MAKE A NOTE -- March 15th, 1999

CIRCULATION 1,962

A Free Twice Monthly Newsletter with (Hopefully) Useful Information on a Wide Variety of Topics

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In This Issue:

NOTE: Each entry has a suggested "POST IT..." location at the end. If you print & then cut out the entry you are interested in, it helps to post it where you might use it, then you are less likely to forget about it.

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IRISH RAISIN BREAD RECIPE

This is a delicious recipe that can be done in a bread machine (directions follow) or the old-fashioned way (check your cookbooks for times & temps for raisin bread). Place the following ingredients in your bread machine in this order...1pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast, 1/4C sugar (if you put the sugar in right after the yeast in all your recipes they will rise better because the yeast feeds on the sugar), 3C bread (or all purpose) flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4C butter, 1 egg (run under hot water until room temp), 3/4 C warm water, 1/2C warm milk. Select the white bread setting on your machine & the baking control knob to 12 o'clock position. Start machine. Add 1C raisins at end of second kneading, when machine beeps on some machines. To make it even juicier, soak the raisins in warm water until they plump (measure 1C BEFORE plumping). Enjoy. POST IT...in your recipe box.

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ST PATRICK'S DAY GAME

This is a fun one for the kids from a "Mother's Manual for Holiday Survival". Person A tells the group that Person B will guess any word they choose from a list of words Person A will give them. Person B leaves the room, a member of the group picks any word, Person A calls Person B back in.  Person A rattles off a list of words, Person B guesses correct word. How is it done? Person B knows that the word AFTER a word that is a green thing, is the correct word. So if the word was "pig", then Person A might say, "couch, TV, grass, pig, racket, hoe". Since grass is green, Person B knows that the next word, "pig" is the word. The person in the group who guesses how it is done (told to Person A in another room), can take the place of Person B. A fun game for kids & can be adapted to other colors, or things like animals, fruit, etc. POST IT...in a kids' game book??

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RESURRECTION EGGS

This is sort of like an Advent calendar for Easter. It is also known as the "12 Eggs of Easter". Because I have covered the DITY (Do IT Yourself) version for the past 2 yrs, I won't do it again. But I did want to let you know they are available ready-made now for a very reasonable price from Christian Book Stores($13), Abbey Press (1-800-962-4760)catalog or Christian Book Distributors (http://www.christianbook.com)(about $15). Using a dozen colored plastic eggs, each filled with an item that relates to the Easter story, it is a wonderful way to heighten the anticipation for this wonderful celebration for young & old alike. The set comes with a great little book that has verses, & explanations for the color of each egg & item inside.  POST IT...on your shopping list.

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CHILDRENS' SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Some very wealthy men & organizations with matching funds are offering the entire USA the chance to apply for full scholarships at private schools, and perhaps even all home school materials. But the deadline is coming up fast, March 31st. So call 1-800-805-KIDS to apply by phone. Eligibility is based on need & number of children in family. For example, with one child the maximum income is $29,255/annually; for 8+ children the max is $74,655.  Names are drawn at random, for children in K-8th in 9/99. POST IT...by your phone.

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TOY SHOPPING WEB SITES

These sites are FANTASTIC and on many of them you can actually type in an age, gender, what type of toy you want (education, popular, software, etc), and it will pop up with a list for you to consider. You can also put in price ranges. Check them out at the following: http://www.zanybrainy.com, http://www.etoys.com, http://www.toysrus.com, http://www.kbtoys.com.

POST IT...by your computer.

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DOG SAFETY-THEIRS & YOURS 

Theirs-Recently the police arrested several people in the NW who, in addition to stealing pets, were picking up free or inexpensive cats & dogs to sell to labs. They would go to the places where it said, "Free to Good Home" or other kinds of "free", pretend they were taking them as pets, but then would sell them to labs to do experiments on for about $50 each. So even if they paid less than that, they still made money. Ways to prevent this are microchips and tattoos on your pets. The microchips are injected between their shoulders & it doesn't hurt any worse than a regular shot.  The chip becomes imbedded in their layer of skin & stays put. On post it runs about $12, off post about $35, but is well worth it. So even if your dog loses his tag, the microchip is still there. The tattoos are usually done while the animal is under anesthesia and run about $35-$50. Most labs and pounds will scan the pets for chips & check them for tattoos. The vets that do these procedures can explain how you can register the numbers (of chip or tattoo) with national lost pet agencies. And if you are getting rid of a dog, be sure to sell it for at least $50 if you don't know the person.  A great regular ID tag to have on a pet can be purchased for a low price of about $5 from Artistic Greetings (http://www.artisticgreetings.com). They can put up to 6 lines with 22 letters each. Don't put dogs name, it makes it easier to steal, but in place of the name put "REWARD FOR RETURN", then your name, address, home phone, & work phone. International pricing also available. For traveling buy a bag of those paper circle key tags to write the number of your current stop on EACH time you stop.

Yours-Teach your children never to approach strange animals. If a dog does approach them, teach them to "make like a tree", hands into fists close to body and stand completely still. If a dog knocks them down, they should be taught to "make like a log", roll over on side, pull knees up & put their hands over their ears. It won't prevent bites, but hopefully would make the bites less severe. By the way(BTW), this is also the position that is taken if a panicked crowd is trampling you, to try to protect yourself. POST IT...on your things to do list.

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AIR BAG SAFETY

Don't let it take the loss of a friend or family member for you to realize that you need to take air bags very seriously, especially in older model vehicles. Children and even women 5'4" and under have been seriously injured or even killed, by air bags that broke their necks. In newer models the airbags do not deploy with as much force, as in the older models, but they still can be dangerous. In the newer models the car has to be going faster than 25mph in most cases for it to deploy, so there are fewer air bag injuries in what would be a minor accident normally. The older models can deploy at 5mph. Don't get me wrong, I know that air bags probably save more lives than they take, but "use" them correctly. DO NOT put children in a seat with an air bag. Sit as far back as you can comfortably sit from the air bag, at least 10-12", make sure the head rest comes up at least to the top of your ears if you have an adjustable one. Avoid bending over as much as possible where your head would be closer to the deploying air bag. It doesn't matter how rare these injuries are folks, if it happens to someone that YOU care about. POST IT...in your car with a ruler.

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JOKE (A True Story from Your Editor)

The other day I was waiting to pay my fine for an overdue tape at the video store. The man in front of me gave the clerk a completely broken up, mangled tape. Even the clerks looked impressed. Expecting to hear a "my dog ate it" story, imagine my surprise when I heard this...."Well, I got really mad at my old lady & grabbed the closest thing, which happened to be the tape, and threw it against the wall." BTW, the "old lady" was sitting in the car outside, not looking too pleased. After the management told him how much he would have to pay to replace it, and that they would have to mark his account (his main concern was if he would be able to rent again), I noticed the title of the tape...."Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" I kid you not. :)

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QUOTE (from Bob P.)

"People are like tea bags - - you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are." 

-----Anonymous

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FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK

From Lois C., Canada

Lois C. wrote to inquire about the Irish Potatoes recipe. For our international readers, the condensed milk is the 14oz can of SWEETENED condensed milk, and powdered sugar is also known as confectionery or icing sugar. Thanks Lois C. on behalf of our international readers for bringing that needed clarification to my attention.

From Mrs. Cook and others for Anne B. and others :)

When Anne B. asked about how Mrs. Cook did it on so small an income, I was pleasantly surprised to receive replies from many who find ways to make it on tight budgets. They were kind enough to share their ideas and I hope to put together a collection of their ideas in coming issues. Obviously this is something that a lot of people are interested in. Thank you ladies.

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Please make special note that there is now a web site for back issue access below. Unfortunately they are still not available by email YET. But for those of you with web site access, you can check out the back issues from Sept to the present. Don't forget to pass on the newsletter to anyone you think might be interested and let me know what YOU would like to read about.

God bless,

Sharon ^i^

Make-A-Note@worldnet.att.net

Editor, Make a Note

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