White House Garden Party

On Tuesday Michelle Obama hosted a party for the 5th graders from Bancroft Elementary School to celebrate all of their hard work in the White House Garden. After the children harvested the produce they prepared a meal of salad, chicken and brown rice. They had cupcakes with fresh berries from the garden for dessert. Over 90 pounds of fresh produce has been harvested so far. Some is being used by the White House but most is going to local soup kitchens.

I subscribed to a new blog today http://www.mrs-o.org/ which follows the fashion and style of Michelle Obama. It's so nice having a president we know won't embarrass us when he goes overseas. Now I can concentrate on fun things like Michelle's beautiful clothes. This is what she wore to meet the British Prime Minister.

Off to Europe

What a beautiful couple. I love her outfit!

The White House Garden

Here is a picture (click to enlarge) of the layout of the new organic garden Michelle Obama started at the White House. This is the first working garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt had a Victory Garden during WWII. Some of the produce will be used in the White House kitchen and some will be given to Miriam's Kitchen for the homeless in DC.
The garden is being tended to by the First Family and by local school children from Bancroft Elementary School.

I didn't know this but when a president takes office, he/she is allotted $100,000 of tax payer money for renovations for the Oval office and their private residence. No big surprise that the Obamas are not using this money or money from the White House Historical Association but will be paying for any renovations themselves. $100,000 isn't a lot of money, but at a time when so many people are losing their homes, it's a wonderful gesture, something the previous residents would never have thought of.

Thunder and Lightning

Michelle Obama's arms have their own blog now: http://firstguns.tumblr.com/

Here is a description from the blog "Everyone's been writing about us. Now we're speaking out. We're Thunder and Lightning, the First Guns."

Michelle Obama

Our new first family promised to make the White House accessible to more people and on Wednesday, Michelle Obama did just that by inviting 200 6th and 7th graders to a Black History Month celebration in the East Wing. Mrs. Obama talked to them about how slaves built the White House, how the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln in the bedroom named after him and how civil right leaders met in the White House with Kennedy and Johnson to discuss ending segregation. She also encouraged them to work hard, "put your best foot forward, even when no one is looking" and to help out at home with chores.

The children also got to hear from Stephen Rochon, the first African American to be named chief usher and director of the executive residence and were entertained by the Grammy Award winning group Sweet Honey in the Rock. First daughters Sasha and Malia also attended the event.

In case you haven't guessed this already, I love our new First Family. I think the president is doing a terrific job, and I absolutely love having such a beautiful and most of all smart woman in the White House. She is a wonderful wife, mother, and role-model for all women.

There is a wonderful interview with Barack and Michelle Obama in People magazine. Here is the link: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20214569_1,00.html

I am so looking forward to having this wonderful family in the White House.

The picture is from People magazine.

Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies

In the last 4 presidential elections, readers of Family Circle Magazine have successfully predicted who the winner will be based on the winning recipe submitted by the spouses of the candidates. This year Cindy McCain has submitted a recipe for Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies and Michell Obama has submitted a recipe for Shortbread cookies. Because I'm an Obama supporter I'll include her recipe here. If you want to see McCain's you can go to the Family Circle Magazine website http://www.familycircle.com/

You can also register and vote on your favorite and look at recipes from past campaigns

Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white
Chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)

Directions
1. Heat oven to 325 degree F. Line a 17 x 12 x 1-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In large bowl, cream together butter and 1-1/2 cups of the sugar.
2. Slowly add egg yolks, and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.
3. Stir in flour and salt until combined.
4. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan, flattening as smoothly as possible.
5. Brush top of dough with egg white; sprinkle with nuts or fruit (if using) and with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
6. Bake at 325 degree F for 25 minutes or until brown, turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. Cut while slightly warm.

Michelle Obama

Pictures of Michelle Obama were recently displayed on Fox News or Fixed News as Keith Olbermann calls them, referring to her as Obama's Baby Mama. When I first saw this I figured it had to be derogatory since it was on Fox but I didn't know what it meant. According to urbandictionary.com "baby mama" is an unmarried woman with whom you had children and are not otherwise involved with. This is not what you call a man's wife, or even a girlfriend.

Joan Walsh writes in Salon "Are they racist, or just clueless? Isn't there racism even in their cluelessness, if somebody didn't know what "baby mama" means, but used it anyway? Even at Fox, won't somebody have to apologize?"

No one will apologize or lose their job over this and Fox will continue to slander the Obama's. They can't come up with any real criticism so have to stoop to racism.

Barack Obama

LibraryLioness8 and I went to the George R. Brown Convention Center along with about 6,500 other people to see Barack and Michelle Obama. We didn't get there until 6:45 so expected to sit in the back. Because we choose to park in the lot connected to the GRB we were able to wait with about 50 other people inside while everybody else waited outside in the cold, and were the first ones inside the hall where he was speaking. We actually sat on the first row! Right before the event started everyone got up and stood next to the rail so we were only a few feet away from the stage. Michelle Obama Spoke for a few minutes and then introduced her husband. He spoke for about 30 minutes. He is truly inspirational and it is easy to see why he is compared to Kennedy. When he was through speaking, both he and Michelle shook hands with everyone standing by the rail. He shook my hand and spoke to me. I am convinced now more than ever that he is the right person to be our next president.

An Angry Militant Woman

In response to a caller who said that a friend had knowledge that Michelle Obama is a "very angry militant woman," Bill O'Reilly had this to say: "That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down. "
How nice that he wants to wait until all the facts are in before lynching Michelle Obama. Certainly anyone who feels that this nation is flawed deserves no less.
This is probably the most hateful thing O'Reilly has ever said on the air, and that's saying a lot. He should be fired but he won't be because there are people who still believe the sh*t that he spews out nightly. These are the same people who would never vote for Obama, or any African American for president. If this country is bad or flawed, it's because of people like O'Reilly and his followers.