Bejeweled Barbie

  This is one of those experiences that is only funny after the fact.  We came out to the car and couldn't stop laughing! But, the temperature in the car was not too chill before we went in...... It All started with those dumb coupons on your Dollar General receipt. You may have seen them or used them. $5 off $25 or occasionally $10 off $40, good only one Saturday. Dollar General is the only store remotely close to us. ( Hum  the Cheers song..."where everybody knows your name.")  Ken needed something for his grill-out tonight and he had a $5 off coupon. He asked if I wanted to go, but we had already gotten groceries. But, as I perused the digital coupons and saw a $10 off $40. Oh, boy!! So, I hatched a plan that I would buy $40.00 worth of food for meals and a few side items to accompany the meat in our chest freezer for only $30. This was a brilliant, money saving idea, and I was jumping at the bit to put it into motion. Going down the country road to DG, as we call...

Funny stories don't usually come via the Obituaries, but that is just what happened to me today. I used to question why people picked up the newspaper and went straight to the obits. Now that I am of a certain age, I understand. Daily I read the email obituaries from the local newspaper, or what is left of it.   Often, perusing the names of the deceased and their kin will jog your memory of someone or some event that you haven't thought of in ages.  Today, there was the photograph and long obituary of a lady from the church in which I grew up. Her late husband is the one who I am sharing this story about; it is 100% true.   This church was the largest, most affluent Baptist church in town. It was what you would call "high church," although absent some of the liturgy used in Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches.  You had to walk up a very large set of steps as though you were entering a Roman temple. (In later years, an elevator was installed for ...

  In the photo above, what you see is an expensive package of Hawaian sub buns (hoagie buns) with one missing!  Apparenly someone in the pathway of our Walmart grocery order yesterday got hungry and helped themselves!  We started out with Walmart Delivery during the pandemic, never joining for longer than a month at a time. We would get frustrated and not renew, only finding ourselves back when our life was too busy or too tiring or too whatever to warrant a long grocery-shopping trip. Then when Walmart offered a year's membership for half price, I jumped on it.  (There are no refunds on yearly memberships, just saying.) We have had a few unusual items arrive with our orders, and we have had a few orders almost not arrive....we looked outside once to see our groceries being unloaded across the street.  The young neighbor happened to realize it and redirected the delivery.  We had one or two call us and ask which mailbox was ours that they couldn't figure it...

 Over the years I have had many breadmakers. Apparently most people don't use theirs enough to justify the space used to store it.  Thus, the Goodwill usually has at least one almost-unused breadmaker on hand at any given time. Recently I purchased a new Breadmaker by Toastmaster, and I am thrilled with it!  Unlike the others I have had, this one does not take up as much room on my counter,  I have not had a bad loaf yet! i can't say enough about this little breadmaker.  Here is the Amazon link if you would like to purchase one. ( I do get a small commision on the sale.)     My first breadmaker was a gift from my one of the dearest friends who has siince passed on .  She taught me to make bread using her  breadmaker recipe, and other than substituting kefir for milk sometimes,  I still use this as my go to bread recipe.  The order of adding the ingredients is the most important thing. White bread 1.5 lb loaf Ingredients: O...

 I heard the news from Texas yesterday, before we were to go live with our weekly Coffee and Jewelry Show on YouTube. I was alone. After watching part of the initial report, I had to turn away. I could not watch one second longer.  Ironically, it wasn't shock I was feeling.  Perhaps it was the realization that we were no longer shocked by these stories that gave me a dull, sick feeling. I tried to force myself to go back to the news clip and get specifics, but the newscaster was saying that all the facts were not yet being relesed because officials were still trying to notify parents.  This felt like a hard punch in the gut. As a mother, grandmother and great- grandmother, empathy kicked in for a few moments.  This was my child and my phone call; I couldn't bear it. So, I fled. (Clicked out of it) I have not been able to view the coverage, but I see headlines that the death count has gone up.  I can't discuss much about the event, since I have avoided most ...

 An elegant European take on an old Appalachian staple.  My husband loved it. Ingredients : 1 can corned beef 2 onions, cut in pieces, but not diced 4 or 5 small to med potatoes, cut in larger pieces, but not peeled One TABLESPOON black pepper Five TABLESPOONS  apple cider vinegar 6 eggs 4 slices Muenster cheese Three handfuls of fresh baby spinach Salt to preference Grated parmesan sprinkle Optional: very light touch of cayenne on top Generous amount of vegetable oil Chili sauce or ketchup Directions : Add generous oil to deep skillet on medium. Add potatoes, onions and pepper. Allow to brown a few minutes. Add corned beef, cut in cubes. Allow to cook while stirring often with spatula. Add more oil as needed to prevent scorching. Add vinegar one TABLESPOON at a time, allowing it to cook on low for a few minutes between each spoonful. When potatoes are getting soft, top with spinach with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Place Muenster slices on top. Crack eggs on top of cheese, be...

  Today is Elliot's birthday. He has been my son's best friend since childhood. After I saw the reminder on Facebook, I began to think about something that Elliot did in 2014 that will forever be one of my most cherished memories. i don't really know if he knows just how much it meant to me then and still today.  Let me tell you about it. In 2014 my mother passed away. She had been hit by a car in 2004 with many injuries, the worst of which required brain surgery.  She lived 10 more years after that with multiple health challenges:    a broken hip, colon cancer and Parkinson's. She had "died" so many times. God raised her up each time to bring Him glory, which she did!  My son was very close to "Dee," as we all called her, and he spent quite a lot of his time with her when he was in. At the time he was a cross country truck driver, travelling to California every week and back. When my mom died, we were afraid to tell my son until he got to his destin...

"Everywhere I go, I get slandered, libeled I hear words I never heard in the Bible And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine Two steps away from the county line I'm just trying to keep my customer satisfied, satisfied"  Listen to Simon and Garfunkel sing it here. I was just thinking about an email exchange I had last night with a customer. In case you didn't know, we have a jewelry show every Tuesday at 7 pm est.  A customer had written me that an omega necklace did not fit but that the bracelets did. Since I had measured and stated that everyone could wear it, I promptly refunded her, although she did NOT ask. I emailed her back to tell her, and she was very upset. "Oh, no, can you undo it? I wasn't expecting that!"  The Question is why not? That is our policy with everyone. We don't ask questions, and we refund immediately. Whatever the reason, my husband and I want our customers happy.  Isn't that how businesses operate? Apparently, not so ...

  You may be puzzling over the weird title of today's post; this is what is on my mind tonight.  Perhaps there is some connection between the seemingly random topics that you will eventually see....who knows? Let's start with Putin Last night I happened to recall  Russian President Putin visiting President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. I pulled up a few articles about it to confirm my memory was correct. Yes, there was much ado in 2001 about the "good old boy" relationship between the odd couple.  You can read about that here. You can even read here about Putin visiting local schools in Crawford!  In my research, I pulled up articles about Putin's 2-day visit in 2007 with the Bush family at their Kennebunkport conclave. ( HERE ) I found this even more weird. Now, like a mad man, this Bush chum is aggressively attacking the people in the Ukraine! Does this fit the narrative? Many pundits (read here ) are speculating that Putin is indeed mad, m...

After a trip to Dollar Tree Monday, I have been pretty much depressed about it .  I knew the $1.25 price point was coming, but I wasn't aware it was going to be every item in the store.  I wasn't happy about it, although I understood it. How could they offer all that value for only a dollar anyway? However, the thing that set me off on a rant was something else totally unexpected. The first thing we picked up was $5!  Many other items we looked at were $3, and it literally flabbergasted us. All that store shelf real estate used to be full of all kinds of goodies that you knew were only $1.  This is a good point to mention that ever since Dollar Tree has been in existence, my husband has never missed the opportunity to ask me multiple times per shopping trip, "How much is this?" He has always found it hysterically funny! When we went in this time he immediately commented, "Now I can REALLY ask you, 'How much is this?'"  There have been so many changes...

 " Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone" Joni Mitchell, from "Big Yellow Taxi" Things have been weird for over 2 years now. Sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long sleep, unaware of all the changes that have taken place while we were cocooned at home, avoiding Covid.  It has lately become apparent that these life-altering sea changes are probably not temporary like we originally thought they were.  After two years, the very fiber of our world has indeed been transformed...and not in a good way.  If you scroll back in this blog, you can read a blog entry I made during the early days of this Covid nightmare. I speculated about how our lives might change, but at that time, I had no earthly idea how much. Let's look at a few areas that have been impacted. Death All of the traditional practices that go along with grieving a loved one have changed. This observation is actually what prompted the w...

  Everyone who has had this Pea Salad wants the recipe.  Even people who do NOT like peas like this crunchy salad. It is simple and quick to assemble. If you buy already cooked eggs, you don't even need to boil an egg. Ingredients: 1 package of frozen peas thawed a little, not cooked 3 boiled eggs, chopped 1 onion chopped 1/2 cup mayo (more or less to taste) 1/2 cup sour cream Squirt of pickle relish Salt, pepper and Paprika Instructions: Combine lightly frozen peas with chopped onion, eggs and pickle relish Add Mayo and Sour Cream. If needed, add a touch more mayo. Season with salt, pepper and paprika....top with a sprinkle of paprika for color. I usually sit on counter a minute then serve,  You can make it ahead and chill in fridge if desired,

Once upon a time there was a little gray and brown squirrel .   Nobody knows his name, so we will just call him squirrel for now .   Later in the story, you may hear him referred to as "That stupid squirrel," but he was  actually very  clever indeed.   Squirrel lived in a very cozy  home, inside  the downstairs  hearth  of the 2-story house by the creek. You see, the two little boys who lived there apparently had prepared an exquisite little apartment inside the wood stove insert for squirrel, complete with a cardboard box Bed with nice, soft bed linens.     The  entryway  was a bit steep and precarious, requiring squirrel to climb up on the highest part of the roof to the chimney and slide down two stories.  But,  squirrel was  sure-footed  and he felt very safe when he reached his warm  abode .    He could peak through the grates of the stove and see the  boys  throw...