Biking in the cold takes dedication
Howie’s enjoying his new bike a lot. The recent decline in temperatures hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm, for he’s still riding his bike to work unless the roads are slick (or he sleeps in a little, which is rare). Check him out in his cold weather gear this morning!
He looks like a helmeted bike ninja…Way to go, ninja man! He really ought to write a blog entry about the gear he’s using, especially that hood. He bought it at Iron Pony, a specialty store for motorcyclists. It’s very snug-fitting, so it fits beneath his bike helmet. His knit hood wouldn’t fit, so this is great for him.
Us ladies wouldn’t much want to wear one, though — kiss that makeup goodbye, not to mention your hairstyle. Howie has a buzz cut and isn’t one for makeup, so it suits him fine. 
Anonymous gifts that bless others: An angel among us
Have you ever been the recipient of an anonymous gift? Have you ever given one?
There’s no telling how your “small” and anonymous gesture may bring comfort and happiness to someone. What an encouragement to use our gifts to bless others. And to do it anonymously is the best because you’re not only letting God alone have the glory, but you’re building a sense of anticipation and mystery, which only adds to the fun. Whoever this family’s angel was, I salute you.
Whose angel might you be?
An Angel Among Us
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Cheer
BY: By Rita Hampton
I come from a large family of nine brothers and sisters, and all of us have kids of our own. On each Christmas night, our entire family gathers at my oldest sister’s home, exchanging gifts, watching the nativity skit put on by the smaller children, eating, singing and enjoying a visit from Santa himself.
The Christmas of 1988, my husband Bob and I had four children. Peter was eleven, Leigh-Ann was nine, Laura was six and Matthew was two. When Santa arrived, Matthew parked himself on Santa’s lap and pretty much remained dazzled by him for the rest of the evening. Anyone who had their picture taken with Santa that Christmas also had their picture taken with little Matthew.
Little did any of us know how precious those photos with Santa and Matthew would become. Five days after Christmas, our sweet little Matthew died in an accident at home. We were devastated. We were lucky to have strong support from our families and friends to help us through. I learned that the first year after a death is the hardest, as there are so many firsts to get through without your loved one. Birthdays and special occasions become sad, instead of joyous.
When our first Christmas without Matthew approached, it was hard for me to get into the holiday spirit. Bob and I could hardly face putting up the decorations or shopping for special gifts for everyone. But we went through the motions for Peter, Leigh-Ann and Laura. Then, on December 13th, something extraordinary happened to raise our spirits when we didn’t think it was possible.
We were just finishing dinner when we heard a knock on the front door. When we went to answer it, no one was there. However, on the front porch was a card and gift. We opened the card and read that the gift-giver wanted to remain anonymous; he or she just wanted to help us get through a rough time by cheering us up.
In the gift bag was a cassette of favorite Christmas music, which was in a little cardboard Christmas tree. The card described it as being “a cartridge in a pine tree,” a twist on the “partridge in a pear tree” verse in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” We thought that it was a very clever gift, and the thoughtfulness of our “elf” touched our hearts. We put the cassette in our player and, song by song, the spirit of Christmas began to warm our hearts.
That was the beginning of a series of gifts from the clever giver, one for each day until Christmas. Each gift followed the theme of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in a creative way. The kids especially liked “seven swans a-swimming,” which was a basket of swan-shaped soaps plus passes to the local swimming pool, giving the kids something to look forward to when the warm days of spring arrived. “Eight maids a-milking” included eight bottles of chocolate milk, eggnog and regular milk in glass bottles with paper faces, handmade aprons and caps. Every day was something very special. The “five golden rings” came one morning just in time for breakfast — five glazed doughnuts just waiting to be eaten.
We would get calls from our family, neighbors and friends who would want to know what we had received that day. Together, we would chuckle at the ingenuity and marvel at the thoughtfulness as we enjoyed each surprise. We were so caught up in the excitement and curiosity of what would possibly come next, that our grief didn’t have much of a chance to rob us of the spirit of Christmas. What our elf did was absolutely miraculous.
Each year since then, as we decorate our Christmas tree, we place on it the decorations we received that Christmas while we play the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” We give thanks for our elf who was, we finally realized, our very own Christmas angel. We never did find out who it was, although we have our suspicions. We actually prefer to keep it that way. It remains a wondrous and magical experience — as mysterious and blessed as the very first Christmas.
Raining cats and dogs
Puddle Duck
Originally uploaded by The Pack
This great shot brought to mind that classic joke…
“Man, it’s raining cats and dogs today!”
“I know! I just stepped in a poodle!”
Check out the rest of Karen’s excellent photos of The Pack, head on over to her Flickr photostream. I am so impressed with her photographic eye as well as with her gorgeous standard poodles. I’d love one of those big dogs.
Have I mentioned lately how much I like love Flickr? I heart Flickr sooo much. I never thought I’d want to pay for photo hosting, but Flickr’s interface is amazing and it’s such a rockin’ and fun photographic community! They make it so easy to post to their site and to post their content to other sites. It’s just the best.
Favorite Pushing Daisies quotes this week
I thought Emerson’s reaction to Olive being a nun was hysterical…It tickled me how he kept blocking his view of everything except her face, then not, then covering everything…
Olive’s way of speaking kills me. As the Depends-like package appears in the jumble of worldly goods falling from the nun’s closet, she says, “Ohhh, top shelf fem products!”.
Best yet, the Mother Superior’s assertion after calling the Vatican to check on Chuck, who is dressed as a nun and says her name is Sister Christian…
“‘Sister Christian’ is nothing but a heavy petting power ballad”.
Priceless. Especially coming from the mouths of those characters.
I must say, it killed me for Olive to spend two episodes in a mountain convent. And. Not. Sing. I got it, okay? It’s all “Hey guys! Let’s have Kristin look like she’s in the freakin’ Sound of Music, but not have her even hum a little tune or anything!” She even twirled around like Maria, for Pete’s sake!
Oh, you miserable teases.
Pushing Daisies: Brainy eye candy
Howie and I are big fans of ABC’s Pushing Daisies, now in its second season. It is probably the most unique show currently produced on television, pure eye candy, but also intelligent with its wonderful character actors, original storylines and quick dialogue. Its quirky style is reminiscent of Tim Burton’s 2003 movie, Big Fish with supersaturated colors, retro stylized costumes and sets, and cartoonish elements. This all makes sense when you see that it is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, director of Men in Black
Yes, it’s about a guy who can bring people back from the dead, but it’s not dark. Oddly, it’s an incredibly happy show, romantic and warm.
Additionally, it’s a show you can watch with kids. The death and violence portrayed on Pushing Daisies is Wile E. Coyote type death, cartoonish. I know there are those who think the Roadrunner cartoons are horrible. I’m not one of them.
The cast of this show is terrific. I don’t know what the casting process was like, but they did an excellent job of getting the right people in the right parts. This holds true from main characters all the way down to the briefest of cameo appearances.
Spoiler Alert: The following external links to pushingdaisies.wikia.com contain spoilers if you’re not current at least through Circus, Circus — Season 2, episode 3, aired on October 8, 2008!
The narrator, voiced by Jim Dale, ties everything together with perfect irony. Remember the Walgreen’s “Perfect” commercials? Dale’s narratives intone facts regarding the show’s most macabre elements, but with a melodious, grandfatherly voice; the result is what I think of as an aural oxymoron. You just don’t expect it.
I can’t possibly go into all the characters or plot details, but I’ll at least describe a few for you. You can see links to much more information at the bottom of this entry. Again, beware…Thar be spoilers within ‘em!
Ned the Pie Maker is played by Field Cate (young Ned) and Lee Pace (adult Ned). Young Ned rarely, if ever talks; this makes sense since his appearances have voiceovers by the narrator, who describes what happened. Lee Pace plays Ned straight and his facial expressions are wonderfully emotive. Ned is the object of two characters’ affections, Chuck and Olive.
Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, played by Sammi Hanratty (young Chuck) Anna Friel (adult Chuck), is Ned’s formerly-dead love interest, who Ned brought to life, but couldn’t stand to lose again and let live. As a consequence, the funeral director in charge of Chuck’s arrangements died. Now Ned can’t ever touch Chuck or she’ll die again, for good. Chuck is both pretty and intelligent, good at coaxing information out of people - a trait handy for solving murders.
Kristin Chenoweth’s pint-sized character is Olive Snook. (I blogged about Kristin last February, before I even knew about her involvement in this series.) It’s such a treat when Olive’s character has a musical number. I could just eat her up, she’s so good! She has wonderful timing and makes us laugh aloud.
Vivian and Lily Charles are Chuck’s spinster aunts. These oddball sisters, played by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene respectively, are cheese aficionados who used to have a popular synchronized swimming act, the Darling Mermaid Darlings. As far as they know, their niece Chuck is dead and buried. This plot element provides fodder for many good scenes and subplots.
Private Investigator Emerson Cod, played with gruff, deadpan genius by Chi McBride, learns of Ned’s unique gift and partners with him in crime-solving endeavors. What could be easier? Ned revives the victim with a touch and asks who killed him, then touches him again to re-dead him. Emerson then takes credit for solving the mystery and collects the reward money, which he splits with Ned and Chuck.
Remember that 1-minute time limit? Yeah. Emerson is adamant about that, especially seeing how it could be him who kicks the bucket if the corpse talks a blue streak and Ned loses track of time.
That brings me to some of the most delightfully disgusting characters on the show, the corpses. I’m trying to find some good stills of these characters, but am not having much luck. This show couldn’t be what it is without the makeup artists who bring these crime victims to life — or should I say death? The makeup artists are some of this show’s biggest contributors. This video clip from the official site provides some behind-the-scenes footage and an explanation of how and why these characters are depicted as they are.
The wardrobes are fanciful, truly amazing. They’re so popular, fans post on pages like Chuck Chic for finding lookalikes of popular togs on the show. Here’s another behinds-the-scenes video, this one about the wardrobe department:
Curious? Want to read more? Here are some more Pushing Daisies links. Again, beware the spoilers! Also, have your favorite pop-up blocker enabled, because some (*cough*insider*cough*) are brutal when it comes to ads.
- Official Pushing Daisies website
- Official character and actor bios
- Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- The Piemaker — GREAT site, one of my favorites
- Pushing Daisies Wikia
- Pushing-Daisies
- Discussion forum at Television without Pity (TWoP)
- Pushing Daisies Insider
It’s just a wonderful show. I encourage you to buy or rent the Pushing Daisies Season 1 DVD and catch up. ABC aires episodes for free online, and it’s not too late to catch up.
If you love the show, let ABC know. You can let them know by participating in their official Pushing Daisies message boards and by writing ABC right from the website. You can also join me in contacting the show’s commercial sponsors and let them know how much you enjoy this series.
New page: Teshy Goodness John Tesh page
John and lovely Connie
We’re huge fans of John Tesh and are going to see his Alive! Music & Dance concert in Cleveland on October 23. We’re so excited!
We’ve been fans since before he was cool. He is cool, right? Oh well, we’re in our 40’s, so coolness is not so much a criteria for us. Actually, it never was. We like what we like, critics be hanged!
But I digress.
So, my head’s been in the Teshosphere today. In honor of our favorite musician, I decided to do a whole fan page for John Tesh: Teshy Goodness.
On it, I talk about our first exposure to his music, the first (and, until now, only) time we saw him in concert, and some things I admire about him. I’ve also included some links, thrown in my Teshilicious YouTube playlists and put in a nifty Amazon widget where you can listen to his music.
Enjoy!
How to save money on groceries
It’s no secret that our economy is hurting. All around our town, I’ve seen businesses closing and others struggling. People are still spending money, but what they’re spending it on has changed a lot this last year, at least as far as I’ve seen. With increased gas prices, grocery prices have gone up. It costs producers more to produce and ship the food.
Howie and I are trying to find a balance in our spending, frequenting Aldi Foods for canned vegetables and other staples. Trader Joe’s is a favorite of ours, especially since their store brand products are inexpensive and good, but they’re about 40 minutes away and the cost of driving there and back discourages us going there unless we make an afternoon of it or have other business to attend to near the store.
We also watch the sales circulars and shop our local grocery stores, Giant Eagle and Meijer, Wal-Mart, Carnival Foods and Kroger.
How about coupons? We are not typically big coupon clippers. We don’t usually buy the Sunday paper, for one. Also, people tend to buy products they wouldn’t have otherwise purchased, so they spend more money in the long run. Additionally, coupons tend to be for packaged conenience foods that we don’t buy, things like Hamburger Helper and the like. There aren’t many coupons for our staple items: fresh fruit, eggs, meat and rice. I look for coupons online and use them some things, as long as they’re items I buy anyway and they don’t still cost more than a less expensive brand’s normal price.
Of the grocery stores I mentioned, Giant Eagle is the one we shop most often. It’s closest to us, which saves us gas, plus they offer FuelPerks, which really add up. They also offer $1 FuelPerk for each new or transferred prescription, including the $4 generic drugs. My recent shoulder surgery resulted in many new prescriptions, racking up $16 in FuelPerks. That’s enough to fill our van about four times at no cost. Cha-ching! The service is also good there (except the pharmacy, meh), and they have a wide selection of healthy foods and international offerings.
We do spend more on some things, such as fresh fruit and vegetables. During the summer, we try to buy these from local vendors at the downtown farmer’s market. Buying locally, we support area growers and enjoy fresh produce often picked that morning. We also enjoy the interaction, getting to know the vendors.
When I make things like soup beans, casseroles or chili, I make them in big batches. That way, I can freeze portions to have later. The cost per meal is quite low when doing it this way, plus we’re more likely to eat at home if there is something easy to heat and serve when we don’t feel like cooking. There are numerous sites which offer OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) recipes and ideas - I won’t go into all that here, but you can Google OAMC to see what I mean. A plus: Some friends and families make a day of it, cooking together while they visit, then splitting the food between them.
But what about some non-traditional means of saving money on the grocery bill?
There is a money-saving available, too, with a couple of pickup locations right in our town. After hearing about this program for about a year, I finally decided to try them out: Angel Food Ministries. They have no income guides and it’s not just for struggling individuals. That was Howie’s first concern, in that he never wants to be taking away from others truly in need. It is not a food pantry. Don’t let the word ministry deter you; AFM is not a charity for low-income individuals. The food is not free, but it is less expensive than you can buy on your own. The organization is able to buy in bulk, plus I am sure they receive donations.
The standard monthly box costs $30. The menu varies by month, which is one of the reasons we’ve not ordered before now. Some months they’ve had a lot of processed foods like corndogs, chicken nuggets and other more fattening, less nutritious foods we don’t typically eat. This month’s menu looked pretty decent, so we decided to take the plunge and order. We are getting both October’s standard box and the Fruits & veggies box, an add-on for $21. They have several add-on boxes available each month and, like in the standard box, their contents vary. You can view the monthly menus on their site.
Here are the items we’ll receive on October 25. Including a $1 service fee for using a debit/credit card to order online, it came to $51.All we have to do is show up and bring our boxes home.
Standard Box, $30
- One Dessert Item
- One Dozen Eggs
- 1 lb. All Meat Hot Dogs
- 1 lb. Boneless Center-Cut Pork Chops (4 x 4 oz.)
- 1 lb. California Blend Vegetables
- 1 lb. Chicken Breast Fajita Strips
- 1 lb. Frozen Sliced Carrots
- 1 lb. Fully Cooked Meatballs
- 1 lb. Pasta
- 1.5 lb. Ribeye Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
- 12 ct. Corn Tortillas
- 26 oz. Heat and Serve Meatloaf and Brown Gravy
- 28 oz. Marinara Sauce
- 32 oz. Borden 2% Reduced Fat Shelf Stable Milk
- 4.5 lb. (avg) Split Chicken Breast Family Tray Pack
- 48 oz. Hawaiian Punch
Fruit and Veggie Box, $21:
- 1 head California Iceberg Lettuce (Cello wrapped)
- 1 bunch California Broccoli
- 2 lb. Medium-Large Idaho/East Oregon Yellow Onions
- 5 lb. New Crop Yukon Gold Potatoes
- 3 lb. North Carolina New Crop Red Apples
- 2 lb. Bag of California Fancy Lemons
- 1 Super Sweet Gold Pineapple
- 1 lb. Bag of California Peeled Baby Carrots
Some of it, like the Hawaiian Punch, we’ll not use. Those we’ll give to others who do use them. Other things, like the meatloaf and gravy, we will use, but in moderation. These would be good items to save and use when we have company, so we’re not tempted to eat too much at a time, plus there won’t be leftovers to tempt us.The meats are frozen, so they’ll last us a long time. All in all, it’s a good deal.
Here’s a video explaining what Angel Food Ministries is and how they started:
They accept donations. I’d like to support them once I am able to work again and our finances get a little better.
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