Old Sailor's Fudge

In my teens, I read a fiction book that had this recipe in the story. I just looked online and it might have been a book called Secret for a Star by Marguerite Vance. When I left my parents' home to go out and be an adult, this was one of two dishes that I knew how to make from scratch. The other one was spaghetti sauce.

My Russian Friend

MEOW

He's about 3 feet tall. Meow.

Ground Zero

I told you that I would be posting more pictures from NY. They are still hard at work clearing Ground Zero. Here is the view through a hole in the wall. We just had a huge snow yesterday. I built a snowcat today. If I get a pic of it, I'll post it soon!

Teddy finds a friend

Teddy chillin with Magilla! He found a new friend at the Affinia (they have a stuffed gorilla mascot in the rooms). Then he looked out the window and can see the pizza and bagel places on the corner! Yum, yum, he says!

Halo

Another photo from my trip. Looks like a halo around the airplane!

Beautiful Building

I took this picture in NYC near Battery Park around twilight. Beautiful, isn't it?

Battery Park

Street performers at the end of the day in Battery Park (southern tip of Manhattan) November 2007. Cameraman not very good here, sorry.

What a HOOT

Dan says he wants this for Christmas! I found out that a store in Brooklyn called Scandinavian Grace sells this imported wool cap. For the low low price of $135!!! But VERY cool! Or should I say warm?

Almost TWO months!

I can't believe it! I have not posted for almost 2 months! I have been busy with calling advertisers for our new magazine. Call call call. And last weekend I took an extremely quick in and out trip to NYC. I found this on one of the concrete barriers at the WTC. Brought it all the way home as a souvenir, than thought, "What the heck am I thinking? I should send this on its way to Germany. So I slapped a stamp on it and sent it on its merry way from the midwest to its recipient. I wonder if they'll wonder why it has a postmark from 1000 miles inland! I'll post some pics from the trip soon! Love to all, have a great Thanksgiving!

Look what I found!

I was going through the house, trying to pare down my volume of STUFF. And I found this page from my 2001 Calendar! I AM NOT KIDDING! How bizarre is that? Twilight Zone time!

I'm selling a cool item on eBay. Check it out, it's number 270169259021.

I'm also going in with my neighborhood association for a big progressive yard sale NEXT Saturday the 29th! It runs from 8-2 and last year over 50 houses participated! I have TONS of crap. . .errr, I mean lovely items that I'm putting out in the back yard. Dan's bringing some of his collectibles over, too! Come and visit if you are in the neighborhood! I'm not giving my address out over this blog, so if you know me, you know where to find me!

Dad is remaining stable, at home. Takes lots of naps, but has not had to go back on chemo at this point! God is giving him some nice peaceful times, I think! YAY!

Interesting Video

Front Yard

It's been a while, huh! Thanks for checking in, my friends! Click on the picture to go to my full album at Photobucket. There are a few more pics there. I have been working hard, learning a new career. When that all comes together and gets going properly, I'll definitely post it here! Meanwhile, pray, pray, pray! Enjoy my beautiful flowers! PS The pool is open! ;-)

Wrong Tomatoes

When I went to the nursery this spring, I grabbed 2 different varieties of tomatoes off of the shelf. I wanted 2 different beefsteak type. One isn't doing too well, sorry to say. Four feet tall and NO BLOOMS. The other turned out to be cherry tomatoes! I should really read the label before I buy next time. Anyway, here is my FIRST HARVEST! Duane, maybe we could have a contest for the smallest tomato this year? Yes, that is a great idea! I WIN!

Crest White Strips

One week of Crest White Strips.
Because you need to know.
Don't you?

Ellis Island

I never realized that my grandfather came in to America through Ellis Island! DUH! I always thought that they came through Canada. Well, I was WRONG! Here is a photo of the ship that he crossed the Atlantic on in 1906. It was called the "Vaderland". NO NOT DARTH VADER, you goober. It's the Dutch word for homeland. Just 60 feet wide and less than 600 feet long. What a treasure trove of information there is to be had at www.ellisisland.org! Ship manifests and photos. Fun fun fun.

What a Bargain!

I haven't gone out to the yard and taken an actual picture yet. This is the tag from the.....ready?.......five....yes, FIVE! dollar Forsythia that I just planted on the front slope. Gotta do something there. The grass was starting to take it over. So I dug up all of my "saveable" plants and put down landscaping fabric.Now the mulch just falls to the bottom of the slope. DUH! I'm in the process of installing some plants to hold back the mulch. A real photo will come later, after I get everything planted again. But WOW! 5 bucks! What a deal! For those of you who live near me, it was from Home Depot. Regularly 20 dollars. They also have trees at half price. Hurry and get yours!

CHEEKY MONKEY

There are no Gameboys or Playstations in the jungle, I guess?

YEEEE-IKES!

WELL!!!!!!

My adrenalin is off the chart right now. I saw that the pool had deflated somewhat, so decided to pump it back up. The compressor and extension cord are in the basement. I opened the basement door. Some gardening mishmash had piled up against it over the winter in the stairwell. I started tidying up. Grabbed the green plastic watering can by the handle. Kinda heavy. Water in it?? Well, better empty it so that the mosquitoes don't have a place to breed. Wait a minute. What IS that? Furry mold in the water? NO, WAIT A MINUTE, NOW! It's a RAT! No, whew, just a possum. A POSSUM? YEEEE--IKES! and I dropped the can. It fell to the ground. I slammed the basement door shut. What do I do now? ok ok. Pick up the can. The poor thing is as scared as I am. I opened the door, grabbed the can by the spout, and gently took it to the other end of the patio, where there is tall mondo grass. Set it down. WHEW!!!! Back away!!! WHEW!!! No movement from inside the watering can. He's probably still there, paralyzed. In a state of shock from the move.

More Horse Talk

WHAT A FINISH! The last half mile was an exciting duel between Rags and Curlin!
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Rags to Riches became the third filly to capture the Belmont Ruthless took the first running in 1867 and Tanya won in 1905. Only 22 fillies have tried the Belmont, with Rags to Riches the first since Silverbulletday finished seventh in 1999.
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Rags to Riches won in 2:28.74, well off Secretariat's track record of 2:24. But time didn't matter in this one.
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Drawing on the bloodlines that carried her father, A.P. Indy, and grandfather, Seattle Slew, to victory in the race, Rags to Riches also proved a worthy successor to last year's Belmont winner, half-brother Jazil. She beat his time by a scant one hundredth of a second!
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Rags to Riches almost lost her chance at the start, stumbling out of the No. 7 post as the gates opened. But look at her with the carnations on her neck! "I'm pretty, I'm pretty! I beat the boyeeez, I beat the boyeeez!"

. . . coming down the stretch!

Here is my first exacta box win! I had the 5 (Touch Me Not) and the 7 (Stefani C). It was Stefani C all the way down the stretch. . .until the wire, when Touch Me Not edged her out by a nose. Mike was disappointed. He had the 7 to win. Soooooo close. . . !!! Dan got a hold of a winner in race 3 with Lou's Gem. Seattle Slew's granddaughter (Little Blue Slew) was also in the lineup for that one! And the hot dogs were yum yum yummy! (only 75 cents on Horse Hooky Tuesdays!). Maybe we'll see you there sometime?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

http://www.archive.org/details/51AndCounting

Illinois Squirrels are STRANGE

My brother has some strange squirrels in his yard. So, do you see anything odd about them?

Leia

What a treat! 2 posts to the blog today! I was getting a book out of the bookcase, and this photo of me fell out. What a trip in the way back machine! You know, Carrie Fisher and I were born in the same year. As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "GOSH!". P.S. I'm the girl on top, and that IS ALL my hair. Have a great week, guys!

Street Sense

What a trip the Breeder's Cup champion gave Calvin Borel! Calvin really took advantage of this colt's gears! Very exciting to see the Red Sea parting in front of this dark bay. I'm looking forward to the Preakness on the 19th!

I have been doing some heavy duty cleaning and decluttering of the house. Why not? I love this old place! The garden has started blooming. I have 4 vases with fresh flowers throughout the house. All the flowers are from the yard!

Still sending out resumes. Remember me to God! My goal is to support myself and the kitties with the job that He has for me. I need WISDOM! As the old saying goes, "From your mouth. . ."

Meanwhile, I plan a little trip to Fairmount Park soon. I'll get a look at some ponies, up close and personal! See you soon, bro!

Cat fight

Here's the latest from Enzo and Ada. Enjoy!

Using my time

I am learning that I need to use my "vacation" time more wisely. So last week, I finally installed the quarter round on the kickplate in the kitchen. The last owners had redone the kitchen and never replaced it. I have been staring at that for YEARS and thinking that I should really fix it . . . a little thing to do. Just never put it on my list to do. I am looking at the whole house differently now. WOW. What an opportunity to do a little here and a little there! I cleaned out a cabinet today. I had to make a pattern for a new shelf. I got a real solid confirmation on using my time more wisely. See the picture above? Isn't that just the coolest thing that you ever saw? Ok, maybe not, but it made me smile as I went down to the basement to cut the board for the new shelves. Shelves are cut and I took them outside to paint them. They are drying as I speak. Let me encourage YOU to get up and fix something or make something that you need to do NOW! You know, that thing that you thought you'd get around to doing sometime? You will feel SO much better after!!!

P.S. I went on a job interview yesterday! A design firm that needs a traffic coordinator. Went well, but others are in the running.

Beethoven's Hearing Aid

WHAT A WONDERFUL DEVICE!
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Proud to be an American

This is not my idea of art, but it does lead me to a bit of pondering. I live in a country where freedom of expression is allowed. And that is a good thing. But in the words of Napoleon, "GOSH!". I wish that some people would be less expressive!

GUILTY!

Here's my jury story! Gotta go to the Civil Courts building. The Ghostbuster building (where all of the action happened in the big finale) was based on it. See Photo 1. First I went through the metal detectors. Then I got settled in to some really uncomfortable seats. Really close and chummy with my neighbor! Stayed there all morning. Walked to the Hotel Majestic and paid WAY too much for a turkey club. Walked to a nearby park and people watched for a while. Then back to the comfy/cozy seating. HOORAY! My number is called, and I move to another area of seating. Once all of the other 47 people called are seated, we all get herded across Market street to the criminal court building. Literally herded. Sheriff in front, sheriff in back. Sheriff at each door, and on the street corners. At that point, I wondered what kind of trial we were going in to! They give us a brief overview of the case. Guy caught (allegedly) with over 6 grams of "cocaine base" (crack). So the charges were trafficking and possession. Boy do they ask some questions, trying to pick the 12 jurors (plus 2 alternates). Found out some really interesting things about every one! The guy behind me was an anarchist. Had some arrests and convictions from the late 1970s. He had taken over some university buildings in Michigan. He was currently involved with some illegals from Peru. Generating money for their defense fund. Another guy had just got out of rehab last year. His current roommate was doing time for drugs. A lady was asked if she ever had bad experiences with the police. She said yes, but the police officer in question was her husband. We all got a big belly laugh out of that one. They asked me how I felt about my last jury duty. The girl sitting next to me had some domestic violence stuff going on. That's the tip of the iceberg. Every one has a story, you know? The defendant was in the court room the whole time. 2 sheriffs, 2 prosecutors, the judge, the court reporter, all of us. . . They don't pick the jurors until the next morning. The guy from rehab and the lady married to the policeman are 2 of the ones chosen. I walked down to Union Station (Photo 2) during lunch and bought 6 beautiful pieces of imported chocolate. Yum yum. From the chocolatier on the first floor (Photo 3), near the lake. Called Cioccolato (www.iluvchocolate.com). Once we get picked, the trial starts and is over within a couple of hours. We go in to the jury room around 4pm on Tuesday. Within a half hour, 8 of us agree that he had the drugs. 4 weren't sure. Actually, I don't think that they understood the requirements, the tunnel vision, that you need to make the decision. They were off on other tangents. All they needed to focus on was did he or did he not have the drugs, They were worried about whether he was abused during arrest, whether he was provided health care, whether the police planted the drugs (that one made no sense in this case, other than it was the defendant's main mantra). If the drugs WERE planted, the defense attorney sure did not pursue that trail!!! So we had to come back again on Wednesday. Almost immediately, 2 of the not guilty people changed their mind. So now we were down to 2 left. These people just didn't get it. I can see how juries become hung juries. We all had to agree on the verdict, or the trial would have to be re-tried with a new jury. Then they were wondering what would happen to this guy. That' s not what we were there for. . . we just had to decide did he or didn't he have the drugs. Well, after another 2 hours (we had them bring in the drugs so that we could see how they had been packaged/handled by the cops), they finally said ok, they thought that he had the drugs. That ends that. Back to the jury box for us. The defense attorney has us polled individually to see if we agreed to the verdict. After we all said yes, back to the jury room where the sheriff told us more about the guy. We weren't allowed to hear all of this crap during the trial. He had many more trials to go yet. One was a bank robbery charge. Armed. He was known as the cell phone bandit, because he was always on the phone when he robbed. So I feel MUCH better about our decision. He had looked directly at me when he was telling his tall tale about being beat up by the police, and having the drugs planted on him. He was sitting about 10 feet away. I was feeling a lot of sympathy for him. What a talker he was. One of the jurors told me that I shouldn't have made eye contact. That is absolutely true! If you are ever on a jury, NEVER make eye contact with the defendant or their supporters in the audience. You could really be in danger. Before we left the jury room to go home, the sheriff had us wait until he checked the halls to make sure that the defendant's family were not around. Yikes. I hadn't thought of that danger! But, all in all, it was a great experience. I will do it again when called. Hope you all do, too. If you ever are a victim or a defendant, you would WANT someone like you on the jury!!!! We don't need any more dum dums making legal decisions. Wow, this was a long post. Hope that you enjoyed it!

Enzo's mail

I know that you aren't supposed to open other people's mail, but I opened this one. Addressed to Enzo! It's a Chick Publications tract. Those of you who know Enzo, will appreciate this!!! I live in an area where there are quite a few Bosnian Muslims. Very close to a Muslim community center. I guess some well meaning Christian sister of mine is blanketing the area with gospel tracts. That took a lot of work!

Vote for me!

Baby Ada would like you to give her a "10" for cuteness! Go here to vote: http://www.lifetimetv.com/photos/cats/rate.php?id=118624

Hill of Evil Council

I ran across this interesting tidbit recently. ---- There is a hill in Jerusalem just south of the ancient walled city and across the Hinnom Valley. It is called the Hill of Evil Counsel. It is also the site of the United Nations headquarters in Israel. HMMM?

Baby Ada

This week's new trick from Baby Ada.

WOW

Can you see how long my hair is getting? It seems like just overnight, I managed to get long hair again. I know that you all are wondering what happened with the job lead. Well, no response yet from the HR dept there (yet). I sent a Thank You and followed up a week later with a voice mail. HMMM. Well, I am NOT discouraged, don't you fret! I had another promising interview 2 days ago. The HR from that company said he would call me yea or nay after this coming Wednesday (March 7th). So I am still on fire, sending out resumes!!! Please remember me in your prayers. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much! Thanks to you all!

Out with the old

I have a really good lead on a new job. I'll let you know the details next week. Please make a prayer for me! The terms and job description seem perfect!----Meanwhile, I have FINALLY decided to replace my walking shoes. The old ones have become strictly gardening shoes, and not go out in public shoes (after 6 years). Look at the WONDERFUL new white walking shoes!!! I love them.

My Father

My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalms 50:10)! Yes! And LOOK what He gave me today! I FOUND this in a parking lot at a community college. I was attending a one day seminar on how to start/fund a business!!!

Civic Duty

Well, SOMEBODY's gotta do it! Jan's Big Adventure is picking up now! I got this summons in the mail today. I sat on a jury for a murder trial in 1992. Maybe this one will be interesting, too!

Beautiful Snow

We're in the middle of a little snowstorm. The weather is just bad enough to make me so happy to be inside, all snuggly and warm. And I don't have any reason to HAVE TO go out in it! So I'm lovin it!!!

Walking

I was doing a lot of walking last year. The zoo was a favorite. The video below is of my little otter buddies. Mom, Dad, and the Twins. They are a HOOT to watch! Very friendly little guys. Full of curiousity. The weather outside is soooo cold now, I can't wait til it warms up 10 or 20 degrees so I can get out and see how the Twins have grown!

I miss my buddies!

Can You BELIEVE this?

WOW!!! I hit the jackpot this morning! Went out to warm up the car (I do that when the outside temp gets below freezing). . . THREE, count 'em, THREEEEEE FLAT TIRES! I think that maybe I won't be making that 8:30 appointment, will I? Laugh with me, please!

After 10 Years

My first painting after a 10 year hiatus! I'm cookin' now! LOL. Moving forward in the recapturing of my love for art, anyway. Don't tell me what you think about it yet. I am still reeling a little from my being "laid off" from my corporate job last week! Thank you for visiting my little postings! I think that this blogging thing will be a fun adventure!

Life Change

What a trite and overdone situation I am in! Yes, I have reached the sage and respectable half century mark, but my virtues and assets have all been put into the trash bin by Corporate America. The Man. My services were no longer needed. After years of dedicated service. HOPING to make it long enough so that I won't have to lose my house and move in with my septigenarian parents! I have always loved art and wonder why oh why did I EVER get pushed in to the IT market instead? Right brain, left brain, you know. I can fix your computer, but all that I want to do is change its design or make it more beautiful for you instead. Here is my first post. Jan's Big Adventure is what I am about to embark upon. Stay tuned for the next episode! It'll be a FUN ride, come along with me!