Skip to main content

Posts

Where Romance Is

Where is the most romantic destination you have visited? I've come across this question several times during the last few days, both in print and online. Some publishers say that if I write about it in a minimum number of words (usually between 100 and 200) or less and it gets published, then they would send me money. Easy, right? Writing about something in so many words is no problem. I may ramble, but I can edit unmercifully when necessary. But coming up with a romantic place, which I assume also means with my honey, well that's a bit more difficult. Sure, there was that bed-and-breakfast on the Kona Coast, where a guy named "Dude" answered when I called about reservations, which made me wonder if we really should stay there. The same place where I lost the husband on the highway that first night. We were driving back from dinner. It was so dark, we couldn't find the B&B's driveway. After several passes up and down the highway, the husband got out of the

A Sky Full of Moon

Tomorrow will be a full moon. According to some experts, this full moon will be the closest one to earth in 2010, which means that it shall be the largest. I was fortunate tonight in closing the blinds as the moon was rising over our neighbors' rooftops. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone outside running with the camera. The cosmos gives the best cheapest thrills around. By the way, the astronomy experts report that tonight the moon and Mars will be dancing brightly near each other. (Too bad it started to rain.) For more about the celestial pair, check out this page at Universe Today: "Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: January 29-31, 2010" by Tammy Plotner.

Saving Cents

This morning's frenzy was all about finding e-coupons for our weekly grocery outing. As far as I'm concerned 25 cents off something is 25 cents saved. Right? Until recently, I had been an inconsistent coupon user. Most times, I tore them out of newspapers and magazines and then forgot to bring them along or forgot what pile of papers they're under. Now I put coupons in a basket and check it before heading off to the store. Most times. Every so often the husband asks if I have a coupon for such-and-such product and I happily seek out the basket. I call that progress. Today, I decided to go online and find e-coupons for the products we buy on a regular basis. (Something I should've thought of much earlier.) I thought it would be easy to do. Ha, ha. What was I thinking? I was very specific in my keyword searches: entering "coupon" plus the brand of the product, such as coupons Special K .  I was surprised that not all company web sites blatantly offer e-coupons.

A Cooking Mishmosh Frenzy

I got out of bed this morning with an ambitious goal: Cook two—hopefully, three—days worth of meals. I enjoy cooking, but not all the time. Before the husband and I moved in with the mama (my mom), when I didn't want to cook, we went out. Unfortunately, the mama doesn't like eating out, although she's okay with us getting take-out. It's just as well since the restaurant choices in our town are limited. And, of course, we aren't made of money. I do my best to make nutritious, balanced meals that meet the taste preferences and dietary needs of us three. The husband limits his salt intake because of his high-blood pressure, the mama needs foods on the not-so-chewy side, and I keep tabs of foods that make me itch. The mama is also very particular. If she doesn't like something, she eats a few bites, shoves the plate aside, and says, "I'll eat this tonight (or tomorrow)." Then several days later, I throw it out or eat it on leftovers day. Another chall

Taking Off for the Present

For our Christmas present, the husband and I decided that we would take at least one day off each month in 2010. That is, go on an adventure! Because we are so good at letting things slide, we designated the 23rd of every month to be The Day . As January 23 approached, I did wonder if the husband would remember. And when he did, I wondered if we would actually do it. It's not that we don't like adventures. It's just all that pre-planning stuff: What shall we do? Where shall we go? If it rains, what then? and so forth and so on. Neither of us felt like doing the research, and neither did. The night before, we thought about the last place we wanted to check out and that's where we chose to go— Marina State Beach on the Monterey peninsula. We woke up to a bright sunny morning. Couldn't ask for anything more after a week of rain. Well, OK. Doughnuts and coffee for breakfast and lunch at a Korean restaurant. Yum. No straight routes for us that day. If we had, we would&

Still Waiting for that Martini

We bought a bottle of martini olives   so we could celebrate the coming of 2010 in the comfort and safety of our home. I make a decent gin martini, according to the husband. However, he's still waiting for that Happy New Year martini. This is the second bottle of olives that we bought in the past six months with good intentions of drinking ourselves silly. Who wouldn't with such cute martini glasses from which to sip. (Ha! No dangling prepositions by which to chide me, Husband.)  So, what are we doing with the martini olives? Mostly, I use it as an ingredient in what's-in-the-fridge concoctions. Because they're salty, I usually use one or two. Today the olives became part of a steak marinade. Here's what I did: First, I prepared and put these ingredients in my marinating bowl: 1 tablespoon red onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 martini olive, minced 3 branches of Italian parsley, roughly chopped Next, I added these ingredients (Note: These are all "about&qu

Twelve Days Later

Dear Gentle Readers, I thought I'd let you gander at how my head looks today. :-) I really didn't think it would grow in this quickly. Here's how it looked the first day . It's funny how my head feels lighter today than it did on the day I cut it. Without the hair, maybe stuff in my noggin was able to seep through the skull and evaporate into the air. Poof. Hope it wasn't any of my smarts.