One of the great things about a day off or at least working the evening shift is being able to have time to prepare home cooked meals. Right now, I have leftover white beans and rice in the fridge, so we’ll just have that for supper. It will save heat in the kitchen to use up the leftovers and it will save me some money. What I really need are some hot weather recipes that don’t require long cook times.

We love salads in the summer, but even those get tiresome day after day. I need a way to use ingredients on hand to create meals that have a short cook time but are long on flavor. Things that are cooling and refreshing to eat. A hot, hearty meal is great occasionally. But a lot of the time, we are just plain too hot to eat anything in the afternoon.

If you have recipes or ideas for cool, summertime meals, let me know!

Technorati Tags: salad, summer, meal

Posted: June 20th, 2008 under Flights of fancy, Shopping.
Comments: none

In a few weeks, I’ll be having a make-up party here at my house. I’m pretty excited about it since we just moved in here and I’m happy to show off the house. I need to really spend a lot more time working on decorating in here before the party, though.

I’ve planned to put all our framed family photographs on one wall, next to the front door. It used to be that it was a no-no to have family pictures in the living room. I never understood why, but it’s common practice now and it’s where I like them to hang. I also plan to have some nice, aromatherapy candles lit so ladies will relax while they’re here. I’m hoping to get all the glass clings painted for the front door, too, to add that little bit of pizazz to the entry way. The biggest problem is having enough comfortable seating for everyone.

These parties are a lot of fun. It’s more than just anti wrinkle cream - it’s foot massages, facials, and relaxation music. The last one I attended, I came away feeling refreshed and rested!

Oh, and did I mention my Younger Daughter is the person who’s doing the demonstrations? Yeah. That will make the party even better for me

Technorati Tags: make-up party, aromatherapy candles, massages, facials

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Uncategorized, Shopping.
Comments: none

I do so much with my laptop that it’s plain to see I’m going to have to get more computer memory to put in it. I’ve got tons of pictures plus music files. I keep my accounting records on here and copies of a lot of the things I write. I also download my blog backups as well as other logs so I don’t lose anything if there’s a server crash.

My money’s been pretty tight lately, so I haven’t gotten anything tech related in awhile. Moving from one house to another one will do that! But things should be settling down in a couple of weeks. Then I can improve my laptop performance and be sure that I can retain the things that are already on here.

I’ve had this laptop almost a year now, and I’m pretty satisfied with it. I know that in another year I’ll probably get another one, though, that is even faster and has more memory. You know how it goes. You buy a computer and in a few months, they’ve come out with something more powerful and yours becomes almost obsolete.

Technorati Tags: laptop, backups, laptop performance

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Tech, Shopping.
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One of my most important tools at work is the pen or pencil that I take with me. Rarely is there something to write with already there, so I make sure I have something with me every time I go in to work. I have to write a lot of things.

Because I’m often the only one with a pen in my pocket, this means I have to occasionally loan it out so crew members can write expiration times on food items. Sometimes, I don’t get the pen back. So, I’ve been thinking about getting personalized pens that say something like “This pen stolen from Ann”. What do you think? Would that help me get my pen or pencil back? Maybe not, but at least the person who takes it would remember where they got it!

Technorati Tags: work, pen, pencil

Posted: June 7th, 2008 under Shopping.
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This house has some carpeting in it, though thankfully it’s not in the living room and kitchen areas. It is, however, on the stairs and in the bedrooms. I don’t even own a vacuum cleaner right now which is going to make cleaning the carpet difficult. You really can’t do much with a broom to get out ground in dirt.

The carpeting is pretty clean right now and seems to be holding up well. I have a mat outside the front door and one on the inside, too, to help catch dirt from our shoes. Eventually, though, I’m going to have to be looking at steam cleaners and vacuum cleaners so I can really get the carpets clean and prevent any undue odors from setting up in them. I also want to remove any allergens that might become trapped in the carpets and cause us problems in here.

The rest of the floors are linoleum tile. Those need to be addressed, as well. They have a lot of wear on them and the dirt and stains are pretty well ground in. I’m going to have to get something that will really scrub the surface of the tiles and get that stuff out. Then, I’ll need to seal the floor so it’s easier to clean and less likely to get in this shape again.

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