My blog is worth $192,508.14.
How much is your blog worth?
We have a Christmas Cactus plant and it is just beautifully filled with blooms right now. It has grown rather large and this article may help others who believe after the blooms have faded it will be time to re-pot it into a bigger container. This is helpful.
These plants bloom between November and January, thus the name. But being in the cactus family means learning a bit about when to water, what type of light, etc. This may be helpful there.
We enjoy ours
|
|
The article begins like this: "There are a number of ways you can tell you're getting older, especially when it comes to your personal fitness, aches and pains notwithstanding. In a new video on powerlifter Mark Bell's YouTube channel, legendary fitness coach Chris Hinshaw shows off what he believes to be the definitive gauge of longevity. "This is the decider of whether or not you're still in the game."
So this power lifter has decided how we can gauge our longevity by doing a feat no one in their right mind would even consider. He says, "This is the decider of whether or not you're still in the game."
So what is this decider? You must begin by standing barefoot on the floor. Then raise one foot into the air. put your sock and shoe back onto your elevated foot. You're not allowed to bring that foot back down to the ground until the shoe is on, with the shoelaces fully tied. "You have to do it in one move," says Hinshaw. Then, switch feet and repeat on the other side.
The link to this story has a video of a late 30-ish year old guy trying this. Which leads me to believe anyone older than this will never be able to complete it.
|
|
A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a fallen sign next to the Collinsville American Legion's exit drive. It had said exit only and was placed too close to the edge and was hit several times by cars leaving. Eventually it was hit for the last time, leaned way over and had to be replaced. Recently a new sign replaced the old and was also placed too close to the edge and it wasn't long before this one was hit.
And here we go again. Leaning and waiting for the next hit. I am kind of obsessed with this kind of thing since I once turned into a misplaced sign and wrecked the side of our car.
|
|
After a day of Thanksgiving cooking as well as a few past cooked dinners I realized just how badly our oven door needed cleaning. This is not the easiest job around the house since the streaks are usually baked on grease splatter. Over the years many products have been touted as the best way to get that glass door clean, some the strong kind that needs rubber gloves, others too weak.
Which meant I perked up when I read a story this morning coming from the famous household advice giver, Mrs. Finch. She claims the most amazing way to clean an oven door perfectly and safely is by using a Finish Powerball dish washing tablet. This is a hard type of tablet unlike the squishy types most often seen for dishwashers. Spray the glass with water, rub the tablet around the surface, wipe clean.
Since I have some of these Finish tablets I am going to give this a try. But not today. The day after Thanksgiving I'm weary of kitchen work.
|
|
It's getting close to putting out our Christmas village we call Tiny Town. The front yard gets filled with lighted trees, animal figures and buildings Dale has built over the years. We have a couple of houses, a store, a barn etc. These get spotlights in front of them. We always encourage people to walk around and enjoy. This was originally built and put out into the side yard of our house at the seminary, but last year we were able to make it work here in Collinsville. Over the years a couple of our lighted animals bit the dust, so I replaced them with a new dog and a cute teddy bear.
Here are the new guys waiting to get out and joy the party.
Oh, and here is Dale this morning repairing some of the houses in his workshop which is supposed to be a garage.
|
|
The hardest part of roasting a turkey, at least to me, is making sure it is done. I've long used two ways to do this. The first is poking the tip of a knife into it to see if the juices run clear. I followed that up with a meat thermometer. But, this year I decided to splurge and get one of those thermometers in which the probe goes into the turkey at the beginning and a cord attached to it runs outside the oven and is connected to a digital display. This way i won't have to keep opening the oven door to check on the progress. At least I hope so.
Actually the hardest part of the turkey is getting it ready to put into the oven.Those suckers are heavy, cold and slippery. Dale removes it when done I'm happy to say. I do put some stuffing inside the bird, and the rest goes into a baking dish.
|
|
Our daughter was in town this weekend and we got reserved time slot tickets to the World Wide Technology Raceway's Wonderlights Christmas drive through show. This was amazing. You stay in your car and drive around the entire race track area which is filled with all kinds of lighted figures accompanied by perfect music. The music comes from the car radio tuned to 89.5 or some such which is perfectly timed to whatever scene you are driving past.
The music and lighted figures are also a nice combination of secular and religious Christmas. We will go again it was so wonderful. If you've never been to this, you must go.
|
|
Yes, Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday and every newspaper, online food talk, and even local TV news people are giving advice on the best way to prepare the meal. They are also adding scary warnings about food poisoning and bacteria covering everything from the turkey to the side dishes. As someone who is more than mildly paranoid about food safety, all these warnings stress me out.
We've fixed Thanksgiving turkey for years with no ill effects, but history does not stop me from fretting over all the bad possibilities. Today I read that we should not rinse off or wash our turkey before getting it ready for the oven. I always do this, especially the inside and it irritates me no end to be told not to do it. The reason seems to be that washing or rinsing it will cover the countertops and sink with all kinds of bacteria. If rinsing moves bacteria to the countertops which can be easily cleaned, it still makes sense to get it off the turkey. So I will continue as always and give it a good rinsing off and out and then give the surfaces a good bleach cleaning.
As to the other food issues, we should all know by now to not let got foods sit out forever after a meal. Get them wrapped up and put into the refrigerator. I am so fanatical I barely wait for the last person to put their fork down before I start putting food away. It's worked for us so far. I never understood how anyone could leave cooked food sitting around for hours and even over night. Get that stuff into the refrigerator. Pie and rolls can stay out, the rest has to be put into the chill in good order.
|
|
As a grandparent, this headline interested me. It gives advice to grandkids or their parents on what to get us for Christmas.
To be perfectly frank, none of these ideas are something we'd get much of a kick out of. Not to be rude, but kids, don't do this. Some of the ideas are:
Grandparents picture frame. "Nothing says happy holidays to a grandparent more than receiving a picture of their grandchild already in a frame", Nope, have those.
A scrapbook. Nope
Keychain set. Again nope
Grandparents coffee mug set. Oh man, we have way too many coffee mugs as it is.
There are more, but, honestly, we'd rather have wine.
|
|
This is one issue I care about this week. It's always been the luck of the draw to get the frozen turkey thawed out perfectly on Thanksgiving Day. This year the news has reported that turkey producers have way more large turkeys than those under 20 pounds. We found that to be true when we got ours last week. There were plenty of really small ones and lots 20 pounds and up. The small ones won't be big enough for our dinner, but, boy, 20 pounds is a lot of bird.
And, this article gives advice on just when is the most optimal time to get that turkey out of the freezer and into the top of the refrigerator so that it is perfectly thawed. For a 20 pounder, it needs 5 days. We brought ours home and plunked it into the freezer in the basement. That turkey was so heavy that Dale had to do that part. But, after reading this advice today I realized this is the most optimal day to get ours out of the freezer and into the fridge.
But he is not here at the moment and won't be til almost 3. He has to be the one to get the darn thing upstairs, my knees and lower back will not be up to it. So I hope it will still thaw well.
|
|
This is one of the most annoying websites I've ever clicked on, but the headline stating "The 25 Most Dangerous cities in Illinois" interested me. Because this site has so many moving ads, the screen just keeps jumping around which makes getting the list almost impossible. But if you are interested, I am listing them for you from 1-25 in order of dangerousness. This list numbered oddly on this page because of the ties. But here it is. Happy Collinsville did not make the list. If you want to actually put yourself through this website and read the reasons for the cities, here is the link.
|
|
If the sky is clear enough, we should be able to watch the total eclipse of the Beaver moon tonight. It will begin around 12:02 and is totally eclipsed at 3:02. Then the whole thing ends and back to normal at 6:03. I am using the time for St. Louis since that is closest to us. I really can't imagine myself getting up at 3:02 to see the total thing, but I will try to see how it all ends from 4 to 6.
|
|
Some consumer business experts have begun suggesting giving gift cards this Christmas may be a bad idea. Not the cash filled cards, but cards for specific stores. The reason given is that due to the pandemic, many of these stores have file for bankruptcy and the cards will be useless.
Just an FYI, do some research if giving cards to actual stores.
|
|
A time tested approach by chefs like Julia Child and more current cooks swear by covering their turkey with butter soaked cheesecloth. "The butter-soaked cheesecloth keeps the white meat moist, and allows the skin to brown once removed."
It sounds interesting, but frankly, I don't think I'll spend the time doing this.
My head is firmly fixated on the Thanksgiving meal these days.
|
|
A food survey asked what is the best store bought stuffing which comes right on time for Thanksgiving. The clear favorite by far turned out to be Pepperidge Farm. This makes me happy because this the stuffing I have used for years and bought a couple of bags yesterday.
I realize many Thanksgiving cooks prefer to make their stuffing, or dressing, from scratch with actual bread, but in my experience there is just way too much to do getting the whole meal together to do this. And, Pepperidge Farm has always turned out great with the addition of sauted onions, celery and chicken stock. Anything can be added depending on your family's tradition. Cooking this up makes the whole house smell wonderful and then it is cooled and put into the bird. Extras are put in bowls and chilled until needed.
|
|
Joint discomfort is what nags me and has become more noticeable since our move back to Collinsville a year ago. I believe this has a lot to do with all the heavy lifting we did as well as all the heavy gardening this year. Dale is a big believer in supplements and vitamins of all sorts and keeps nagging at me to start taking them. I've never been a pill person except for the occasional aspirin, but I've started to come around to his way of thinking. If they help, great.
Here are some recommended supplements for all sorts of joint pain and stiffness. Oddly, at least to me, is the overwhelming advice for fish oil. This seems to be a wonder supplement if you are not eating salmon or sardines each week which I am not. And there are more to consider which I may do as well.
|
|
This is rather helpful if true, especially if you are someone who has trouble sleeping. There are snacking type foods which contain natural sleep promoting properties and are not chemical pills. Frankly we all have nights that sleep just won't come and sometimes we even no ahead of time we won't be able to get to sleep whether from stress,worry or too much physical activity. This may help.
The first item on the list is cherries and this surprises me. We never have cherries around, never give them a thought, maybe knowing they have pits is off-putting. Cherry juice appears to work similarly and is also very beneficial for helping with joint pain or inflammation. Easier than eating cherries.
Also for better rest, dark chocolate, yay, Walnuts, almonds, Hummus, pistachios, watermelon, oatmeal and bananas. Pistachios seem to be the "Holy Grail of Nuts."
|
|
Seven years ago our next door neighbor sent me this photo on Facebook.
If you know our backyard history here in Collinsville you know we've had raccoons for years, plus a Golden Retriever. Our Retriever is now gone, but raccoons are still here, doggone it. The back of the photo looks similar to our deck as well.
|
|
We all have heard that this time of year is a big time for deer running into the path of cars. We've hit 3 in our marriage years and I never, ever, want to do this again. This bulletin gives some information on which Illinois counties have the most deer crashes.
Madison County where we live is the second highest. I don't feel much better knowing this and last week as I headed to Fairview Heights, a deer zoomed out from the side of 159, just beyond the World's Largest Catsup Bottle water tower.
Be careful out there everyone.
Cook 469
2. Madison 375
3. Will 322
4. Sangamon 308
5. Peoria 306
6. Kane 275
7. McHenry 271
8. Fulton 268
9. Lake 250
10. Williamson 249
|
|
Heard on the news tonight that there is a change shortage which is troubling businesses and banks. Businesses don't have enough change to give people, change for what they buy with cash. "That's right, America doesn’t have enough physical change to go around. And yep, you can blame that on the pandemic, too. In short, coins aren’t circulating through the economy as readily as they once were since people are going out and spending less–and opting for digital or contactless payments wherever they can."
Well, let me just give a personal experience. We have lots of change, a serious amount of change. We've emptied pockets and purses and wallets of change into jars, buckets, baskets, and even rolled a bunch into those paper coin things for years. The problem we've experienced is banks really do not want to waste time tossing all of this into their counting machines. And as to rolls, forget it, they must be emptied and put into the machine as well. I would love, love, to take our change to a bank and get it counted and credited to my checking account. But dealing with eye rolls from bank tellers in past years keep me from bothering.
The country wants change? Just ask and we will be there.
|
|