Snap!

At the beginning of my class at the gym today the instructor said that in honor of Halloween we were going to warm up an unusual body part. Then she played this song and invited us to snap along:

Five years ago today: Hallowe'en

On the Road Again

Last night Hubby Tony and returned home from a quick (five day) road trip to Dallas Texas to visit Son Tony and DIL-to-be Ie.  Instead of taking the most efficient route on the way there, we detoured through Little Rock Arkansas and Shreveport Louisiana. Here are a few highlights:

The Flying Fish Restaurant in Little Rock collects Billy Bass animatronic plaques. (They also have great food. This is where I got the tasty fried fish dinner)

In Little Rock we stayed in a compact 269 square foot residence, appropriately named The Tiny House.

After we left Little Rock we drove to Shreveport, where we visited the Louisiana State Fair. 

On Saturday Tony and Ie took us to a Japanese grocery store, where we bought food to make a great dinner in their condo.

On Sunday night I went to my first-ever NBA game.  The Dallas Mavericks were playing the Utah Jazz. It was Breast Cancer Awareness night, and there were pink rally towels draped over the back of every seat.

Five years ago today: Love Your Cats

Good Grease!

The National Today website told me that today was National Greasy Food Day. I didn't need any encouragement to celebrate.

Tonight's dinner

Five years ago today: Processing Pomegranate

A Real Pain In The Heel

Around here the best time to try to grow a new yard is in the fall. The renovation season runs from late August to mid-October, but early September is the ideal time. The soil is still warm, the temperatures have cooled off, and the precipitation picks up. Usually. This year we had the yard aerated and overseeded the first week of September . That was right before weeks of record setting high temperatures and below average precipitation. We watered the seed multiple times a day, but the only places it sprouted were the parts of the yard that don't get much sun (and where, based on past experience, it will eventually die off).

Not only did the seed not germinate, but some more of our established grass also died. St Louis is a hard place to have a nice lawn. It's too cold in the winter for warm-season grasses, and too hot in the summer weather for cold-season varieties.  Hubby Tony and I aren't lawn perfectionists, but big bare brown patches wasn't really the look we were going for. I figured we'd have to live with the damage and try again next year.

Last week I saw our neighbor having seed put down. I contacted our company to see if there was anything they could do for us. They told me it takes 6-8 weeks for grass to grow strong enough roots to survive the winter (and there's not enough growing time left for that) but they came out two days later and spread a new layer of seed on the yard anyway.

Since then we've made sure the seed stays damp by sprinkling the lawn every day. That involves running the sprinkler for 10-15 minutes in each section. Tony did it over the weekend, and I've been in charge of the project for the past few days. I start the water, set the timer on my cell phone, and go back into the house. I didn't want to track dirt in on each trip, and the easiest way to solve the problem was to take my house shoes off and go barefoot outside. When I came in I could slide my flip flops back on quickly.

That worked well until today. Even though the top layer of the yard was wet, the clay soil was still hard, and the impact was making my heel right twinge. Several years ago I had some minor plantar fasciitis in my right foot and have no desire to revisit the problem. Before the pain got worse I grabbed a golf ball and performed the golf ball trick my chiropractor taught me, rolling the ball from the base of my toes all the way down to my heel, applying as much pressure as I could stand.

I'm happy to announce that the golf ball trick did indeed help. I'll repeat the procedure again before I go to bed tonight and hope that takes care of the remaining issues. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I'll let Mother Nature be in charge of watering.

Five years ago today: Disappearing Act

As Good A Reason As Any

I read in the newspaper today that the developer of the Little Free Library, Todd Bol, died from pancreatic cancer several days ago. In his honor, tonight when Hubby Tony and I were out walking after dinner I stopped at the Library at a house several blocks away from ours.

This location always has a nice selection of genres to choose from. Today that included Romance, Mystery, Thriller, and Science Fiction novels, volumes about Spirituality, Health, History, and Religion, a couple of Biographies, and a handful of Young Adult books.

By this point in the day the sun was going down and it was starting to feel a little chilly. When I left the house I wrapped a scarf around my neck and put on a fleece jacket, but could also have used some gloves. I solved the cold hands problem by pulling the jacket's sleeves down to keep them warm.

After looking all the books over I had it narrowed down to two, then chose the one that was small enough to fit into my jacket pocket. That way I wouldn't have to expose my hand to carry it.

Five years ago today: Why Me?

Laugh Out Loud

This afternoon I was cleaning up a pile of papers on my desk and came across this great list of 25 Reasons You Need To Laugh Out Loud Often someone had given me. Did you know that laughter:

• Eases and relaxes muscle tension
• Reduces the level of stress hormones in the body
• Increases HGH
• Reduces the risk of heart disease
• Improves blood flow
• Helps your heart
• Boosts the immune system
• Helps you heal faster
• Helps lower blood sugar levels
• Helps improve sleep
• Helps people improve their coping skills
• Helps people in managing pain
• Is a form of physical exercise
• Makes you more attractive
• Helps reduce aggression
• Energizes your organs
• Facilitates digestion
• Helps people save as much as 30% on their medical expenses
• Helps you breathe easier
• Improves self-image
• Encourages creativity
• Increases your lifespan
• Helps improve a person’s productivity
• Improves relationships
• Keeps you looking young

That's a whole lot of benefits for something that's just plain fun.  Try it and see what happens.

Five years ago today: Future Chefs Meal

Time For Reading

I feel like there's a lot of blog hopping and cross pollination out there, so you may already know this, but earlier in the week Victor S E Moubarak of the blog Time For Reflections posted that he had just released the book Take Care Of My Sheep, a collection of short stories starring Father Ignatius, a priest living in an unnamed northern English town in the 1950s and early 1960s.

I'm not in book buying mode right now (we're battling mildew on the bookshelves in the basement again, so I'm actually purging), but I enjoyed the sample story Victor included in his post. I clicked over to the Amazon link, found out that the book came in hard copy and (VERY INEXPENSIVE) Kindle versions. I'm now the proud owner of a new e-book.

The book is a fast read. Some of the stories are more overtly religious than others, referring to specific Catholic practices. However, others are just heartwarmingly sweet. I suggest you check it out.

Five years ago today: STUPID!

Free To A Good Home

Last Monday the high temperature was 20 degrees above average. A cold front came through and we had one day of beautiful autumn weather, then the temperatures continued to fall. Yesterday it was 20 degrees below average. There's a frost advisory tonight.

Although I'm hopeful that the temperatures will pop back up to close to the 70° average before getting permanently cold, the advisory was a wake-up call to get the house plants inside.  Most of them are tropicals that summer outside on the deck, and they do not take kindly to chills.

I tackled the project today. Unlike two years ago, this time there were no living surprises in the pots. Most everything made it to a permanent winter home (except for the pots of mother-in-law tongue and ginger, which are temporarily in the master bathtub).  I ran out of time and energy before I got around to the pots of herbs, but I shoved them up against the house. They should be fine

Every spring I divide the plants, so every fall I end up with extras.   This year that included several spider plants--a hanging basket, a six inch pot, and a small pot of plantlets that fell off the main plant today that got potted up. There was also a philodendron that went to town outside, growing stems that were easily three feet long. 

What to do with them? I had planned on donating everything to the church's Fall Festival Country Store, but this year they didn't have that booth. The cats would nibble on the plants if I left them around the house (and then get sick), so I needed to get them out of the house. This afternoon I offered everything up to my Facebook friends. If there are no takers, tomorrow I'll post them on Freecycle. Based on past experience they should get snapped up.

Free to a good home

Five years ago today: Red Light, Green Light

New Shoe Blues

Over the summer I bought two pairs of shoes for fall. Both pairs fit well in the store. Both pairs were on clearance. Both pairs were a final sale.

Ready to ramble!

It's finally cooled off enough to think about anything other than sandals and flip flops, so I was excited to start wearing my new shoes. The first time I put on the tan pair they fit like a glove, and took me throughout my busy day with no issues. However, I wasn't so lucky with the grey ones. Even though they were comfortable in the store, in my closet the shoe's tapered toe boxes didn't leave my toes any room to wiggle.  Not good!

I tried walked around the house a couple of times while wearing the shoes, then gave up and changed into tennis shoes. I'm not giving up on them yet, though. Hopefully after a little breaking in they'll be as comfortable as their closet mates.

Five years ago today: Sausage, Anyone?

Fall Foliage Map

If you live in the United States and like to see the leaves changing at this time of year, you might want to check out the fun interactive Fall Foliage Prediction Map.

The slider bar at the bottom of the map has two-week increments from the end of August through mid-November. Clicking on a date will show you the status of the leaf color in any area of the country.

The map uses historical data and forecast predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make an educated guess about peak timing, and according to the website, is "the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves."

Five years ago today: Presentation Is Everything....