The Best 7 Layer Dip Ever

Thank you, Rachel Ray. I'm sharing this with everyone - it's the best spicy mexican dip in the whole entire world. You can eat this with blue corn chips, tortilla crisps, any chip ever! Also, it might be good the next day in a regular flour tortilla too - I haven't tried that yet!

Also, this is for a HUGE bowl of dip - if you're only making it for a few people, cut all the ingredients in half!

1 (15-ounce) can refried beans
2 tablespoons hot sauce
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
4 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 (16 to 18 ounce) jar green chili or tomatillo salsa
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, a palm full, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can black beans
2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2/3 palm full
1 (16 to 18 ounce) jar chipotle salsa
2 cups sour cream
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 ripe avocados
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
Salt
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Tortilla chips, buy 2 sacks in 2 different colors/varieties


Heat refried beans in small nonstick pan over medium heat and season with hot sauce. Transfer the beans to a small, deep casserole dish. Scrape pan clean with rubber spatula and return to heat.

Add a little extra-virgin olive oil to the pan and raise heat to high. When the oil smokes, add the scallions and sear them, 2 to 3 minutes. Add green salsa to scallions and heat through. Add cilantro, remove salsa from heat, and layer on top of the beans.

Return the same pan to the stove, lower heat to medium and add black beans, heat through and season with cumin, layer on top of the green salsa.

Top the black beans with a layer of chipotle salsa. Mix sour cream the lime zest and juice and spread on top of the chipotle salsa.

Combine the meat of 2 ripe avocados with garlic, lemon juice, jalapeno and salt to form a chunky guacamole. Top the salsa with guacamole. Garnish the dip with the final layer of diced tomatoes.

Black Bean Nacho Dip

I'm trying to get CJ & I to go vegetarian, slowly but surely the change is taking place! (Kind of) We're at least cutting back on meat and so I'm trying new less-meat recipes (note: there is meat in some of the recipes, but not all). Here's my latest:

Black Bean with Less-Beef Nacho Dip

1/3 pound ground beef
1 can Black Beans
1/2 jar Salsa Verde
1/3 jar regular Tomato salsa
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp Chili powder
1 Tbsp Cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cheese, green onions, lettuce for topping

Brown beef in medium skillet. Add onions & garlic. Cook until onions are clear and garlic is soft, about 6 - 7 minutes. Add chili pepper, cumin, salt & pepper to pan.

Drain black beans. Add half the can of black beans to pan, then smash half the can of black beans with fork - add the smashed black beans. Add the salsa verde and regular salsa to the pan. Cook until warmed through.

Put in serving dish, top with cheese, green onions, lettuce and serve still warm.

This would also be good on tortillas, over tortilla chips. Or you can make into a soup - add 1 can of beef broth and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Yum!

PSH

Mastering the Bathroom

Living in a small, 640 square foot apartment is not fun. Especially where two people have to reside for another year. I've decided to tackle the bathroom - we have no linen closet, barely any storage and have make-up, hair stuff and who knows what to supply us for a whole entire year! I'm not quite as organized yet as I would like to be, but for my next organizational project I am going to add before and after pictures. To the left is the after picture and it still looks disorganized! Can you believe it? Here are my bathroom tips:

• Clean, 5 minutes every day. This may include wiping down the counters and spraying the cool stuff that keeps your shower clean. Or it may include cleaning the toilet. Get a Scrubbing Bubbles toilet scrubber. It saves you time & space by hanging on the side of the toilet. Plus, you flush the cleaning stuff at the end and not the wand. Genius!


• Keep your mirror clean - keep glass cleaning supplies, like Windex close at hand. It makes you feel better knowing that if you have accidental guests, at least they don't see a dirty mirror. Plus, all that toothbrush splash & shaving splashes don't seem very cleanly, do they?


• Get see-thru canisters for your Q-tips & cotton balls. You can easily see when they need a refill. Plus, you'll be more likely to wash your face or paint your toenails if the supplies are in easy view and in pretty containers.


• Buy an undersink organizer. There's a neat one for the kitchen that you can buy at Target in the kitchen organization section. This one is great for the bathroom because it's adjustable. The one I'm talking about can also go between the plumbing pipes too. It creates extra needed space that you would have never thought about before!


• Get a basket for magazines and books. Boys always need these. If you get a good basket, it makes your bathroom look more spa-ish. Bonus on days where you need relaxation!

These are my tips on the bathroom so far - as my bathroom supplies triple throughout the year, I will be adding more and more!

PSH

What I'd like to be when I grow up

But I'm already grown up, right? So this past week the 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. It's a real tragedy, people died, the infrastucture of our country is collapsing. I probably shouldn't be blogging this but I will because it's my opinion - in countries past, the government collapsed because the infrastructure did. Now, as this country is in war, the gov't has been ignoring the problems at home, and so this is what we get. A collapsed freeway (the only one that goes from Duluth to Texas), more debt and the President is still sending troops to Iraq.

I am sort of in disbelief - his wife spend more time at the site than he did. He's been in Minneapolis before but I guess since he doesn't live there he doesn't realize what a tremendous problem this is going to be. If there are 750 bridges in the United States like the one in Minneapolis and 150 of those are in Ohio - which one falls next?

As I've grown older, I've paid a lot more attention to politics and I've noticed a few things about the United States. We're prosperous, but only if we can make things cheap and charge a lot. We're ignorant, unless something directly affects us. And that's what I've noticed with the bridge collapse. As Americans see the images on television, their minds wander to the bridges nearest them, and then it becomes a problem, but a problem for how long? How long is this going to be on tv? And how long are people going to remember this besides Minnesotans? For days, months or years? I have a feeling it won't be long - for a country this large, if it doesn't happen in your backyard and you're not affected, then why should people pay attention?

The Minneapolis bridge collapse is a symptom of a larger problem that cannot be remedied with only more money. This is a symptom of an economy that needs to realize that cheap labor does not equal quality products. Look at Mattel - there were hundred of toys on that recall list.

Honestly, I'm not sure what will happen in the future, but what I do know is this. I'm stocking up my linen closets and pantry. I will have toilet paper and batteries to last me a few months. I will not take anti-biotics unless I need them and I will ALWAYS vote in my local, state and federal elections. When I grown up, I want to make sure that I'm still here on Earth.

PSH