Celebrate!

We drove the Acura to Longview today and left it. Came home with a certified check and stopped at the credit union to purchase a CD. Oh, and made a stop at the insurance office to drop the car from our policy. So nice to not have to deal with taking the car to town every morning and going back in the evening to bring it home. The phone calls haven't been all that bad considering I put Sam's cell phone number in the ad and he's the one who has been fielding the calls. I know exactly what I do. ;o)

We had the 4-Runner washed at one of those drive through car washes. I had to have the guy wipe the rear hatch again...it was streaked. MOF, the whole car had problems. I spent $15 on a half-a$$ed car wash. I do better myself at the $5 carwash in town and wipe it down myself.

Have you had Zuppa Tuscana at Olive Garden? Isn't it delicious?! I have found a new runner-up for my favorite...Chicken & Gnocchi soup. A while back, Carol and I worked together and came up with this (so as not to infringe on copyright, let's call it):

Italian Potato Soup

1/2 - 1 pound Italian sausage
2 medium potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/4" slices
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 clove minced garlic
2 cups kale leaves, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1/3 cup heavy cream

If sausage is in links take out of wrapper. Cook until done. Remove from pan. Saute onion in sausage grease until it is translucent. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add chicken broth, water, and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Add chopped kale and cream; simmer only 4 minutes. Serve.

This is good stuff!

Changing gears. On this historic day...how about a few quotes from past presidents...

James Polk: "There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress ... than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S." (December 16, 1846)

Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

Rutherford Hayes: "Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office
seeking." (1878)

Grover Cleveland: "A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out."

Theodore Roosevelt: "Actions speak louder than words."
AND
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism." (October 12, 1915)

William Taft: "The world is not going to be saved by legislation." (1916)

Harry Truman: "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." (January 8, 1947)

Dwight Eisenhower: "America is best described by one word, freedom." (January 9, 1958)

John Kennedy: "There is always inequity in life. . . . Life is unfair." (March 21, 1962)

Ronald Reagan: "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." (March 2, 1977)
AND
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." (January 20, 1981)