Sometimes I don't know all I know

Remember when I upgraded to the new iTunes software, synced my iPhone and then somehow some stupid glitch happened during the sync and I lost ALL of my apps and music? Well...

Friday I wrote a blog post on my business blog touting the wonders of Carbonite, the online backup system I use to keep all my stuff safe.

And truly, a light went on! So I went to my online backup and there was the file of all of my previous iTunes backups.

(insert angelic singing!)

And then I crossed my fingers that the Windows gods would be kind and let me sync my music so I can once again use my iPod. And joy of joys, it worked! I now have every single one of my apps and all of the music I purchased through iTunes loaded back onto my iPhone!

But the best part of all of this is that I know if it happens again, because it totally will, all of my stuff is secure in that marvelous cloud in the sky called Carbonite. Woohoo!

Of course, part of me was feeling all smug, smart and professional to have decided to subscribe to Carbonite while another part of me was all, "Well, you big dummy, it's no good if you don't actually remember to use it". Hey, I remembered... It just took 5 months! hahahaha!

One other thing... While visiting Carbonite's Facebook page and web site to get a link to their artwork for the post, I discovered something else perfectly wonderful... they have an app for that! So now, no matter where in the world I am, I can access every single one of my photos, files, documents or any piece of data right from my iPhone! Seriously cool!

So it's Halloween night and, like any other night, MotherDear and I will greet a few of the little darlings and then we'll leave the Pumpkin O'Treats on the front porch bench for the little Trick or Treaters and toddle off to bed early. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween in whatever you're doing.

Big Hugs ♥xo

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” — Calvin Coolidge

Spooktacular Holiday Prints

Once in a while while doing some business-related social networking I come across something really cool. Since this find is seasonally relevant, very crafty and seriously cool, I thought I'd share it with you.

These are photos of Cut Paper Silhouette Art, printed on a Letterpress.

These designs were created by a Mother-Daughter team, Diane and Madeline Tompkins.

 - aka Tag Team Tompkins.

Mom Diane cuts the silhouettes and Daughter Madeline does the hand-lettering. 

They also have an Etsy Shop with lots of very cool designs. Such as...

I may have to buy that last one! hahahaha!

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

A Rude Re-Awakening. Thank you, Debra!

"After being diagnosed with Diabetes II I decided to take back my health. It took 2 years, but I lost 100 pounds and have kept it off now for 3 years. I got rid of the Diabetes, the high bp, the fatty liver problems, the bad cholesterol, and feel so much better. I did not go into this happy, but I came to realize that it was my journey and the path I was on was going to kill me if I didn't do something. It amazed me that simply putting the right food (in the right combination) could make sure a dramatic difference. Having to take my sugar reading before and after meals was an eye opening experience. I gave up white flours and sugars. I gave up 'bad' carbs. I gave up medicating myself with food. It truly makes a difference." ~Abby's Mom Debra By ABBY on What the World Eats, and How Much $$ for how much?... on 10/27/10

Debra, I hope you do not mind that I've used your comment in a post. Somehow I don't believe you will if it helps just one person get healthier. And it will, because I am that just one person.

Nearly everything Debra wrote in her comment was true of "the 1993-1994 me". Somewhere along my journey, I strayed from the path of healthy eating and exercise.

Exhibit A: The SisterDears - including appearances of Mighty-Me and Mini-Me. 

Guess which photo I like better? I chose these 2 particular photos because the SisterDears happen to be lined up in the same order. That, and I really loved that Harvard sweatshirt. I mean Seriously. I loved it.

And the skinny jeans.

And my plain-Jane, no-fuss, pull-it-back-out-of-my-eyes-in-a-barrette hair. Wash, blow and go! Easy peasy.

Anyway. Where was I?

I started making poor choices again. I got uber lazy. I gained the weight back.

Well, that ends today! Today I am taking my own advice. I am re-dedicating myself to once again embrace my inner-Healthy Eater.

Getting back into exercising... well, honestly, that's going to take some time. I'm 17 years older... and everything hurts more. A lot. Although... I did do all my floors yesterday. Vacuumed and Steamed.  I'm pretty sure that counts as exercise. I SO needed another shower afterwards, that's all I know.

Making healthier choices is a large part of it, but equally important is Portions, Portions, Portions!

Exhibit B: My dinner plate from Wednesday night




Now that is not to say I won't ever enjoy a Roast Chicken dinner ever again. I will. However, my portions will be much smaller. It won't be swimming in gravy. I won't choose more than one carb. Those meals will be the exception rather than the rule.

Thanks for re-inspiring me, Debra. And thank you Miss Bee for inspiring me with your water aerobics! And thank you to my itty bitty Korean Bingo Biddy Buddy Chong who, without so much as a single thought about hurting my feelings, told me she had a daughter who was like me... she ate too much. Gotta love those Asian women! hahahaha!

Today is the FIRST DAY of the rest of my life! Woohoo!

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Thursday Things

So yesterday was a BIG paperwork day for me. I attacked it with a vengeance beginning with my first cup of coffee at about 5:30am and I finished it before lunch. Yay me! Then I did some quotes... and played Texas Hold'em on Facebook! =:-o

So... since I didn't do anything remotely exciting, unless you just love paperwork, I thought I'd give you a Halloween Joke today.

David Boreanaz, as Angel (or Angeles) from the TV shows Buffy the Vampire and Angel.
Of course, David currently plays Special Agent Seeley Booth in my 2nd favorite TV show, Bones.

What type of dogs do Vampire's like the best?

(CLICK HERE for the answer)

I managed to do all that paperwork, filing and all, without a single paper cut. Sorry, Vampires!

Instead of spaghetti for supper last night we had my all-time favorite meal - Roast Chicken!



...with butternut squash, corn, carrots, green beans, stuffing, smashed red potatoes and gravy... mmmm...

Many, many pans... I didn't want to take the covers off and have it get cold before we sat down to this feast! You see why I want a 6-burner stove? And that is not a staged photo. MotherDear is really THAT neat. I come by it honestly! hahahaha!

I had to smell that all day long! And it was SO good! Why, yes. I do like stuffing and gravy. Why do you ask?

This month is just flying by! In just a few more nights all those adorable little ghosts, ghouls and goblins will be haunting our front doors for Trick or Treats! I have no idea how many to expect here at the Swamp. I guess I'd better check with my neighbors, huh?

We all go to bed so early that we usually just set the pumpkin o'candy on the bench on the front porch and let them help themselves. If they dare... because the porch light will be off!

(insert maniacal laughter here)

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

What the World Eats, and How Much $$ for how much? ...or how little?

My blogging buddy Tysa did a post yesterday which highlighted a Photo Essay titled Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, Parts I, II and III, on Time.com. I found it fascinating and thought you might as well.

Here is a family of 13 from Bhutan...

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

• From the Book, "Hungry Planet

And how about this family of 4 from North Carolina...

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Notice any differences?

This subject happens to be exactly what I was discussing with one of the SisterDears just last week. She had asked me to recommend some foods and recipes which would not only be be safe for her son Tommy, who has some severe allergies, but would also be nutritional for all of them. She also requires it not break the food budget or her time budget. Currently, she's preparing two separate meals for each mealtime; one for the twins, and one for everyone else. The twins meals mostly consist of chicken nuggets and French fries, Eggo waffles, pizza, and the occasional apple or Gogurt. Picky eaters, they are... especially Tommy.

I told her that was easy peasy. Simply do all her shopping in the Dairy, Meat and Produce departments.

Add some whole grains and then leave pretty much everything else in the store out of her grocery cart.

If it's in a box or a bag, you probably don't want it.

I think I may need to start taking some of my own advice.

Discuss.

You know

Dear Lord,

It's me again. I have a big question for you today. Why, Lord?

You know that all I ever wanted to be in this life was a wife and mother. You know every depth of every emotion I had while I went through all of the fertility treatments for all those years; the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs. You know all the countless prayers that were lifted, the doctor's appointments, the tests, the dollars spent, the exploratory surgeries, all of the blood work... you know all of it.

You know all of my many disappointments when the pregnancy tests came back negative. You know of all my elations when the tests came back positive. You know all of my utter despair and heartbreak when I lost all of those precious babies in the first trimester.

You know the day I surrendered it all to your will and how hard I tried to build a different life from the one I'd always dreamed of having.

And then...  this morning I read this story and all those feelings came rushing back, along with so many questions. How could this woman carry a child and hide him or her in a closet? Not just once, which is horrific enough, but 5 times? How could it be that not a single person in this woman's life noticed a pregnancy followed by her not having a baby? 5 times. So many questions...

I know every one of those precious babies are now with You. Mine and hers.

But I don't know why. Only You know.

So today I have to give all of these feelings back to You and ask You to help me with that. Because it's such a hard thing for me.

Thank you, Lord. I love You. Amen.

Stink Eye Tuesday

Gracie looks like I may have walking on her last nerve, doesn't she? She's giving me the stink-eye, for sure! She was all curled up in a perfectly lovely sunbeam and I disturbed her to take her photo. I'm a bad Momma!

My girl will be a year old on November 1st, in just a few days. I may have to get her a new Pink Sparkle Ball and a can of Toona Juice.

My neighbors were over last night sitting with us on the patio. They commented that Gracie has caught up to da boyz, size-wise. But it's all floof and attitude! Oh, she's nearly as long and as tall as Gandalf, but her frame is tiny. She's about as big as she'll ever be... I'll guess about 8 pounds, maybe even 9, where da boyz are all 12-13-1/2 pounds. I'll find out for sure when her annual is due, in May or June. When she was a teeny tiny kitten, the Vet predicted she wouldn't grow to more than 6-7 pounds. We shall see if he was right.

SisterDear #3 went to her 35th high school reunion last Saturday night. She said she hardly recognized anyone, even an old boyfriend. She also said that she couldn't believe how OLD everyone looked! =:-o

A bunch of them were going out for drinks afterwards and invited her to join them. She declined, because she had to get home to bed. She was already up 2 hours past her bedtime and it wasn't even 10:00 yet! They're old, but not her! She cracks me up!

Enjoy the day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

UPDATED @ 5:36: You won't believe what the man in Brown shorts brought Gracie yesterday!

Peter and the Wolf

My Dad said to me - before 8am, mind you - that if I had time he would really appreciate it if I could find and order a CD of the Prokofiev piano concerto for him... so of course, I totally did! I found a double CD set - Prokofiev: The Five Piano Concertos! Dad is thrilled! He didn't even realize that there were 2 other concertos.

So, as long as I was ordering...

=:-o

hahahahaha!

I also bought a CD to replace a record  I had when I was a child.

A record is one of those old fashioned round vinyl thingys that people use to have along with a big old-fashioned thing called a Hi-Fi so you could listen to music.

Anyway. Peter and the Wolf was my introduction to classical music. I stumbled onto it quite by accident while flipping through my Dad's albums one day. I absolutely fell head-first in love! It was Peter and the Wolf. I found a Prokofiev conducted version. The narrator is none other than - you're going to love this! - Boris Karloff! How seriously cool is that! I played a few of the intros and I think it's going to be awesome. And if all that wasn't good enough already, the price was $6.98!


I know!


It was so cheap I wanted to order 2 or 3 of them! hahahaha!

Seriously, if you have small children, grands, nieces, nephews, etc, this piece is an awesome introduction to music appreciation, classical music, story telling, etc... Peter and the Wolf is quite simply awesome!

Oh... I also bought my self another Andrea Bocelli CD - Under the Desert Sky CD and DVD set! Because I love me a good tenor, and Andrea Bocelli is certainly that, and more! He's also dashingly good looking and Italian! Oh, my!

They'll all arrive sometime in the next week and I.can't.wait.

Bingo with the Biddies = complete and utter failure, as usual. Oh, well. MotherDear loves it. What can I say?

It's Monday and almost the end of another month! I'm hoping for some lovely orders! And I'm also wishing you all a perfectly lovely day! Big Hugs ♥xo

Another Pleasant Prokofiev Valley Sunday

Remember yesterday how I said it was all about Floors? I lied. Well, I didn't lie exactly. It was supposed to be all about floors, but it just never happened. Yesterday was all about it being such a pretty day! And it was about getting side-tracked with cleaning and polishing the furniture in my bedroom because I saw dust under the TV. And then it was about just being generally lazy for the rest of the day.

It wasn't easy being that lazy, but I tried real hard and made it work for me.

Today is only half a day because Bingo with the Biddies takes a big bite right out of the middle of the day, so I'm gonna have to work hard to get the floors done this morning. I hate working on Sunday, so that may never happen. Just saying.

And Al wants a hair cut. And I'll probably have to feed the cats and play with them. And since I found a certain piece of music - this certain Piano Concerto #3 in C Major, Op 26,  by this certain Composer and Pianist, Sergei Prokofiev, from the 1930's, which my Dad's been trying to replace for years, by dilligently googling it yesterday - I'll have to shop Amazon and eBay to order it for him today.

So many chores, so little lazy time.

Enjoy today's trip around the sun! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

I love pie

“Fresh Pies”…get your fresh pies here!”

Yum. These little boxes of pie are awesome. They sell them at Walmart and sometimes Sam's. MotherDear and I are partial to lemon while Dad always gets his blueberry.

They remind us of Table Talk Pies from back home in Massachusetts.

Table Talk Pies

I checked the box. It does not say where they were made or who made them for Walmart... but I have my suspicions!



Yum!

Well, today is all about Floors at my house. Vacuuming floors, Steaming floors, Shampooing carpeted floors.

And NO PIE. Well, maybe later. There happens to be a Mrs. Smith's Dutch Apple Pie in the freezer! We ♥ Mrs. Smith's Pies. In fact Mr's Smith bakes almost all the apple, blueberry and pumpkin pies around here anymore.

After all those floors today, wouldn't you agree that I'll have earned pie by the end of the day?!

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Well-Structured

I finally did it. I bought a BIB wine... aka Bag-in-Box, Boxed Wine, a Double Magnum, Wine in a Box, Wine with a Smaller Carbon Footprint... pick a name. I got one.

I was at Sam's Club yesterday and saw some, across from the Holiday Frozen Desserts, stacked there ever-so-neatly in the Wine section. My eyebrows actually went up when I looked at the price! $15? Really? Then I laughed and thought to myself, "How bad can it be?" and put a box of California Cabernet in my basket.

Well, let me tell ya... it ain't half bad! :] Especially for the price!

This gives a whole new meaning to the wine-tasting term "Well-Structured"! They now may be referring to the wine as well as its packaging!

For those of you who've asked, Whitey continues to improve with every passing day. He's back to acting like his old usual sweet self again, until he sees me coming at him to administer his eye goops and ear squirts... then he high-tails it! The redness is all but gone, but Dr. Tad prescribed both meds for 2 weeks so I will let it run its course, much as Whitey hates it.

We've added 4 more to our Thanksgiving Dinner Guest List. That brings the total to about 20. I hope that's all... I only have 1 oven! In my next life, I want 2 ovens and a 6-burner Vulcan gas stove!

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Proof that appearances can be deceiving

The Big Picture - Small Worlds

Aren't they pretty? They look like they might be a pair of party favors, or maybe even poppers or firecrackers. Something festive, at any rate, right?

But they're not any of those things. Any guesses?

Go ahead. Have another look. Take your time. I'll play a game of Bejeweled Blitz while you guess.

Give up?

What you see here is magnified 100x. They are two human cancer cells seen just before they divide into four cells. Who could believe that something so sinister as cancer could look so pretty under the microscope. Scary stuff.

IMAGE CREDIT: This image of Telophase HeLa (cancer) cells expressing Aurora B-EGFP took 11th place and was made by Dr. Paul D. Andrews of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) as it appeared in yesterday's post on one of my favorite web sites, The Big Picture on Boston.com.


Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Goombay Smash

The SisterDears and MotherDear sampled "a couple" of these tropical libations every time we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort at Disney World. The pool bar is called the Banana Cabana.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz spiced rum
• 1 oz Malibu coconut rum
• 1/4 oz apricot brandy
• 2 oz pineapple juice
• 2 oz orange juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• fresh mint
• lemons

Take a quartered 1/2 lemon and put in a glass. Toss in some fresh mint and smash it all together. Strain into a shaker with lots of ice, the rums, brandy and juices. Pour and enjoy.

Serve with a sprig of fresh mint, lime, a speared pineapple with cherries.

It's just like going back to the Islands. Well, almost!


I really miss Disney. After living minutes from Disney property and having a Resident's Annual Pass for so many years I never thought I'd say that. But I do. It looks like the next trip will be in about 3-4 years when Aria has a little brother or sister who will by then be 2 or 3 years old.

::sigh::

Do you suppose they make these on Carnival Cruise Lines?

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Ya wanna know why the rich get richer? I'll tell you why...

A guy goes into a bank and says he wants to borrow $200 for six months. The loan officer asks him what collateral he has, and he says, “I have a Rolls Royce. Here are the keys. You can keep it until the loan is paid off.”

Six months later the guy comes back and pays off the $200 loan, plus $10 interest. The loan officer says, “Here are the keys. If you don’t mind my asking, why would a man who owns a Rolls Royce need to borrow $200?”

The guy says, “I had to go overseas for six months. Where else could I garage a Rolls Royce for $10?”

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Wordless Wednesday... almost

Discuss.

By Request of Empress Bee

Miss Bee asked to see what's currently our screensaver or desktop. Here's a screenshot of my current Desktop, since I don't use a screensaver. The White Mountains sit in the background with the Swift River in the foreground as it runs through Conway, NH. Linda's most recent trip is making me very homesick!

Thanks to Linda and Miss Nikon for this shot! To do it justice go and visit Linda's Flickr photostream. Here's the link to the clean copy of this photo in her Flickr photostream. But poke around while your there. Embiggen them. See them on black.

It's now been 3 full days on the meds and Whitey continues to feel better and better. He's putting up quite a struggle when it comes to letting me administer them, especially when it comes to his ears, but we're managing. Al and Barbara stopped by yesterday and Whitey walked over to Al and asked him to please pick him up for a good scritch - another good sign that Whitey is on the mend.

I couldn't even stay awake until 7:30 last night. How pathetic is that? Especially when you consider that HOUSE comes on at 8:00 and I couldn't stay awake to watch. Oh, well... That's why I have a DVR. I'm fixin' to take my coffee and curl up in my recliner to watch it now!

Hoping for another perfect weather day full of lots of lovely orders.. and don't forget to put some YAY in your day, too! Big Hugs :]

If Whitey ain't happy, Momma ain't happy

As I type this (Sunday evening) Whitey has now had 4 doses of meds. I can already tell it's helping him feel better. Today he started acting a little more like himself. He was even hungry for supper. Then he meowed and meowed and meowed at me from the kitchen window as I was coming in from Bingo with the Biddies.

Whitey is already feeling better

However (you knew there'd be one, right?) he now doesn't want to be anywhere near me. Me, his most favoritest person in the whole wide universe. Me, the one who he is never more than inches away from. Me, the one whose face he licks until my skin hurts and I have to push him away.

Because I am now me, that Mean Old Medicine Woman who's always coming at him with goopy eye stuff and oily ear squirts.

Airplane Ears

ACK!

So it's Monday again. I had a relaxing weekend, except for chasing Whitey to do his meds (he puts up a pretty respectable fight!). The weather was absolutely perfect! I don't know how long it will last but I'm loving it!

Nothing exciting planned for today. Paperwork, mostly. And, I hope, lots of lovely orders! I hope you all have a marvelous Monday! Big Hugs :]

Updated @4:25am. Whitey is feeling MUCH better this morning! He came to bed and purred on me and kissed me and purred some more. He brought 4 mousies to bed. He ate breakfast. He's acting SO much more like himself today! Yay for anti-biotics! And BIG YAYs for Cory who is purring and chirping and sock-singing her little heart out! Whitey sends smoochies, Cory!

Cheez Pleez

Yesterday I had an unplanned trip to the vet with Whitey. His eye was inflamed and he kept pawing at it. Long story, short: Conjunctivitis and an ear infection. Bless his heart. I walked out 90 minutes later with Whitey, 2 meds that he'll be on for 2 weeks and a checkbook that is now $141 lighter. ::sigh::

In other news... I made a yummy dish last night, inspired by a frozen dinner.




I modified the recipe for Martha Stewart's Perfect Macaroni and Cheese and I call it Chicken Cordon Bleu Baked Macaroni.







We all loved it! My Dad, who is a Macaroni and Cheese Lover, raved about it, as did my mother and I! I'll definitely be making this many, many times in the future! This would be a great crowd pleaser and would also be great for a make-ahead and freeze dish!


Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo

Halloween... aka Tommy's High Holy Day

It's almost here! Tommy, one of my twin nephews, loves wearing costumes better than just about anything!

And not just on Halloween! No, no, no! Every holiday and any other day! Wearing a costume is good for every day!

Every once in a while I make Tommy and Kevin a JibJab video.

Or I photoshop them into a Star Wars scene and post them to their blogs, just so I can call and hear them squeal with delight when they see them!

Sometimes I include their brother Jack and sister Holly, their parents, myself and even my cats!

It's makes them so happy!

I made this JibJab video for them yesterday.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Now I've got to figure out what photographs to make them this year! That makes ME happy!

Go out and put some YAY! in your day! I know I will! Big Hugs ♥xo