Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
What has grabbed my attention lately….
Let’s see — what has grabbed my attention in the past few days? I have found the following worth writing about:
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There was a great human interest story on the news today about the World’s Oldest Blogger – click here for the CNN version of the story! Miss Olive Riley passed away in Australia over the weekend – she was 108 years old. I started to check out her blog and intend to go back and read more. What I have read is fascinating! What a great story! I hope I’m still around and blogging when I’m 108!!! There are two blogs for Miss Olive — Worlds Oldest Blogger (a temporary blog) and All About Olive (her original blog – I understand there is some glitch causing trouble accessing this one).
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One of the segments on “Sunday Morning” – the CBS news show on Sunday mornings – was a very nice story on Doris Day. In the segment, they were interviewing Day’s friend and fellow actress, Kaye Ballard. Kaye made a great comment in quoting her friend as saying in a statement about why she prefers animals to people, “animals will never disappoint you” — how true, how true!!!
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The other segment on “Sunday Morning” that interested me was on Carousels. I LOVE Carousels. I have a collection of Carousel Horses and get all excited when I see one in person! Whenever I am somewhere that has a Carousel – especially a vintage one – I have to ride it. It gives me a huge thrill and really makes me happy! I don’t know what it is that makes them so special to me — the carnival music, the feel of the horses galloping and the wind blowing through my hair, or the excitement of trying to grab the gold ring — whatever it is, I just love them and can’t resist one when I see it!!! I have had the thrill of riding two of the most famous Carousels in the world — the one in Central Park in NYC and the one on Santa Monica Pier in California. This pics below are: 1st = Central Park Carousel; 2nd = Santa Monica Pier Carousel; 3rd = from my Carousel Horse collection – the one on top of the curio cabinet is a hand made one that was a gift from a friend many years ago!
Definitely NOT what I expected to find….
OK – now, I’m getting concerned — I have been trying to lure her in for about 20 minutes or so — too long!!! Something is obviously not right!!! So, I put my shoes on and grabbed the flashlight to go out and see why she isn’t leaving the spot she has claimed by the shed. I head out there cautiously – it’s dark – I don’t know what I might find – my fear is it might be a snake or something or that she is hurt or sick or something! As I get closer, I see that she is guarding a dark pile of something — too big around and short to be a snake – one concern down!!! I slowly approach and shine the light on it and see that it is a DEAD RABBIT!!!! OMG!!!! My first thought is sadness that a cute little rabbit is dead!!! Then it dawns on me that she must have killed it!!! The poor little thing squeezed its way through the fence into our back yard and met its demise!!! And my sweet girl must have done it — maybe alone — maybe with the help of her sisters — don’t know, but…..I am always upset to be slapped back to reality and realize that my sweet girls are actually DOGS — they are treated and talked to like kids and usually act like kids, but every now and then, they remind me they are dogs and do “dog” things!!!
I came to my senses and realized I had to pick it up and toss it over the fence – YUCK! I reached for it and noticed that its little butt has been eaten on one side and its tail is gone — eeeewwww — not a pleasant sight or thought! Just as I start to grab it by the hind leg, Katie rushes in, grabs it, and runs!!! I yell, “DROP IT”, and she does — so I get up close again and this time I’m successful in picking it up by the hind leg. By grabbing it and running, Katie actually did me a favor – she dropped it closer to the fence, so it was easier for me to toss it over into the overgrown brush on the other side. Success!!!
Katie still won’t go in the house — I end up chasing her around the yard trying to get a hold of her collar to get her in the house!!! I finally grab her and get her in the house!!! WHEW!!!! Luckily, I was smart enough to shut the back door so Megan and Amy couldn’t get outside and complicate things — all three were inside!!
And the strangest part of the whole fiasco????? Yep, there was something even stranger than finding my dog guarding a dead rabbit with a half eaten butt!!! When we finally got in the house it was about 12:10 am, the TV was still on and Iron Chef was on — guess what the secret ingredient was??? Yep – RABBIT!!!! ha-ha-ha I couldn’t believe it!!! I just sat on the couch and cracked up!!! I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes and my stomach started to hurt!!! The girls got all excited and thought I was nuts!!!
Katie keeps whining at the door — not sure if she didn’t have a chance to do her business and now needs to pee or if she just wants to go out and find her prize, but I’m not chancing it — she’s in, she’s staying in!!! If that means I end up with a mess to clean up cause she can’t hold it until morning, then so-be-it!!! No one goes back out tonight!!!
Bald is Beautiful….
….or at least those who shave their heads for charity are!!!
I attended the St. Baldrick’s event at Local Joe’s tonight and had a BLAST!!! We had a very loud, noisy gang from Wyeth cheering on our co-workers, Hope and Melanie, as they shaved their heads and were successful enough to be the largest money raisers – over $6000!!! Woo Hoo!!!!
I also hung around to cheer on fellow blogger and Herald writer, Gordon Anderson!!! He did great, too — and looks pretty cool as a baldie!
Here’s some pics to show what a great thing they all did:
Hope – Before:
Melanie – Before:
Hope and Melanie – After – what a pair:
Gordon – Before:
Gordon – During – nice look……do we have a new fashion trend here???
Gordon – After
I’m so proud of myself…..
When I got home, I put the ladder up in the hall under the smoke alarm and I stood there to psych myself up enough to climb it. I climbed up it as far as I dared – there was one more step before the one you aren’t supposed to step on, but I really forced myself up as high as I went — I was beginning to panic — so I just stretched a little with one hand and hung on for dear life with the other!!! I got the smoke detector unscrewed and found that I had to unplug it from the wiring in order to get to the battery out — if I could have gone up another step and used both hands, I wouldn’t have had to do that, but there was no way I was going to get any higher or let go of the ladder!!! I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it back (not without going up another step and using both hands to connect the wiring again), so I just got down with it and was happy to settle for stopping the chirping!! I got down and it was STILL chirping — I took the battery out, it was unplugged, and it was STILL chirping!!!! That almost put me over the edge!!! ha-ha-ha So, I put an new battery in it and now it is fine (and it’ll actually let me know if there is a fire until I can get someone to put it back where it belongs)……………..so, all is good!!!!
I’m so proud of myself!!!! Of course, I had to go sit down and get my heart to stop pounding out of my chest and my hand to stop cramping from gripping the ladder so hard — but, I’m still proud of myself!!!
Lasagna and Pizzelles
Charlie’s Authentic Sicilian Lasagna
Ingredients:
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2 packages of lasagna noodles (don’t use broken ones)
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1 1/2 pound ricotta cheese
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1 pound hamburger
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1 8 oz package parmesan cheese
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1 small package shredded mozzarella cheese
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1 large jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice or equivalent amount of home made sauce
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Cook noodles per instructions for “al-dente”
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Fry hamburger and drain well
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Put cooked hamburger in sauce and spice to taste
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Using a large lasagna pan or deep rectangle cake pan, spread about 1 good laddle full of sauce on bottom of the pan
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Add one layer of noodles to pan – lay them side by side until bottom of pan is covered
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Put one thin layer of ricotta cheese on top of noodles. Cheese doesn’t have to cover the whole layer – you can cut the cheese in small slices and place them randomly, if easier for you – whatever you decide
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Sprinkle a layer of parmesan cheese on top of the ricotta cheese
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That concludes one layer
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Repeat layers – sauce, noodles, ricotta, parmesan – in that order to create additional layers until all ingredients are used up or until the pan is full
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Sprinkle the top with shredded mozzarella cheese
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Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour
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Enjoy!!!
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6 eggs
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4 cups flour
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1 1/2 cups sugar
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1 cup oil
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4 tsp baking powder
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2 Tbsp anise oil
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1 Tbsp orange rind
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1 Tbsp lemon rind
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2 Tbsp orange extract
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2 Tbsp lemon extract
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OPTIONAL – add a little anise seed
Directions:
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Mix all ingredients together and blend well
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Place a small scoop on a hot greased pizzelle iron
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If using a non-electric pizzelle iron, place over burner on stove and cook a couple minutes on each side – until cookie is slightly brown
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If using an electic pizzelle iron, cook per instructions on unit until cookie is slightly brown
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Enjoy!
The short and high of it….
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I am 4 foot 11 and 3/4 inches tall
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My house has 9 foot ceilings
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I am petrified of heights, which includes being on a step ladder with more than 3 steps
Got the picture???? When I moved in, the ceiling lights in every room were those kind that are enclosed in and flush to the ceiling! uugghh — every time a light bulb blew, I was calling a friend or my son to come change it out for me or catching a visitor while they happen to be here!!! I don’t like depending on anyone else for anything — I wanna be able to do it myself and when I want to have it done – not wait for someone else to have time to help!!! So – I had all but a couple changed to ceiling fans with the tulip type lights, which killed two birds with one stone: 1. gave me the ability to move the air around in the rooms and 2. made the light bulbs easily accessible and low enough to be able to reach them on a small step ladder and a little stretching.
But I still have an issue with the smoke alarms! Even if I make myself climb the bigger ladder I have out in the shed (which I have been known to suck it up and climb when I really need to), it is not tall enough to raise my not-quite-five-foot frame up high enough to reach the smoke alarms that barely extend an inch from the ceiling!!!! I am not one of those people who routinely change out the batteries every time the time changes – I know I should, I just don’t – so there! So, this morning I was very rudely nudged awake by a loud chirp every couple of minutes!!! Oh no, one of the smoke alarms has a dead or dying battery!!!! It is EXTREMELY irritating and just happens to be the one in the hallway, so I can’t even just close the door to muffle it!!! I may just go insane before I can get someone to come change out the battery!!!
On a slightly odd note — it doesn’t seem to be bothering the girls at all. They don’t seem to even notice it! I find that odd because of the fact that dogs have such acute hearing. When Puddles was alive, that was something that drove her bonkers – when we had a smoke alarm chirping, she would pace around and whine and look up at it in total disgust! Not Katie, Megan, or Amy – they are going about business as usual……..wish I could!!!!
I guess it was bound to happen….
I could not believe it!!! I yelled, called them bad girls, let them out to pee, and then put them in their confined space without dinner!!! I left the mess right where it was and went to meet a friend for dinner and cool down! When I got home, I fed them, let them out, and cleaned up the mess. I acted like I was still mad and didn’t want to talk to them — that drove them nuts!!!! I finally let them make their apologies and we “made up”!!!
The cushion can be fixed, I think — the fabric tore at the seams and they reached in to pull the foam out. I’ll take it to Todd’s or somewhere and see if they can put a new foam block in it and stitch it up for me.
I’m wondering when they are going to grow up — both Puddles and Katie settled right down and stopped all the destruction when they turned 2 — I hope Megan and Amy aren’t going to be the exceptions to that rule………..Will I ever be able to have nice things again????
Reminder – St. Baldrick’s Event Saturday!
Participants of note are:
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Fellow Sanford Blogger and Sanford Herald Writer – Gordon Anderson is well on his way to his goal of $500!!
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Team Wyeth – two of my co-workers have formed “Team Wyeth” – Hope Buchanan and Melanie Underwood – together they have raised close to $5000!!! (yep – that’s not a typo – I did mean to write five thousand dollars!!!)
Maybe you’ll find someone else you know on the list — check it out and help in any way you can — every $1.00 counts!!!!
The fun at Local Joe’s starts this Saturday (July 12th) at 3:00 with kid head shavings from 3:00 – 6:00 and the adult head shavings from 6:00 – 11:00! Come out and cheer on the wonderful shavees……..they are doing a great thing for a great cause and deserve our support!!!
F-O-R-D
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F-O-R-D = Fix or repair daily
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F-O-R-D = Found on road dead
And I’m sure there are more…. My Dad worked for GM and I was married to a “Chevy Man”, so very few of my cars were NOT made by General Motors. I’ve had Camaros, Vegas, Cavaliers, Grand Ams, an Oldsmobile, and an Astro Van. The only outliers were a Dodge Daytona and a couple American Motors cars (an Ambassador Station Wagon and two Gremlins – all in my very early driving years). I have never owned a FORD and probably would have been ridiculed if I had even mentioned owning one!!!! But – my dream car has always been a Mustang!!! My favorite song has always been Mustang Sally!!! So – my mid-life crisis gift to myself was a red Mustang convertible — not just any red Mustang convertible, but an 8 cylinder GT and one of the new retro models!!! The first year they came out, I had to have one and searched until I found the one I wanted — red, GT, convertible!!!! And I have loved every minute since it entered my life!!! I’ve decided it will be the last car I ever buy — I’m going to drive it till the wheels fall off — my little red pony and I will be together till the day one or the other of us die!!!
Then today happened……..I got in it to go to work and it sounded like it wasn’t quite ready to wake up and then it started and all was fine — sounded normal — no idiot lights flashing at me — I was good to go!!!! I went out for lunch and it started right up — no problem — must have just been a freak thing this morning……. Then…….I left La Dolce Vita to go back to work after lunch and put the key in the ignition and turned it and all I got was “click – click – click – click – click” — RUT RO……….my F-O-R-D was “found on road dead”!!!! What was I going to do??? I had a 1:00 meeting and a 2:00 meeting and it was almost 12:30……..I called my best friend to come see if he could help — he thought maybe it was the connection to the battery, so he checked everything he could get to without getting under the car (not possible without a lift) and nothing! He was on a motorcycle, so a “jump” wasn’t in the cards……. He assured me it was probably something simple like the connections, the battery itself, or the solenoid – not a major problem! So, I started calling around to see if a service station could come help — no one was able to do so — I called the Ford dealer and their service department didn’t answer the phone — so, my friend told me to call Burrus Automotive — BINGO!!! They sent a very nice young man from Paradise Towing – we had a lovely conversation on the way to Burrus! While I waited for the tow truck to arrive, I called and cancelled my two afternoon meetings and let my boss know I needed to take 1/2 vacation day to tend to car troubles…… I got to Burrus and he asked me a couple questions, decided it was the battery, and fixed it in no time flat!!!! I was good as new and on my way home by 3:00!!!
While I waited for the my friend and again while I waited for the tow truck, all kinds of things went through my very over active imagination…….like even though I knew it was probably something simple, I was sure I’d be without a car for days and I was going to need to take out a second mortgage to pay the bill………..like how I refuse to own an “old car” cause I want one I can depend on and if I’m gonna start having problems and pouring money into it, then maybe I’d better start looking into trading cars…………..and how I just got the notice that the warranty has expired and it looks like the “timer” they put on cars to start the problems after the warranty runs out has already kicked in………and on and on………But – after paying a very reasonable bill for a quick simple fix that is probably fairly “normal” for a 3 year old car, I came back to my senses and reminded myself what a fabulous car I have and apologized to it for thinking about trading it in………we’ve made up and all is good!!!!
Thank you Paradise Towing! Thank you Burrus Automotive! And thank you to my best friend who left work to try to help me and pointed me in the best direction for a successful conclusion to my predicament!!!
Bertha
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