Saturday, August 25, 2007

Dear Hilton, LEAVE US ALONE!!!

We stayed at a wonderful Hampton Inn in Indianapolis, IN recently. We stayed there on August 4 and then again on August 11.Our visit was smooth, the staff was attentive, the coffee was wonderful.
HOWEVER, since our return home, we have received repeated calls Hilton Grand Vacations.

I've informed callers twice that we do not want to be called.PLEASE do not contact us. We are NOT INTERESTED. We will have to stop using your hotels if this continues.

Thank you

Thursday, August 23, 2007

No Coffee, No Title

UPDATE: The water came back on just as I was getting the kids up to school. Whew!
____________________________________________________________________

Today could be a bad day.

I woke up at 5:30 and found we have no water to speak of. We had a day a couple of weeks ago when our water pressure was low. Today there is no water at all upstairs and it just trickles out downstairs.

Nate is not going to be happy.

If they have no water at the school then I figure it could be cancelled or postponed. Which would mean being here all day with unhappy people.

I hope this is the worst-case scenario. At least, I can't think of anything worse. But without coffee my imagination is not really running wild, either.

On a lighter note, yesterday was yet another day over 100 degrees. I sat in the car line at school thinking about how I needed to get a few more school supplies and gas for the car and get the bathrooms cleaned and supper started. And I was tired.

Then it popped into my head that I could Nate to put gas in the car and buy the school supplies. Let the boy run around in the heat.

So I gave him some money and the list and told him to call if he had a hard time finding stuff:

Kleenex
Hand sanitizer
5-subject notebook
Clorox wipes or some other surface sanitizer

I told him he didn't need to go all the way to Target to get the stuff. He could just hit the pharmacy on the edge of Ballantyne. (we don't have such things...pharmacies)

He called to say he didn't know where the hand sanitizer was. I gave him some suggestions.

He called to say he couldn't find it. I told him he'd need to ask. [sigh of exasperation from him here]

He called to ask what Clorox wipes were.

When he got home, he had

Kleenex
Hand Sanitizer
5-subject notebook
Bounce dryer sheets

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Man Collects Apples

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/08/mac-collector.ap/index.html

"Bloomin' Idjut!"

He was too nice to say that, but I did find out from Dr. Adam Cooper, chiropractor, (signs his emails 'ACDC') that I've completely mis-diagnosed and consequently done every single thing wrong with my shoulder.

The left shoulder has been troubling me a lot in the last two weeks. But it was kind of nagging at me for about a month. I thought I was sleeping incorrectly. That the muscles were getting knotted up from improper sleeping. And so I was stretching it, working it, rubbing it...trying to work out what I perceived to be tightness.

Finally the soreness had morphed into a severe burning sensation across both shoulder blades and I was worried enough to seek medical attention.

Sure. The muscles are tight, but the underlying problem is a strained muscle.

"Feels like it's the muscle that goes across my shoulder blade."

[twist, turn, rotate] "hmm. Is it this way or that way?" he asked.

"YOW! That's it!"

"Strained supraspinalis," he muttered.

"What's that?"

"The muscle that goes across your shoulder blade."

And then I learned that I should be resting it, icing it, not exercising it. No weights.

"So basically, I've been stupidly doing exactly the wrong thing for this."

"Well, I wouldn't put it thaaaatttt way!" he said.

And so I was introduced to this fine product:
Biofreeze

It is pure menthol. You only need a tiny bit. Very gelatinous. In fact, if you aren't careful, it will just fall off your finger and plop to the floor. The smell is menthol, but wears off within a couple of minutes. But man! Is it COLD! It's like putting an ice cube directly on your skin. That sensation seems to last about 10 minutes.

I did not tell ACDC about dropping my own camera on my head last Sunday.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

YUM! For some...


Sugarfreechocicecream
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I made this sugar-free chocolate ice cream for my friend Mike. He's a diabetic and calls his wife "The Sugar Sheriff."

I like doing this for him because he's so appreciative, but it also gives me a chance to experiment with cooking sugar-free stuff for my food stories. This week I did a story on ice cream, so I played with Splenda.

Personally, I think the ice cream was terrible. But I just can't eat or drink stuff with sugar substitutes. I don't have the taste for it and it just doesn't even want to go down my throat. He said it was wonderful. And I think he'd tell me the truth.

Sugar-Free Chocolate Ice Cream
For 1.5 Quart Freezer


1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup whole milk, divided
Dash salt
1 cup half-n-half
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla


Mix together Splenda and cocoa powder. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the whole milk until smooth and powders are completely dissolved. Add remaining ingredients.
Turn on the freezer and pour in the mixture while it’s running. Freeze as directed. Allow to rest 20 minutes before serving.

Recipe courtesy “No Food Left Behind” for The Carolina Gateway