My favorite things…

As I put together the slide show you are looking at, I realized that my favorite things are “things” I’ve had for years. 

I’m not the type of person that changes my house.  I’m not constantly rearranging or replacing things.  A lot of what I have has been around for a long time.  I don’t get tired of “things,” I keep them and enjoy them even more with each passing year.

The rag doll that Mother and I made with the cinnamon stick hair is nesting against  a needlepoint pillow Veronica that gave me.  The blue dishes you glimpse at in the rooster picture are dishes that a friend of Mother’s gave to me years ago.  I have a lot of blue willow dishes that I almost got rid of in the 90’s,  but I didn’t, and now I’m so glad that I kept them.  But these dishes, with their scalloped edges, are even prettier than the blue willow, I think. 

I typed on Daddy’s typewriter as a little girl, it’s in my living room now, and I often touch it as I pass by.  There are a lot of good memories associated with this old typewriter, it’s one of my very favorites.

When hubby and I were first married we attended a ceramics class.  Ceramics were a big thing in the 70’s, but we only took the one class.  I painted an ugly mushroom canister set, but LC, who was always really artistic, painted this little bugle boy.  He is the sweetest thing, and sweeter even still since I sat on him in the car on the way home from the ceramics studio and broke his bugle.  Hubby glued him together, and we’ve always laughed about it.  When things aren’t perfect it sometimes makes them more memorable.

And the picture that resides above my fireplace is from my teenage years.  I always kept it, usually stored in an attic at various homes we’ve lived in, but when we moved here I tried putting it above the fireplace, and that’s where it has stayed.  After all these years I found the perfect spot for it.

Jean took several pictures of my favorite things when she was here last week.  I’ll rotate this slide show in the coming days and post more of my favorites.  I have a houseful of them.  I’m sure all of you do as well…

My most memorable Valentines Day….

Surrprisingly, it’s not the years I got  flowers, candy or dinner reservations in favorite restaurants.  It’s not breakfast in bed, or cuddling by the fire, nor is it going to a special movie or getting a sentimental card…

No, my most memorable Valentine’s Day was in the mid 80’s when hubby bought me a sweat suit.

A sweat suit!!!!!  OMG, I was so upset.  You have no idea!  As I look back, my reaction was totally wrong, he tried, but boy did he not get it right that year!   I must have been hormonal, because I remember giving him a really hard time.  Shame on me…

I did get flowers yesterday, that was a nice surprise after almost thirty-eight years. 

Ya know, I wouldn’t mind a sweat suit so much now, but I can guarantee he would never get me one, he still talks about the year of the Big Oops.  Ain’t love grand…

Yesterday…

First attempt videoing with the new Camcorder…

Has Miss Piggy had a face lift? Has she lost weight? Lipo maybe???

The picture on the left is Miss Piggy thirteen years ago on The Tonight Show, the picture on the right is of her on The View on Thursday.

Damn, she looks hot!

How did she do that?

You go girl!!!

What a great pix!

Isn’t this little squirrel the cutest thing?  Hooterville is visiting for a few days and of course as soon as she gets here, we’re in the car headed for Burdette Park.  The ducks were surrounding us, one was actually trying to get in the car, she saw Ole Blue, the resident Blue Heron, and then she took this picture of the squirrel.  Nature is the BEST!!!!!!

Are we ever going to get to eat peanut butter again…

I still have a jar of Jif on my shelf, and despite assurances from Smuckers that it wasn’t manufactured in that Georgia facility, I can’t quite bring myself to eat it, but then I can’t  bring myself to throw it away either.  My theory is, it’s half empty, and it didn’t make me sick so far, so I’m holding onto it just in case I have an insatiable urge and dip into it with a tablespoon as I’ve been known to do…

But, for now, I’m having my morning toast with Jelly only.  It’s just not right….

Life just isn’t worth living without peanut butter…

And there was a recipe in this month’s Southern Living for banana pudding made with Nutter Butters.  Ryan is drooling over the idea of my making it for him, but I don’t know if we can eat Nutter Butters either…

Yeah, I know you’re all thinking, “dang, this looks good.”  Here’s the recipe, enjoy…

Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrr

If I get one more phone call telling me I’ve been prequalified for a mortage, I’m gonna BLOW!!!!!!!!!!

I’m on the no call list, but I’m getting five or six calls a day, all this prerecorded crap about mortgages.  HELLO, I don’t WANT a mortgage.  I’m gonna have to change my phone number, i don’t want to, but this is driving me NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s been going on since last fall….  It’s not the same people either, it’s different numbers….. WHY ME?????

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong….

Veronica emailed me earlier today, she’s always interested in hearing about the “good old days,” this request was for what I ate as a child… So here I go, back into those memories.  This one’s for you, V…

First of all, I was privy to more packaged snacks than most kids growing up in the 50’s.  Something i didn’t realize at the time, I just took it for granted.  Since my Mother worked in the drugstore, and that’s where I landed daily after school from second grade until high school, I was a walking encyclopedia on the different kinds of candy bars, chips, pop and let’s not forget comic books like Archie and Veronica, Little Lulu, Baby Huey and celebrity magazines, like Photoplay and Screen Stories.

My snack of choice in those days was one of Mother’s hand chipped iced fountain cokes and a ten cent bag of Fritos.  And if I was in a candy bar mood, it was usually Zero, Hollywood or Payday. But I did love red liquorice whips and jawbreakers, too.   I could write a book on junk food of the 50’s, but that’s a whole other blog entry.

What I ate at home is nothing like what we eat today.  The grocery store was used for staples, Mother grew and canned pretty much everything we ate, supplemented by food that was given to us by my Aunts.

We always had a big garden, which she plowed with a one wheeled plow.  It was backbreaking work, but she always managed to get the soil turned over early in the spring, and she would rake the dirt, make rows for the seeds and I would walk behind her, dropping the seeds in the furrows.  We would have winter onions that would be ready to eat mid-March, and she would throw lettuce seed down on top of the snow in February, so that we would have an early crop of spring lettuce to make wilted salad with the onions.  We had gooseberry bushes, cherry and apple trees, and a big strawberry patch, Mother worked full time and still managed to preserve food for us for the winter months.  She was really a remarkable woman.

We always had jars of  pickled beets, sauerkraut, pickles and relishes.  Unless lettuce came from the garden, we seldom bought it at the store, we supplemented our meals with the canned relishes instead.  She would shred heads of cabbage from the garden on a slaw cutter similar to the one in this picture.  Then she would ferment it with salt in 5 gallon crocks weighted down with a brick setting in a plate on top of the crock.  Once the fermentation process took place, the cabbage would turn to sauerkraut and she would can it.  It was quite a process, and the smell was so pungent the whole house would reek of sauerkraut.

My family butchered their own pigs, and there was always Ball quart jars of canned sausage, young pullets (chickens), and my favorite, pork tenderloin, put up for the winter.  We had a smoke house and she would sugar cure hams and bacon in late November.  She would dry rub the meat with salt, brown sugar and spices, and then hang the cured meat from the rafters in brown burlap feed sacks.  We couldn’t put canned food in the smokehouse, because it would freeze, and our house was small, so our canned food was stored under the beds, and every night she would send me in for cans of vegetables so that she could make dinner.  She would go to the smokehouse with a butcher knife, take down the meat and cut slices from  it on a wooden chopping block, then bring it in and fry it in a black iron skillet.

Aunt Idalene would boil the pigs head when they slaughtered the meat, grind the meat from it and make head cheese, and also mincemeat.  I hated both of them, but I loved it when she would pickle pigs feet.  She would also  soak dried corn in lye water, and after many rinses, the outer husk of the corn would come off, and she would boil it and make hominy.  Oh, I loved hominy, , it was so good.  Hubby doesn’t care for it, but when it’s fried in bacon grease with lots of onions, it’s just awesome!

We always had a lot of tomatoes, we would usually can almost a hundred jars of tomatoes in the summer, as well as green beans, corn and those wonderful bird egg beans.

It wasn’t until I got in high school that we had “convenience foods.”  And those consisted  of just a few items.  The first was Kraft Spaghetti, the kind that came in the green box with the seasoning packet.  We added hamburger and a can of tomato paste to the seasoning packet, it made just the right amount for two people.  I really loved that spaghetti, and Jeno’s Pizza, too.  It was a crust mix, a packet of italian herb toppings and a jar of pizza sauce.  We always browned hamburger and put on it also, and then sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and baked it on a cookie sheet.  I used to have friends on the weekend for pizza parties,  we would listen to the Beatles on the radio, eat pizzas and drink Pepsi’s out of bottles.  Some evenings she would bake a Swanson Pot Pie, either chicken or beef, and we would have it with a salad on tv trays in the living room watching Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on the evening news.  This wasn’t until my high school years, though, we didn’t get television until I was twelve.  By this time she was buying more from the grocery store, we loved Wishbone Italian Dressing in the shaker bottle, and would always have that on our salads.  She would cut the lettuce really fine, add celery and onions, and mix it in that big stainless steel bowl that I now have and use daily.

Mother always had a sweet tooth, so there were always cookies,  cake or pie in her big tupperware container.  She had a bundt pan, which she treasured, and would constantly make different kinds of bundt cakes, her lemon bundt was always my favorite.  We always had jellies and jam, primarily strawberry, blackberry and apricot.  My Aunt Mae made pear honey, and we would have pints of that as well.

We would buy sweet rolls from the grocery store, usually Bunny Bread products, raspberry filled danish was one of her favorites, but the boys remember vividly what her very favorite was, bear claws!  We had a toaster oven, that Ryan has now, and it had a little drawer on the bottom, and she would warm a bear claw in that drawer and drink it with coffee in the morning.  I was never a fan like she was, she loved bear claws her whole life.

If you remember me talking about my childhood in earlier posts, you will know that all of this was accomplished with no running water and water heated on the stove in a kettle.  I can remember a time when we didn’t even have a pump in the kitchen, we drew our water from a well.  There was no bathroom, no air conditioning, a coal stove that had to be filled with coal every day and the ashes dumped, and we lived on a dirt road that got so muddy and rutted in the winter that we would have to walk a half a mile to the main road where we left our car parked.

It was really a difficult life, but I didn’t know anything else, so to me it was normal.  When I put it all to paper it does sound a bit mind-boggling, probably a lot of you are thinking that you could never live that way.  You might just surprise yourself, you do what you have to do to survive.  It wasn’t a bad life at all, just different from the way it is now…

Your daily dose of cuteness…

 

 

Nineteen-day-old ox 'Heart,' born with a heart-shaped marking on his forehead, relaxes at Yamakun farm in Fujisawa, near Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009. Kazunori Yamazaki, 51-year-old farm owner, said, 'Good timing for Valentine's Day.

Hmmmmm, what shall I cook today…

I can honestly say I’ve never thought about having sex with the president!

Geezy Pete, I was just reading the Drudge Report, apparently there is a New  York Times Blog about how many women are dreaming about having sex with the president…

Well, it just never crossed my mind, and now that I’m thinking about it, I can absolutely, positively say without a doubt that the man has zero sex appeal.  Bill Clinton, however….

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood….

It’s a sunny morning in Heavensville, highs forecasted in the upper 60’s, the snow has melted, my chives have popped thru the ground, it was even warm enough to take Milly for a spin yesterday.  We’re having a little mini-vacation here this week before it gets cold again.

I’m outta here, hubby and I are going to take the dogs and escape to the country…  Carpe Diem!

Starbucks Takes Another Hit

From Yahoo news this week -

Remember when Starbucks seemed like an unstoppable force? Those days are gone, kids. The troubled retailer, already suffering from falling profits and a slew of layoffs, was dissed in a recent coffee study from Consumer Reports. The ad-free mag ranked Eight O'Clock Coffee as the best-tasting coffee and noted that Starbucks, which costs considerably more, didn't even merit an honorable mention. 

Well, I still love Komodo Dragon and Sumatra, even if the critics panned them.  But I also think Eight O’clock is a really good coffee. ~ jan

Here’s what the Chicago Sun Times had to say about all this hoopla -

The best ground Colombian coffee taking into account taste and price? Eight O'Clock Coffee 100% Colombian, at $6.28 for a pound, according to the March issue of Consumer Reports, which came out Tuesday.

The magazine tested and rated 19 ground coffees and put a "very good" Eight O'Clock ahead of runners-up Folgers, Maxwell House and Starbucks -- the country's best-sellers.

Taste was a big reason. Its panel of coffee experts liked Eight O'Clock's "complex blend of earthy and fruity."

The price was right, too -- about half what Gloria Jean's, Peets and some other brands go for.

Next in the Consumer Reports ratings, and also ranked "very good," were Caribou Coffee Colombia Timana ($11.76 a pound) and Kickapoo Coffee Organic Colombia ($14.33).

Decafs didn't match regular in the tests, but the top-rated one was Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Decaf ($10.25 a pound).

Birds and trees and gentle breezes…

I’m a nature lover, but days of ice and snow have left me restless, tired of bright white snow and naked trees.   Yesterday I heard a bird singing on the patio, and for just a minute, in my mind it was April, warmth and green, soft winds and the earthy smells of springtime.

It isn’t far off, I keep reminding myself.  Fields of winter wheat will soon start to show color, the pussy willow branches will start to swell,  crocus will be popping thru the ground.  I’m ready now, tired of cold and snow, longing to be outdoors again.  We have 60 degree weather forecasted this weekend in Heavensville, and although it’s just a tease, warmer days aren’t far away….

Happpy Valentines Day to me….

You’ve heard me talk about how great ebooks are for days now.  And while I love reading books on my laptop, I don’t want to be tied to it, so hubby bought me this Sangria Red Sony Book Reader.  It’s coming today and of course I’m absolutely estatic…

We’re having warm weather forecasted this weekend in Heavensville.  I can throw this in my purse, grab the M&M’s, go to Burdette Park, sit and enjoy nature and read! I did all the homework, and Sony Readers are the only ones that accept Adobe PDF files, which is the format the libraries use.  It holds approximately 160 books, but I can insert a memory card and it will hold thousands!  And I’m getting a rebate from Sony bookstore for 100 books to get me started!  You have 7500 page turns before recharging, too.  I could read War and Peace on one charge, yeah, like I’m going to read that, you all know I just read trash!  It only weighs 9 ounces, comes with a snazzy red leather cover, I can throw it in my purse and I’m off!  Cheapest place to buy it is B&H Photo, no shipping no tax.  I saw it at Borders Booksellers locally last week, I saved $50 by ordering it online.

Oprah gushes about the Kindle, from Amazon, but it wasn’t an option for me.  It’s big and clunky looking and you can only download books that you buy from Amazon on it.  No thanks, I like free books!  There are plenty of online sites for free books, remember I’ve already snagged 85 novels by Nora Roberts and the entire works of Agatha Christie…  You can also put your own .pdf files, word docs and pictures on this.  No color, though, that’s a couple of years away before they introduce these things with a color screen.  You can also download audio books and MP3 music files to this, but you have to use headphones for audio.

My version is the 505, they have a new 700 series touch screen out now, but it wasn’t for me.  Screen is  not as clear, there is a built in light, but it’s like neon around the edges, and it’s $100 more.  The people on the mobile forums much prefer this model.  It comes in silver, too, but I wanted the red!

Are you interested, too?  Here’s a video I found on You Tube that demonstrates it…

TOMORROW I will eat healthy!!! Pinkie swear…

Daydreams…

“Just write something down each day, large or small, it doesn’t really matter what it is, just do it.”

Five things I’m dreaming about

1. Sitting on the patio on a warm evening, listening to the frogs, smelling the wild honeysuckle, sipping Jasmine tea.
2. Planning an early morning ride on Milly, the M&M’s riding shotgun as we tool around the neighborhood.
3. Breakfast outdoors, hot coffee, fresh scones, blackberry jam and fresh squeezed orange juice, all consumed whilst reading the morning paper.
4. A visit to the nursery, perusing the greenhouse, looking for the perfect speciman to plop in a fat clay pot.
5. A filled bird feeder, with chickadee’s galore feasting in the warmth of the sun.

Someday….

Snowfall at Willow Lake

This book is by one of my favorite authors, Susan Wiggs, the 4th of a series of Lakewood Chronicles. I’ve read all the others so I’m looking forward to reading this tonight, sitting by the fire, with the M&M’s snuggled beside me on this frigid February evening in Heavensville.

After two years of grueling work for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, an international terrorist incident prompts divorced lawyer Sophie Bellamy to recognize that her work is meaningless without her two children—Max, 12, and Daisy, 19—who are living with their remarried father. On the snowy night Sophie returns to Avalon, N.Y., she meets the handsome bachelor veterinarian Noah Shepherd, who's looking for the right lady to mother his kids and live in his rambling farmhouse with him. While Sophie is happy to be part of a community, get reacquainted with her kids and care for her grandson (Daisy has an infant boy with a recalcitrant father), she is thrilled at Noah's sexy attention until she learns he's 10 years younger than she—29 to her 39. In her latest Lakeside Chronicles title, Wiggs (Dockside) jovially juggles the lives of numerous colliding characters and adds some winter-favorite recipes for a festive touch.

I just got notification from the library in an email that my ebook was available.  I logged into the library, downloaded the book, and seriously, in less than two minutes I’m reading it.  I’m telling you girlfriends, these ebooks are WONDERFUL!

I didn’t understand at first why some of them were on a waiting list.  They are digital, the library should have an unlimited supply, NOT!  I asked about this on a mobile forum, they told me that these digital books are licensed, libraries  pay the publisher for every copy that they license,  just like they have a specific number of a certain book  in the library, they have a specific number of an ebook, so if all of the the allotted copies have been downloaded, they put a hold on it and you have to wait until it’s available.

But just think, they sent me an email that the book was available to download, I didn’t have to get out in 5 degree weather, go to the library, park, trudge inside, wait in line, check it out, get in the car, come back home, not to mention returning the darned thing.

A few mouse clicks and it’s on my computer and I’m reading it!

S-WEET!!!!

She still has it….

I watched Wynonna on GMA this morning.  She has a new album, and some of the songs are amazing.  I’ve always been such a fan, Ang, too.  That woman has a set of pipes like no other…

She’s such a presence, Wynona.  If you want to hear some of the soundtracks from this album, here’s the click… My favorite tracks, 4, 7, 8, 9 and the best one, 10, Anyone Who Had a Heart, Burt Bacharach’s 1964 song that he wrote for Dionne Warwick.  Fantastic!  Ain’t No Sunshine runs a close second, though… 

And see if you can listen to The House Is Rockin’ without shakin’  your bootie…

Geezy Pete, I just wasted two pounds of green beans….

That smoky seasoning was absolutely, positively dreadful!  My green beans tasted like they had been on a smoker.  I took one bite, and knew they were headed to the garbage disposal.  Hubby took my advise and didn’t even taste them…

So, ignore everything I said about the seasoning, what do I know anyway.  I’ve only been cooking green beans, for what, forty years now!  Blecht!  It’s back to the bacon for this old girl, screw even trying to find  salt pork, after tonight’s disaster, I’m sticking with tried and true!

YUCK!!!!!

And how is your day going????

We’re back in the deep freeze in Heavensville.  I’m dreaming of warm spring days, rides on Milly, yeah, that’s what I’m doing, DREAMING!

Nisha told me how good a little bit of salt pork was in green beans, hubby went to meat market, they didn’t have salt pork, so he came back with some kind of smoked meat seasoning, they smoke their own meats, so it’s pork rind with some meat on it, really, really smoky, and now I have that smell on my hands and it won’t wash off.  So here I sit, typing and my hands positively reek.  The dogs have become best buddies with me, however, they are lovin’ my hands.  ;0)

I’ve been making killer green beans, 2 lbs. of frozen green beans, onion, seasoning (I’ve been using a strip or two of of bacon, but today I’m trying the smoky seasoning) in the crockpot, high for one hour, low for an additional 3 hours – they are WONDERFUL.  No liquid, the water from the frozen beans as they melt is enough.

Our family loves green beans, if you do, too try this.  It’s great!  I’m usually not a fan of frozen green beans, but this is awesome way to fix them…

I’m still working on this page, I’m rebuilding my breeder’s dog pages as well, I’m a busy little bee this week…

Later…

I’m still tweaking….

The page you’re looking at it just a prototype, I still have major changes to do to it, comments don’t work either.

It’s a nail biting experience, changing the whole format of a webpage, especially when you’re not into XML coding.  I work awhile, then I pace, I work a bit more, I play with the girls, I keep going back to it, and mostly I just spin my wheels, drink multiple cups of coffee and try not to stress eat.

I really admire people who “understand” how this all works.  It’s not easy, girlfriends, trust me…

~ jan

Jennifer Hudson was awesome!

In case you missed Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem tonight, she did an amazing job.

Wish I had a piece…

John sent Dad this picture from his Blackberry.  It was vegetable soup, homemade bread and pie for Superbowl at his house tonight.  I’m thinking he probably had a little help with all this cooking… 

I’m building a new web page…

I was tired of the old format,  I’m trying a new style, a cleaner look, so if things look a bit “odd” it’s because I’m working on it.  Knowing me, it may look “odd” for quite a while, until I get all the kinks worked out and my modules up and running…

Fox News this morning…

They’re talking about the woman that just had eight babies.  She is thirty-three years old, a single mother, she already has six children between the ages of seven and two, she lives with her Mother, who by the way declared bankruptcy last year, in a small tract house, and now there are fourteen children in that house under the age of seven.

WTF, is this woman bat shit crazy????  She must have mental issues.  It’s going to cost $1,000 per baby, per day for these children to stay in the hospital, they are guestimating the total bill to be $2.5 million!  Who’s going to pay for this?  Hello, taxpayers…

What I don’t get is why would any ethical doctor implant eight eggs in a womb of a woman with no money who already has six children under seven years old?   Mentally stable???  Duh, it’s not rocket science.

Of course she will be on the cover of People, there is talk about her being on Oprah, she will generate cash, but think how much money it will cost to clothe, feed, educate these children, who might possibly have health issues due to multiple births.  Not to mention taking care of eight infants, plus twins that are two years old, plus the other four, it’s totally impossible!  There is no way….  Does she work?  Of course not, she couldn’t possibly work.  Welfare mother?  You do the math…

I just don’t get it, I suspect none of you do, either…

Shapeez Unbelievabra and Shortee, these just might work…

Okay, ladies, let’s be honest here, how many of you have bought all different kinds of body shapers, from torturous one piece garments that must have been designed by a man, so hideously uncomfortable that you can barely stand to wear them, not to mention that they are designed so that’s it’s almost impossible to pee, to Spanx, which are a pain in the patootie to try and get on, and let’s not forget the minimizer bra’s that don’t really “minimize.”   We’ve all done it, trying to get a smooth line, without ripping the spandex because its so gawd awful tight, forcing our out of shape bodies into these horrible instruments of torture, and still ending up with rolls and muffin tops…

This afternoon, I got a text from Linds, who was looking at something new in Redbook Magazine.  She was looking at a Shortiee, from Shapeez, and I’m thinking, hmmm, not bad, it goes well under the bra line and dips all the way to the waist in the back, and when I went to their website and saw their Unbelievabra, I’m thinking hot damn, this might just work.  It goes all the way down to the hip bones, doesn’t roll, and the back is fully enclosed, like a tank top, so the straps won’t fall off your shoulders.  It’s not that pricey either, $85, and if it works, it’s definitely worth the money…

Click here for a  review, with a link to before and after pictures, give it a look, tell me what you think?  Thanks Dilly, this looks really promising…

~ jan

On a more positive note….

My friend, Jean, the most amazing photographer I know, has posted Birds on Ice to her Picasa Web Album, so of course I snagged it for The Dish.  Look in the left sidebar, scroll down a bit, click on the picture of the bird for a slideshow of some absolutely amazing pictures that she took this week.  The clarity of her photographs is just unbelievable.  Great job, Jean!

Can’t get my groove back…

This has been a wasted day.  I have so much to do, but just can’t get thoughts organized to do much of anything.  I have a tri-state boomer, the M&M’s have been restless and needy all day, right now Maggie is standing on the computer desk blocking the screen, Mollie is in my lap, fidgeting, life just isn’t flowing smoothly…

I don’t handle not being able to get out and about well.  I can stay home for days at a time, but I know I can leave if I want to.  Ice is not my friend, however, it’s just not smart for me to go out, so I don’t.  And I fuss about it, when I should be grateful that I have electricity.  Shame, shame, shame on me!  Twenty-four hours ago I was sitting in the dark.

Tomorrow will be a better day,  Scarlett will put a smile on her face and get on with what needs to be done…

We have electricity!

I was sitting in bed last night reading an ebook on my computer, constantly looking at my  battery life. I was down to 23 minutes before mycomputer, too, went dark, and I looked up and there was a light on in the hall bathroom!  It was about 8:30pm, hubby was already asleep, of course I woke him up, absolutely ecstatic that the lights were on.  I feel so sorry for the thousands who are still without power, my son and his wife included.  News reports say that some homes won’t have power restored until mid February.

You know what the worst part of the outage was for me?  Not the obvious, no computer, television, ability to cook, etc.  It was the quiet.  The total, complete, quiet.  LC was working, the M&M’s and I were home alone, and there was no noise, at all.  It was unnerving, unnatural, surreal. 

It was dark, hubby wasn’t home from work yet, I was sitting in the living room with candles lit, the fireplace was on and I was warm, and Mollie was sleeping quietly by my side in the chair.   Maggie, however was totally befuzzled.  She kept jumping on my chair arm, tilting her little head to one side and making little mewing doggie noises.  It was obvious that she was trying to communicate with me, she was trying to figure out what was going on.  I felt sorry for her, you could tell she just didn’t understand.

We still have 50,000 people without power in Heavensville, they are now asking for volunteers to go door to door and check on people.  I saw on the news last night that Kentucky has 605,000 people without power, Ryan and Lindsay included in those statistics.  I talked with Ryan a few minutes ago.  It was 50 degrees in their house, and he said the novelty has now worn off.  Poor Ry, I told them to get in the car and drive here, but he doesn’t want to leave Versailles, he feels he needs to stay there.

Hopefully, our power will stay on now, and life can get back to normal, whatever that is.  We’re lucky the outage didn’t last for days like some people are experiencing…

Blogging from my Blackberry...

I've've been without power since late morning. It's dark now, fireplace is on so I'm warm, candles are lit, hubby is working. Mollie is taking this all in stride, snoozing beside me. Maggie, however is confused as to why we're sitting here in the dark and keeps jumping on the arm of the chair, tilting her little head sideways and talking to m in her own little doggie language. I wish I could explain to her what's going on. I'm hideously bored, this is not fun sitting in the dark!

Ice, ice, ice…

We’ve been housebound since Monday, going stir crazy, and after talking to several people late morning, they told us the roads weren’t that bad, and it wasn’t that cold and it was a bright sunshiny day, so hubby decided we should get out and he would stop by Kelly’s for a haircut.

So we venture out, the side roads were pretty hideous, trees everywhere were bent to the ground, many of them snapped by the weight of the ice, but it was a winter wonderland with the sun filtering thru the thick ice on the trees.  Once we got on the expressway it wasn’t that bad, we have four wheel drive, and just took it really slow.

We wanted to find somewhere to eat, everything was closed, we were having no luck at all, but finally as we got to the other side of the city, we actually found a Captain D’s that was open.  That was pretty much it, nothing else, no chinese, no mexican, nada.  Naturally the whole city was there since it was the only place open, and after standing in line for thirty minutes, their credit card machine went belly up, and since hubby only had three dollars on him, we were sh*t outta luck.  So we get back in the car, and finally find a Hardee’s that was open.

If it wasn’t for the fact that we were starved, we would have passed, but we didn’t, and after once again standing in line for thirty minutes we ate the WORST fast food meal in the history of the world.  Never again will I EVER go to Hardee’s, EVER!!!!

As we approach the area where Kelly lives, the tree limbs were everywhere.  Streets were blocked, cars were stuck, it was a total mess.  And in front of her house sat…. a fire truck.  Oh yeah, lights flashing and everything. So I’m on my cell calling her to find out what was going on and she said she didn’t have any power, that there was a fire on the power line, and that LC would have to walk in, but she didn’t need power to cut his hair.  So he’s trekking down the street, and all of a sudden there is this huge BOOM, that absolutely scared the beejus right out of me, apparently a transformer blew.

He had parked me away from the trees, but I’m sitting there waiting on him to come back to the car, and all of a sudden there is this huge cracking noise, and a whole half of a tree falls in the yard of the street across from me.

In other words, it was NOT smart to be out, even if the roads were passable.  We hotfooted it for home, where I will stay until this friggin ice melts, probably about the first of March! 

It’s really bad here, we’re just hoping our power stays on.  Ry and Lindsay in Kentucky have no power, haven’t had any since this morning, their only heat source comes from their gas fireplace, so of course I’m worried about them.  However, John didn’t have any problems at all.  Nashville seems to be far enough south that they always miss the bad stuff.

Mother always said that the worst winter weather is always the last week of January.  Well Ma, you were right again!

Ice storm in Heavensville…

75.000 people without power, trees bent to the ground and broken, we lost power last night, but have it today, internet connection extremely spotty, more when situation stabilizes.  Stay warm!

~ jan

What’s going on in Heavensville…

All the forecasted snow didn’t happen, instead we have ice, with more ice forecasted tonight.  The M&M’s are having a heck of a time going outside for potty breaks.  It’s not that they are slipping and sliding, it’s that all their familiar doggie smells are buried under a layer of ice.

So they walk around and around, desperately sniffing every branch and tree trunk on the patio, trying to find the scent.

I always have the fireplace ready for them, they come running back in, head directly for the living room and just drop in front of it to warm up.

I made bean soup this morning, the 15 bean kind, total of 55 minutes in the pressure cooker, no presoaking, and it was wonderful.

That’s it from here.  Since discovering ebooks, I’ve now realized that I can download them directly to my computer FREE from my local library.  So can you!  All you need is your library card number, then you download Adobe Digital Reader, browse your local library’s ebook catalog online, and download your books.  I can download a total of 7 books in a two week period.  After the two weeks are up, poof, they are gone, I can’t access them any longer, but I can redownload them.

It’s a wonderful things, ebooks, why didn’t I know this before now?  I don’t have to go to the library, I don’t have to RETURN any books, no FINES, and it’s all FREE!  It’s perfect!

Try it, you’ll like it….

~ jan

80 year old salsa dancer, amazing…

Wait til she strips off the clothes and really starts dancing – this is awesome!  Sound quality isn’t the greatest, but one’s definitely worth watching.  Thanks Carlene…

Oh dear, we’re having WEATHER….

We’ve dodged the snow bullet all winter long in Heavensville, but it’s coming to an end. 

WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL NOON WEDNESDAY
Tonight: Winter Storm Warning. 2-3” of snow and ice overnight. Low 24.
Tuesday: Another round of snow in the afternoon and evening. Total accumulations for both days 5-10”.

Hubby is not working for a few days, we trekked to the grocery store early this morning, I have projects on the computer to work on, eBooks to read, and hopefully he will cook!  Now if we can just survive the next few days, being housebound, without killing each other life will be good….

This is really bad….

But I have to admit, I just sat here giggling, then I showed it to LC, he was laughing, too, you just have to see this…

Thanks, Carlene, this was a hoot...

Wicks Sugar Cream Pie….

It was on the news today that they are passing legislation to make sugar cream pie the official state pie of Indiana.

Hubby saw this and he was absolutely estatic, and immediately began calling the kids to tell them. 

We’ve eaten sugar cream pie, specifically a frozen one called Wicks Sugar Cream Pie, for as long as I can remember.  The entire family is wild for them, but nobody more so than LC.

If you’ve never had one, you are in for a treat if you like rich, decadent desserts.  The taste is hard to describe, it’s buttery and creamy and has a depth of flavor that only comes from using artery clogging ingredients.  They are sublime, warm from the oven, and equally as good cold from the fridge.

There are recipes for sugar cream pie online, but you just can’t beat the frozen one from Wicks.  This family run business, located in the town of Winchester, in Eastern Indiana, wrote the book when they started selling these pies.

If you can’t locate them in your grocer’s freezer, you can order online from Wicks.  Here’s the click.  They are an amazing thing, sugar cream pies….

It’s a tease….

It’s sunny and 52 degrees right now in Heavensville.  The birds are singing outside my sunroom window.  Spring is on the way, NOT!!!

It’s back into the deep freeze tonight. I hate January!

Marti sent me this, it’s a goodie…

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine... and those who don't.

As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom,
                                   in beer there is freedom,
                                   in water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have ingested more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) - bacteria  found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run the same risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
                                  Remember:
                                 Water = Poop,
                                 Wine = Health.
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a public service

If you browse with FireFox

 

Jean sent me a link to download this Valentines Day Theme.  Just click on the link, install it as a FireFox add-on and when it restarts FireFox it will be your theme.  It will ask you to change your default search engine to Yahoo, you have to do this, but it’s no biggie, you can switch it back to Google later.  Aftr you download it, it puts a Valentine’s Day Toolbar up at the top, I didn’t want that, but it was easy to get rid of – just go to your dropdown menu, choose VIEW, then TOOLBARS, then uncheck Valentine’s Day Toolbar, and poof, it’s gone. ;0)

Here’s the click if you want to use it – it’s pretty cute!

How four pounds runs the show….

Here I sit, tucked in by the fire, Mollie asleep by my side, Maggie standing on the ottoman, throwing an absolutely hissy fit.  She’s ready to go to bed.  And she wants me to go with her.  She does, she’s relentless, she’s just making these little mewing noises and growling at me over and over.  This has been going on for the past fifteen minutes, despite my repeatedly telling her “NO!”  Nothing works, I’ve tried talking hubby into going to bed with her, but he’s interested in some Tivoed program in the den, so that didn’t work, and she won’t shut up.

I’ll cave, I know I will.  I’ll give up my nice fireside seat and go to bed just to shut her up.  I tried putting her in bed by herself, that worked for all of five minutes before she jumped down and came back in here, and started whining again.  I know I should be more forceful, but I just can’t.  Don’t want to put a damper on her spunkiness….

A sucker is born every minute…. This sucker is giving up, I’m going to give in just to shut her up!  This reminds me of what  I did with the boys when they were growing up, let them have their way - I was never much of a disciplinarian…  It’s easier just to go with the flow.  Know what I mean, Vern???

Any Knotts Landing fans out there?

This Today clip is wonderful.  Oh, that was a great soap, always my fave, but just look at them years later… 

 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Yorkies are the 2nd most popular breed in the United States, second only to the Labrador Retriever….

Am I surprised by this?  Actually I am.  Also very pleased that the  breed is surging in popularity.  And why not, they’re adorable, non-shedding, portable, don’t need exercise, and can be trained to a piddle pad if you don’t want to venture outdoors.  Let’s face it, they don’t come much cuter than this.  Yeah, I know I’m prejudiced, but my two are pretty darned special! Veronica gave me the heads-up on this info earlier today. 

Top dogs of 2008
The Labrador retriever is the most popular purebred dog in the United States for the 18th consecutive year, according to the American Kennel Club.

The Yorkshire terrier came in second place, followed by the German shepherd, the golden retriever, the beagle, the boxer and the dachshund.

 General

With its silky-haired good looks, larger-than-life personality and energetic nature, the Yorkshire Terrier is a perennial favorite among dog lovers worldwide. A member of the Toy group, the Yorkie - as it is affectionately known - is small and frail in size and physicality, yet brave and energetic.. According to the most recent American Kennel Club registration statistics it is the second most popular breed in the United States after the Labrador Retriever.

History

The Yorkshire Terrier was first bred in the north of England county  which gave it its name. During the 19th century the original Yorkies were used as ratcatchers at textile mills. For this reason, they were originally a working man's dog, favorites with the weavers and factory workers. By the end of the 19th century, however, the little dogs had gone up in the world and had become popular companions for members of the European aristocracy. 

Physical Characteristics
Yorkies tend to have long, luxurious dark, steely blue and tan coats. They are, on average, seven inches (17cms) or so tall and weigh between four and seven pounds (1.7kgs to 2.5kgs).

Health & Medical

Yorkshire Terriers are prone to a number of health issues, many of them relating to their skin and coats. They can, for instance, suffer from alopecia and a range of allergic skin reactions. They can also suffer localised hair loss as a result of injections. Other conditions known to afflict Yorkshire Terriers include bronchitis, lymphangiectasia, Portosystemic shunt, cataracts and keratitis sicca. They are also prone go congenital heart problems.
Yorkies are regarded as having a relatively weak digestive system and can suffer vomiting and diarrhea as a result of over-eating or being given unusual foods.
Despite this, the average Yorkie's lifespan is 12.8 years.

Suitability as a Pet
Yorkshire Terriers make excellent household pets. They have great personalities and are regarded as highly adaptable dogs. They also travel well. As small dogs, they require a limited amount of exercise although they do need to interact with humans on a daily basis. Their long coats require regular grooming. 

Popularity as a Pet
The Yorkshire Terrier is the second most popular dog breed in the United States according to the most recent American Kennel Club registration statistics.

Its popularity has shown a marked increase in the past six years during which time it has overtaken breeds such as the German Shepherd, Golden Retriever and Beagle as a family favorite in the US, According to the Kennel Club registration statistics.

George Bush said yesterday about his wife…

"She filled the White House with warmth and my life with joy," Bush said. "History will show that she was a fabulous first lady."

This waivering democrat couldn’t agree more.  I so admired her, she is a wonderful woman and was a great first lady.  What a class act Laura Bush is…

~ jan

Why you should not…..

Take three Excedrin, followed by a large coffee, followed by a large Mountain Dew, followed by an Advil Cold and Sinus in a desperate attempt to rid yourself of a horrid sinus headache.  Because, if you do all of the above, you will not only be nauseated beyond belief, but you will also feel like you are jumping out of your skin!!!!  And that was my day….

This is so sweet..

The Bush daughters wrote the Obama daughters a letter about life in the White House. If you haven’t read it, it’s really charming, well worth taking a few minutes of your day to look at their life through the eyes of a child. 

I’m so charmed by these little girls, they remind me of little colts, prancing around their parents with sparkling eyes and beaming smiles.  What an adventure they are in for.

Here’s the click, enjoy….

Talk about a fashion faux pas…

Aretha Franklin is an imposing figure, with a magnificent voice, but what was up with that hat at the inauguration?  Lordy, Lordy….

The M&M’s first You Tube Video……

Hooterville, aka Digital Gurl, has been here for the weekend, and she took amazing pictures of the girls.  I made a slideshow and uploaded it to YouTube for all of you.  It’s my first attempt, I’ll get better with this after I do more, but it’s easy to do these when you have such cute little fur kids pictures to work with.  Hope you enjoy our little presentation. 

Rather than imbedding the video, as I normally do, I’m going to give you a URL to link to, because if you do it this way, when you link to the video, underneath the viewing area you will see an option to watch in high quality – click that option and the video will be a much better quality.

~ jan

Here’s the click…

Juzar sent me this, it’s a must read…

This is NY Times top emailed articles - "The 11 Best Foods You Are Not Eating" .

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.
In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart?

Hooterville knows all the good stuff….

Jean and I worked with my computers today and she told me about a great add-on for FireFox called CoolIris.  Don’t confuse this with Cool Iris Preview, this is entirely different.  After you download this as an add-on to Firefox and restart Firefox, you may need to right click on your toolbar at the top of Firefox browser and drag up the Cool Iris icon, it looks like a shadow box of two squares, then you just click on it and the fun begins.  I like to click on the Discovery tab – you will see all kinds of fun things to play with, full television episodes to watch, movies and trailers to watch, games, travel, it’s really awesome.

Here’s the click to download it, remember you have to be browsing in Firefox for this – give it a try, and thanks Jean, who always knows the best stuff online….

Sausage Soup

I posted the soup recipe on Jan Can Cook, here’s a quick click.  Enjoy!

What’s happening in Heavensville tonight…

• The M&M’s have dragged a whole plethoria of toys and chewies in front of the fireplace, where they have parked their little Yorkie butts for days now.  Smart little pooches, they know how to keep warm and have fun at the same time.
• Hooterville is coming over tomorrow to work on my computers.  I continue to struggle with an intermittent connection; this has been going on since before Thanksgiving and I’m really frustrated.  Since my ISP can’t seem to fix it, I’ll put the expert on it.  Jean knows more than any technician they would ever send out here anyway.
• I’m making a pot of Sausage Soup tonight.  It’s warm, homey, one of hubby’s favorites (Ry and Lindsay, too).  I’ll post the recipe in a bit on Jan Can Cook, it’s a great soup for these cold nights.
• We went to zero last night with our temps, Nisha, however went to –25.  Brrrrrr.  It was much colder in Muncie than it was here.
• I’m going to finish that soup, post the recipe and read in front of the fireplace.  Nah, I’m not going to pick up the dog toys, I love seeing their pile of favorites in front of the fireplace, you have no idea how cute they are nestled among the debris enjoying the fire.... 

Here’s the hack for Starbuck’s new London Fog Tea Latte

The London Fog Tea Latte At your neighborhood Bucks is about $4, but it’s been hacked already.  This is perfect for a cold evening, preferably sitting by the fireplace, reading a good book, with one or more dogs tucked in beside you…

London Fog Tea Latte:

12 oz.  steeped hot Earl Grey tea
3 packs sugar or Splenda
3-6 ounces two-percent milk, warmed.

That’s it, you can make this at home for a lot less than $4.00…

Source:  http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com

An elephant and a dog, best friends…

I saw this heartwarming story on another blogsite this morning, Dooce, and snagged it for you all to see. 

Meowwwwwwwwwwwwww

If you missed Ann Coulter and the ladies on The View’s cat fight earlier this week, here it is in it’s entirety – oh my, it does get ugly…

I’ve got a goodie for you, thanks to Lindsay….

When Linds was here last weekend, she was telling me how good Marzetti’s Asiago Peppercorn Dressing was as a veggie dip, so I picked up a bottle, and sure enough, it’s awesome!  If you want something new to try,  and like things spicy and peppery, this is for you.  Give it a try, it’s really good!  I’m having it this afternoon with cauliflower, which is, by the way, the M&M’s new favorite snack,  the veggie, not the dressing…

OMG, you would think I was giving them steak the way they beg for bites of raw cauliflower.  Silly little dogs….

Oh-oh, I’m video blogging again….

Veronica and I were having a conversation earlier today about a video blog I did this morning on Facebook.  I used to do video blogs on The Dish regularly, but the program I used ceased to exist, and I’ve just not gotten back into it.

She told me sometime ago that it was a walk in the park to do them in Facebook, she was right, so I did one while ago, with Maggie in my lap.

And???   It’s no biggie to make fun of myself  at this age.  Hell, everybody else does, I might as well go with the flow.  And even though the silly videos are hugely uncomfortable to members of my family that shall remain nameless, to me they are just silly nonsense.  I don’t get embarrassed much at this age, if there is something good about getting older, for me anyway, it’s the idea that I can make fun of myself on a regular basis, and it not bother me.  It’s probably the best gift I have, being able to see myself in a humorous way and not take myself seriously.  But surely, if you read this site regularly, you realize that by now.

And if I can make somebody laugh or brighten their day, that’s even better.  Veronica actually enjoys my lame video attempts.  I wish she would do them, so I could laugh at her, too, but she’s more reserved, and I’m more in your face. I just start babbling and utter nonsense comes out of my mouth.  I’m a motor mouth,  what can I say. 

Sorry, family, looks like I’m back in the “oh no, here she goes again with the videos” sez me, laughing profusely at myself….

Kathie Lee, I guess I’m mellowing in my old age….

I’m usually in the kitchen at 10am, either cleaning up from breakfast, or putting something in the crock for later in the day, and I have the television on.  I’ve watched The View until I just can’t stand them anymore.  I’m tired of their bickering, interrupting each other and making over Barbara WaWa like she is the most wonderful woman that ever sat on her throne.

There is nothing on FoodTv that interests me at 10am, so I’ve taken to watching Kathie Lee on Today 4th Hour.  A long, long, long time ago I actually enjoyed her, before she got full of herself and talked endlessly about her kids, Casserole and Codster (hey I didn’t make that up, that’s what she called them) and her stud muffin hubby, Frank.  But when the National Enquirer set him up with that flight attendant, and got the goods on him, I really did feel sorry for her, she put on a happy face and got on with her life when she must have been destroyed, but I still didn’t like her.

Fast forward to 2009, either I’ve mellowed, or she has, because I’m actually enjoying her again.  Just this morning she was in the street, asking political questions and giving away cd’s, and there was this early 40’s something guy, and Kathie Lee said that he told her he had a crush on her since she was a kid.  So she asked her question, he answered enthusiastcally, and she said to him about the cd, “you must want this really bad.”  He answered her by saying, “oh babe, you have no idea.”  And what did she do, she kissed the guy full on the lips!  Oh, she was so grateful.  I get it, don’t you???

Let’s face it, how long has it been since somebody other than our long suffering spouses have said anything remotely suggestive to us.  Warmed the cockles of my heart, this frosty morning in Heavensville.  Bless that guy for giving an old gal a thrill….

Gran Torino…

Hubby and I took in a matinee yesterday.  Poor feller, I drag him to so many chick flicks, I thought it wouldn’t hurt me to see a guy movie for a change.  And????  It was really good!  I’m not an Eastwood fan, never have been, he’s too rangy and stringy looking, and such a sour puss, so this movie fits him perfectly as he plays a cantankerous old man, which I suspect isn’t much of a stretch for him.

It was really different, omg, he was such a racist, I’ll be shocked if people don’t start having fits about how bad he was, but it was funny and sad at the same time.  It’s a goodie, grab a man and go see it…

It’s an early Valentine’s Day at Munchie Business…

I took an hour tonight and built a new index page for my main website, Munchie Business.  I know, I’m rushing it a bit, but it was time for Christmas to go, and I love vintage valentines.  Doodads courtesy of the talented MoJackson…

Robin sent me this tonight, these little girls are amazing…

While watching the Golden Globes…

I had a revelation.  Other than Kate Winslett, who I think is just about the best young actress around, I no longer identify with anyone but Frances McDermott, Meryl Streep and Sally Field.  I’ m finding the whole show entirely boring, and the “actresses” totally silly.  It just isn’t doing it for me…  I used to love watching these award shows.  Have I just grown too old?  Were they better in the old days than they are now?  I guess I’ve just moved on….

I’m embarrassed for most of them because they just going on and on and on until everybody is totally uncomfortable.  Get off the stage already…. I’m switching to the Housewives…

I’ve been really busy….

I think i’m suffering from blogger’s burnout.  Me, who opens my mouth and sticks my foot in it on a regular basis can’t think of anything to say today.

It’s been a busy weekend, Ryan and Lindsay were here, we did the family thing, now all is quiet and I’m blank.

I’m sure it’s just a temporary thing, something will surely pop up that I can talk in detail about tomorrow.

In the meantime, Scarlett is going to read a book….

Just wanted you all to know that I’m still kickin’.

Finally!!!!!!!!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when the internet is down at my house it’s the end of the world.  Seriously.

I’ve jacked around with my online connection for two months, remember the little man came out and couldn’t fix it.  I’ve had intermittent service since before Thanksgiving.  Well, it went down again this morning, and this time it didn’t come back at all, I’ve been down since 8am.

And the kids are coming, and there is beef stew to finish and bread to put in the Zo, and I’m having a hissy cause I have no connection.

I called Insight, it seems they have a special little man that comes out when the first one flakes out.  So I said to them, in total frustration, “oh, so first you send a flunkey, and then if he can’t fix it, you send something that knows what they’re doing?”  Now that wasn’t very nice of me, omg, in fact I sounded exactly like my mother yelling at that guy, but I was beyond frustration.  And he schedules me for Monday afternoon with the “specialist.”  Probably not until Monday beause I was being a total be-otch…  Okay, I deserved that, I’ll admit it now that I’ve calmed down. 

So what do I do, I call Hooterville, who is smarter than anybody at Insight, she tells me to go to Wally World and get a new modem, even though mine isn’t but a few months old.  So off I go, buy the thing, come home, put her on the speaker phone, she tells me which little thingies to plug in, I do what she says, power it up, but it won’t connect. Grrrrrr!

So I hang up, take a deep breath, unplug everything, do it again, this time I tightened up the little nut thingie that screws in really, really tight, just like hubby does, and HOT DAMN!!!!! The thing connected!!!

It works, it really works, well for now it does.  I still haven’t cancelled out the special little man that’s coming Monday, this isn’t my first rodeo with intermittent service.  But for now it’s working, and I can access Parker’s Beef Stew from the net,  and  cook.  And hopefully, the only thing stewing in the kitchen will be dinner!

Hooterville is such a rock star.  She really is.  I don’t know what I would do without her…  She always gets me out of my technical messes, always!!!!

Sarah Palin, a revealing interview….

 

If you have no interest in her, just ignore this video, it is however, really interesting, what she has to say, now that the dust has settled…

Don’t worry, I’m not going to make this a habit, putting on political info, she does appear to be very honest and forthcoming with all the questions that were asked of her…

 

Say it ten times, Jan

I will NOT procrastinate today, I will NOT procrastinate today……………

procrastinate

A
verb

1
procrastinate, stall, drag one's feet, drag one's heels,shillyshally, dilly-dally, dillydally

postpone doing what one should be doing; "He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days"

Category Tree:

act; move

╚wait; hold off; hold back

╚delay

╚procrastinate, stall, drag one's feet, drag one's heels, shillyshally, dilly-dally, dillydally

╚procrastinate

A blast from the past this cold January afternoon…

 

Hooterville was going thru some old files this afternoon and she came across this old website I built for Munchie, oh it was a long time ago,  probably ten years or so.

It  was hosted on a site called Tripod, I can’t believe the files are still there. 

It is the first page I ever built, this is where my love of playing on the computer started, so if you would like to take a little trip down memory lane, here’s the click to the site.

There is even music, which of course annoys the hell out of everybody, I would never do that anymore.  But it’s a fun look at my sweet Munchie, my first Yorkie, the one who will always be the Queen!

On the goldfishy page, Munchie is licking the aquarium.  I smeared the glass with peanut butter that day to get her to lick it.  That’s the same aquarium  that Munchie toppled into one day when she slipped hurrying down the stairs.  She lost her footing, flipped off the side of the stairs and totally submerged herself, if I had not have been right there, the poor little pooch would have drowned.  Oh it was awful! I was horrified at the time, but we’ve all had a few chuckles about it over the years, Veronica was laughing about it just while ago….

It was fun looking at all of this again, I hadn’t seen these pages in years!  Thanks Jean, you always find the good stuff….

Does anybody ever eat a McRib????

We were tooling down the street today, I looked up at a billboard at Mickey D’s that said, “McRib is Back!”  Just when I thought we were finally rid of it, it’s back again!

Why oh why?  It’s the most disgusting sandwich I’ve ever eaten.  Do people really eat McRibs?  They trot them out year after year, there must be a high profit margin on the things.  They taste horrid, I can’t imagine why anybody would order one.

Now the Cheddar Melt.  THAT was a beautiful  sandwich! A thick beef patty, grilled onions, cheddar cheese on a rye bun.  It was AWESOME!  Yeah, it really was, it’s the only sandwich from McDonald’s, well except for my beloved filet of fish, that Deanna adores also, that I actually liked.

But do they ever bring back the Cheddar Melt?  NO!!!!  Some idiot at corporate is too busy trying to force us to eat that worthless McRib.  Blecht!  Morons…

The M&M’s first interview…

What breed are you?
Maggie: Yorkshire Terrier, obviously.

Mollie: What she said, but without the obviously.

How old are you?
Mollie: I’m 6,  but am going on 50. No matter what my parents tell me, I feel the world rests on my shoulders and it clearly ages me. I feel my fur is thinning and I'm wondering about fur plugs.

Maggie: I’m 2, but I feel 1 & 3/4 actually.

What is your full name?
Maggie: Margaret MooLatte, aka Maggie Moo

Mollie:  Molasses Maybelline, aka Mollie Mo

Do you have any nicknames?
Maggie: Oh yeah, I have a bunch, Maggin’ Waggin’ Tails a Waggin’, Mewster Brewster, Petite Bete, Maggie Moo-Hoo, and others too embarrassing to mention….

Mollie:  Princess Pollywog, Sweet Cheeks, Mollikins, Momma’s little budha dog, I don’t like the last one so much…

Where do you usually sleep?
Maggie: daytime – in my hidey hole, behind a cushion on the couch, nighttime, in my bed between Mom and Dad

Mollie: daytime – anywhere Mom is, I shadow her, nighttime, in my bed between Mom and Dad, next to Maggie

What is your favorite thing to do?
Maggie: Fetch, fetch, and fetch, oh and run laps, I’m really fast.  I do like chewing Texas Toothpicks, too. And I like going for walks so I can acquire territory through various bodily functions.

Mollie: I don’t do much, I just like to sit mostly, but I do like going on the golf cart, and unlike my sister, I don’t feel the need to mark territory, it’s too much effort.

What is something unusual/interesting about you?
Maggie: Excuse me? Um, EVERYTHING about me is unusual and interesting. I’m totally fascinating…

Mollie: I’ve had three litters of pups, and they messed up my girlish figure.  Maggie still has hers, but I’m more like Mom, thick thru the middle.  I’m really cute, though.

Who is your best friend?
Maggie: I'm a momma’s girl, but I do enjoy laying on Dad’s lap in the evening, watching television.  I actually have two dog best friends, London and my sister, Mollie.  Mollie is a rock star!

Mollie:  I love, love, love my Mom.  I never let her out of my sight.  I tolerate Maggie’s best friend, London, because Mags likes her, and I just adore Maggie.  I really do. Mags and I are great buddies. Did you know every morning when she wakes up she jumps in my bed and gives me a big kiss.  She does, she really does.  I like it, too…

Did you go to obedience school? If yes, were you Top Dog or did you flunk out?
Maggie:  No, I didn’t go, but I’m sure I would like it, I’m extremely popular with other dogs and people.  I’m actually very obedient now, well I AM, when I want to be, hehehehehe!

Mollie: Obedience? What is that? Never heard of the thing. Is that some kind of cult?

Can you do any tricks?
Maggie: Not really, Mom doesn’t think I should have to beg for food.  People don’t, so neither should I.

Mollie: Yes! I can pee on the floor just like *that*. Nobody even has to ask me!

Any last comments?
Maggie:  Well, even though I was a McCain supporter, I just want to say that I'm excited about a new dog in the big house. I strongly think Obama should consider a yorkie; I mean, we don't have fur, we have hair - therefore, we're clearly the most intelligent choice for a kid with allergies. And for those who always say yorkies are too smart for their own good? I say - jealous much?

Mollie: I could care less what kind of dog is in the big house, I’m more interested in what’s happening in Heavensville.  I moved here last summer, and I like it!  I get lots of attention, I always have fresh water, Mom buys me the really pricey all natural dog food, the kind that doesn’t smell like barf, it’s really good, and I get tummy rubs and lots of smooches every day.  What more could a fur kid want?

I’m spending a lot of time on Facebook

Lindsay started talking about Facebook several months ago.  I thought it was similar to MySpace, and geared toward a younger audience, but oh was I wrong!  Facebook is fantastic…  Not like MySpace at all.

I’m starting to post family photo albums there,  along with a lot of other nonsense, but everything is private, you have to be my “friend” to access me on Facebook.  If you’re interested, send me an email and I’ll send you an invite.  It’s amazing how many people are on FB, I’ve connected with a lot of people from the past.  You just might enjoy it, also.

~ jan

Light Deprivation….

I don’t do well in January or February when winter closes in and days are grey and gloomy.  Since moving my computer to the sunroom a couple of years ago, it has helped a lot, but it’s still not fun.  I mean what do we have to look forward to in January, dieting?  That’s about as much fun as a toothache…

But endure it I must, I have a lot of computer projects,  not a lot of motivation, but I’ll get there… about March :0)

Are these people nuts?

Well let’s add two more stupid kid names to the list of crazy celebrities – today Rebecca  Romjin and Jerry O’Connell had twin daughters, and what did they name them -

Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip

I’m not joking, they really did!  They named one little girl Charlie after Jerry O’Connell’s brother.  What were they thinking?  What will they call them?  Dolly and Tulip?

I name my dogs cuter names than this!  And I thought Julia Roberts naming her twins Phinneus and Hazel was bad.  This tops it.  Stupid, stupid celebrities, what lengths they go to for publicity…..

Toto, they aren’t in Kansas anymore….

Check out this link, it’s the Obama girl’s lunch menu at Sidwell School.  Do little kids really like this stuff???  I certainly would, dunno about the kiddos.

Here’s the CLICK.

Christmas in Heavensville, one final look…

 

Oh this is good….

Carlene sent me this link this morning of Uncle Jay explaining 2008 – it’s a goodie… enjoy!