tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25779544460382051572024-02-21T06:45:59.655-06:00My New 30A blog about a woman's life and experiences after 50.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.comBlogger387125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-83341518652928248952014-07-17T08:00:00.000-05:002014-07-17T08:10:58.306-05:00Reviving the Home Base<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh89dqcFq2VWmqYPvr_dQNUwkAMV_HMxISdLbjktCg-fDkchNoU8ce7-ETNizbbgThrsAyR7mshzFegxVFZx3hyvFzKS6LJj1-GEpyiAjEAi-I5d7cPyyfreI3seBx3SdjDL-tucNq5jFvR/s1600/Hey+yall+chalkboard.jpg" height="428" width="640"></div><br>
Oh my gracious, it's been awhile I guess! Life happens. Did ya miss me? Are you even there anymore??<br>
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<a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2014/07/reviving-home-base.html#more">Click Here to Read More »</a>Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-44604777225483314482013-12-25T06:11:00.002-06:002013-12-25T06:11:29.641-06:00Merry Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyHu07G3z7C0dtYdRUemu6hwxEW7o4DPHrdmz_HKeVSTkeVbbLpXyjR-3OTLpUKEtOysvM0MfgviIUbf4FtcEDKBz9bKPdxvQX2kWAMNQbXht9FvkRpcF4s0Dbf5mZsQ_gSbm2MzQC9up/s400/Nativity-Scene.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<br />Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-62872993697007340732013-04-28T13:38:00.001-05:002018-06-03T19:12:16.823-05:00Old Fashioned House Dresses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007WIZSU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007WIZSU&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPceNzbeHykzoPJ75rxSoxjUpMcKRoJD2fa_sxA6JCeMl9vUf7Okp4VlnRrWHTXPnrHL8Vik7minlDAn1dycOLC7UOYDMWn20QUm3Sl-aT00Cd7a7ef-Bzqa8vfnm7cV3iVICjm_Za-_cl/s400/National+Print+Sundress.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Comfortable, old fashioned house dresses.</i></span></td></tr>
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<a data-pin-config="above" data-pin-do="buttonPin" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mynew30.com%2F2013%2F04%2Fold-fashioned-house-dresses.html&media=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-sVaTw0-RJlo%2FUX074wUvCGI%2FAAAAAAAAYhw%2FhnivNCWNHjg%2Fs400%2FNational%2BPrint%2BSundress.jpg&description=Old%20Fashioned%20House%20Dresses"><img src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pin_it_button.png" /></a>I have become my grandma. Maybe even my great grandma! Why? Well, it's in many more ways than just one, but for one, as I've hit the 50+ plus mark in my life, I'm more apt to speak my mind. I'm certainly way less polite about taking crap off of people anymore. For another, I am trying to stop letting other people's issues about me, bother me, and troubling my mind so much over such things. I guess you could say I've become very <a href="http://www.hallmark.com/online/maxine/crabby-road/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Crabby Road</a>. And, I like it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595301658/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1595301658&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29TDnXQ5oTWWbSXG7A_7lfGMFcbFw2MxLZRc-A3AbzRO85tDLbMyjOcRmI7EV9f_eBkCxRP4hv2qhtKptemCePYz6X0-fIbAOOp_zffxXpl_1wzpLIq1JfNqGtSDK4m8oza7VG-ISd6zo/s200/Maxine+And+Another+Thing.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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If you are out there in the public eye - especially across the interwebs - you will make many acquaintances (some will be authentic friends, some will be users disguised as friends), but you will also find that some people are just gonna dislike you, talk about you, gossip about you, gang up with their friends against you, and frankly, there are just some things that you have to accept in life, give them to God and let them go. And that includes those 'Takers and Haters' we have all encountered in this world today.<br />
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Yep, as crazy as it seems, even running an <a href="http://deepsouthdish.com/" target="_blank">innocuous recipe website</a> is gonna earn you some 'Takers and Haters.' I know! Crazy, huh? It happens in day to day life, and it really happens in the online world. There are a few food bloggers out there in my genre who do not seem to like me very much. And they have gathered some friends together to dislike me equally. Why? They did something wrong, I called them out for it, they did not like being called out. Refer to that first paragraph above. There are those who are simply takers and just never content enough to be happy with their own successes, that not only do they take from others to boost themselves, but then have to target and tear down those they perceive as "competitors."<br />
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Dr. Phil <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0985462736/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0985462736&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" target="_blank">wrote a whole book</a> about the topic of these kinds of people, what he calls "BAITERS - folks who are Backstabbers, Abusers, Imposters, Takers, Exploiters and Reckless," and the "Evil Eight" identifiers to help you spot them in your life. We just live in a different world these days and wow, was that an enlightening read. If today's world and the behavior of people astounds you, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0985462736/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0985462736&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" target="_blank">read this book</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0985462736/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0985462736&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxsGal4UKh2H8zMfcXgAr_bWRfL5LaTZ_7HRSYo-_sE1ho5nq3AwMK78Hi0o7AyakdrCHz3c-0klX9bIuCB6Mvk7bBqD38J3yr3bz0G46TwtYRJIINUmcWZiX13g3qxyJipzvkh04fFqmI/s320/Life+Code.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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But... all of that is a topic for a whole 'nother post, now isn't it? <span style="font-size: large;">☺</span><br />
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My Grandma Mac, who lived to be nearly 100, once told me that was how she was happy and how she had lived so long. <i>"I just don't let things bother me," </i>she once told me. I am still trying to learn to do that Grandma!<br />
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Wow, was that a roundabout way to get to today's topic! Clearly I had a few things to get off my chest. Anywhoooo.... today, I am talking about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-brandtextbin=National&linkCode=ur2&node=1036592&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">house dresses</a>, or if you'd rather, adult sundresses. Grandma dresses. I have taken to wearing, and loving wearing, simple house dresses.<br />
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Now, my husband and I are not fashionistas. We clean up pretty good, don't get me wrong, but we are most at home in our t-shirts and sleep pants or sweats 99% of the time when we are, well, at home. Pretty funny coming from somebody who actually second majored in fashion design in college and once upon a time put a lot of value into that. As I got a little older spending two hours to get ready in the morning gave way to just looking clean, well groomed and decent. With a one hour commute, each way, every single day with my last corporate job, trust me. I treasured that extra sleep much more than feeling like I had to look like I stepped out of a magazine all the time. Ain't nobody got time for that!<br />
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My Hurricane Katrina imposed retirement, pretty much limited my public appearances and truth is, I love being at home now and working from home with my blogs. I love it so much that I have declined a number of ideal blogging opportunities - being a judge for a cable network food show competition, being a contestant for another to be on a major network, and several gigs working with professional chefs to help promote national brands, just to name a few!<br />
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Once I weighed the pros and cons, I liked being at home, with my family, much more than traveling to Hollywood or L.A., just to boost my ego and attempt to gain me popularity. Maybe if I were truly 30-something, but at 50-something, nah. Not interested. In turn, my dress moved solely into being comfortable. Period. Comfortable, and a little too big for me t-shirts and sweats or sleep pants are the fashion style my husband and I sport more these days, but in the summer those sweats can be a little too much.<br />
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I once worked a case up in Minneapolis that kept me there over a week and I discovered that most of the women I was around in the courtroom and the law office, did not have on a stitch of makeup. That really intrigued me because I know some Southern gals who will not even go out to Walmart without being dressed to the nines, all jeweled up, hair all poofed and perfect and sprayed with enough hairspray to set their head on fire if a spark shot by them. And, yes, full out, going-out, all dressed-up, makeup from primer to foundation to finishing powder and everything in between. Well... ain't nobody got time for that either! I guess you could say that I'm not all that many more steps above those "Walmart People" you've all heard about. Okay... maybe I'm not quite <i>that </i>bad.<br />
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Pair of blue jeans or shorts with a modest cut t-shirt ... meaning boobs and cleavage contained and covered - a true rarity these days ... sandals, flip flops or even (gasp!) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014CM85I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0014CM85I&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">classic Crocs</a>, hair brushed and pulled back, a little <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0062GYZ02/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0062GYZ02&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CoverGirl Olay</a> foundation or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008CC45I6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008CC45I6&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">powder</a> (LOVE!), eyebrow pencil and quick <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SD1ZFS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005SD1ZFS&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">swipe of lipstick</a> and I'm good. Sometimes I even put on a little mascara! 5 minute routine, max.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=covergirl&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Abeauty%2Ck%3Acovergirl&sprefix=covergirl%2Cbeauty&tag=myne30-20&url=search-alias%3Dbeauty" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFhg258Z9r1-z2jFDtSQDlR7mY44zTghnEDR1p7DCMOm4TO-Xt1wjl9fDYhplRUjGba15xaRFZW28wPLFNtAaKkolghzjLXpDdRmsxy6yD2st0DME75k-cQSurpjSiyH31wK56jQR1CUg/s320/Makeup+Collage.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Can you tell how much I love <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=covergirl&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Abeauty%2Ck%3Acovergirl&sprefix=covergirl%2Cbeauty&tag=myne30-20&url=search-alias%3Dbeauty" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CoverGirl</a>? Been using it since I was a teen!</i></span></td></tr>
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Some of my further north Southern belle sisters must surely be on the edge of a fainting spell about all of that right now. Well... hold onto your petticoats Betty Jo and Billie Jo, because now I've moved into <a href="https://amzn.to/2xGLJCw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">house dresses</a> and I LOVE them!<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007WIZSU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007WIZSU&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR6-vw0f-oPXc9oj4E9xWR0bg0tpz_x5TtmT6vLYW9TWANy52x2mQQ5EZeErrZ5DahYatgpzj530vi_wU2xbtRZ8LsotxqJfqgBqQZSBxYQNZT5UU4-x33MAfYv2aLdTydbg5YKYHsI1-/s400/Housedresses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm guessing that I'm not alone either. Doing a search for house dresses on Google showed me there are an awful lot of women who are also looking for them. I found these house dresses right on (where else) none other than my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007WIZSU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007WIZSU&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">favorite shopping source, Amazon</a>! And, they are a bargain.<br />
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They are comfortable to wear while you cook or do chores, they have handy and roomy front pockets for tucking away things as you pick up around the house, they are long enough to hold onto your modesty while you stroll the yard to pick up stray pine cones and cool enough that you can even wear them while you do your <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006NKFAA6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006NKFAA6&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Walk Away the Pounds</a> tapes to get in your daily exercise.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006NKFAA6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006NKFAA6&linkCode=as2&tag=myne30-20" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFt5G-H-jhDs5ZqK4LXeoJo5zbkbCjIvXVebDb5lP36xOIv89EFxaGzij3cuw0VRZtFWqpunTpbfrmCzu16rIb-SWfgMZPJkuisgYptwbm3V-pjrxrGAKJo5WQddAqoa-5BpTTgxROWfX/s320/Walk+Away+the+Pounds.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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They launder beautifully, stay soft and don't shrink, and I could not possibly be more pleased. I bought the <a href="https://amzn.to/2xGLJCw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Print Sun Dress version</a> in the Grape, Floral Fruit and Turquoise Butterfly patterns (left to right above), and I am ordering more of them, although there are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-brandtextbin=National&linkCode=ur2&node=1036592&tag=myne30-20" target="_blank">a number of different dresses</a> available. Click <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-brandtextbin=National&linkCode=ur2&node=1036592&tag=myne30-20" target="_blank">here</a> to browse them all!<br />
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Now, I won't go so far as wearing my house dresses to Walmart ladies, so I haven't gone off the deep end - at least not yet - but if you're around the house more these days than you are out in the corporate world, and you just want something to wear around the house that makes you feel like you've dressed, but is still comfortable, check out the <a href="http://that%20makes%20you%20feel%20like%20you%27ve%20dressed%20but%20are%20still%20comfortable/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">house dresses from National</a>!<br />
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<a data-pin-config="above" data-pin-do="buttonPin" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mynew30.com%2F2013%2F04%2Fold-fashioned-house-dresses.html&media=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-sVaTw0-RJlo%2FUX074wUvCGI%2FAAAAAAAAYhw%2FhnivNCWNHjg%2Fs400%2FNational%2BPrint%2BSundress.jpg&description=Old%20Fashioned%20House%20Dresses"><img src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pin_it_button.png" /></a><br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-68610373786250361452012-08-15T00:31:00.000-05:002012-08-15T00:41:12.949-05:00Fan Shoulder Wrap<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/mynew30.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYp9J_AdhSoSnfN2ndWEBiXwjBD5XYuR4vVpwRChmMShgkS0TdzAO4_GAIswvfYxQAyFVCRfBAevDOF1L3Os8alEIlJDMGZrNIgaiH920hyphenhyphenfk1YdqpaevvLVgTxUvu6SH1eFMdfbovLAv/s1600/Comfort+Neck+and+Shoulder+Wrap.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Herbal Concepts Aromatherapy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3E08E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001A3E08E&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">Comfort Neck and Shoulder Wrap</a> as featured on Dr. Oz.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I don't know who it was that came up with this product idea, but God love 'em. It's like the old, basic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00170E81O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00170E81O&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">flaxseed filled neck wraps</a> that you microwave to warm and a product that many of us have probably tried at some point. I have one myself, but frankly it was always missing, well... something. I didn't really know what, until now.<br />
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This <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3E08E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001A3E08E&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">fan shoulder wrap</a> was featured on a recent Dr. Oz show - y'all know by now that I love his show, and I've purchased quite a few products and supplements that Dr. Oz has talked about and recommended. One thing that sets this wrap apart from many is that it's a fan wrap, that not only fits up higher around the neck, but also fans out down onto the front and top of the shoulders, and upper back of the shoulders, big problem areas for me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/mynew30.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCyTr5Li5czxqQVvM7MO_IxMbxuv3gDXuRRkKYI8PmgsYkwiAwGrF8CjMAjtz6NSM_cVAFJfiqX9kv7T7hWEt5_9ehbYHN1QeanM4RLhBO1m_XBJ-Z3vzaHLgEPBGl9-qyU__WbekWp1Aa/s1600/Comfort+Neck+and+Shoulder+Wrap+on+a+model.jpg" /></a></div><br />
When I was in my teens, and back when seat belts were only lap belts and inadequate protection, much less even required, I was involved in a minor accident where my head met the windshield. I suffered a whiplash injury that has left my neck without much curvature to it, and given me a habitually stiff neck. Pair that with carrying every ounce of tension or stress I experience in my shoulders, spending too much time on a computer, and not having the best posture while sitting either, and well... I'm not even sure I even know what a relaxed neck and shoulders feels like anymore.<br />
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When the package arrived it was quite heavy, weighing in at about 4 pounds, so the wrap is substantial in weight and loaded with plenty of flaxseeds in the neck band and the fan part that sits on your shoulders. The weight actually feels good sitting on your shoulders too, so that's really a plus. When I unwrapped it from the plastic, at first I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much smell to it. I knew that it contained herbs, and in fact, that was what prompted me to order it, but I couldn't really smell much of anything. Until I microwaved it. <br />
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The instructions said to microwave 1 to 2 minutes, increasing in 30 second increments to get it to your desired heat level, since all microwaves vary. The first time, I folded it to a manageable size and placed it on a clean paper towel, microwaving it for 1 minute on high. Then I removed it, unfolded it and refolded it a different way, just to prevent any hot spots that might burn, and went for another minute. My microwave is a small one with low wattage, so I went 30 seconds longer each time I heated it, and found for my microwave that 3 minutes was perfect. Your microwave may be much more powerful, so start with 1 minute and increase accordingly.<br />
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Another thing that sets this wrap apart is the number of herbs included. The wrap contains twelve, 100% natural, aromatic herbs and grains, including lavender, Valerian root, white willow, chamomile, rosemary, peppermint, spearmint, hops, yellow dock, lemongrass, yarrow and other natural ingredients. The fragrance is awakened and released when you microwave it, and, for moist heat therapy, you can water mist it with a sprayer before microwaving. You can also place it into a resealable bag and freeze it for cold therapy.<br />
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The cover is made from a very soft, plush material, and not removable, but can be wiped with a damp cloth to clean. The instructions indicate that storing the wrap in a resealable bag will also increase the longevity of the product. It's currently available in eight colors.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/mynew30.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANdtOLQbbLM04L9dS-_l3JsLMbiBEwJgwqkkCFbxktJYaGvvp5gFv2JKo0nCAcPcOchRqQ_N9qwhR0DAW2JsFsyFHVFLIG-8rCJui7yRhsxiLA4edsMg-l9Cai9oXIvQ_F2bcVzBmKXO-/s320/Comfort+Neck+and+Shoulder+Wrap+Colors.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>I instantly LOVED this product, and it really loosened up those neck and shoulder muscles. I do have to issue a warning about it though... but it's in a good way. The fragrance from the herbals will waft up to your nostrils and RELAX you. It might even make you sleepy. Between that, the weight and the warmth, if you suffer at all from tension and stiffness in your neck and upper shoulders, I think you will love <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3E08E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001A3E08E&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">this product</a> too. It really does what it's supposed to. <br />
<br />
Made in the U.S.A. by Herbal Concepts a company located in Clackamas, Oregon, it's called a "Comfort Neck and Shoulder Wrap." I purchased mine through my prime membership <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3E08E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001A3E08E&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">on Amazon</a>, and you can still order them there, although if you want one right away, you currently have to pay shipping through a third-party company. Considering the weight, the shipping isn't too bad. Apparently Dr. Oz's show prompted some sales, as the free shipping from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3E08E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001A3E08E&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">Prime Membership products</a> are all gone and on wait list for 2 to 3 week delivery. Still, if you don't mind waiting, it's a great price with your Prime membership. Herbal concepts also sell a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BKXCIQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000BKXCIQ&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">basic neck wrap</a> along with a number of other products.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIGEc1HFtTtFmHdLxjvDjtxNQYdFzc_CrQgwbtIWawR1vx-i8PWOXWQzP7B4GpGCnM-Q8DgC1pXqQME6GZUOlz3OoHkwZcZHnExysZVm1Ra5ytch19j1iez2mEfRaZ8dmu5PQlX3r5bYz/s1600/Made-in-the-USA.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIGEc1HFtTtFmHdLxjvDjtxNQYdFzc_CrQgwbtIWawR1vx-i8PWOXWQzP7B4GpGCnM-Q8DgC1pXqQME6GZUOlz3OoHkwZcZHnExysZVm1Ra5ytch19j1iez2mEfRaZ8dmu5PQlX3r5bYz/s200/Made-in-the-USA.gif" width="195" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.</i></div>Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-47135016960827566202012-08-05T17:54:00.000-05:002013-04-28T15:20:15.906-05:00Hot Spot Treatment for Dogs<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.heinzvinegar.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikkPmdgyrY_wIznKoE1xqZ8CjkTxmc1YWISTcMJa4skg1qgZ4lX6POKSEUjqtRZiGdn4ZyTkpM_pA0UY7Ovz0i4TkRs-IPIdHzwoMK4PNT-wfdf_KWemWVeJI6p0zqO2JGE5IKrb5JS3GK/s1600/Apple+Cider+Vinegar.jpg" target="_blank" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">According to Dr. Oz, apple cider vinegar may be a helpful tool for those itchy, irritated hot spots on your dog.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
My little dog <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/search/label/Boo" target="_blank">Boo</a> gets hot spots on the bottom of his legs, his belly and in the crevices at the top of his legs, especially during the summer.<br />
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Hot spots are essentially a type of dermatitis or skin inflammation, and are common. Sometimes they are caused by allergies, including food related, sometimes fleas or other bugs, and sometimes even, simply nerves or stress. They are almost always initiated by constant licking or scratching, that leaves behind red patches of irritated skin and even cause small patches of bald spots. If your dog has these symptoms be sure to look for fleas, mites or other initiating insect bites and investigate other things that might be responsible. <br />
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My Boo lives inside, gets bathed regularly and doesn't have fleas, so I think his is caused by those short trips out to the yard where he is annoyed by those same pesky gnats and no-see-ums the rest of us are bothered by and come in itching from. His is also not a constant problem, but a more periodic one, although he was born with somewhat tender skin to begin with, so it takes zero time for him to bite or scratch in angry, irritating red rash like spots, and knock off a little hair too.<br />
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I was watching a repeat of the Dr. Oz show recently and he had a guest on with one of those adorable Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise mix "teddy bear" dogs, who had a problem with hot spots. Dr. Oz suggested applying apple cider vinegar to help reduce the itching, heal the spots, and encourage hair re-growth. You can apply it direct by saturating a cotton ball with apple cider vinegar and dabbing it on the spots. If the spots are highly inflamed and irritated, make a mixture of equal parts apple cider vinegar and water and either dab it on, or use it in a small spray bottle.<br />
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Yesterday was a particularly itchy day for Boo, and when I checked I noticed a lot of irritated red patches from his scratching. I mixed up equal parts apple cider vinegar with water and applied it to all the spots, repeating it again a few hours later. By the second application, I kid you not, the red patches were completely gone! Of course, as always, your results may differ, but for me this was another great tip from Dr. Oz and I can feel pretty good about using something natural. <br />
<br />
I know a lot of you use organic vinegars such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AIWAAE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001AIWAAE&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">Braggs</a> containing the "mother," for a variety of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877901007/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0877901007&linkCode=as2&tag=stuffyouneed-20" target="_blank">health reasons</a> - that was a big discussion back in the day when I was doing low carb - but for general household use and cooking, I keep good ole grocery store <a href="http://www.heinzvinegar.com/" target="_blank">Heinz cider vinegar</a> as pictured above, and that is what I used on Boo. <br />
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You could also use an apple cider vinegar rinse with your dog's bath that might help. After bathing your dog with a mild shampoo, mix apple cider vinegar with an equal amount of warm water in a small bucket or bowl. Towel dry your dog, then use a sponge to dab on the vinegar and water mixture, letting your pet air dry.<br />
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Another use for that same 50/50 spray mixture, might be to lightly spray your dog before they go outside to use the bathroom and when they get back in, or when you leave home and return with them, which may help deter those pests like gnats or even fleas.<br />
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I didn't worry too much about Boo smelling like a salad. I use vinegar in my wash and for cleaning and as far as my nose is concerned, I find that the vinegar smell seems to fade away after only a few minutes. <br />
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<i>Disclaimer:</i> I am not an animal expert. Information shared here is for informational and entertainment purposes only and any recipes, remedies, solutions, practices or other suggestions or information offered at this site is to be used at your own discretion and at your own risk and you agree to accept all such responsibility for any related liability holding this site and its owner completely free of liability.<br />
<br />
<i>Material Disclosure:</i> Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-11360751108787868952012-01-08T01:51:00.005-06:002012-08-15T00:57:34.646-05:00Tired of Parenting YOUR Knucklehead Children<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebr2hRbCMVnXgvJc2w_mHTsvgRTuH8JIx3nLysDSjNY2VrtW_DvaY9-zqhnr1s2eBpmgfbjvtwg093QprR5eEaSxFJN0vmA_MNCdpsF8RG58yxNnK_ME80ymWq3ORKVL9gZ1CocEdWWON/s400/Boo+January+7+2012.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Boo, keeping watch for the knuckleheads.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Well, not <i>your</i> children of course, but other people's children, and more specifically children who happen to live in my neighborhood.<br />
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We seem to have an awful lot of them around here these days too. I've lived here long enough - because I apparently didn't have enough sense to take advantage of all those big loans that other people got, to buy big houses they couldn't afford, to impress who knows who (and now they want mortgage relief). If only I had known my neighborhood was gonna go to pot, I mighta gotten me one of those too. Well, I didn't and thanks to the real estate crash and greedy insurance companies, I am stuck here now.<br />
<br />
Anyway, where was I? <br />
<br />
Oh yeah... <br />
<br />
...so I stayed in this far too little, cramped, but <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/10/old-fashioned-mortgage-burning.html">now paid for</a>, house with the crappy tiny, galley style kitchen, full of old appliances, not nearly enough storage, and 1001 handyman problems (and still haven't stopped bitching about it either, although yes, even though it doesn't sound it, I truly<i> am</i> grateful not to be a bag lady and to have a roof over my head) long enough to see this transition of children happen around here a couple of times. When my son was in middle school and high school, there were a lot of kids around his age and not many younger. Then they graduated and moved on with their lives and left all us old folks behind. And, for awhile, it <i>was</i> just us old folks.<br />
<br />
Since the greedy insurance companies used Katrina to pad their big fat greedy pockets, and rob homeowners blind by legal extortion, people abandoned their homes in my once lovely and quiet neighborhood, and moved away, or inland, but then when they couldn't sell, they turned into landlords.<br />
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We seem to have turned into a giant cesspool, I mean subdivision, of home rentals now. It's kinda like living in a college dorm, except spread out over miles instead of just floors. They are loud, obnoxious, they have no respect for the property they live in, their neighbors, or the neighborhood, because frankly they'll probably only be around 6 months, a year, maybe two. Who cares?! With the renters came a lot of folks who seem to have, well, a lot of children. A lot of rude, disrespectful, snotty, little knucklehead children, apparently without a lot of sense, guidance or discipline.<br />
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My master bedroom is so small that I could potentially kick the window out with my foot if I tossed and turned too much. That's my sweet little Boo up there and he likes to lay at the foot of the bed where he can see out that window behind him and keep me informed about what is going on out there, with all of these darling children. <br />
<br />
I've had to run teens off from congregating in front of my house, mostly because Boo goes nuts, but also because what starts as two of them congregating, quickly becomes a dozen in no time, kids with no concept of boundaries, throwing trash and candy wrappers in the yard, knocking things over, messing around with things in your yard. I've had to run their animals out of my yard because they think my yard is their personal toilet. I've had to holler at them from spinning wheels in my yard with their go-carts and tearing ruts into my grass. I've had to run them off from throwing balls around our cars. Mercy.<br />
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This morning about quarter till 10 Boo was raising all kinds of cain, and I had to go out to the box anyway to put yet another piece of government waste at it's best back in the mail to FEMA to let them know that yes, after I received my notice of insurance, returned my payment, to which they mailed me my policy, and then later, mailed me another piece of paper wherein I must sign and return to confirm that I previously received my flood policy, one of 3 insurance policies I now have to carry on my house thanks to those aforementioned damn greedy insurance companies.<br />
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So, where was I again? <br />
<br />
Oh yeah. So I walk outside and see the cutest little blonde headed boy, maybe I don't know 10, with a gun. A BB gun I'm sure, but he's pointing it at something down the street. This is the THIRD child I have seen, and run off, walking the streets with BB guns since Christmas, which means one thing and one thing only. They are shooting innocent birds, squirrels and yes, apparently at least shooting <i>at</i> pets. But I'm ahead of myself. Two teenagers got smart with me until I screamed at them to stop or I was calling the law, and those knuckleheads took flight. <br />
<br />
So I walk out into the street and see that this precious blonde headed little boy was apparently taking pot shots at the cutest little white dog, a Chihuahua or maybe even a Russell Terrior. And then, as if he has a pang of conscious for shooting at this dog, he calls the dog over to him <i>by name</i>, meaning the knucklehead at least knows this dog and maybe it's even <i>his own</i> family dog!<br />
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Well, then the knucklehead must feel somebody staring him down, because he turns around and takes notice of this fat old lady standing in the middle of the street watching him, and he decided apparently that it must be time to go home and perhaps watch some cartoons or play video games, instead of shooting innocent animals. He walks away from me down the street, taking a few glances over his shoulder to see if I am still watching him. I am. Heck he even stopped once, turned completely around and waved at me. Or flipped me off. My eyesight isn't good enough to tell which one. <br />
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I don't budge, but I stand there, watching him, until he walked into a yard a few houses away, purportedly his own yard, I would assume, with the dog in tow. Knucklehead. If I would have had the energy I would have gone to his house to chat with his parents, but truth is, they're likely just overgrown knuckleheads themselves. To be honest I was sorely tempted to tell him that if he came back around here with that gun, that I might be tempted to show him what a real shotgun looks like. Yes. I have one. Yes, I sure do know how to use it. No I wouldn't <i>really</i> do that. But I just might have thought about it. Just sayin'...<br />
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Parents, if you <i>must</i> buy a BB gun for an inadequately prepared child, it is YOUR duty to teach them how to be a responsible gun user. It is YOUR duty to make sure that the gun is secure and put away when you are not at home, or I guarantee your child will be wandering the streets with it, shooting at innocent animals. It is YOUR duty to teach your knucklehead that a BB gun is solely for yard target practice on an inanimate target, to improve upon their gun skills for when they have a real gun later in life. That you don't just shoot a living thing for target practice. For God's sake, get your nose out of your damn iPhone or Blackberry for a few minutes and direct some attention to that child you brought into this world for a change, would ya? I done raised mine. <br />
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And y'all wonder why I haven't been posting? Geez Louise.<br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-1679297102174319562011-10-27T23:11:00.003-05:002011-10-27T23:12:38.846-05:00Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIdP-UmkAqAxGbqw2jDtYZNcjmlTU06Yz8LtX-2BQrqLuwj1ynOUXiw65tCrJxJespGayGveWsv7QG3lM8tUOBqZTQ2K-b-zwA_cPptwOnV9HUl87M8LmiUfHhEeY7cJGs7YSMLGL-yr2/s1600/morse-telegraph-machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIdP-UmkAqAxGbqw2jDtYZNcjmlTU06Yz8LtX-2BQrqLuwj1ynOUXiw65tCrJxJespGayGveWsv7QG3lM8tUOBqZTQ2K-b-zwA_cPptwOnV9HUl87M8LmiUfHhEeY7cJGs7YSMLGL-yr2/s400/morse-telegraph-machine.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.history.com/photos/inventions-communication/photo2">Photo</a></div><br />
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"This week was the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph. Back then, before the telephone, people could only communicate by laboriously typing messages... one letter at a time." ~Jan Leno <br />
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Tell me life doesn't come full circle. <br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-23628771584842630202011-10-21T21:40:00.001-05:002012-08-15T00:57:40.977-05:00The Gladys Files - I Am the Grouchy Old Fart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIr59-wZVePahXsoGoThrheVvgXT_ATiB5eja7kiD0y6tWt-EmOsPQ4mtOPWriSvKVhXAZqfbohjONyDbSwOTvNgeMdl1WvSRZ5xSTvZxvPhRfG6D5i2_pz-QyDnxiKEQqasbqM2PJ3Wb1/s320/Grouchy+Old+Woman.jpg" width="256" /></div><br />
Remember Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched? I'm feelin' a little bit like her these days. I know that I haven't written much lately so the few readers I did have are dropping like flies around here. Sorry about that folks - all that cooking has been keeping me very busy these days. Since leaving my Big Legal Career and working from home the past few years, it's not that I'm at a loss for material, believe me. It's just a time issue really. Besides, it seems that while I do get a lot of material to write about here lately, seems the majority of it has to do with my neighbors, and seems a lot of it is grumpy.<br />
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I swear y'all, I am a nice person. I get along with most people. I am compassionate. I have empathy. I have paid it forward. I have performed many random acts of kindness. When a disaster hits, I never miss an opportunity to reach out.<br />
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But these people who live by me make me want to spontaneously combust into a string of four-letter words most of the time! I guess it doesn't help when you are at home all the time and you don't get away from them. Ever. And there's always something going on. So.... seems I've become a bit of a Gladys here in my old age. Might as well write about it. <br />
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When I was growing up there was a fella who lived on the corner of the street, slightly catty-cornered to our house. He was, I believe, military retired and still sported a crew cut, though his was pretty gray. He was known as "the grouchy old fart" of the neighborhood, because for one, he didn't like the fact that all of us kids would tromp across his pristine front yard taking short cuts, or to retrieve a ball we accidentally kicked over there playing kickball. He also wasn't too fond of all those stray 4th of July bottle rockets that would accidentally pop in his carport over his car when the bottle fell over. I can't imagine what his problem was with all that!<br />
<br />
Well, karma will always get ya in the end. <br />
<br />
Today I ran off a group of about 6 boys who were, not all that well, throwing, or mostly missing a football in the busy, and narrow street in front of my house. My front yard is small and my house closer to the road than anyone else's house, and these boys who apparently can't catch, wanted to "go long." The football was bouncing all over the place, way up into other people's yards and consequently into other people's cars.<br />
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Now, in my defense, none of those boys live anywhere near me. In fact, I know where they live. Up a side street a few houses away. When I went outside and told them, while I wasn't at all opposed to boys tossing a football around, would they please take their football practice elsewhere, like perhaps, down the side street, OVER IN FRONT OF THEIR OWN HOUSES... they balked a bit. One would even say talked back. And then they ignored me. Like I wasn't there.<br />
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Two things I've learned I really dislike in my old age. Being disrespected. And being ignored. Especially from children who need to learn how to say "yes, ma'am." So I did what any modern Gladys would do.<br />
<br />
I came inside grabbed my iPhone and got it on video. Oddly, they must've suddenly decided they were tired, because when they saw me, they left. And went away. Up the side street. On their own street. But I noticed they weren't throwing a football by <i>their</i> parent's cars. <br />
<br />
What? I was just shooting a video of this beautiful day! <br />
<br />
Course, yes I do realize that there is no telling what other mischief I'm liable to endure as a result of this pleasant encounter. But, in all fairness. That's only liable to make me even more grumpy.<br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-54820902478276699772011-08-06T23:03:00.006-05:002012-08-15T00:57:47.590-05:00How Not to Do Housework<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPk0rwCi5cEgVwi0IA8VPgSythzeAwHnPXmvrwzly0gS1PIUzd-qKXvIfbb0C-ZGpeAwUQPgjPl5oXaNhdy2M8pXoCMxeGzO6KsywUhTLXyVmxgYbfXYRTdoK493uUNIPbpgqPBYtWN_pE/s400/Vintage+Housewife.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
So today was going to be a catch up on housework/deep cleaning day. Since I blog full time over at <a href="http://deepsouthdish.com/">Deep South Dish</a>, I tend to neglect (and ignore) the house, and well things can get clutted up and dusty. And then I see an episode of Hoarders and it freaks me out. <br />
<br />
I intended to start in the kitchen first, wipe down everything, put away everything and do a top to bottom cleaning including floors and walls. Went in there and decided that I was hungry so made some lunch. Checked the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SouthernRecipes">fan page for DSD</a> on Facebook, got distracted, looked up some links & answered some questions for readers, worked on coding some old posts for the new recipe box before sharing the links - I'm in the midst of that on my entire site - finally an hour or more later, made my way back the kitchen.<br />
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The satellite started acting up and suddenly we couldn't get any channels at all. I remembered that we were supposed to be having some sort of <a href="http://spaceweather.com/">geomagnetic storm</a> for the next few days and knew that could be part of the problem but wasn't having any problems with cable (yes, we have both cable and satellite) or internet and we've been having trouble with our satellite 2 input. Already replaced the outside cable recently that was looking a little weary and thought that had fixed it.<br />
<br />
So I pull out the tv and check the connections behind there. Noticed the dust and start dusting the curtains, wall, all behind the tv. Had to go get the vacuum cleaner to get all that up. Found the cable that runs outside, followed it and discovered the frayed cable we replaced recently was actually for satellite 1, not 2. In between having to come inside to cool off every 5 minutes, got the ladder and started checking all the connections at the switchbox outside, then at the satellite, still no signal. Grab the remote start running tests, find a problem, rerun the satellite test and in the midst of that the satellite comes back on.<br />
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Back to the kitchen. <br />
<br />
I have cathedral ceilings that extend into the kitchen and I store cookbooks on top of the cabinets. A LOT of cookbooks but we won't go there right now. I was reshelving some of the ones that I had been browsing through for ideas. By the way <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><b>{forthcoming hissy fit warning}</b></span> if a blogger of food never credits another source for any of their recipes and says things like I don't watch any of the cooking shows on tv, I don't have but a handful of cookbooks I've owned forever, I don't subscribe to any of the food magazines yada yada yada, they are 1) lying through their teeth or 2) stealing recipes from cookbooks or other food bloggers, changing one insignificant detail and calling that recipe their own. Well, I don't do that.<br />
<br />
If I want to write a new recipe, I usually have a base of an idea that just comes from experience or is inspired by something that I have seen on tv, in a book, or in a magazine. I subscribe to several magazines, some because I want to learn to write better. Others because I want to learn to photograph better. Others because they inspire me in other ways. From there, I research using those same resources - online, television, magazines and cookbooks. I have hundreds of cookbooks, some very old. I watch a lot of food television. A LOT. I write up an idea and get in the kitchen to experiment and cook it. Sometimes it's perfect, others it's not quite there. I make some revisions, rewrite, and yes, I hit the kitchen again. I know some bloggers do, but I don't want to publish failures or recipes I don't like that much, so I keep making them until they are the way I want them. To me, unless a food blog is made up of adaptations of and fully attributed recipes, that's the way a food blogger <i>should</i> write recipes. It's the only way to be authentic in my opinion, and that is the kind of food site I want to convey with my work. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><b>{tucks away soapbox}</b></span><br />
<br />
All that to say, I work from the family room and there are constantly books and magazines all over the place. I like being in here with my husband rather than tucked into another room, isolated and by myself. So I went in the kitchen to start re-shelving some of the cookbooks and let's just say things are a bit tight up there. Truth is they have also moved onto a shelf in the family room too. But anyway, I have a few Christmas cookbooks so thought, these don't really need to be in here so I'll move them to the office. Pull them down, take them in the office, decide I have got to vacuum in there. The cat litter box is in a corner of that room and although I do clean it out everyday, I just don't understand how these cats manage to spread litter all over the floor in there, but they do. So I put the Christmas cookbooks on the shelf in there and vacuum - floors, corners, top, bottom, edges, everywhere. Decide since I'm vacuuming might as well do the family room too - floors, corners, top, bottom, edges, everywhere. Might as well dust some things while I'm here too.<br />
<br />
Finally back to the kitchen. To shelve the cookbooks I made room for. Was thinking about a photo styling project that I'm doing for Foodbuzz & thought Mama's old punch bowl cups would be nice (my cousin has the punch bowl itself) thought the box was in the office closet so back to the office. Straightened up the closet a little while looking, found a purse that had stuff in it, no money except change, started cleaning the purse out. Dug around the closet some more but never found the cups. <br />
<br />
All that stretching, stooping, bending from vacuuming had me exhausted. Hey that's exercise - I'm not used to that! Decided I wanted some tacos. Went outside with the pup, came back inside and started intensely itching on my back from who knows what. Looked in the mirror and there was a huge red rash across my back. Apparently having some kind of rash reaction to something. What the heck? I literally just walked outside & came back in. It's not like I rolled around in anything. Took a shower, had hubby put cortisone cream on my back, put fresh clothes on and decided to take a break, started this post, checked Facebook, answered questions and looked up links for a reader. <br />
<br />
Back to the kitchen. To shelve the cookbooks I made room for. A hundred bazillon hours ago.<br />
<br />
Went back to the office to get an envelope for the receipts tucked in the corner. Back to the kitchen. FINALLY shelved the books and started on the kitchen. 9 hours later.<br />
<br />
Funny thing is ... I know I'm forgetting many more distractions that happened along the way and I sure didn't make much progress. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-50906924501356607022011-07-16T10:06:00.001-05:002011-07-16T10:06:20.376-05:00Lip Dub - Clark Retirement Community<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="286" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uZ7-n930zJo" width="450"></iframe><br />
<br />
If this doesn't make you smile, your heart isn't beating. Enjoy!Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-45892641543593542952011-07-12T12:18:00.003-05:002012-08-15T00:58:27.680-05:00Did You Get a Push Present?<div style="text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="294" src="http://thegoldjewelry.com/images/Rings/260-carat-sapphire-10-carat-diamond-ring.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This one looks about right. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I want my push present.<br />
<br />
I gave birth in about 6 hours, though I had been uncomfortable and had back pains all night the night before, so it'd be reasonable to say that I was actually in labor well before that. At 3:00 a.m. I convinced my then husband to take me to the hospital, despite a phone call to them and their "doubt" that I could actually be having true labor pains that close together already. They were wrong. The winter air was cold, the sky clear as glass, and I can still remember so clearly the mirror image of the near full moon on the still water as we crossed the bridge over the bay that winter morning.<br />
<br />
I had been determined that I would give birth to this child naturally since the moment I found out I was pregnant. I did not have a single, solitary drug of any kind during labor or delivery. No pain medication. No epidural. Nothing. Nada. It was a painful few hours of my life, but I made it through it even with nurses trying to convince me that maybe a little "something" might help. After the fact they gave me something to "relax me" and that was welcomed!<br />
<br />
After being knocked out for a few hours I woke up in a hospital room alone, not a soul there. My head foggy, I struggled to get my legs to the floor and boost my body up from the bed. My body was traumatized and I felt Every. Single. Muscle. in my body. I touched my stomach. Had I just had a baby? I was supposed to be in a special birthing room with my baby. Where was he? Nobody would tell me. Nobody would let me see him.<br />
<br />
Turns out during the labor process my baby had tried to breathe in the birth canal and had a lung collapse. While his lungs had recovered immediately on their own, they had whisked him away to the nursery to place him in an incubator to monitor him. When my physician showed up to make his rounds and found out, the hospital staff were directed to immediately take me to the nursery to see him. On top of the physical trauma, there was all this mental strain.<br />
<br />
While I got divorced not long after that, and over the years my ex and I shared custody back and forth over the years, being a mother was never easy from that day forward and there were <i>many</i> sleepless nights of worry through those teen years especially.<br />
<br />
Well, I have just learned that apparently there is a new trend among new mamas that they are to receive some kind of a "push present" - preferable diamonds of some kind - when they give birth.<br />
<br />
It was more than 30 years ago, when I gave birth to my one and only baby, a son. I am clearly far overdue for my push present. So my dear ex-husband, I have one question for ya.<br />
<br />
Where's my bling?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Photo: <a href="http://thegoldjewelry.com/">TheGoldJewelry.com</a></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">.</span>Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-20616967801243227272011-07-08T19:51:00.001-05:002011-07-08T19:51:31.870-05:00She's Going Places - Tribute to Caylee Marie Anthony<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C_ro88U78e0" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
From <a href="http://tasteofcountry.com/rascal-flatts-gary-levox-caylee-anthony-song/">Taste of Country online</a><br />
<blockquote>"In light of the controversial acquittal of Casey Anthony, who was accused of killing her adorable 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Rascal Flatts‘ lead singer, Gary LeVox, co-penned a tribute song called ‘She’s Going Places’ to the little girl.</blockquote><blockquote>Country parody singer Cledus T Judd got serious, along with Jimmy Yeary, to co-write this piano-driven ballad. A Nashville demo singer also contributes vocals to the song. Country station KICKS 105 alerted us to the song, which the artists hope will spread virally."</blockquote><br />
<a href="http://tasteofcountry.com/rascal-flatts-gary-levox-caylee-anthony-song/">Read More</a><br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-77909260814214056932011-06-17T23:07:00.004-05:002012-08-15T00:59:01.550-05:00Now. Where is that Cabana Boy?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtuBR1HlQJuO7HH6MVmKINdLT673nBEJZWAuKTQy7yp7VeSQATZjCiApD6Yn-LGqr4imFj85pvrwrgcnNHCzyXqHyek52ALxS92WJY0WKcGy7gJaR2q3eRecLFwjOEQ2jPp7Vdgx_aa-O/s400/001.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="265" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think we need some umbrella drinks! </span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Miss Lucy has been spending so much <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/06/cool-dip.html">time in the "pool"</a> because of this heat, I'm thinking I just need to break down and install some sort of real pond for her. She <i>has</i> hung around here a couple of years now so I think she's earned it.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I stuck one of my beach umbrellas over the tray that is her pool, to give her a bit of shade in the heat of the day. While she's in there, I've also been running a hose in the tray on a trickle, so that the water flows and stays cool.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjd1W0K-FhLxsYxhklA7C5cZXojjCNTkD0Rbv6NA72tekdVJoReJnknwmEwVb0jSDQDxzPqzbit-STV5N47F1kczszwD2oeiY6dVSvcW88xQj41GlEYY467cbJzHqwfm8-CLJl2wFlBpS/s400/002.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Somebody to weed the garden would be nice too.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Even if it is low rent, I still think she's got it made, don't you?<br />
<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-82993437061004770982011-06-16T14:32:00.002-05:002012-08-15T00:59:09.965-05:00Go The F*#% To Sleep!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/1617750255?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVdCBPipbQripo4IKZ7h2hx9XE710IfGkDDTnJREckQeEAF-QoXxELAd0FIEr8pwC7d-xTLZx0HmvgLE1gQVFpvMZnu_90XzSWWolk4xYTnxc7naeQZOfYjdH9XgRxW8k5UL6LtdZjrp7q/s320/Go+the+F+to+Sleep.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I know. Shocking blog title isn't it? Sorry about that.<br />
<br />
I heard about this bedtime story book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/1617750255?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Go the F**k To Sleep</a> on last night's <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/sleep-parents-bedtime-story-meant-children/story?id=13598906">ABC Nightline</a> segment {click to see the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/sleep-parents-bedtime-story-meant-children/story?id=13598906">video</a>} and just <i>knew</i> I had to talk about it.<br />
<br />
Meant to be strictly an entertainment outlet for frustrated parents, it actually started as a joke on the author's Facebook page after dealing with his own daughter's bedtime issues. He made a personal video spoof of a fictional book that went viral in record time and prompted the writing of the actual book that is flying off the shelves and being talked about all across the net.<br />
<br />
Although written in the style and rhyming tone of a typical child's storybook, including illustrations, the author deems <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/1617750255?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">this book</a> as a 'children's book for adults' and says that <i>"you probably should not read it to your children."</i><br />
<blockquote><i>"The cats nestle close to their kittens. The lambs have laid down with the sheep. You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear. Please go the f#@ to sleep."</i></blockquote>Okay. I see the humor of it, and in a way I can certainly get it. I was lucky. My son was, and well, in truth, still is, a good sleeper - when he can squeeze it in with work, school, hobbies, and his own two young children. I do know how frustrating being a new parent can be - and that is especially true sometimes when bedtime rolls around. All you want to do is get those little angels to bed and have a little me or we time, right? A little humor couldn't hurt. Or could it?<br />
<br />
We <i>have</i> become a potty-mouth society without barely a blink of an eye these days, that is true, and I say that as a collective "we." Words my parents would never consider using are now commonplace, but... is this going just a little too far? What do you think? Funny? Or just downright vulgar?<br />
<br />
If you think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, all I can say is just be sure that you keep it away from wandering eyes. I'm thinking that maybe in this case, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-k-Sleep-ebook/dp/B004YMYR2C?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">the Kindle version</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004YMYR2C" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> or the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">audiobook</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=145584165X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, narrated by none other than Samuel L. Jackson, would be more appropriate for the sleep-deprived parent. Or maybe, let's just <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart/dp/B0001IXTU4?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">stick to this</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0001IXTU4" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> instead... and calm those nerves of both the parent and the child in a more traditional manner. Just sayin'...<br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-86629925196137717832011-06-14T14:46:00.001-05:002011-06-17T23:11:58.951-05:00A Cool Dip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHpfKQ87FuK4S3MfuynVSyJFKCYJHMnswaeBrUX6PYricKCQTWuMGIIdRfhBaIGw5kIGpXQIPE_23r6ueTMtqfcKm0VE3tuB8BtObvIOXH_mtNyLbfInlhsVGiFPsXvp-MUGVrMv0PO46/s400/101.JPG" width="400" /></div><br />
Lawdy Mercy y'all!! It's hotter than the devil's backside down here. Even Lucy has been lounging around in the pool all day.<br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-79812099348686261742011-06-09T20:58:00.001-05:002011-06-09T20:58:36.913-05:00This and That<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBspnh84wcErf6LV-eB_djOMCTz2rw84obK2TIvvoyOLax2v64_yzkjX2MFpO4aeAyvu7gAdj9aA99AwC_EodY4acrGGtz5vSmTyCZeLFsNXoryY5mtnpWDc9Hw24NopzpDNtzjHTe8vkQ/s320/To+Do+List.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
Well now, what's up on the homefront here? Clearly I have been very <strike>lazy</strike> busy, because I haven't been around much, have I?<br />
<br />
I heard there have been problems across the blogosphere with commenting on other blogs, or maybe it's commenting on Blogger blogs, or bloggers who blog on Blogger commenting {huh?} but all I know is I apparently fell out of that loop because I've not had those problems, well so far, with the blogs I have visited. I use Chrome, if that makes any difference & somehow I do feel like it sounds like it's a browser issue.<br />
<br />
I think I mentioned this last time, but I took all three cats to the vet for their check-ups & shot updates, and had Smoky, the newest member of the feline family neutered. It really calmed him down substantially, thank goodness because he had some behavior issues that were troublesome not to mention aggravating. Boo, my dog, got his neutering surgery done too, but somebody forgot to tell him, because he hasn't changed a bit. <br />
<br />
My neighbors on both sides are still driving me crazy, although it comes in spurts. Been kinda quiet overall on both sides lately to be honest & so I'm counting my blessings! Have you ever noticed that once somebody gets on your nerves it seems that their mere existence gets on your nerves?<br />
<br />
My garden. Well, we had a nice period in early spring that enabled me to get some vegetable plants established before the early summer furnace was turned on. Now I'm dealing with drought since we've had almost no rain in at least 2 months now, and also such a severe sun already that it killed a few of my younger cucumber plants. I have been going out a couple of times during the hottest period of the day to spray the plants to help keep their leaves hydrated and keep them from suffering with blossom drop. There's been some, but so far not like last year.<br />
<br />
I decided that was crazy and set up - or at least started and will finish this weekend - a sort of misting system on an automatic timer to come on during those hottest times of the day and just sort of spritz the plants for 10 or 15 minutes, 2 or 3 times between noon and 2:00 p.m. I know that overhead watering is not the best way to do things, but this isn't for watering, but more to keep the plants cooler during that high noon period. This extreme heat from last year caused major blossom drop and really hampered production on everything. Even with the misting, it seems like the squash is getting too much water because the fruit just gets squishy and falls off. Probably one of the most prolific producing veggies there is, I can't manage to get one to grow for me!<br />
<br />
The things we do for a garden - and I tell you what. To do it on such a small scale as this backyard garden - I really don't know if it is worth it! You really have to fight for every inch.<br />
<br />
I <i>have</i> learned a couple of things in this process of doing my veggie gardens the last couple of years, the first being, that living in the coastal south, I should have doubled the boards on my raised beds. I planted some cucumbers in containers and they are doing miles better than the ones that are left in the garden, so I'm planning to add on to the beds before the beginning of the next season.<br />
<br />
I also learned that whether I get a small greenhouse or not, I'm going to have to figure out some way to get my seeds started in the winter so that I can get healthy seedlings in the ground around February/March and harvest about now. It is just too hard fighting the heat in such a small garden.<br />
<br />
T-ball and soccer are over and with this oppressive heat, I'm kinda glad. The last game on Saturday liked to have done me in, and frankly my grandson wasn't all that into either game quite yet anyway. Hard to hold a 3 year olds attention long enough, but it was fun going out to watch his games and getting to see the kids and my son and daughter-in-law. It was not fun having to compete for time with the grandbabies over my ex-husband and his wife. In situations where we are all in the same place, they seem a bit oblivious that there is another set of grands around and they use candy to bribe and monopolize the kids. Annoying.<br />
<br />
My granddaughter uses two words predominately these days - no and mine. Actually she has a much larger vocabulary then her brother did at her age - she'll be 2 in a few months and he'll be 4 - but those two seem to be her favorite words. She's adorable, though a bit moody here lately too, and very clingy with her father who I told to cherish these moments because in about oh, 10-12 years, she'll hate him. Until she needs money or to go someplace.<br />
<br />
My husband went shrimping twice with his dad, though the season opened earlier than usual due to the fresh water flooding from the Mississippi River washing into the Gulf of Mexico, and so, of course, the catch was smaller. They still need time to grow. Just as well really, as my freezer is full, stuffed with I don't know what, and really needs a good going through anyway.<br />
<br />
We went out on the shrimp boat for the Blessing of the Fleet this past Sunday. Thankfully it was not too hot, and a bit cloudy, which was a good thing because I forgot my sunscreen. It looked like we were gonna get into a storm, which trust me, you do not want to be out on the Gulf, in an old wooden shrimp boat, in a thunderstorm, but it never did rain on us more than a few sprinkles, so we got blessed and made it back to the harbor in one piece.<br />
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I've been hit with what I call mini-migraines because they are heat-induced headaches and near about impossible to get rid of. My sister in law has been suffering with debilitating migraines for awhile here - the kind that really put you down and keep you from being able to work or function. The doctors can't seem to figure out why, because all they do is just pump her full of different drugs which apparently don't work. For me, it's been keeping hydrated, drinking Gatoraide, using a little aromatherapy and good ole Excedrin. I remember my mama suffering with headaches - that's actually where the Excedrin comes in for me - so I sure hope it's not a hereditary thing & something that I'll get to look forward to from here on out.<br />
<br />
Course I'm still plugging away on t<a href="http://deepsouthdish.com/">he food blog</a>, developing and writing recipes - some I've been pleased with, a few I've remade, most I've very far behind with typing up. I do enjoy the developing and cooking process the most, so much more than I enjoy the behind the scenes editing and coding parts of it all. And when you do it all, it is pretty darned time consuming. So much easier to just steal somebody else's tried & true recipe, change one or two insignificant ingredients, cook it and post it as my own without crediting them, than to do all this. Don't worry. I'm not going there, promise. Just wanted to see if I could raise your eyebrow for a second.<br />
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I guess that's it! A bunch of boring banter about stuff nobody but me cares about and frankly, I'm not even sure that I do. Thanks for stopping by to visit & hope your life has been at least a tiny bit more exciting than this.<br />
<br />
Happy summer!<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-84891725444310815122011-05-09T09:15:00.003-05:002011-05-09T10:40:40.695-05:00Newest Resident on the Ranch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfIeYnM-PL3hptGmPttgmywK4XTz8Wl77zXZCEr5YYyrdGI0Nyvu21iTWfoqAlRqjTTPIVGyI7yQ7uYyKna8H6s5qMJAQl81kGoj_eR90_FJxtSlIoe2nSbrVwL1eYhQRn8S_4N8gbPRa/s400/Newest+Turtle.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
<a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/08/i-traumatized-my-puppy.html">Boo</a> was poking around a bag of dirt by the veggie garden the other day so I went to investigate to see what was so interesting to him and found this little baby cowering behind the bag. Tiny still, it fits easily into my cupped palm, and is apparently a fairly recent newborn though I'm uncertain of the sex. It was a pretty hot day, so I brought the baby over to a Pyrex pie plate filled with water and pieces of asphalt that I keep in the shade of one of my gardens, where it hung out for a bit before scooting off again.<br />
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Course, I don't really live on a ranch though sometimes with all the critters around here it sometimes feels like it! I've seen Lucy, my original turtle girl, but haven't seen the other turtle who I named Ethel, at all this spring, though I did see one of the babies - probably about 3 years old now, I suppose. <br />
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Haven't seen the baby possum recently, though the armadillo makes the rounds rooting around in the front yards every once in awhile. The raccoon who was visiting my back door frequently begging for scraps of food hasn't been around in weeks, so I wonder if the poor thing has succumbed to the modern perils of traffic in the neighborhood. I know there is another younger raccoon that comes around, but this one is much more shy and doesn't come to the back door, mostly keeping to a tree in the corner of the yard by my compost pile (which he can't get to anymore) where I'm sure he raids the dog food from the neighbor's dogs on the south side of our house.<br />
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Have I mentioned my girlfriend calls me Ellie Mae?<br />
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On a side note, somebody from South Korea landed on my site from a Google search for pictures of a "panty drawer." Lord knows where <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/09/evolution-of-my-backside.html">my underdrawers</a> are gonna be showing up now...<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-88031607418296979442011-05-05T01:38:00.007-05:002011-05-05T09:44:07.374-05:00Idea Thieves and a Little About What I'm Up To Lately<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrPAomP4-G3unHexE1c80daH0_HHXdtioJw7ApH8F5HHMyu7otEG0QQmlZ1yaScqy-Y4gIX9-Ta8FWhDE_5JJ4_Cp_xnURPbgXW-ezvf1snMb61bMjD0E1nA2EyExDrWVPNLLfk3cC7Cv/s320/Girl+Waving.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
Knock knock. Is this thing on? Anybody out there?<br />
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Seriously how y'all doin'? Things have been kinda busy for me - well, it seems to be a bit epidemic with a lot of bloggers here lately based on the number of "I'm taking a break posts" I've been seeing for a few months - even from some of the bigger bloggers. I blame it on spring fever. Or maybe it's just simply life. I sometimes wonder if my bloggy friend Holly, who I dearly miss, and who predicted blogs would soon sort of fizzle away, wasn't right after all! <br />
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Well, it's spring, and I've been busy in the yard of course. There was all that raking that comes with the spring shedding oaks here, and we actually still probably have one final sweep to make, though I think they are pretty much finished falling... finally! Most of the <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/ongoing-saga-of-annoying-leaf-burning.html">leaf burning neighbors</a> in my general vicinity, including the ones next door, stopped burning leaves this spring, some I guess because I canvassed the neighborhood, others, like the ones next door I don't know why... but I'm not questioning it either, I'm just grateful.<br />
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There have been a few people like the fella above there, who continued to burn anyway even after I talked to them about the breathing problems it caused me. That coward set these two small piles on fire and then took off and left them smoldering all day. Someone else I talked to was burning at night a few doors down a couple of times, and I'm sure there will continue to be burning since it's not illegal here, but I know karma will get them. She always does. And I am gonna keep on fighting it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HFD-010-QuietClean-Purifier-Permanent/dp/B000NBIO0Y?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJ-HeLxrY07NRpt4nD3Ke-_R1qzvhuKf01S_eA2A2gt_rWgGs9wIBj4cEFsZMQO4WQ8962pJhyphenhyphenBVvGs2FglcXbFSxg-IfUF84AD_sM7Ox5BkaNMXcjzzGqSzcYtza8QucywHdNfkpyH4i/s200/Honeywell+Air+Cleaner.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
In anticipation of the leaf burning/pollen season - and the fact that 8 out of 10 times when I step out my backdoor, I am assaulted by the odor of cigarette smoke from the chain smokers who live around me, I bought a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HFD-010-QuietClean-Purifier-Permanent/dp/B000NBIO0Y?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Honeywell indoor air cleaner</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NBIO0Y" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />. This little piece of technology has truly been a life saver quite literally, even for when my husband comes home toting third-hand cigarette smoke on his hair and clothes. Yes, even third hand smoke transferred onto somebody else causes me lung pain. I know that with me, it's a chemical issue, and all I can say is there must be some seriously dangerous chemicals in some cigarettes these days. The first air cleaner I ordered made such an immediate difference in the air quality and in my ability to breathe deeply, and within only about 5 minutes of turning it on, I immediately ordered a second unit for my bedroom!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkeKIVfawG1RF1VVc2YCBNcFDb6i4IegLM9CFj5xJI6LEVqWqK6TKxz1Ikcmg9iotLRlJcMznGzfTsXF-rwH7CFZ6mmBiaFYjoJgeMi9YCr5lrM_C0inooFMKqBqflLeWj-npas-PqXOw/s320/028.JPG" width="213" /></div><br />
As far as the garden, my roses bloomed out, but now they are looking kinda sickly. I only planted a few pots of annuals for a bit of color out front, and nothing in the ground. I transferred some oriental lillies from the back garden to the front and moved three lantana plants from one place in the yard to another, but I didn't plant a single new flower other than the potted annuals. The dollar weed - and those horribly painful sticker weeds - were taking over the backyard again, so I had no choice but to put down weed and feed.<br />
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On the veggies this year, I <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/little-sprouts-in-jiffy-greenhouse.html">raised a few plants from seed</a> but had some bell pepper seeds that never came up, so I bought a few small seedlings of those. In the garden I currently have about a dozen tomatoes of different kinds, bell peppers, jalapenos, a couple of lima beans, cucumbers, green beans, corn, okra, and watermelon, along with rosemary, oregano, mint, basil, flat leaf parsley, sage, and even some cilantro, which I am trying to learn to like this year. Out of all of this, it'll be interesting to see what I manage to not kill, or give up to the bugs, or to the heat this year!<br />
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I'm guessing on all of this of course, but I already saw what appeared to be slug damage on my Meyer lemon tree, Japanese beetles skeletonizing a few of my okra plants, flea beetle damage on some tomato leaves, and maybe leaf hopper damage on my Canna Lilies, so while I didn't really want to, I had to break out the bug stuff already. Same story every year - weeds and bugs. Followed by heat, and we've already had quite a drought in April with less than 1/2-inch of rain, while our neighbors to the north have suffered through horrible storms and now, coming floods along the Mississippi River.<br />
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We are also in the midst of planning a big family vacation to Disney later in the year, and if you've ever been, you know there's been lots to do to plan for that! The Cajun, and I are going together of course, but we're also taking my son, daughter in law and the two grandkids, so there has been figuring schedules of what we want to do when, where we want to eat and when, and of course the character meals that have to be planned for and reserved months in advance.<br />
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My daughter in law is going all out too - scouting costumes and themed clothing from Etsy shops for everything we're doing with the kids, including prince and princess costuming for Cinderella's Royal Table and chef outfits for Chef Mickey. We're doing T-Rex at Downtown Disney and Disney Quest, and the luau at the Polynesian, Rain Forest Cafe at Animal Kingdom, all the parks and Typhoon Lagoon too, of course. Somehow we'll manage to squeeze in a day at Sea World, but mostly we'll be on the Disney property. This is my way of finally taking my son myself, and he gets to take his kids too, so I am so stinkin' excited y'all, I can hardly stand myself!!<br />
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I started this week to get my "farm" of cats and my one dog ready with updated shots, including bordella since they are being boarded, and scheduling boarding for everybody. For Boo and Smoky, neutering is on the schedule too. I figured it is best to get that done now too. The vet put me at ease about leaving Boo, reminding me that dogs have little sense of time and that it's the humans who suffer the absence more than the pets. I'd been stressing over leaving him because when we found him, he was only maybe 5 or 6 weeks old, and since I'd lost my job to Hurricane Katrina, I have been with him every single day of his life, 24/7 from day one. I didn't want him to grieve and think that I had gone off and died or something morbid like that! Ridiculous, I know.<br />
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Course I've still been developing recipes, cooking and creating, taking photos, writing and editing, and trying to keep up with the posts over at <a href="http://deepsouthdish.com/">Deep South Dish</a>, but the new hrecipe website coding that Google search engine recently implemented is giving favor to the bigger corporate sites, and the bigger bloggers who have the money to hire people to code their sites, has all but knocked us smaller food bloggers out of the Google search rankings for people looking for recipes. I don't mind saying I have been busting my buns for several years to get a good ranking on Google, only to have Google kick me in the face and knock me off the monkey bars. That sure took the wind out of my sails a bit.<br />
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Not that I'm one of those super ambitious food bloggers that wants to be a celebrity, go on big book tours, have my own show, brand myself across every possible product in existence, or hawk my name and site or myself across media. I'm not. While my food blog has indeed shown enough growth to draw interest from some major brands, I've actually turned down three very lucrative corporate opportunities in the past couple months.<br />
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Opportunities that many bloggers would chomp at the bit to do, and which would have given me national exposure - but for which at the stage of life I am at right now, seemed far too demanding, far too much work, far too much effort and frankly, even in exchange for proposed "fame and popularity," neither of which I care much about... I just don't really want to work that hard right now!! I did send them on to a few bloggers I thought would be a good fit for their projects though, so hopefully they will remember that.<br />
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Don't get me wrong... if the right opportunity comes along that has the right feel for me and for my readers, I'll take it, but my primary goal for my food blog is to have a nice "website cookbook," a collection of old fashioned and classic southern recipes and good cooking that people can rely on. If I have a "hook" at all, that's it. I just have no attachments to the "fame monster" is all.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEgkidVG72qCXypaAoa2MWSj0zUTMgxlQxlFNQr3wnV6DRwebxzPj03T7kLCU7Kk4JdZX5bKJSbeqbWUPNHVwNF0fLSCb8HbysX80WJieAAlgGbnW6-_jYf7O4QUGfUgzSfFj27-DxxIU/s320/Fame+Monster.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
I don't have a big ego. I'm not competitive. I have no desire to be famous. I don't want to be in front of a camera, have a tv show, or anything remotely like that. I am not driven by the desire to have a lot of attention or to be constantly reaching for more and never content. Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt. While I appreciate and I am immensely grateful for the sweet emails I receive daily from people all over the country, my goal is not to be admired, or adored or put up on any kind of pedestal. I'm simply not that special. I'm just like anybody else who loves to cook and I like to cook the good old style food. And I am working hard to do that and keep that alive.<br />
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Which is why I am also a little bit angry.<br />
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Once upon a time, I was that gal up there in the picture waving. I was younger, and blonde, and much thinner, and kinda cute, with her body. That was what I looked like about 100 years ago, and I never had a problem having a man in my life, even if he was Mr. Right Now and rarely Mr. Right. God in all his wisdom gave me strong intuition though, even for my lack of relationship skills, and he gave me a good sense of perception - though some people would say it's paranoia. My best friend and I were chatting about this subject on this very day. There is a fine line between the two I guess, this perception and paranoia, but trust me. You know when you have the first over the latter.<br />
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Once in my early 30s, when this spooky guy I had rejected was stalking me... and I'm talking about true stalking - following me, all the time, all hours of the day and night, my every movement, everywhere I went. Watching from afar. Spying on me. But perception and intuition always had me a step ahead of him. That inner voice would tell me to look outside at a certain time, and he would pass by in his car. Or I would be drawn to eyeball a dark corner in a club where I was with my friends, and there he would be. Hard as he tried to be covert, I always managed to be seconds ahead of him, and that kind of perception or intuition has always been with me. <br />
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There is a blogger I once thought well of. But soon their nature became very obviously different from what they put out there - they were annoyingly overly driven and ambitious, pushy and aggressive, grandiose and in a constant look-at-me mode of self promotion, in pursuit of all of those things of fame in a dizzying whirlwind of activity. They would say one thing was the most important thing in their life, but yet, their actions reflected the complete opposite of it. I began to see things happening with them that I knew were factual untruths and manipulation, but... not all that unusual in some aspects of the blogging community I guess, and in all honesty, the stuff of marketing these days. None of my business really.<br />
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Except that for months now this person has literally been stalking my site - never stopping to say hello. Never commenting. Never announcing their presence, but always coming by in stealth. And then in short time, I would see my work - not in recipes because all of us southerners have pretty much the same recipe box - but in the form of certain techniques and style that I knew was mine.<br />
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When you are true to your authentic self, there is a certain blueprint of you attached to what you do. It's just there - it's your style and you know it, and you know when it is taken. This is the outflow of that fame monster - what happens when you chase fame so hard, that you build an empire on an inauthentic and shaky foundation. You run out of ideas, so you have to pluck at the creativity of other less ambitious souls who have the talent, but not the drive of the fame monster. It's much easier to steal someone else's style and ideas, than it is to develop your own. I've had plenty of instances where people have blatantly stolen my work, but I think this is much worse really.<br />
<blockquote><i>According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. ~1 Corinthians 3:10 </i></blockquote>Have you ever had an instance of this in your life? How did you keep your psyche clear of the negativity associated with the knowledge?<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-88163461639433068552011-04-19T15:37:00.002-05:002011-04-19T15:37:25.574-05:00Pet Deodorizing Carpet Blend<img 212"="" border="0" imageanchor="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjnV1GFXC6a_U23QeIWxvDBgiZ-BxFBI5J83CXmQQTc97OX9QQi7fOd-zrbWONv0TU9AIO9pmHjvyXNlJHg_Y93H5j87yN5mlK932sR3KevJrDMTnzRQPuZJxVhSqRvZjjUYZ2_qzz1PK/s320/Aromatherapy+Oils+with+Lavender.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" width="320" />I've been using <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/search/label/Essential%20Oils">essential oils</a> for years in my bath and around the house, and one thing I love is making my own carpet sprinkle using plain baking soda and a variety of essential oils. While I've never really factored out the cost elements of homemade versus commercial, I do know that it's a more natural alternative to commercial carpet sprinkles, plus you can get a much wider range of scents by using your own oils.<br />
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I've previously posted some of my more <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/06/aromatherapy-around-house-carpet.html">commonly used and favorite blends</a> but I needed to come up with one that would help to deodorize the carpet thanks to my lovely felines. The litter box that they share is located in the corner of a spare room that I call the "office," where the desk, desktop computer and bookshelves live ... even though I work mostly from a laptop in the family room most of the time these days.<br />
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It doesn't seem to matter how often I scoop the cat box or how much I vacumn, with three indoor cats hanging around they are bound to track some of the litter out across the floor. If you happen to have a sensitive sniffer like I do, well... frankly sometimes there's just a troublesome lingering odor that seems it must cling tight to every single fiber in the carpet in there, even if I am the only one who seems to notice!<br />
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For this task, I was more concerned with disinfecting and deodorizing over fragrance, so I chose oils strictly on those properties. To keep everything in one place and to avoid duplicating text, click over to my <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/06/aromatherapy-around-house-carpet.html">Aromatherapy Around the House</a> Carpet Sprinkle Recipe Page to get this new refreshing blend. Enjoy!<br />
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.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-14020416943022343992011-04-15T18:00:00.010-05:002011-04-26T20:03:30.708-05:00Latest AeroGarden Update!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9_wGyd4E3utj1vgYA6Rc-2l25L5JizmTLfGHi-peeVk73uZ9K0rocohRObe-oOXtfr0QzNEikpbRIIZR-jhSWhcRX_lr-yIuqxsalVPoNnKee7TWDSZwWgfK1WgxO3GOwxXlzfjgz58c/s400/002.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="266" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">AeroGarden at about 8 weeks!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Time to harvest!<br />
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Like so much else in my life that doesn't demand immediate attention, the poor little AeroGarden has been a bit neglected. I forgot that you are supposed to raise the lamp hood. Oops. The basil, as it often does, is going crazy, but the lettuce is growing even faster! As you see, several parts of both the lettuce and the basil had to kind of lay out to the sides since I forgot to raise the hood, but the center is nice and perky and happy! The poor thyme in the back... well, it barely stands a chance with all the other growth! <br />
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All of the plants are super healthy - even if they look a bit droopy around the outside at the moment - but things are really growing. In fact, compare the picture above with the one below, and you can see how fast the lettuce has grown in just a week!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrtU5Ih5V-vk5_R2JHzJ8VHD8pGjGiLok8UNYww2zvdisg8mE3B4qFcNHGYYdkTq4ftHCqZEnJRrl3oGVCjoLRIeXHP5Fua0cXdghdPujvjanJnryPhlC6audlbvGnlmNIZkrrRdhzudVf/s400/069.JPG" width="266" /></div><br />
I'm thrilled about the lettuce because it's always been hard for me to grow lettuce here in The Deep South, and this lettuce puts any I've tried to grow outside to shame. I'm thinking that I'll replant this AeroGarden with more lettuce y'all! <br />
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So it's harvest time. Tonight, I'll cut off those outside lettuce leaves and add them in with some romaine for our salads! I'm also going to clip down the outside leaves of the basil tonight, chop it up and place it into ice cube trays. I'll cover the chopped basil with water, freeze it, then bag the cubes. That way I can grab a cube to add to the skillet when I'm cooking and the water evaporates off, leaving behind the basil for seasoning. When the basil outside goes crazy, I usually harvest it and <a href="http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2010/06/creamy-pesto-potato-salad.html">make a pesto</a> and if I don't use it, freeze it the same way.<br />
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I <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/my-aerogarden.html">received this AeroGarden</a> as a gift, and while we had <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/my-aerogarden-update.html">a minor set back</a> <i>{no fault of the AeroGarden but rather a little feline scoundrel}</i>, which actually resulted in me throwing in a few lettuce seeds to begin with, I have to say that I absolutely adore the AeroGarden product.<br />
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Course I still have my <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/03/year-one-raised-bed-square-foot.html">raised bed, square foot gardens</a> going outside, but I spend a lot of time fussing over them, watching over them, chasing wildlife away from them, fixing squirrel damage, fighting bugs and disease and wilt and heat and watering, and <u>none</u> of that happens with an AeroGarden.<br />
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Every couple of weeks you add a little nutrient and water, remember to trim up, harvest and use the plants whether they are vegetables or flowers, and once your plants are finished with their growing cycle, clean the unit up, replant and make sure you have a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-970914-0208-Deluxe-Grow-2-Pack/dp/B0041LE4BK?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">replacement grow lamp bulb</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0041LE4BK" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> on hand. The care booklet does say that you <i>should</i> replace the grow bulb after about 6 months, but according to what I've read, most folks seem to just let it go until it needs to be replaced. I say just make sure you have a bulb handy if you go that route! The AeroGarden really is pretty much maintenance free.<br />
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Now granted, the up-front costs of these units can be a bit scary, I admit that, and with all of the options and accessories and different kinds of units and seed pods you can buy, you <i>could</i> spend a small fortune on growing AeroGardens. Yet... when I think about what most people spend on soil, soil amendments, plants, fertilizer, pesticides, bug spray and all that, all in all maybe it's worth the cost. I do know it's fun. And it's a great way to educate kids on how things grow. I mean, c'mon... how stinkin' cute is this y'all?!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-Aerogrow-Aerogarden-3-Ladybug/dp/B002RCG8MS?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DoY_-_Q-pgmsZVPT7OTSNvskhvUZjaP9LVMr3Jw6Ml5oHFQdN-MGHvwpc9nY5NovJgdGa9TlQEdDS5_u0V6QpH_J3k-aPoP7AxuVXGHIP2854M0tSyrCUxEQq3xjiUgkr6XRry75y987/s320/AeroGarden+Ladybug.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-Aerogrow-Aerogarden-3-Ladybug/dp/B002RCG8MS?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">AeroGarden Lady Bug</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
And... it'll sure be a nice way to have salad-makings growing right inside your house in the middle of a snowstorm, or for us, the middle of a major heat wave. Pretty cool.<br />
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I've got my eye on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-0019-00Z-Garden-Starter-Tray/dp/B0015MLSBC?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">AeroGarden Starter Tray</a> for seed starting now.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-0019-00Z-Garden-Starter-Tray/dp/B0015MLSBC?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6V3JU4kgzuO2IRWKNIbr0NdSSDqZdq-0Uexavf1gOMWhPcVuld9vE_GlIjKqaitVEmLz2gu_80hqeFdeucjGz0Vqfk3EEcvps0Htyk6v-CmJLX3IcNGdh-G06BpR5p2_chuSmmw57cBB/s1600/AeroGarden+Starter+Garden+Tray.jpg" /></a></div><br />
While I had great success with my <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/little-sprouts-in-jiffy-greenhouse.html">little Jiffy</a> for the tomato seeds, and indeed I do think that it's because it was parked right next to the AeroGarden to be honest, the larger Jiffy tray didn't do nearly as well. I planted it with the smaller tiny seeds for flowers and herbs and a few peppers, but because it was a lot larger, it didn't really have the benefit of the grow light. Some things sprouted, many did not and I was a little disappointed. I'm so impressed with the Aerogarden that I can't help but want this starter kit now! Will keep y'all posted on that one.<br />
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<i>Nothing to disclose here!</i> My AeroGarden was free, but it was a gift from my sister, and the good folks at AeroGarden don't even know who I am. I just simply want to share a neat product that I am falling in love with. <br />
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AeroGarden on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/aerogarden">Facebook</a> <br />
AeroGarden on <a href="http://twitter.com/aerogarden">Twitter</a> <br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-4267320276452495362011-04-05T09:24:00.002-05:002011-04-05T11:01:43.918-05:00Damn You Auto Correct!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/"><img alt="damn you auto correct funny iphone fails and blunders" src="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/images/panties.jpg" /></a></div><br />
If you own a smart phone chances are that it auto corrects - meaning when you type a word the phone doesn't recognize, it offers up what it thinks might be the <i>right</i> word, and if you don't delete its suggestion, it replaces the word for you. Chances are, if you have a smart phone, you have probably typed a text, hit send and then later saw where it changed a word, to one you never intended it to mean.<br />
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I don't know if you've had a chance to discover <a href="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/">this site</a> yet, but Jay Leno has done a few segments on The Tonight Show to highlight some of these and I gotta say, it is hilarious! A rating warning. There is usually a bit of cursing & some risqué language involved, so I have to caveat this with saying it's at least an R-rated site, and not probably not vieweable at your workplace.<br />
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Check it out sometime - if you own a smart phone that auto corrects, you'll probably relate, but even if you don't, you'll be sure to get a chuckle at some of the screen shots.<br />
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<a href="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/">Damn You Auto Correct</a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/"><img alt="damn you auto correct funny iphone fails and blunders" src="http://damnyouautocorrect.com/images/work-tranny.jpg" /></a></div>.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-6291964348711828412011-04-01T12:37:00.004-05:002011-04-01T13:21:47.299-05:00Southern Azaleas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiaKseYqruBk2XjJY3_5I1_eSktE8GJJ3xFAjmrgNVNrtN_rRrnP7hNlT-58XIWOj8ugleKPV9bXjxG2FXpwitR2TWJXFh6-lXM1g7fLkoHuS6O7oltSQ4JqUZnV_U_rYb8Jb-oh2zNVIH/s400/Azalea+Flower+2011_picnik.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
Azaleas in the south are certainly an indication of spring. They are in bloom everywhere right now, but unfortunately, their blooms are very short lived, and the first burst of spring showers usually strip them right off the branches. We had a storm pass through here a few days ago, and I actually covered my big azalea with sheets just to keep the flowers around a little longer!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Tc3k0EF4HhrmwPCPq9JiRDxslgnvIUxZt3E0H42toGSZE43mFvZFkQ6cZNvy8B78JpibsOfQ22Sdt-vKN6Yv8WlH3OcWPAsQHZUUKCLPRGqhkVAuLaEwCRQlybfV_V6ADAcCh2UmjGUa/s640/Azalea2011.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
This one above is in my front yard shaded garden and is the only post-Katrina surviving azalea that lived past the onslaught of storm surge salt water that flooded into my yard. With no fresh, running water for weeks to flush them, it is the only one that survived. I replanted a few around the yard since then but they are still pretty small.<br />
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Below is one that lives right next to the larger plant pictured above - a slightly different variety with groupings of smaller blooms.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzX5b6-Bsg68KqNNw1T1VpMqckHgtKlH92A44AAjWzP251HnxXl8XrxbjWBH_eUvalEUobVifFyteHTYCv7qjJOU9LvTw3PyCTTzOSxXsSt9XC2E_WOlESXKQXYcqHQDIFDyG2aA8LO0hR/s400/Azalea+Grouping+1.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
This one below is the same variety of the one above and lives in a garden on the east side of my house that is shadowed by multiple oak trees and is mostly shaded. The only problem with this is that the oaks tend to steal all the water so it is difficult to keep plants here hydrated. After trying to plant so many different things in this area, this garden is filled with more ferns than anything. They seem to thrive there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiz0m9q-KM3mZ71TnQ4bD-crsQJZRgxVHxEf12Raj7Z5EbPwroetz5_c7QlSytaBjhczmgXegxJ97loABQnHAhDLKIIjNBPm0IUf8cl2BtxC7XceTXyrjuMNwtv02y1LZcrti7xxVYSE2/s400/Side+Yard+Azalea+Close+up.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
And this azalea below is a re-bloomer called Encore. They are a bit expensive, but I wanted to see if I would like them and I planted two of them in the shade of a small magnolia tree on the east side of my backyard where they get a mix of sun and shade. Neither did well with blooming though, and in fact, with the extreme heat of last summer <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>{and a bad neighbor who kept me very sick & not able to keep up in the yard with <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/ongoing-saga-of-annoying-leaf-burning.html">her excessive leaf burning</a> last year}</i></span>, I lost one of them. The blooms are a bit different, and very pretty.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQnX_wJUm0eMxJQsLJdYgQnSMHmZrhsdvIeonomTI2sGcQVce3QRMrcLDbrfVfoq9ToqliIrIfrqvFpfzKBAvPSCcrBt1vjm899rrSK4LE0BsbnuoXPXyNRaHkfr_kEFuNhni_D7LaEKf/s400/Reblooming+Azalea+Close+up.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
If you love flowers and you ever make it down this way, put a trip to <a href="http://www.bellingrath.org/">Bellingrath Gardens</a> in south Alabama on your list. You can check the website to find out what is in bloom when, but it is especially gorgeous when all of the azaleas are in full bloom.<br />
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For the first time in a long while, I'm linking this to my gal Glenda at <a href="http://www.tootsietime.com/2011/03/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers_24.html">Tootsie Time</a>. Go check out her blog if you love to garden. She is very inspirational!<br />
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<a href="http://www.tootsietime.com/2011/03/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers_24.html"><img alt="Copy_of_001" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_WDTcdX5jrUM/TYv6QSESbfI/AAAAAAAAPRs/2q06RpwlKP0/Copy_of_001_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" /></a><br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-75376148034039037852011-03-26T20:58:00.003-05:002011-04-15T15:23:50.614-05:00My AeroGarden Update<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5D9aS20WXbbMpe3sHCf1RW6Thyrv1Vqo1oD42p1TX0aa80PxA3S4wiVfLrXanaOU4PwgvaLd-1K1wOVs2c9kklbDvHNafpBxLV2zB_ca9EcMqkNC-cYQPXhKx2OzK6PdoJvrqCsrwrfhH/s400/Aero+Garden+Week+5.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">March 26th - almost Week 4</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Okay I am SO loving the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AeroGarden-900110-1208-Classic-Garden-Gourmet/dp/B0015MG9P2?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">AeroGarden 3</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0015MG9P2" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />. I could totally get into having a shelf with 3 or 4 of a variety of these going with flowers, herbs, and salad lettuce. Except for checking the water and adding the nutrient about every 2 weeks, it's a pretty much maintenance free garden. Everything is nice and green. It's bug free. And very healthy. No worries about light - that all happens automatically. And, I've already cut and used some of the basil! <br />
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Now... you will notice when comparing the above picture to this picture below in early March, there is something different going on with my little AeroGarden <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2011/03/my-aerogarden.html">than before</a>....<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig43Wxasf_hs-1Vuaj0-h8PZHvRttgNdSxhqBQrPKd99Y5nsOvKkYoZQclWO39QEyQ9p25UusmXk6QQSslISLXLx35xxLAvoaT3HqlKBLxS_AY-QllK2lWJeJQ62ucrcZKJLFWYG_GwX2Q/s320/Dill+Demise.jpg" width="256" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">March 6th - Coming Along</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Might have had something to do with this one.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Pr74s-8Btu_g4N-bDoqDHXtMqKwPIWaAICy3t5HVoqXNLsJN5WKgmLSTnGeYdRF5iskftQcQfHSRG8OlB7p2BOT7uil4vB3kCfgTrWco5T-f5cmRmG7GrhfYz9Qx8ixRdvojxQ8PAbcD/s400/Cali+March+2011.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
Just got up one morning and found an empty hole where the Dill used to live.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jAYPetrya23CHgrmRo9fSsMWGgdvkwtRsml-P9jUcBrcK9-1xjCZnEgkvj3H5Yt-cmpHQTwQzjVsvxGvpMyB8UGJTAy9N4CtC4IM4euHge0TmF3QHN0OcNdtUXkfvZr_UTJv5UrsHrrk/s320/048.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">March 9th - Disappearing Dill</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>After I fussed at all potential parties {since I can't for sure know who exactly was fully responsible}, I decided to drop a couple of lettuce mix seeds in the pod and soon they sprouted too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwofi8MbBEIs0u05x3NnGpCTouHu-yFN4TC_J8Q_jGFGWAhpi3J6bHLnt-uNvnYRvK6558b4WB_DZcy0zLamyTBTZJ8lchyphenhyphendrh2mipUvsJL6XSrt2vbBu1ggO93kXQfMSqyEe-GPEJ2tWn/s320/010.JPG" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">March 20th - We have Lettuce!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The thyme is getting nice and thick too and is ready for clipping as needed.<br />
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Thanks Sis ... what a great gift and it really is cool watching everything grow. Love this and love you!!<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-49238319434308421382011-03-20T21:53:00.003-05:002011-03-20T21:53:44.053-05:00Happy Spring Y'all!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IY5jV-2hHarhvPauDPempUj2ZPVEfU87w-5_cwex7HJbFWnI6Z-ve_R_OZ70fQWJMJ1PUZ-6N6ztvCnTMxrt0Vup7fPBAp_u_NzxdK0rzxg5DfgKXRuYRqremyCSDQadufmefqkFyZZ3/s640/Bridal+Wreath.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
Spring has officially arrived, though I guess a few of you still have winter hanging on by her fingernails. About the time y'all get your spring cranked up, we'll probably be sweltering down here. It's been a gorgeous couple of weeks though. Today it was in the mid-70s with a heat index already up to 78, and it felt it, but it's not 90 or 100 so I'll take it!<br />
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The birds, bees and butterflies and even one of my turtles, Lucy, have all shown up in the backyard, every one making me very happy to see them, though they've been hard to catch with the camera. The bees have actually been a bit fussy and fighting with one another over the blooms on my Meyer lemon! I am hoping that their work might mean I'll finally have some lemons this year. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvDTtbcyBo2hYX14nHjakGmRqae3HnCPtQoeoqQ6_asOmZRFjPfTZI2clmq04OIHtmKIBQfiTSNYNo5uc_Ex9elVjkFVUtZLTfNqd0knR5RdqrmU7ZzssRiE39WpRZqwdE5HDYcGKio3o8/s320/142.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
Last year there were <a href="http://www.mynew30.com/2010/02/tiny-taste-of-spring.html">a ton of blooms</a>, but not a single lemon showed up. I have no idea why.<br />
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We had a brand new Krispy Kreme open up and of course y'all know we had to go get some!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcN82g0fwW-iAR3JyonsmLcnTo-_gXOaOmALKMHcHb0-VN2tfgwpJaVbhuWEt8ZrC0WZD37WanByOjE-9M7i7jG97GT_nCcyvD9BWgVXUDkPR5VLsVQ_iEz4QGCxNqLrOzJ8F7MBc5xHkg/s200/009.JPG" width="200" /><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKRi2TLLYXVEVXlNdpuAFoA11J8_4uysOBEPnEF_u5ZWLBkUcSGkTT3ojgfNIypOD4G0GWmQfU4zV6ad7m3mk3q-8Sksa3rhTvEUGFmzRrTPoy9kQSE3gIsJYEPV489E4f8yQ2rNKDxxs/s200/012.JPG" width="200" /></div><br />
I guess I've had a bit of spring fever too since I've been dragging my husband all over the place to be out in the sunshine and beautiful weather. Thursday we went to a very small St. Patrick's Parade in Ocean Springs. There was a marching band. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0v_jGAuMVbTrcbKofEcdGKvm7XkDsMAZGVkHpDfigvmAH2YgIVa07XRnecuY7vcsWNPtHt4mnO07hmsg2sNw6F7apdfE6MP_eHpr8zYlvWR1xKFNDlTHWxW2bfd1Bo9uFHnHvw5U8xMKM/s320/094.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
A couple of floats.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvyR8ojR5Vv7loshNnMrbtT_m432Q-2pYp5jrLuFdxvlsZNZaoo_IEDAzApEG9KOWboyE2BPUEi1n1LP1t54oMDm9ihx7IAYHLaGqocYAZGR-mSUiCUcj55uawuX81W1tDasGf3x57R-YK/s320/098.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg__I8N2SLWg51X7m7n_h7_MU_-n_3sPNpo8f1K2yH30DfE3Y-Iz40NkZXDeQtW2w7tZEk_dpKJHx0z-6FIlkfuopaePftdWRqlbniwvDH0EXnx4nVXRLnuleSH23BH0lPodejwF2sO7CBW/s320/100.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
And the Ole Biloxi Marching Club of course.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8Tf_Kc5cY18UjBAjyMYqDaGS1fpySlJ-A1uJes15LVnNC2HXpX6flS5Skq9ae97VT2g7OT4Rww6n6dABOaThvoMSLuC4hvw1LOQuM-b-G0m-BarNTnOHSXdIEGpiq27cNyNPVyqVbBEp/s320/104.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
They hand out little paper flowers to the ladies, usually in exchange for a kiss. They've been marching in the parades around here since 1975.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcIhC6TBPfxZ2rKucx6Jq2FGbtSmywxICOG5vUMCyL4DjZV6mSdnonQmvsGxfkunnbUcQLvYlQnkOZL_Wq9paR1sZ44ARTP2SEHdf42jJFJeLu-V7JYxYEZMIdVVZOCuw7wdWtcHeG8CpO/s320/109.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
But, the Budweiser Clydesdales were the guest of honor this year. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBs2951VrHzh-tyk3kA_qPV4CSUCsQCC-TVGyYye0INYSwDRDG1Z6u3nWiWJGpkjofPewtGFq384MySCBLUbBM0c_54jCMUbUingESnrIc6am4KfPg7KDu9IiD2_cl2_YMGQPHp081V67G/s320/Clydesdales+Full+View.jpg" width="245" /></div><br />
And of course the Budweiser Dalmatian was there. Isn't he gorgeous?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_pdOsXYKW9GIFZ1ieAPy1VUrd3aEwrNJ1_fozV82tNh7sOoreopBpbixAEn4lUbjxj57TpYv5054q_jXkVcPdf4T8zTKJNGNEIRWm_f-hceDyR1FsFm5R9sKVlOTuGgPVsBSqAJdJDkc/s320/Bud+Dog.jpg" width="213" /></div><br />
There was a Pub Crawl right after the parade.<br />
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Where you could partake in a number of jello shots, green beer, or adult beverages...<br />
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...food, or both!<br />
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Or you could shop.<br />
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We stopped by the harbor to check on our Miss Lucy F.<br />
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Harbors are such a familiar sight for us, that sometimes we tend to forget that not everybody has them everywhere like we do. The clanking against metal in the wind, the gentle sloshing of the water up against the boats. <br />
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And the all too familiar sound of seagulls too.<br />
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Saturday we had a 3 year old Tee-Ball game, a BBQ festival and another St. Paddy parade in Biloxi (I think it got postponed from the weekend before), and then off to watch the air show at Keesler Air Force base. <br />
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On top of all that, I have been piddling around with more seeds (some flowers, some herbs, some veggies)<br />
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and I pulled up the tail end of the radishes, cabbage and collards so I could get the rest of the veggie gardens cleaned up and ready. Dealing with seedlings is kinda fun, but I'm learning that in the future I need to work it out where I have a place to put seeds that 1) I can set up early, and 2) not have to worry about the cats getting into the seedlings. I have to buckle everybody down every night before we go to sleep, or anytime we leave for fear they'll eat the plants {ask me how I know this}. I think I just need a greenhouse. And a potting shed. <br />
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The tomatoes are getting their second set of leaves and I've been carrying them in and out of the house to start to harden them off.<br />
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Tomorrow we'll be back outside working on getting more leaves up. Can you believe that just a few days ago, this spot was clean? Thankfully the mower does a pretty good job of picking them up and most of these will go into the gardens. <br />
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As always, I'll be super happy when the oak tree pollen and leaf drop cycle ends because all this work combined with allergy meds and I'm tired! Somewhere amidst all of this I have multiple posts to get drafted and finalized, including a cookbook review and giveaway, a new buttermilk fried chicken recipe, a green gumbo (that I made with some of that cabbage and collards) and a peach crumb cake recipe, a few others I'm forgetting about that I need to work on!<br />
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My house is a mess, I have so much laundry to do that I have no clean underwear, and since I ain't as young as I used to be, my body is a little stiff, but it's been a fun week. Are you exhausted yet? Cuz I am slap wore out y'all!<br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2577954446038205157.post-36605453162537261062011-03-17T01:56:00.003-05:002011-03-17T02:20:41.408-05:00Southern Colloquialism of the Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgglwgpy_bv-HUEUlw3jT5w2jSFg49oHDiHqcLh7gPjul2RAVkihxwrig7E0eZ8Liz3bTG92r29jhQT1PaHeZBs60bazDwEvuSz6zTM3uhMg8yvBhFcU4NlYEGCAUCeXZ6qRpSW2axZ7lMj/s320/Chair+on+a+Porch.jpg" width="213" /></div><br />
A little insight into the way us southerners talk, taken from a little pocket sized book called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-How-Speak-Southern/dp/0553804782?ie=UTF8&tag=myne30-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Complete How to Speak Southern</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=myne30-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0553804782" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," by author Steve Mitchell, who dedicated his books to "all Yankees in the hope that it will teach them how to talk right." <br />
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Today's word is Jevver.<br />
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<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;">Jevver - Did You Ever</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;">As in <i>"Jevver hear anything so dumb in yer whole life?" </i></div><br />
.Mary | Deep South Dishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06030573009618096220noreply@blogger.com1