Great Household Cleaning Tip

A few weeks ago I bought a dry erase board for the open house my friend and I had.  It's a great size and price and was perfect for what I used it for that day!  (as you can see in the picture)

Well as much as I erased the writing I noticed it didn't come off fully, there was still a slight ghost image left that you could see from an angle.  The first thing I thought when I noticed this was that I don't remember that happening with older dry erase boards.  I could simply be remembering wrong (which is very possible since we had chalk boards when I was in school through college #2 at least!).  So anyway, I just sat down with my lotto tickets and write the numbers up on the board to check (only got 1! number *sigh*) but I noticed that either I didn't press hard enough while erasing or something because there was a light black smear left on the board.  Well that reminded me that I wanted to look online for homemade cleaning solutions, figuring there had to be something out there to save me some money.  So a quick google came up with results, the first of which was an ehow write up.  There were a few ideas, two of which were a water/vinegar solution (which I don't have a spray bottle handy to make) and the other was hand sanitizer (both using a soft cloth). 

I tried the latter and it worked like a charm!  BUUUUUT I only have sanitizer with moisturizer at home so that left a film on the board.  No big deal, I simply grabbed another soft cloth (both of which were clean socks with holes in them that I had tossed in my bedroom's garbage can, but am going to keep to use for this) and dampened it then gave it a rub down.  That took care of it perfectly, I even tested it out with a marker and it was fine!  Since I'm using this for pictionary at a NYE party Saturday night, I gave that a sanitizer cleaning too to make sure it's all nice and clean before hand.

So there you go, a cheap and easy home remedy to cleaning dry erase boards. 

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

A little video of my Christmas tree, enjoy!

HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT

Too funny, had to share. 


HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT

The following is an actual question given on a University of
*Washington *chemistry
mid-term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it
with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the
pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs
heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas
cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need
to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which
they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets
to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how
many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that
exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their
religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these
religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can
project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are,
we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now,
we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law
states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the
same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter
Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all
Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year
that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take
into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two
must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already
frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen
over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore,
extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine
being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

Support etsy sellers

It's Small Business Saturday, what better day to support etsy sellers.  Check out Amy's Treasures for some beautiful finds. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/amystreasures?ref=si_shop

New Battlestar Galactica, Thoughts from an Old Fan

A couple weeks ago I took out the original Battlestar Galactica from the library, I hadn't seen it in a good 30+ years (not since it was on tv) and I wanted to see if it held up to my memories.  It did, I remembered loving it and I still do.  When I heard about the new series on sci-fi a few years ago, I was dead set against it.  I instantly hated it just for the fact that it was a remake of my beloved old show (especially when you think of all the bad remakes hollywood has shoved down our throats in recent years, it's not hard to believe I'd have an instant dislike to something I hadn't seen).  I didn't have sci-fi so it wasn't an issue, I could easily avoid it.  However last year I finally got sci-fi and now have access to new shows.  Although so far I haven't tuned into any of them.  The only science fiction I watch these days is Doctor Who, still enjoy that one and really hope we've seen the last of the adventures of Amy Pond guest starring the Doctor. 

Getting back to Battlestar Galactica though....  The other day while watching an episode of the original series I found myself curious about the new one.  So I decided to take it out from the library and see what it was all about.  After doing some research online, I found the new Battlestar Galactica started out as a mini-series then was made into a full blown series.  I was going to watch it online but couldn't find the mini-series online.  So I asked some folks on etsy and was told that the mini was packaged with season 1 of the new Galactica series.  Ok that's not how other shows have done it, so it's understandable that I couldn't find it.  Well I changed my mind about watching the new Battlestar Galactica online and decided to just take the dvds out from the library.  Today when I returned the original Battlestar Galactica to the library, I decided to see if the new series was in.  I picked up the discs and shuffled through them, found all of season one except the first disc.  After searching more I found it, it was mixed in with season two.  So I grabbed all of season one and checked out.

After I ate dinner I went into the basement (some time after 6) and popped the mini series into the dvd player.  I've watched most of it as of 9 PM tonight and so far it's interesting, for lack of a better word.  I found the pace to be a bit slow and was disappointed that the Cylons used nukes instead of simply flying down to shoot Caprica like they did in the classic series.  It was interesting seeing Jamie Bamber as Apollo but I could easily hear his American accent slip in places.  Of course as a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica and since I had just watched the final episode yesterday, I have to say it's a bit odd seeing how they cast the classic characters.  I'm having trouble seeing women cast in the roles of Starbuck and Boomer, I never did pick up/out who Jolly was.  I heard the name mentioned but I never actually saw the actor.  Then again I was cutting fabric while watching this so that might explain why I never spotted Jolly. 

What bothered me was the falling out between Adama and Apollo, it seemed like the writers went with the typical conflict between father and son route that is common with so many shows and movies these days.  Really?  Couldn't we have had the old relationship?  Also Starbuck dating Zack was a bit odd, not to mention seeing her smoke a cigar when they were playing Triangle (was it?) and Tigh being there playing with them.  The cigar felt forced to me, like they were trying to show it's a female Dirk Benedict instead of either casting a man for the part or just forgoing the stogie.  I can't help but wonder how this Starbuck will play out as the series pans out.  The original Starbuck was a some what womanizer, until he started dating Cassiopeia and then fell in love with her.  The new Starbuck is dealing with the death of her boyfriend, Zack who was Apollo's brother. 

Baltar is another one that's bothering me, he's this scientific genius but he's almost more of a sniveling coward instead of the man that stood against the colonies (like in the original series) and stood next to the Cylons as they attacked Caprica.  Speaking of the Cylons, Six was getting on my nerves during the scene on the bridge of the Galactica.  I know only Batar could see her but it was a bit much constantly seeing her there every time we saw Baltar.  Oh and the sex scenes in the beginning of the mini-series were a bit much as well.  I really don't need to see anyone having sex, but especially Baltar and a human form Cylon.  And that extreme closeup of the mouth as they kissed was too much also. 

I did like seeing things from the original series, like the old Vipers and the old Cylons but was disappointed that the only Cylons we heard talking were the two human ones.  We also only saw the two other Cylons once so far.  This is supposed to set up the story of how the colonies left their planets and went in search of Earth yet so far we've seen more sex and conversations than we've seen anything else.  There's hardly any Viper action so far, we certainly didn't see any guns blazing until later in the mini-series (I've only seen about 3 hours of it so far) where as the original series we saw all the action up front, and the personal life story lines were more sub plots.

I still have plenty to watch with the new Battlestar Galactica, so we'll see if I decide one way or the other about fully liking it.  As a stand alone sci-fi  it's good, but I'm having a hard time disconnecting myself from it as an original fan.  Kind of like the fans of classic Trek were with STTNG and the following series.

Because I'm bored...

I've been watching Battelstar Galactica (the original) the past few days.  Picked the entire series up from the library and reliving my old love for this show.  I don't remember it well but I do remember the episode with the angels, that one has stuck with me for years.  So since I've been enjoying this fun show, thought I'd share. 

Petite Nutella Pochettes

One day while on youtube I ran across this video and I just sat there, drooling at the thought of what those little pockets tasted like.  How could you go wrong with butter and nutella?  You can't!  So I thought about making them but needed to find a reason for it.  That way I wouldn't eat them in one sitting while watching tv, or at my desk at work.  Last weekend I served at church, running lights and camera for the team that's short handed.  So I decided to make then then.  They were so easy to make but I found one slight problem with the recipe as it was written, my hand mixer wasn't strong enough to mix the dough once all the flour was in it.  Then again I did make the mistake of missing one important bit of information in the recipe... Do not over-mix!  WOOPS!  Oh well I just left the dough in the fridge for a couple hours and all was fine. 

However before I even made the final decision to make them, I read the reviews knowing that some times food network recipes aren't correct on their website, as they were given in the shows.  Of course there is the problem where the recipe was the same but the end results were vastly different than what was said to be on the show.  This happened with a Giada recipe for granola bar type things.  So in reading the reviews I saw people said the dough was bland as given so they jazzed it up a bit, some added a little powder sugar, while others went so far as to add vanilla extract and some, orange zest in addition to the powder sugar.  Hate me if you want, but that's taking an excellent recipe for a French pastry to an American extreme.  Of course I did make a minor change to the recipe and it was the addition of a little powder sugar to tone down the cream cheese taste.  Never having had these before I didn't know if the end results were supposed to have a strong cream cheese taste (for the dough) so I added a little powder sugar just to tone it down.  I don't feel like that addition changed the taste as drastically as the other additions that people were making to the recipe.  But next time I make these I will be omitting the powder sugar and see how the dough tastes then.

I didn't have the same biscuit cutter so I just used a regular coffee cup and gave it a little decoration with the tines of a fork after I sealed the pochettes.  I tasted one when it was still a little warm and nearly died, it was so good!  Cold was good to but much better warm.  Next time I make these I'm going to just use my stand mixer, it will save me from having to take the hand mixer apart again to clean it out.  Also I'm going to split the dough in half before putting it in the fridge to chill.  One of the reviewers suggested only working with half the dough at a time because it will get too soft from the butter melting and make it harder to roll out and cut.  Yep that happened to me.

Petite Nutella Pochettes

Ingredients
    * 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
    * 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
    * 2 cups flour
    * 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
    * Water, as needed
    * 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
    * Special equipment: 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter
Directions
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and creamy. Add the flour slowly until the dough forms. Do not over-mix! Shape the dough into a ball and cover. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
On a lightly-floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Form the scraps into a ball and reroll to make more circles.
Fill each dough circle with a small spoonful of the chocolate-hazelnut spread. Dip your finger in tap water and spread on the edge of half the circle to help create a seal. Fold the dough over to create a crescent. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool, then sift the confectioners' sugar on top and serve.

An update of sorts....

I wanted to post an update before I got lost in a sea of organza for the next few weeks.  I'm gearing up to put my organza peonies in a shop across the street from my work, that's like a craft mall, the owner supports local artists.  When I went in there a few weeks ago and looked around, I started talking to her and as we talked I got excited about the prospect of having my things in there.  I didn't feel the same way about the place closer to my house, and knew this was where I needed to venture into the world of renting shop space.  In addition to that, my friend is planning on having an artist holiday open house at her place in last November/early December this year.  So I've been busy focusing on making peonies (well steps one and two of it) for over a week now.  I've gotten a lot done in terms of cutting my old stash of fabric, most of that is gone and phase two of the process is almost fully finished with that first stack of cut fabric.  I'm going to finish those up tomorrow (probably) and then start cutting more fabric, probably finish up the old fabric before I move onto the new one.  So that I can finally get all my old fabric finished. 

In addition to the peonies, I talked about putting my wine glass charms in there.  I might hold off on those for now though, I feel like I'm spending all of my paychecks before I get them.  Although I've only gotten one so far, but still; if I want to go to my cousin's wedding thanksgiving weekend I'm going to have to cut back on my spending.  So I'll probably pull the wine glass charms from my shop and put them in that store for starters. I'm looking forward to moving onto phase three of the peonies though, but for now, I'm trying not to feel impatient when cutting fabric so that I don't burn myself out before things really kick into high gear. 

In addition to all of this, I'm learning the updated software for our lighting console at church and because we're adding more LED lights every week or two, it's starting to take longer to do the programming.  Which means two weeks out of the month I have to go in to church on Thursday nights to get my base looks programmed (if not more) when worship team is rehearsing, and then make any tweaks on Saturday so that I can get back to doing more dynamic lighting. 

There are other, some what minor things, but they aren't as important.  What does all of this mean for my etsy shop you ask?  Well after I list the last two peonies from the six I made last week, I'm going to take a break from making and listing new things for there until close to Christmas.  If I even start listing anything new by then that is. 

With that I'm going to leave you with an email I got from my friend last night, Romance Novel 2011

He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room.  Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring voice close to my ear. "Just relax." Without warning, he reached down, and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves, slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties. Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant. This is a man, I thought... a man used to taking charge. A man not used to taking 'No' for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say...     "Okay ma'am, you can board your flight now."

Cheaters Enchiladas chicken and cheese and onion

Ok I'm calling these cheaters enchiladas because I didn't use a traditional recipe.  When it comes to authentic Mexican food, I tend to refer to Rick Bayless and his vast knowledge.  I cheated by using a store bought rotisserie chicken although after looking at this recipe, I see Bayless did the same thing for the chicken, used store bought rotisserie. So maybe this isn't really cheating after all? 

Since I don't have exact measurements due to making two kinds at the same time, I'm going to write this up the way I made it.
1 28oz can enchilada mild sauce (I used Old Elpaso)
1 19oz can enchilada mild sauce
1 10oz  can enchilada medium sauce
4 large yellow onions (I prefer vidallia onions but the store didn't have any.  However these were about the same size)
3 (2 cup) packages shredded cheese (I typically use the taco blend, but since I didn't realize I'd use all of the cheese up, I only bought two taco blend and one regular mild cheddar)
2 packages medium sized flour tortillas
1 1 pound 13 oz store bought rotisserie chicken (traditional recipe), reserve drippings from bottom of rotisserie package
kosher salt
olive oil
chili powder and pepper flakes to taste (optional)

Slice the onions and set in a large bowl while you preheat the pan up on medium heat.  When pan is heated, coat with olive oil (I didn't measure this) then toss onions in, only as much as your pan can handle.  I used a smaller pan so I worked in four batches.  Let onions cook a bit and sprinkle with salt and let cook down (the salt brings out their sweetness).  If you can multi task without problems then move onto the chicken, and start removing the skin and fat and pulling the meat off the bones, shredding it as you toss into a bowl.  Keep an eye on the onions and stir processionally.  If you only want the onions to sweat more than caramelize then don't cook them too much.  I normally just cook them to remove the bite since they never cook in the oven when I'm making cheese and onion enchiladas.  I like raw onions so it's not a huge issue, but it's nice to have cooked onions when eating enchiladas. When onions are desired doneness toss in bowl and repeat with second batch (if you need to cook them in batches).

Keep going with the onions until all are cooked and set aside.  Continue shredding chicken when onions are done, give it a quick chop then add drippings from package to shredded chicken and stir together (you'll be surprised how much meat you get from that one bird!).  Take about half the cooked onions and mix in with the chicken (add more or less to your preference). If you like your food with a little kick, then mix in some chili powder and pepper flakes in with the chicken mixture.  Empty all three cans of enchilada sauce into a large (8 cup) measuring cup and give a quick stir to combine the mild and medium (it was about 6 cups of sauce all together).  Pour enough sauce into chicken and onion mixture to be good and wet once it's all stirred together.  You'll want to have more sauce in there than you'd think too keep everything from drying out during reheats (if this lasts that long). 

Preheat oven to 375F as you wrap and roll.  Spray pans (yes I said plural, I used 3, they were more or less 9x13 each, the big casserole one might have been a tad bigger) pam, or better yet, line them all with aluminum foil and then spray the foil to make clean up even easier!  I forgot to line them this time and that is the last time I'll forget that.  Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pans to keep the bottom of the enchiladas moist.  Take one package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board.  Add a good heaping portion of the chicken mixture to one end and sprinkle with cheese (again to your preference, I wound up using an entire 2 cup bag on all of the chicken enchiladas), tightly roll the enchiladas and place seam side down in pan.  Repeat until all the chicken enchiladas are done.

Mix one 2 cup package of cheese with the onions and stir in enchilada sauce.  Again don't worry about being skimpy with the sauce, as long as you have plenty for the tops of the enchiladas you'll be fine.  There's more than enough sauce with the 3 cans to be generous with the fillings. Take the other package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board.  Just as with the chicken filling, scoop a generous amount of the onion filling onto one end of the tortilla and tightly roll up, placing seam side down in the pan.  It's best to keep these separated from the others so that people that don't want/like chicken know which ones these are.  It's easiest if you have different kinds of pans to remember which one is which.  Repeat with all the onion filling.  When the last one is in the pan, evenly pour the sauce over the enchiladas in all three pans.  Split the last package of cheese between all three pans, cover with foil and place in oven.  Cook for a half hour covered (if not longer), until sauce begins to bubble.  Remove foil and rotate the pans around (move the one from the top rack to the bottom and put the two that were on the bottom, on top) and continue to bake until the cheese is cooked. 

Let stand a few minutes to cool and serve with sour cream.

RIP Cuppa Joseph Coffee

We regret to announce the passing of Cuppa Joseph Coffee, known to his friends simply as "Cuppa Joe".

Although many of his detractors considered him a drip, he was a regular early morning fixture in diners all over the city. The latte Mr. Coffee was known for his perky attitude, nervous twitch, and was always ready to shake your hands.

In recent years he became brewed-y as he grew weary of the daily grind. He had bean on the decline spending much of his time in the sack.

All of his friends filterable about his death. One said, "He has passed much too soon and too often."

According to family tradition his full body will be decaffeinated, cream-mated, and placed into the grounds.

He is survived by his family members, Mrs. Olson, Juan Valdez, and the Hills Brothers who wish to express Sankas for your sympathy.

What Were They Thinking?

I love Kraft Foods Food and Family magazine, I miss getting it in the mail.  You see I was one of those thousands of people that had a free subscription to it but didn't have the money to keep it when they switched to paid memeberships a few years later.  It was the same thing with my sister, but she buys the magazines off the rack usually the holiday issues.  Which brings me to my post.  I was over at her house last week to pick up the purse she bought for me from the Smokies and hung out for a couple hours just chatting.  She was still trying to reclaim her house from the floor reno that went on while she was out of town.  My mom and I had cleaned her countertop and cabinets a bit the day before they came back but we were going to my brother's block party so we couldn't do much.  Plus despite my offer to clean after the floors were redone, my sister turned me down, saying she'd take care of it when they got back. 

So while I was there and we were chatting, I helped her move her dinning room table back and forth while she vacuumed and put it back in place.  Then she pulled out her cookbooks and magazines and went through the magazines, purging them.  She gave me all of those particular magazines, which were mostly Paula Deen magazines, one Taste of Home and the one Food and Family magazine (holiday '09).  While flipping through the Food and Family magazine just now I noticed a recipe Catalina Cranberry Chicken.

Now I'll admit, I don't eat chicken, nor have I ever had Catalina dressing, but I do know what onion soup mix and cranberry sauce taste like.  Which is why when I saw this recipe I couldn't help but wonder if this would taste good.  I mean it seems lke it's about six flavor profiles too many going on here.  How can something like that taste good?  Maybe one day I'll make this for someone and taste the sauce before I put it on the chicken.  Still I can't get past the thought of cranberry sauce mixed with onion soup mix.  Just doesn't sound appealing to me.  

Sitting outside while I soak up the heat and surf the net...

Wait, what?

My sister and her brood are out of town, on vacation and for whatever reason, decided to schedule their floor redo for this week.  So I've been house sitting since Monday, only sleeping in my own bed and driving here to let the guys in and check up on them from time to time while I hang out on the bed in the master suite, watching tv and surfing the web. 

So today is the last day of construction, they're finishing up the powder room and then will be sanding and staining and hopfully putting the first seal coat on.  I decided to sit outside instead of inside, even though it's hot and I have my laptop.  I know the air quality is only going to get worse in there once they start sanding.  As it is, when the guy does a batch cut job of the hardwood planks, I can smell and almost taste it when standing at the top of the stairs.  So I figured I'd save myself al the trouble of that today and stay outside.  It's not so bad now since the temps are relativly low still but it's supposed to hit 94 degrees today, I'm not looking forward to that.  If it does get bad I'll just go hang out in the laundry room with my laptop.  Although that will still be in the house where they are working.  *sigh*  I guess I just need to sufer today if it means not breathing in anymore sawdust.

At least I have a quickly warming can of pop and Queen to keep me company.  :)

Christmas in July

Christmas in July sale, enter coupon code ATCIJ15 to save 15% off all items. Sale ends July 24, 2011

Amy's Treasures

The Artfire Experiment Begins

Yesterday I spent a couple hours cutting circles to make peonies, I had planned to go through the whole creation process with them yesterday but the mail didn't arrive until around 5 PM and I got distracted online earlier in the day.  So I didn't start to actually work on cutting circles out until 3:00.  So since I was off to such a late start I cut out several circles and then took a couple hours break for dinner.  I planned on going back downstairs at 7:00 to move onto phase two of the flowers but despite feeling rushed, I didn't get back down to the basement until close to 7:30.  I had a bowl of ice cream and wanted to keep it away from the fabric, so I didn't have to worry about something happening.  That and I didn't want to come back up the stairs once I finished it, because I knew I was going to just start working after that. 

So I finally made it to the basement and popped the dvd in and worked.  I blew through the entire dvd (all four epsidoes of Emergency! and the bonus Adam-12 episode), I had most of the fabric singed and I made a pair of earrings.  All in all it was about midnight when I finally came up from the basement.  But I didn't actually make any peonies last night.  So this morning I moved onto phase two, assembly and finishing of penies.  Because I wanted to have them photographed around 11, I only made four new peonies which took me longer than expected.  Of course I am working with almost no workspace in my room due to my tiny desk, so that might have caused a delay. 

At any rate, the four were done and I went outside to shoot them.  It was a gorgeous day out, nice and sunny, perfect temperature only problem was it was a little windy.  So I had to move operations insde due to the fact that my peonies were taking off like Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz.  So after some frustration with trying to find the perfect spot, I was able to take the rest of my pictures.  You can see the first two listings here:


www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3515870

www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3514660

Something Needs to be Done

As most people know, sales are non existant on etsy these days so I'm going to give my artfire account a try.  Right now I only have two things in there but I'm going to be listing some peonies in there to see how things go.  I haven't promoted my artfire shop at all and only have a free accont.  So this will be interesting to see.

Baby Shower Blanket

As some of you know, there's more to me than making jewelry and flowers, I am also crafty at other things.  A couple weeks ago I got an evite from an old friend, someone I've known for a good 30 years.  It was for a baby shower/house warming party. I took one look at her baby registry and said "I'm making something."  The reason for this was two fold, one I'm out of work and can't afford to spend much, and two, I just didn't see anything on her registry that I wanted to get for little money.  So I decided to make my money go further by giving her a handmade blanket. 

Since I can't sew a straight line to save my life with a sewing machine, I decided to do a handmade blanket, fleece to be exact.  Rather than tab the edges of the two pieces of fleece to attach them, I went with a blanket stitch.  A quick search on youtube and I found this video:

I watched the video twice, once the day I looked for it and then again the next week when I actually had the fabric and was ready to sew.  It was a super easy stitch, I just didn't know how to add an additional length of thread so I stumbled my way through it the first two times, which resulted in two bad stitches but by the third one I had thought ahead and managed to make it look seamless.

in progress

in progress

finished

finished

All in all, it took a little over 2 hours to stitch together.  Trimming the fabric so that they were even took less than a half hour, I asked my mom to do that for me because I can't cut a straight line anymore and didn't want to ruin this.

As for the results...  it was a huge hit with the ladies that were sitting close and paying attention to what was going on, including my comment about it being handmade.  Not only did my friend love it, but she kept wrapping herself in it.  I kept reminding her that was was for the baby, not her, but she was so cold (the air was on in the house) that she couldn't resist.  As I was walking to my car I once again teased her about the blanket being for the baby, I told her I'd make her one if she wanted. 

Just a little something to share

I spent far more time working on this than I should have this morning because I forgot I have an Illustrator type program now, something I spent over a year without.  So with that said....  Please feel free to share this.

Not off to a good sart

Last week I had a goal, I said I wanted to have 70 pages written by the end of this week.  I started today with having 39 pages done, having done about half a page of wirting over the weekend.  So that leaves me with 31 pages to write to make my goal of being on page 70 of the story by the end of this week.  It's a lot to do, I know but I had planned on locking myself in the basement with some dvds, my laptop and powercord.  Some days the internet is very distracting to me, especially on the days when I'm not very motivated to do something.  Those are the days when I need to get away from my desk, take my laptop and park my rear on the couch with laptop and tv. 
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen.  The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would.  Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights.  I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy.  I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again.  The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere.  I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our techinical director and they all died laughing.  We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either. 
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00.  Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinner time.  *sigh*  So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea.  After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere.  I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days.  I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee.  I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes.  So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week. 
I really want to push myself this week and write, preferably the planned 31 pages so I can get further into the story than I normally would be at this point.  That way I'll feel like the book will be finished and published by this time next year.  That's my ultimate goal, if I can pull it off sooner than even better!  I'm really hoping I'll get a good advance for the book so that I can both pay off my car loan and put some of it down for a down payment on a house.  I don't want to spend all of it on a downpayment, I will need some money to pay bills after all, and buy furniture since I won't have much. 
Next weekend won't be any help either, I'm going to a brunch on Saturday then most likely, go straight to church from there for my regular weekend on lights.  Plus my cousin said she's going to come up for the weekend for her birthday.  If she does and she doesn't change her mind, then we're going to go to a Persian restaurant in Milwaukee for lunch on Sunday.  It's tiring just thinking about this, think about how much worse it would be if I had a full time job.  UGHLast week I had a goal, I said I wanted to have 70 pages written by the end of this week.  I started today with having 39 pages done, having done about half a page of writing over the weekend.  So that leaves me with 31 pages to write to make my goal of being on page 70 of the story by the end of this week.  It's a lot to do, I know but I had planned on locking myself in the basement with some dvds, my laptop and power cord.  Some days the internet is very distracting to me, especially on the days when I'm not very motivated to do something.  Those are the days when I need to get away from my desk, take my laptop and park my rear on the couch with laptop and tv. 
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen.  The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would.  Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights.  I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy.  I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again.  The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere.  I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our technical director and they all died laughing.  We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either. 
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00.  Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinnertime.  *sigh*  So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea.  After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere.  I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days.  I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee.  I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes.  So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week.

Today was a Slug Day

I feel like such a slug today, I've basically done nothing all day.  The only productive thing I've done today was to make a package of pasta, and it was one of those lipton boxes too, so not even from scratch or anything like that.  I tried to go down to the basement to make something but I felt blocked creativly, I blame my etsy bill for that one.  I looked at it late last night while I was downloading my sales information for taxes and it was scary!  The amount kept blocking my creativiity today and I just had to walk away from my beads.  It just wasn't worth trying to force something when I wasn't there creative wise.  I'm better off going back to my beads another day. 

Remind me not to look at that again.  ;)

At least that block doesn't affect my wirting, that is, assuming I actually did some writing for my book.  I didn't of course, just kind of slacked off all day.  And here I was going to sweep and mop the kitchen floor today.  Well yesterday actualy but I forgot to do it then.  SSSHHHHHH  New NCIS tonight so I won't be doing anything for a good two hours while both shows are one.  Which means I should go down to do something now.  If only I had a clue what I wanted to make for dinner...

The Hunt is on!

Looking for some fun and bargins?  Well look no further, or should I say, there's a scavenger hunt going on!  Find the coupon codes and save, sale ends Sunday 3/20/11.

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

 (1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

 (2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

 (3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

 (4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

 (7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'.  That will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying "Go to hell." (edited)

 (9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to #3.


* Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology.
* Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, cause they know it's true!!!

I think I've been watching too much A-Team...

Friday afternoon I was prepping for something I was going to bake later that night, Chocolate Filled Filo Triangles.  The recipe is from the Classic Stars Desserts book that I picked up some time last year from Borders.  This is my third recipe from the book and I was hopeful that it would be as good as the French Silk (pictured on the cover) and lemon squares that I made last year for my brother's block party.  The downside to the recipe is that it only makes eight servings (or four like I did because I forgot one crucial part of the recipe), so I just planned on doubling it and bought enough ingredients to make three batches but wasn't sure I was going to make the third as I was shopping.

Getting back to Friday afternoon, while prepping for the recipe, I had to measure out 1/2 ounces of bitter sweet chocolate and decided to go with the three batches.  But I didn't have nearly enough prep bowls to keep all the chocolate separate so I looked around, trying to rack my brain for ideas.  My initial thought was egg carton, but as I fond out, we didn't have a near empty egg carton like I thought.  So then I thought ice cube trays, but I couldn't find the extra ones so I was back to square one.  I looked around the house wondering what in the world I could use to keep all the measured chocolate separated and ready to go for that night.  Spotting my glass 8x8 pan in the dinning room I thought that would work, if I lined it with aluminum foil and used foil to section it off.  But then I remembered that some of the chocolate was cut down into little pieces and shavings so that wouldn't work.  It would be near impossible to try to get the chocolate out of that later. 

Then it hit me, cut pieces of aluminum foil into squares and shape them into cups.

So I grabbed the aluminum foil out of the pantry and cut strips about four to five inches wide, then folded them over to crease and cut (by hand) in half.  Once I had that done, I took the first square of aluminum foil and placed it in the palm of my hand, forming it into a cup.  I put the chocolate in that and set it on a cookie sheet.  After the initial one I used the small prep bowl to form the aluminum foil bowls and filled them with the chocolate pieces already cut.  And went on to finish cutting all the chocolate into 1/2 ounce pieces. 

Worked great!  I just set it aside until later that night when I made the triangles and tossed them when I finished. 

I know, I know, I'm late in Mentioning this but....

I'm  featured on Joy De Vivre's blog today, take a look!  There's even a give away.  :)

Neda

Getting a little serious here....

When the election and protests broke in Iran, I, along with several other friends and family were spread the videos, links, etc.  Then of course things died down and so did our posts on the subject, but we of course posted the occasional link, video, etc.   Last night my cousin posted this video:


After I watched that I ran across this great video.


And then I found this documentary about Neda and the revolution


Neda means voice in Farsi

Chuck

I'd just like to say how much I love that show.  It has so many great moments and lines. 

Seduction Impossible

need I say more?

blizzard of 2011

I have no idea how much snow we have exactly, looking out the windows it looks like it's about 2 feet.  I'd love to go outside and run aroundi n al that wonderful powder!  Say what you will, but I love snow!  Seriously, I lovei t!  If we had a better snowblower I'd be outside clearing our driveway right now.  But my sister said she was going to send someone over to clear it.  Someone with a monster snowblower.  So we'll see if they ever show.  I can see a couple folks down the street both clearing with a snowblower and a shovel.  We've had four major blizzards in Chicago (at least for the purposes of this post), the first was in 1967, then in in 1979, 1999 and now in 2011.  I missed the one in ;67 by five years but I remember the one in '79 and of course, '99.

Today is nice and sunny, so much so that I'm seriously thinking of retaking the pictures I took yesterday.  Not sure though because I plan on locking myself in the basement and making more things as I drool over the Lois and Clark DVDs that I picked up from the library Monday (Dean Cain has only gotten better looking with age!) and maybe even bake. 

With that said, here are some images of the blizzard of 2011....

Cuteness overload!

A Great Flashback

A classic song that will never get old.  Funny, I don't remember Chicago fest, but I guess since it only lasted a few years and ended in '82 it's not that surprising.  Still, it would be great to bring this back.  ;)

Classic Admin Quotes

With the changes to the forums I thought I'd dig out this file and post the quotes for posterity.  A few weeks ago I ran across an old thread that someone started (sorry, can't remember who) of quotes that admin said when closing threads. 

Enjoy!


*way off-topic, and kinda flame bait-ey
* This thread is turning into Samuel Beckett prose
* Move along, folks. Nothing more to see here.
* Please play nice. If you are having a hard time being nice, please think twice.
* Yay for Admin bashing
* OMG WTF?
* QUESTION MARK?
* Those are some... interesting... insults.
* Don't call out other users in the public forums -- aside from being against the rules, it also promotes the gum disease know as GINGIVITIS
* This thread got hijacked like crazy by BANDITS. THREAD BANDITS.
* STOP VIOLENCING
* Evil is bad!
* No. Bad.
* Flamebait is bad
* flamebait response is bad too i guess
* Stop -- wait -- and relax...
* I dunno where this came from, but I know it ain't productive or positive. ;P
* I don't even pretend to understand, but I'm pretty sure it's not kosher.
* increasing etsy's capacity for love
* Smokey the Bear says: Only YOU can prevent forum fires.
* from the delightfully abysmal 'Batman and Robin'
* Don't worry, Haim’s working on it
* Please use fewer drugs when posting on the forums.
* Don't hate, collaborate
* Instigation isn't cool.. what would the Care Bears do?
*You guys are copying the person that started the first argument -- expect a call from their patent lawyer.
* It ain't the end of the world...
* Chill out folks, we handle 'em when we see 'em.
* I'm trying to eat a sandwich!
* Use your inside voices
* Not even Superman can impress and satisfy everybody -- just ask Frank Miller.
* quickly developing into a flamewar
* Take it easy, everyone. We all have different ideas of what is appropriate and what is not
* Skinny fat or in-between, fighting is not becoming
* Holy smokes, we might be violating all three of the forums guidelines here!
* It's okay to ask questions, but let's ask them nicer
* In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the delightfully abysmal 'Batman and Robin', "Chill out."
* Weird, I always though "SS" stood for "Surround Sound"...
* Love and Peace!
* Too much mud-slinging today, folks -- it's too hot to get all worked up
* If something you read upsets you, feel free to stop reading it.
* Designer bickering
* From now on just send hate mail to support@etsy.
* Be nice -- it's Father's Day!
* No more nastiness toward one another, please...
* What did I say about drugs before?
* stop the violence
* Uhhh... I don't even know what to say for this one.
* Please stop this.
* Confucius say, "Let locked threads die."
* Be nice.
* This isn't really a thread *per se* -- let's try to keep things on topic
* Veering off-topic like a skiier on an icy pond
* Constructive criticism is welcome, but bickering ain't.
* Fighting makes us cry.
* In the words of Johnny Storm, "Flame off!"
* Spring cleaning
* play nice, kids
* That's not a bug...
* Let's keep our threads a little less racist
* Peace out!
* It's time for everyone's tea and coffee break!
* Die spam, die!
* Instigation is not a virtue.
* Fighting is no fun.
* We are impervious to eyelash batting.
"A'ight now
* ::THREAD NEGATIVITY THRESHOLD HIT::

::APPLYING SONG LYRICS TO INCREASE LEVITY::

-Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
-and he never has the same problems twice!
*On behalf of the race of nerds and the country of Etsyania, I delare war on this flamewar.

 

Wooo we won!"

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

SARAH PALIN: The chicken crossed the road because gosh-darn it, he's a maverick!

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken.

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth? That's why they call it the 'other side.'Yes, my friends, That chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the Liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side.' That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish it's lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2010, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2010. This new platform is much more stable and will
never reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Do Recruiters Even Read Resumes?

Since losing my job in July of last year, I've been applying to jobs left and right.  Because I'm on unemployment I make sure to apply to as many jobs as I can in a week.  I even do my best to find one job that's worth taking the time to apply to, even if nothing else sounds good, in a given week.  I have to regularly look for work, as in everyday if not close to it, and keep a running log of where I apply to on a form that the unemployment office gave me (you can also download it)

I have to wonder if they bothered to read my entire resume because it clearly states on there that I have administrative assistance experience and that I know MS Office.  Yet the reason for passing me up was because I didn't have those qualifications. 

Seriously?  My resume is 1.5 pages long and lists experience going back a good 10 years.  That would be 10 out of nearly 22 years of working.  Plus it has a section that just touches on the software I know, since I learned and used a lot of programs over the years.  You should have seen all the programs on my first laptop, I'd say it was twice the amount of programs on an average office computer. 

So my response back was "Thank you for your note however I would like to point out, I am proficient in MS Office as well as have been an administrative assistant for well over 10 years."

I'm not holding my breath waiting for a response.  No, I have a feeling that I'll get one of the three jobs I interviewed for last week and this week.  I don't know which one, and since I couldn't email yesterday's place a thank you letter, I'm hoping he won't hold that against me when he makes his decision tomorrow. 

Resale Shop Blues

I'm not big on resale shops, it seems whenever I've gone to thrift stores looking at clothes, all the clothes are several years old, like the type of things that I finally cleaned out of my closet, a good 10+ years after buying them.

I've been to one resale shop in Evanston that looked like they had nice clothes but if I remember correctly, it wasn't really my style.

Then last year I heard about this one in a neighboring town and checked it out. It was so cute! It didn't even look like a thrift or resale shop, more like a boutique, and the clothes were newer and I easily found things I liked.

I was bummed to see they had moved to another town, which isn't too far from me. So I was planning on going tomorrow with a friend that I'd been telling her about it. Well I was surfing a bit earlier, randomly wandering around their fanpage and I found a bad review. Read the comments and googled and was saddened to hear such bad stuff about the place. It's actually the owner that's apparently a rip off artist, she's not paying folks, etc.

I'm so bummed, I really liked the shop and had bought a few things from there. Including my very cute lavender raincoat. I wish someone would open another shop like that (especially in their old location) but be a legit company. :( If I had money I'd consider it and hire folks to run it.

DARN!

I think I'll check out this other resale shop and then hit the mall instead, tomorrow. I know there's another resale shop east of the mall, I had stopped in one day several weeks ago. I didn't care much for the clothes that day but who knows, maybe they have some other things in now. Also might need to plan a day to go to the one in Evanston this summer to see what they have.

Outsourcing Has Hit Home

No one in my immediate family has had any problems with US companies trend of outsourcing work to other countries.  My sister got her degree in marketing years ago and substitute teaches these days.  My older brother works in IT and my other brother is a cop.  I never finished college for various reasons but after talking to a friend of a friend last night, I'm glad I didn't finish my original degree, which was computer graphics. 

You see this friend (of a friend) used to be a full time employee with Big Idea Productions and in the years since they moved to TN, he's been doing some freelance work for them.  So he was getting us caught up with what's been going on over at Big Idea in recent years.  To be honest, I haven't seen a Veggie Tales video since Madame Blueberry, and even then I watched it with my ex (and his kids?) and never got around to watching anymore.  But from what I've heard, you can tell the quality has gone downhill since they started outsourcing.  The cheaper the outsourcing, the more noticable it is when you watch the videos.

Anyway, my love of computer graphics started when I sat in the theater in 1982 watching one of the coolest movies to come out since Star Wars; Tron.  I practically drooled over the computer graphics and knew then and there that's what I wanted to do when I grew up.  Fast forward to 1991 when I was a freshman at Columbia College trying to major in computer graphics.  I was disappointed that Columbia didn't offer it as a degree, and as far as I knew no one did back in those days.  Still I pressed on.... until I ran out of money and I transfered out.  By college #4 I was no longer sure I wanted to study computer graphics and for the first time in 15 years, I was undecided in terms of my college majoir. 

So in talking to that friend last night and hearing how, despite all the out of work animators in this country, Big Idea is being cheap and looking for animators in other countries to do the work when there are hundreds if not thousands of people in this very country that would love to do the work. 

After hearing that, I was glad I didn't get my degree in computer graphics.  It makes me wonder if I'd have been employed for a decade only to spend another decade out of work, struggling to find something.  I know the other person I knew that worked for Big Idea is still out of work, and he was an animator.  Last night's friend is a programmer so he has some work here and there from Big Idea and Dreamworks.  But the other friend is actually one of the original three guys that made Veggie Tales what it is today.

It's pretty shameful that companies are screwing over their own country all in the name of saving money.  Can you imagine how much the unemployment rate would drop if they stopped outsourcing and hired qualified individuals that are right here in their own country? 

So Long Andrew

:(

By Lori Preuitt
NBCLosAngeles.com NBCLosAngeles.com
updated 1/13/2011 8:46:06 PM ET 2011-01-14T01:46:06

Actor John Dye, best known for his role in the CBS drama, "Touched By an Angel," died this week in San Francisco, according to his family. He was 47.

His brother, Jerre Dye, told an online paper in Memphis that Dye suffered a fatal heart attack Monday. His family said they kept the death private until they could organize a memorial in Mississippi.

Actress Valerie Bertinelli, who co-starred with Dye in the CBS show, tweeted, "Dear, sweet John Dye, rest in peace."

John Dye made his way up the ranks as an actor in the '80s and early '90s making appearances on series like "The Young and the Restless" and "Murder She Wrote."

In 1995, John Dye landed the role of Andrew on "Touched By an Angel." It was first a recurring role, but he was promoted to a regular by the third season.

"People were very moved by the nature of John’s role, and it was not uncommon for people to come up to him in public and say their mother or brother passed away, ‘and you were a comfort.’ So often he would get some very powerful comments, so he had to learn to embrace all that," his brother Jerre told the paper.

M*A*S*H

I have to say, I've been having fun watching M*A*S*H again.  For those that don't know me, I'm one of those people that is old enough to have seen it during its original run.  I'm 38 and it was on when I was growing up.  I did catch the reruns over the years but can't remember the last time I sat down and really watched M*A*S*H.  Since being in between jobs I was able to catch M*A*S*H from the pilot episode this time around and have been watching it since. 

What's made it so fun watching M*A*S*H again in years is all the guest stars I'm noticing.  The other day I ran across an episode with a brief appearance by John Ritter.  He looked like a baby!  One thing that's been standing out to me these days though, is the laugh track.  I mean it was a part of my life but watching it as an adult I'm noticing how they just plugged it in in spots that weren't that funny.  I caught the episode entitled "OR" today and the laugh track was left out, I have to say it was much better without it. 

I have to admit, there are times when I feel old while I watch it because I remember when it originally aired, even remember the final episode.  But it's still fun watching M*A*S*H again, it's almost new again.  :)

Organization

In an effort to have a better handle on my Christmas decorations this year I decided to do something a bit different. Rather than just roll up my Christmas lights on an empty paper towel roll and call it a day, I decided to write the date on the roll so that I knew what year I bought those lights.

The reason being is because I've had lights for years but I couldn't remember what year I purchased them. It's frustrating because they all needed to be replaced since only about 2 strands worked. So I bought 6 100 count strands of lights and my tree was nice and evenly lit. Of course all those new lights will be obsolete when I finally buy a prelit tree, but who knows when that will happen.

Then again I can just shift the purspose of those lights to other areas of the house once I have the new tree. But I have plenty of time before that. In addition to buying new lights for the tree, while packing everthing up I found I had to buy a new strand of twinkling lights because one of the two strands we have, only has half working lights. One half of the strand is burnt out completely. Which explained a few things like why I'd see a random light or two flashing towards the bottom of the tree. I use twinkling lights in the center of the tree and the stationary lights go on the outer branches. So instead of just buying one box, I bought two since they had a few and were 50% off.

Now that everything is fully boxed, it's all back in the storage room and looking close to what it did when I first rearranged that entire room and reorganized everything.

New Year, New Blog

Well sort of.  I'm going to try to use this blog more this year.  We'll see how that goes.