More Signs of Spring

I took this photo of daffodil shoots the other day, on a quest in my yard for signs of spring. Of course, it's 31 degrees right now, and we are in the throes of winter - Memphis style. According to my Windows Vista Weather Gadget (love the gadgets), it will be 64 degrees Monday. Still, it's not as bad as in my former life, as an accountant, when I was facing three long months of sitting at a desk and cranking out lots and lots of audit/tax work. I made lots of money during those 50 hour weeks, but about 3 years ago, I woke up and knew I could never do another tax season. So here I am.

I'm writing my Saturday morning waffle-making blog. It was genius of me to put the laptop in my kitchen - now I can really multi-task. Of course, every once in a while, I get caught up in blogging and lose a waffle! The Hungry Teenager has commented more than once on his Saturday morning waffles (this tradition is just a few months old), so I've incorporated it into my day. I feel gratified to put my 22 year old wedding-gift waffle iron to use.

I'm thinking of getting a color scanner and Adobe Photoshop Elements. I might go with version 5 instead of the newer 6. It's much less expensive and apparently version 6 still has some bugs, especially with Vista. My only research consists of reader reviews on Amazon. Lundy gave me some other sites to research. Any thoughts about these products? All the Creating Keepsakes scrapbooking gurus use Elements, so I figure I can't go wrong.

Have I told you how wonderful Amazon is for any purchase? Recently I bought Microsoft Office 2007 at Sam's (we use Excel and Word lots around here), and subsequently found it on Amazon for $15 less - taking shipping charges (none) and sales tax (none with Amazon - 9.25% with Sam's) into account. Luckily, Sam's took it back since seal had not been broken. Will use $15 saved to buy cd's to burn all my million digital photos to cd and clean up hard drive. Gotta run to Office Depot today - received a coupon for 50% off - only good this weekend. Need paper, too.

What's up, Chicken Butt?

I have a theme for this post. Poultry. First, the title comes from spending time with my cousins in Covington, KY (across the river from Cincy). They would say "What's up?" to which I'd reply "What?" Their answer, of course, was "Chicken Butt!" Maybe it was a regional thing. I don't know, but for some reason, thought of it today.

Maybe that's why my new fave blog - Pioneer Woman Cooks - inspired me to actually cook tonight. My results were wonderful. My prediction, based on this happy experience, is that chicken wings are not for long. Legs will knock them out of their place of honor. I told my son to think of them as chicken wings on steriods. To which he replied, "Isn't that a bad thing?" Kids are so literal. But of course, all chicken that's not organic is loaded with steriods, I'm sure. But I digress.

He's doing homework, so I don't have the Hungry Teenager's Seal of Approval yet, but the 46 year old mother of said teenager has fallen in love! With the chicken legs! Amazing. And easy. I will tell all my friends who are MHTBs (Moms of Hungry Teenage Boys). Better yet, I'll tell them to check my blog, which will send them to my new blog-crush, Pioneer Woman.

I need to figure out how to get her permission - hope she won't mind! Help, Lundy!! Even though my last post might have given the impression that I'm a blog expert, I'm still figuring out how it all works. Clearly I should limit myself to taking pictures of food and maybe doing a little laundry in between. That reminds me, I'm so in love with my Gorillapod.

What's a Blog?

Prepare to be amazed. This is by far my favorite blog of the moment!
http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

Beautiful, step-by-step photos of decadent food. I promise you'll be hooked.

I've had several friends say they don't really understand blogs (after reading mine, no less!). Here's my definition: A blog (short for web-log) is an on-line diary of sorts. There are a limitless number of blog types, since they are unedited personal expressions. Sometimes the blogs are associated with a website. The number of blogs has increased exponentially due to easy-to-use, free sites like Blogger.com which make it very easy for the average computer user to self-publish on the web. I started blogging a couple of years ago out of a desire to share pictures of Evans on-line with his grandparents who live out of town. My inaugural post on this blog explains my purpose here. I've been exploring quite a bit lately, and have found the best blogs (like Pioneer Woman, above) by looking at the favorite blogs listed on my favorite blogs. Note to self: add a list of my favorite blogs along the side of this one. If you're interested in finding blogs you like, start with the website for a magazine in your area of interest (mine was Creating Keepsakes). They will be quality blogs, i.e. no weird stuff. Another way is to look at Blogs of Interest on Blogger.com, although they will cover a much broader range of subjects.

Great blogs will have lots and lots of comments, a reflection of a large readership. It is safe to leave comments since your email address will not be displayed, although you will have to enter it.

When you have your own blog, it's good to monitor comments (you can be emailed as they are posted). I hear you can wind up with strange things if you don't. I've decided that good photos really help make a blog good - lots of them are devoted to photography, so keep that in mind if you decide to join blog-world. To my friends, I'll be glad to get you started if you'd like my help.

I tend to go on blog searching sprees, bookmark ones I like, then come back to them later. I'm probably following 5 or 6 blogs regularly. The first blog I ever read is Lundy's: http://www.lundini.blogspot.com/

She always has fun, crazy, strange, informative posts, as well as lots of newsy ones about what's going on in her life.

I hope this helps. Happy blogging!

The Staff of Life...

...unless you're doing low-carb or no-sugar, no-flour, Sugar Busters or some other variant of Dr. Adkins' plan. If that's the case, do a Google image search for bacon. Be careful, though. I'm some freak has come up with perversions involving bacon. Be very careful of image searches. Just the other day, I was looking for an image of Betty and Veronica from the old Archie comic books. I was shocked to see the depths of depravity that were reached - using these two innocent and lovely girls. Nothing is sacred.

On to the subject of this post. Bread. I baked it tonight. Two batches, or the equivalent of six loaves. I'm doing Suzanne's great sourdough version. It's like a pet - you have to feed it and exercise it at least once per week, more often is better. Suzanne and I have exchanged many emails regarding sourdough breadmaking methodology, and I finally have a batch I'm pleased with. It's still kind of heavy and a little dense, but it'll pass.

Oh, I used my new Gorillapod for this photo. I love the G-pod. It lets me take photos in low light without blurring. I can tilt the camera for a different angle, push down to lower the vantage point or straighten legs to raise it. It's very steady and slip resistant. If you've ever stacked books to try to get the camera steady and to the right height, you will love this. I do.

Caveat Emptor

I'll lose most of you with my long diatribe, but please read my rules for a hoodwink-free existence:

1) Check Better Business Bureau BEFORE you call.
2) If the repairman confuses you, call the company. Don't worry about offending the repairman. If he's honest, he won't mind. If he's not, he'll straighten up.
3) Ask questions. Think. Don't just have them do it to get it over with. It's not just the money - it's the principle.
4) Never pay in cash, even, or especially, if he offers to do it for less. Unless you want to be guilty of aiding and abetting.

Here goes:
I called an old Memphis company to get our iron storm/security door repaired. We bought all three of our doors from this company when we bought our house 18 years ago. I had figured out what was wrong - two screws attaching pneumatic arm to door had come loose. I tried tightening them to no avail. When I called, they said they'd send someone out within an hour, and they didn't mention a minimum fee for a service call (should have been my first warning sign, better yet, I should have asked).

The guy showed up, and told me there was a $75 service charge, to which I wondered aloud why I hadn't been told about it. He told me my weather stripping needed to be replaced, and he could do it for me, himself, not through the company. How about instead of saying it should have been a warning sign, I just put a symbol in parentheses, like (???). It comes up quite a bit.

I told him how I had tried to fix it and asked if there was a nut or bolt that had fallen off. He said yes. I asked how he would get to the inside of the door frame (all metal), through the top? - to which he said yes. I wonder if it was because I was sitting in the kitchen, just inside the back door, and would have seen him go through the top of the door (it would have been an acrobatic feat, or would have involved a special ladder to accomodate the back steps) that the turn of events happened as follows(???). Next, he needed to call the office. He said it would be $35. I felt like Detective Goran (Law & Order, Criminal Intent - my favorite tv detective, played by Vincent D'Onofrio) trying to pin him down to exactly what the $35 included, especially since it was so much less than the original $75 (???).

He said he could replace my weather stripping at the bottom for $40 (I thought he said $4, but was quickly corrected). I said, "No thanks, I think we can do it ourselves." Argument ensued about availability of special rubber strip that cannot be found at Hardware Store - only at this particular company(???). Regardless, no thanks.

While he was repairing the broken screws from the back of the door (no ladder or acrobatics required), I called another iron door company listed in the phone book. They said they'd sell me the whole weather strip, metal + rubber, for $10 per door. I don't think he heard this conversation, but strangely enough, after the repair, he offered to replace the weather stripping for just $20, paid to him personally, not the company(???). I should have said no thanks again, but gave in to the desire to have it done for the same price as buying it at the other store and spending the time to install it.

Ok, I won't tell you any more. I'm tired of the story. I could spend another 4 or 5 or 6 more paragraphs relaying the saga. I will only say that when I called Suzanne to tell her about the ordeal, she said she had had a bad experience with this company and that they had an unsatisfactory rating with BBB. Sure enough, I checked, and it was still unsatisfactory. I don't think they had a blip of bad service with a bad subcontractor. I think they are poorly managed and sadly, the company's long-held, hard-earned good reputation is not a reflection of the current state of affairs.

I got a refund for the excess charges ($30 refund, yielding a $25 net fee), but am left with a sad feeling about a family business losing value, and ultimately, failing.

Buyer Beware, and check Better Business Bureau.

Wreck of the Day

What a day. As I sit down to write this post, my Pandora station is playing one of my favorite songs - Anna Nalick's Wreck of the Day. The cherry on top is that the cat just threw up. Seriously, just this minute. I'm not making that up. Here's how my day went.

On my way to a business meeting (for which I was running late), got a call that the meeting was cancelled. That's ok. Forget that I could have easily slept another hour. Took advantage of extra time to call the company from which we bought our iron doors to get the back door repaired. That's a very long story - worthy of its own blog post, but suffice it to say I was hoodwinked and the repair guy got fired (or so the owner of the company said). Will explain in another post, to be titled "Caveat Emptor."

Next, the man who was supposed to come measure kitchen floor and bring tile samples at 2:00 never showed. After I called to inquire of his whereabouts, he called to say his basement was full of water and his heat was out, and he'd see me Thursday. That's ok.

Went to pick up prescriptions, and one of the refills was missing, natch. Just a few extra minutes' wait. Then headed out to door repair place for hoodwink-related refund, and drove past - easy to do on Summer Avenue.

Made it back home, with refund (a good thing). I feel like I'm in a John Grisham novel - the paranoid protaganist, running from the Mafia. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for the supposedly now-unemployed repairman. Thought I saw a black pickup pull away as I drove up our street. I'm jumping every time I hear a real or imaginary car door shut. After all, he has my name, address, phone number and bank account information (from check I wrote).

On top of that, the weather is appropriately gray and dreary.

Gotta run - time to check on bread in the oven. My day's taking a better turn. I have to say, there have been times when this series of unfortunate events would have done a number on me, but amazingly, I'm ok. But then I have the aroma of baking bread to comfort me!

Cottage Industries

Since I've started this blog, I've become aware of lots of women who have small businesses doing things they love for a little extra cash. They all seem to be party-related - isn't that fun! Mack's co-worker, Angela L., makes these adorable diaper cakes - perfect for a baby shower or gift. I don't know if you can disassemble it and use the diapers - maybe not, but wouldn't it be great for an emergency supply? Let me know if you're interested in one (leave a comment) and I'll get you her contact information. I'm also thinking of the pinatas and cakes I've featured in previous blog posts.

To all my crafty friends, I should share a website I recently became aware of: http://www.etsy.com/

Their tag-line is "Your place to buy & sell all things handmade." My sister-in-law, Marjorie, told me about it. She's considering selling some of her beautiful knitted items there. I received a yellow knitted cotton dishcloth from her for Christmas and it adds a little bit of luxury to wiping the countertops. I've been thinking of making some cards to sell there. There's a small fee to list your item and then you pay a certain percentage of your selling price when you sell it. Let me know if you've tried it.

Of course, the best cottage industry I know about is my friend Lundy's booming website development, design and search engine optimization business. She's so resourceful and energetic - I'm glad she invited me to partner with her on MomsLeap. Great things are in store!