Bits'n'Pieces

Just little things I found interesting, cute or funny - some thoughts, phrases, pics, whatever. I hope you'll find them of interest, too.

Donny and Marie (Osmond) were on The Tonight Show on Monday. When Jay asked her about her love life, she didn't hesitate before replying: "I'm going through menopause. That means the men are on pause." It made me laugh!

So, just imagine my surprise when I heard she remarried her ex this morning. She didn't know this by Monday?!?! (I did get married in Vegas, too. You can do it on the spur of the moment!) How on earth did she keep a straight face? She's tried to build such an image of openness, honesty and a "this is me - take it or leave it" attitude. Maybe she just woke up and looked at life as a single mom of eight and thought, "Why should I be stuck in this alone while he's not on the hook? "

Seriously, I wish her all the happiness in the world.

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The Big Guy and I like our food (among other things) a bit on the spicy side. You know, the kind that leaves a bit of a bite. (I am known as the Cajun cook in our crowd. I also do a lot of Mexican-style foods.) So we loved this description given about a hot and spicy dish the other day : "It's a little slap and a tickle." We've been working it into our daily conversations ever since!

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When the daughter of a professional chef begins to dabble in the kitchen at a very young age, one might say she "was born with a wooden spoon in her mouth!"



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Listed in the Lost and Found Ads in the local paper:

LOST - Floating pier with aluminum ladder
on the Elk River; Call xxx-xxx-xxxx

Now, that's not something one easily walks off with tucked under their jacket or in their purse!

I hope they find it before swimming season!

Bits'n'Pieces

Bits and pieces of unconnected thoughts, quirky facts, questions, etc.

** Last week I saw something for the first time I can ever remember. A middle-aged woman at a concert dropped her cigarette on the ground, went to step on it to put it out, hesitated since she was barefoot and, after careful consideration, went ahead and ground it out with her heel. She didn't seem any the worse for wear. (She didn't seem drunk at the time either.)

**Speaking of cigarettes, I come from a state with some of the strictest smoking in public laws so I found it a bit ironic that at Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino in Des Moines, you can't smoke outside in the grandstands BUT you can step inside and light up!

**Also on the subject of tobacco, it is illegal to smoke anywhere on the property owned by union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore including "in your personal vehicle" parked in the hospital's hi-rise garage. Neighbors of the hospital are complaining about nurses and doctors congregating in front of their homes on the public sidewalks to stand and smoke while on break. This occurs at all hours. They chat loudly and litter the yards and walkways with cigarette butts and coffee cups. When asked to smoke somewhere else, they often become outspoken and obnoxious. Some neighbors claim the smoke is so thick they are prevented from enjoying their own yards and porches. There are some other neighborhoods in the city where, when patrons step outside a bar to smoke, they are cited for loitering. (Apparently doctors can't be charged with that.)

**Another observation made at that concert mentioned above, if your pockets hang below the bottom of your cutoffs and you are over the age of 18, your shorts are too short and you shouldn't be wearing them with 4" heels, either. They do not make you look like Daisy Duke or Ellie May Clampett!

**I just discovered peach-flavored Fresca! I find it tastes very similar to peach flavored white wine (one of my faves) and it's perfectly acceptable to drink it at any time of day and in just about any situation. You can even drive after gulping a litre or more!

**Omarosa ?!? Matchmaking ?!? In the same sentence!! Oh, come on, Donald! Get real!! Does anybody really want to watch that?

Bits'n'Pieces

You never know who you'll spot at the Post Office "just taking care of business!"

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I've had some odds and ends of news and stuff floating around for a few days but had specific posts planned so just held them in. (I should have made some notes!)

Facebook:

First, and foremost, I FINALLY set up a Facebook Fan Page for my Estsy shop, Splashin!!! I started out to do this almost a year ago. At that time, I didn't set it up correctly and ended up simply canceling the account. Recently, after being begged by quite a few friends, I rejoined Facebook with a personal account and have had a ball reconnecting with old friends and setting up quicker communications with family members. (Most of the younger ones moved on from e-mail to Facebook quite a while ago.) It was those younger ones who were pushing me to get a Fan Page going.

As many of you know, Facebook requires you to have 25 Fans before allowing you to have a short page title. When you start out, it's a little bit of a complicated link with several parts and lots of numbers. Right now, 30 hours into this venture, I'm still a few short of that number but you can check out my page and Fan me if you'd like by clicking on the Facebook button on the left sidebar here. Or, you can click here and get there, too. Whichever you'd prefer, I'd love to have you stop by and check it out. Please let me know what you think of the page and what you'd like to see there, either by commenting on the Wall, leaving me a note here or even e-mailing me from the Splashin page.

Splish'n'Splash Kitchen:

In other news, I'm developing a second blog. This one will still be my daily spot to chat but I wanted a designated place to discuss food and everything related to food. Yes, I admit it. I AM A FOODIE. So, to deal with that fact of life, I'm diving into a food blog.

I'll be launching Splish'n'Splash Kitchen this weekend (probably on Sunday.) There will be a recipe from time to time but this will mostly be a place for food news, food humor, cooking tales - good and bad, family cooking and eating together, features about folks who are involved with food in some way or do a craft that is food oriented or inspired (I've already lined up a few of those.) I have some food events I plan to tell you about and maybe even a food game or two. The reviews of all those culinary mysteries I love to read, will now appear over there.

This will NOT be a low-fat venture!!!

I don't know if I'll be posting there daily but I hope to get something up at least 4 or 5 times a week. I've spent some time preparing some posts to start off with and I will be reprinting a few that have run here over the last two years, also. I hope you'll take a few minutes to check it out from time to time. I'll let you know which day it actually takes off.

BBQ Competitions:
We'll be judging at the first BBQ event of our season this weekend. Pork in the Park will take place in Salisbury, Maryland Friday through Sunday. This particular contest has grown quickly to become one of the largest competitions in the country and the biggest this side of the Mississippi. They are expecting 125 competitors this year.

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll have good weather. The first few years, this event was plagued by monsoon-like rains but last year was absolutely perfect and the crowds definitely turned out. Over 31,000 people came for the food, crafts, music and other entertainment. We're definitely ready for some great slow-cooked BBQ!!! It's been a long winter.


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There were some bits of national news that fired me up earlier in the week ("enraged" might be a better word) but I've had a few days to calm down and won't repeat my tirades here. ( My family and friends were already subjected to to that!)

What up, Man ?

So, yesterday, I glanced over at the car next to me at a red light. The driver was 45ish and looked like a mountain man or a Z Z Topp wannabe - a bit hairy! But what really caught my eye was the pile of empty 1 and 2 litre soda bottles in his back seat. I was in a van so I was looking down on this. The back seat of this small (something like a Civic) red car was completely full, right up to the front seat headrests, of empty bottles!! They were just tossed in there loose.

I had cartoon-like visions of him reaching his destination and throwing open the back doors to simply allow all those bottles to spill out in mounds. My cartoon vision then had the bottles quickly rolling, frantically in all directions, making a quick get-away ! I could picture this bearded wonder standing there shouting "No! No! Come back!"

I mean, what's up with a back seat full of loose empty bottles? Do you think he's just tossed them back there, one at a time, as he finished drinking them? How long would it take to fill up the entire back seat like that?

We don't live anywhere near a recycling center (It's at least an hour away) and wouldn't it be easier to put them in some sort of container if you were collecting them for recycling as opposed to simply throwing them in the backseat?

At times like this, I wish Paul Harvey was still around just to tell THE REST OF THE STORY !

Bits 'n' Pieces

How’s this for a Veterans’ Day story? Heard on our local news last night (didn‘t catch where) - A man was recently mugged on the street. While rummaging through his wallet, the two thieves found his Active Duty U.S. Navy I.D. They not only immediately returned his wallet and watch, but both profusely thanked him for his service to our country! Isn’t it great to know there is still honor among thieves?

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I’m working on that challenge I recently issued to all you bloggers. Okay, I was, in actuality, triple-dog dared, first. The challenge is to check in on every one of the followers of my blog. There are quite a few, so it’s taking some time and I couldn’t start till I got home from vacation. I need to leave relative comments for each and let them know I appreciate their following. I made it to ten of you yesterday and the journey continues, so please, leave the light on. I’ll make my way to you soon. By the way, not all the comments I made yesterday were related to that effort, some were just in the course of my regular readings.
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Just for the record, I made a fantastic dinner last night. It was the moistest turkey I’ve ever cooked in the oven. We do a lot of turkey but normally smoke them on the grill. Unfortunately, I don’t know what I did to make it turn out so good. In essence, I did nothing. I basically smeared it with some margarine inside and out and sprinkled it with a nice dry rub - again, inside and out. I sat it on a raised rack in the roaster, and stuck in the oven, uncovered, at 325 ° until it reached an internal temp of 186°. (I was aiming at 190 but it decided on it’s own to simply not to go any higher!) Notably, there were almost no pan juices at all. Now, if I could only get it to turn out as well when there are guests!
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I’m sad. This is the last weekend of the season at our local crab house so we’ve got big plans for steamed crabs for tomorrow’s dinner. They won’t reopen until April ! We will miss them.

New Bits'n'Pieces

WARNING : The pictures illustrating this post have absolutely nothing to do with today's subject. They just make me feel good !

Okay, I watched the live feed very closely when that rocket hit the moon’s surface this morning and I saw - nothing. Absolutely nothing!! So, I’m confused. What were all those NASA folks applauding?

Congrats to Barack Obama for wining the Nobel Peace Prize. All of America should beam like proud parents. I only wonder if the significance of the award is diminished when it is awarded for “potential” as opposed to “accomplishment.” Were the European powers-that-be performing one last comment on the former administration?

One has to wonder about the sheer amount of air time dedicated to the Letterman events this week. Has it impacted your life personally? Hasn’t had any effect on mine but I am tired of hearing about it. Isn’t this really between those couples directly involved?

Now, this item is worth noting. Bertha Church, of Baltimore County, Maryland, turned 100 in May, this year. She’s been crocheting since she was a child and some years ago decided to put those skills to constructive use by crocheting little caps for the newborns at the local hospital. She’s still making and donating about 12 caps per month and, since 1990, has donated approximately 2700 hats to that hospital!!! Go, Bertha!!!

In a personal note to The Retired One, were you in NYC this morning? Someone in the crowd on The Today Show was holding up a sign stating “Yooper Women!” Actually, the holder of the sign appeared to be a good looking young man! I thought maybe you, or another of my UP friends were doing a NYC tour!! (LOL) P.S. If it was you, we expect pictures!!!

I read an obituary for a gentleman recently that put a new twist on the concept of a “Celebration of Life.” He knew he was in the last stages of a long illness and threw his own party a few weeks before his death. His “Bon Voyage” affair was attended by over 100 of his family, friends and colleagues and was a real blow-out which his family claims he enjoyed thoroughly! Happy trails, my friend!


I’m not a big fan of the current Mayor of Baltimore. (Thankfully, I have not lived there in many years.) However, I must give her kudos for creatively instituting the furloughs necessitated by budget cuts. All non-essential City employees there are facing a number of furlough days in the coming year. She has tried to take some of the sting out of this by attaching those unpaid days off to several holiday weekends. The reasoning being: If you’re not being paid for the day, hopefully, you can at least do something fun and exciting with your extra-long weekend. This week, they are getting a 4-day Columbus Day weekend!

Hey, did you hear about the Faux Zebras at the Gaza zoo? Seems the zoo, the only last family attraction in Gaza, lost all of its animals except one lioness to starvation or escape during the military offensive. In an effort to restore the facility, zoo workers smuggled dogs,cats and monkeys in through tunnels from Eqypt but, at $15,00 per animal, they simply could not purchase a zebra. They could, however, have a local artist paint donkeys with stripes to look like zebras!! The Faux Zebras are now the main attraction at the zoo with little ones clamoring to have their pictures taken with them!! Talk about creative solutions!!!

I spent a little while last night playing with the layout of my Etsy shop. Etsy instituted the ability to rearrange your listings a few weeks back but I hadn't done anything with the new feature until now. With Halloween rushing toward us, I wanted to keep my Halloween items at the forefront but didn't want to devote the entire Featured Items section to them. So, I used the new feature to place them at the top of my listings, followed closely by the Christmas line-up. I'm happy to report, the new feature is super simple to use and does give us a chance to display a bit more effectively. If you have an Etsy presence and haven't tried this feature yet, jump in and play with it. It was definitely a long time coming.

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***In case you were wondering, I took these pics at the Freedom Festival in Simpsonville, SC in May, 2008. It was the first balloon festival I ever attended and I was impressed! I took a tremendous number of pictures so I have tons to choose from. They really make me happy just to look at them!

Bits 'n' Pieces

R.I.P., Patrick - You made my life richer!

My heart goes out to Patrick Swayze's family and friends. He put up a valiant fight and made the best of the time he was here with us. His legacy will live on for many years. I might need to sit back and watch Roadhouse or Ghost tonight in his honor. I, for one, will miss him.

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As I always have a few mini-subjects stock piled that I want to share, I've gathered a few up for tonight's post. Hope you enjoy them.

Did you hear about the guy who robbed a bank just as an excuse to get away form his wife? In Ephrata, PA (near Lancaster), a man expressed a desire to end his marriage in 2007 but his wife threatened suicide if he did. A compassionate man, he robbed a bank instead in hopes of getting a jail sentence, and, in that way, to get away from her. Well, he got his wish, two-fold. He was sentenced to 3-6 years for armed robbery (he used a BB gun) on Monday and his wife divorced him within the last few months. She didn't want to be married to a criminal!!

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How about some trivia? We've all heard the stories about miners taking canaries into the mines to act as CO detectors since the toxic gases tend to build up in those tight confined spaces. The fact I never heard until tonight, was that the birds' respiratory systems adapted to the gas and the miners would pass out before the birds did! So much for those tales of super bird heroes!! I wonder how many canaries lost their jobs when this scandal broke! (Shot the heck out of PETA's arguments there, too.)

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Okay, now something for your tummy -
I ordered a "Cajun Sausage" from a festival vendor last week. It sounded good and I expected something like a nice grilled andouille. Instead, it was a regular, decent quality mildly spicy sausage link that was laid in the roll, had some somewhat salty Cajun seasoning sprinkled over it and some sauteed onions plopped on top. Not what I had in mind but fairly tasty.

Of course, that got my mind working. Since andouille is often hard to come by in this end of the woods, I liked the concept and may very well try this on my own with some changes. I would try a little better quality spicy sausage, some salt-free Cajun seasoning (I make my own), a true Trinity of onions, peppers and celery (the basis of many a Cajun dish) and maybe even a remoulade sauce poured over the whole thing. I may even try this next week with our beach crowd. I'll have to let you know how that goes over.

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At the same festival, I came across a really unique photography technique. The artist had managed to maintain really vivid coloring in his prints which featured extremely simplistic subjects against very plain backdrops - single flowers, leaves, food, fish, etc. He then enlarged them well beyond life-size and developed a system of printing the pics onto artist's canvases. It gave them the effect of an original oil painting! He did have to keep after folks not to touch the framed pictures as customers just felt compelled to feel the texture of the canvas. Almost everyone asked "How'd you do that?" To which he replied, "It's magic!"

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That's all for tonight, folks !!!

Just another Thursday --

Thursday - July 2!!! Wow! How did it get to be July already?!? And, how did it get to be Thursday again so fast?!? I’m just overwhelmed!!

While we’re not heading out of town this weekend, we do have a full schedule planned so there’s lots to get done before we get moving on Friday afternoon. I’ve been hustling to get household chores, laundry and cooking done. I’ve had a few orders to work on (finished painting them this morning!!) and a major gift to design and create for next weekend (haven‘t started that one yet).

I’ve set to using a timer to keep me moving, allowing so much time for each activity and signaling when I need to move on. It’s working to some extent. Items are getting crossed off my To Do list which is progress but the list does seem to grow when I’m not looking. I’m beginning to think there are some sort of gremlins creeping around and sneaking new chores on that list. Maybe I’ll hide all the pens and pencils.

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In my spare time (Do we really have spare time?), I’ve caught bits and pieces from the news. (I keep a TV on in the background when I’m working - usually tuned to a news magazine type show or a talk show.)

Miracles do apparently do happen. Proof being the fact that rescuers were able to find that little girl clinging to a piece of the Yemeni plane that crashed this week. I’m totally amazed that she suffered only minor injuries.

On the other hand, one has to ask why we need to apply for licenses to keep dogs but anybody is allowed to have and raise children. Once again, local media have told us of a poor child left in a closed car yesterday for over 9 hours in extremely warm weather with tragic results. They have yet to charge the parent who, “due to a change in their regular routine,” forgot she had her 2-year-old in the car with her!! I find it totally unfathomable that this mother’s mind did not once, in 9 hours, think about her child!!! The police department spokesperson advised parents to put their purses or brief cases in the backseat with the child to avoid such errors. It is a sad state of affairs when one can remember her purse or briefcase as they get out of the car but not remember their child!

Then there are the folks in Florida whose pet python escaped his aquarium, slithered into a bedroom and strangled their 2-year-old to death after biting her on the head yesterday. The father stabbed the snake when he discovered it wrapped around the child’s neck but reports claimed it slithered away. Police eventually located the snake. It was over 10’ long! Now, I will admit I am a bit predisposed to think any snake is not a great pet but one that is so likely to be dangerous even to an adult should not be kept around babies and toddlers!! I mean, wrapping around and squeezing is what pythons do!

Just a fact, folks - Pythons are not native to Florida. The State of Florida does require people to obtain a license to possess pythons. I have not heard anyone say if this family had a license for this particular snake. Probably because people have found they get too large to handle and control and have turned them loose, there is now a sizeable population of pythons established in the Everglades.

Apparently, it’s a bad week to be 2 years old!!!

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Okay, so go out there and get revved up for the holiday. Oh, and keep an eye on those toddlers!!