AZDana

Archive for September, 2007

I just came across this great site with a terrific idea. They gathered up a bunch of scrumptious cupcake recipes and put them all in a handy e-book that they’re selling at a great price. I realized that I haven’t had a cupcake in eons, and want to make some during my holiday baking. I don’t have any decent recipes, but I don’t have to worry because this site has creations like Strawberries & Cream, Rocky Road, Cherry Ripe and White Chocolate Mud. Who could resist cupcakes with names like those?

I know that cupcakes have become really popular lately, and that makes perfect sense to me. For example, birthday cupcakes would seem to be a lot easier to serve than traditional birthday cake. I’ve heard that some people even stack them together to make wedding cakes! I may stack some together to make a Christmas tree. Or, I could group them in a circle and say they’re a wreath. It’s a bit early for me to start planning my Christmas baking, but I’m glad I found this site so that when I’m ready to cook, I’ll be able to have tasty recipes to try. I think this year, my friends and I will forgo cookies and fruit cake and swap cupcakes instead!

Personally, I laughed so hard that I scared my dog, but no one seems to agree with me. I don’t even remember how many people I sent it to, and I didn’t get a laugh, a giggle or even a chuckle in response. Here’s the exact wording of the email I sent. Is this hilarious, or not:

Normally, I don’t send out these kinds of things, but this method is truly believable! I just tried it and it worked GREAT!!! Let me know how it works for you:

Are you interested in making $$$$$$$ fast? Here’s an incredibly simple way to do it, and there is nothing to buy, no investment to make, no money to lose! Try it now!

Follow this simple procedure:

1) Hold down the shift button.
2) Hit the “4″ key seven times.

Edit: I just realized why the joke doesn’t work! It should say:

Are you interested in making $$$$$$$ fast? Here’s an incredibly simple way to do it, and there is nothing to buy, no investment to make, no money to lose! Try it now!

Follow this simple procedure:

1) OPEN UP NOTEPAD
2) Hold down the shift button.
3) Hit the “4″ key seven times.

Recently, I bought a ton of canned Progresso Soup. It was on sale, and it’s always been a family favorite because it makes a quick meal that fills you up. We decided to have it for dinner on Thursday and chose the”Steak and Roasted Russet Potatoes”.

When I opened the cans, I was shocked! It seemed like it was all broth, with just a few scant pieces of vegetable, and maybe one or two microns of steak. In the past, the soup was so packed full of everything that you could almost eat it with a fork. But with this stuff, you could finish it off with a McDonald’s straw. It tasted great, but it was as filling as a bowl of instant bouillon.

So, being brave and foolhardy, we decide to try the soup again last night (Friday) for dinner. Surely the previous night was just an aberration. Surely the Minestrone would be as good as we remembered it, right?

WRONG! The Minestrone was a repeat of the prior night. The broth tasted outstanding, but there were only a few green beans, a couple of noodles, and several tired-looking garbanzo beans in the can. Once again, we ended up foraging in the fridge because the soup didn’t come close to filling anyone up. Personally, I prefer to eat a light dinner every night, and usually make breakfast my biggest meal of the day. But this Progresso soup was as filling as a cup of warm water.

I wonder if Progresso is cutting back on quality in order to offer lower prices? I hope not. Frankly, if the stuff I bought is an indication of changes to their product line, then they’ve lost me as a customer. The stuff I have in my home is just a dim comparison of the Progresso that we’ve enjoyed in the past. I would love to get my hands on one of their older cans and do a side by side comparison of the ingredients and composition. Since I can’t do that, I guess I’ll just have to switch brands because even Campbell’s vegetable soup has more visible veggies than the Progresso.

Even though this song is before my time, I still think its a great song that doesn’t get a lot of appreciation. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know who recorded it till I stumbled across it on Youtube. I think this song has a timeless quality about it and I wish I knew more about the circumstances behind its creation:

I was up till 4 a.m. last night working on stuff. Darn, I don’t think I can do those kinds of things any more. In my 20s, I could go without sleep for long periods of time but its all catching up with me now. What’s even worse is that I have even more legal paperwork stuff to wade through today, which requires me to be bright eyed and bushy tailed. But the only one around here that’s alert and peppy is Karen, she’s been practicing ‘ringing the bell‘ on a regular basis and that seems to get her heart pumping and juices flowing. I wonder if I should give it a try?

You know, when you’re raising your kids, you don’t know for sure how they’re going to turn out, until they’ve turned out. Well, my daughter, MP, is over 18, and I couldn’t be prouder of the person she’s become, especially growing up in a single parent home. I respect her integrity and her fairness, and her ability to keep a cool head in a stressful situation. She’s a beautiful, bright and intelligent young woman.

Now that she is an adult, she prefers not to be known as “Dana’s daughter” online, because it makes her sound like a kid, and she’s not. I can’t blame her for feeling this way, and I respect her wishes to forge her own identity, instead of being a “mini-me”.

Awhile back ago, my daughter offered to host some people’s blogs on a domain that she set up for that purpose. While I know some of the people that she hosts, those people don’t know that she is my daughter.

Recently, I was reading the blog of someone (we’ll call her Agnes) whose blog was on my daughter’s domain. Normally, my daughter runs her sites her way, and I run mine my way. However, after reading something that “Agnes’” posted on her blog, I am the one that insisted that my daughter take it down. I’ll put it this way: If someone had said to my face what Agnes posted, then I would report that person to the authorities. When it comes to other people’s blogs, I am pretty lenient and carefree about what I read. But after reading Agnes’ post, I am very concerned about the way she treats her child.

I actually wanted my daughter to remove everything that Agnes had ever posted, and ban her on a permanent basis. My daughter, trying to be fair and less hot-headed than myself, gave Agnes a two week suspension.

Well, Agnes doesn’t seem to like MP’s decision and has been posting about it publicly on a message board that I frequent. Agnes has been trying to lead a witch hunt and stir up bad feelings towards my daughter.

I really didn’t want to get in the middle of such childish and juvenile behavior, and I am shocked by those that have been part of the mob mentality. I just have a few words to them, and then I am done with those that chose to hurl epithets and hateful words without knowing the entire situation:

• If you don’t have proof of the emails exchanged between Agnes and my daughter, then you’re only seeing one side of the picture.
• I am the one that caused Agnes’ post to come down and if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change my opinion. Her post was so over the top that the situation couldn’t wait till Agnes got back from her grandmother’s funeral.
• If you are going to post mean hateful things in a public forum about someone, I’d prefer you know who you should be “blacklisting”. (I think that’s the word I saw last night, I don’t plan on going back to make sure.)

Again, let me say that I am proud of how my daughter handled this situation. She and I both discussed the ramifications of taking any action before it was taken. She knew that there may be some repercussions that came about because of this, but sometimes, what’s right isn’t popular, and being popular isn’t right.MP doesn’t really care what others say about her when she knows she’s done no wrong.

What REALLY REALLY bothers me… the one that ends up the big loser in all this… is Agnes’ child. I had hoped that the suspension would give her a wake up call about how she treats her daughter. I guess that’s not going to happen. My daughter is big enough to handle anything that Agnes can dish out. Sadly, I can’t say the same thing about Agnes’ little girl.

If you came here because of my post about charities needing your help, I will be posting a list later today. Sorry I don’t have it available right now, but real life has such a way of interfering with my blogging intentions.