I'm Doomed

Chocolate is good for your health.

Ok, let me say that again...chocolate is good for your health.

Ummm, nope, no matter how much I say it, I still hate chocolate. Gross, Ick, Yuck! So, I'm doomed to die of a blood clot. I guess it's nice to know how I'll go, cause there is no way they are getting chocolate down my throat.

All right, all kidding aside, it's true. John Hopkins says so - see:

MSNBC

BBC

Chicago Tribune

Science News

MedicineNet

Next they'll be telling me ice cream is good for you. Groooooossssss!

Simply Simple

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.-- Edmund Burke

I believe him. I'm obviously more simple than the average bear. And sometimes (ok, 90% of the time) it's my downfall. I can't help it...I want to know why, when, where and how that plant grows. Ick, I sound like a garden reporter. At least, thanks to the internet, I don't have to haunt the library, only getting the 'experts' views on everything. I can get hands-on-been-there-done-that from real people. With pictures even!

I discovered a casualty in the front flowerbed this weekend; the white rose my SIL bought me at a Dollar Shop sale in the spring. Though the magnifying glass didn't uncover much forensic evidence, I suspect the local no-gooders. Why are they messing with me, for Pete sake? I'm not the one dressed in orange, stealing stealthily through the naked woods with gun slung across my back to have an 8 point trophy adorning my living room wall! I'm quite happy to leave their heads attatched to their bodies. Maybe just knock a few teeth out.

There was only one decimated cane, but still, it broke my heart. So, in it came and promptly got pruned into 3 cuttings, plopped into some potting soil, sealed in a soda bottle, wrapped in an enigma...

I'm crossing my fingers, though I don't hold out much hope. Hey, it's still sending out leaves, so there's hope, right? Right? (I am soooo ignoring you nay-sayers right now).

SIL informed me yesterday (yes, the same that buys me plants I love, which either get destroyed with no evidence of why, or defiantly croak on me, also with no evidence of why) that someone in town had a huge gob of potted mums in the trash pile for Monday's yard waste pickup.

Say what?
D gave her the 'Why do you have to tell her this stuff' look and sighed. Of course, she smiled triumphantly and proceeded to tell me where. Now, if I had been driving we would have made it in time, but no, D had to dawdle and I missed the pots. The neighbor dumped the mums upside down uncerimoniously and swiped them to use as protection for...something.

But - I got the mums! Happy dance! Woohooooo! All mine baby, all mine! Broken and trampled, but mine.
The bad, bad wasters (I can't help it - they are!) left a bunch of gourds and pumpkins too, in perfect condition no less, but I wasn't sure if they were the cooking kind or not. Can you cook and consume any pumpkin? See, now I think I should have snatched those too! And I could have made bird houses and feeders from the gourds!! Damn!! Can you hear me smashing my head on the desk? Well, there wasn't any more room in the trunk anyway?

I wonder what time the town starts the pickup in that area...

Point & Laugh

Ok, this is my best attempt at making you trash your yard. Well, part of it. Just a small piece, actually.

Oh, come on!
Don't you want the neighbors peering through their curtains with a look of total shock on their faces? Don't you envy the point and laugh that some of us get? The lips shielded with cupped hands as they whisper amongst themselves with contempt at what you've done? The wide, disbelieving eyes? The carefully avoided topic of plastic underfoot when met out and about by a neighbor?
Those suspicious sidelong glances? The quick slowing of cars as they stare with morbid curiosity at what is obviously your attempt to bring down property taxes in the area? The children's friends elbowing them and asking if their mom is really some secretly mad backyard scientist or something? The sister-in-law wondering how soon should she start filling out the commitment forms?
The appalled look on the hubsters face when you snatch the latest emptied treasure from the trash, and with foot stamping disbelief, ask who in the household deemed it necessary to throw out such a perfect jewel? The danger and adventure akin to 007 when slithering through the shadows to get to the perfect pile in the neighbors recyclable bin? The wonderment of passers-by who only shake their heads as you mutter and try to fill a container with water - that's full of holes? The children wondering if you cooed over them with as much overwhelming concern when they were mere sprouts?
The garden center owners shaking a fist at you as you drive by, smile and wave...instead of pulling in and dropping a wad? The parents wondering if you might have fallen and hit your head a bit too much when you were small? The friends confused because the first thing on your birthday and Christmas wish lists is always 'potting soil'?

Admit it, you're jealous of all those wonderful perks and you want to enjoy them too!

We are a force of thousands. Come along on the journey with us and be part of this wondeful pointed and laughed at group. Come join the revolution Trudi Davidoff started...well, I blame it all on her anyway.


Happy Thanksgiving! May each and every one of you be blessed with much to be thankful for.

Don't Eat The Squash

Really.

Birds Eye is recalling its frozen Cooked Winter Squash, also sold under other labels.

The brands and UPC codes included in the Cooked Squash recall are:

Birds Eye, UPC 014500005168;
Stop & Shop, UPC 688267009723;
Shaw, UPC 045674504829;
Price Chopper, UPC 041735303462;
Lafe, UPC 023545071755;
Shurfine, UPC 015400830621;
Hannaford, UPC 041268111459;
Flavorite, UPC 041130542541;
Market Basket, UPC 049705630402;
Wegmans, UPC 077890800874;
Giant, UPC 688267009723;
Tops, UPC 688267009723;
Safeway, UPC 021130090372;
IGA, UPC 041270497640;
Roundy's UPC 011150548304;
Remarkable, UPC 755566308618; and
Dominicks, UPC 038281906285.

Questions? Call the company at 1-800-807-8817.

For more: Recall

Fun Stuff

Woke up to skim ice this morning. Bah! Hubby, fantastic guy that he is, moved his old wagon over to the spot I plan on putting my WSing jugs to collect water come springish weather. It'll be much, much easier to dip the containers and bottom water than to try and water through the tops of the jugs and dislodge the seeds. He still doesn't really get it, but at least he's willing to experiment with me. I still can't imagine my flowerbeds actually being full for once, but we'll see.

Since there isn't much going on with my garden (ugh!) and I'll be quite the busy beaver this week (I'm not sure how I always end up being the one to cook Thanksgiving dinner every year-pushover), I thought I'd post some of my winter depression relievers.

Make your own virtual garden. This thing is awesome! You can save, rearrange, add, subtract or wipe it clean and start over.

Plant X-rays. Ok, it's for kids, but I still find it cool.

Spice pages. Everything and anything you've ever wanted to know about spices, including pics of the flowers and dried.

Bet The Farm. Think farming is a big paying easy job? try it!

Optical Illusions. Very freaky!

Scribbler. My kids like this one.

And of course, The Light Before Christmas. I'm sure you've all seen it before, especially if you've seen the commercial, but did you know he did a second one? Honestly, how can you be humbug watching that?