And Now For Something Completely Different...

For those of you who need a good laugh this afternoon, these are real signs at places of business. Bad marketing or someone with a dirty mind? hmmm?!?!

Kids Exchange
This is for a Pharmacy
NOT RIGHT!

My Favorite :)
Should be MEGAFLICKS

NAPA Tip Of The Day

Is your car running a little sluggish? Maybe not getting the best miles per gallon that it could? Not accelerating as fast as you know it can? Then why don’t you stop by your local NAPA and pick up some fuel injector cleaner! Add it to your gas tank before you fill up your tank every time you get an oil change to restore lost power and acceleration, smooth rough idle, eliminate tough starts, and save gas by cleaning the fuel injectors.

What is Fuel Injector Cleaner you ask??? Well….It “contains concentrated detergents that help dissolve and remove harmful carbon, gum and varnish deposits on fuel injectors. Without cleaning, deposits can lead to hard starts, lost acceleration and rough idling. This product is safe for all gasoline engines.”

So stop by today and help your car out!

This NAPA tip was brought to you by your friendly Napa Associate – Terry H.!


And yes, I have nothing better or more interesting to blog about at the moment :(

Please Help Me Understand This "Bailout" Stuff

Ok, so I am going to admit, I am confused about this bailout stuff. Click here for Bush's speech....it is easier for me to read it then listen to him read it.

I mean I get the general idea. The government wants to buy from certain firms their assets at the currently low prices and hold on to them until things are "back to normal" and in doing so spending up to $700 billion. Obviously they are proposing that this will help reduce a "long and painful recession" that we are facing. (Of course heaven forbid we used that "R" word even a few months ago.)

So I really don't fully understand the idea of this Bailout. Mind you I am asking questions and answering them with parts of the transcript from his speech last night. I am not stupid, I get the idea...I just still have questions, that were not addressed in the speech about how this is going to go down if it happens.

- So where are they getting this crazy amount of money - taxpayers of course. "It is difficult to pass a bill that commits so much of the taxpayers' hard-earned money." If they allocate up to $700 billion of our tax dollars for this what then happens to our other government expenses? The other places our tax dollars are SUPPOSE to go? Do those things get placed on a back burner? Do we have the money to also cover those pre-existing expenses? And will our money be going to pay the ridiculous salary of some CEO at one of these companies? What will happen to those of us who pay their loans and pay their mortgage and pay their taxes, but are still struggling to get by? (Am I selfish - no, Concerned - yes)

Is this considered a short-term solution? "In the short term, this will free up banks to resume the flow of credit to American families and businesses, and this will help our economy grow." Wouldn't that put us back where we are? I mean sure I want my credit back where it was, but does this also mean handing out more loans? That is what they are saying got us here in the first place.

Is this also a long-term solution? "The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal. And when that happens, money will flow back to the Treasury as these assets are sold, and we expect that much, if not all, of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back." How long before this happens. Months, a year, longer?? What is the plan in the meantime?

Will this be something that helps us at the moment but then in a few years we are going to be back in the same boat we are now? How are we going to prevent this from happening....a band-aid doesn't heal the wound. And are we helping just the companies or also the individuals who have fallen to foreclosures or other debt because of this?

I mean I unfortunately have credit card debt, and to me it sounds like we are covering up one debt by creating a new debt? Maybe I am way wrong, like I said I don't fully understand and stupid news shows are not helping at all.


So if you have a better idea of how this is suppose to work, I would appreciate it. I also don't want to come across as reluctant to pay or back this proposal, but I have questions and concerns about this. I also have concerns with the timing of this all. I mean, we can't go in the past but we have been talking about this possibility for some time now - I guess some just didn't want to hear it them.

I Love.....

So I haven’t done this for a while so I am going to do two things I currently love. (not related at all)

1) Barilla Plus Pasta. Now I have always bought and loved Barilla pasta, however this new “Plus” pasta is what I have been serving in our house recently. This pasta tastes fantastic and look at the chart to see how good it is for you! I am a fan of wheat pasta but my husband isn’t a huge fan. In an attempt to eat better food I gave this a try and frankily, you can not tell a difference from this and regular pasta at all. T. even really likes it! ¼ of the box (I think) of uncooked pasta contains 17 g of protein, 3 g of fat, 360 mg of Omega-3, and 7 g of fiber. I think that sounds pretty darn impressive for pasta. And a box is only around $1.70....which I think is very reasonable. Check out Barilla’s website for recipes and more info on their pastas.

2) Travel size items. Oh my goodness, I just ADORE anything that is travel size. Shampoos, lotions, soaps, Kleenex, wrinkle reducer, pills, toothpaste, anything! I love the travel section of Target….I just want to buy one of everything. I actually have a box with travel soaps and shampoos for people who may want to spend the night at our house or if we are going somewhere and may need them. Travel size things are just perfect! I actually carry a travel size bottle of mouthwash, Kleenex, Band-Aids and of course lotion in my purse. Yep, I am a huge sucker for anything in small, easy to carry packaging.

Talk To Me....

What shows are you looking forward to watching this Fall? Click here for what is on and when it premiers.

T & I have a fairly busy Fall line-up….because we have nothing better to do.

Monday: The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, & Heroes (though not overly excited about Heroes, but interested)

Tuesday: Fringe, Eureka (already started a few weeks ago)

Wednesday: Pushing Daisies!!! (LOVE this show…so glad it is back)

Thursday: It is a busy night – Grey’s Anatomy (kind of not feeling it – we’ll see), Smallville, Supernatural, My Name is Earl, The Office, & Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles (Terry)

Friday & Saturday: Nothing yet??

Sunday: Dexter, Desperate Housewives (again, not excited but will watch), & True Blood – it just started a few weeks ago though I am not sure about this show yet. We will see.

I think that is it....for now :)

Another Pair Gone to My Extreme Strength

So I have again broken yet another pair of sunglasses. Ugh I wrote on my blog awhile back about the fact that I go through about 3 pairs of sunglasses a year. I am so hard on my sunglasses, obviously. I hate this, because I find glasses I just LOVE and then they break. I really really try to be careful with them, but after a month or so I am back to my same old habits, such as wearing them on my head, throwing them in my purse, throwing them in general, and just wearing them so frequently that they break.

So I guess it is back to Target to try to find yet another pair of sunglasses. Maybe in an attempt to stop throwing my sunglasses around I should buy one of those sunglass cord things that hook to your sunglasses so you can just let them hang around your neck when you are not wearing them! Hehehe – maybe in hot pink or purple?!?!

Photo Parade - Child-At-Heart

Ok, so maybe I am being overly sentimental this week because we celebrated our anniversary, but to me my husband is the biggest child-at-heart I know.

I will admit that I can be a bit uptight at times. (gasp) I worry about things too much, am not a spontaneous person (planning is important) and sometimes just need to relax and not take things so seriously. Over the past 8 years I have really learned to relax and takes things more lightly, or at least as lightly as I feel I can. His youthful attitude is something I truly admire.

It Pretty Much Goes Without Saying.....But I Will Say It Anyways.

I have the best sister in the world! Sure some of you may disagree, especially if you think YOUR sister is better but you just may not have met mine, so we will leave the discussion for another time ;)

So anywho - I got these flowers pictured below for my anniversary....from my sister! Yes, she drove up to my work and hand delivered these BEAUTIFUL flowers to me! Um, thoughtful. They were absolutely gorgeous and I was SO surprised! It made my day :)

So thank you K, you are so thoughtful.....you must get it from your attractive, considerate and completely modest older sister.

Yep, I think she is a keeper.





Just so you don't think T is a slacker in this surprise flower department - we had a deal - NO GIFTS (flowers included)! :D

Happy Anniversary Terry!

Here are some pics from our wedding on September 16, 2006!!

The song is from our first dance. It is Otis Redding, "That's How Strong My Love Is" (FYI: you can turn the music off by hitting the volume symbol that pops up when you put your mouse next to the "slide" button in the top left corner.)

Happy Anniversary Terry!
Thank you for all your love, support and encouragement over the years.
I feel so blessed to have found you and to be able to share my life with you as husband and wife.
Forever yours,
Jenn

Fun For All

Visit http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ to make up your won yearbook pics!

Thanks Quiet Oasis and Athena's Bee's for this site!!
I can't stop with the pictures :) I even did one of Terry!

The Ancient Secret of Salsa Making

So the other night SP, Terry and myself attempted to make salsa.

Now we had a basic salsa recipe. MEANING we had a list of what items to put in our salsa and a very approximate amount. These are our attempts…..

Attempt 1: D-
We tried in the magic bullet following the recipe as close to possible. What it yielded was a very soupy and VERY pungent flavor. I am talking hello onion, hello garlic, hello cilantro – where the heck is the tomato?!?! Terry thought he could help it out by adding vinegar but he added balsamic vinegar. Ugh, I mean it sucked anyways – but that helped it suck more very nicely. Outcome - It was "edible", barely, but this salsa went straight into our garbage disposal.

Attempt 2: C+
We moved from the magic bullet to my amazingly awesome mini food processor. I love this thing and should have tried it first. We decreased the onion, garlic and cilantro and increased the tomato. Terry also felt vinegar should be used but grabbed the right kind this time. I personally don’t think vinegar needs to be used. The salsa tasted ok, but needed more tomato and salt. Outcome – We poured it in a bowl and kept adding chopped up tomatoes to the batch. Not a complete loss, but not amazing.

Attempt 3: B+
We thought we had it figured out this time. LOTS of tomatoes, a little bit of onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and garlic. No vinegar. Pulse the mixture together. We mixed it with the previous attempt (as it was edible) and had what turned out to be an ok batch of salsa. Of course we had to add more salt and pepper, but overall pretty tasty. Outcome - We are still eating it and it actually tasted better after being in the fridge for a day. Not marketable yet, but tasty.

Attempt 4: TBD
We talked about our next attempt, as we called it quits for that night because we ran out of time and also went through a half a bag of chips during the taste testing periods!! Our future process as discussed over dinner that evening: We will chop the tomato (LOTS and half of those seeded) and cilantro together and then in a separate batch we will chop the garlic, jalapeño pepper and onion (not a red though, maybe a Spanish or yellow). Then combine and season with salt and pepper and additional hot sauce if needed. Also, add fresh lime juice to the finished product for this batch.
Outcome - We'll see!!

I think salsa is so hard to perfect. It depends on what tomatoes you have, how juicy, how much flavor, how pungent the cilantro is…there is no set recipe that works….it is just a guessing game. At least for me. It is good making it, but I honestly don’t think I would do this all the time, just on occasion.

So in conclusion:
The Ancient Secret of Salsa Making is DON’T and instead just let the professionals handle it by going to the store and buying your favorite kind.

I Don’t Know How I feel About This

I have been reading articles about how Scientists have successfully launched a machine in a tunnel deep beneath the border of France and Switzerland in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. STORY

“The Large Hadron Collider is a $9 billion particle accelerator designed to simulate conditions of the Big Bang that created the physical Universe. In the coming months, the collider is expected to begin smashing particles into each other by sending two beams of protons around the tunnel in opposite directions.

Skeptics, claim that the experiment could lead to the creation of a black hole capable of swallowing the planet. To which physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk. A study released Friday by CERN scientists explains that any black hole created would be tiny, and would not have enough energy to stick around very long before dissolving

They are claiming that this scientific investment without precedent in the history of humanity will be essential not only for the intimate knowledge of our universe, but also for the direct applications in fields as varied as intensive calculation or even medicine,".

So I don’t know how I feel about this. Are we going too far with our need to know everything? What will happen if this proves or disproves the Big Bang Theory? Um, I don’t know about you, but I would like to know more about those black holes they were talking about! Is this a waste of A LOT of money that could go to other things? What are the benefits?

Has anyone heard anything about this? I am going to read more about it and talk to my hubby who is interested in all this stuff, but until then….any thoughts?

I Just Had To Show You...

I twittered about how huge my seedless grapes were and I decided I just had to show you. They are crazy. Look at it next to my chapstick! Awesome. These pics don't do the grapes justice, but lets just say they are two biters! It is the simple things that make me happy :)

I know - a random post, but these blow my mind....and I don't want to work.

CONGRATS!!!

Congrats to my friend Jen S. (yes of the infamous Jen's*) who just found out she will be having a baby boy in January. This is her and her husbands first child and I am beyond excited for them!!

I am also honored that myself and Jen J. will be helping to plan a shower for her! FUN :)

* Yes, all three of our names are Jennifer. We use to work together in an office of 6 and half of us where Jen!

Sonic Is A Mystery No More.

So according to a couple co-workers who waited for 30 minutes for lunch, the new Sonic Drive-in is open in Perrysburg. Now instead of seeing the commercials and going "what the heck is a Sonic" or "where is the closest Sonic" or "why are there Sonic commercials when the closest one is over an hour away". Now we can go "oh, that looks good, lets go to Sonic right now!"

I have never been to one, but I think I may have to be taking a trip up there sometime in the next couple weeks to check it out!

Menu

Side note: Not like Sonic is exactly the same, but we have an old fashioned rootbeer stand back home. I love it! They serve the best rootbeer and shredded chicken sandwiches ever! It is such a fun place to go in the summer! Small towns are always great for these types of things...we also have a drive-in movie that still gets tons of business.

A Food Filled Weekend

So this weekend my family was in town and besides enjoying each others company and having a great time together, we had a rather delicious weekend!

Saturday we shared some yummy food from the Black Swamp Festival which consisted of fair fries, a funnel cake, a philly cheesesteak and then a cajun sampler feast of fried alligator, crawfish, red beans and rice, etouffee and jambalaya.

Then Sunday my dad decided to make his WONDERFUL Andouille sausage and chicken gumbo! (pictured above) It was delicious and my dad always does it perfect.

And if that wasn't enough, my mom went out of her way and made a six layer, triple chocolate cake..aka crack cake! (pic) Chocolate cake, with chocolate mouse filling, chocolate icing and dark chocolate shavings on top. It. Was. Amazing.

Food has always been something that bonds us as a family. We cook together and love to enjoy good food together. It is pretty great

Snapple "Real Facts"

Snapple "Real Fact" #175

In 1634, tulip bulbs were a form of currency in Holland.


I think even today tulip bulbs probably have a stronger value then our dollar currently does. ;)

Photo Parade - Breakfast

So I only really crave "real" breakfast type foods (eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc) a few times a year and it is usually for lunch or dinner when I want them. Like Dr. T., a bowl of plain Cheerios with milk is the perfect weekend breakfast. During the week a cup of coffee and a breakfast bar is a must.

HOWEVER, when I was in New Orleans a few years ago I loved breakfast and that is because of the two places we went. Café Du Monde and The Camellia Grill (which, on a side note reopened in 2007 after it had to close b/c of Katrina after being open since 1946)!

Cafe Du Monde makes these beignets (fried donuts with powdered sugar) that are amazing! (pic above) You will leave a powdery mess craving more! The Camellia Grill is this very very small diner that has just fantastic diner food in a fun atmosphere. We had breakfast there but it serves more then breakfast, I think my parents had their famous pecan waffles and I had an omlet. The cooks/servers wear bow ties and when they shout back your order they use slang for what everything is called. It is great!

So to me - when I think the best breakfast I think of these two places in New Orleans!