Happy Halloween!!!

Treat bags for work

We’re hoping for lots of trick-or-treaters this year.  We don’t get nearly as many as I thought we would, being so close to so many things.  I hope this will be our year though.  I didn’t get to go trick-or-treating as a kid, so I get really excited about Halloween now.  I think I’m more excited over the kids coming to our door than they are over the candy.

Since Halloween falls on a workday for both of us I put together little treat bags for both of us to take to our co-workers.  I just love the little bat bags. 

Full Cauldron!

We got a little carried away on the candy aisle, so we have quite a variety, and quite a lot of it.  Our cauldron is heaped full, and we have enough left over to fill it at least once more, maybe twice.  I know we don’t need that much; I think we had maybe eight or ten kids come to our door last year, but I’m optimistic.  And it would be a shame to run out.

My husband and I have both been diligently asking (begging) co-workers to bring their kids to our house for trick-or-treating.  The pumpkins are carved, and we have tons of candy; we just need trick-or-treaters.  Our plan is to make a big pot of chili, put in a Halloween movie (probably Hocus Pocus),and hand out candy. 

The refill supply

So what about you?  What are your Halloween plans? 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

Jack - O- Lanterns!

Fire Drill, (Almost) Flaming Cat Tail, Cold Wind & Soup

Are any of you in an area being affected by Hurricane Sandy?  I suppose the more appropriate question would be are any of you NOT in an area being affected by Hurricane Sandy?

We’ve had a VERY windy past few days, and it has been cold; very, very cold.  I realize that we’re fortunate and I shouldn’t complain, but I do miss the warmer weather.  Our area has had some power loss, but we’ve been lucky so far.

The wind has been blowing lots of things around; we’ve lost a Halloween decoration, lost some branches, and gained a bunch of leaves.  I think the branches and leaves are a pretty fair trade, so nothing to complain about there. 

The building I work in lost power yesterday afternoon, so we were able to go home an hour early.  We apparently lost power at home at some point (the digital clocks were flashing when I got home yesterday), but it was back on by the time I came home from work.  Some of the traffic lights were out on way home, but were working again by this morning.  It seems that the utilities people are doing an amazing job keeping things up and running here.

I decided that this was the perfect weather to try a new soup recipe.  Soup is just so perfect for cold nights, and I thought there was a reasonable chance we’d end up with company due to power outages, or end up at my husband’s grandparents’ house if we lost power (they live on the opposite side of town, so we were going with the thought/hope that at least one household would have power).  So a big pot of soup seemed like a good idea.

I found this recipe for Beer & Cheese Soup.  It was delicious!  We didn’t have Dijon Mustard, so I left that out.  I also added one extra cup of cheese.  I thought it was a little on the salty side, but my husband didn’t.  I think I’ll use half the salt the recipe calls for when I make it again, but it was still fabulous.  It makes a lot, so it’s great for a crowd, and re-heats well.  I didn’t serve it with popcorn either, just bread. 

We have turned on the heat in both parts of the house now that it is so cold.  We have a room that’s an add-on, so it’s not part of the central heating and cooling system.  It has a wall heater that is natural gas.  It isn’t pretty, but it keeps that room very warm, and my husband says it will work if we lose power.  We plan to eventually replace it with some sort of gas logs fireplace type thing. 

It turns out that “eventually” may need to come sooner than we thought.  Tara was walking around the heater last night (it’s next to the cabinet we keep their food in) and brushed her tail into it.  Her tail was on the flame!  It was one of those heart-stopping, I can’t believe this is happening moments.  We both just knew she was going to catch on fire.  She scares so easily and always runs when she’s scared, so we were terrified we wouldn’t be able to catch her quickly.  Somehow, she didn’t catch on fire.  Her tail wasn’t even singed.  I think it took some years off both our lives, but she is fine.  We turned it down to the lowest setting, so there was less of a flame, for the rest of the night.  We also locked all of the fur kids out of that room. 

I’ve been emailing my husband various fireplace screens that I’ve found online.  We will probably be ordering one tonight.  I don’t know if we can take another close call like that.  We have to keep the fur kids safe. 

This morning they apparently decided to make us pay for the extra hour off yesterday.  We had a fire drill shortly after 8:30.  I have no idea why they picked a day when it was 34 degrees and windy for the fire drill, but they did.  We spent about 15 minutes standing outside shivering and complaining.  I think we made it back inside in a lot less time than it took us to leave the building!

Here’s wishing for warm, sunny days for everyone.  I hope you’re all staying safe and doing well during the storm. 

Centered

This is last week’s question in Carrie’s amazing vacationgive-away going on over at The Slow-Dripped Life:  “Where do you find yourself most centered,most connected to life and you’re most true self?  It doesn’t have to be a place you travel farto get to – it can your own back porch, a broad scope of place, or a sense ofplace.  The most important thing is thatyou find what centers you there.”

If I understand the rules correctly I’m not too late in answering this one, I think, since it appears I have until tonight at midnight.  And if I am too late, it was too interesting of a topic not to write something about.

My first thought was the ocean.  I’m happy there.  I love it, and it makes me feel better.  But, while it’s the place I probably love the most, I don’t think it’s the only place that centers me.  I haven’t been to the beach since the summer of 2009.  I live in the mountains.  I think I’d be in trouble right now if the beach was the only place that centers me. 

It’s definitely not the mountains.  This area has grown on me, and I’m finally beginning to think of it as home, rather than simply the place that I live, but I can’t think of a single place locally that centers me.   Then I realized that it’s home, wherever that has been throughout my life, that centers me, largely my bedroom and the kitchen.

I’ve always kept my books in my bedroom; as a child and teenager it was because that was my space.  As an adult because I like having them near me, and I think the place you sleep should comfort you.   I have a little book of quotes I started keeping when I was 16 years old.  It’s a journal that I have copied quotes in over the years.  Quotes from books, movies, songs, fortune cookies, magazines, things people have said, anything that really spoke to me or inspired me.  I used to fall asleep at night copying things into it.  I keep that in my nightstand drawer, along with a book of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.  I read those things when I feel myself becoming unbalanced, off center if you will. 

Emily Dickinson wrote my favorite poem, the one I decided would be my motto for living:

If I can stop on heart from breaking;

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

The quotes book is filled with things that touched and inspired me, everything from quotes lauding the power of friendship to quotes encouraging one to go against the status quo.  These remind who and what I want to be, especially when read in a quiet bedroom.

The kitchen is my other refuge.  I love it when the house is so quiet, and the only sound I can heard is the thud of a knife against the cutting board, or the scrape of a spoon against a mixing bowl.  I am confident in the kitchen.  I am capable of creating new dishes and coming up with new combinations of flavors.  It comes naturally, without much thought, which allows me to think about other things.

There’s also a certain physicality to chopping, beating, and mixing.  It’s an occupation for my hands that engages my senses, but lets me think about other things.  And it’s timeless; people have always needed to eat, and people will always need to eat. 

So, though it may not sound exciting, it truly is the bedroom and the kitchen that center me.   What about you?  Where do you go, or what do you do to center yourself?  

The Politics of Marriage

Don’t worry, I’m not about to tell you who we’re voting for, or who I
think you should vote for.  This isn’t that kind of blog.  I’m just
curious as to how many couples don’t vote the same way.

This is the second election year my husband and I have been married
during.  We went together to vote in 2008, have gone together to vote
in local elections, and plan to go together to vote this year.

For the most part, we agree with each other politically; we’re on the
same page on issues like civil liberties, foreign policy, and most
other things.  We disagree (and have agreed to disagree) on all things
financial; taxation, wealth distribution, etc.  We also place
differing levels of importance on different issues.  As a result we
don’t always agree on who the better candidate is.

In 2008 we very nearly voted opposite each other, and we were fine
with that.  Neither of us saw it as cancelling out each other’s vote,
or something that we had to agree on.  We chose to look at it as one
of the many things we have different opinions on.  In the end, we
actually ended up voting the same way.  I was very conflicted as to
who to vote for (my first choice didn’t make it through the primaries)
and after lots of research I decided my husband’s choice was actually
the better of the two choices.

This year, I was the first to make up my mind.  My husband has been
more conflicted.  At one point, it looked like we would be voting
differently from each other.  I won’t say opposite, because a third
party candidate came into play, but definitely not the same candidate.
This year my husband has been the one to change his mind in the
eleventh hour, so once again we are voting the same way.

I have no doubt that a presidential election will come when we will
vote opposite (or at least differently) from each other, and we’re
fine with that.  We respect each other’s thoughts and opinions enough
that it’s a non-issue for us.

I haven’t asked many people if they’re voting for the same candidate
their spouse is.  Based on some of the rants my Facebook friends (on
both sides) are posting, that’s a particular can of worms I’d rather
not open.  I did have a (pleasant) semi-political discussion with one
acquaintance who is leaning toward a different candidate than the one
her husband is firmly behind, but feels like they shouldn’t vote
opposite each other, since that more or less cancels their votes out.

I have to say I disagree with that.  I view voting as a privilege and
a responsibility that we are truly fortunate to enjoy.  I also think
there should be enough respect within a marriage that you can vote for
who you choose.

But I am curious.  Do you and your spouse vote the same way?  Would it
bother you to cast opposite or different votes?  Do you even discuss
politics with your spouse?

Your Personality Color

I came across this article about colors and personalities recently.  It discusses how people who are drawn to certain colors exhibit certain personality traits.  I’m not sure how much I believe it, but it’s definitely interesting reading. 

It also ties in with Day Eight of the 30-Day Photo Challenge, which is “Favorite Color”.  Blue and green tie for first place with me, with purple coming in a close second.

Blue

Green

Purple

So what about you, what is your favorite color?

The Best Vacation(s) Ever

Carrie at The Slow-Dripped Life is having an incredible give-away.  You can read more about it here.  I am definitely participating in this one!

This week’s question is “What was one of your most cherished travel memories/trips?”

I’m going to answer this in two parts; my best travel memory as a kid, and my best travel memory as an adult.

Pandas at Zoo Atlanta

As a kid it was definitely when we went to Disney World.  Somehow, when I was thirteen years old, I won a free trip for four to Disney World.  The closest we came to figuring out how I managed this was that I must have been trying to enter to win a stuffed animal or something (I used to fill out tons of the entry forms for all of that stuff in the grocery store while my mom shopped) and just hadn’t paid attention to the fine print.  I was thirteen; fine print didn’t really matter to me!

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and we were baking cookies the day the letter informing me I’d won came in the mail.  My parents didn’t believe it, and very nearly threw it away.  I pitched the kind of fit that only a thirteen year old girl can, and convinced them to at least call the number and make sure it wasn’t real before getting rid of it.

Tiger at Zoo Atlanta

It was one hundred percent legitimate.  It was five day, four night, all-inclusive trip for four to Disney World.  It included air fare, all meals, accommodations, and more passes to parks than we could possibly use. 

It was truly an amazing experience.  We didn’t take very many vacations when I was a kid; my mom was a stay at home mom, and my dad worked all of the time just to make ends meet, so vacations didn’t happen much.  When we did go on vacation there was always concern about how expensive it might be, but not this time. 

This place was interesting!

We went to all of the Disney parks, ate in fabulous restaurants, and stayed out until we are practically dead on our feet.  It was also the first time my sister and I ever flew.  We had so much fun, and we were able to see our parents kick back and have a wonderful time too, without worrying about paying for anything.   I think it’s probably the best vacation we ever took as a family.

My favorite vacation as an adult has been this year’s anniversary vacation.  My husband and I haven’t been on very many vacations together, but this year we went to Atlanta for our anniversary.  I had always wanted to see panda bears, and he really wanted to see the Jimmy Carter Museum.  We also went to Coca-Cola World, and the Margaret Mitchell House.

The highlight of the trip for me was the zoo.  I finally saw panda bears!!!  They are such beautiful and amazing creatures.  We spent hours at the panda bear exhibit.  They sleep a lot, so we came and went from the exhibit quite a bit though out the day.  We also had some wonderful conversations with some of the volunteers at the zoo who were fellow panda bear fanatics. 

This was also the first trip where we went to places that only one of us was seriously interested in; the Margaret Mitchell House was pretty much my pick and the Jimmy Carter Museum was pretty much Nick’s pick.  It turned out that we both had an excellent time at both of them and learned a lot of new things.

We take this kind of picture every year.

I thought an anniversary trip was the perfect time for learning that we were more interested in some of each other’s interests than we thought we were.  It was also just nice to get away.  We weren’t able to take a trip on our anniversary last year, so it was wonderful to get away this year.

I was also reminded on this trip how lucky I am to be married to my husband.  At the Margaret Mitchell House there was a lot of information about how much her husband helped and supported her in her writing.  I’m not sure if she ever would have written Gone With The Wind without him.  My husband is very supportive of my desire to write, and encourages me to keep going, even when I think we need to have a big bonfire.  I think I sort of took that for granted before. 

Also, when we checked out of our hotel, everyone at the front desk said they were so sad to see my husband go because he was so nice and pleasant.  A few people even said that he made their day a few times when he came in and smiled and said hello.  I’m lucky to be married to the person people hate to see go, but sometimes in the course of daily life that’s easy to forget.  This trip reminded me of that.

Insanity Runs In My Family

Today is Day Seven of the 30-Day Photo Challenge, which is "Something Funny".  After perusing my photos, this is the funniest one I could find.  It's my dad and my cousin at my wedding rehearsal.  We found the candy boogers at Target, and just couldn't resist sticking them in with my dad's gift.  As you can see, he really enjoyed them.  And, no, they did not make an appearance the next day at the wedding.

My family is a little insane (mostly in a fun, entertaining way I think), and my dad has an odd sense of humor.  So it's only natural that this is my favorite movie line of all time.  It's from Arsenic And Old Lace, which is one of the best movies ever made.  It's also a perfect Halloween movie, so if you haven't seen it, this is great time of year to watch it.    

What Are You Reading?

Today is Day Six of the 30-Day Photo Challenge I’m participating in, and the topic is “Books”.  This is an easy one!  Here’s a picture of my currently reading/about to be read books. 

The cookbook, Bought, Borrowed & Stolen, is the one we’re currently using in the Cookbook Book Club.  I’m undecided on whether or not I like it yet.  There’s a lot in it about various places the author has traveled, and the food there, so I’m looking forward to reading that.  I did learn that many of the recipes call for ingredients that aren’t very easy to find locally, so I’ve promised myself to choose a recipe long before we meet next month so I have time to 

find everything we need for it.

Moon Women was a book recommended on goodreads that wasn’t available at the local library, but I found it at the thrift store last week.  I’m very excited about reading it, but the other two are library books (that there’s a waiting list for), so I feel like I need to read them first.  I just can’t decide which one to start first.  They have similar (very high) ratings on goodreads, so that’s not helping me make a decision.  Have any of you read either of them?

I really hope I love at least one of them.  It seems like the last few books I’ve read have only been okay, so I’d like to read a great one.  That seems to be the nature of reading, though; spells of finding great books, and spells of only finding okay books.

So what are you reading right now?  Is it great, or just okay?

Oh, The Places I Would Go

Carrie, at The Slow-Dripped Life, is hosting what I’m calling the mother of all giveaways.  I had to read it a few times to actually comprehend it myself, and all I can say is “WOW”.  You can read all about it here.  I am definitely planning to be an active participant in this one! 

Much like the last give-way she hosted, Carrie is asking questions, the difference this time is that you must write a post in answer to the question or topic, rather than merely answering in the comments.  Fair enough; she’s giving away a lot more this time, so it seems only right to put a little more effort into winning.

This week’s topic is “Name your top five places that you would like to visit but have never been.”

This one was hard for me (even though it involves the number five, which I love), five places I’ve never been that I’d to go to.  Hmm.   I haven’t traveled much at all.  I’ve never really even been out of the south (there was one trip to Nevada for a poetry convention, but I don’t really count that because I literally never even left the hotel).  We didn’t really take vacations when I was a kid, and it seems that things are always coming up now to prevent us from going many places, though we’re working on that.  So, the short answer is “pretty much anywhere”.  There’s a whole world of interesting places I have never been, some right here in the USA.  But, if I must narrow it down to five, here they are:

1. China.  I have an obsession with panda bears.  I have for most of my life.  I would love to go to one of the breeding centers and learn all about the conservation work they’re doing.  I think the country is interesting, anyway, but throw in the fact that it’s where the panda bears are from, and I’d love to go. 

2. Paris, France.  Maybe I’ve watched Julie & Julia too many times, or maybe I’m a little too interested in food and cooking, but I’d love to go there.  I’d love to experience, the food, the romance, and of course the historical aspects.

3. Washington, D.C.  My husband and I have talked about this trip for a long time.  We both love museums and history, so we’re pretty sure we’d love it.  It’s also home of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, which has panda bears!  (Did I mention I’m a little obsessed with panda bears?)

4. Hawaii.  I love beaches and warm weather, so it seems like the perfect vacation destination for me, and it looks so beautiful in all the pictures I’ve seen.

5. A cruise to Alaska.  I actually have very little interest in going to Alaska (I hate to be cold and I practically cry at the sight of snow and ice) but my husband has always wanted to go.  He’s one of those crazy people who actually like the cold, snow, and ice.  He thinks it would be beautiful and interesting, and I know he’d love it.  I think I’d have to bundle up to the point of looking like the Michelin Man, but I’m willing to do that, (and even keep my nasty comments about cold weather to myself) after all, he spent hours staring at panda bears with me on a warm day in Atlanta.

I’m sure there are probably dozens of other places I’ve said I would love to visit, but those are just the five that kept popping into my head.  So what about you, where would you love to go?  

Friday Mornings

Do you find that certain weekday mornings are just easier for you?  I
do.  For me, Friday morning is the easiest morning for me to get ready
for work and get out the door.  I’m not sure why, but it always seem
to be the best weekday morning for me.  Maybe it’s the promise of the
weekend to come; Friday morning means only eight hours left of the
workweek.  Or maybe it’s the fact that we can dress casually on
Friday; hello jeans and comfy shoes.

I just find that Friday mornings are easier.  I don’t hit the snooze
button so many times.  I’m more likely to get up early and get things
done around the house before I go in to work, and it just feels like
things go smoothly on Friday morning.

This morning I got up in time to finish loading the dishwasher from
last night, fold two loads of laundry, start another load of laundry,
take the trash out (which included tossing some things from the fridge
that were looking a little sketchy), get dinner started, and of course
walk Emma.

Now part of it was done out of necessity: Friday is our trash pick up
day, so any food that needs to be thrown away that doesn’t make it out
on Friday morning will be sitting in the can all week, and with the
slightly warmer weather expected next week I didn’t want that to
happen.  I needed to get dinner ready to go in the crock pot because
my husband is working tonight, and I don’t usually have enough time to
get dinner made between the time I get home and the time he leaves.
And it will be nice for me to come home and not have to cook tonight.

We also have a lot of bell peppers that need to be used up (they were
on sale and I got a little carried away), so it seemed like a great
time for making stuffed bell peppers.  I just had to stuff them and
put them in crock pot during my lunch break, and now they’ll be all
ready this evening.

Today is also Day Five of the 30-Day Photo Challenge, which is
“Morning Sky”.  I can’t tell you how happy I was when I realized this
would fall on a Friday; it made it easier to get the pictures, and
definitely found me in more of a mood to appreciate the beauty.  I
waited until it was starting to get light, partly for better pictures,
and partly because I took the pictures during Emma’s walk, and she
prefers to sleep as late as possible every morning.

So what about you?  Is there a particular morning that’s easier for
you?  Or a particular morning in which you find yourself able to
accomplish more?

The moon says goodnight.

Morning Clouds

Stuffed Pepper Filling

Stuffed Peppers

Drying Herbs

Lime Basil ready to dry

As I posted earlier this year, I planted my first herb garden this spring.  We planted basil, parsley, oregano, lavender, sage, cilantro, garlic chives, and lime basil (which I hadn’t heard of before this year).  The lavender didn’t make it, and the cilantro didn’t thrive.  Most things did fairly well.  The basil and lime basil flourished and thrived.

Lime Basil just out of the oven

I came to love the lime basil during the summer.  I love how it smells, and it adds such a nice flavor to stir fry, salad, fruit dishes, and lots of other things.   However, the temperature here has been dropping steadily over the past couple of weeks, so it seems that my supply of lime basil will soon come to an end.  We actually had our first frost warning last night.  Fortunately it didn’t freeze though!  I decided it was time to look into drying the lime basil for fear we won’t escape the next frost warning so easily.

I found a few articles on drying herbs on Google.  The general consensus seems to be that hanging herbs tied in bundles up to dry is the best way to dry them; it’s natural, not too much work, and doesn’t require any sort of power source, so is very economical and earth friendly.  For us, with a cat who eats string, and a cat who gets into everything, this seemed more like a recipe for disaster than an intelligent, economical plan to enjoy home grown herbs through the winter. 

The finished product! 

We decided to go with the oven drying method.  This involves placing the washed and dry herbs on a baking sheet at 180 degrees.  The times mentioned in the articles varied from two to four hours.  Ours were dry in about an hour, though this may be because the lime basil leaves are fairly small.  I suspect the traditional basil will take a little longer. 

It was fairly time consuming to pat all of the leaves dry and lay them out on the baking sheets, but I think the results are definitely worth the time.  And the house smelled amazing while they were baking!  I’m pretty excited about drying the rest of our herbs.  We’re having something of a warm smell over the weekend, so now I have a little more time to pick and dry the rest of the herbs. 

 Today is also Day Four of the 30-Day Photo Challenge I’m participating in, which is “Leaves”.  It’s a little early for the great fall colors here, so I’m sharing pictures of my lime basil instead.  I think the little leaves are very cute.

Thirty-Day Photo Challenge: Day 3

Today is Day Three of the Photo Challenge, which is “Happiness”.  This one is a little hard for me.  Happiness is somewhat intangible.  How do you take a photograph of something that is intangible?  It’s not like taking a photograph of something solid like a book or food. 

I turned to Wikipedia, which defines happiness as “a mental or emotional state of wellbeing characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.”  It goes on to state that some define happiness in terms of living a good life.

That makes the challenge a little easier, here are some of the things that make me happy and make me feel like I have a good life.  I hope you’ll share yours in the comments.

Blue Skies

Birthdays

Cooking

Rescue Transports

Butterflies & Flowers

Thirty-Day Photo Challenge: Day 2

Today is Day Two of the Photo Challenge, which is “Smile”.  It doesn’t specify that it must be a human smile, so here are some smiling fur kids.  I hope they put a smile on your face.

Going on a hike always makes Emma smile

Frankie must be having good dreams

Julep smiling on her way t rescue with her babies

I can't get enough of Emma's smile!

Sheila smiling because she's on the way to her forever home

Thirty-Day Photo Challenge: Day 1

Today is Day One of the Thirty-Day Photo Challenge, which is “Favorite Food”.  I’m definitely a food person, so this one is actually kind of hard for me.  There are a lot of foods I enjoy cooking and eating, so how do I pick just one?

I’m not going to.  As the weather gets cooler, which it did in a hurry over the weekend, I find myself craving warm and comforting foods, so here are some of my favorites:

Potato & Leek Soup from Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Onion Soup from Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Calzone - made by my hubby 

A big pot of chili - made by me

Thirty Day Photo Challenge Coming Soon & I Love Thrift Stores

I’m very happy to announce that tomorrow will be the beginning of this 30-Day Photo Challenge.  My friend Crystal found it and told me about it.  We both thought it looked like something we’d enjoy, so we picked tomorrow as the beginning of our challenge.  I know challenges typically begin at the first of the month, but this is what works for us.  If I've counted right, the last day of our challenge should be November 6th.  Due to technical difficulties (that’s the nice way of saying because I messed up) I don’t have a link for Crystal yet, but I hope to soon.

I just think the kettle is so cute!

I haven’t been taking as many pictures lately as I used to, so I’m very excited about it.  It seems like I’m settling in to write more as the weather gets cooler, too.  Do you find that you want to write and blog more as it cools off and gets dark earlier?

Now, on to thrift stores.  We didn’t shop much in thrift stores when I was younger; there didn’t seem to be very many around, and I don’t think my mom was very into thrift store shopping.  However, as an adult I’ve come to love thrift stores. 

There seems to be an abundance of thrift stores locally, and there seems to be a thrift store supporting practically any worthy cause you can name.  It’s sort of a scavenger hunt going to thrift stores and seeing what treasures you can unearth.  Some of our finds have included furniture, artwork, clothing, and lots of books. 

Today we made the drive to the thrift store run by our semi-local no-kill animal shelter.  We had quite a few things to take, as it had been quite a while since we’d gone.  Today’s trip filled up the trunk and backseat of my car (I’m still not sure how we acquire so much stuff we don’t need or use), which forced me to clean out the trunk of my car.  That needed to happen a long time ago, and I’m really glad it’s finally done. 

We usually don’t have time to shop in the thrift store when we take things there.  It seems like it’s always right before they close, or we’re on our way to something else, but today we had plenty of time to browse the store. 

Fortunately for our get the house organized plan, we donated much more than we bought, but we still found some great stuff.  We found a movie (actually it’s two because it has Dave on one side and American President on the other) a large round crock pot, a cute little tea kettle, some candles, a book I’d been looking for, and a Christmas gift for my husband’s grandmother (she loves lighthouses and we found a figurine she doesn’t have, and she’ll love that it supported the shelter) all for about $20.00.  We were very happy with our finds!  It was also nice to know that what we spent was going right back into the shelter, since animal rescue is something we feel very strongly about. 

So what about you?  Do you like thrift stores?  Does your favorite charity have a thrift store you like to shop at or donate to?

Home Sweet Home

I think this is the longest stretch I've gone without posting anything since I started this blog.  But, we were on vacation most of last week, and spent most of the time before that getting everything ready and taken care of for us to be on vacation.  I think that’s a good
enough excuse.

We went to Atlanta September 25 – 29th for our anniversary, which was on the 28th.  We had a great trip, and it was especially nice because we hadn’t been able to manage an anniversary trip since our first anniversary.  (This year was our fourth.)

We went to the World of Coca-Cola, the zoo, the Jimmy Carter Museum, and the Margaret Mitchell House, and had an epic fail with our attempt to use the public transportation system there.

The World of Coca-Cola was interesting, though it was a little more geared toward kids than we expected.  The bottling part was closed for renovation, so we didn’t get to see that.  We both enjoyed the history parts, and I really enjoyed the part about the public outcry when they introduced “New Coke” in the early 80s.  I’m a purist when it comes to Coke.  I believe they will never improve on Coca-Cola Classic, so I enjoyed watching videos of demonstrators who felt the same way.

The tasting room was fun.  It was interesting to see how different the sodas available other places are from what we’re used to here.  My husband tried all (I think it was 65) flavors.  He liked most of them.  I probably tried about 30 – 35, and didn’t really care for most of them.  Like I said, I’m a purist.  I like the Coca-Cola Classic.

Zoo Atlanta, my favorite part of the trip, has got to be one of the happiest places on earth.  They have Giant Pandas; four of them.  I have loved Giant Pandas pretty much all of my life.  I can remember my panda bear obsession as far back as when I was seven.  My mom says it started before then, though she’s not sure of an exact age.  It’s safe to say I’ve loved them for a very long time.  I have always wanted to go see them, but it just never worked out before now.

We arrived at Zoo Atlanta when the gates opened, snagged a map, and made a beeline for the Panda Bear Exhibit.  Seeing photos and videos of them just doesn’t do them justice.  Seeing them just a few feet (or inches, depending on the enclosure) away was a trulyamazing experience.

Giant Pandas spend a large part of their day sleeping, so we came and went from the exhibit all day long.  We’d go watch them eat and play,
and then go move on to something else after they fell asleep.  We were
also able to chat with a few very knowledgeable volunteers about the
pandas, and how things worked with breeding them, conservation
efforts, etc.  These people know their panda bears!

We also saw tigers, gorillas, went to the petting farm (where I found
a fat goat I wanted to adopt), and went through a living tree house
(that was really neat) with various birds and monkeys.  Quite a few of
the exhibits had volunteers just kind of hanging out around them
talking to people about the animals, their habits, status in the wild,
etc.  It was nice; they weren’t in your face forcing you to have a
learning experience, but would answer any questions and tell you as
much as you wanted to know.

The next day we attempted to ride the MARTA, which is Atlanta’s
public/mass transportation system.  At least that’s what they say.
They also say it’s convenient and easy.  They lie.  I could say a lot
more than that, but I try not to use profanity on my blog, and I
really don’t know how to share the full MARTA experience without
profanity.

After about four and a half hours of mostly walking, being approached by panhandlers, talking to two very nice police officers (I’m sure we were their “honey you won’t believe these yokels from NC” stories when they got home that night), riding two separate buses for about 15 minutes each, being dropped off on the side of a highway, getting really sweaty and cranky, using all of the dirty words we know, and walking several miles we arrived back at our motel still never having reached our destination of the Jimmy Carter Museum.  Yep, MARTA is that convenient.

We then decided to print out directions in the motel lobby and drive to the Jimmy Carter Museum.  Even with all of my missed and wrong turns we made it there in about a half an hour.  It was much more interesting than I thought it would be.  I didn’t really know what to expect, and I half-way thought it might be a little self-serving, or a blow your own horn kind of thing, but it wasn’t at all.  It was very,
very interesting.

There was a lot of focus on people who helped to shape his life and
ideas, and a lot of information about Rosalynn Carter and her work.  I
knew practically nothing about him and nothing about her, going in, so
it was a nice learning experience.  We left with a very long reading
list of books by and about them that we want to read now.

The Margaret Mitchell House was very interesting, though it was much
smaller than we expected.  It’s mostly a gift shop with tons of Gone
With the Wind items.  There’s also a gallery with magazine and
newspaper articles about the book and movie, and some information
about her career as a journalist.  There’s also information about the
charity and volunteer work she did.  I didn’t realize how much she had
done, and how many causes she quietly supported, including things that
weren’t necessarily very socially acceptable at that time.

The house was converted into apartments at the time that Margaret
Mitchell lived there and you tour the apartment she lived in while
writing Gone With the Wind.  It’s very small, but is cozy and cute.
It’s not furnished with any of the original furniture, but is
furnished with antiques from that time period, as close to what they
had as possible.  The history of the house, and the efforts made to
preserve it was also very interesting.  We left there with even more
books added to our reading list.

All in all, we had a really great trip; we went to some fun places,
and had some really great food.  It was also really nice to just get
way from everything for a few days.

However, we were very happy to come home.  We missed the fur kids and
were very happy to see them again.  And there’s just something about
being at home, in your own space.  It’s comforting and familiar.  The
sheets and towels smell like our laundry detergent, the lamps are in
familiar places, the bed cradles you just right, and it just feels
like where you belong.  There’s no place like home sweet home.