May 2007

People that know my husband at work would never believe this but he makes bread machine recipes in his bread maker all the time. I call it “his” because I have never even touched the contraption.

Not only does he make bread recipes but he makes pizza dough in his bread machine and makes some of the most delicious pizzas that I have ever tasted. At Chefs.com I found some bread machine recipes that I don’t think he has tried yet so I’ll have to show them to him. Personally I find the bread machine to be more trouble than it is worth, but I don’t mind eating the bread my husband makes with ours.

I found a recipe at that site for bread pudding that I’d like to try myself (using the conventional oven). I haven’t had really good bread pudding in years. I plan to make it and when I do I’ll report back with the results.

When my computer went on the fritz the other day and I restored to a previous date I guess my WoW game didn’t like it. It keeps trying to download the same patch over and over and then runs the repair tool to fix corrupted files. Unfortunately the corrupted files never get repaired and the patches start downloading all over again.

I’m going to have to uninstall the game and reinstall it. This is such a big pain in the rear that I think I might just cancel it instead. This is probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a while, hehe, since I spend WAY too much time in that game.

Boy oh boy, I had a bad scare yesterday. I don’t know if I had a trojan or if my computer just decided to take a dive on its own but for about 3 hours I thought I had lost it for good.

I had one of those boxes keep popping up that wanted me to buy their software to clean the trojan they had put on my computer theirself! After a few minutes of that I could not boot my computer at all - it was safemode or nothing. I finally got it scanned, cleaned (I think!) and restored to a previous date but I’m thinking that might be a wake-up call for me. It is time to stop talking about an online backup for this computer of mine and finally do something about it.

Now, I’m all about saving money and I found a company called IDrive-E that will let me quickly and securely back up 2 gigs for free with no backup and restore restrictions, no bandwidth limits and no file type restrictions. If I need more than 2 gigs the monthly fee is only $4.95 for unlimited storage. I will be definitely be looking into IDrive-E.

When the phone rings at 1:30 in the morning it is never a good sign, especially when the caller ID shows it is my mother-in-law calling. Luckily I was still awake (playing WoW as a matter of fact).

The Old Lady told me that her cat Lilly had chewed the hose to the oxygen generator (or whatever that loud contraption is called) and that she didn’t know what to do. I asked her for the number to the company that provides the machine and told her I’d call and see what they said. Someone is on call there 24 hours but a fat lot of good that did me last night. Of course, that’s my fault because I did mention that I could go over and get her hooked up to the temporary tank and that’s what he told me to do.

I had a lot of choice words for him after I hung up the phone, heh. But there was nothing else to do but drag myself over to her house. I found her spare hose and attached it and got her all hooked back up. I stayed with her for a bit to make sure she was okay and then drove back home. What an ordeal. Bad kitty!

Yep, my thoughts have turned to food once again. I have some ground chuck defrosting in the microwave and my fine trailer park dining for this evening is going to be the old stand-by Hamburger Helper. I probably shouldn’t admit that we eat that, but hubby got home late from a visit to his mother’s house after work and I need something quick and easy to prepare. Too bad I don’t have the Le Cordon Bleu culinary training that is detailed at http://www.atlantaculinary.com/. I bet I could whip up something extra special if I had that training.

I think it is too late for me but one of my nephews really loves to cook and has had a few jobs cooking at some of our local restaurants. He is still a teenager but wouldn’t it be wonderful if he decided to take Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Training and become a world renowned chef? I think it would be awesome. I saved the link http://www.atlantaculinary.com/ to show him next time he visits us.

I never did finish telling about Old Lady day last week. All in all we didn’t have a bad day. I think she has finally figured out that I don’t like to listen to gossip (unless it is something *I* am interested in!) so she kept her gossip to a minimum that day.

I told her before we ever left her house that I didn’t want to make any extra stops. I only wanted to go to the doctor and come straight home. I caved after the doctor’s office visit though. I was hungry. I asked her if she wanted to go to Bob Evans and boy, oh boy, did that make her happy! So we went.

I wonder what the manager would have done if I had taken pictures with my cell phone. I bet he would have come over and asked me if something was wrong. I didn’t take pictures though so I’ll just have to describe our meals.

I had the Read the rest of this entry »

So as I sit here drinking my coffee (that is about one quarter cream) I’m reading a website about green tea. I’ve often heard that you can drink green tea for health benefits and I have often wondered what green tea tastes like. I can drink my coffee without sugar as long as I put in plenty of cream, but for some reason I can’t drink tea without sugar and plenty of cream. Hehe, I bet putting sugar in green tea would ruin any health benefits right off the bat.

I did run across a website that tells you everything you would ever want to know plus more called O-cha.com. For example, their guide to brewing green tea explains the correct way to brew green tea right down to the last detail and explains how to brew green tea that is not bitter. I really would like to try some green tea but don’t know if I want to invest $30-100 for a teapot. I’ll have to give that a little more thought.

That’s what I have to keep telling myself to keep moving. I REALLY don’t want to go anywhere today but I have to take the Old Lady to the doctor for her monthly blood test.

We were supposed to take the Old Lady’s kitty (Lilly White) to the rescue center to have her micro-chip inserted but they are giving me the runaround. When she was spayed last week and the center was out of chips the center owner said I could bring her back this week. I specifically asked if a vet had to be there and she said no, she could do it as long as she had someone to hold the cat. Today she tells me she will not have a vet there until June 20 or 21 and that I had to wait until then. I reminded her that she said a vet doesn’t have to be there but she backtracked and said she does not have anyone to hold today and on the 20th or 21st she is sure someone will be there. I just said okay, I’ll bring her then.

I’m going to get this chip inserted at the rescue center because it is already paid for and I believe if we take Lilly to our regular vet it will cost $40.00 (or was that $60.00, I don’t remember the exact price now). At any rate, I’m not paying for something I already paid for. Period.

But back to my Old Lady rant - I dread this trip to the doctor. It is always such a freaking hassle just getting the Old Lady into and out of the car and into and out of where ever we are going. Gawd I hate it.

My husband got a flyer in the mail the other day about continuing education and it made me wonder what other options might be available to him. I did find some good information over at the http://www.selectmedicalschools.com/ website when I was surfing around the web today.

My husband is in the medical field, well sort of. I’m not really sure if a laboratory technician is considered a part of the medical profession or not but it seems to me that it is. I know there are good reasons he didn’t continue his education past his lab tech accreditation and I also know he has fleeting moments of regret about this.

The training detailed at the Health Education Programs website is mostly for entry level positions and there is a lot of good information there for people that would like to break into the medical field. You can find information at the easy to navigate http://www.selectmedicalschools.com/ website either by browsing your specific geographical location or selecting from a list of specific health education schools.

Kat over at My Single Mom Life is begging for some linky love so I thought I’d give her some since I hate to see a grown woman cry… hehe, I am totally kidding, she wanted to test something and I’m more than happy to help her out… and give her some linky love at the same time…

If it was a horrible blog I’d delete this test post but to be honest, I lurk there all the time since it is one of the blogs I do enjoy reading… Matter of fact I was lurking when I saw her request for help, so here I am, hope you find out the answer to your question Kat…

I really do live in a mobile home but I don’t live in a trailer park - we own the 2 acres that our home is on. When we bought the home a few years ago we always had the idea that we would build a house on this property one day. Now my husband says he’d rather live closer to his work and we’re not sure if we will be building here or not.

I have been putting off doing any improvements, upgrades or enhancements to the home but this year I’ve really gotten into a home improvement frame of mind. One thing that needs improvement at the moment is lighting. Our home faces north and we positioned it to be surrounded with oak trees. This placement makes for a very pretty outdoor view but it also blocks out quite a bit of light.

I’ve been browsing Farrey’s the last day or so and with hundreds of thousands of lighting fixtures, lights, lamps and outdoor lighting my poor mind is going on information overload! That’s right, hundreds of thousands of lighting applications. Now that’s a selection. Fortunately Farrey’s is easy to navigate and I can shop for lighting by brand or application or style. I think my favorite line of lighting applications is George Kovacs but I still have more browsing to do. I just need to decide which ones I like best.

I don’t have a waterbed but my son and daughter-in-law do and they really seem to like it. Well, I’d have to say they like it most of the time because every once in a while I hear my daughter-in-law complain about all the trouble she has finding waterbed sheets, and especially waterbed sheets that fit.

It would be awful if my daugher-in-law had a blog with a category call “the Old Lady” where she rants and complains about her mother-in-law all the time like I do here, but if she does she can just take it down now because I have found the perfect site for her that is devoted to bed sheets only. The section about waterbed sheets is very informative and I’ll be sure to forward the link to her.

Quick and Easy Key Lime Cream Pie Recipe

There’s the pic of the Key Lime Pie recipe I posted the other day. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

John Chow writes about “Fine Dining” and that’s cool, but not everyone is making a living with their blog (yet!) and not everyone can afford to spend thousands of dollars a month just eating out. That’s why I’m starting a series titled “Fine Trailer Park Dining”. Let’s see how the poor people live! haha

With summer coming up I must be getting into a vacation frame of mind because my thoughts are turning to vacation types of activities lately.

I think I’ve been to Disney World about a billion times (I only live about an hour away) but I haven’t been in several years. One of my favorite attractions was the GE Circlevision Theater. I wonder if they still have that one. If I’m not mistaken this was the attraction that showed technology through the last century. The last time I saw it Grandma was using her computer to input recipes and that was a very future thinking thing to do! It might be worth my visit just to check out this attraction again. I can still hear the theme song going around and around in my head, hehe, “now is the time, now is the best time, now is the best time OF your life…”

One of the things that I really hated about going to Walt Disney World was standing in line for tickets. (I didn’t even have a computer the last time I went.) Welcome to the future, because now you don’t have to stand in line for tickets. You can purchase your Walt Disney World Tickets online (and at a discount) at OrlandoFunTickets.com.

OrlandoFunTickets.com has discounted tickets to everything Read the rest of this entry »

The stars must be aligning themselves just right to finally motivate me to stop procrastinating and start eating healthier. I’ve talked about eating healthier twice in the last day or so and now I find the MyFitnessPal website. I think it is an omen.

I used to keep a food diary years ago when I was a member of one of the national weight loss plans and I’ve often thought about creating an online food diary. Now I don’t have to because MyFitnessPal has created a calorie counter for me that also counts carbs, fats and protein.

I signed up with them just a few minutes ago and so far I like what I see. The sign-up process is quick and painless. You don’t have to jump through hoops to use this easy to navigate website and that is something that I appreciate.

I don’t know why nobody thought of this idea a long time ago (or maybe they did and I don’t know about it) but I really, really like this free calorie counter. I always found calorie counting to be a real pain because I had about a half dozen books that I used to look up different foods. Now counting calories is going to be simple because everything is in one place and the calculations will be done for me. I’m on my way to making healthier choices.

My home is on 2 narrow acres of land and is set pretty far back from the road. When we moved here we decided not to use a mailbox at all and only used our post office box to receive mail. As it turned out that idea wasn’t so hot so my hubby put up a small mailbox in case we ever had to give out a physical address.

The problem with that is our mailbox is way too small so if anyone sends me something by US mail the mail carrier leaves a notice in my mailbox and I then have to drive to the PO to pick it up. My other problem is that my current mailbox leaks. This wouldn’t be so bad since I mostly receive junk mail but once in a while someone mails me something (like NetFlix!) that I prefer to keep dry.

I may have found a solution to my problem with mailboxixchange, a neat website that features high quality mailboxes. I’ve always prefered post mount residential mailboxes myself but with over 1500 residential and commercial mailboxes I’m going to have a hard time deciding which one I like the best.

I know I recently mentioned that I am going to begin to eat a healthier diet, but I have the ingredients on hand for this pie so I’m going to make it today… I’ll start eating healthier tomorrow, yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll start tomorrow…

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust
3-4 ounces key lime juice (I use 4 ounces)
14 ounces condensed milk
8 ounces non-dairy topping, thawed

Preparation:
Mix the key lime juice and the condensed milk together using a hand mixer or wire whisk.
Blend in the non-dairy topping and pour into the graham cracker crust.
Refrigerate for at least one hour and there you have it.

I’ve heard the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but are the beaches whiter and are the skies and water bluer on the other side of the world? That is a question I intend to find the answer to for myself one day.

When I go on my Hawaiian vacation I don’t plan to stay in a large, commercialized hotel. Nope, when I vacation I prefer the privacy and comfort of a vacation villa over the impersonal environment of a traditional hotel and the people at Hawaiian Beach Rentals seem to be reading my mind.

What could be more perfect than staying at a Hawaii vacation villa right in the center of the place you want to be (whether you are looking for romance, relaxation, swimming, surfing or other activities) rather than several miles away at a hotel?

I won’t be going to Hawaii this year, but if you are looking for a made-to-order vacation in Hawaii, I recommend the expertise of the folks at Hawaiianbeachrentals.com.

Catchy name for a blog, eh?

I’m not vegetarian. Matter of fact, I am far, far from it. I was poking around the Do-Follow Blogroll a little earlier and ran across The Raw and the Cooked, a blog written by a whole food vegan. I’ve heard of being a vegan but I’m not really sure what the “whole food” part means.

I’ll never be a vegetarian but the recipes on this blog look really scrumptious and are putting me in a frame of mind to get back on track with a healthier diet. I’ve put lots of fruits and vegetables on my grocery list. Can’t wait to make some of the smoothies and shakes. yum yum

I talked about Coupon Chief on my other blog and I like them so much I think I’ll just talk about them here too. If you’re looking to save money and haven’t checked out Coupon Chief then you aren’t really looking to save money, hehe.

You might think that the coupons found there are all for obscure and unheard of stores or web sites but I’d hardly think Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, Bestbuy, Staples and the Gap are obscure or unheard of and those are only a slight few of the tons of stores/websites listed at Coupon Chief.

There are so many it would take forever to list them all here so I’ll just tell you about my absolute favorite of the moment - Overstock.com. I like to get the best bang for my buck and combining my savings by purchasing from Overstock.com along with the coupons or offers from Coupon Chief is definitely a win-win situation. And if you are kind of a dunce like I can be sometimes and wonder just how these coupons work there is a nice video you can watch that shows how a typical coupon or coupon code can be activated on Overstock’s website.

We have a few birthdays coming up in our family so I’m heading on over to Overstock.com right now to do a little browsing. Yay.

I picked Lilly up from the Old Lady’s house this morning at 8:00 am and took her to the rescue center’s clinic to be spayed and micro-chipped. Both are included in the $60.00 adoption fee which I think is a terrific deal. It would have cost over double that amount to have both procedures done in my usual vet’s office.

When I picked her up from the clinic at 3pm after her surgery I found out that the shipment of chips didn’t arrive in time and that I would have to take her back YET again next week to have the chip inserted. arrgh!

I felt so sorry for the little girl. I’m sure she is experiencing a lot of discomfort due to her surgery as well as her swollen, um, do you call them breasts on a cat? I guess you’d call them teats. At any rate she was removed from her kittens this past Saturday and she is very swollen and must have been very uncomfortable even before she was cut open. My heart goes out to her. I think I’m too overprotective of this cat that doesn’t even belong to me (yet) but I can’t help it. I already love her as if she were my own.

Hehe, okay, it wasn’t that bad. Matter of fact, I’m feeling kind of guilty about bad mouthing the Old Lady all the time on my blog. As we all know there are two sides to every story and truth be told I am far from being a perfect daughter-in-law to the old biddy. (did I just call her that?) Okay, I’m not even a good daughter-in-law. Okay! I’m probably a bad daughter-in-law, but I guess I could be a lot worse.

For our Mother’s Day dinner I cooked chicken pot pie and my husband and I took it over to the Old Lady’s house. It wasn’t a bad day - I only got perturbed once and that was because I wasn’t used to her oven and the oven door slammed TWO times (it slipped from my hand and slammed shut) and the Old Lady had a conniption from the living room when she heard it. I guess if the situation was reversed and I heard someone slamming and banging around in my kitchen I might want to know what was going on also (trying to look at both sides of the story).

For dessert the Old Lady made a coconut cream pie. I just put the thoughts of her running nose (it didn’t do it Sunday) out of my head and had a piece of pie. It was actually pretty good. (I had to think over and over “don’t think about it, don’t think about it”.)

My husband and I went to the rescue shelter and picked up Lilly White and took her home to my mother-in-law’s house. She is a beautiful cat and everyone is very happy with her.

I wanted her to be settled into her new home before surgery and not afterwards. I thought it would be hard on Lilly to remove her from her environment, cut some of her guts out, take her away from her kittens (they are old enough, it is just the thought of it) and bring her to a strange house. This way she will already be familiar with her new home. I’ll take her to the clinic Wednesday morning and bring her home in the afternoon after surgery. She will know where her bed, litter box, food and water and toys are and it will be less stress for her. And the delivery was made by Mother’s Day.

My mother-in-law really, really likes her new kitty. I’m very happy about it and I am glad now the original cat I had selected was already adopted. We all love Lilly White.

I had let the people at the rescue shelter talk me into leaving Lilly there until after she has her surgery. The more I thought about it the less I liked that idea so I called and asked if we could pick her up tomorrow and then bring her back Wednesday for her surgery and micro-chip. They really didn’t want to let her go yet because they were afraid she would come into heat before Wednesday and run away and get lost or even worse - pregnant. But they said that we could come and get her tomorrow. Yay!

I call the Old Lady every day at 11:00 a.m. for the daily check up call. This morning during her normal blabbing session she mentioned that she would like to have a cat. She has been fluctuating the past several weeks about either wanting a dog or a cat. I have 3 cats and I know that when the time comes my husband and I will end up with which ever pet she gets now and a dog will not fit into our family. So I decided to strike while the iron was hot.

I told her that if she really wanted a cat that I would find her a cat and that I would do my best to find one and give it to her for her mother’s day gift. She said she really wanted a cat. So I began my mission. It was really simple since there is a “no kill” critter adoption rescue shelter in our area and they even have pictures of the animals at PetFinder.com to look at.

I am DEAD SET against declawing a cat so I looked for one on the adoption page that was already declawed (since I had a hunch the Old Lady would want her cat declawed). I figure if the cat is already declawed then the deed is done and I won’t be the one that is the cause of it. I found a kitty named Summer that seemed to fit the bill and called to see if she was still available. They said she was.

When I got to the shelter Read the rest of this entry »