Here's that White Chili recipe, Maggie, and for anyone else who'd like to enjoy it.

WHITE CHILI RECIPE
1 lb navy beans (white beans) I cheat and put in 3 or 4 cans of canned Navy beans
2 cans chicken broth
1 C water
choped onion, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
salt, to taste
2 C chopped COOKED chicken breast
1 - 4oz can of green chilies
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t ground red pepper
1/8 t ground cloves - (I put in 4 whole cloves, but be sure to take out before serving)
3/4 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Sort and wash beans. Cook according to pkg directions and return to Dutch oven. Or if using canned beans, open cans and empty into dutch oven, or big pot. Add broth and water, onion, garlic, salt. Simmer for half hour, stirring occasionally.

Then add cooked, chopped chicken, chilies, cumin, oregano, red pepper and cloves to beans mixture. Cover and cook another half hour. Spoon into bowls and top with cheese.

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SOUR CREAM CORNBREAD (goes great with any soup, stew, chili)
1 - 8 1/2 oz can cream corn (small)
1 C sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 C cooking oil
1 C cornmeal, self-rising

Mix well together all ingredients and pour into hot, oiled 10" skillet. Bake in preheated 400� oven for 30 min. (Better check after 15 or 20 minutes--your oven may vary some. I put the skillet in the oven first and then start preparing the cornbread.)
If this isn't the best cornbread you ever tasted, then you just don't like good stuff. Please tell me if you try any of these out. Love to hear some feedback.

God, I look old today. Staring back in the mirror at me was an haggard, old-looking pale face with bags under the eyes, disheveled hair. Magnified by the sunlit window beside the wall mirror. Mirror, I wasn't prepared. I hadn't combed my hair or....well, I just wasn't prepared. I'm always reflective before a birthday. Reflective? Sadly resolving that everything's fine. 90% of the time, I dig being 50, and now coming on 51. But before my birthday I grieve for my younger days when responbilities were few and laughs were plenty.

I am trying to become more aware of my true feelings. After a lifetime of coverup and masking true emotions. Much has to do with gender and how we're conditioned to be the problem solvers and nurturers. So two big questions I've been asking myself.....Am I really fine with getting older? And do I have any regrets? The knee-jerk answer about regrets is that, "No, I don't have any regrets. I would do it all over again the same way." Well, that's what I said for years and years. Now, I realize I DO have regrets.

So those are my two declarations. 1) I'm not always happy with growing old; and 2) I DO have some regrets in my life.

Like most people, I'm a consumer and I've also worked in Customer Service before. And I was trained in performing great customer service for the customer and also supervised in that capacity. So I feel I'm qualified to recognize superior service when I recieve it. I got the best treatment today.

AOL gets many bum raps, and maybe they're grounded in serious issues. But the guy who was on the other end of the phone said something I've never heard before. After introductions and a brief description of my problem, he replied, "I understand, I am glad I am the one who received your request because I am going to do everything I can to assist you today."

It matters not that he may say this to each customer he speaks to. It does matter that he said it to me.

Do you have any kudos for customer service or maybe a horror story?

You may think I'm silly when I tell you this, but I'm seriously considering growing dreadlocks, or making them until my natural hair grows into them. I saw Kiki Smith, a sculptor, on television the other night that was my age and she was more than half grey headed with natural black hair; the length was past her shoulders. And I thought it looked so good on her. So I'm seriously considering doing it. Both my kids have done it before, but I never have. Whatcha think? Is it silly?

I thought it noteworthy that my daughter was interviewed, with other area students, about high school kids wearing the Confederate flag. Here is her quote: (and blanks to protect her identity)

Skyler _________, 15, said a student should have the right to wear the Dixie clothing, although she said she would not wear anything with the flag on it because it draws attention in a negative way.

_________ said she has not noticed many students at _________High sporting the rebel flag on their clothes or cars -- "thankfully, because there's a lot of different races represented in this school, and it would be a bad idea to flaunt it around."

Sounds pretty diplomatic for a girl that leans hard towards "goth". Nice job, sweetie.

Tish had mentioned that she gets all her news from the internet, with all the great alternative sources out here. Which is very wise, I think. I watch tv news to catch the headlines and top stories and follow up online to get the story without the spin. Alternet is a must read. But I rely on The Guardian and the BBC for much of my US news. The UK always scoops the US news and then we're forced to address said scoop 4 or 5 days later. I see it happen all the time. They don't have an agenda. They don't have a war to sell, a pResdient to polish, or a religion to push.

It's worth noting that ABCNews has been inching towards the left for sometime and they're certainly a reliable contender.

Google Toolbar Features

I'm posting this from Google's 2.0 Toolbar. I had an earlier version, but the newest one let's you post from any site.

My husband and I were talking this week about an old dining establishment we used to go to, called Lum's. It's a chain and I haven't seen any in ages. Their specialty was huge hot dogs cooked in beer and ice cold frosty mugs of beer. Need to Google it and see if it's still around. I rarely eat hot dogs, but would chow down on a Lum's dog if I saw one. So, how are you today? Huh? Huh?