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Happy Friday everyone! I hope you enjoy today’s recipe.

Old-World Manicotti

Ingredients:

• 12 large manicotti shells

• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided

• 2 cups ricotta cheese

• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons dried basil

• 1 (26-ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce, divided

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350, Spray 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

• Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, rinse with cool water. Let pasta dry on paper towels

Welcome to Thursday’s Thread! I will be posting weekly patterns, most of them being beginner to intermediate, so bare with me. If you have a pattern you would like to submit, contact me @[email protected]’s my latest project. Enjoy!

Brisbane Scarf (Click on picture to enlarge)

This is a quick and simple pattern. You only need to know 2 stitches, Knit and Purl. If you need help with either of these , check out the videos below.

Demand for uranium threatens Grand Canyon biodiversity
The natural beauty and unique species of the Grand Canyon are “in the crosshairs” because of renewed interest in the region’s uranium reserves. That is the warning from critics of the mines, ahead of the release of a government report on Friday on the potential impact of fresh mining.

Mining has been banned within the Grand Canyon national park since President Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1908. But since 2003, foreign companies have submitted 2,215 claims to prospect on the edge of the canyon.

BACHELOR’S BUTTONS

Botanical Name: Centaurea Cyanus

Folk Names: Bluet, Blue Bottle, Devil’s Flower, Hurtlesickle, Red Campion

Bachelor’s Buttons are annual flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Native to Europe, it grows to a height of 16-35 inches tall. It is sometimes called Common Cornflower and may also be referred to as a basketflower.

It was John F. Kennedy’s favorite flower and was worn by John F. Kennedy, Jr. at his wedding in tribute to his father. It was also used in the funeral wreath made for Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Accused pig killer in trouble again
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - The woman accused of killing and maiming two pigs, then leaving one of the pig’s heads on its owner’s front porch last week is in trouble again.

Police say 21-year-old Ashley Marie Fowler was arrested at her place of employment last Wednesday after they found evidence in her car linking her to a recent church burglary.

On February 9, just a day after the accused pig killings, Chesapeake police responded to the Northwest Baptist Church on Ballahack Road in reference to a burglary. Several items were taken from the church, according to police reports, including: three fire extinguishers and three wooden crosses. Read full story from wavy.com

Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who celebrate! Wade and I don’t do much generally, today I’m going to spend my day cleaning (thankfully a friend is to the rescue), while Wade works in his man cave.

It seems silly to me, girls everywhere are waiting for their flowers, candy and perhaps that blue box with the white ribbon. The way I see it, I spend every day with Wade, I get to show him 365 days a year how much I appreciate and love him. What makes this day any different? Just more money to spend that people don’t have, or maybe you do. In any case, I don’t buy into it.

**Valentine’s Day: Love… actually?**Valentine’s Day didn’t begin with a pair of star-crossed lovers or a hallmark greeting card campaign — it started with a bunch of half-naked Romans running through the streets  whipping women with strips of goat hide to cure their infertility.

In ancient times February 15 was the Roman feast of Lupercalia, which also included one other rather interesting  tradition: a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The lucky, or not so lucky, girl would then be the fellow’s sexual partner during the remaining year. Often the lady would receive a gift or a greeting in the name of Juno, a Roman goddess. Was this the precursor of the Valentine’s Day card?

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s a great recipe I found from joyofbaking.com/, just in time for those of you who celebrate Valentine’s Day. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

Cake Mix

• 2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

• 2 large eggs

**On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray From Lesson Plan**Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national surveyof more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation’s classrooms.

Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

July of 2010 I was hospitalized and diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. My immune system attacked my peripheral nervous system causing paralysis. It was devastating, I went form being totally independent to having to ask help for everything, from tying my shoes to taking a shower. I was like a child learning to walk. After months of physical therapy, I was well on my way to recovery.

Suddenly things took a turn for the worse. Last week I started feeling under the weather, I was getting weaker day by day. Finally it happened. I woke up Sunday thinking oh no, here we go again. Blurry vision and high blood pressure set in and I knew what was next. I couldn’t walk. I was taken to the hospital for a round of tests, nothing odd came up. It was a set back, I was so disappointed after all the progress I made and how far I had come. Now it’s back in for an IVIG treatment. Unfortunately with GBS there’s no rhyme or reason to it. The Doctor told me, there may be set backs on the road to recovery. (hopefully not too many)