Yes I'm One of Those Stupid People...

...that goes to McDonalds and orders a Big Mac Meal with...A DIET COKE.

But I have a somewhat reasonable explanation for this. It's not that I'm trying to save calories by getting the diet Coke, which would be totally silly after eating a 5 million calorie Big Mac and fries. The thing is, when I was pregnant I had gestational diabetes, so for the duration of my pregnancy I had to be very careful of my sugar intake, and thus I couldn't drink regular soda, so I switched to diet. Well I got so used to the taste of diet that by the time DD was born and I went to go back to regular soda it just tasted waaaaaaaaaaay too sweet and I didn't like it at all anymore. So now I always drink diet just because I like it.

I know, who the heck drinks diet because they LIKE it?

(Btw, If you're a diet soda drinker have you tried Coke Zero? That is THE BEST diet soda out there. And yes, I know, Diet Dr. Pepper is really quite good too.)

(And yes, I know, there's terrible chemicals and additives in diet soda that are going to kill me. Don't worry, I only have a diet soda occasionally. I'm probably not in TOO much danger. You'll be relieved to know good ol' water is my drink of choice.)

The End

Well *I* LOL...

from WKYT.com:

NEW YORK (AP) - A Brooklyn Catholic church that gets so hot in the summer that parishioners go elsewhere for worship is getting some deliverance from the heat in the form of a 24 foot industrial fan.

The only hitch is the unholy name of the Kentucky company that makes the machine:

Big Ass Fans Co.

Gratuitous Misc Maine Vacation Photos

Well I'm going to wrap up my lovely vacation to Ogunquit, Maine with some remaining photos - enjoy!

(Photo above is George Bush Sr.'s home in Kennebunkport)

Ah, Maine. Hope it's not too long before we can come visit again...

The end.

A Sad Childhood Memory with a Happy Ending

When I was a kid I had a Raggedy Ann doll that I loved and slept with.

One night I barfed on her. :-(

My mom soaked her and tried to clean her, but let's say, she never smelled good after that. I can still remember looking at her in the bathroom sink, soaking in some kind of cleaner, hoping she was going to be ok...

Now I would've gladly put up with the less than stellar scent of my beloved Raggedy Ann doll, but mom wouldn't let me keep her, so we got rid of my Raggedy Ann.

My parents bought me a new one, but it wasn't the same, you know?

I told DD this story once. She could understand how sad I must have felt because she has a special lovey friend - it's none other than Moo Cow, the mascot of this very blog. I'm sure she imagined how she would feel if she had to give up Moo Cow forever.

Well a couple of years ago for Mother's Day or my birthday (I forget which) guess what I got from DD - a new Raggedy Ann doll!!!

And even though of course it couldn't really quite exactly replace my old doll, somehow this new doll seemed just right.

I'm laying up against her as I write this post in fact.

Did you know that if you look under Raggedy Ann's shirt she has a red heart on her chest that says "I Love You"?

I love you too my Raggedy Ann!

Anyone else out there, even though you're all growed up, willing to admit you have a favorite childhood "lovey"?

Geocaching on Vacation in Maine

One of our favorite things to do is geocache while we travel - we get to see lots of interesting spots off the beaten path I'm sure we would never have seen had we not been hunting a cache. Although of course often times there are caches at the big tourtist spots too. In fact I forgot to mention in my post about the Nubble Light that there is a cache there that we found. Not gonna tell ya where though! :-)

One of the interesting places we stumbled upon in our geocaching travels was John Hancock's Wharf in York, ME. I had no idea York was so rich in history, nor did I have any idea John Hancock lived there.


Another stop brought us to Herbie:


We saw where the first permanent settlement in Wells was in 1640:

And we found this great duck/geese/swan pond - we had so much fun there we went back again the afternoon we were leaving just to feed them one more time:

I would normally say that once you've bought a gps (I looked and you can get a basic one for as little as $92 at Amazon - see link in sidebar) it's an inexpensive hobby. However with the price of gas, I can't really say that anymore. But, we often combine geocaching with trips we were taking anyway, so that lessens the cost. And adds to the fun! :-)

Cre8Buzz

I thought Cre8Buzz (a social networking site) might be a good fit for me. So I signed up.

It's very confusing, not intuitive to me. It was very hard to find my way around. For me anyway. I even tried to use a 'theme' but I ended up with my theme and nothing else on the page. I don't even know what CSS is, no less how to modify it. When I first signed up I inadvertently put myself in the "choppers" category. I did figure out how to switch it to Moms. I'll have to go look at it more another day with a fresh brain. Maybe it's just me.

It is so FRUSTRATING sometimes to be a newbie. I already fought with my template this afternoon trying to modify the 'Share' button. (I did eventually somewhat succeed.)

Maybe even CONSIDERING switching to Wordpress (see earlier post here) is

Who Is YOUR 80s Hunk?

(Scroll down, menfolk. I have a quiz you can take also. :-)

Got this from Mariuca's Perfume Gallery and I couldn't resist. With all the stressful and pressing decisions we have to make each day, let all of that go and travel back to the heyday of the 80s (sans the acne and mullets) for a minute and answer a few questions to find out

Who's Your 80s Hunk?

I'll share mine, feel free to share yours!

Your 80s Hunk Is

Jason Bateman

Just for kicks I googled "Jason Bateman" and I was surprised to discover that his first television role was James Cooper Ingalls in the television show Little House on the Prairie (I am a big fan of the books and the tv show). Totally did not know that. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to look up what was the deal with his character on Little House.

From Wikipedia: "The Ingalls family also adopts 10-year-old Albert Quinn (Matthew Laborteaux), whom the family meets when they move (briefly) to Winoka, Dakota Territory in a series of 1978 episodes. Later the Ingalls family adopts more children, James (Jason Bateman) and Cassandra Cooper (Missy Francis), a brother and sister who are orphaned after their parents are killed in a wagon accident."

Anyway, he also appeared in Knight Rider before appearing on the show that brought him teen-idol status - Valerie/The Hogan Family. I'll move on now that I'm sure that you've got your daily fill of "Things You Never Knew About Jason Bateman".

So as not to make the menfolk feel left out, here's another fun quiz for anyone:

What American City Are You?

I took this one also and here's what I got:

You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. You're totally weird and very proud of it. Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in... in your own strange way. Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

You Can Walk With a Purpose!

I hate almost all kinds of exercise. But one exercise that I can do that I actually enjoy is walking. And I also like to volunteer and/or charity work, and I've considered in the past doing one of those "walks" that earns money for a good cause. Never done one though. There was even an Avon Walk for Breast Cancer that a neighbor of mine did. I'm an "Avon Lady" myself, but nope, didn't do that one either. But maybe it's time to try one. I recently heard about the Alzheimer's Memory Walk®. It's the nation's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research and they need volunteers of all ages to join these walks in more than 600 communities. I went to the website to see if there will be any located close enough for me to consider, and there are quite a few (you can go to their website and punch in your zip code to see if there are any near you). If you're really enthusiastic about this cause you can sign up to be a team captain!

Also sweetening the deal is that this one is in the fall when it's NOT HOT, which is good, because if you think I hate exercising, well, multiply that by 10,000 and THAT'S how much I hate the heat. And unlike some of the other walks, which are really quite a distance, this one is only 2-3 miles, and it's usually on a weekend morning. Sounds kind of nice, AND you get to help a worthy cause. Nice!
By teaming up with the Alzheimer's Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer's. Together, we can MOVE a nation. Consider being a part of this very worthy cause! Even if you don't like heat or exercise, you CAN do this! :-)

Why Should I Want to Switch to Wordpress?

Can someone please explain to me, in simple English, why I should want to switch to Wordpress? Apparently I'm missing out on lots of something? And I'm limited by using Blogger?

I've read numerous articles about it, but, can someone just give me some straight talk?

And just how much trouble is it to self-host and have a Wordpress blog? I see offers like, "...and painless Wordpress installation...", and I hear lots of groans when there's a new Wordpress update - WHY? Is using Wordpress and being self-hosted really that painful?

This might be too much to explain in a comment, so here's my email: cksstuff at yahoo dot com if you feel benevolent and wanna help a girl out.

If anyone manages to make the lightbulb go on over my head I'll be glad to give linky love, or post what you wrote, or add you to my blogroll, be eternally grateful, etc. etc. for the best answer.

You can't have my firstborn though. Just want to make that clear. :-)

The end.

Nubble Light

We took time to visit the Nubble Light which is not far from Ogunquit. You can't actually go into the lighthouse - it's on a little island just off shore, but there's a park across from it with parking, a little gift shop, and a small cafe, and it also affords a lovely view of the lighthouse. There are some nice big rocks you can climb down to and watch the waves crashing if you wish. It was a very picturesque spot.

The park itself was partly surrounded by these wild rose bushes. They were so fragrant I could smell them as soon as we stepped out of the car.


I would like to visit the Portland Head Light sometime, but we didn't get around to it this trip. We have in the past visited the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, a few times actually. That is a really charming lighthouse to visit and they even have a little museum (but that's when we stayed in Boothbay Harbor, further up the coast). We've sat for hours on the rocks there just watching the waves crash. I'd also like to get back up to Acadia National Park. I was there once as a kid, but I'd love to go back, I have really nice memories of it. Except one. We had the misfortune to stay in a hotel very close to the ferry that leaves for Nova Scotia early in the morning. Unbeknownst to us, they blow a VERY LOUD HORN each morning. Never had to set the alarm on THAT vacation!

Anybody else a Maine Lover like me? Where have you visited?

Boy Band Christmas Music in July, Oh Yeah Baby!!

I am such a nerd. I have an ipod nano and you know what I listen to on it? Podcasts. DD has listened to music on it more than me (she has her own now tho). I like to listen to podcasts while I mow the lawn and vacuum (takes me an hour to vacuum, so it gets pretty boring).

For some completely unknown reason, tonite before vacuuming I decide I want to listen to music while I vacuum this time. So I look on my ipod to see what I've got.

I've got:

Christmas music and the soundtracks from High School Musical 1 AND 2

I flip through the songs. I see "Merry Christmas" by 'N Sync. That's got a good beat, why not? WOW! Me and my Hoover were groovin' to some good boy band Christmas music! I must have played that song at least 5 times. (I don't know what became of the rest of the group but Joey Fatone is still around - loved him on Dancing with the Stars and he's hosted a few different shows. Amazingly, he's still good looking, and doesn't he seem like THE nicest, sweetest guy??)

Well, after I got tired of "Merry Christmas" I started in on the HSM Soundtracks. By the way, let me just admit I was singing loudly the whole time. I figured the vacuum would drown most of it out. However DH and DD must've heard a chorus or two and DD came upstairs and laughed at me. Can't blame her. There's Mommy, wearing big 'ol hearing protection headphones, with her metallic pink ipod plugged into it, sweating, pushing the vacuum singing "We're Breaking Free" nearly at the top of my lungs.

Not exactly one of my "Cool Mom" moments.

I'd rather have clean rugs than be cool, so I'm fine with that. :-)

The end.

Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee

(These are not paid reviews btw - I just love ice cream!!)

In the comments in my last review of Edy's Slow Churned Chocolate Fudge Chunk Ice Cream that John recommended, Krissy told about her fave ice cream - Haagen Dazs' Creme Brulee. She also was good enough to alert me to this most amazing thing on the Haagen Dazs website - they have a feature where you can choose a flavor of ice cream and put in a zip code to find a store that has that flavor! Not only that, if you sign up at their website, Haagen Dazs will send you an email every time your favorite flavor of ice cream is delivered to a store of your choosing! (I DEFINITELY have to start eating more Haagen Dazs!) What a wonderful service they are providing to society! Anyhoo, unfortunately, there was not a store nearby that had Haagen Dazs' Creme Brulee nearby for me to try, however, today during my weekly shopping trip, I noticed Ben & Jerry's had a Creme Brulee flavor also, and intrigued by Krissy's raves about the Haagen Dazs flavor, I figured I'd try the Ben & Jerry's version.

(As a side note, as you can see in the picture I have the ice cream on my laptop. The same laptop I've complained reaches the temperature of the sun. But see how I can use the ice cream to cool it down? Clever, eh?)

So I tried it.

Eh. Nothing to write home about. I was kinda disappointed. However, Krissy got wind that I was going to try the Ben & Jerry's version, and wouldn't you know, she's tried it too and says she didn't care for it herself and it's "no competition" to the Haagen Dazs version.

So, I feel this is unresolved. I feel I must press on and taste the ultimate Creme Brulee ice cream that exists. Only problem is, there isn't any close by. I have to actually go across state lines to purvey some.

The question is, is it worth the gas and the time just for a carton of Haagen Dazs Creme Brulee?

Our "Good" Pen is Dying...

Our beloved pen, may it rest in peace

We have a pen and pencil holder filled with writing implements, yet it seems like we ALWAYS grab the same one or two pens. 'Cause they're the GOOD pens. You know, the ones that write so smooth, you never need to scribble to get them to start writing, that feels good in your hand, never leaves "blops"... Well this one "good" pen we've been using a long time is dying, and DH and I were actually talking about this beloved pen last night with sadness as we agreed it's on it's way out. It's not even a fancy pen or anything, it's just one of those promotional pens DH got at work. But it's been such a good pen! I said, "Can't you call the CSEA? You pay dues - tell them you want another pen!"

Pizza and... Roast Beef?

If you live outside of the NY-NJ-CT area, you may never have had GOOD NY style pizza (medium crust, not deep dish).

You may THINK you've had good pizza, but you probably didn't.

I forget when I travel out of the tri-state area that the pizza is not usually very good. In fact sometimes it's really bad. I made the mistake of having pizza while we were on vacation in Maine.

I should have known when I saw the sign selling "pizza and roast beef" that this was not serious pizza country.

Psst - If You Know A Miley Cyrus Fan...

...her new album "Breakout" came out today. I put up a link in the left sidebar to Amazon, I was surprised it's only $9.97! Maybe since she's "sans Hannah" on this one you get a discount, heh!

Finestkind Lobstering Trip

Lobster Trap

One of the things we did in Ogunquit, Maine that I would highly recommend is the Finestkind Lobstering Trip. We've been going to Maine for years, and eaten more than our fair share of lobster, but we learned quite a bit on this very enjoyable and informative 50 minute trip. The boat left from the dock right next to Barnacle Billy's where we had eaten earlier in the week in Perkins Cove. The gentleman piloting the ship is a real lobsterman, and during our little tour, he pulled up some traps and luckily there were some lobsters that were big enough to keep in a few of the traps. One trap even contained a female with eggs which he showed us. The trip was very kid friendly - DD even got to steer the boat!
And we all got to hold a spiny sea urchin - these are often found in the traps:
So if you're ever in Ogunquit, and you either paid $800 to park your car in Perkins Cove, or you gave it to "valet parking" (some guy who just takes off with your car), or if *you* managed to survive walking all the way down Marginal Way without dying of heatstroke, THEN you should take this tour, it was great! And while you're in Maine, be sure to eat a lot of lobster too - get it from a Lobster Pound - it's way cheaper than from a restaurant!
I love Maine!!! :-)
The end.

Our Horrible Stop Along the Garden State Parkway in NJ

I have traveled in ALL of the northeast / mid-atlantic states many times. When you see a sign that says "Service Area" what one normally finds is a large area with parking for cars and buses, a grassy area for dog walking, picnic tables, plenty of bathrooms and depending on how the Service Area was marked, there might also be a gas station, restaurants and a tourism center. Sometimes even a geocache! (ahem) :-)

However, If you are travelling along the Garden State Parkway in NJ (in bumper to bumper beach traffic no less) and you have the misfortune to stop at a "Service Area" near exit 129 you will find two gas stations, hardly any parking and a couple of FILTHY BATHROOMS at each of the gas stations - NAMELY SHELL AND MOBIL that are supposed to accommodate the 300 million people travelling on the GSP. I waited on a long line to use the bathroom at SHELL and it was the MOST DISGUSTING BATHROOM I have used in recent AND distant memory. We ended up walking over to the ON THE RUN MOBIL to get something to eat and even the trash can out front was OVERFLOWING with GARBAGE. This "Service Area" was in no way big enough to accommodate the volume of travelers on this highway and it clearly isn't staffed well enough to even keep the bathrooms cleaned or the garbage emptied. SHELL, MOBIL AND STATE OF NEW JERSEY, YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER TRAVELERS IN YOUR STATE.

I KNOW I Can't Be the Only One Entering the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes

There must be other people entering, because SOMEONE is winning all these millions, and it's sure not me!

For YEARS I have entered this stupid sweepstakes. In the "olden days" if you weren't ordering you'd have to send your entry in on an index card or postcard - I'd read the fine print and follow whatever convoluted directions they gave for "non-orderers". Nowadays you can use the regular entry form, AFTER of course you've found the 16 hidden stamps throughout the 800 pages of things for sale.

If you're not ordering (which I rarely do) they ask you to "please select an offer stamp for the item that interests you most...we'll use this information to better serve you in future mailings." I'm always careful not to pick the knives, or the "Better Sex" DVD or whatever. This time I perused the vast selection of quality items (I'm sure), and I picked the Buxton Genuine Leather Shoulder Bag. I saw it on tv a week or two ago, have you seen it? You can fit like 3,000 things in this organizer bag, and the price isn't bad either, it's like $20 and it's leather (plus S&H, I have no idea how much that is). I was amazed you could fit two water bottles in it. It's not my style, but it's kinda cool. And a safe choice for future advertising! :-)

Well, wish me luck. This particular sweepstakes was for $5,000 a week for life and the prize will be awarded August 27th. I'm going to go mark my calendar now!

(Eye roll)

The question is: why do I feel compelled to fill out the entries every single time?? I'm smart enough to know my chances of winning are slimmer than slim, yet, I MUST fill out the sweepstakes.

The end.

Our Visit to Ogunquit, Maine

These are shots from Marginal Way - a beautiful walkway that goes about a mile along the coast. It's got places along the way where you can get down to the water or rocks. If you follow it south from Ogunquit you will end up in the charming Perkins Cove - a small and quaint waterfront with a few shops and restaurants.

I, however, didn't ever actually walk the whole thing. I wussed out. Normally I LOVE to walk. I could walk for miles and miles. I really could. But it was TOO HOT that day. All of us started off together (me, DH, my Dad, SIL, Brother, DD and my niece). The two girls were complaining before we even GOT to Marginal Way and my dear SIL was kind enough to offer to take them back to the house we were staying at. Which looked like this, btw:
Dad, DH, Brother and I pressed on. We got to Marginal Way and whew, it was HOT. Not really any shade, just walkin' out in the blazing hot sun. Which is pretty much the last place you would normally find ME on any given day. I bravely went along, but finally I decided to turn back. I did make it back to the house, only narrowly escaping heatstroke. The thing that really was the clincher in my decision to turn back was there were geocaches along the way - and sometimes that can take up a lot of time if they're not easy to find. A few hours later the menfolk did eventually make it back, hot and sweaty, but they did successfully find all FOUR caches along the way.

So needless to say, *I* did not make it to Perkins Cove THAT day. However, we went and had lunch there another day (we drove!), so I did get there eventually.

In Perkins Cove is this very cool footbridge that is a drawbridge:
This shot was taken from the outdoor deck of Barnacle Billy's. We were sitting outside eating our lunch (I had a lobster roll, DD had clam chowder and DH had a 2 lb lobster) and enjoying this lovely view (in the shade!). Apparently President George Bush Sr. occasionally comes here to eat (he lives in nearby Kennebunkport) - they had pics of him in the restaurant. There's barely any parking in Perkins Cove, although you can pay (a lot) to park a little ways away. However, if you eat at a couple of the restaurants, they have free valet parking. This was the most informal "valet parking" I've ever seen. No receipt, or ticket or anything. Guy just takes your car. Tells ya just to be sure to be back by 9pm when he gets off work. When you get back you just tell the guy which car is yours, he just leaves the keys in it. Had to laugh.

But that's how it is in Maine.

LL Bean Flagship Store, Freeport, Maine

So, finally some vacation pics. One of the places we went was the LL Bean store. We've been there before and it's the kind of place that if you're anywhere nearby, it's worth it to visit. Here's DD being squashed by the giant boot outside the store. The store is huge and it's open 24 hours a day. The catalogs are great, but there's nothing like seeing and touching the clothes in person. Plus they have some stuff at the store that's not in the catalog. They have some beautiful wildlife displays also. And you'll never find a more helpful staff in any store anywhere. In this day and age where customer service has been all but forgotten, LL Bean is an oasis in a desert. Here's another pic from outside - it's a sandcastle!
(It's hard to see but that's an American flag wrapping around the back of the boot.) I didn't buy anything for myself, but DH found a lot of things he needed that he didn't want to order through the catalog because he wanted to try them on in person. Two things I was looking for I didn't have any luck with - jeans for DD, and a baby gift. DD is very petite and it's hard to find jeans that fit her properly, so I was hoping to try some on DD at the store, but they didn't have any jeans at all in the children's dept. And it's not like they didn't have fall clothes or anything - they did. Don't know why no jeans though. Oh well, I ended up finding and buying 6 pairs of adjustable waist ones for her from Target yesterday for much cheaper, so problem solved. Also, I have a relative who just had a baby and I was hoping to find a little baby outfit or two, or baby blanket or crib bedding or something, but they really have hardly any baby stuff. So I personally didn't come out of LL Bean with anything, however, do not shed any tears for me. The town of Freeport where LL Bean is has all outlet stores up and down the streets for blocks. So after LL Bean I went to the Coach outlet.

I came out of that store with something for me personally.

(sheepish grin)

Yes, a BIG splurge.

Ahhh, vacation!

John's Opinion on the BEST Ice Cream Flavor

John from Hot Rods in the Hudson Valley has informed me that in regard to Edy's Chocolate Fudge Chunk Ice Cream: "I decree it to be the best there is. I will never need any other. Done." So of course I HAD to try it. Got me some at Hannaford last week.

A side note about my trip to Hannaford. I used the "facilities" there, and scratched into the toilet paper holder was, "Saten is my master". Call me crazy, but if you're going to hail someone as your master, maybe learning how to spell their name might be first on your agenda? Anyway, someone else scratched in "Jesus loves you anyway" next to it, so I felt a little better. Although does Jesus love this person anyway because they're so stupid they don't even know how to spell Satan? Or because they're so stupid to call Satan their master? Probably both if you ask me. I have in the past seen people misspell Satan as "Satin", but "Saten" was a new one for me, anyway. Back to the ice cream story.

I was very dubious that this flavor, which didn't really sound terribly exciting, was going to be "all that". But, I do highly regard John's opinions, so I gave it a try. Well, I must say, I cannot honestly say that for me it is the one ice cream I would take with me if I were stranded on an island, however, it FAR exceeded my expectations. If you like chocolate ice cream, this is some gooooood chocolate ice cream. It's a really good, rich, chocolate flavor ice cream with a very generous portion of chocolate chunks (they're kinda small though), with a ribbon of fudge running through it. It's so good I had a second bowl of it at like 11:00 last night, and honestly, I NEVER eat TWO bowls of ice cream in an evening. (Wasn't I just posting about that "Don't Eat So Much Diet"? Anyone know of any good new diet pills??? Just kidding, heh.)

If you're interested to see what other ice creams I've already tried, you can see this post, and this post. They're not even paid reviews, I just love ice cream! :-) If you know of a flavor that you think is "all that", let me know and if I can get it, I'll try it.

The end.

Picture courtesy of Hot Rods in the Hudson Valley.

Fat and Bloated, Home From Vacation

Well, we're home from vacation.

Now I need a vacation from all this laundry and other misc stuff we brought home I have to find places for.

(You'll be happy to know DH brought home all the bottlecaps from vacation PLUS a couple of wine corks.)

Ate tooooo much. Now I need some fast acting de-fattening elixir or diet pills or something. Gah.

Actually I've never taken diet pills. I don't even know too much about them. I've heard that if you take that new Alli you'd better carry an extra pair of panties around with you - or two! Maybe even an extra pair of pants. And a roll of toilet paper. I've heard of Phentermine, but I don't know if you can get Phentermine without prescription? Eh, I think I'll just try my "go-to" diet. It's called, "Stop Eating So Much". That usually works. It's not a lot of fun though. I've done Weight Watchers in the past with good results, but right now I cannot eat another Boca Burger. I already did that in the early part of this year. At the weight I'm at I only get 20 points and I'm sorry but for me anyway, that's nearly starvation level. Even with the 35 extra weekly points. Of which I always ate every. single. one.

I haven't even gotten the pictures off the camera yet, but I'll post some pics of beautiful Maine later this week. We went to Ogunquit, and I'd never been there before. I've been to Boothbay Harbor a number of times. Only been to Acadia once - I'd love to go back there again someday.

Gotta mow the lawn today. I don't feel like it but I looked on the weather and there's a cactus on Thursday's weather so I guess I'd better not put it off. It's not like the lawn is a foot tall anyway. Oh wait, it is.

The laundry buzzer is summoning me. Sigh.

The End.

Turnip of Power - Offering EC Credits!

I have just added another blog to my blogroll - Turnip of Power. If you are at all interested in social networking and finding out what works to bring money and traffic to your blog then you must. check. out. this. blog. As a new blogger I have found so much helpful info, and Turnip is always reviewing the newest and latest social networking and marketing tools and giving his thumbs up or thumbs down. A great and very trustworthy site. In fact right now if you are an Entrecard member, he wants you to "make him an offer he can't refuse" - Entrecard credits in exchange for signing up with some or all of the companies he recommends. I did and I got a nice chunk of credits that might enable me to buy one of those more expensive Entrecard ads I was just bemoaning that I'd never be able to afford! (I'll probably shoot for Turnip's site!) The offer ends at the end of July, so get over there!

What You Get When DD Mixes...

...Her Halloween Costume with her West African Dance Costume:

Hey Thanks Everybody and an Apology

I was on vacation in lovely Ogunquit, Maine all last week. (I wrote all last week's posts ahead of time so that my blog wouldn't wither and die whilst I was gone.) Thank you to those Entrecarders who dropped on me even though I wasn't able to reciprocate. (If you don't have an Entrecard, you should totally get one.) Speaking of Entrecard, I just want to apologize to some of you that advertise on my blog - I try to reciprocate and advertise with those who advertise with me, but I am sorry. Some of you people who cost 1024 and 2048 to advertise - I don't know if I'll ever be able to save up for that unless I forgo all my other advertising, but GOOD FOR YOU! I hope someday I'm really expensive too!! :-)

Anyway, I'll post some pics from our vacation later this week, and to everyone, thanks for visting my blog!

The end.

You know you're going to the right church when...

We've been going to a small church "plant" (a new church started by our main church) for a few months now. It's small and casual, and the gentlemen who are preaching are just great. We meet in a converted barn which is also the town community center. Although we liked our "main church", I've noticed since we've been going to the new church we've been attending a lot more regularly.

But how I realized, "Gee, we must really like this new church" is last week when we got there...

EARLY!

We NEVER get to church early.

I guess we're going to the right church for us for now.

Cool! :-)

It's Fun to Have a Daughter...

New Feature: "When We Were First Married..."

When we were first married... I didn't know how to cook a lick. My mother-in-law and her friend were coming up to visit us in our tiny apartment in Binghamton, NY (we lived there for 2 years so DH could attend SUNY Binghamton) and of course I wanted to cook a nice meal. I decided to make scalloped potatoes. So I bought a box of Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes mix and I got some potatoes and peeled and cut them up. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box of scalloped potato mix to discover that...it comes with potatoes! Dried potatoes, what do you know!

Who would have thought?!?

(Incidentally I see in the photo above it says on the box "100% Real Potatoes". I'm going to assume that 14 years ago when I bought some it didn't say that so prominently...)

Schedule Of Barfing

I am SO not kidding when I tell you I clean up someone's barf or hairball almost once a day. I am SURE they've ot some kind of "Schedule of Barfing" planned out, so that I have to clean a spot on the rug at least once a day just to torment me. Most stains come out with just some hot water and/or carpet leaner, but after a while the whole carpet ends up needing to be cleaned. I have a "steam cleaner", but it is a PAIN in the neck to use it. You have to keep emptying the dirty water and and adding clean; it makes for a very slow and tedious process, and then of course the carpets have to dry for hours. When this one goes I'll probably look into the Ladybug steam cleaners. In the meantime I'm taking out stock in Resolve carpet cleaner and paper towels. (Once when Basil was a kitten she started coughing up a hairball and DH had the bright idea to pick her up and hold her over the garbage can and she barfed right in it! However, the other 5,672 times she's barfed, it's been on the carpet.)

Pecan Caramel Candies

I'm not one to share a lot of recipes here because there are SO many "cooking" blogs already filled with better recipes and photos than I could ever come up with, however, there are two dishes that I am often requested to bring to get togethers and I thought I would share one here.

This is the recipe for Pecan Caramel Candies that I got from Quick Cooking magazine a few years back. I don't like to cook so I'm always on the lookout for quick, easy and good recipes. This one is a winner on all three counts.

All you need is:

Bag of small pretzels
Bag of Rollos candy
4 oz. can of shelled pecans

(Another great thing about this recipe is that if on a whim I decide to make this I can always remember those 3 ingredients when I'm at the grocery store.)

Cover a baking sheet with foil (the reason for this is so that when you're done you can just crumple it up and throw it away - nothing to wash, woot woot!).

Turn on your oven to 250 degrees.

Lay out the small pretzels on the baking sheet. If you look at the bag of Rollos nutrition information you will see that the bag says that it contains about 56 or 57 Rollos (I forget now which), so lay out that many pretzels.

(The bag used to have 63 Rollos but now they've giving you less for of course the same price. They probably thought no one would notice. Well they were wrong. I've now exposed their little scheme to all the world. Anyway...)

(Note the "Rollo Tower" my DD has built which you can see in the upper right hand corner of this photo.)

Next unwrap all the Rollos and put one in the middle of each pretzel (if you have kids they like helping with this. And building towers out of them.)


Now bake them in the oven for 4 minutes. No more, no less. Trust me, I know.

Now working fairly quickly, press a pecan into each of the melty Rollos. If you don't have enough whole "halves" of pecans, no problem. Just find two broken pieces and press them together into the Rollo. I used broken pieces on some of these in the photo, it's fine.


Then put the tray in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes and then check and make sure they've firmed up and are solid. If not, then put them back in the fridge for awhile longer (duh). If they're firmed up enough they should peel cleanly off the foil and the bottoms look like this:


Make sure to immediately put them into a container that has a tightly fitting lid like a plastic container. Putting them on a plate with plastic wrap works ok too. The thing is you want to keep them pretty airtight so the pretzels stay crunchy and don't get stale.


(Boy I could have done a better job on that second one over from the left on the top row. Oh well.)

Anyway, some people remark that they taste like turtle candies, but they're really even better because you have that salty pretzel crunch going on too. I'm glad this is one of my "most requested" dishes because in the words of DD, they're "easy peasy lemon squeezy".

Enjoy!

The end.

Am I the Only One Who Has a Laptop That Reaches the Temperature of the Sun?

I had to actually buy a pad to put underneath my laptop so that I can still use it on my lap. I am constantly running spyware removal programs to keep it "clean" and I of course have virus protection as well, but once that CPU starts a crankin' the temp skyrockets. I can't believe the fans in it haven't broken on me yet, they're in such heavy use. It's even turned off on me because the temperature got too high. (It's a Dell Inspiron 6000, by the way.) I'm kinda excpecting one of these days to have a fatal meltdown (the computer, not me, ha ha). This computer IS a few years old, so I've been poking around, just looking at what other laptops are out there. I'm kinda liking the Sony Vaio. I used to have a Compaq that I liked. DH has a Dell also, although his model doesn't seem prone to overheating at all. He used to have an IBM laptop, but if you're a regular reader of my blog you know that I'm certainly not going to give IBM any of my money. I don't know, I just need one that won't fry my thighs, do they sell that??

I Could Watch John O'Hurley in Anything

I'm not sure exactly what it is about John O'Hurley that I love, but I could watch him in anything - Seinfeld, Thanksgiving Day Dog Show, Dancing with the Stars, even (gasp) Family Feud! (Did you know he's the newest host?) He is very witty and debonair, but there's something else...that "je ne sais quoi" I suppose...

If he came out with a tv show where all he did was sit and read the phone book I'm sure I'd love it. God help me if he ever starts doing infomercials, I'll never get any sleep and I'd probably buy whatever anti-aging cream, miracle vegetable slicer or super putty he was selling.

(Have you seen the Super Putty infomercial? I am very intrigued...how does that work??)

Photo from johnohurley.com

Just My Opinion, But I'm Definitely More Prone to Getting in an Accident...

...while searching for and trying to put on the earbud/mic for my cell phone, rather than just answering the phone while I'm driving! Here in NY it's against the law to talk on your cell phone while driving - you either need a headset or else you have to pull over. I bought an earpiece with mic thingy but I generally only use my phone for quick phone calls and emergencies, so it's not like I'd hook that all up every time I get in the car. In the rare event I get a call while I'm driving, trying to jumble with that whole ear piece thing, clip-to-your-shirt microphone and wire is ridiculous. And you can't always find a spot to pull over either - try finding a spot to pull off on the Taconic State Parkway!! I CAN put my phone on loudspeaker but trying to drive while "yelling" a conversation is a wee bit distracting, not to mention just a little annoying for the passengers. My friend has a bluetooth headset and she says hers is really easy to use in the car and since my current cell phone battery is on it's way out and I'm due to sign a new phone contract and get a new phone, maybe this is what I'll do. The last time I got a phone, my frugal self asked what was the cheapest phone they had and I got a phone for $10. It's a phone that just makes phone calls. Doesn't take pictures. Doesn't browse the internet. Just makes calls. (I love it!) So I'll have to check into a phone that will work with a bluetooth headset. My frugal self hopes those aren't too expensive... Then not only can I talk and drive, but I can be one of those people at the grocery store who look like they're walking around talking to themselves. Or when I feel like just talking to myself I can put the headset on and people won't think I'm crazy, woo hoo!

"What to do at 11:00pm"

I have Google Analytics installed on my blog and I like to poke around in the information now and then and see how people are finding my blog. Now unlike some other bloggers, I don't focus that much on "keywords", I mostly just write what I want to. However I do look at my "keywords" report now and then because sometimes it pretty entertaining to see what people were searching for when they got to my blog. Usually I can figure out how those key words ended them up here - but not always...

Here are some examples and how I think they got here:

"bad idea" spot (from my Bad Idea Jeans post, and spot from "Thoughtful Spot")

enema (the Eneman Travel Bug post)

my cat is a jerk (from my post "My Cat is a Cat Jerk")

how much does emergency room charge for saline bag (from the Emergency Room Saga posts)

There were also a LOT of variously worded searches for:

GE Washing machine
the phrase "kidney stone worse than childbirth" (interesting!)
"lawnmower primer bulb" (maybe they need a stick for priming too!)

And then there's this somewhat worrisome search:

"what would be a spot on a kidney"

And finally here's some searches that are mysterious:

"yaseen blogspot"
"look at my garage"
and finally,
"what to do at 11:00pm"

I'm not sure how my blog would help that person find something to do at 11:00pm, unless reading a blog was something they were interested in doing. Maybe if they stuck around to read it ended up putting them to sleep and solved the problem of what to do.

The end.

Signature Items

As fairly long time geocachers, we've been searching for a good "sig item" - which would be some sort of trinket to leave behind in caches that would have our geocaching name on it. We've seen all sorts of items left ranging from carribeaners to wooden nickels to laminated business cards. And having sig items would be nice because then we wouldn't have to keep stopping at the dollar store to "replenish" our supply of trade items all the time. :-) So I was searching around and I found this marketing pens site that seems to have pens we could have imprinted for a really great price. That seems like a good solution - small and lightweight. Easy to fit in caches, except of course micros and nanos. Speaking of fitting items in caches, we were at a local event recently and along with the usual plethora of travel bugs for trade and discovery, there was a HUGE CONCRETE travel bug, probably 2 feet tall. Some of our "caching friends" took it and we were SURE we were going to find that on our front steps when we got home, but luckily it was not there. I don't know what cache you could leave that in or at, but I'm sure they'll find a way to keep it moving along!

Addendum to Yesterday's Post About Addictions or Should I Say Collections?

DH just showed me this:


The box in the pantry where he throws his bottlecaps is full and so now these are going into "storage" and a new fresh empty box is at the ready.

He informed me that he has another two boxes full like that.

Tote bags, tote bags, tote bags!

(My uncle passed away yesterday and I wasn't in any frame of mind to come up with one of my usual "profound and witty" posts.... so that's why no post yesterday...)

You know how some women have a "thing" for shoes and they have a million pairs? I have a thing for tote bags. I just love tote bags! In fact my favorite tote bag is one that I use as a purse. I got it in Bird-in-Hand, PA at Kitchen Kettle Village at a place called Cloverfields a couple of years ago. It's the PERFECT size and has a zippered top. I have to get like at least 2 more next time we're there because I can never find any in my travels that I like as much as the one I got there.

But that doesn't stop me from trying!

I'm always attracted to tote bags when I see them. In fact my latest acquisition is a tote bag that I bought from a fundraiser from our local library. It's really nice and it even has a little pocket for your library card, how great is that?? I just can't resist a good tote bag!!

You know what is the WORST place for someone like me with a tote bag addiction - Etsy! Oh bad!

DH has a "shot glass" addiction. We have a shot glass from every place we've ever been. Really. He even buys them at rest stops if he sees a good one. And people who know of his "addiction" bring him back shot glasses from where THEY'VE been. You can imagine we have a LOT of shot glasses. From a LOT of places!

What's your addiction? Shoes? Shot glasses? Tote bags?

Oh Dear, or, Oh Deer

A beautiful Stella D'Oro that is apparently not very tasty.

This was hosta. Very tasty, apparently.