A2Z Caboodle

Downton Abbey

2016-02-22T01:21:00.000-05:00

It has been three years since my last post about Downton Abbey. I have since caught up on the seasons I missed, and continued to watch the new seasons faithfully. It is with a sad heart that I am writing to say this unbelievable experience is now coming to an end. There is one final episode to watch in the sixth and final series, and I feel as if I am loosing a group of family members that I have come to love and enjoy spending time with each week. I can only say to Julian Fellowes, the creator of the series, that he has made me truly feel all of the emotions that he wanted to express in each of the characters' words and scenes. I have felt the joy and sorrow portrayed in the families' lives so deeply that I have cried and laughed out loud many, many times while watching the show. I will miss it all; the glorious costumes, the beautiful scenery, the extremely talented actors and actresses, and the home(upstairs and downstairs,) as if it were my own. Most of all, I will miss the wonderful story that I have enjoyed for so many years and hate to see come to an end. Farewell to Downtown Abbey, and the end of a glorious run!

Downton Abbey

2013-01-07T11:03:00.001-05:00

Downton Abbey represents a wonderful cross view of family life in the early 1900's, displaying lots of basic human-nature traits from many of our families' eras and walks of life.

Unfortunately, I missed the first two seasons, only seeing a few shows here and there. After reading and seeing all of the accolades about the show, I decided to watch the third season from the start. The two-hour, uninterrupted, commercial-free show that aired yesterday evening, was not a disappointment in any way.

The impeccable detail and attention, paid to the costume design of the characters' clothing was awesome. Looking at the "dress of the day" sometimes drew my attention away from the actual story. This wasn't a bad thing, it only added an excitement and thrill to my enjoyment of the story.

The continuing story of the Crawley family was easy to follow, despite my missing the first two seasons, and each character's role was well cast. What a breath of fresh air after watching seasonal mediocre re-runs for the past month.

My family and I are drawn more and more to so many of the wonderful PBS shows. Downton Abbey is definitely a treasure to behold, and of course will definitely become a classic for many years to come.

Meringue Cookies

2013-01-06T10:11:00.001-05:00

Making meringue cookies is a breeze, and they taste heavenly. They remind me of beautiful clouds! Here is a quick and easy recipe that I made this past holiday season.

First, a few notes of advice:

Take your eggs out of the refrigerator, and let them get to room temperature.

Use a glass or stainless bowl, no aluminum or plastic.

Be very, very careful not to get any of the yolk into the egg white mixture when you separate the yolks from whites. I prefer to use four little separate bowls(one for each egg white), then combine them into a larger bowl for mixing. That way, you won't contaminate all of the egg whites as you separate them if part of a yolk slips in the bowl with the egg whites!

You will need a hand electric mixer, or tabletop electric mixer to beat the egg whites.

Prep time: 8-15 min. Cook time: 120 min. Serves 24

Ingredients

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, semi-sweet
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray, coat with a light dusting of flour and shake off excess,
or cover it with parchment paper for baking

Separate yolks from whites of four eggs. As I said, I do this in four small bowls, then combine the whites into a large bowl for mixing. (Discard the egg yolks or save for some other use).

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Gently fold in chocolate chips and vanilla extract.

Drop mixture by heating tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart, making 24 cookies.

Bake until lightly golden and no longer sticky on the surface, about 1 hour. Turn oven off and let cookies sit in oven for 1 hour. (I have even left my cookies int he over all night). Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Don't open the oven while cookies are baking and cooling!

These cookies are the perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate. If you prefer chewy meringues, make them the day before you plan to eat them.

If you are a Weight Watchers these cookies have a 1 point per cookie value.

Mistletoes and Warheads

2013-01-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

Mistletoes and Warheads has been rocking out since May 2011. Initially started as a project by Nelson Scott (Later adding Justin Au-Yeung and Andrew Love), MW is based out of Rochester NY. MW can best be described as the best thing to happen to your ears... ever...
http://www.reverbnation.com/mistletoesandwarheads

Aw Else Boutique

2013-01-05T12:15:00.001-05:00

Aw Else Boutique a great new boutique in the Greensburg, PA area. http://www.awelseboutique.com/

Bose SoundLink Speaker

2013-01-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Just a shout-out about a great Christmas gift that we received this year. I recently purchased an iPad mini, and loved listening to my favorite music on Pandora Radio via my iPad. The sound was pretty good, but we received a Christmas gift this year that made the sound absolutely awesome! We got a Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II as a gift, and now we can hear that rich, beautiful sound anywhere within 30' of my iPad. Pairing my device was quick and easy(you can pair up to six devices to the speaker), and the Bose SoundLink speaker is very simple to use. I can't begin to describe the "big", awesome sound that comes out of that compact little speaker(approximately 5"x9")!!

It holds a charge for approximately eight hours, and has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Also has an integrated bi-fold cover that protects the system and unfolds into a stand.

I would highly recommend this speaker to anyone looking for some great sound, at a small price and size!

One of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith

2013-01-04T18:33:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite authors is Alexander McCall Smith. I have read his books for many years now, and just hate to come to "the end" of one his stories. Mr. Smith is the author of a number of series books. The "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series is one of my favorites, as well as the "No. 44 Scotland Street" series. Here is a little of the biography from Alexander McCall Smith's website:

Alexander McCall Smith

Bestselling Author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series

Alexander McCall Smith has written more than 60 books, including specialist academic titles, short story collections, and a number of immensely popular children's books. Referred to as our new P.G. Wodehouse, he is best known for his internationally acclaimed No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which rapidly rose to the top of the bestseller lists throughout the world. The fifth novel in the series, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit. The ninth book in the series is The Miracle at Speedy Motors (April 2008), and the tenth book in this series is Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (April 2009). The series has now been translated into 45 languages and has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The first episode of a film adaptation, directed by Anthony Minghella, and produced by the Weinstein Company, premiered on HBO in March 2009. Another series, beginning with The Sunday Philosophy Club, about an intriguing woman named Isabel Dalhousie, appeared in 2004 and immediately leapt onto national bestseller lists, as did sequels, Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, The Right Attitude to Rain, The Careful Use of Compliments, and The Comfort of a Muddy Saturday. The sixth Dalhousie novel is The Lost Art of Gratitude (Fall 2009). McCall Smith's serial novel, 44 Scotland Street, was published in book form to great acclaim in 2005, followed by Espresso Tales and Love Over Scotland, and then by The World According to Bertie (Fall 2008) and also The Unbearable Lightness of Scones (Fall 2009). In late 2008, the serial novel, Corduroy Mansions, depicting the lives of the inhabitants of a large Pimlico house, began to be published and podcasted in 100 daily web episodes by the UK's Daily Telegraph prior to its hardcover release in 2009. Alexander McCall Smith published a solo novel, La's Orchestra Saves the World, in December 2009.

In addition, McCall Smith's delightful German professor series, Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances were published in the US in January 2005. He is also the author of several children's books, including the Akimbo series, about a boy in Africa, the Harriet Bean series, the Max & Maddy series and The Perfect Hamburger and other Delicious Stories. Akimbo and the Baboons, the fifth book in the Akimbo series, will be published in November 2008. Pantheon has published Alexander McCall Smith's collection of African folktales, The Girl Who Married a Lion. McCall Smith is also the author of Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams, a contemporary reworking of a beloved Celtic myth and Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations, a collection of short stories examining the mysteries of dating and courtship.

McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and was educated there and in Scotland. He became a law professor in Scotland, and it was in this role that he first returned to Africa to work in Botswana, where he helped to set up a new law school at the University of Botswana. For many years he was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh, and has been a visiting professor at a number of other universities elsewhere, including ones in Italy and the United States. He is now a Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh.

In addition to his university work, McCall Smith was for four years the vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the UK, the chairman of the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee, and a member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association's Dagger in the Library Award, the United Kingdom's Author of The Year Award in 2004 and Sweden's Martin Beck Award. In 2007 he was made a CBE for his services to literature in the Queen's New Year's Honor List. He holds honorary doctorates from 10 universities, most recently from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

Good Snow, Bad Snow

2010-02-15T13:54:00.026-05:00

"Think we might be going to have a mild winter" we said, right before Christmas 2009. The temperatures had been mild for our area, and we really had not gotten any snow to speak of. Then Christmas Eve came, and it started to snow. The Holiday season was very festive with the new fallen snow, and a beautiful white blanket covered the dirt, and ugliness that Fall had left behind. Christmas lights twinkled in the whiteness, and people got out their snow blowers, shovels, sleds and skis. The local ski resorts were delighted to have a very successful kick-off to their winter fun season, and the mountains and fields looked like a Currier and Ives painting.

Almost two months have passed, and the snow is still here. In the past two weeks, we have had over three feet of new snow, and our schools have been closed, it seems, forever. The Holidays are over, but remnants of decorations are still up as it has been too cold or snowy to take them down. Towns and munitipalities are out of salt for the roads, and their budgets are spent paying overtime for plowing snow and clearing roads.

Parents are stressed about what to do with their children since school has been cancelled so often, or their daycare is closed. Driving to work on icy, snow-covered roads has brought about heaps of accidents. There were two fifty-car pileups last week, and another one today on the Interstates. Lots of the local grocery stores are out of bread, milk and of course toilet paper! The TV screen has a constant banner of cancellations across the bottom, and the winter weather advisory, beeping on the TV, alerts us at least once every few days to a new winter storm. There isn't a snow shovel to be found in our whole area, and salt is at a premium, if you can find it at all.

We have a living fence of about fifty-five hemlock trees around the back of our property that are laying down on the ground under the weight of all the snow. We are wondering if they will ever stand tall again. Fallen power lines, causing electrical outages, are a common occurence. So, keeping fresh batteries in the flashlights is a must. Have we mentioned the delays at the airports, bus terminals and train stations? Travel almost anywhere is a long, slow process.

A few weeks ago, the groundhog did predict six more weeks of winter, and he must have been on the mark this year. Someone sent us an e-mail recently showing a picture of a snowman with a noose around his neck...we thought it was pretty appropriate.

Memories of that beautiful first snowfall of so long ago on Christmas Eve have now been replaced by the words "OMG IS IT SNOWING AGAIN, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!"

P.S. Does anyone out there have an extra snow shovel???

DANCING

2009-02-12T15:07:00.009-05:00

Do we ever really learn to dance the right way? At least the right way according to the dance instructor? This our second attempt at ballroom dance lessons in the past two years, and even though some moves are familiar, will we really remember them when we are out on the dance floor with 50 other people in a fury of thrashing feet, arms and hips? It all seems to go well as we practice a new move without music and people dancing beside us, but then...

Our ballroom dance class is two hours a week for eight weeks. We are learning the Foxtrot, Hustle, Cha Cha Cha, Rhumba, East Coast Swing, Tango(our favorite so far), Waltz (our next favorite), West Coast Swing, Samba, and even the Polka.

We did notice some muscle pain after the first few classes, but now I think we have limbered up a little. Our bodies are getting used to twisting in unusual ways, flinging our heads around at odd angles, and even flexing our knees while standing beside each other in parallel position, ready to cha cha.

We are learning to count to the beat of the music, although Latin seems to be the hardest to recognize. Maybe because of our European descent? However, we did notice that our dark-haired classmate, Roberto, had no problem with that beat.

Our dance instructors are very positive, and encouraging. They never seem to show even the least bit of dismay as we step on each others toes, or blame one another for making the wrong move at the wrong time! They patiently demonstrate the move again for us, and sometimes a lightbulb does go off in one of our heads, or we have the aha moment that indicates we might just remember or understand what we are doing next time around the dance floor.

We are struggling, but determined. We have attended one real dance since we began our instruction, and actually had the courage to get up on the dance floor and struggle through a Foxtrot, and a Cha Cha Cha. As the night wore on, we even remembered a few steps from the Texas Two Step, a dance that we learned long ago. As the last song of the evening was played, we threw all caution to the wind and proudly did that Two Step around the dance floor to the pounding tune of a Latin Salsa! Adios for now amigos, wish us luck!

CROCS SHOES

2007-10-28T10:39:00.001-04:00

Have you ever worn a pair of Crocs? They are a new footwear sensation that is sweeping the nation, and from my observations, you either love them or hate them. They come in a lot of different styles and colors. Most styles are made of something called croslite, which is a soft, lightweight material. Some of the clog-like styles have holes in the tops, and you can decorate, and customize them with jibbitz. These are unique charms which fit into the holes of the shoes. You can also purchase Crocs that have your favorite sports team logo and colors on the heelstrap of the shoe. You can choose from NFL, PGA, NHL, MLB, AVP, Collegiate, racing, and winter-sports themes. You can buy Crocs especially made for people with foot problems, and even for people with diabetes who have impaired circulation or ultra-sensitive feet. They come in all sizes, and can be worn by men, women and children. Some of the newer styles have a fleece-like lining for winter wear, and some have leather or canvas trim.

With all that said, (sounds like a sales pitch, I know) I can only testify to my own experience of wearing Crocs shoes. I got my fist pair about four years ago as a gift. They were the flip-flop, thong style, and were a beautiful light blue color inside, with a dark brown trim around the top and sides, very cool. I am a confirmed, lifelong flip-flop wearer and was very surprised when I put them on and felt really comfortable in them from the start. They were sort of softer, yet more supportive than my other flip-flops. I wore them almost everyday that summer, and even bought a pair for my sister, and my daughter.

When fall came, I discovered the clog-like, no top holes style of Croc shoes at my local sporting goods store. My daughter and I each bought a pair, and wore them until the snow began to fly. By spring I was anxious to get my Crocs out of mothballs, and even went to check out some new styles at a Crocs kiosk in our Mall. I ended up buying a pair of black Mary Jane style Crocs, and of course a new pair of flip-flops for summer.

Several seasons have passed, and my sister recently sent me a Crocs ad showing a pair of NFL Crocs with my favorite football team logo and colors on the heelstrap. Needless to say, after a little thought of “do I really need another pair”, I somehow convinced myself that these were so unique; they would probably be a collector’s item in years to come, so I ordered them. Five pairs of Crocs isn’t too obsessive, is it?!

I know they aren’t for everyone, and it’s tough to convince someone to wear a shoe that is somewhat awkward looking, and seems to be made of plastic with holes in them (like their clog-style shoe). However, it’s almost as if you have to step outside of the box and take a chance on buying a pair of Crocs that best suit your needs and taste to know if you will like them.

My growing Crocs’ collection is something that brings me comfort and makes me feel lighthearted when I wear them, so I guess I’m already hooked! I absolutely love how comfortable they are, and how I sort of get an extra spring in my step when I am walking or running in them. I do agree that some styles are a bit awkward looking, but the comfort makes up for that odd look. Most of my family members wear them now, kids, men and women, young and old. They have all colors and styles and they all say the same thing. “WE LOVE OUR CROCS!”

GUITARS, NOT WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE

2007-10-27T16:26:00.000-04:00

They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, and that is certainly true when it comes to guitars. Let me explain.

About two years ago, I decided I'd like to learn to play the guitar. The obvious thing was that I would need to buy a guitar since I didn't have one. Not knowing anything about guitars, I turned to the ultimate source, the information highway, i.e. the internet. Because of my naivety, I was impressed by the fancy looking guitars, and was sure that those beautiful pearl inlays and gold tuners, as well as the quilted tops and birds-eye fretboards (all terms I learned on the internet), would certainly make the guitar sound wonderful when I learned to play it.

The first guitar I chose to buy was a Morgan Monroe Seranade. It is truly a beautiful guitar. It has a quilted maple top, bubinga back and sides in the grand auditorium style. It has a beautiful rose abalone inlay at the twelth fret. I began to learn to play on this wonderful guitar for about two months.

As I was learning to play, I continued to look at guitars and soon decided that every guitar player should also have a twelve string guitar. So, I purchase a Washburn D13-S12 twelve string guitar. When it arrived, and I got my first look at it, I decided that that the Wasburn truly looked like a guitar should look. It was a dreadnought style, which in simple terms means big.

As I continued to take guitar lessons at the local Community College, I realized that my Morgan Monroe guitar was really the most impressive looking guitar in the class. However, I did notice that it did not sound as good as my instructor's guitar. I knew that I could not afford to buy a guitar of the calliber that the teacher was playing, but that was enough incentive to prod me into visiting the local guitar stores in search of something that sounded a little better than my existing guitar. After all, one can never have enough guitars! By this time, I knew two things. First I wanted a dreadnought style guitar, and second I wanted a guitar that sounded better than the ones I owned.

I found a Yamaha FG-420A, 1989 vintage guitar that looked very plain, but sounded wonderful with its full, rich tones. Afterall, I had learned that a fancy looking guitar doesn't necessarily produce good sound.

Several years have passed, and the Yamaha is still the best sounding guitar that I have in my collection. Yes, I have acquired a total of six guitars now. My collection also includes a wonderful F-340S Takamine made in October 1980, and originally purchased by someone in California in 1981. I also own two electric guitars, a Fender Lite Ash Telecaster, and a G&L Tribute Telecaster.

As I continue to learn to play, I still look at guitars, but more often than not, I listen to them first. I have also learned that some of the so-called cheap, foreign-made guitars of the 1970's and 1980's are actually some of the best sounding guitars of today, and are treasured by their owners.

WARMER LOWER LEVEL FAMILY ROOM IN A SPLIT-ENTRY HOME

2007-10-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Soon after purchasing our first split-entry home, we realized that our beautiful lower level family room was cold in the summer and cold in the winter! There were heating and air-conditioning vents in the ceiling that did not provide enough heat in the winter, and since warm air rises all of the warm air coming out of those ceiling vents went up the open stairway of our split-entry home.

In the summer, we closed the air-conditioning vents in the ceiling on the lower-level; however, cool air from the air-conditoning on the upper-level flowed down the open stairway, making the lower level too cool.

We thought about closing off the open stairway, but nixed that idea as we liked the design of the open area in the entryway.

We purchased a small vent-free gas heater wall unit from Lowes and installed it on a wall in the lower-level family room. This provided some heat in the winter, but this warm air also travelled up the open stairway and really did not heat all areas of the large family room. We also worried about children touching the heater when it was on. Of course, this did not change our summertime problem either of the temperature being too cool on the lower level.

Our next attempt to solve this dilema, was to install a ceiling fan in the entry-way, at the top of the open stairway, between the lower-level and first floor. This did help push the warm air down in the winter, but didn't draw the cool air up in the summer, and the ceiling fan needed to be on almost all of the time in the winter to keep pushing the warm air downstairs.

We also decided to replace the small unvented gas wall heater with an unvented gas fireplace. This feature added a nice look and more heat to the family room, and we put a protective screen in front of the fireplace when it was on, to keep the children from getting hurt. Although this helped somewhat, it still did not solve the problem of the family room being too cool in the summer, and we also started to get paranoid about the unvented fireplace fumes in the winter, as we needed to keep the fireplace on alot when we were in the family room.

We thought about replacing the unvented gas fireplace with a woodburner, or a wood-burning fireplace, but knew that we didn't want to have the hassle of constantly keeping a fire burning, hauling in wood, etc.

Our last and actually successful attempt to keep our lower-level family room warm in the winter and not-too-cool in the summer was when we decided to have an Xtrordinair (name brand) vented, gas fireplace installed that had an automatic thermostat and blower.

When the installer for our fireplace came out to measure and look at the room, we talked to him about the problems we'd been having...trying to keep an even temperature in our lower level. He said, "all you need to do is to add some cold-air returns in your lower-level". He advised us to put one cold-air return on the wall near the floor opposite the fireplace, and one in the ceiling above our new vented gas fireplace.

Although, the cold-air return in the ceiling would not be picking up cold air from the room in the winter, it would pick up the warm air from the fireplace and distribute it throughout the house by way of the existing furnace ductwork. This enabled us to lower our furnace thermostat in the winter, yet still keep the upstairs warm.

In the summertime, the cold air return on the lower-level wall near the floor took the cold air from that level and distributed it throughout the house by way of the existing furnace ductwork. It was during the summer that we had our new fireplace and cold-air returns installed, and we immediately noticed a drastic difference in our lower-level family room temperature. It was as comfortable as our upper-level, and all of the cold, damp air seemed to be gone.

In the winter, we set the vented gas fireplace remote- control thermostat in our lower-level family room to the desired tempterature, and turn our furnace blower on manually (there is a switch to do this on the furnace). This keeps the warm air circulating throughout the house at an even tempterature. (This was another suggestion made by our fireplace installer.)

So, after much trial and error, we now have a lower-level family room, in our split-entry, open-stairway home that has a comfortable temperature all year long. Adding the vented gas fireplace and cold-air returns in the lower-level solved our problems. Hope these tips help others who may have a similar problem. Maybe it will help other homeowners to avoid the long process we went through looking for a solution.