Day 60 - Leave my Gilled Cheese Alone

I want chefs to stop trying to improve upon the grilled cheese sandwich. It is fine just the way it is. I like mine made with squishy white bread and 2 slices of  white American cheese. The big recipe is to put the cheese between the two slices of bread, butter the top and bottom, flop it into a fry pan and grill it on the stove top. Serve it  hot, sometimes with a bowl full of Campbell's tomato soup. Done, Finished. Do not improve. It is fine just the way it is. If you change the recipe, I suggest changing the name as well.
I feel the same way about Mac and Cheese. Currently it is on every menu you that come across and I have seen it  hyped as 3 cheese mac and cheese, or lobster infused mac and cheese, or any other crazy thing to make it sound new and fresh. I say leave it alone and serve it as it was intended. Just cheesy plump elbow macaroni that melts in your mouth.
Last holiday season my cousin served mac and cheese as an accompaniment for our holiday ham dinner. And she made it just as my mom and our Nana had made it. The secret recipe is on the side of the box of Prince elbow macaroni. I could have eaten the entire chafing dish filled with it. Some things are just classics, and when you eat something that you loved as a kid and it tastes exactly the same - I find that delightful. I think these are just American classics. They deserve our respect, we need to pass them along to the next generation just as they were originally prepared - our duty as patriotic Americans.

Day 59 - Tips

OK, it has been brought to my attention, that there are a few things that I do that I take for granted that others might want to know about, so here are a few miscellaneous tips I have learned during my married life.

• If you need to test the doneness of cakes or brownies, and you do not have a wooden toothpick, a piece of uncooked spaghetti works just fine.
• When baking, and the instructions give a range of minutes, always use the least amount of cooking time, you can always put it back in the oven.
• 1 cup of bleach, one cup of laundry detergent poured into a bucket of hot water cleans almost everything, especially dirty bathrooms and inside of moldy refrigerators not to mention green mold on decks (who needs a power washer?)
• A quick sprinkle of allspice in beef stew or spaghetti sauce is my secret ingredient, now you know.
• Toothpaste (white) works great as spackle when in a pinch, like filling in holes in dorm rooms.
• A sharpie marker works great on heels of black shoes that are a bit scruffed.
• If you cut back your mums before the 4th of July, you will get a denser more flowerful fall show.
• When dusting, put the spray wax/bottle polish on the rag, not on the furniture.
• To get rid of the really nasty stuff that always seems stuck to the top of the microwave, heat a bowl full of water on high for 3 minutes, steam softens all the nasty bits making it easier to get off.
• A shot glass is the perfect holder for toothpicks
• Save old panty hose, wash them, cut off a 6 inch piece including the toe, place it over the tube of a vacuum and you can easily vacuum fake plants
• The same piece of panty hose works great for a bouquet garni.
• It is much easier to get perfect chicken/beef slices if the meat is still a bit frozen when you cut it.
• In a pinch, double sided tape does a damn fine job of keeping a hem in place.
• Hair spray is great for nailing flying insects, especially bees.
• Hair spray is also good for getting out ball point pin ink on clothing
• Fingernail polish remover is great for removing the sticky stuff left behind from a store's price tag

Day 58 - It's just its Possessive

I have not taught English for years, but there are certain grammatical errors that still make me cringe. One that I continually see is the
mis-use of its/it's. Here's a hint, if you care to use the apostrophe, what you mean to say is  it is. Without the apostrophe, it's just a possessive.
Another one that I see way too often these days is the mis-use of the preposition of.  For example, "he could of been a contender". Heads up folks, of is not a verb. You need to use could've, sounds the same, way different meaning. I recently found this mis-use not once but twice in our local paper. Groan! I guess once an English teacher, always an English teacher. I bet the folks who not only painted this sign, but thought it was fine to install, are a bit embarrassed, and I bet their English teacher is livid.

Day 57 - The Combo Plate, Please

After being on a somewhat strict diet from the first of the year, we treated ourselves today, and went out for Chinese food. And we ate all the stuff that  we have been ardently avoiding. There was not a vegetable or piece of lettuce to be found anywhere. There was pork fried rice, which I made even more rich by ladling sweet and sour sauce all over it turning it pink and making it just a bit better by adding all the chunks of candied pineapple . There were chicken wings, very sticky with sauce, sweet and sour chicken that had thick deep fried breading and beef teriyaki, as well as adult beverages. We loved every bit of it. I don't know if the food was that good, or that it tasted especially good to us because we were treating ourselves to a non-diet meal. I think probably a little of both.
Tomorrow will bring salads, veggies and lean meats, but for today, we let the fat fly! Yummy.

Day 56 - Time for a Rhode Islander to Win

Tomorrow night  I will  watch the Oscars. I must admit I enjoy every cheesy moment of  this annual spectacle. I like the red carpet, I groan at the questions asked and I marvel at the gowns.  I look for the one outfit that will be a "what were you thinking moment", and one that will be a stunner.
I especially like the Oscars when Billy Crystal is the host. He is talented, as is always proven by the opening numbers and he is witty. He always seems to me to be the guy everyone is waiting for to get the party started.
This year I am rooting hard for our RI nominee, Viola Davis. She is one of the stars of the movie, The Help, also a book that I devoured in one day. She is from the tough streets of Central Falls, RI, and attended RI College on a theater scholarship.  Recently (prior to the Oscar nomination) she donated thousands of dollars to Central Falls when it experienced a financial crisis. She is what my mother would call, "good people", and a damn good actress. I know there are other wonderful actresses nominated, such as Meryl Streep, but I think this year the Oscar for best actress should go to Viola Davis, Rhode Islander. Yup, you can call me a homey.

Day 55 - Effin Keys? What are they for?

I have a beef with Dell. I bought a laptop last December, and it came with no manual. The notation said ever so sweetly, "go on line to download the manual". I had no need, so I did not do it. Then yesterday, when trying to boot up, I got the message, "insert recovery disk", which of course did not come with my purchase. So I was put instantly into panic mode. Each time I tried to restart the computer, my only on-screen choices were to select the F2 or F12 buttons, which brought me to the Dell test screen which after running all the diagnostics possible, told me yet once again to insert the windows 7-64 bit recovery disk, which did not come with the purchase. UGH, frustration level was rising. So I went to the Dell site. After much searching, I finally found something I could use. It said if your desktop does not load, hit the F8 key, continuing to tap it until the recovery screen appears, then follow the instructions. It seems that Dell had already downloaded the recovery disk to my laptop, and by hitting the F8 key I was able to access it. In my humble opinion, I think the mention of this F8 key should be included in the Dell screen, after all I did not have the manual to reference. I felt pretty proud of myself for figuring this all out, and avoiding the $ charged by the Geek Squad at Best Buy. And yes, once I was up and running, I immediately burned a recovery disk, but it is handy to know about the F8 key.  I always wondered what those effin keys were for, now I know, learned about them the hard way.

Day 54 - Who Gets to Choose?

I just finished reading an article about trends in food for 2012, specifically what will be hot and what will not when it comes to desserts. I always wonder who is the almighty know it all who proclaims these things, but I digress. For all of you pie lovers out there - pie is no longer considered trendy, it is passe. To be honest with you, I never even knew it was au courant. Pie, to me, is perfect for Thanksgiving, and possibly for Christmas and an apple pie is certainly welcomed during apple picking season, but for the rest of the year? I don't think so. I guess I must have missed the trendiness of it last year. But the big news on what will be the hot dessert for 2010....you'll never guess...the doughnut! The doughnut???????? I want to see the credentials on the guy who decided that the doughnut will be the trendy dessert for 2012. First of all, it's breakfast food, or maybe it could even be considered a quick snack food, but a dessert? Never! Picture telling the waitstaff at your favorite restaurant that you will be ordering an adult beverage flavored coffee and instead of the flan, creme brulet or baked alaska,  just bring me a doughtnut, you know, the 2012 trendy dessert. I sometimes think that people must need to meet deadlines and so they submit a few hundred authoritatively written words and hope that no one questions. Well I'm questioning this, there is no possible way that the doughnut is the trendy dessert for 2012 and I am now having my doubts about the pie thing for 2011.

Day 53 - Someone Thinks I Know Everything

Today I spent some time with my grand daughter, always a fun thing for me. And we went no where, spent no money, and thoroughly enjoyed the day. We dusted, which she is excellent at, and we baked, where she put handfuls of chocolate chips both into the brownie batter and also into her mouth. We make each other laugh. Every time I see her she has changed in subtle ways. She reads now, and is very good at it. She has graduated to the intermediate level on all of my kid friendly computer games, and suddenly needs no help with a myriad of things that she used to come to me for. I love this age. Everything to them is new and wonderful. Yesterday when baking brownies, she got a bit of the batter on her shirt, which we promptly removed, but in doing so left a very large wet spot. So I took her to the bathroom, plugged in the good old hair dryer, and voila, dry shirt. She giggled and told me that I knew everything, she thought that using the hair dryer was the niftiest of tricks. I know this age does not last, and there will come a time when going out with friends greatly out weighs visiting with your Nana, but until that happens, I am loving every minute of being with her and all of my grandchildren. They bring joy into my life.

Day 52 - Parallel Parking - LOL

I hate parking garages. I hate everything about them. Today, venturing into the city, the lot associated with the Children's Museum was full, so I was forced to use a parking garage. I probably could have used on-street parking if in my youth I had conquered the art of parallel parking, but alas that is another story. Parking garages are not intuitive to me. I am dyslexic and for the most part, not too many folks notice. It does have a tendency to flare when I am behind the wheel of a car. To say that I am directionally impaired would be being generous. So when I have to park in a parking garage where all of the arrows seem to be going in the same direction, the anxiety begins. Additionally, the garages are generally dark, and the parking spaces are exceptionally narrow, so I generally have to go to the topmost level to find a space that I am comfortable with. Today was an exception, I found an entire wall of empty spaces on the first level, luck was definitely on my side. I parked right smack-dab in the middle, with no problems.  I am glad to have hubby as my navigator as he understands that if there is a way to screw things up in a parking garage, I am the person to do it. He is my guide when it comes to using parking garages. He knows how to talk me through it.  And if by chance we ever would need to park on the street forcing me to parallel park, I guarantee you that I would relinquish my driver's seat to any of the passengers in my car and not feel the least bit embarrassed. I think I need a shirt that says, "I am Dyslexic - Explains the lack of parking skills". Come to think of it, maybe I need a bumper sticker as well.

Day 51 - Dessert for Breakfast?

Do you remember the Bill Cosby comedy bit where he decided to give his kids chocolate cake for breakfast? "Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake". And he tries to explain away the fact that he is just too lazy to make breakfast, and the cake is there, so why not. It has eggs in it, right?
Well, he might just have been a bit ahead of his time. According to the folks from Tel Aviv University in an article on Yahoo, eating dessert as part of a 600-calorie breakfast that includes proteins and carbs can help people lose weight-and keep it off. Finally a university study that I actually believe.
In a  32-week study, scientists found that people who had dessert- whether it be cookies, cake, or chocolate-with their breakfast lost an average of 40 pounds more than people who avoided sweets…and here is the bonus part, they didn't gain the weight back.
Why does it work?  A body's metabolism is the most active in the morning hours. In the a.m. it is better able to burn off the calories during the day as opposed to, say, having some ice cream after dinner when the metabolism beging to slow down in preparation for sleep.
Growing up I can only remember one time being allowed to have dessert for breakfast. We were moving and my mother, who would never want to waste anything, opened the freezer and put all of the containers of ice cream on the table, and told us to dig in. It was a kid's dream, being allowed to eat ice cream for breakfast. And eat it until there was nothing left!
I think these folks at Tel Aviv University just might be on to something. Next time I go out for breakfast I think I am going to order the bacon and eggs and a side of chocolate cake. I'm telling you I can almost see the pounds floating away now.

Day 50 - Changes

As this is my 50th straight day of this blog, I thought I would list a few things that have changed in my life since being unemployed. So here goes.

• I no longer set the alarm clock for 5:15 am.
• I clean my house when I feel like it instead of trying to accomplish everything on the weekend.
• I cook more often.
• I have not put a pair of heels on my feet since I stopped working, and I do not miss them at all, ditto to panty hose.
• I read more and at a nice liesurely pace.
• I no longer fill my car up with gas every 4 days.
• I now have time to notice that we have downy woodpeckers who visit our feeders every day right after noon.
• I have worked side by side with hubby cataloging his coin collection and actually enjoyed it, totally surpising to me.
• I have not missed going to the office one bit, however, I do miss seeing some of my coworkers.
• I have enjoyed walking my gardens and noting the daily changes in the growth of the daffodils, crocuses and siberian irises.
• I enjoy being able to help out my kids when they need me.
• I am especially happy that when it is cold, rainy or Monday, I do not have to be on the road, instead I am home enjoying that second cup of coffee, doing the daily crossword puzzle and generally enjoying the start of a new day with hubby - does not get much better than that.

Staying positive for 365 days is a lot easier when you have your hubby making you laugh, giving you hugs and being totally supportive - I am blessed.

Day 49 - A Little Respect, Please

Like millions of Americans, I was saddened by the death of Whitney Houston, as I have enjoyed her talent over the years and I especially admire her for her unforgettable rendition of the National Anthem sung at the Super Bowl. It was truly memorable. She set the bar very high for those who had to follow her. 
But I ask you, when did celebrity funeral services become must-see TV? I think this current phenomenon is out of control. While browsing on line, I saw tons of ads last night and again this morning telling me not to miss the funeral, it would be streaming live. They were promoting a funeral as if it were an upcoming concert or new reality TV show. I don't know about anyone else, but I find that disrespectful. Not only to the deceased, but to the entire family.
I thought the same thing about the Michael Jackson spectacle of a funeral. I am hoping that this is not a trend. And no, I did not tune in for the funeral.

Day 48 - Hold the Tresses

I am still unemployed and any way I can earn a buck or two would be appreciated in this household, and I am thinking I have found a way to earn money with little or no effort. The next time I have my hair cut, I am going to ask for the clippings. I am going to bag them, and sell them to a company that will then pulverize them turning them into an additive known as L-cysteine, which in turn is sold to food manufacturers who use the ingredient as a commercial dough conditioner, meant to improve the texture of breads and baked goods. If they can't get human hair, on occasion duck feathers will do.And here I thought that bread consisted of flour, yeast, salt and maybe butter - hair? Never even would have guessed that one.
And just when I wanted to add canned mushrooms to a recipe, I read that the FDA allows 19 maggots and 74 mites in every 3.5 oz. can of mushrooms. I think I am going to forgo the canned mushrooms and opt for the fresh.
I am including the link to this enlightening article, as it lists more products that contain ingredients that no one would ever guess would (or should)  be used in food.
I don't know about anyone else, but besides looking at the calorie count on the labels, I am definitely looking for the word L-cysteine, and will avoid anything made from it.
But the selling the hair thing...who knows.


http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/5-grossest-foods-supermarket

Day 47 - The Old Bag Must Go

Now that I am spending more time at home, I have begun once again to drink tea. Not Lipton, Salada or Earl Grey, I am more of an herbal tea kind of gal. On an overcast chilly afternoon a cup of tea warms me up just right. But I hate the tea bag. Once you place it in the cup, pour the boiling hot water over it, and dip it up and down to get all of the herbal deiciousness out of it, getting rid of the bag is just plain messy. When I pull it out it is boiling hot, so I am not going to touch it, instead, I try balancing it on the spoon with my right hand, while trying  not to drip any of the tea now  filling  the bowl of the spoon onto my floor, and with my left hand I try lifting the lid to the waste basket. What usually ends up happening is that I drip tea from the counter, onto the floor and onto the lid to the waste basket. This happens every time I make a cup of tea, so it occured to me that perhaps it is time to invent a new tea bag. Why not have something that actually sits on the rim of the mug or cup, and allows you to pour the tea through it, and it self drains right into the cup. No fuss, no muss. Until some tea company starts doing that, I am leaving the bag in the tea and once it is cool, I will dispose of it - of course using this method means you end up drinking some mighty strong tea, but hey no spills to clean up. And that makes me happy.

Day 46 - Stop Sending Me Mail

Dear charities, I know times are tough, and I understand the need for fundraising, but here's a tip, maybe you should not send fundraising promos to folks who have already sent you a check for the year 2012. And another thing, when we contribute to the charity, it would be awfully nice if you did not sell the names your donor list. How do I know you do this? It's easy, your charity has always had me listed with an H. as my middle initial. My middle initial is an M. So anytime I receive fundraising letters that have an H as my middle initial, I know they got my name and address from you.
To all the peripheral suppliers who work with the charities, I do not need any more address labels, greeting cards, pens, bookmarks or inspirational literature. My house doth over-floweth with all this stuff. I think if someone sat down and crunched the numbers, the money paid out to the designers, photographers, printers as well as the shipping charges to China and back, as that is where all of the "gifts especially for you" are made, maybe just maybe they would decide that they could save a buck or two if they just settle for an annual fund raising drive.
We believe strongly in supporting out favorite charities, but the continual barrage of materials that accost us on a daily basis is leaving a bad taste in our mouths. They are now ranking in our estimation, only slightly below all the Publisher's Clearing House crap!

Day 45 - Paper Punches for Valentine's Day?

Today is Valentine's Day, and I have been giving a valentine to the same person for the last 44 years. It is a very good thing that Hallmark introduces new cards each year, and it also is a blessing that as we age our memories are not as sharp as they once were, so if the same card showed up year after year, I doubt either one of us would notice.
We no longer make try to make reservations at fancy restaurants, and we no longer go crazy trying to get the perfect gift for one another. We have reached the age that just to have bought the card before the actual day is cause enough for celebration. Now we focus on getting the perfect cards for our grandchildren, and trying to remember to mail them.
I enjoy a good pun, and I try to find cards that use a play on words. This year Hubby's card had absolutely no text on the front, it simply pictured a paper hole punch instead. When hubby gets this kind of card from me he always tries to figure out the pun before he opens it. This year's card baffled him. When he opened it the text read, I love you a hole punch. And there was a romantic heart artfully created by punching holes in the card, I thought that was a nice touch. It made him laugh.
I think we have shared 44 Valentine's Days because we continue to make each other smile, and sometimes not on purpose. Happy Valentine's Day to All!

Day 44 - Beware of the Jerk

I need an inventor. I want someone to invent a gadget for my car, so that when another driver does something insanely stupid or just plain rude, I can shoot out a sticker that will splat against the back bumper and say, Beware of the jerk behind the steering wheel. And it gets delivered in such a way that the driver never sees it coming, and only notices it once he has parked his vehicle.
I drove to my daughter's house this evening, taking the highway. There was a lighted sign, maybe 10 feet by 10 feet announcing that in 2 miles the right lane would end. I think that is more than enough time to get out of the right lane and either into the middle or left lane. And did that happen....NOOOOOOOOO. Idiot drivers continued in the right hand lane, and then frantically braked when the jersey barriers appeared and the lane they were driving in was no longer. I might add, after the initial lighted sign, there were additional signs warning about the lane ending placed every quarter of a mile until the actual ending of the lane.
And just as a public announcement, the third lane is the passing lane, anyone in that lane should be passing another car. I think that the ancient cream colored boat of a car, driven by Methuselah, and going a nifty 45 MPH in the passing lane that caused everyone to do the zig-zag maneuver, ( you know the drill, into the middle lane, speed up and give the single digit salute at the boat of a cream colored car as you pass them and then jump in front of them into the passing lane) deserves the Beware of the jerk behind the steering wheel, sticker.
I think this new invention could be marketed as the most desirable au courant accessory available today. Need is the mother of invention, and Lord knows we need it!

Day 43 - We Need More Pudding

I like pudding. Today for dessert I ordered grape-nut pudding and devoured it faster than I intended. It was creamy, crunchy and I could taste the vanilla and cinnamon. Thoroughly enjoyable. When did they start taking pudding off of the dessert menus? I remember when restaurants used to layer chocolate pudding alternating with whip cream putting it into a sundae glass and calling it a pudding parfait and as a kid I loved it. I bet I would still love it today. Pudding filling makes great pies. Lemon pudding, thrown into a crust topped with whipped egg whites makes a luscious lemon meringue pie. My mother in law used to make vanilla pudding, add a bag of shredded coconut and throw it all in a pie crust and voila coconut cream pie. And who doesn't like chocolate pudding pie that is piled sky high with whip cream? I have a theory about the demise of pudding. I blame it totally on the introduction of Mousse! That ever so trendy chocolate mousse started to appear as the dessert of choice at "All you can eat buffets", and puddings became totally passe, not cool enough to compete. I think we need to start a petition to get some recognition for this forgotten dessert. Come to think of it, when was the last time you saw Mousse on a menu? Maybe it is the perfect time for the return of pudding, seems like the reign of the Mousse is over.

Day 42 - AHCHOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not good at being sick. This past Thursday morning I woke up with a cold, a good old fashioned stuffy head, breathe through your mouth kind of cold. And I hate it. I hate that the end of my nose now feels like sandpaper from the constant blowing and wiping, and I hate that it is now red making me look like Rudolph. When I have a cold, everything seems just a little off. I drop things, it takes me longer to do the morning crossword, and I just don't seem to think very clearly. I do not let this try to run its course on its own, Oh No, I am a firm believer in trying every cold remedy known to man, better living through chemicals is my motto. I have tried NyQuil, DayQuil, Mucinex DM, and last night resorted to searching the medicine cabinet for the small container of Vick's vapor rub in hopes that it would allow me to breathe through my nose so I could finally get some sleep. Lack of sleep due to a cold makes me very cranky. And I have a tendency to feel very sorry for myself. Tomorrow is our Pre-Valentine's day celebratory dinner, and come hell or high water, I am going to enjoy it. I am only hoping that the sneezing fits that have accosted me for the last 3 days, don't sneak up on me when I am totally enjoying an adult beverage. Would not be a pretty sight. I am going prepared. I plan on packing alot of Kleenex, and wearing a blouse with really thick, absorbent sleeves, just in case - can never be too cautious, with the coughing and sneezing into the elbow schtick.

Day 41- Celebrating on the 11th

In a few days it will be Valentine's Day, and every perfume, jewelery, candy and flower company are making sure that we do not forget it. In this past week I have received numerous fliers in the mail, and most contain the pull-up fold that allows you a quick sniff of the latest and greatest colognes. And here is my Heloise Homemaker tip for the month of February, open all of them, immediately throw them into the garbage can, and voila you have an instant deodorizer for that stinky trash can. I think I would most likely respond better to all the ads if the candy companies would see fit to send a free sample of their wares.
I think the jewelery and flower companies prey on the male of the species leading up to Valentine's Day. After all, it is a major money making holiday for them. I always laugh at the price of long stemmed roses on February 14th vs the back to normal pricing of the same roses on February 15th. I like the idea of Valentine's Day, and I must admit that I do contribute heartily to the coffers of Hallmark, as I cannot resist cards for hubby and grandkids. I like the idea that we have one day a year that is all about love, but I do think it puts a lot of pressure on a lot of folks. This year, do to previous commitments, hubby and I will not be celebrating Valentine's Day on the 14th, instead there will be a pre-valentine's Day celebration - scheduled for the 11th. We figure this takes the pressure off of both of us, and we can go to one of our favorite restaurants without reservations and without paying an arm and a leg. Now don't get me wrong, hubby and I do appreciate the romance associated with Valentine's Day, but after all these years, our practical side also gets a vote, and we are more that OK with that.

Day 40 - Hillybilly Hand-Fishin' ?

As a rule I generally avoid most reality shows currently on TV. I am proud to say that I have never watched the "Bachelor" or the "Bachelorette", and I've never even given a second glance to the "Housewives of Whatever Town", and I have no interest in watching any basketball, baseball or football wives' show. And I have never watched Jersey Shore, though with all of the continual promotion of its cast I do recognize the names Snooki and Paulie D. "Keeping up with the Kardashians" will have to keep going without me as a viewer. Having said all that, I must admit that I find myself absolutely sucked in by a few reality shows. I have been known to watch "Hoarders". I am fascinated by it, and it makes me feel better about my own housekeeping skills. I watch, "What Not to Wear", as it is nice to know that there are folks out there with worse fashion sense than I. And I just found one last night, which sounds ridiculous, "Hillbilly Hand-Fishin'", but I was totally intrigued by it. Not that I would want to participate in a sport where either a hand or a foot is used as bait for landing a 30 pound catfish. I may never watch this show again, but to be honest it did hold my attention for one hour.
Like I said I really am not a proponent of reality shows, as I would rather be entertained by a great story line with good writing. Hard to find these days Thankful for DVDs, as Boston Legal and the West Wing never disappoint.

February 9, 2012: I am liking the aroma wafting through the house, beef stew on the menu tonight - yum.

Day 39 - We Need a Magic Wand

We are in week number 5 of the diet, and the pic to the left is exactly how I feel. But we are sticking with it, as we acknowledge that we feel better when we eat well and get a bit of exercise, but boy oh boy I wish I had a magic wand that would get us to where we need to be at a faster pace. We just remind ourselves that it took a decade for us to look like this, so it's going to take a while to get back into shape. Not our 20's shape, more like our "oh my God, I'm going to be 50", shape. We are after all ... realists

February 8, 2010: Meeting up with a good friend is a wonderful way to spend the day!

Day 38 - Glad I am not Known as Steak

When a baby comes into your world, a parent  instinctively feels that the child is the most beautiful, will become the most talented and will be loved more than any other child has ever been loved before. I get it. Every parent feels that way. And every parent wants to pick the perfect name for their precious bundle of joy. In the past it wasn't unusual to have sons named after fathers, thus becoming Jrs. Many kids were named after the favorite aunt or uncle, and many were named after war heroes or even the celebrity du jour. Now fast forward to the the 21st century, and baby names, especially those given to celebrity children, seem to have taken a turn to the exotic. To say a few of these names are "out there" is being kind. Robert Downey Jr. just named his son Exton, Beyonce named her daughter, Blue Ivy and Jermaine Jackson named his son Jermajesty. I think these folks make Gwyenneth Paltrow's naming her baby Apple, sound almost sane.
I feel bad for kids with wierd names and I am always hopeful that someone in school will give them a nickname. When I was a kid, there was a boy in the neighborhood whose first name was Hedley. And his mother would hang out the front window of her apartment and scream at the top of her lungs,"Hi - Ho - Heeeeeeeeeedddddddddddlllllllly" when she wanted him to come inside. I guess she needed to scream at him like that so that all the other Hedleys in the neighborhood wouldn't come running. Later, when he went to school the kids nicknamed him Stinky, I'm betting that he liked it more than Hedley.
It's tough being the kid with the weird name. Whether it is just plain odd, or whether it has a strange spelling, like Ving Rhames name for his daughter, Reignbeau, there is always going to be someone who is going to mispronounce it, or think the name is for a boy when it is a girl. If you were a teacher and the first name of the child was Suri, would you look for a boy or girl? Suri is the name that Tom Cruise gave to his daughter.
I think life is tough enough with a semi-normal name, these made up, one of a kind nonsense names just make things tougher. I thank my lucky stars that my parents were not avant-garde when it came to naming their children, I would have hated to be named after one of my dad's favorite things, Steak!

February 7, 2012: Herb tea makes me happy.

Day 37 - In Other Words

Euphemisms, we use them everyday. Just today I was reading the Reader's Digest, and the editor started her column with the following, "I lost my father this year...", and I know she meant that her father had died this past year, however, when anybody chooses this euphemism, all I can picture in my mind is that there is an old man wandering aimlessly somewhere, and is lost. Why didn't she simply write, My father died this past year? I guess it has too much of a finality to it, easier to say lost.
In general, I think Americans choose to use a lot of euphemisms. If a man is short of stature, we can say that he is vertically challenged, and if he happens to be balding we may describe him as follically impaired. People no longer get fired, they have been let go, or downsized. And if you are fat in America you would most likely be known as being big-boned, pleasantly plump, husky, plus-sized or heavy, no one wants to say fat. And no one calls a drunk a drunk. They can be soused, three sheets to the wind, tipsy, polluted, hammered, plastered or under the weather but never just simply drunk.
English is an ever evolving language, and as we continue to strive to be politically correct, I am sure the list of euphemisms will continue to grow. Who can forget Roger Clemens being brought before Congress and when blatantly caught in a lie when he denied his steroid use, did he admit to the lie, nope, he just invented another word for lying, he mis-remembered. No one lies, we fib, we put a slant on things, or we might embellish the truth, but lie? Never.
I admire all non-English speaking people who attempt to learn and understand the language. Just when they think they get it, they run into the euphemism. Picture a group of folks whose 1st language is not English, and what do you think they would envision if told the Powder Room is just down the hall and to the left?
When I was a kid growing up in Boston, all the bathrooms were in the basement of the Margaret Fuller Elementary School, and when you needed to go, you eagerly asked to go to the basement, which as a small child I interpreted as what you called a bathroom when you are in school. Once we moved away from Boston, and I asked a teacher if I could go to the basement, she gave me the oddest of looks, that's when I learned another name for the bathroom - the rest room. Years later I learned it is also called the john, the loo, the toity, the head, the boy's room or the girl's room. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it would have been much easier for me if we just called the bathroom a bathroom.

Day 36 - In Praise of the Potato

My heritage is Irish, and I love the potato. I think it is the most versatile of veggies and has been much maligned since the advent of diets such as South Beach and Atkins.  It really has taking a beating, bearing the brunt of the carbo - hating crowd. Today I sing I am here to sing praises to the potato. Let us not forget, it is a vegetable and it does contain great amounts of potassium, proving its nutritional value in addition to its versatility. It is the perfect accompaniment to meat loaf, when mashed, and what better complements a steak than the ever perfectly baked potato? When there is French onion dip around, who doesn't want to grab the biggest potato chip and just dig right in? And when left unpeeled and cut up into quarters then baked with bacon bits, green onions and cheeses topped with sour cream, doesn't  it make the superb appetizer known as potato skins. And who doesn't like the potato sliced thin, with onions cheese and cream served as scalloped potatoes with all its ooey-gooey delicious-ness? My mom made the best beef stew and when guests unexpectedly would show up, no worries, to make the stew go further, she would just add more potatoes. I must admit, my favorite is the mashed potato whipped light and covered with gravy, especially the turkey gravy served on Thanksgiving. And I just visited a joint that served Irish Nachos, potato chips with melted cheeses and sour cream with green onions. A remarkable veggie - the potato, it really brings out the Irish in me!

Day 35 - It's Aladdin for the Umpteenth Time

One of the most wonderful things about being a grandmother is that you get to see movies that your grand kids want to watch, but secretly you adore them more than they do. Tonight I got to watch Aladdin ( for the umpteenth time) and loved it all the more as I was watching it with my grand daughters and watching them laugh out loud, is one of the most joyous sounds on the earth.
I love being able to show my grand kids something for the first time, or listening to them as they tell me something that is so exciting to them that they stumble with the words as they try to get their thoughts out. I love watching how their minds work, and each one is uniquely their own person. No clones in this family. Each special personality makes me swell with pride, and I wish only the best for them in the future.

February 4, 2012: This small plaque in my family room always makes me smile: Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your kids.

Day 34 - Creme de la Creme of Crappers

We are learning way too much about the players in this year's Super Bowl. Probably because both teams are required by the NFL to spend long hours answering mundane questions from the legion of media that has thronged the Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium floor, home to the Indianapolis Colts. Wes Welker, a favorite receiver of quarterback, Tom Brady, shared that it was good to be Tom Brady, and reporters asked why? He responded saying that he loved Tom Brady's toilet, in fact he loved his entire bathroom, sharing that the toilet had awesome bidet features. He was referring to what is known as the Creme de la Creme of Crappers, the Toto Washlet Perfomance Toilet. And for this particular porcelain potty, of course you need the seat of champions, which by all accounts does not come cheap. (see below)

And if you wonder why Wes would be so enamored of Brady's bathroom, below is the description of said thrilling throne, taken directly from the Toto website.

Designed with ease and convenience in mind, the Toto Washlet Performance toilet uses a streamlined wand that extends to provide a soothing warm flow of aerated water for complete and total cleansing. And as if that weren't enough, the Washlet also offers a soothing warm air drier, an air purifying system, heated seat and automatic soft-close lid. To ensure the utmost in cleanliness and sanitation, the Washlet toilet nozzle also automatically cleans itself before and after every use.

I wish I knew about all of this sooner.  We just replaced our toilet seat  - went to Home Depot - no sprays, no remotes, no driers, it's a Bemis, and it was under $20.  I don't think Wes Welker would have any reason at all to linger in my powder room, but I think he is right about Brady's bathroom, now that would be something to experience. Somehow I do not think this is the kind of thing the NFL thought might be shared at Media day, but damn, I enjoyed it!

Day 33 - It's All About Trust

I was just reading the news story about Pfizer mis-packaging birth control pills, some prescriptions may have nothing but dummy pills, OOOOOOOPS!
I am sure that the women who use Pfizer's products are irate upon hearing about this. They trusted Pfizer to provide them with a product that did what it said it was going to do. This got me to thinking about other things that I inherently trust.

• Electricity - I trust every morning that when I get up, the lights will turn on with a flip of my wrist and I will be able to make a pot of coffee - this past summer when we experienced a bit of a hurricane and lived without it for 5 days, made me appreciate it all the more.
• Water - I trust when I turn the faucet, that water will come out.
• The Nightly News - I want to turn the TV on at the same time each night and see the same anchorman telling me what happened today.
• 60 Minutes - I know that every Sunday, at 7 pm that the clock will start clicking.
• Ben & Jerry's Phish food Ice Cream- I trust that this will taste just as delicious as the first time.
• Toilets - I expect them to do what they are designed for.
• Cars - I trust that they will start when I want them to start,and when they don't, I trust that AAA will show up.
• Spring Bulbs - I trust that they will bloom, in spite of the squadron of squirrels searching for them. (this one may be a reach - realist in me)
• Wonder Bread - I trust that it will be the same squishy white bread with no taste and little nutritional value that I always had growing up - still tastes especially good when making turkey/stuffing/cranberry sauce sandwiches
• Toasters - I trust the little knob on the front to help me avoid burning toast.
• Recipes - I trust that I will produce something that is akin to the beautiful picture - some recipes, in my experience, are not at all trustworthy -
• Shawshank Redemption - I trust that I will root just as hard for Andy to make an escape from that hellhole of a prison as I did the first time I watched this, about 50 times ago.
• Dove Dark Chocolate - I trust that these delightful pieces of heaven will end my craving for a sweet - and they do, after partaking in enough of them.
• Pinot Grigio - I trust that I will enjoy this each and every time I take a sip, so much so that I will most likely have another or two just to trust my instincts.

February 2, 2012: Happy today that my flu symptoms are finally on the way out, especially happy that my back and knees allow me to bend again! I missed that.

Day 32 - Pink Goop Now Missing from Burgers

I am thrilled that Chef, Jamie Oliver's non-stop crusade against McDonalds has finally paid off. The substance called pink goop that they have been adding to their hamburgers for years has finally been eliminated.
I wonder when they started using it? I started eating hamburgers and fries at McDonalds when then entire meal (including a coke)  could be bought for 45 cents, and I loved every bite of it. I don't remember just when I stopped eating at McDonalds, but  I do remember why, I always felt sick to my stomach after eating there. And I always blamed it on the fries, saying they just didn't settle well. I could never have begun to imagine that this company was adding meat by-products infused in an ammonia compound to their burgers. And that the FDA said it was OK for human consumption. Just thinking about this makes me sick! I am wondering how much of this pink goop was added, was there ever any beef? Definitely makes that old "Where's the Beef"  ad from one of their competitor's more relevant now, doesn't it? Makes you wonder what that competitor knew way back then. Removing the pink goop from the burger isn't going to make me run out and go to McDonalds, but if ever I do, I think I'm going to go with the McNuggets, staying away from the burgers and that kind of suspect square fish that they also have on the menu.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10282876-mcdonalds-drops-use-of-gooey-ammonia-based-pink-slime-in-hamburger-meat

February 1, 2012: I am thankful that the flu is on its way out.