Wednesday Websites

Over the years others have given us lists of the 7 greatest man-made wonders of the world. This website allows you to vote for the new 7 wonders: http://www.vote7.com/n7w

This is a funny website - you get to learn how to write in "Ooblgshezi". What? You don't know what that word means? Well, for those of you who don't. it is the trick of using numbers upside down to 'spell words'. For example: sell = 7735 and google is 376006. When I was young a long long long time ago, my girlfriends and I developed out own language so we could write in our diaries or notes to each other without anyone knowing what we wrote. I came across one of those notebooks a few years ago and I had no clue to what I had written - I finally figured out that I had taken the alphabet and moved all letters 3 spaces to the left and then used that letter to say a word (say I wanted to use the letter I - I would instead use the letter g and so on. Of course none of the words made sense unless you knew how to decode it. So if you do invent your own language, make sure you write the code down somewhere for when you are old old old and want to remember what you were thinking back then. Oh yeah, the website is : www.langmaker.com/calculatorwords.htm

Who can interpret this: 0.7734 6078 1 <3 5376616

Recipe Tuesday - Cranberry Salads for Thanksgiving

Every year my side of the family makes cranberry salad from scratch - both the cooked version and the jelled or cold version. My inlaws make the cooked version with a twist, so over the 30 some years and since I am now the chief cook for one side and our house, I have combined both cooked recipes into one yet kept the jelled or cold version and make that too. When my daughter first went to her inlaws for Thanksgiving, she could not believe they opened a can of what she called this wiggle crap and dared to serve it and call it cranberry sauce. She has since converted her inlaws to our recipe and to making real mashed potatoes instead of boxed mixes. She has also cooked them a real turkey (fresh instead of a frozen). She plans on making real stuffing instead of a box mix this year along with real gravy made from the turkey drippings instead of jar gravy.

Without further ado, here's the recipe for the cranberry salads:

Cooked Cranberry Salad
1 bag raw cranberries, washed and the mushy ones taken out
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 jar of cinnamon sticks
7-8 sprigs of orange zest (I make my own from the oranges I use in the cold cranberry salad

Boil the water with the sugar. Add the cranberries, zest, and cinnamon sticks. Boil for 10 minutes then remove from heat. Once cooled, I scrape into a serving dish and serve. Now the cinnamon sticks seep the cinnamon into the sauce and my kids and husband love to suck on the sticks to get the remaining cinnamon and sauce out of the stick.


Cold Cranberry Salad
2 Oranges (Peeled but before peeling make sure you use make the zest for the cooked version)
2 Apples (Peeled and Cored)
1 Piece of Celery
1 Qt Package of Cranberries
2 Boxes of Cherry Jell-O
3 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Hot Water

1) In serving bowl, add water to Jell-o and stir until dissolved
2) Chop oranges, apples, and celery in a grinder or food processor
3) Add sugar to chopped mixture and stir
4) Add chopped mixture to Jell-O and stir
5) Put in Icebox or frig until fully jelled and ready to serve.

Musings

Have you ever thought any of these? I have among others. And cuz it is Monday, I don't have anything else. Except for maybe old people who learn new terms and insist their children have no clue what that means and I prove them wrong - yep talking about you, 'my pretty'! (You should recognize what movie that phrase came from - your favorite, right?)

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day. (Today was that day!)

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection. I mean first it was 78's then 45's then 8 tracks then cassette tapes then microcassette tapes then VCR's then DVD's. Now there's blue rays? What is next?

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word or Excel and it asks me if I want to save any changes that I swear I did not make any changes to. (It's one of those should I or shouldn't I? I use the save as then label it as 1 then go back and compare and find it is the same exact thing. I didn't change anything.)

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever. (Ever)!

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away? Or are you just getting back at me because I was in the bathroom and didn't get to the phone in time.)

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. (Or put people on the silent ring tone or label them as something else in Facebook so they never see me and I never see them.)

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my A** everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

Why is there no light in the freezer? I think the freezer deserves one as well.

Spiritual Sunday - Patience

http://greatday.com/motivate/

Patience saves you money. Patience saves time, reduces stress, and improves your relationships. With patience, you have the ability to achieve things that are simply not possible without it. Using patience, you can more fully understand and be understood.

Looking at life with patience, you can uncover and experience rich treasures that you otherwise never would have known about. Living with patience, you develop the persistence to create great and valuable things.

Patience does not mean sitting back and doing nothing. On the contrary, patience means always doing the very best you can do, while understanding that the results you seek will not come immediately.

Patience is the acknowledgement that the quality of life is much more important than the quantity of things with which you fill it. Patience is the willingness to accept what is, for right now, while putting all you have into creating the best that can be.

Make the most of the many opportunities life provides for you to practice patience. With patience is your life fully and richly lived.

-- Ralph Marston

Wow....pretty powerful words. I love Ralph Marston's website and his daily posts.

"Patience is a Virtue" - any mother, any employee, any owner of a new kitten or puppy, any father, any child who thinks they want something......we all learn about patience. It isn't a habit, or something to be learned. Instead patience is a state of balance that rises simply out of understanding - a gift that comes after a period of time, struggle, perspective, judgement, and a peacefulness of the mind. Wikipedia defined it as "the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast." For a Christian, it is one of the seven virtues that goes with chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, and humility.

I am still learning it. Somehow it pops up every single day in some way, shape, or form.

Garbage

It has come to my attention that there is a certain male-specific deficit as related to a very specific household task (note that my male specimens are actually quite adept at some household chores and these are very very appreciated. Very appreciated). I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s the genes contained in that extra arm of the X chromosome that breaks off to become a Y in the male species that causes this deficit. Both of the male specimens in my house have this deficit.

Taking out the garbage is undoubtedly the greatest threat to the harmony of any household. Especially with those male specimens who have problems with when or how frequently this should be done.

I am sure there are others in this same dilemma so I have complied some simple easy to follow instructions:

Before we start, you have to IDENTIFY and RECOGNIZE and SEE the problem. Don't wait to be reminded or nagged. Therefore if you try to put some garbage into the garbage can and it falls right out because the trash is already piled higher than the rim, do not see how high it can go. Do not ignore the garbage that is now lying on the floor. Also, this house is not a basketball court. There are no baskets here for you to try to toss your garbage into. There is no other person who is going after your missed shot. If the garbage can is filled all the way past the top, you may not throw your garbage on the counter or floor or sink instead. This should be an indication to you to take it out. Do not ever say to the female chromosome person any of the following: "I don't even use that garbage can." "It's not my turn." "I didn't see it." Instead you should be kissing the butt of the female chromosome person and saying: "Why yes, my beautiful wife/mother, I will joyfully empty the garbage can." or "My beautiful wife/mother, I took it upon myself to change the garbage when I noticed it was on the full side. Is there anything else I can do to help you to make your life easier?" Oh and if you put something really stinky in the garbage, like old food or your garlicy spicy take out dinner, please tie up the bag immediately and take it outside — even if the bag is not filled to its breaking point yet.

Okay let's get started with the instructions:

1. In order to take out your garbage, one must locate one's garbage. There is a saying: "One man's trash is another man's treasure." For the purposes of this analysis, we assume that trash is easily identifiable and stored in a centralized location in the primary living quarters. Trash that is widely distributed or not contained in a standardized refuse vessel is not considered in this list.

2. Verify garbage eligibility - in general, garbage should fill or nearly fill the primary garbage container before taking out the trash is a viable alternative. Special conditions such as excessively smelly trash or an imminent vacation should also be taken into consideration.

3. Verify that taking out the trash is a viable option - A crushing-down process could reduce the volume of garbage to the extent that taking out might be put off for a few days but that option is not allowed in this house.

4. Remove the garbage bag from the inner rigid container and seal it by tying the two red ends together tightly in a double knot. One can use their Boy Scout knotting abilities to accomplish this.

5. Transfer the garbage bag to the garage-based vessel located in the garage - the big green can with the words GARBAGE CONTAINER on its side. It is very easy to locate as it does not hide under anything. Even the chromosome deficient can easily locate it. Note this does not mean placing the plastic garbage bag next to the green container. You actually have to use your chromosome deficient arms to heft the garbage bag into the inside of the green garbage container. Please note the green garbage container has a lid. I understand this hampers you but deal with it and lift it up before placing the bag into the container and remember to close it after. Please believe me that placing this garbage bag into the container will not affect the garbage that is already in there - they will become friends.

6. Come back into the house and replace the white garbage bag in the inner rigid container and place the rigid container back into the outside silver rigid container.

7. Repeat all steps as necessary. This might mean this has to be done on a daily basis. Get used to it and stop whining.

AND NEVER EVER EVER SAY TO ME THAT IS NOT MY JOB!

Chronically Late People

My husband and I have been feuding about this for a while. I am always ready to leave the house in plenty of time to be at a certain place, leaving 15 minutes to spare for those things that come up (getting caught by a train, traffic, etc). My husband, on the other hand, is a chronically late person. Ironically enough, he was on time for our wedding and I was the one who was late - but in my defense, I was already in the car at my parent's house when his parents and grandmother showed up at our house to take pictures (they had not been invited - just showed up). So I got back out of the car and took pictures with them but I ended up being 15 minutes late then to the church.

Yesterday I told my husband what my plans were and what time I wanted to leave the house. At that exact time I was ready and had already packed the car. He hadn't even gotten into the shower. So I left and met one of my office girls for lunch. She asked how long did I think he would notice I had left. I said probably not for 30 minutes when he was finally ready. Sure enough, 30 minutes later I get a phone call from him trying to find out where I was.

It's a pet peeve of mine. I hate walking into somewhere late. I decided to do some research to get into my husband's head into reasons why he is so chronically late.

I found it is more than poor time management. Late people tend to be one of the following:
1. The rationalizer has a hard time acknowledging responsibility for lateness and tends to blame outside circumstances. Yep, sounds like my husband.

2. The producer wants to squeeze as much into every minute as possible; they are always busy. Also sounds like my husband.

3. The deadliner subconsciously enjoys the last-minute sprint to the finish line; they feel more alive when running out of time. Maybe this is it - he gets off on rushing around.

4. The indulger exercises less self-control; tends to procrastinate. This also describes him.

5. The rebel resists authority and everyday rules; might run late as a form of control. Also sounds like him.

6. The absent-minded professor is easily distracted, forgetful and caught up in their own introspection. This is one excuse he gives - the office can't run without him so they can wait for him.

7. The evader feels anxiety about his or her environment and tries to control it; their own needs or routine come before being on time. Also is my husband.

One website gave some tips on how to handle the chronically late:
1. Don't take it personally. Most aren't trying to be inconsiderate. Wrong - this is saying what I feel isn't important as what he is feeling.

2. Discuss the problem openly and honestly before too much resentment builds. Let him or her know that the lateness bothers you, but keep it constructive. Been there done that got nowhere.

3. Set parameters. Let Ms. or Mr. Late know you'll leave after 15 minutes of waiting, or ask them to call if they're running late. Just started doing this. Didn't faze him at all.

4. Be encouraging and patient. It may take time to see improvement. Offer compliments when you see a change. Don't think I will live long enough for this to happen.

5. If the late person is your doctor, dentist, hairdresser, etc., you may want to call ahead to see if they're running late. What if it is the doctor who is doing it? Plus in my eyes, not an excuse and I won't go to doctors who don't run on time.

6. You can try fudging it from time to time by telling the person to be somewhere at 7:30 if you really mean 8. Again a been there done that didn't work.

7. Keep it in perspective. Don't forget the person's great traits. This is one of the reasons why we are still married. But the lateness is really really starting to bug me.

Anyone have any other tips?

Not a Green Thumb

I was drawn to an article on cnn.com:

Houseplants So Low Maintenance Even You (Probably) Won't Kill Them
Posted by Brad Tuttle Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Who needs a high-maintenance houseplant? If you're going through the trouble of decorating your home with some greenery, it makes sense to buy something that'll last—even if your home is as dark as a basement, your ability to remember to water is nearly nonexistent, and your thumbs aren't remotely green.
Among some suggestions for "No-Fail Houseplants" are Pothos and Spath:

- Pothos: This leafy, versatile houseplant can endure two of the biggest plant maintenance no-nos for extended periods of time: Low light and low water levels.

- Spath: This hardy, leafy dark green plant has long skinny stems with a spike of itsy-bitsy white micro flower at its tips. It thrives in low light and it actually hangs onto water for weeks before drooping leaves signal that it's time for a swig.

Tried both. Killed both. Chia pets don't even grow under my care.

My idea of inside greenery: fake. The kind you buy and never have to water and throw them out when they collect too much dust.

Outside: no mess - no bother - no planting - they come up all on their own every year - things like tulips, hostas, flowering bushes, etc. Husband plants a vegetable garden every year filled with the things we like and I use for cooking. He is in charge of it - I don't even look at anything but the produce for fear of killing it. Oh and I leave the watering to my husband. The outside looks nice. The inside looks nice too - just nothing live except the animals and humans.