Camera Critters (#83)

Time for some pics of our resident critters, Tillie and Weasley – the cutest kitties in the house, maybe the whole world.

Tillie still isn’t too sure about this interloper.

And Weasley just wants to be close.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

We've Got Candy

Image by Scorpions and Centaurs via Flickr

I think we have more than enough candy around here. It's so hard to resist those after-Halloween candy clearance sales. The candy is just as good the day after the holiday - it just costs half as much. Makes me wonder why anyone would be dumb enough to buy it beforehand. Anyway...

We hit Walgreens on Sunday and got a whole bunch. Then yesterday I bought just one bag of peanut butter kisses when I went to Walmart. When I got home, Cory asked me why I only got one bag. I told him I thought I was the only one who really ate them, so I only needed the one bag, otherwise I'd either feel really bad or be searching for the best weight loss pill because I ate so much candy.

That's when he informed me that he, and his sister, were guilty of getting into my bag of peanut butter kisses last year. No wonder they disappeared so fast!

Five for Fighting - Slice

If every album provides snapshots of where an artist's mind and heart is at the moment, Slice, the latest offering from John Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting), is a collection of digital jpegs and faded Polaroids. The album takes stories of friends, family and even American servicemen, and sets them to music shot through with the spirit of the great songs of his youth. It's a diary, or a blog, in which Ondrasik speaks his mind about current issues, experiences and sentiments, while setting those thoughts to piano, bass and drums.

I like a lot of different music, but I had never really paid attention to Five for Fighting until I was offered a chance to download the new CD Slice. Sure, I had heard of Five for Fighting and even heard of a couple of the songs, Superman and 100 Years, but that was it.

I've really been missing something, because I'm loving this CD! I'm pretty sure he had me from the first notes on the piano, and then the lyrics, well, I'm loving them, too. Lyrics like - "There was a time a long, long time ago/Chevies and levies played on the radio/No cell phones just 20,000 lights, swaying on a Saturday night." from the title track. And how can you not smile at a song that begins, "This is not our favorite song"?

I wasn't home when I first downloaded the CD (prior to the October 13 release date) so I didn't really get a chance to listen to it for a while. Since then I've burned it to CD so I can listen to it on my home stereo and listened to it several times. John made several television appearances, which I missed because I hadn't really listened to the CD yet or paid attention to the dates, but luckily several of them are available on the Five for Fighting website. John is also currently on tour with An Acoustic Evening with Five For Fighting, so check the tour schedule on the website to see if he's coming to a city near you. Of course, seeing all the SOLD OUT dates, I'm thinking that you better already have tickets! The closest he got to here was Chicago this last Friday night, but I missed that one. I guess I'll just have to play the CD again...

Please enjoy the video for Chances, the first single from Slice:



Slice is available now. You can buy it on iTunes and Amazon.com
Album Tracklisting:

1. Slice
2. Note To The Unknown Soldier
3. Tuesday
4. Chances
5. This Dance
6. Above The Timberline
7. Transfer
8. Hope
9. Story Of Your Life
10. Love Can't Change The Weather
11. Augie Nieto

Note: I received this CD download at no cost thanks to One2One Network in exchange for my opinion.

Oh, and I am going to have to look up some of the older Five for Fighting songs that I missed.

New Floors

I should take some pictures of the house now that we've got things basically put back, but so far I haven't. I do keep admiring my new floors though. You can see some pictures of the whole project here, though. (If you're interested)

Another Cookbook

Remember how last week I was talking about needing to get rid of some cookbooks? I actually boxed up a few of them to get rid of. It's a good thing, because this morning I found out that I won another cookbook! I won The Pioneer Woman Cooks from The Frugal Girls, and I can't wait to get it. Sure there are all kinds of recipes, with mouth-watering pictures, available on The Pioneer Woman Cooks!, but again, there's just something about a book.

And I might actually have room on the shelf for it, either that or figure out what other one to get rid of because this looks like a great book.

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Camera Critters (#82)

Last month Cory had to work at an event at the zoo, so Jeffrey and I spent a few hours walking around and visiting the animals.  That means I ought to have Camera Critters posts for months!  Especially since I have to post pictures of our resident critters, too.

For this week I’ll start with the first animal we saw at the zoo, the penguin:

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

I'm Needing Some Sleep

Cover of Barn Party (I Am Reading)

I'm watching the weather, and they're calling for all night rain and morning showers. What that probably means is no walking in the morning. Since there's no school tomorrow (Teachers' Convention) I don't even have to get up if I don't want to. I'll probably still get up when Jeffrey does because I still have lots to do tomorrow. I only got one of the bathrooms cleaned, so I need to clean the other one, and I need to make a big pot of chili for the Barn Party and maybe some caramel corn, too. And finish putting stuff back in the living room, or at least put it away for the weekend. And figure out something for dinner and something for breakfast on Saturday, and...

Just thinking about it all makes me tired. As soon as Jeffrey finishes copying the music from his portable hard drives to his computer, and as soon as Cory's friends go home, and as soon as Tim goes home, I can go to bed. I hope that's soon.

So Many Cookbooks

I got all my cookbooks moved back into the dining room and shelved today. I moved them to a different shelving unit and went through them as I pulled them out of the boxes, hoping to get rid of a few. I love my cookbooks. It's really hard to let go of any of them, but I did manage to fill a box with some that I've never used and probably never will. I had about 5 microwave cookbooks, and I've never actually cooked anything in the microwave. Microwaves are for heating frozen vegetables and leftovers, right? So I boxed up all but 1 of those books. Yep, I had to hold onto 1, even though I'll probably never use it, but just in case. I got rid of a few others, too.

I need some more time to go through all the cooking magazines I have, though - Taste of Home, Vegetarian Times, Food and Family - so many magazines with so many great-looking recipes in them. But, do I really need all the magazines? Couldn't I just tear out the recipes I'd like to try and toss the rest? Except that takes time. It would probably be easier to just toss them all and get all my recipes from the internet, but I'm going to have to ease myself into that. When I get tired of going through all the magazines, maybe. I mean, I know you can find recipes for anything you want on the Internet, instantly compare term life insurance quotes, find the best route for your trip, watch TV shows, and all kinds of other things, but there's just something more real about having an actual recipe in a cookbook, with pictures.

Of course, if I could have a flat panel screen mounted into a cabinet door in my kitchen so I could bring up the recipes I wanted to use, I might be more inclined to toss the cookbooks...

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Looking at the Sky on Friday - 34

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

While we were hiking at Starved Rock State Park a couple weeks ago we noticed this dramatic line across the sky – light on one side, dark on the other.

I’m not sure exactly why it looked like that, but it was cool to see.

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

I A-Salted my Flowers

I read somewhere that a good way to dust silk flowers is to put them into a bag, add some salt, and shake. So, this morning I tried it. I think it was supposed to be a paper sack, and I'm pretty sure there was some specific measurement of salt, but I just threw them into a plastic bag and poured some salt in on top. Then I grabbed the stems and closed the top of the bag around them and shook. Holding onto the stems is important, especially in the plastic bag, because otherwise they poke through, make holes, and the salt comes out. I still lost a little salt, but I was out on the deck so I didn't worry about it too much.

The end result is - cleaner silk roses than I've had in months, maybe years. This works really well.

Now if I only had some great tips for cleaning my bathrooms. I need to get the tubs and sinks really, really clean so I can use my Turtle Wax ICE on them, and hopefully keep them clean and shiny. I'd much prefer staying here on the computer waiting for you to share some great tips, but I really do need to go clean the bathrooms now. Go ahead and leave those tips, though, because you know how it goes - the cleaning is never done. Clean it now and, before you know it, it's time to clean again.