Thursday, October 30, 2008

Post #100

For my 100th post I decided to show off these great collectors items from eBay! Seriously if I had thousands of dollars I would totally be bidding on the Sarah Palin Cabbage Patch Doll. How much fun would it be to own that?!

I remember in the 80's mothers getting into throwdowns in the isle of Toys'R'Us just to make sure that the doll was under the Christmas tree for their daughters. I did get one a few years after that debacle thanks to my Grandma:) Now they're representing 4 of the most important people in immediate history.

Here's the bidding as it last stood:

Sarah Palin: $3,100.00
John McCain: $1,025.00
Barack Obama: $955.89
Joe Biden: $610.00

If only our votes counted like an eBay bid!

Monday, October 27, 2008

What are you?

I am a dynamic idealist. It's a pretty cool quiz! you sould check it our when you have the time.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Are new gadgets really that great?

It seems like every time I go to my Amazon page I'm now being accosted with the advertisement for the latest gadget in the wave of technology that we've been facing these past few years. It is called "The Kindle." (Check it out with the link). The Kindle has the capacity to store up to 200 books in it without a memory card, but with a memory card it can hold up to 4,000 books/magazines/newspapers.

I don't want to seem like I'm bashing technology, because it's made out lives easier in many aspects. However, for me there is nothing so great as actually turning the pages of a book. Moistening the tip of my index finger and thumb and bringing it up the page, preparing myself to turn the page and continue on the journey my book it taking me on. For me reading is not just a mental adventure, but a physical one as well. I like to have a drink sitting by me and maybe some gum or sunflower seeds, depending on how long I'll be reading for. I fidget around until I'm at my optimum comfort level, which is usually with my legs and feet tucked up underneath me while both of my hands are gripped to the pages and breathless with anticipation for what the characters might do next. There was one Christmas break in HS that I spent reading the entire 2 weeks. True it was for some assignments that I had looming over me, but it was in those 2 weeks that I devoured those book, which have since become 2 of my all time favorites (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Flowers for Algernon). I was so engrossed that I would start in one position in the family arm chair and end up in a completely different position, to this day I don't know how that would happen, but when I'm really in to a good book I'm oblivious to everything else. I'll cry over the sentimental parts, sigh through the affectionate parts, cheer with the triumphant parts, and become furious over the injurious parts.

I'm sure that I could still possess all of those same emotions and habits if I were to ever get one of these contraptions, but there's something about it that just makes it seem to distant from the comfort of the familiar. I'd definitely have to see one working live and in person before I could feel even a little warm and fuzzy about it.

It is not just the technology that has my heart palpitating but the price as well!!! Oh, the humanity!!! I know that there is something better that I could spend $350 on! True the cost of books goes down, the most I've seen one cost is $9.99 and that it may potentially help the environment by cutting down on paper production, as well as help the future lumbar health of students throughout the world, since they won't have too carry around backpacks. So I guess it can't be all bad. I could also see it being an asset for people who travel a lot and don't want the hassle to carrying books and magazines around all the time.

I'm also not one of those people that feels the need to jump on the gadget gravy train every time a new toy comes out. It took me forever to get an MP3 player (I'm not an iPod gal) and even longer to get a cell phone. I have a digital camera, but I only bought that because of the rebate I received when I got my computer (that actually is a must for me with school). The camera has been fun and come in handy on a couple of occasions, but it's a older model Kodak because I wasn't going to go over the amount of my rebate.

Another reason for me to hightail it in the other direction with The Kindle is concerned is because Amazon is also advertising it as one of Oprah's new favorite things, which will make the resistance even harder, because once Oprah stamps her approval onto something her minions seem compelled to make it a "must have", which then makes the "industry" cultivate ways to get it into all of our hands. My only solace is the fact that the price is so outrageous that it won't be forced onto everyone all at once. For now, however, I'll use my blog to bemoan the impending loss of books as we know them. Thank you for taking the time to read my soapbox.

Update to list

I've updated my list. I took off "Transfer to a University" because financially that's not going to be feasible for me at this point, and put on "Learn how to fly fish". This may sound a little random, but there's a back story to it.

One of me and my Dad's favorite movies to watch together is A River Runs Through It. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story here is a quick synopsis.
Director Robert Redford narrates this nostalgically American true story of two Montana brothers whose fly-fishing symbolizes their lives. The older brother (Craig Sheffer) makes plans and works hard, while the younger (Brad Pitt) does as he pleases and follows his gut; both struggle to live up to their father's high standards in fishing and morals. This character drama clinched an Oscar for Best Cinematography and two other Academy nominations. (I also put a link to the Netflix so you can see why it's rated PG and decide if it's right for you)

Anyway, when I was 17 my Dad bought me a fly rod, in the attempt to want to teach me. I wanted to learn, but I was also a pretty social 17 year old, so between me and my Dad's other activities fly fishing seemed to fall by the wayside. Pastor Prisk had also offered to teach me, prior to his passing, but obviously that fell through too. However, I still have my fly rod and I still have a resolve to do this at least once, although I like other types of fishing so if I learn,
I think I'll keep it up.

The idea for this change came up due to a conversation I had with my co-worker about my fish dinner I had last night and whether or not I would ever mind gutting a fish (NO). She doesn't like fish and I've been trying to talk her in to trying some for a while now. But the thought occurred to me that maybe there were classes that were taught somewhere. I mean after all I live in one of the best state for this kind of activity. So I'm investigating it!

Don't fret though, I'm not giving up on my pursuit of higher education. I'm just burnt out and want to make sure that the next step I take in this direction is what the Lord wants for me, and in order for me to get a better perspective on this I need some distance away.

So there it is, my updated list. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

eBay

I was pretty slow to jump on the eBay band wagon. For a while it seemed to me just to be a hassle with Paypal, I've known people that have gotten their identity stolen. However, once I found some really good deals for items that I wanted that was it. Of course you always have to adapt the buyer beware philosophy and you have to go in knowing that you may not get that item that you wanted, if you're out bid, but over all I think it's a decent place to shop. eBay and Paypal have also improved their security measures from the early years.

Why did I say all that? Well, because now that I've bought a few things I'm starting to get into the selling aspect of it. I had never planned to sell my stuff on eBay, but I've decided that what I earn from eBay will go towards paying off my CC. Naturally there are some small charges that come along with posting items, depending on what you want to sell, how many items you have in your store, and how you want to sell it, but those charges far outweigh what can be made from what you choose to sell.

I don't have a whole lot up right now, mostly books, but last night I sold my set of Jillian Michaels workout DVD's ($15) and my Leslie Sansone walking DVD with resistance bands and weights ($11.17). So it might only be $26, but that's $26 less that I owe too. If it ends up being a debacle then I'll quit, but right now I'm pretty happy about it.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#2)

I was cruising through blogs, wanting to see what was going on with people who are associated with other friends of mine, and I clicked on the blog of Rachel Hammet. Behold she has a list of words on her blog that she likes. Some of them I had never heard of, but there was one I liked in particular so I looked it up. It was Sapience.

Here is what it means:


Sapience (or Sapient)
SA'PIENCE, n. [L. sapientia, from sapio, to taste, to know.]
Wisdom; sageness; knowledge.


Thanks Rachel, for giving me a new word.

Name my recipe

In my last blog I mentioned that my friend renamed my recipe, which is fine, but I want to get your feed back on it so I posted a poll. Let me know what you think the recipe should be named and I'll name on it based on the results. I'm leaving it up until the end of the year (New Year, new recipe), so you have a while (and you can vote more than once, just in case you're really passionate about what it should be called).

Continue to vote on my hair color too! Right now the blonds are ahead. My friend Dave told me on Sunday, pretty emphatically, that I SHOULD NOT dye it brown. Normally I'm not looking for other peoples opinions, but this is a pretty big deal, and Dave is always good about giving me feed back if I'm making a fashion/cosmetic disaster. Plus it's always nice to have the opinion of a guy, every now and then, especially since I'm on my own. So it was appreciated.

#9 on my list, Help someone who can not help themselves

So there's 3 down on my list.

Recently I had a very good friend that had to go through surgery, and now that she's home recovering I got to make her, and her husband, dinner last night. This is something that I enjoy doing anyway so it was a pleasure to be able to help her out. I made her my Crunchy Chicken Casserole (she called is Fried Chicken Casserole, since its faux friend chicken based) since she let me use her oven to cook it the first time I tried (after catching my oven on fire). I figured it was only fair. She, and her husband, really enjoyed it.

We visited for a bit, but she was pretty loopy due to the meds, so I didn't stay to long. I'm jut glad to see her recovering nicely.

So why do I choose this as my #9, when she does have help for her right now? Because she was in need of being helped and we are good friends:). I'll still keep my eye out for others, but this was the one that I chose to write about.

Monday, October 20, 2008

More Biden one liners

OK, the first one I posted was funny and generally Biden is always good for a laugh. However, the esteemed VP candidate has done it again except this time it's not so funny and no one (thanks to the wonderful mainstream media) is covering it.

This past weekend Joe Biden was in Seattle to stump for our incumbent Governor and raise more money for Obama (because for some reason the party thinks he doesn't have enough). Anyway, someone in the audience had a microphone and was recording his speech when he said that within 6 mo. of Obama becoming president that there would be an international crisis. There was no follow up, no explaination, and like I said no one is calling him on it! GRRR! It's one thing to put your foot in your mouth when telling a man that's confined to a wheel chair to stand up. But it's a completely different thing to offer up irresponsible rhetoric in such a public fashion.

If Palin or McCain had said this you know it would have been the lead story on every news network, but there hasn't even been a blip of anything on the radar where he's concerned. Now I do know, and I think we all do, that a new President is always tested. Something always comes up for them, but the way it was offered up was completely irreponsible. Why has the media been more scrutinising to Joe "the plumber" then these to people wanting to lead our country?! In my ever humble opinion he needs to answer up and be held accountable. Not that any one in any kind of power reads my blog, but I was just perturbed when I heard this on my radio show this afternoon.

The link can be found if you click on the word speech.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

#14 on my list, Meet 30 new people (#10&11)

I really enjoy getting to know the missionaries that pass through out church! What can I say, I'm a people person. I got the opportunity to meet the Browns today (missionaries to Colorado). My friends Steve and Sherri were nice enough to let me crash in on lunch and fellowship with them and the Browns, since they were staying with them. The stuffed salmon was awesome, thanks to the wonderful people at Safeway that work in the seafood department and Sherri's oven:) We had a good time talking about everything from the field they've been called to, to how to properly train a dog ;the Vaughns have the cutest peekapoo, Levi, who does the funniest tricks,Levi wasn't up to par today though hopefully he feels better. Anyway, it was a fun afternoon with friends and I'm always greatful for the opportunity to meet missionaries that have a passion to reach people. 11 people down, only 19 more to go on my list.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

I want to vote for Joe the Plumber

We need more sincere and Godly men like Joe to be in power in this country. That all I have to say about that.

Friday, October 17, 2008

The German in me

I cannot emphasize enough how much I think every home should have one of these. If you don't know what it is, it's a pressure cooker. I really need to use it more often. My Dad got it for me a couple years ago for Christmas and it's been such a time saver in the kitchen. But tonight the herritage of my forefathers was crying out to me and my German blood would take nothing less than Saurkraut. The pressure cooker came in so handy for the pork spare ribs that I made with it. IN less than 20 minutes I had a nutritious meal that reminded me of the same pork spare ribs that my Dad used to make (in the same method). Good ol' home cookin', AHHH there's nothin' like it! If you don't have one of these yet I highly, highly recommend it. Especially if you're strapped for time.

Joes best one liners

Joe Biden (VP candidate for the Dems) has some really great one liners. In Presidential race that's been this tense it's nice to have some comic relief. Below is a youtube clip that is just a compilation of some of his best one liners. Maybe after the race he can go back to 1st grade and learn how to count. What's even scarier than his counting abilities is the fact that his audience doesn't catch it. They just clap for his comment like a bunch of monkeys, and these people are voters?!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sonnet 116

I am a fan of Shakespeare! I know that in certain circles there is a controversy about whether or not he actually wrote his own prose, I studied it in my Shakespeare class in HS, but besides that point he's just fun to read. Seriously, once you get into the rhythm of the language it's a lot of fun, and challenging. So I'm sharing my favorite sonnet from the esteemed author. In one of my literature classes, about 10 years ago, I had to pick one to memorize and recite it in front of the class (of course it had to be recited with the correct emphasis and drama). But I like it because it's earnest. There's no pretense involved in it. It's just honest, and I think that in our own hearts this is how we all feel about those we love and hope that they feel about us. I'm not sharing it to be overly sentimental, and I have no one right now to share it with specifically, I just like it. So here it is for me to share with you. And just so you know, I am typing it from memory:)


Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds,
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Oh no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

#14 on my list, Meet 30 new people (#8 & 9)

This month at church we are having out Missions conference. Our theme is Looking Beyond Ourselves to the Evangelizing of the World. It's been a really good month so far and we have 2 more weekends left to go. It's also nice to have a whole month to concentrated our hearts to the needs of mission works around the world, rather then having them squished into one week. This past weekend I got to have the Smiths (Charlie and JoAnn are missionaries to Argentina that we support) over for lunch. It was nice meeting them and getting to hear the burden that the Lord has placed on them for the field that he's sent them to. Bro. Smith reminded me very much of Pastor Prisk. I enjoyed getting to know them.

#4 on my list,Get flowers for 30 people (#2)

My co-worker Sarah went home sick today (there's a nasty bug going around) so I sent her some virtual flowers (i.e. a picture from the net).

Time is really flying by on this list and though I have 2 items completed, I still have much left to so. I probably won't complete all of them, but it would be nice to at least make a dent. Overall though the list is coming along. I'm enjoying myself with it and it's fun entertaining my friends. Seriously, I know we're way overdue for some girls nights, but once the summer is over it seems like there's never enough time. Don't worry Nicki we'll have one soon.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Ideas

Kali came up with an idea for me tonight. I've been blogging about my list, but she thought it would be a good idea for me to put an asterik next to each one that I complete. That way, even though you are reading about me, those who just want to see about what I've completed can take a look at the list and see what I've completed.

My hair color

I found a new hair dresser a few months ago. She had her training at Jean Juarez so she knows what she's doing. She's super sweet and when I'm in her chair my inner control freak, over my hair, is silenced. However, today she suggested the possibility of me becoming a brunette. She said that it would bring out my blue eyes and that she thought it would look good with my skin tone. She showed me the brown she was thinking of and it's dark, but it might look nice. I'm not totally sold yet so I put up a poll to see what you all think. It doesn't mean I will base my decision on the poll I just want to see what ya'll out there think (especially those that know me). The poll is located under my archived items. Vote away!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

#27 on my list, Try 30 new dishes (#3)

WOW, even though I like to eat I feel really behind on this one for my list. My new food that I tried was a recipe that I got out of my book 'Gluten Free Girl'. It's Popped Amaranth Cereal. She writes about this grain in her chapter 'Going against the grain', the thing for people with celiacs disease is that we tend to not be able to get a lot of grains into our diet due to the fact that most of them are tainted through gluten infested bread, especially if you were like I used to be and you like the 12 grain breads and that kind stuff. These grains are important though since the lend a lot of fiber to a persons diet and we all know why we need fiber in our diet;) Well through this book I was able to find one, Amaranth, that should help out with that.

Really when I first saw the tiny little seeds I wasn't sure if I was buying the right thing when I was at the Co-Op last night. I thought that they would be more the size of flax seeds, trust me they're not! They're so tiny that upon looking at them a person would scoff at what these babys are capable of, I know I did. But I really wanted to try the cereal so I got just a little, I mean I don't want to waste money on something that I may not even like. But after making my mew cereal this morning I can safely say that is not the case. Not only were these hearty little seeds that fill you up pretty fast, but now my kitchen smells like popcorn! Now who can argue with something that great. The cook time in the book said that the seeds should take about 5 minutes before they turn brown, it was much less then that for me so I actually ended up burning some. I discarded those, but the rest were fine. Then I added some chopped pecans and brown sugar. GFG's recipe called for cinnamon and ground ginger which I'm sure is good to I just didn't have any, and I'm not a fan of putting dates in food unless they are ground in (I'm not big on the texture). Anyway the recipe (as I made it) is below for those of you who are intrigued to try something new.

Popped Amaranth Cereal

1/4c. Amaranth seeds (Tthese can be found in the bulk foods section of your super market)
1/2c. Warm milk ( I used more since I like my cereals with more milk in them)
1Tbsp Light brown sugar
2Tbsp Chopped pecans (I used more since I like nuts)

Over high heat, heat up a skillet until beads of water can dance accross it. Once the skillet is this hot put the seeds it. It does not take long for them to start popping so when this happens stir the seeds continually until they satrs to brown. If you start to smell burning popcorn take them off the stove immediately since you might have burned some (they're sill good, but it's not fun to taste burnt, and then eventually wet, popcorn).

Add the milk and extras to the cereal. If you don't want to heat the milk before cooking the cereal that's fine the seeds will stay hot in the bowl while you heat up the milk. I reccommend this way so that the milk doesn't get cold while you're cooking the seeds. Of course if your tast buds lean you to other things then by all means try it. Now Enjoy!

If you want to try GFG's way then add 1/2tsp. cinnamon, 1/2tsp. ground ginger, 1Tbsp organic cane sugar, and 1/4c. dates. The nuts and milk stay the same.

Friday, October 3, 2008

New Toys

Today I went home sick from work. Yes, it's that lovely fall weather that we have here on the island:P Not to mention m allergies have been driving me nuts. In any case I really don't want to get sick as I'm singing a special in church next Sunday so in an effort to unclog my sinuses I decided to invest in a Neti pot and see what it could do for me (that's a pic of one to the left).

For those of you who are not aquainted with a Neti pot it is a "nasal lavage devise". In other words it washes out your nose. Sure we blow our noses all the time, but what about the rest of what we can't get to. Our noses are just filled with germs that need to be cleaned out. Anyway, I wanted to get rid of the germs and unclog my sinuses so I went out and got one. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pretty desperate. Using it felt a bit like what happens to you when you jump into a pool without holding your nose, except instead of it going up and staying there it drips out of the other side, essentially clearing the guck out, and because it needs to be filled with some non-iodized salt, I could taste a little salt when I didn't bend my head far enough forard. And you know what, honestly, my sinuses feel great! This is gonna be a regular thing for me. It probably won't keep me from getting sick all the time, but at least it will help keep the germs away.

Let me also just say that Ziploc makes some really great products. My fave, until tonight, are the Zip'n'Steam bags. Fresh steamed veggies (or meat) in just minutes, which is great since I usually don't want to break out all my pots and pans to cook for just me. So another new toy I got is the Ziploc Vacuum freezer bags. I LOVE these!!! I Stored at least 2 weeks worth of meat in my freezer tonight, and it was super easy to use. One day I'd like to get the nice electric freezer safe bags, but that can wait for now. Seriously it will be great have some food in reserve for later so I can get my moneys worth and not have to rush to eat it all right away. I know it sounds may sound a little odd for a single gal to be buying all her groceries at once, but I hate going to Albertsons unless I have to. I don't like to grocery shop every week so I get all I need at once that way I don't have to. Plus it helps me budget my money better.
So yeah, this post was pretty lame, it was meant to be more about the Neti pot than anything else, but I'm tired so I'm rambling. Anyway, those are some of my new toys.

Carolyn:1 / The Man:0

So as I stated in my last post #17 on my 30x10 list, concerns me paying off my Visa. I also said that I was going to call my bank and get my APR lowered due to my FICO score. Well this afternoon I did exactly that:) It felt really good to go into that conversation armed with the knowledge that I was going to be in the right when I called them. Tina (the customer service rep) was really nice. So in another month it will be cool to see those couple points fall off of my APR. Knowledge is power people, especially if you're a single gal and responsible for her own fiscal future, like I am. I feel pretty good right now:)

Points so far:
Carolyn = 1
The Man = 0

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