Smart Living Rockford - November 23, 2020

Smart L iving Your Better Quality of Life Magazine • Rockford Region/Beloit/Freeport 95¢ • Nov. 2020 • No. III

™

Right in Our Region

1620-2020 Why the Pilgrims’ Story Still Matters See Page 16

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tips for Cleaning Your Carpet Are You Paying Too Much for Tech?

Recipe: Sweet Potato-Pumpkin Puree (Painting of Pilgrims departing for the New World by Bernard Gribble)

Best of Life Information for Our Region’s Residents & Visitors Proudly Serving the Needs of 326,000 Neighbors - For Your Home, Health & Fun!

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In This Issue

Right in Our Region ........................Cover & p. 16 Why the Pilgrims Still Matter 400 Years Later Your Technology ........................................ .......11 Do You Pay Too Much for Tech?

Inspiration & Worship ......................................12 Who was Deborah?

Your Kitchen ......................................................15 Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Puree Your Home ................................................... .....23 Tips for Expert Carpet Cleaning

Smart L iving ™

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Bill Hughes Executive Editor/Web Editor Chris Linden Managing Editor Lindsey Gapen Lukas Assistant Managing Editor Jermaine Pigee Editor Emeritus Janine Pumilia Multimedia Editor Sara Myers Graphics Director Samantha Behling Contributing Writer Peggy Werner, Paula Kalivoda Furniss General Sales Manager Brent Hughes Sales Manager Brad Hughes Advertising Sales Representatives Brian Hughes, Jeremy Jones, Nita Lasky, Sherri Cassedy Administration & Circulation Manager Lisa Hughes Distribution Kelly Fairbairn Website www.SmartLivingWeekly.com Published by Hughes Media Corp.

222 Seventh St., Rockford, IL, 61104 (815) 316-2300, Fax: (815) 316-2301 lhughes@northwestquarterly.com Smart Living Weekly.

Copyright 2020 by Hughes Media Corp., 222 Seventh St., Rockford, IL, 61104. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photograph or illustration without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

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From Misery to Unity

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get a little thrill when I think about the English settlers aboard the Mayflower dropping anchor into Cape Cod 400 years ago this month.

I also cringe.

I worked in Massachusetts for a few years and enjoyed visiting Plymouth and the Mayflower II (a full-scale replica). But not in November! It’s cold and windy on that coast. I would not want to spend winter in the freezing, dark, smelly, infectious hull of a ship, much less give birth there! But the Pilgrims had no choice.

Landing at Cape Cod on Nov. 11 was surely a great relief to settlers, but the only shelter they had for the next five months was the filthy ship they’d sailed on for 66 days (think seasickness) and had lived on for two months before that.

Only one of 102 passengers died in transit, but 45 died while docked that winter. Without help from Natives, all would have died, the Mayflower Compact disappearing with them.

I won’t try to beguile you into cheerful thoughts about 2020 – we’ve lost 250,000 Americans. But I will say this: There’s always something to be thankful for. Even after losing half their number, including 14 of 19 women, the Pilgrims gave thanks.

If we have a warm place to sleep, food to eat, reasonably good health and someone who loves us, we should fall on our knees and, out of gratitude, share all we can with our suffering neighbors. Their need grows daily. “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Now is a time to stay safe but also to reach out and support local businesses (curbside pickup, online shopping etc.). It’s also a time to support non-profits we cherish. It’s NOT a time to treat fellow Americans as enemies over political differences – is there ever such a time?

We can learn something from the Mayflower’s Pilgrims and “Strangers” who came together for a common purpose – survival. Here’s some advice they received from the Virginia Co.: “The way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all goodness, for every plantation which our father hath not planted shall be rooted out.”

Then as now, we’re all better off when we stick together. Thanksgiving best wishes from all of us at Smart Living! ❚ Janine Pumilia SLW Editor

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Y T

How to Save Money on Your Tech Bills

By Peggy Werner he COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to live on smaller incomes, but there are ways we can free up money in our budgets. One of the best is to make sure we’re not paying too much for tech services like phone, Internet, TV and home security. It’s easier than you think, says Charles Zambrano, owner and general manager of EZ Satellite & Wireless in Loves Park.

“I make sure the customers know exactly what they’re getting and aren’t paying for services they don’t want or need,” says Zambrano. He asks customers about the number of TVs and phones they have, favorite channels, streaming and recording habits, how they use high-speed internet and so forth.

“Most customers are paying too much, $250 or more for phone, TV and internet,” he says. “I can save them $50 to

T

$100 per month by offering them the best deals each company has to offer.

“A lot of people are not happy with their tech services, but are afraid to change or don’t have time to do the research. But it’s not that hard to start saving money.”

Zambrano also helps people to make better use of their smart phones to enhance their particular lifestyles. Products like the Google Nest Hub, Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa are ideal for those who want to monitor and access their homes and businesses remotely or with voice commands. Especially in the age of COVID-19, it’s useful to monitor package delivery and speak to people at your door remotely.

You can also switch lights on and off, change the thermostat settings and unlock doors remotely.

EZ Satellite & Wireless is licensed to offer services from any provider using dish, cable, internet and home security, including Rise Broadband, Comcast, HughesNet, DirectTV, Digitenna, Vivint, ATT and Nest products.

Zambrano’s store is regularly sanitized, social distancing is observed, masks are worn and interactions are contact-free.

Call (815) 957-4335 or stop by to see him at 6239 N. 2nd St. in Loves Park. ❚

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I  W

Who Was Deborah?

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ong before Israel became a kingdom, its 12 tribes were loosely joined without a central government. The people wavered in their relationship to God, often getting swept up in idolatry, which led to their oppression at the hand of various enemies. At other times, they repented and turned back to God, led by a divinely inspired person known as a “judge.”

Most of the judges were in some way flawed or handicapped, at least by the standards of their culture. Sampson had a weak spot for bad women; Gideon lacked courage; Jephthah was the son of a prostitute; Ehud was left-handed; and Deborah … was a woman. “Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided,” says Judges 4:4. Deborah sets up a plan to defeat Israel’s latest oppressor, Jabin the king of Canaan, and Sisera, the commander of his army.

Deborah’s plan works and Sisera ends up having a tent peg driven through his head while sleeping, thanks to a woman named Jael. This fulfills a prophecy by Deborah that “the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman” rather than into the hands of Barak, the most influential man in Israel at the time.

In Judges 4:23 we read, “On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.”

Afterward, Deborah oversaw Israel for 20 peaceful years.

Why did God choose people with social “flaws” to lead His people?

Perhaps to illustrate that the weakest among us may overcome all odds when we rely upon God’s strength rather than our own. And the strongest of humans are nothing without God’s help. God looks at the heart, not the flesh, as man does.

Many centuries later, the Apostle Paul would quote the Lord Jesus Christ saying: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) ❚ 12

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Y K

Tasty, Nutritious Sweet Potato-Pumpkin Puree

H

ere’s a holiday treat that isn’t loaded with sugar but is loaded with vitamins, antioxidents, fiber and flavor, courtesy of Atkins.com.

Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes 3 large egg whites 5 Tb. sugar substitute, divided 1/2 cup pecans 1.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled 1/4 cup unsalted butter stick 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 15 ounces pumpkin (without salt, drained, cooked and boiled) Heat oven to 250 F. Lightly butter baking sheet.

In medium mixing bowl, beat

egg whites with electric mixer at high speed until foamy.

Gradually add 3 Tb. sugar substitute and continue mixing until soft peaks form.

Spoon onto prepared baking sheet and spread with spatula to 1/4-inch thickness.

Bake 35 minutes. Turn oven off; let meringue stand in oven 45 minutes.

Crush meringue and place in bowl. Add pecans and toss gently to combine. Set aside.

While meringue is resting, place sweet potatoes in medium saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above potatoes and bring to boil. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes, and drain.

Return saucepan to medium-high heat. Add potatoes, butter, cream,

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remaining sugar substitute, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin puree.

Stir to combine. Mash with potato masher until smooth.

Heat through, about 1 minute.

Transfer potato mixture to serving dish and cover with meringue. ❚ (Source: Family Features)

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R  O R

Why the Mayflower Matters 400 Years Later

By Janine Pumilia, editor emeritus holiday some 200 years later, after Mary Note: Sources are listed at the end.

Josepha Hale lobbied it for 36 years. f 2020 weren’t so problem-fraught, So what is a pilgrim and why were we’d be hearing much more about the they important to our history?

400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s By definition, a pilgrim is one who arrival to the New World in 1620. journeys a long distance as an act of reliThe Pilgrims weren’t the first gious devotion. Roughly half of the 102 Europeans to build a colony here – Mayflower passengers were Puritan pilSt. Augustine, Fla., was founded by grims in search of a place to practice their Spaniards in 1565. They weren’t the Bible-based Christian faith free from first Englishmen to settle here, either – persecution from the Church of England Jamestown began 13 years earlier at the or Roman Catholic Church. They risked behest of the Virginia Co. of London. their lives on a miserable 66-day ocean And no, the Puritans didn’t invent voyage for one reason: to practice their Thanksgiving as an annual “holy day” faith freely. (holiday). In fact, they rejected the whole About 36 crewmen and 102 pasidea of one day being more holy than sengers crammed aboard the Mayflower another, except the Sabbath. Puritans after its sister ship, Speedwell, was thanked God all year long for their surdeemed unseaworthy. The Mayflower vival and did organize a three-day fall was a merchant ship built to carry crates harvest celebration in 1621 with the and barrels of goods along the European Native Americans who enabled them to coast, not human beings across nearly survive their first winter. That event likely 3,000 miles of open sea. Due to a series influenced President Abe Lincoln’s deciof problems, it got off to a very late start sion to declare a federal Thanksgiving

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when it departed Plymouth, England on Sept. 6, 1620. The bulky ship traveled at 2 MPH and took 66 days to reach the coast of Cape Cod on Nov. 11 – missing its target of Hudson Bay, then part of Virginia, by hundreds of miles.

Mayflower’s passengers included 50 men, 19 women (three pregnant), 14 teens and 19 children. One baby was born mid-voyage (named “Oceanus”) and two women gave birth while the ship was docked on the coastline. Because they arrived in winter, the passengers lived on the cold, uncomfortable ship for five months after docking; they’d already spent two months on it before departing from England. About half of them died in the first winter of cold and malnutrition.

The Puritans called themselves “saints,” a term used in scripture for Christian believers. The other passengers aboard were craftsmen, merchants, indentured servants and orphaned children; Puritans called them “Strangers.”

R  O R Like the Jamestown men, Mayflower passengers had signed a contract with the Virginia Co. agreeing to settle on its land in exchange for financing the journey. But when Mayflower became trapped by bad weather at Cape Cod, the English settlers found themselves in a “no man’s land” without any legal jurisdiction over them. Even before landing, some Strangers said they were no longer bound by the contract and could mutiny.

Puritan leaders feared imminent chaos and acted fast to stop it. While still at sea, they penned a 200-word agreement that Saints and Strangers alike signed and respected. In that moment, people with differing points of view about faith and life found a way to coexist peacefully for the mutual survival of all. Later dubbed “The Mayflower Compact,” this document is what makes the Mayflower so important to history.

It was “the first experiment in consensual government in Western history between individuals with one another, and not with a monarch,” writes author Rebecca Fraser in “The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage and the Founding of

“In the end, the Mayflower Compact represents a remarkable act of coolheaded and pragmatic resolve. They were nearing the end of a long and frightening voyage. They were bound for a place about which they knew essentially nothing. It was almost winter. They were without sufficient supplies of food. Some of them were sick and two had already died. Still others were clamoring for a rebellion that would have meant the almost instantaneous collapse of their settlement and, most likely, their deaths. The Leideners might have looked to their military officer, Miles Standish, and ordered him to subdue the rebels. Instead, they put pen to paper and created a document that stands with the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution as a seminal American text.” – Nathaniel Philbrick, “Mayflower” America: Plymouth Colony.”

The Mayflower Compact set a template for self-governance guided by reason, cooperation and law, not force. The Magna Carta, signed 400 years earlier, had established the concept of Rule of Law – the idea that enduring law, not a transient human, was England’s final authority – but laws had always been written by the king. In contrast, the Saints and Strangers pledged loyalty to laws they would write together. Given the world’s history up until then, this was stunning. The brief text was modeled after concepts Bible-based Puritans had used to lived with one another the past 12

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years in Leiden, Holland. Now they were expanded to include Strangers.

The idea that “mutual respect among people of differing beliefs benefits all” was hard-won by our ancestors and remains difficult to preserve today. ❚ Some Resources: Check out virtual tours etc. at Plimoth.org, the website of Plimoth Patuxet, a living history museum in Plymouth, Mass. Books: “Of Plymouth Plantation” in Modern English, by pilgrim William Bradford; “Mayflower,” by Nathaniel Philbrick; “The Mayflower...” by Rebecca Fraser; “The Mayflower and Her Passengers,” by Caleb H. Johnson; and “William Bradford, Plymouth’s Faithful Pilgrim,” by Gary D. Schmidt.

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Y H  G

All Carpet Cleaning is Not the Same

By Janine Pumilia

B

rent Versendaal’s expertise in professional cleaning comes naturally.

He grew up in the carpet and upholstery cleaning business founded in 1972 by his father, Gerrit Versendaal.

After graduating college and working elsewhere, Versendaal purchased All Seasons Carpet Cleaning when his dad retired in 1997. He has since expanded services to include carpet repair, tile and grout cleaning, whole structure odor removal (such as post-fire or water damage) and expert area rug cleaning using off-site specialty equipment.

The business has grown to employ 10 people.

All Season uses hot water and powerful truck-mounted cleaning equipment.

“This is important because it leaves carpets as dry as possible,” Brent explains. “The longer they stay wet, the more problems can happen.”

He uses high-end cleaning agents that are Earth-friendly and gentle on our health. But it’s the quality of his well-trained staff that matters most, he says.

“The equipment wasn’t as good back in my dad’s day as we have now, so I had to learn to do it right even under more difficult conditions,” he says.

“Equipment is important but the person running the equipment is even more important. I feel that right now we have the best crew we’ve ever had. We’ve been blessed with a lot of good technicians.”

New employees are trained for two weeks and don’t go on a call without a mentor for their first three months. Ongoing one- and two-day training sessions are scheduled regularly.

How often does carpet need to be cleaned?

It depends on the household.

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“A retired couple with no pets might get away with cleaning the carpet once every 24 months,” he says. “But a household like mine, with four kids, two dogs and a cat, needs it every three months.”

Attracting, training and retaining good employees is the key to his business success, says Versendaal.

“We’re not the cheapest carpet cleaning company but you get what you pay for and I guarantee it will be done right,” he says. “That’s why we’re still in business after nearly 50 years.”

Learn more at allseasoncarpetcleaning.com or call (815) 399-8690. ❚

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