Razzmatazlady

Author: CherylK

  • The Day After Xmas Stuff…

    It was a nice relaxing Christmas, this year. We loved that there was no snow. We loved that it was in the 70’s! It’s absolutely not true that life in California is over-rated. The only other place that I’ve been where the weather is possibly better (year-round) is the Hawaiian Islands. Maybe.

    O.K., maybe if you had to buck the traffic every day that would get old.

    O.K., the smog in the city is a turn-off.

    But here in the Beach Cities where the air is clear and it’s sunny and warm? I gotta say it’s pretty darned nice.

    I got really good gifts, this year. Jack gave me a pair of tennis shoes which I needed since I forgot to pack any. And he made a very generous contribution to my kitchen remodel fund. I got a great huge mug for my coffee. It’s a Los Angeles mug so it’s also a souvenir. Love it. No coal in my stocking.

    Got a JoAnn Fabrics gift card, too, which I love because I’m always working on a do-it-yourself project or two. I do spend a lot of money at that store. I should probably own JoAnn stock.

    Speaking of gift cards, I love getting gift cards but just in case you received some gift cards that you don’t want or can’t use did you know you can swap them or donate them to a worthy cause? One of my favorite websites is called The Ideal Bite. (It’s listed in my “Useful Websites” list. I subscribe to their Daily Tip which comes in my email. Today’s tip is about that very thing. Here are two websites to check out. Very sensible.

    giftcardbuyback.com/index.cfm
    swapagift.com/

  • Merry Christmas to All…

    And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

    It came without ribbons.

    It came without tags.

    It came without packages, boxes or bags.

    And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.

    Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.

    What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.

    What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
    Dr. Seuss

  • Christmas Eve 2007

    I took this picture of the sunset from the roof deck, last night. Looks like an abstract painting, I think. It was so calm and peaceful up there on the roof. No wind and not too chilly.

    We did go to the Farmers’ Market in Santa Monica. It was great! Bought vegetables for our Christmas dinner. There was a long line for omelets and a bit shorter line for crepes so I had the crepes. I ordered the “England” filling of butter, lemon juice, powdered sugar and coconut. It was delicious and not too filling. Quite likely that the Weight Watchers points were off the charts! Oh well.

    Our Christmas Eve repast will include cold shrimp cocktail, cocktail meatballs, clam chowder and a very nice hot artichoke dip with fresh vegetables and crackers. Snacky stuff. Tomorrow we’ll have our little Christmas away from home and probably make some Christmas phone calls. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night…

  • A Trip to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market and a Couple of Bargain Websites

    Today we’re going to the farmers’ market in Santa Monica. We’ll be getting fresh veggies for our Christmas dinner of Roast Prime Rib with Yorkshire Pudding. Jen tells us that there are all sorts of great offerings at that market so it’ll be fun. Will post more about that adventure later.

    I found two noteworthy websites while “surfing the net”. Is the phrase “surfing the net” even cool, anymore??? I probably should bone up on the lingo. (Lingo? Is that even cool anymore? Is “cool” even cool?) Got a lotta learnin’ to do…

    In any case, these both have to do with saving money and who doesn’t want to do that? The first one is CoolSavings and the second is CouponMom. Check ’em out! I think I’ll reference both of them on my “real” blog/website when I get it up and running. BTW, I’m still working on the domain name thing.

  • December 22 Happenings

    December 22nd is National Date Nut Bread Day. I couldn’t find any other information about that – not who started it or where. But I like date nut bread and haven’t had it for awhile so maybe this means I should make some!

    This is also the shortest day of the year. It’s the Winter Solstice. Winter starts in the northern hemisphere and summer starts in the southern hemisphere. It alternates every two yars between December 21st and December 22nd.

    Today is the also first day of Hanukah so Happy Hanukah to everyone.

    I read a cute story (in the Washington Post, I think) about a little girl who saw all the Christmas lights at the mall and thought they were so pretty. When she told her mother that she felt like she shouldn’t look at them because she is Jewish, her mother said she should just think of them as the decorations at somebody else’s birthday party and go ahead and enjoy them. I like that.

  • Long Live the Queen and Other Stuff

    Well, this is very interesting, I think. I read in the New York Times that today Queen Elizabeth II became Britain’s oldest-ever monarch.

    Her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria was born in 1819 and lived for 81 years and 243 days. Queen Elizabeth passed that milestone about 5 p.m., today! Her full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. When she was a little girl she couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth and called herself Lilibet.

    You can check out all sorts of info about the royal family at their official website.

    www.royal.gov.uk/

    Other Stuff: I spent a great deal of time today thinking about domain names to no avail. Last night (in the middle of the night) I had several brilliant ideas but was too comfy to get up and write them down and, sure enough, today I could only think of a couple of them. Naturally, they were the ones that were not so brilliant. So tonight I’m putting a notepad by the bed just in case…

    It was cool, today, but a sunny and happy day. Blue skies, green grass, flowers…what’s not to like? It’s so nice not to be knee deep in snow.

  • Life is Good!

    Ah, there’s nothing like a good night’s sleep and then waking up in Sunny California (or anywhere sunny, for that matter) to give a person a new perspective on life!

    I just read my post for yesterday – depressing. Sorry about that. But I was so tired and felt so crummy. It was raining when we got here Tuesday night and was a little drizzly yesterday morning which didn’t help my mood. Today is another story entirely!!

    We’re housesitting at what I call my favorite “gig”. Jack says it’s not a gig but it really is. I love the location; I love the house (newly remodeled – I love what they did to it); I love the dogs and I love the weather. And I love being able to see daughter Jennifer. This is a picture of the view from the street.

    I’ve set a goal for choosing a domain name for my website by Monday the 24th. I even posted it on the Dream Job Dialog website so I’m committed. Am concentrating on it, today – we’ll take the dogs for a nice long walk along the ocean which will be perfect for “thinking”. I might even ask Jack and Jennie for an opinion.

    It’s gonna be a great day!

  • Why I Will Never Ride The Train Again

    So we boarded Amtrak some time after 11:00 p.m. on Sunday night. It was already running a couple of hours late out of Chicago. Found a couple of seats together across the aisle from each other and settled in with our pillows and fleece blankets. Jack slept like a log and I didn’t sleep at all. Not a good start.
    Monday was fine. We both read books and I worked sudoku. We spent some time enjoying the scenery from the observation car. I took this picture of the sunset through the window. Had an o.k. breakfast in the dining car. Lunch and dinner were not so good.
    Then we stopped in Gallup, New Mexico. About 50 additional passengers boarded so I had to give up my seat and Jack and I had to share. Let me tell you, it is truly impossible to be more uncomfortable than we were that entire night.
    Then the unthinkable happened. The train stopped and the conductor announced that there had been an accident and that we would probably be there another four hours or so while it was being investigated. We mercifully fell asleep. Tuesday we learned that someone had decided to throw himself in front of the train. Since it was dark and we were traveling close to 80 mph, the engineer couldn’t possibly have stopped in time. Everyone was horrified, of course.
    So we were supposed to arrive in Los Angeles at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday morning. By 8:15 we still had another eight hours to go. We actually arrived at 4:45 p.m almost five hours late. I’ll need an awfully good reason to board another train in the future.

  • This and That

    Tonight we’re boarding Amtrak for the trip to Los Angeles. Please, please, please let us get there on time Tuesday morning. It’s snowy and cold here in Kansas so it’ll be great to get to sunny California. Since we’re going to be staying near the beach we’ll be immune from the smog that blankets the city. I won’t be able to post anything more until Tuesday unless I can find a wireless network on the train.

    Dream Job Thoughts: I’m trying to learn all I can about blogging, website construction and internet businesses. Today I’m focusing on social bookmarking websites like del.icio.us. and digg.com. I’m going to join a couple of them to see what they’re all about and if/why I’ll need to incorporate them into my website. Hopefully, you CAN teach an old dog (me) new tricks!!

    I’ve got a great quote by Frank A. Clark. I have no idea who Frank A. Clark is except that he was born in 1911. I was looking for something motivating or inspirational for me, personally.

    “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

    If I ever learn who Frank A. Clark is, I’ll post it!

  • The “Akrabats” – A Memory

    Akra was the name of the tiny little town in North Dakota where my family lived when I was a child. We owned the Akra Store which was comprised of a grocery store, post office, gas pump and a creamery.

    My mother was the shopkeeper, the post mistress, the gas station attendant and the person who separated the cream from the milk and whatever else had to be done to the milk that the farmers brought for processing. Akra was about five miles from another small town (but much bigger than Akra) called Cavalier where everyone in the surrounding countryside went for their “big” shopping.

    There were probably a dozen kids in that town including my two sisters and me. We were outside from dawn until dusk all summer long and every day that we could during the rest of the year.

    There was a windcharger in the back yard – it didn’t work as I recall but it was a fun place to play. One day all the kids were playing circus and we were pretending to be acrobats. My sister Joan was probably about three years old or so and we wouldn’t let her play with us. We told her she was too little to be an acrobat. So she announced that if we wouldn’t let her be an “Akra-bat” she was going to be a “Cavalier-bat”. And she stomped off!

    I’ve found a really nice website for anyone with kids whether your searching for baby names or information on colleges. There’s a newsletter plus the site is divided into sections such as Your Child 0-6, Your Child 7-11, Your Child 12-18, etc. Plus dozens of craft projects, quizzes, Food & Recipes. I think you’ll find it well worth checking out!

    http://www.familyeducation.com/home/