My Revue on Bruce Springsteen!

This morning I was trying to figure out who to write about. Then I thought of Bruce Springsteen. I remember growing up and the first album I listened to was "Born to Run". I thought this was a great album from him. It is something about his voice that I really like. It is really different than anyone else.

Bruce Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Long Beach, New Jersey.

He was nick named the boss from his band members. This is because after the shows he would go and get the money and give each band member there pay for the night.

The type of music is Rock, Heartland Rock, Roots Rock, Jersey Shore Sound, Country Rock. The Band's name is the E Street Band.

Bruce is singer and songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics and american sentiments centered on his native New Jersey. Most successful albums are Born to Run and Born in the USA. Sold more than 65 million in the US and over 120 million worldwide. His dad was a bus driver and his mom was a legal secretary. Bruce's heritage is 50% Italian, 37% Irish and 13% Dutch. He has two sisters and he was raised Catholic.

Bruce's influence growing up was Elvis at age 7. At age 13 his mom bought him his first guitar for $18. Then at age 16 his mom had to take a loan out to buy him a Kent guitar for $60.  Later Bruce had written a song about the guitar called "The Wish".

In 1965 Bruce was in a band called The Castiles. He was lead guitar and lead vocals. in 1964 he failed a physical exam for the Vietnam War. Because the year before he had suffered a concision from a  motorcycle accident.

Then in 1969-Early 1971 he was in a band called Steel Mill. Then in Early to Mid 1971 he was in a band called Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom. In Mid 1971 he was in a band called Sundance Blues. Then in 1971 to Mid 1972 The Bruce Springsteen band came. John Hammond a talent scout for Columbia Records gave Bruce and the band an audition in 1972 with new managers for the band Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos. In January of 1973 his first album that came out was "Greetings from Asbury Park N.J.". Then in 1975 he released "Born to Run" and in August he had found his success. This album had reached number three on the billboard 200. This album was a favorite on the Classic Rock stations. Then in 1978 he had released "Darkness on the Edge of Town". This was the turning point for him. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized character and long, multi-part musical compositions. Then songs are more leaner and more carefully drawn.

Then on 1984 he released "Born in the USA" This is the album that Bruce is best known for making. He sold over 15 million copies in the US. He also had seven singles to go on to the top ten. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of the Vietnam Veterans. Some of whom were his friends and some were his bandmates. In 1985 he had married Julianne Phillips.  Then in 1986 he released "Live 1975-1985" box set. This was number one on the US ablum charts. Then in 1988 Bruce and Julianne had gotten a divorce.  Then in 1989 Bruce had dissolved the E Street Band. Then Bruce and Patti Scialfa had move to California.

Then in 1991 Bruce and Patti had gotten married. They have three children  together. Then in 1999 Bruce was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bono from U2. Also Bruce and the E Street Band had reunited they went on an extensive reunion tour lasting for over a year long. This reunion tour was sold out all over.

Then on November 4th, 2008 when Obama won the election and after the victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. They had played Bruce's song "The Rising" over the loud speakers. Then in February 2009 Bruce performed at the Superbowl XLIII halftime show. This was his busiest month of his life. Then in 2010 he performed at the concert to raise money for Haiti. This concert was organized by George Clooney.

The Band Member are-
Bruce Springsteen- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica and Piano.
Garry Tallent- Bass and Tuba.
Clearance "Big Man" Clemons- Saxophone, Percussions and Backing Vocals.
Max Weinberg- Drums and Percussions.
Roy Bittan- Piano and Keyboards.
Steven Van Zandt- Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals and Mandolin.
Nils Lofgren- Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar and Backing Vocals.
Patti Sciafa- Backing Vocals , Duet Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Percussions.
Soozie Tyrell- Violin, Acoustic Guitar, Percussions and Backing Vocals.
Charles Giordano- Organ, Accordion and Glocken Spiel.

Bruce and the band have had a great career with a lot of great music. They also had a lot of awards for all of there great music. I love all of his music.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, each about 3/4 pound each, scrubbed and dried
• 2 to 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 scallion, finely chopped
• Freshly grated nutmeg, optional
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes directly on the rack in the center of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Pierce each potato in a couple spots with a fork and continue to bake until tender, about 30 minutes more. Remove potatoes from the oven, and turn the heat down to 375 degrees F.

Hold the potato with an oven-mit or towel, trim off the top of the potatoes to make a canoe-like shape. Reserve the tops. Carefully scoop out most of the potato into a bowl. Take care to leave enough potato in the skin so the shells stay together. Mash the potato lightly with fork along with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the butter and sour cream. Stir in the scallion, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Season the skins with salt and pepper. Refill the shells with the potato mixture mounding it slightly. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the potato filling. Brush the reserved top with the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.

Set the potatoes and lids on a baking sheet, and bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Copyright 2001 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved


SOURCE

Twice Baked Potatoes

Scones -- A little healthier

Whether you care anything about the royal wedding, or not, you must admit that this is at least a day to honor our British forefathers. In my case, that is my heritage. So -- in honor of the day, I made scones for my family. I did try a healthier version.

This recipe is from Veginomicon, a vegan cookbook I purchased recently because they contained things like this scone recipe.

Banana-Date Scones
Makes 8 large scones

1 cup chopped dates
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup mashed, very ripe banana (about 3-4 bananas)
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/3 cup rice milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 brown rice syrup
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease two medium-sized baking sheets. Finely chop the dates, place in a small bowl, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Toss the dates to thoroughly coat with the flour, breaking apart any clumps, Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flax seeds and rice milk. Whisk in the mashed banana, canola oil and brown rice syrup. In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into the banana mixture until the ingredients are just moistened; the dough will be thick yet sticky. Fold in the chopped dates and walnuts.

Lightly oil a 1/2 cup measuring cup and scoop generous half-cupfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the scones. Gently pat down the tops of the scones and dab with a little rice milk, if desired. Bake for 32 to 34 minutes until browned and firm. Transfer from the baking sheets to a cooling rack to complete cooling.

I like the recipe. My husband was not very impressed but he did eat one. (I do gauge a recipe by his likes. I really have to.)

My favorite part of the recipe? Oiling the 1/2 cup and then dropping the scones onto the baking sheet. That was a great method that I will use for scones from now on, especially whole grain ones.

Have a happy day and drink plenty of tea. It is good for you. I suggest the green variety. Might not be quite at British, but it is good for you.

American Idol 2011!

The theme for this week was Carole King songs. Baby Face was helping with the songs at rehearsal. Miley Cyrus showed up for Lauren's rehearsal.

Jacob sang "Oh No, Not My Baby". The performance was alright. But he sang the song a little bit to loud.

Lauren sang "Where You Lead". This was not one of her better performances. She was trying way to hard.

Scotty sang "You've Got A Friend". This was a great performance. He made the song his own like always.

James sang "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". As usual an awesome performance. He can sing any song and make it his own.

Casey sang "Hi-De-Ho'. This was a different song he made it his own. Really good performance.

Haley sang "Beautiful". Another awesome performance by her. She really knows how to make a song her own.

The Duets that they did-

Casey and Haley sang " I Feel The Earth Move". They did an awesome job with the performance. They can really sing together.

Scotty and Lauren sang "Up On The Roof". This was a really good performance. They really sing good together.

James and Jacob sang "I'm Into Something Good". This was a good performance. But for them to sing together I did not like.

Special guests- Crystal Bowersox she sang "Riding With The Radio". I really like this song for her. It was great to see her again.

Bruno Mars sorry I did not catch his performance.

Bottom three-
Jacob
Casey
Scotty

Eliminated was Casey.

I also found out for this week Steven Tyler was on the cover of Rolling Stone and People.

Little House Farmer Boy Revue!

This book is about Almanzo Wilder growing up. He was born on Feburaury 13,1857 and he passed away on October 23, 1949 at the age of 92. He was raised in Malone, New York. He lived there with his Ma, Pa, brother Royal, sisters Eliza Jane and Alice.

His Ma and Pa had a big farm they had horses, cows, lambs, ox's and pigs. They also grew hay, oats, potatoes, corn, carrots, pumpkins, peas and beans.

Growing up they only had one pair of shoes to wear all year long. In the summer time Almanzo would walk around barefoot to save on his shoes. He also liked the feel of the grass under his feet.

Then at Christmas some of the family would come to the house on Christmas Day. You could here the bells on the horses coming down the driveway. Everyone was in there best clothes for the Holiday. They would all sit down to eat dinner and the adults would get there food first then the kids could get  there food. At the dinner table the kids are not to say a word unless an adult is talking to them. Then after dinner they opened there presents. After opening there presents the boys went outside to play and the girls had to stay inside.

In the winter time the only way they had to heat the house was a  wood burning stove downstairs. When the kids went to bed it was very cold upstairs in the bedrooms. It was so cold some days that the kids could see there breath in the air. They would hurry up and wrap up under there covers. In the morning they would hurry up and go downstairs by the wood stove to warm up.

On his 9th birthday Almanzo was able to stay home from school. But he still had to do his chores and he helped his Ma clean the house. For his birthday he got a yoke for the young ox and he also got a sled his Pa made both of them for him.

Then Spring came and it was time to plow the fields and plant them. All the kids had to help with the planting. Almanzo asked his Pa if he could plant a special pumpkin for the County Fair. While it was growing his Pa had an idea to help it grow bigger. He took a candle wick and make a slit in the stem put the wick in the slit and the other and of the wick was put in a bowl of milk. Also in the Spring his Pa had sold two of the young horses. When Pa had made the sale it was to late to go to town to put the money in the bank. Then they heard something by the door and they went to look there was a dog there. The dog would not leave the house and it was a good thing. Because during the night they heard the dog growling and in the morning Pa went outside and seen footprints the dog had chased someone away from the house. After that the dog never came back.

It was Independence Day and everyone put on there best clothes and went to town. The girls wore hoop skirts under there dresses. This made it hard for all the kids to get in the back of the buggy. When they got to town Pa dropped off Ma, Royal, Eliza Jane and Alice. Almanzo would go to the barn with Pa to help him unhitch the horses and feed them. There was a lot of booths with drinks and games. There was also a big cannon in the middle of town that would be shot off. Almanzo had asked his Pa for money to buy some lemonade and his Pa gave him a half dollar and said he could buy some lemonade or he could spend it wisely and buy a pig to raise.  So he bought himself a pig. 

During the summer all the kids would have to help keep the fields weeded. Almanzo had his pig he had to take care of besides all of his chores. Almanzo helped his Ma churn butter.

Then it was harvest time and all the kids had to help. They had all the hay, corn, oats and the vegetables. With the potatoes they would have wagon fulls to take to the house and put down a shoot. The hay and corn was taken to the barn. The vegetables were put in the basement. Everything had its place to be put at harvest time and each place was real full with the harvest.

Then it was County Fair time. This was a week long event. The day before the fair Pa took Almanzo with his pumpkin to get it registered. The day of the fair everyone put on there best clothes and went to town. On the third day of the fair the pumpkins were judged and Almanzo got 1st place for his pumpkin. On the way home that night Pa said the Wilder family did real good at the fair. Alice had gotten 1st place on her wool work, Eliza Jane had gotten a red ribbon for her jellies and Alice had gotten a blue ribbon for her jellies.

Then after the fair the older kids had to go away to a different school. This left Almanzo home alone with Ma and Pa. Also he had to do more chores because Royal was not there to help him anymore. Almanzo really missed the other kids because at lunch time it was just Ma, Pa and Almanzo. He was really close to Alice and he really missed her.

Almanzo had a job offer to make buggies and wagon with Mr. Paddock. Mr. Paddock had talked to Pa about Almanzo working for him because he had no children to take over his business. This was a real good offer for Almanzo but Ma did not like the idea of Almanzo working for other people. His brother Royal wants to have his own store some day. Pa asked Almanzo if he wanted to work for Mr. Paddock and Almanzo said he wanted to be like his Pa and work the farm. Almanzo loves to work with the animals and doing the planting.

This book really tells you a lot of Almanzo growing up. I really like this book. I hope everyone enjoys my revue on this book. I am sorry it has taken me awhile to write about his book. I was told that the Wilder's house and barn are still there and they still have the County Fair every year.

iTunes: 16 Free Learn Along With Sesame Street Episodes!

iTunes is offering 16 FREE Learn Along With Sesame Street Episodes!
Join your favorite Sesame Street characters as they learn, play, and grow. Elmo and his friends explore an exciting range of topics, from getting ready for school to discovering the wonders of learning with music. So sing, dance, and Learn Along With Sesame.

This post was obtained from www.swaggrabber.com.

For similar posts, visit cjrlkidszone.blogspot.com. 

Organic Gardening class -- part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Continuing with the tips.

Most people know that a garden needs plenty of sun and needs to be open and not under trees, but the next thing you really need is a soil sample. It is better if you get a detailed test because it is really nice to know what trace minerals you need to add to your soil and how to amend your PH. Building up the soil will give you the best results and make stronger plants. Stronger plants will be more disease- and pest-resistant. Above Mike Cunningham is taking a soil sample.

Azomite is one of the amendments that is used at Country Gardens. I had never heard of it before but I was sold on it and purchased a bag to use in my garden before I left. I am getting a soil sample before the week is done and I know I will be using more lime in my garden because Georgia soil is acidic and the lime made from calcium will prevent end rot.

Above, a photo of beets.

After the soil is right, they prepare the ground by making a berm, adding compost and organic fertilizer.

The next step, irrigation.

They prefer a drip system laid out on each side of the plant if the row is wide.

Their system has regulators

This system is very expensive for folks like me. He suggested watering in the morning if you must water from overhead so that the leaves could dry out by nightfall. This helps to prevent plant diseases. If you can, hand water at the base of the plant.

They then cover it with at least 4 layers or newspaper (not shiny) or Kraft paper and then hay. In the center of the rows they put down cardboard and mulch. They use materials that will compost. They then dig down and plant the vegetables through the paper and cover with wheat straw. The wheat straw sometimes grows but is easy to pull up.

Other tips: Use BT for caterpillars. It is a great organic solution for things like cabbage, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.

Floating row cover is great to use for pest control and protection from the elements.

Plant things like broccoli and Brussels sprouts in August rather than February in this climate. They will never make by warm weather and will just flower and won't produce. That was a good tip for me because I planted Brussels sprouts and broccoli. We will just have to be satisfied with adding the leaves to stir-frys.

Pull up dirt around root vegetables like potatoes and carrots and give them plenty of vertical room in soft soil to grow.

I thought this cucumber patch looked good. Look how high the vines can grow. I am thinking my cucumber fences need to be higher.

Plant things together to utilize space, like these peas and lettuce.

They have these greenhouse structures that you can throw plastic over to protect from freezing temps and during the summer, they are just regular garden space. That is something I would love but I can't afford it.

Squash were such a problem for us last year because of the squash vine borers and squash bugs. They suggested picking off eggs of both and spraying with BT because after the squash borer hatches, the worms crawl down the stalk and bore into the vine. It you can catch them with BT, it will help. Also, keep planting at intervals to keep them going all summer.

For tomatoes, prune off the suckers to keep one vine growing for larger fruit.

Plant them deep. I am going to add calcium limestone, azomite and organic fertilizer and probably Black Kow to mine this year.

I would highly recommend taking a course like this, because I learned even more than I thought I would from this class.

This was not everything I learned and I appreciated the comment that every individual gardener learns tips and tricks that works for him. Make sure the basics are taken care of and then you will learn and grow in gardening know-how as your garden grows.

Salmon Salad with Red Chile-Caesar Dressing

Ingredients
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
1 teaspoon red chili paste
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups chopped Romaine lettuce leaves
2 cooked salmon fillets, broken up into 2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 cup seasoned croutons


Directions
In a blender or food processor, combine lemon juice, oil, Parmesan, garlic, anchovy paste, red chili paste, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Puree until smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.


Arrange lettuce leaves on a serving platter and top with salmon and croutons. Pour over dressing and serve.


SOURCE

Salmon

American Idol 2011!

I know this is really late. My computer went down last week and we had to take it in last thursday to get it fixed. Then we were gone for Easter.

So here is the Top 7 for last week. The theme for it was 21st Century music.
Scotty sang Swing by Leanne Rimes. This was an awesome performance. I loved it especially when he got his deep voice in it.
James sang Uprising by Muse. Like always he did had an awesome performance. This is his best performance yet and I love it. 
Haley sang Rolling in the Deep by Adele. Really good performance. I always like it when she makes the song her own.
Jacob sang Dance with my Father by Luther Van Dross. When he first started to sing I thought he was going to lose it. But he surprised me that he came back. This was a real emotional song for him to do.
Casey sang Hard to Breathe by Maroon 5. Good performance not one of his best ones. He has a real different style of music.
Stefano sang Closer by Ne-Yo. This was a good performance but not his best. He is getting more confident on the stage.
Lauren sang Born to Fly by Sara Evans. This was alright not her best performance. She is staying in a safe zone. She needs to find a song that will really show her voice. She sounds more like a karaoke singer.

Special guests this week- David Cook and Katy Perry.

Bottom three- Jacob, Stefano and Haley.

Eliminated was Stefano.

National Library Week Has Come to a Close

National Library Week has come to a close and what "FUN" we had.
First, "Sparky" Wesson Fire Departments newest addition came and was here to greet the K-2 grades from Wesson Attendance Center as each class come to visit our library. He and one of the Wesson Firefighters spoke with the children about fire safety.

We had several contest going on for the older kids and adults during National Library Week. For the 3rd - 6th grades we had a poster contest. It was very successful. There were 34 entries. I know it must have been hard for our patrons to choose a winner because all of the posters were wonderful. Our overall winner was Shelly Castilaw-5th grade, 3rd grade winner-Caitlyn Williams, 4th grade winner-Katie Westbrooke, we had two 6th grade winners Tyler Case and DeAnna Young. For the pre-teen and teenagers we had a poetry contest. We had 64 entries for that contest. The judges are tallying the votes and a winner will be announced soon. Our adults had a photo contest and the winner of that contest was Ann Clark.

A hands-on gardening class

This past saturday morning my sister and I took a gardening class at Country Gardens Farms and Nursery in Sharpsburg and it was really an incredible experience for us.

Country Gardens and Farms, well-known as a nursery and greenhouse seller and supplier is moving to a thriving CSA (community-supported agriculture) business which means they sell shares before the season begins and the share-holders pick up a weekly supply of organic vegetables. They basically receive whatever is in season. They also raise grass-fed beef, chicken and pork, and sell free-range eggs and milk. People can buy from their store and they also take their vegetables to several area markets. They still are in the nursery business, but are moving to the growing CSA movement. I am providing a link so you can learn more here.

The class was called Organic Farming 101 and it was a great learning experience for us. Today I will show a few photos of their gardens and I will continue tomorrow with some things I learned from the class.

My sis and I only thought we had learned a good deal while gardening this past couple of years. Most of what we have done has been trial and error. We have been a bit frustrated at times by trying to follow organic practices, but I am hoping that taking this class will help us take it up a notch, because we had so many of our questions answered. It was so nice to see that someone is having great success without using traditional chemicals. We have worked hard to do this but have at times been terribly frustrated.

Here is what we can strive for in our garden. The photo at the top is of their old vegetable garden space. Now they are growing cabbage, bok choy, greens and onions.

The bok choy is beautiful.

Their broccoli is at their peak. We were surprised because our broccoli is not doing well. The answer is that broccoli and Brussel sprouts must be planted in August. Bummer. Our broccoli won't make this year but we will try again at the end of the summer.

They have rows of tomatoes, and are planting more. Their best seller this year was Sungold.

Can carrot tops look prettier than this?

I love their sugar peas that are being harvested very soon. Our peas are chest-high. Theirs vines are taller than us. I loved how they utilitzed the space around the peas by planting lettuce. Looks like flowers.

Their squash is a little ahead of ours and it looks great.

They do have a beautiful farm and tomorrow I will reveal more.

My sister's potato salad

On Sunday we had a wonderful ham dinner for Easter but the star of the show wasn't our fresh garden lettuce, spinach and green pea salad, pictured on the right, above. And it wasn't our grilled ham, though it was good, but the best dish was the potato salad my sister brought to dinner. She makes the best potato salad ever. Her potato salad is always consistently yummy.

With summer picnics just around the corner, I thought it would be a great time to share her recipe. I asked her if it was OK and she agreed. Here is her potato salad recipe. Make it. I know everyone will appreciate you for it.

Smith Reunion Potato Salad

5 pounds potatoes
1 large onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, washed and diced
6 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise (she prefers Dukes)
1 cup sour cream
French's yellow mustard (1/2 cup, or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Paprika, to garnish

Wash, peel and dice potatoes and cover with water in a large boiler. Wash eggs and cook with potatoes. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and cook until tender. While potatoes are cooking, dice onion and celery into a large bowl. Drain cooked potatoes thoroughly and place in large bowl with celery and onion. Peel boiled eggs. Add diced boiled eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream and approximately 1/2 cup yellow mustard, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Mix all ingredients until creamy. Garnish with paprika. Makes 20 to 25 servings.

Wilma A. Smith

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Ingredients
2 bunches spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds


Directions
1. In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. Pour over the spinach and strawberries, and toss to coat.


Nutritional Information  
Amount Per Serving  
Calories: 235 | Total Fat: 15.9g | Cholesterol: 0mg


SOURCE

Salad

Good Friday gift

Yesterday I made this Good Friday gift for my friend Angela. Good Friday is historically the day for planting a spring garden so this is a great gift, in my opinion. These are all plants I have grown from seed in Jiffypots and are a combination of Malabar spinach, and several tomato varieties including Celebrity, Big Rainbow, Purple Calabash and Black Cherry. These you won't find at the local seed store.

I placed them in a Styrofoam egg carton and watered them down so they will be ready for her to plant in the ground or in pots. I hope they do well for her. I do love growing plants from seeds. I am getting a little better at it and I hope to improve every year.

Don't you think these make a nice Good Friday gift for a gardener? My daughter said it was kind of like a box of chocolates, but without the calories and a good use of an old egg carton.

Happy Easter! I hope you have a blessed weekend and the weather is perfect for planting.

EASTER!

I know I am writing this early. The reason for this is we may be going up north tomorrow to spend the Holiday with my boyfriend's family and my family. I just wanted to make sure that I had this posted for everyone.

Easter is the central feast in the Christian Liturgical year. It is told in the gospel that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday.

Easter marks the end of Lent. Lent is a forty day fasting, prayer and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week. This contains Good Friday, Commemorating the Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus. The Lamb is a used for a sign of the Crucifixion.

Easter is a movable feast. This means it is not a fixed date in the relation to the civil calendar. It occurs in the Spring in March or April. The method to determine the date for Easter Sunday is complex, based on the lunisolar calendar. 

Easter customs vary across the christian world. By decorating eggs, egg hunts, the Easter Bunny. Customs like the egg hunt and the Easter Bunny extend from the domain of Church.

Sun rise service is in reflect to the gospel account of the woman coming to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. The tradition to sun rise service use to take place in the church cemetery, yard or at a nearby park.

Easter has extended beyond church. Such customs as Easter games, outfits, egg rolling, decorating eggs. Today's date Easter is commercially important with wide sales of greeting cards, chocolate eggs and bunnies, marshmallow eggs and bunnies, jelly beans, filling the Easter baskets and hiding the eggs and baskets. 

I think a lot of people forgot the reason for Easter Sunday lately. That is why I am writing this post. I am not a very big church going person but I do believe in Jesus. I just hope nobody does take any offense in this I am not trying to hurt anyone in anyway. I just thought I would post something about Easter Sunday.

Two eager Easter bunnies

These two cousins got together last night at my house to decorate Easter eggs -- a tradition at our house. I thought that turning hard-boiled eggs into works of art might be dying out but when I went to the craft store, there were so many different kinds of egg kits that I decided it was still the "in" thing to do.

I think I really prefer using food coloring and vinegar rather than these kits but I thought it would be much easier with two eager Easter bunny apprentices, to just use the fizzy colors that came with the kit. I did like the egg-shaped cups, which I quickly placed on a cookie sheet. Glad I did because we had overflow.

Our finished products were encouraging. The kids loved the coloring and the glitter eggs (easy to do) and the shiny eggs (hard to do), but their favorite thing was the little wax crayon that came with the original coloring kit. They loved drawing a small figure or letter on the egg and then placing it in the dye to reveal their art. I will use this in the future because it was really great.

I thought about blowing out some eggs but with a 5- and 6-year-old, the shells would be too delicate for them. That would be better for when they are 8 or 9.

I think the best thing I found out -- mini muffin cups hold the finished eggs perfectly -- and they are pretty. Egg cartons would work, too, but I love the muffin cups.

We had so much fun and I am sure they will be dye-ing to do it again next year.

Do-It-Yourself: Easter Baskets from Newspaper and Vegetable-Dyed Eggs

Roots of Simplicity shows you how to making Easter baskets out of newspaper. Love this, though I doubt I have the patience to pull it off! (However, I don’t recommend using uncut coupon inserts to make it unless you are 150% sure you won’t be needing/using the coupons. You’d hate to be tempted to pull apart the Easter basket because you found out after making it that it has a coupon rolled up in it that will make something a money-maker!)

Want to avoid artificial food coloring? Tinkerlab has a tutorial for making vegetable dyed Easter eggs.

This post was obtained from www.moneysavingmom.com. 

My Revue on Chicago!

This morning I decided to write about Chicago. This is one of my favorite bands growing up. I also grew up in Chicago like some of the band members.

The band was formed in Chicago, Illinois. The first name of the band was The Big Thing then they went to The Chicago Transit Authority.

Chicago's style of music is Rock, Jazz Rock, Progressive Rock and Soft Rock.

The band was formed from a group of musicians that went to DePaul University and they were all music students. This is the six members that started the band: Terry Kath- guitar and was born in Chicago, Illinois he passed away in early 1978, Danny Seraphine- drums he was born in Chicago, Illinois, James Pankow- trombone, he was born in St. Louis, Missouri, Lee Loughnane- trumpet, he was born in Elmwood Park, Illinois, Robert Lamm- Keyboards, he was born in N.Y. but then was raised in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Cetera- bass and vocals, he was born in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1967 - June 1968 the band was called The Big Thing. In June of 1968 the band moved to Los Angeles, California. This is with the guidance of there friend and manager James William Guerico. James had gotten the band a record deal with Columbia Records and they changed there name to The Chicago Transit Authority. Then in April 1969 they releasedd a double album called The Chicago Transit Authority. Some people would just call the the CTA's. This album was a jazzy instrumental album with some Latin percussion to it. This was the band's first album and it had sold over one million copies and was awarded a Platinum Disc and this was in 1970. Shortly after this album was released the band had to change there name again. They decided to change it to Chicago. They had to do this because the actual Chicago Transit Authorities were going to take legal action against the band.

In 1970 there next album was released it is called Chicago also known as Chicago II. This album was also a double album. This album had several top forty hits. Some like " Make Me Smile" and "Colour My World". This also had Robert Lamm's dynamic by cryptic 25 or 6 to 4 song on it. This song is in a reference to a songwriter trying to write a song 25 or 26 minutes to 4 in the morning.

The band released an album every year from 1971 - 1979. During this time the albums consist of the bands name and a roman numeral. This was the bands naming pattern that lent an encyclopedia aura to the bands work. The fourth album was a live box set call "Chicago at Carnegie Hall" and the 12th album was called "Hot Steels".

In 1978 the band had let long time manager James William Guercio go. Then on January 23rd co-founder Terry Kath died of an acciedental self inflicted gun shot wound. This almost ended it for the band. But a friend and admirer Doc Severinsen encourged the band to keep going with there music. After over thirty potential replacements the band hired Donnie Dacuson in April of 1978.

In 1981 Peter Cetera  had made a solo album. Then in 1985 Peter left the band. He was very successful on his own. He was on the Pop Charts with " Glory of Love" and The Next Time I Fall".  Then in 1988 he had two more to songs with " One Good Woman" and " After All". He is doing very good for himself. In 1985 Jason Scheff replaced Peter. Jason was very successful for the band.

In 1993 the band didn't mind that there was a lot of bootlegs out there from the concerts. They knew that the fans were making them. The concert that had the most bootlegs out there was " Stone of Sisyphus". The reason why the band didn't mind the bootlegs is because they knew that they had real loyal fans.

In 1997 the band released "The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997". This album went gold and had the number one hit adult contemporary his called " Here in My Heart".  In 1998 the band released "Chicago XXV The Christmas Album". This album went to gold. It had all traditional Christmas music on it.

In 2006 the band made many appearances with Huey Lewis and the News. The Chicago XXX album was on the top 200 list for two weeks straight. Then in October of 2007 the band released " The Best of Chicago 40th Anniversary Edition". This album was a compilation of  forty years of music. Then in 2009 Chicago reunited with Earth, Wind and Fire for a tour. In 2010 Chicago toured with the Doobie Brothers. Also in 2010 Chicago appeared on American Idol for the season finale show.

Here is the list of the band member to this day- Robert Lamm 1967- Now  Keyboard, Synthesizer, guitar and Vocals. James Pankow 1967 - Now Trombone, Percussion, Keyboard and Vocals. Lee Loughnane 1967 - Now Trumpet, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion and Vocals. Walter Parazaider 1967 - Now Woodwinds and Backing Vocals. Jason Scheff 1985 - Now Bass, Keyboards and Vocals. Tris Inboden 1990 -Now Drums, Percussion and Harmonica. Keith Howland 1995 - Now Guitar and Vocals. Drew Hester 2009 - Now Keyboard, Percussion and Record Producer. Lou Pardini 2009 - Now Keyboard, Songwriter and Vocals.

The band has sold over 38 million records. They have 23 Gold Albums, 18 Platinum Albums and 8 Multi- Platinum Albums. The have over 21 songs that have gone on the top ten list.

Even though they have gone through band member changes this band  is still going strong. They have a lot of great music still. This is one band I would love to go and see in concert. When the band was about to break up I was really upset then I heard that they had another album and I was ecstatic. I use to have all of there albums but thanks to my ex I don't anymore.

I hope everyone likes this revue I have done and please leave your comments about it!♥