This made me smile

Today I looked out the window and saw my neighbor teaching his daughter (she's probably 14) to mow the lawn using their riding lawn mower. He was walking along side her giving her tips as she mowed the lawn. I thought it was really great that he was taking the time to teach her to do it safely. It reminded me of the way my dad used to teach us to do new stuff.

Closets, closets, closets

This weekend we had a ClosetMaid dealer in to outfit 6 of our closets. The man was a master - it took him 6 hours start to finish and that included demo-ing what was already there (not that it was a lot.) But then we had to put everything back. Ugh. However, we did take the time to purge along with all this organization so we got rid of a lot of clothes that we don't wear (or hate as the case may be) and found parts to things we no longer own. It feels good to have tidy closets but it felt like we were moving in all over again. I hate moving.

I almost forgot the best part. Because I am a "Clean House" addict, the wife bought me the Linda Koopersmith organizing book The Beverly Hills Organizer Home Organizing Bible and a Dymo Label maker. I am in geek heaven.

Music stuck in my head

 

I have the music from “Rent” stuck in my head.  My co-workers will think I’ve completely lost it when I start dancing to “La Vie Boheme.”

 

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4.7 inches of rain in 24 h

 

For those of you who know the saga of our frequent basement flooding problems, I am happy to report that the pumps did their job and the basement remained completely dry.  We still run down there every couple of hours and we’re sure to check first think in the morning and last thing at night but it feels really good to get through a storm like this and not be dragging ruined stuff out again (or having to fix the window that had to be smashed [or cut open in this case as it is still just a sheet of plastic from when The Wife had to smash it last summer.])  We can certainly empathize with the people in New Jersey who were flooded.

 

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Weather Cupcake?

 

I just saw this phrase “windy with occasional sprinkles” on the weather.com forecast for the town in which I live.  It struck me as very funny, as though jimmies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmies) are going to rain from the sky.  Wow.  What have I been smoking?  Sadly, nothing.

 

 

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Why does everything have to contain high fructose corn syrup?

For reasons of health and to try to help with weight loss I am trying to avoid two things that seem to be ubiquitous these days: high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweetners.  I was in the grocery store over the weekend and I was trying to buy bread.  Nearly every brand/variety of commercially made bread had HFCS in it, even a few labeled as "all natural."  I eventually found one within the "organic" line of a manufacturer whose other products all had HFCS.  Why can't they just use a little sugar?  Or, if it needs to be a liquid, use honey. I bake bread at home and I use honey.  The HFCS and artificial sweetner avoidance is making it very hard for me to find a soda I can drink.  I was used to drinking 2 12 oz. diet sodas a day.  I like carbonated drinks.  I guess I am going to have to start buying seltzer water and juice.  Hmmm, maybe I can find a cola syrup and make my own when I need a fix.  If you know of sodas that don't contain HFCS let me know.  In addition, if you have any suggestions for manufacturers/product lines (not just soda, any products) that don't contain either HFCS or artificial sweetner leave a note in the comments. 

What level of Hell?

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Moderate
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Oy. This is hard.

It is Passover.  While I am not Jewish, I am considering conversion and so this year, I am trying to observe Passover by not eating wheat, oats, barley, rye, or spelt.  There are also many other things that I may or may not be permitted to eat but not having grown up Jewish I don't have family or community tradition to fall back on or a family member to ask.  I've been reading as many things as I can but if I convert I'll be a Reform Jew and not an Orthodox one and many of the online resources are for Jews who are Orthodox.  I also am going to have to shop at a different supermarket for Passover supplies because the one where I usually shop has NO kosher for Passover matza. 

I didn't have a seder to attend this year which was sort of weird.  We could have gone to the community seder at the temple where we attend services and a weekly Judaism class but we have tickets to see Spam-a-lot tonight (purchased before we thought much about the Jewish calendar) so no luck there.

Hmmm, I think this might be harder than I thought it was going to be.