One-quarter Inch Thinner Toilet Paper

It’s not your imagination that the toilet paper seems to be getting smaller. I recently noticed the new toilet paper roll had a lot of play on its holder. I compared it to the empty discarded roll and it is, in fact, one-quarter inch narrower. Manufacturers are smart in that they don’t raise the price, but give you less for the same price. This has been happening for years, if not decades, but this was noticeably smaller. You get fewer tissues in a box; less coffee in a bag; and now thinner toilet tissue. There were no announcements either. No “new and improved.” No “smaller and better.” No mention of it. Just wanted you to know I noticed. Can you think of any other examples?

Facebook Is A Soap Opera!

As I was signing onto my Facebook account, I wondered what drama I might find today. Some people spill their whole lives out there while others just like to let us know their eating and sleeping habits. Sometimes I feel like I’m eavesdropping on a telephone conversation or maybe they should be texting instead of putting it out on Facebook for everyone to see. Some people announce job interviews, negative opinions about people, personal surgeries, and use unnecessary cuss words that I don’t think need airing. So, I think it’s like watching a TV soap opera. By signing on, you get a glimpse of what’s going on in other people's lives, but not enough to draw conclusions and just enough to tune in the next time. Oh, there are commercials: the sidebars with sponsors, suggestions, and invitations to play Farmville.

Pennies from Heaven

Not too many people pick up pennies these days, but I still do. I remember the saying “Find a penny, pick it up, all the day have good luck,” but that was only if it was heads up. The other day, I received an email about a wealthy man who picked up pennies. He said since each one carries the phrase “In God We Trust,” it was a reminder that God is always there. I’ve heard of people who think it’s a sign from their deceased loved one reminding them that they’re around. My brother used to turn over the tails-up pennies that he found for the next person to find for good luck. On the evening that I heard these stories, I was at home turning on our PC controller (which is on the floor) and found a penny next to it--heads up. I think that was a reminder from my departed brother. If it was face down, I would have had to turn it over.

Do Unto Others

Voice a loud outburst during a speech. Defend yourself using vulgar and threatening words. Denounce someone’s award by interrupting with your own opinion. These three incidents in the last week display an extreme lack of manners by well known people (SC Rep. Joe Wilson, tennis player Serena Williams, and singer Kanye West). Just because they happen to be rich, successful or famous doesn’t give them the right to treat other people badly. The unfortunate thing is these negative comments have appeared all over the news and gave further publicity to people who probably love all the attention anyway they can get it. It reminds me of an old adage “bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.” It seems that these people are used to having their way and don’t care who they have to trample to get it, but now we’ve seen what kind of people they really are. So, what kind of person are you, really? Do you do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12)?

Poor Customer Service & Lousy Food--OK

Maybe we’ve come to accept poor customer service and lousy food from “fast-food restaurants.” Now that’s an oxymoron since it’s neither fast nor a restaurant in my experience. Recently, a friend and I stopped to get coffee and a chicken biscuit at a McDonald’s drive-through in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The clerk practically threw my change into my hand so that most of it ended up outside my car. She didn’t apologize or offer to give me correct change and closed her window. I nudged open my car door to see what I could reach and managed to salvage a quarter. I figured if she does that enough, she can gather up a good tip at the end of her shift. Then, while waiting in line to pick up my food, we heard the occupant in the car ahead loudly ranting at the clerk several times, “I saw what you did. Where’s your manager?” So, we’re beginning to think all of the employees at this location must have poor attitudes. Anyway, when I got to eat my sandwich at my destination, the chicken was burned and tasted pretty greasy.
Next time, I will examine my sandwich before I leave the parking lot and I’ll hold up traffic getting my change. Or maybe I just won’t eat there again.

Frolicking Manatees in the Indian River Lagoon

Each morning when I arrive at the office, I look for manatees and dolphins near the Indian River seawall. One June morning, a family of four manatees was frolicking including a young one. I grabbed my camera and was mesmerized by these prehistoric-looking creatures. They bobbed up and down and tumbled across each other in the water. They continue to amaze me.

Broken Things

Why does everything break? And it happens in threes? In the past week, our air conditioner, our pool chlorinator, and our toilet broke. First I thought I could blame it on a lightning strike, but that wouldn’t cause the toilet to leak. Fortunately, two of these things are under warranty. But the warranty doesn’t cover labor. So, to avoid future unexpected costs, we sprung for an extended warranty on the A/C. My mother keeps telling me “You shoulda bought a Trane.”
My husband, handyman that he is, and unemployed right now, is scheduling the repairmen and trying to fix the toilet himself. We were without A/C for 3 days, but our electric bill didn’t go down. We had a window unit in our bedroom which probably wasn’t the most energy efficient. But at least we were comfortable. We’re using chlorine and tablets in the pool until Tuesday.
Things are gradually getting fixed until the next lightning strike.

Things To Ponder

Strange headline:
Passengers Not Told of Pilot's Death (This is not a good situation either way.)

I like these bumper stickers:
I only hope that I can be the person my dog thinks I am.
I'll keep my money, religion and guns. You keep the change.

Marquis sign on church:"Sign broken. Message inside."

Why is there a mirrored cross on a cement utility pole on US1? I wonder who put it there and why.

Save gas by pretending there's an egg between the accelerator pedal and the floor.

Nestle Toll House cookies is recalling their refrigerated cookie dough due to people getting e coli from eating raw dough. How many times has your mother told you NOT to eat uncooked cookie dough?

Happy Father's Day!

One Bar Left

On Sunday, I noticed my Oral-B Triumph electric toothbrush was not charging ever since I had heard a high-pitched hum coming from the charger. There were only two of four charge bars showing and I wondered if it’s anything like my phone, it’ll just suddenly die. I’m not sure I can do a good job of brushing my teeth with a manual toothbrush anymore. I decided I’d better replace it quickly and this time, with a not-so-deluxe $50-version because the last one didn’t last much longer than a year. So, with one bar left on Wednesday I drove to Target on my lunch hour to buy the no-bells-and-whistles rechargeable electric toothbrush. They only had the display model, but 7 boxes of the next version, the Oral-B Pulsonic, that costs $66. I decided to continue shopping and stopped by a Sears on the way back to work. They didn’t even carry electric toothbrushes. What was I thinking? On Thursday, I stopped at Wal-mart because they always carry the cheaper model, right? No, the cheapest model they had was $66, the same version that I had declined to buy at Target. Three stores later and still no $50 electric toothbrush. I could have saved a lot of time, gas and money had I bought it online at Amazon, but I was thinking “buy local” and “get it now.” I decided to buy the Oral-B Pulsonic. Save time, gas, money, and the risk of not having an electric toothbrush to use when the last bar is gone. I charged it overnight, used it this morning, and really liked it. Oh, and there’s still one bar left on my old toothbrush.

For reviews and pictures of both toothbrushes, check out this blog: The NY Renovator.

Church Rituals and the Swine Flu

An announcement was made before mass started on Sunday. Due to the possible spread of swine flu, Bishop Wenski with advice from the Center for Disease Control has recommended: “Please do not hold hands during the reciting of the Our Father. Share the Sign of Peace WITHOUT touching hands or kissing. This can be done with meaningful eye contact, smiles, and a bow of the head in reverence to one another.” This resulted in some laughs and giggles from the congregation. I didn’t think it was funny. Was it because people were uncomfortable with this topic? When it came time to offer the sign of peace, I saw some people shake hands anyway. I exchanged some nods and peace signs. I figured “better safe than sorry.” The irony is that we were still offered to share the holy sacrament of blood by drinking from the same chalice.

Easter Pine Tree Crosses

We’re surrounded by pine trees where I live and I’m reminded of my brother who told me the story of the little crosses at the tops of pine trees. Just before Easter, new shoots of growth sprout from the tops of the pine trees and form crosses. (Here, I’ve taken a photo of some next to my yard.) They’re everywhere now. Glory to God!

On The Ball

I took a “Core and More” hour-long exercise class at my health club last night. I never knew you could do so many things with one of those large balls. I’ve only used one to do abdominal work and I usually feel a belly ache the next day. The instructor started with us standing and stretching alongside the ball on the floor. This was easy. Then, we held it in front of us and pushed it up and down and over to the side for awhile. Next, we held onto the wall and put it behind us rolling one straight leg over it while the other went into a kneeling lunge, then switched sides. These were killers to the butt and the legs. One exercise consisted of rolling, stomach on top of the ball, with outstretched hands like a push-up. These seemed to produce the most vocal grunts and groans by my classmates. We also balanced and squeezed the ball between our legs while on the floor in about four different positions. One part of the class, we didn’t use the ball, but we laid on our stomachs to use a flat nylon Frisbee “glider” to push our hands and arms around on the floor making stroke movements similar to swimming. We used some stretchy bands to work our shoulders and arms and used a few weights for our biceps and triceps. It was a good all-around workout and I’m not too sore (yet). I think it’s good to try something different and get out of your comfort zone, so I’ll probably go back next week.

Happy Birthday WWW

The WWW just turned 20 today and we couldn’t imagine life without it. I’m talking about the World Wide Web developed by Tim Berners-Lee and other European scientists so they could exchange their research information around the world. I wonder if they ever imagined how pervasive it would become. I mean if we want to know the weather forecast, we don’t wait to hear it on the radio or TV news. If we want to learn more about a health symptom, we no longer have to wait to see the doctor. If we want to communicate with our hometown family and friends, we don’t have to make several long-distance telephone calls. If we want a special recipe for unusual banana bread, we don’t have to personally ask a lot of people and then write it down. If we want to learn how to make a beautiful flower arrangement, we don’t have to take a six-week course. If we want to read an excerpt from a book, we don’t have to go to the library or bookstore. If we want to send photos of our children to our families, we don’t have to wait to have the pictures printed first. If we want to renew our driver’s license, we don’t have to go to the DMV. If we want to check our bank account balance, we don’t have to go to the bank or make phone call. If we want to go shopping, we don’t have to go to the mall. If we want to know what to do on our next vacation, we don’t have to hire a travel agent. If we want to meet other people, we don’t have to go outside of our homes. If we want our thoughts and ideas to be known, we don’t have to hire a PR firm. (So I could go on and on with this blog, but I won’t.)
If you want to do any of these things I’ve mentioned, you can accomplish them on the World Wide Web.

Seize The Moment

I was driving home on US 1 along the Indian River the other day when I noticed traffic backed up on my usual turn down Malabar Road. I decided to continue south on the more scenic route and possibly beat the train that was stalling traffic. When, I came upon my next turn, the sight of a colorful parasail coasting along the river caught my attention. I thought about stopping on the roadside to watch the parasurfer, but was in a hurry to get home. I turned down the street and was stopped by the blinking lights of the railroad crossing. I did not beat the train. So, there I sat watching at least a hundred freight cars go by when I could have been enjoying the view of a beautiful parasail gliding in the wind. Next time, I will stop and seize the moment.

Permanence?

I’m beginning to think more about the concepts of forms, consciousness, and permanence. Every “thing” is just a “form” and we are conscious souls according to Eckhart Tolle, author of “A New Earth.” That reminds me of the story of how and where my husband and I met, dated and were married. We agreed to meet for drinks on a blind date at a Mexican-chain restaurant, “El Torito”. Years later, that beautiful stucco and tile roof building was demolished and a Best Buy and a parking lot were built in its place. On the same evening that we met, we enjoyed pizza across the street at a locally-owned Italian restaurant called “Page One”, also the place where my sister held her wedding rehearsal dinner two years earlier. Years later, that restaurant was demolished and replaced with a “Barnes and Noble” bookstore. Our first kiss was in the parking lot of a comedy club inside a Ramada Inn which is no longer in operation. My husband and I dated for a couple years. He proposed to me after dinner at The Crow's Nest, a riverside restaurant that's since been domolished. I’m sure there were other establishments that have come and gone. We were married at St. Joseph Catholic Church, which was remodeled and looks quite different, but still stands. On February 13th, we will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary, so we are permanently united souls no matter what forms remain.

In Search of Tahini

I love to try recipes and a big recipe book came with my son’s new Magic Bullet blender. I decided to make homemade hummus. The recipe is fairly easy, except for one elusive ingredient, tahini paste. Tahini paste is actually ground-up sesame seeds. After checking the ethic foods aisle and the spices and dressings aisle, I asked a Publix supermarket employee where to find it. He took me to the produce section, but couldn’t find it there. Then, he said, “Wait a minute, let me go up front and ask someone.” Minutes later, while I hung out in the produce section, he came back around from the other side of the store and said it’s on aisle three (the ethic foods section). I followed him and we both searched again. No luck. Of course, I didn’t really know what I was looking for. He thought it was in a tube. I thought it might be in a jar. It might have been easier to make my own, but searching for sesame seeds might be another story. Then, he left to ask another employee who came down the aisle and pointed right at the seven-ounce yellow can on the top shelf. I thought it was a bit expensive at $7.49, but felt obligated to buy it. So, we’re going to be making a lot of hummus.
Whether you make your own tahini paste or buy a can, the hummus recipe is:
1 can (14 oz.) of chick peas a.k.a garbanzo beans drained
1/3 cup chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic (I put in 4 and it was too garlicky)
2 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. tahini paste
Blend. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a bowl, drizzle olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with warm pita bread triangles. Wa-la, just like the Greek restaurant.