Ya Gotta Know This About That: No Vitameatavegamin Today

Every one knows that's a tonic!
Where's The Beef?? Oops that's not the right commercial ... even though the name Vitameatavegamin seems like it has meat in it but that tonic sounds like it has more veggies in it than anything. But, we all know from long ago that the main ingredient was 23% alcohol which made it 46 proof liquor. The more Lucy drank the more soused she became.

This I Love Lucy show was my most favorite of all of her shows..... the grape stomping show came in second.

Lucy got that commercial job by telling the girl Ricky hired that he found another girl for the job!!! Yep...it will be Lucy on that commercial but Ricky doesn't know she's going to do it. The vitameatavegamin was a tonic that a person could spoon their way to a healthier life. It was supposedly tasty like candy and contained vitamins, meat, vegetables, and minerals......and the unknown 23% alcohol. Lucy was hilarious in this show. After she drank her way through the commercial, her speech was slurred. Being the wonderful actress she was, she did a good job of acting like she was totally bombed.

In order for the tonic to appear to be thick instead of runny, the show actually used Apple Pectin in those bottles. Lucy's requirement for the contents was that it taste good since she was going to repeatedly spoon the vitameatavegamin into her mouth.....the apple pectin worked out very well.

This particular show aired May 5, 1952 but reruns were on television for years and years. TV Guide rated this particular show as #2 in the 100 Greatest Episodes of all Time. As the result of this Vitameatavegamin show, a 60th anniversary talking Lucy Vitameatavegamin Doll was issued and was very popular in sales and cost about $100.

Lucy was definitely Miss Congeniality in everything she did. She set the world on fire with her comedian antics.....and we will never have another like her I'm sure. I loved Lucy and I even have a Vitameatavegamin sign in my garage on the wall......you would be surprised how many young people never heard of this word, let alone know the story of Lucy and her antics. Let's hope her inspiration never dies.

Another Segment on Abraham Lincoln's Life

1835 - In January William Berry, former store partner, dies leaving Abraham in debt for about $1000. On August 25 Ann Rutledge, the legendary sweetheart of Lincoln died from the fever at the family farm 7 miles northwest of New Salem, at the age of 22. Late in the year Lincoln is in Vandalia for the opening session of the legislature.

1836 - Lincoln addresses a large crowd in Petersburg addressing the proposed Beardstown and Sangamon canal. IN March he purchases 47 acres twelve miles northwest of New Salem on the Sangamon River. August 1 Lincoln is re-elected to the Illinois General Assembly and is now a leader in the Whig Party. In September he receives his license to practice law. On October 5 he files his first court case in the Sangamon County Circuit Court. He starts courtship of Mary Owens, age 28.

1837 - Lincoln helps get the bill passed to move the capital from Vandalia to Springfield. March 3 he made his first attack on slavery by entering his protest in the House Journal against an antiabolitionist resolution passed by the house. On April 15 he moved to Springfield to live with Joshua Speed and also became a law partner with John Stuart. In the summer he proposes marriage to Mary Owens and she refuses.

1838 - He successfully helps defend Henry Truett in a famous murder trial. Lincoln is elected to the legislature for the third time in August, but in December he is defeated as the Speaker of the House.

1839 - Abraham begins his law practice in the 8th Judicial Circuit and travels through 9 counties in central and eastern Illinois as a lawyer. On December 3 he is admitted to practice law in the United States Circuit Court. He meets Mary Todd, age 21, at a dance. On December 9 the legislature session meets in Springfield for the first time.

1840 - Lincoln is reelected to the legislature in August. In the fall he becomes engaged to Mary Todd.

1841 - As the result of a bout of depression, he breaks off the engagement with Mary Todd. On March 1 he forms a new law partnership with Stephen Logan after dissolving his partnership with John Stuart. In August and into September he visits his friend Joshua Speed in Louisville, Kentucky and sees 12 slaves chained together.

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In the near future I will again post additional timeline information on Abraham Lincoln's life. I hope you have enjoyed learning more about one of our former citizens of Menard County.

Deaths

Deaths in the past week: Bob Willis and Harvey Shields.

Recipe

Quick Vegetable Beef Soup

1-2 pounds ground beef (brown and drain for lower fat)
1 onion

2 cloves garlic
4 or 5 carrots, chopped

4 potatoes, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes
7 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1 packet Au Jus gravy
1 teaspoon each of dried basil and parsley and pinch of thyme

1 bag frozen green beans
1 can of corn (or frozen corn)

I use diced tomatoes and then puree part of them in a blender as we don't like a lot of chunky tomatoes. The Au Jus Gravy is the secret ingredient in this quick soup.

Thought For The Day

When a thing ceases to be a subject of

controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

--William Hazlitt

As I remember my dear mama saying "Lick the bowl good". As a kid licking the bowl when mama made a cake or cookies, was my most favorite thing to do. I still like to lick the bowl but I'm afraid to after all of the dire warnings to not eat raw eggs....cook your food to a million degrees so all of the botulism and germies are dead. So what is a person to do I ask!

Should I lick the bowl or not? If the food is cooked, I have no problem at all licking that sucker until it's so clean I don't even have to wash it. When it's time to make icing my mouth waters until I get the darn cake iced.....then I start drooling because I know that spoon will land up in my mouth. Ohhhh I forgot about making fudge and other candy.....it's yummy time when I make those. Those sweet morsels around the bowl or pan are just sitting there waiting for me to dip and double dip my spoon to get every last morsel. I don't care if no one else gets their spoon in for a lick....in fact that's why I double dip so no one else will want to dip their spoon into my heavenly bowl licking.

Since it's becoming so close to the holidays and my annual baking and candy making sessions, my tongue is starting to water just thinking about all of that bowl licking. I guess it's time to get the recipes out....wonder how long stuff would keep in the freezer???? Until the holidays????? Or maybe I should wait a bit longer.....stay in my mouth dear tongue....it ain't time yet!