28 days to Thanksgiving and 55 days to Christmas!

First I would like to wish you all Happy Halloween!

After Halloween it is time to prepare for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow it will be exactly 28 days to Thanksgiving and 55 days to Christmas.

Better Homes and Gardens magazine used to have a feature at the start of the Holiday season called 100 days before Christmas and Thanksgiving.

They give you a time table like thing to accomplish all the things you need to accomplish before Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The time table includes activities such as cleaning fridge, organizing pantry, cleaning other areas of the house, decorating, organizing recipes etc.

Here is a sample list.

Clean Fridge and freezer.

Clean pantry.

List the other areas of the house that need to be cleaned.

Organize recipes for Thanksgiving.

What all are you going to make?

Find the recipes for those items and keep it ready.

Buy all the ingredients.

Then there are some things that you can do prep work for or make ahead.

So those things go ahead and make ahead.

If you are expecting other family members or friends to visit then think about how to get ready for them and what all you should prepare for them.

Earlier, when my kids were in school I implemented a lot of these ideas. There would be so much food after Thanksgiving that I did not have to cook for a week after Thanksgiving and could focus completely on Christmas decorating after Thanksgiving.

Plus I could start Christmas decoration in a clean house.

I really liked all the tips for home making I got from bhg.

Everybody has different ways to go about home making.

Real Simple magazine recommends completely cleaning the entire house before you start decorating.

A blogger I used to follow cleaned her fridge every Friday.

The time table also includes decoration. How are you planning to decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How is your table setting going to be like?

I used to think of themes for Christmas decoration.

One year I thought I would use blue ornaments for Christmas.

That year I ordered blue ornaments from Amazon and applied blue glitter on glass jars.

To be continued.....

Supreme Court

Another issue that is going to matter in this elections is the Supreme Court. Kamala Harris believes that there should be some kind of reform of the court. Ms. Harris has endorsed president Biden's plan to impose ethics rules on the justices that many believe will invite political harassment and compromise judicial independence. Several senators from several states have proposed several reforms. These reforms include expanding the number of justices from 9 to 15 over three presidential terms. and a requirement to publish justices tax returns. Recusal will no longer be up to the justices concerned but recusal motions could be filed and justices have to reply in writing.

The Billionaire Minimum Tax

Tax on wealth

An issue under debate in the current presidential election is a tax on wealth.

Ms. Harris has endorsed a tax on wealth.

The Billionaire Minimum Tax stretches the definition on income to include gains on unsold assets.

Households worth more than $100 billion would owe a minimum 25% on their total annual income, including any increase in their overall wealth.

President Biden proposed the tax in his budget last year and Ms. Harris endorsed it in August with a list of other tax increases.

Ms Harris said she supports a billionaire minimum tax and corporations paying their fair share.

This wealth tax is on the ballot on Nov 5.

Ms. Harris proposal would shred a historic limit on taxation and open the door to tax more Americans assets.

Taxpayers would be forced each year to hire accountants to work out the market value of their assets and how much they have grown during the year.

For non-financial assets disputes over valuation would be legion and go on for years.

Taxpayers might have to sell other assets to pay the tax though they have earned no actual financial income.

The tax, according to the WSJ editorial is also unconstitutional.

Lawmakers have avoided a federal wealth tax for more than a century since Eisner v macomber 1920 in which the supreme Court ruled that realized gains don't count as income and can't be taxed under the 16th amendment.

The proposed billionaire minimum is meant to dodge that prohibition by lumping assets and income together instead of of taxing paper gains on their own.

The greatest risk is that lawmakers would gradually expand the pool of eligible taxpayers.

Once the wealth tax is introduced it won't be nearly as politically difficult to extend it to households under $100 million, which holds a huge amount of aggregate wealth.

There are more clauses to this law which I did not understand. But these are the major provisions of this law.

Energy Policy

Today I read an editorial in the WSJ which was about a presidential candidate's energy policy. This editorial was very informative. What ought to be the newly elected government's energy policy? The energy policy of the US government is not easy to understand. So many issues are at play in this complex issue. On the one hand there is fossil fuels like coal. There is oil and gas production. How much is produced in the US and how much is exported to other countries and how much is imported from other countries has a significant impact on not just those industries but the economy as a whole. Thus the Inflation Reduction Act which I thought would have nothing to do with energy has a provision in it which allows for law makers to either support or ban fracking. So what is fracking? Fracking is a technique used in natural gas and petroleum production. The prices of commodities in a country and the cost of living which indicates the level of inflation is affected by if political leaders will or will not ban fracking or the production of natural gas and petroleum. The current vice president cast the tie breaking vote on the inflation reduction act which gives new leases for fracking. Another issue the energy policy has to do with is climate change. Climate is affected by how much fossil fuels are produced and consumed. Yet another issue is liquefied natural gas exports. Climate lobbyists want an end of liquefied natural gas exports. Are exports of this in the public interest is another issue connected with this subject. Study teams are studying various aspects of fossil energy and carbon management. Regulation of production of fossil fuels will raise costs affecting the economy. Fracking has helped revive the economies of coal towns. These are the ideas in the editorial. I totally do not have a complete understanding of this subject and likely will have to continue to study this even after election day.

Kamala Harris on America's National Security

As election day approaches I realize I don't have a deep understanding about the issues at stake in the US. So today I read the newspaper and came across this article titled Kamala Harris for America's National Security. Here are the key points that describes a presidential candidate's views on several areas of foreign policy. I just copied verbatim the sentences in this article which I thought described this candidate's views well. 

"Foreign policy issues rarely rank high with voters but they have enormous effect on domestic prosperity as well as on the global landscape."

"Kamala Harris is an internationalist who believes in the rule of law and in a rules based system that strives for global order and stability." 

"She believes in securing alliances with nations that share America's ideals and interests as we deal with competitors or adversaries." 

"She is dedicated to preserving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization the most successful military political alliance in history which over the past quarter century has added nations once forced to live under Soviet domination."

"She has expressed her commitment to help Ukraine defend its freedom and independence from Vladimir Putin's criminal onslaught." 

"Ms. Harris believes that climate change poses a significant international security threat requiring collective actions."

"Ms. Harris administration would likely pursue multi lateral measures designated to ameliorate natures fury. "

"The Biden Harris administration has cautioned the Israelis to do everything in their power to minimize the killing of innocent Palestinians. "

"Ms. Harris has promised to try to bridge America's racial ethnic economic and cultural divides. That is a message that should be welcomed abroad and at home. "

These are the sentences I found in the article in Wall Street Journal. I hope I find another similar article that succinctly describes this candidate's views on domestic issues as well. 

 

Asathoma Sadgamaya

Asathoma Sadgamaya Thamasoma Jyotir gamaya This is an old sanskrit prayer which means from ignorance lead us to truth. From darkness lead us to light. I happened to see a dance performed by young students in a school in Kerala, India in the internet. It was an onam dance. Onam is a festival in kerala a state in India where I am from and it is the harvest festival of this state. Onam is similar to the holiday of Thanksgiving in the US. The traditional dance during onam performed by girls and women is known as Thiruvathirakali. On the wall of the stage where the students were performing were written the words Thamasoma Jyotir Gamaya. These words which probably are the motto of the school reminded me of this prayer I had heard in India. It is such a beautiful prayer.

The Sky in the Night

The Sunday before yesterday on the way back from evening mass I looked out the car window and photographed the night sky. I got some beautiful pictures of light from the street lamps, cars, light from buildings and just the glow in a dark blue sky. Here are two of the pictures.

Characters of Elinor and Marianne

I finished reading Sense and Sensibility and decided to compare the characters of Elinor and Marianne. Elinor at 19, only two years older than Marianne is balanced, rational, responsible, and cognizant of other people's needs. Elinor is very talented in drawing and spends her time industriously and is very sensitive to the needs of her family. Elinor is also very practical and considers money an important commodity which can make life comfortable. Marianne loves to read, loves music and is very specific about what she likes and dislikes and has very intense feelings. She likes certain authors and certain compositions. She puts all of her into everything she does. Marianne is not as practical as Elinor. Marianne is extremely honest and never says a lie even for the sake of politeness. Elinor is also extremely honest but in order to be polite does say untruths. When the Dashwoods have to move to another house, Mrs. Dashwood is inclined to look for larger and more luxurious dwellings than would be prudent for them to consider if you take into account the recent events of their life. It is Elinor who advised the mother to choose more modest homes for them. Marianne overcome by emotion at leaving Norland is talking to the walls and trees of Norland from where she has to part. She tells the trees that when they shed leaves she will not be there to witness it. She does not give any advice to the mother. Marianne displays a lot of emotion. Crying, talking a lot etc are ways in which she shows her effusiveness. After her first meeting with Willoughby she enthusuastically converses so much with him in order to ascertain his opinion about all her favorite books and music. When Elinor along with her family leave Norland Edward speaks to her and Marianne in the same way which disappoints Marianne. She scolds Elinor for not showing emotion. Both Marianne and Elinor have a deep sisterly affection and tender love towards each other. When Marianne is emotionally afflicted when Willoughby leaves Elinor's care of her is so tender and deep. Marianne is equally solicitous of her sister's emotions where Edward is concerned. Elinor does not outwardly show any emotion when she finds Edward is involved with Lucy. She wanted to deal with it by herself. At one point this causes Marianne to suspect that she did not care much about Edward or that her feelings did not run deep. But later Marianne realizes it is her self command and lack of selfishness that causes her to bottle up all her feelings and not share them with anyone else. Marianne realizes that the way she responded when Willoughby rejected her caused her family a lot of pain and she did not realize she caused them so much pain.

Chiffon Sarees

Chiffon sarees are very transparent and they literally flow when you wear them. They look nice in pastel colors and dark colors. They look nice if they are printed and if they are just one solid color. Embroidered chiffon sarees are very pretty. Chiffon and Georgette are very similar except chiffon may be slightly more clingy than Georgette and has a more crinkly texture. One day I reached this online store called Jhakas which had a lot of chiffon sarees and I uploaded their pictures into my phone. You can wear a plain chiffon saree with a blouse in the same color you or in a printed blouse in that color. Recently I have seen brocade blouses in the same color matched with chiffon sarees in Etsy. I also saw Rajasthani mirror work blouses matched with chiffon sarees in etsy.

Sense and Sensibility

Yesterday I read Sense and Sensibility. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is the story of Marianne, the story of her older sister Elinor and the story of their family- the Dashwoods. The Dashwood family settled in the village of Barton. They recently moved from their old residence. Some background about why they move to Barton village is given in the first few chapters. They are getting acquainted with the village. One day Marianne goes for a walk with Margaret. It was raining and she falls. It is in this scene that the character of Willoughby is introduced in the story. Willoughby gives a lot of pain to Marianne. Since I have read this book before I know how the story goes. Willoughby is staying in the village with his aunt. He appears to like Marianne. Marianne genuinely likes him. They have read the same books and enjoy similar things. Her liking for him causes her to behave in a slightly impolite way a few times to everyone else except Willoughby. They spend a lot of time together causing others to surmise that they are engaged. To everyone it seemed as though Marianne and Willoughby are engaged. Then suddenly Willoughby has to leave. Willoughby leaves. The parting scene is very significant and I don't remember all the details. Something with Mrs Dashwood and Elinor that I need to read again. Marianne does not confide a lot with Elinor or Mrs.Dashwood. So they also do not know for sure how advanced the relationship between Willoughby and Marianne is. After Willoughby leaves there is no news from him. He does not send any letters. He does not send any message. Marianne is really worried. One day Mrs Jennings decides to take them to London. Marianne goes in hopes of seeing Willoughby. In London Marianne sends several messages to Willoughby. She gets no response. Then it was a ball and everyone attends. Marianne and Elinor go for the ball. There Marianne sees Willoughby in the distance. She tries to meet him. Willoughby does not show the warmth he shows earlier. He is very formal with her. Marianne faints. Marianne knows it is over with Willoughby. He returns to her all the letters she send him. Willoughby is engaged to be married to Miss Grey, a rich woman. Marianne falls sick. She is taken to Mrs Jennings' daughter's house. There she is in real danger. Everybody fears for her very life. Colonel Brandon goes to Barton to fetch her mother. The day her mother is reaching to see her health improves and the doctor pronounces her out of danger. Her mother and sister nurse her back to health. They all go back to Barton village. There Marianne goes through a period of soul searching. She immerses herself in studies and learning. Then one day she goes for a walk with Elinor. They have a conversation about Willoughby. They discuss the lessons she has learned. Elinor tells her that Willoughby once visits while Marianne was sick and tells Elinor his side of the story. This gives Marianne peace. Finally Marianne marries Colonel Brandon. Elinor gets married to Edward. Mrs. Dashwood is happy. Willoughby is sort of happy with his rich wife. Lucy Steele marries Edward's brother Robert. The lessons learned by Marianne and the harrowing experience she goes through is the most riveting part of this novel. Truly there is so much to understand about human interactions. Willoughby did not give any promise to Marianne. However the way he showed affection to her raised expectations in her. Which resulted in her mental and physical breakdown. This teaches us how guarded we are to be. This is how I remember the story. Yesterday I reached the part of Willoughby rescuing Marianne during the rain when she falls and how he is introduced to her family. Today I may read the rest.

Decorated Pumpkins

Several years ago there were a lot of bloggers who decorated pumpkins this time of the year. Some painted pumpkins into different colors. Some painted gold dots on pink pumpkins and some made chevron patterns on pumpkins with paint. Some made glittering pumpkins and some made pumpkins with satin or velvet fabric. Inspired by such blog posts I decided to decorate pumpkins by attaching large sequins to them. This is how they looked.

I attached sequins on large pumpkins and small pumpkins. Would love to do similar projects this year too.

New England Traditional Style

One day I was searching for something in the internet and suddenly found myself in this page which showed this picture. The name of this style is New England Traditional. For some reason I liked this look. I think it looks unpretentious, simple, laid back and comfortable.

Usually I like chandeliers dripping with crystals. This is the first time I liked such chandeliers. I searched the internet and found these two chandeliers from some website that I think are in the same style. I think the color of the walls, the dark glossy furniture, the old fashioned carpets and old world style curtains in the first picture make it look like a nice home.

Here is where I found these pictures. https://freepoolsk.shop 30 Modern Ideas for Dining Room Design in Classic Style Elegant dining room, Traditional dining rooms........

Silver Earrings

I found these large silver earrings in Etsy. These earrings have lotus and umbrella pattern on them in addition to other intricate patterns and silver beads. I don't know if they are very heavy. In the etsy picture the model wears a light colored top with it. May be that is how you ought to style these earrings.Do you like large silver earrings? Hope you have a lovely day!

Books arranged according to color

This is an idea I got from another decorating blog. In that blog the blogger arranged the books on the bookshelf according to the color of the books. The blogger arranged all the books with the same color on one shelf and another color on another shelf. I did the same. For the white books on the top shelf I covered each book with computer paper. Books should be arranged according to subject or topic and not according to color. But for that season of my life I enjoyed trying out this idea. Alternately we can arrange books according to color and subject matter. I think it does look more appealing to arrange books according to color. Long ago there was a childrens show on PBS called Between the Lions. It depicted a Lion family in a library and was aimed at encouraging the reading habit in young children. It also taught funny lessons on grammer to children. The library in that show looked like an ornate medieval building. There were elaborate patterns on the walls and grand staircases. I thought about that library in that children's show while arranging the books.

Bittersweet branches

Here is a picture of how I used artificial bittersweet branches to decorate our home. These branches are intriguung to me because it is not everyday you hear about a plant which has the name of an emotion. Here is what I wrote about this. Bittersweet is the name of an emotion. If one experience elicits two emotions such as happy and sad at the same time it is called bitter sweet. Lots of people go through lots of experiences. Some are happy and some are sad. If you use the word bittersweet in your conversation you can sound very philosophical or you can sound like a deep person. Consider my surprise when I was told that bittersweet is actually a plant with orange round berries. It typically grows around Thanksgiving time in the Midwest. Atleast the very first time I saw a bittersweet plant was on Thanksgiving day several years ago. It is like a vine or shrub on the side of roads. Our family had a pretty bittersweet wreath which was bought from a farmers market years ago. I did not know it's name and just hung it in our home. Then a visiting friend said it is a bitter sweet wreath. Then we moved to a new house and I think we bought a bitter sweet artificial branch from somewhere. It could be Pier 1 Imports or some other store. Every fall I used it to decorate our home. One day we drove to Indiana from Iowa on Thanksgiving day. There was very little traffic on the roads. On the side of the roads there were ramshackle barns, fields, little wood houses and lots and lots of bittersweet vines. They were growing profusely and abundantly on the side of roads. Orange is such an autumn color.. The whole world seems to become orange in autumn. The pumpkins piled outside grocery stores are orange. Many leaves are orange. And now these berries growing on the side of the road to Indiana from Iowa on the day of Thanksgiving.

On the Importance of Prayer and earning God's love

Alexandra Osteen who leads the worship team in Lakewood church said the most important thing about leading worship is ourselves praying to God. We have to pray by ourselves and have time alone with God. Then automatically we get peace, joy etc with which we can handle anything that life throws at us. I think what Alexandra Osteen said is so true. Some days at home I am not able to pray well. Even though I try to pray that time somehow becomes ineffective. I feel so happy when I am able to pray well. We are vulnerable creatures. Our mind, body, soul, and spirit needs that time with God. And everything that we are going through can be prayed about. If we pray by ourselves our everyday life will have a lot of blessings Plus we can feel stronger. I hope I can pray well everyday the rest of this year. If there is something we find difficult to do such as exercise then if we pray about it it becomes easier. I never thought I would like the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury much. This song is in direct reference to the parable of the Lost Sheep where the good shepherd leaves the 99 and goes to find the one lost sheep. But when I listened to it today I liked one line. It says we don't deserve the love of God and we cannot earn it. Sometimes due to various reasons we may repay with unkindness or indifference or complaints someone's kindness towards us. Then we may repent of it. Then we may work hard to get back into the good books or good opinion of the person whose feelings we may have hurt. This line seems to address such a scenario with regard to God. If we displease God we cannot earn it back. And we don't deserve God's love in the first place because it is so exalted. This means that we can just be ourselves and not try to earn God's love. It is a reasoning that sometimes I feel I can understand but sometimes I feel I cannot understand. In a musical reality show the theme is Let your heart sing. If we don't deserve the love of God and if we cannot earn it we might as well allow our hearts to sing. It is our parents who fashioned our hearts. We should not allow the worlds standards or judgement to prevent our hearts from singing. Often I think I would not say this or write that thinking it will not be approved by others. But if we look at God all these disapproval's seems to melt away. If we think we cannot earn God's love by saying a certain thing or being a certain way then we feel we can say what we truly feel inside even if we think others may not like our choice of song or clothing. When we do that we reach a larger audience. An audience that likes the way our heart sings. I liked this line a lot. After I reached this conclusion I thought about it some more. Is it really true that we cannot earn the love of God? I think not. I think we can earn the love of God. Not by not saying what we really feel inside but by obeying all the commandments. When we obey all the commandments God loves us more, I think. When I think of my parents I get their joy over me more if I study well and am loving towards everyone. If I don't study well I don't get their joy over me. Let my goal be to get their joy. Let my goal be to make God proud of me.