Friday, October 30, 2009

Contributing to the Delinquency of Grandmothers

OK, I am saying it out loud, I Sheri am contributing to the delinquency of some Grandmothers and Great-Grandmothers in Tucson. It all started innocently enough. I took my finishing basket to knitting to day to get some finishing work done.

So the topic came up of where everything was going. I said the fingerless gloves were for an order and the rest I was going to list on my Art Fire studio. We talked about the hats and scarfs and how I was going to price them, what were they made of, 100% wool of course and how to wash them.

That's when the it would look great on my grandchild conversation came up. I sold 2 hats. And then one of the new knitters asked if she could say that she made the hat? Not being that vain I said they could tell their grand kids that they made the hats for them. I thought whats the harm in a little white lie, if they needed more hats they would come back to me for them.

As we were talking over our days at dinner I told John about this because I thought it was funny. John , however looked at it differently and said that I was contributing to the delinquency of both of the grandmothers, in a joking tone.

So, yes to take credit for someone else's work is wrong, but have we become so entwined in the nuisances of life that a loving Grandmother can't tell a little white lie now and again. After all how can the grand kids say but grandma can do everything and be in awe of her as they should be. This is something that needs to be pondered upon.

In the mean time I hear the washer calling me. When will those clothes just learn to wash and dry themselves and then go to where they belong in the drawers and closets.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Lovin Spoonfuls - Tucson Arizona

Food is one of the wonderful touchy subjects. Everyone has things that they will not touch and things that they love. Some people are vegans other are carnivores, most will go either way. We have a wonderful Vegan Restaurant in Tucson called Lovin Spoonfuls.

The menu has a wide array of options not just salads. They have come up with some amazing vegan versions of the food grandma use to make. They will leave you wondering is this really vegan, yes it is.

One of my favorite Vegan lunches is called a Route 66 a mock bacon cheeseburger, you will never catch me eating a real bacon cheeseburger it just sounds like a greasy heart attack on a bun. I have yet to figure out what makes a Route 66 burger so good but I will never turn one down. The Route 66 paired with a mock milk shake, soy based of course makes a wonderful treat.

Other things I will not eat include shellfish. Shellfish for some reason does not like me, but give me a basket of mock shrimp with cocktail sauce and I am in heaven. Lovin Spoonfuls makes a wonderful version.

I will never turn down a milk and egg free cake either. For me the consummate chocoholic it would be a toss up between the Black Forest Cake and the Chocolate cake. If available I would not pass up a good vegan carrot cake either. Did I mention that they had creme pies too, when available the coconut cream pie is wonderful.

If you happen to be around for breakfast you have to try the french toast or the pancakes, yes you can make both with out milk or eggs.

All these treats and a host of other wonderful food is available at Lovin Spoonfuls at 2990 N. Campbell Avenue in Tucson. This is just south of Fort Lowell on the east side of the street.

I have not been paid to do this review but if you stop by and enjoy some of these treats it will insure that I can get my Route 66 burger and shake when I want them.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Very Good Day

After getting Eric on the bus for late start Wednesday, I headed over to the Honda Dealership to get an 1-A service and new wipers. I kept my self busy by organizing my coupon folder, throwing away expired coupons and filing the recently cut coupons. Once that was done I moved over to the TV area to work on some knitting. I made good progress I have almost finished the first fingerless glove, since they are black I will have to wait for good light to finish them.

The next choice was shopping at Target or going out to lunch. I choose Target and did some semi-retail therapy. I don't think you can really call it retail therapy if your basket is filled with food, sundries and cleaning supplies. Talking about cleaning supplies I cornered the market on the Mega Shower Foamer Scrubbing Bubbles, they had coupons on the cans, so I got 4 cans and saved 4 dollars. I will finish the bathroom floor later.

I had a great time with my coupons I saved $56.68 in coupons, and received a coupon for 5 dollars of my next visit, the cashier said I was the recession buster queen for the day. I guess she has not seen many people use the coupons to the max. I do have to say that it took almost as long to ring up the coupons as it did the items in my shopping basket. I do have to say that I left some coupons for other shoppers, I did not feel we needed 2 bags of chips and I had a better coupon on the toilet paper. As a bonus Target now gives 5 cents per bag rebate credit. Since some of my shopping bags are almost as old as Teri so I am sure that they have paid for themselves already.

I took 45 minutes to put almost everything away. I don't know how it got to be 3 pm. but I did make a sandwich for lunch and was still munching on lunch as Eric's bus pulled up. I really think it was colder when Eric got off the bus today, then when I put him on the bus, at least they covered him with a blanket to send him home.

I went a little teary eyed today when yet another one of Eric's doctors called to say that he was yet again at the top of their list for their limited supply of H1N1 vaccines. This was the second call this week. I think that there is a huge elephant in the room that everyone acknowledges but refuses to talk about. He did get his shot on Monday and I hope that it kicks in before the flu over takes his school.

I guess it is time to do a little cleaning and straighting before John gets home. I have an easy dinner planned, fish and chips with broccoli. I can open bags and boxes with the best of them.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Pretty Typical Day

Well after being up with Eric half the night I still managed to have a productive day. Of course nothing but laundry happened till after a nap. It is so wonderful that Eric naps during the day when he is up for half the night. I even got the first load in the dryer before 7 am, and no you can not ask when that load of laundry was started.

After starting and frogging my first pair of fingerless gloves, I found another pattern on Raverly and am halfway through the first glove. Being me I changed the pattern to make it a little fancier.

On a whim I tried the new Mega Shower Foamer Scrubbing Bubbles on Eric's bathroom floor. I have to say that I was impressed, it took off deep down dirt in the grout that a professional cleaner said was never going to come out. He said that we would have to paint the grout with acrylic paint to make the grout look better. I sprayed it on and let it sit for a few minutes and rinsed the dirt down the drain. I only did a small sample area in the middle of the floor, I know you are suppose to do it in a corner to try things out, but I am still foggy brained tired. It worked so well I had to do a larger area so it would not look weird and ran out of steam before I finished the floor. I tried to take a picture but it does not show the dramatic difference it made. I will have to added it to my shopping list and finish the floor. Why do I get these wonderful ideas when I am so tired? I would like to thank the wonderful chemists that made such a great product, S.C. Johnson & Sons should really give them a raise.

I also won a prize package from Nature Valley last week and tried the Granola Nut Clusters in roasted Cashew today, they tasted like a nut bar that I frequently bought in the 70's. It had a very good tasted and texture and the nostalgia value is wonderful. Good job General Mills.

Even though Eric was up half the night and I am beginning to wear down I still have to get the prizes packaged so that they can be mailed, plus I set a goal of a clean counter and table, things seem to pile up so quickly even with a recycle basket and a shredder right by where I open the mail.

Full disclosure statement. I used a manufactures coupon to buy the Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer. The Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters came in a prize package that I won through a contest. I have not received any money in exchange for my views in this blog. All views in this blog are my own.

Have a wonderful night and enjoy your families.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Why Picnics Are a Bad Idea

I have come to the conclusion yet again, that picnics are a bad idea with Eric. I am a slow learner on this one and will probably try again next year.

We went to a food festival at a park today for lunch. I thought that we were evenly matched John and I verses Eric, but I was wrong we were out numbered. So out numbered it is not funny.

The wind picked up the moment we sat down to eat and feed Eric. So all his supplies and napkins tried to fly away. Eric was playing with his mickey tubing and managed to untwist it. I did not notice till after I sent 10 cc's of food everywhere, wheelchair, boy, the back side of the bib. This type of mess is hard enough to clean up at home with a lot of extra kitchen towels and sponges, it is not fun to clean up with napkins that try to fly at me once they are coated with food. I think we gave a fine tribute to Soupy Sales with food everywhere. Did I mention the syringe got stuck and the food went flying straight up in the air and down on my pants. Why did Issac Newton have to be right?

We got to listen to the Catalina Foothills High School Steel Drum Band, under the direction of Dr. Tina Walton, while we ate lunch. They are wonderful and have a CD of there music available through the school. I think that might just be a present for someone this year.

Since it has not cooled down enough for the bees to hibernate for the winter they were everywhere. I don't think a lot of people know that you are not suppose to swat at bees anymore because of the risk of Africanized bees swarming in self defense. I am so glad that the bees did not swarm.

After lunch we did one turn around the park and headed home in almost one piece, hot and tired.

All in all a pretty good outing if you don't count the flying food.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The Winners of My First Contest

Well folks, the entries were all read by a panel of 3 judges. I managed to pull Teri away from her studies long enough to get a few chuckles, John and I rounded out the panel.

The First Place winner is Turtle with the following:

My tofu mushroom stroganoff is as dense as a black hole.

We did add a second place winner, Beadknitter with the following:

The collection of lint in the bottom of my knitting bag is as dense as a black hole.

Although my science guy said the sentence should have read as dark as a black hole to be correct. Well were knitters not science guys so beadknitter will also get some yarn from my stash.

Please send me your mailing address so I can get these packages of yarn out. Thank you all for entering

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Very Funny Day

OK, it was really a very disjointed day, but I like to make the best of things. Eric went to school today, but the bus did not show up at all, so 20 minutes after Eric was suppose to get on the bus I loaded Eric into the mommy taxi and drove him to school. Every one was very happy to see him, apparently the bus driver that skipped our stop told everyone Eric was in the hospital, that was news to Eric and I. Why doesn't anyone give that pertinent information to me? Everyone was happy to see Eric and one of his friends said that Eric made her day better and threw her fist up in the air with a big WOOT that Eric was back.

I still had 6 hours before I needed to be home. I know 6 hours off sounds just a little like heaven. There was not time enough to go home and do any chores before knitting, so I did the next best thing. I did 2 laps around the mall before knitting. By the way I did get my 5000 steps in today. I worked on a shawl for myself in a hand spun orange sherbet wool. This is the 3rd time I have started this shawl to get it just right, I swear that I will get pictures up sometime soon.

At 11 am Natalie, Nancy and I went to BJ's for lunch. It took them 3 tries to get the salad just as I ordered it. What is so hard about making a wedge salad with no dressing or cheese? Just cut the silly lettuce and put it on a plate. They did much better with the potato, I only had to send it back once. I had ordered it with no cheese or sour cream and it came loaded with both. If the food were not so good I certainly would not put up with the service.

Then it was off to the mall to get a new hair dryer at Sephora. They had a sweet one from T3 , the Bespoke model was light weight and fit my hand just right. One more stop and then it was time to go home to meet Eric at the bus.

This is when I heard that the dispatcher said that Eric was in the hospital so that there was no need to pick him up today. I have to admit that I was 2 minutes late to the bus stop, but there was no reason for the driver to be peeved, after all he did not show up at 7:50 this morning. There was the usual hemming and hawing as to why no one show up this morning, I have one simple request of the bus company, do your job with the best interest of my child in mind. I know it sounds very demanding and unreasonable, but give me a break, you are getting paid to do a job.

I did manage to get the laundry done when I got home so I have the evening off.

As usual I have not received any monetary considerations for any product or place of business mentioned in this blog. All opinions are my own.

Have a wonderful evening and enjoy your families