Sometimes when I see one word I start thinking about other words that are related to that, that make me wonder. Take an HDMI splitter as an example. I started thinking about the phrase “splitting hairs” and I wondered when did it start, I knew what it meant as a blogger it happens often:

to argue about very small differences or unimportant details

In searching it’s been around quite some time, mentioned in Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, and appeared in dictionaries of the 17th century.

It used to be not long ago that most of the emails marketing diet products that came in by email were on hoodia, but that seems to have fallen off. The latest marketing by email recently seems to focus on cheap Phentermine which goes to show you that even email marketing goes in trends. That’s with the exception of the standard emails asking if you are interested in enlarging certain body parts, those seem to happen without fail…

While I understand the frustration that David Appell is voicing on Quark Soup when it comes to feeling like the “meat” is missing in the blogosphere, it is similar to what happened when there was the initial explosion of personal webpages. At first there were those who spent hours designing things to look just perfect with music and graphics that made you feel as if you needed to go update yours quickly to compete. Then, it seemed like everyone had one and very few were unique.

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As I sit here typing and watch my daughter, two dogs and my husband snoozing on our bed at 5:37 on a Saturday, it appears they are doing some type of a mini-vacation. To me, since I have a whole bunch of projects that I should be doing right now (and that they should be helping with) if I were to plan a vacation it’d be something like one of those Hilton Head rentals where I can guarantee on a Saturday at 5:37 p.m. I’d be outside enjoying the view as opposed to napping….

While no could say being a wife, a mother and having six blogs was not work, there are times when I miss working and think back fondly to some of my admin jobs of the past. Today when we were registering people to vote at the African American Festival the group right across from us was the mental health center that was my very first full time employment.

I started out as a receptionist then worked my way up to the Administrative Assistant for the Clinical Director. It was a great first job and I learned many things along the way that I still use today, such as attention to detail and multi-tasking…

I’ve never had a cell phone that had a camera or could do video, mine was a very basic model that met my needs very well and I barely knew how to text message. I admit I’m not a text message person, I’m more of a verbal talk person.

My oldest daughter wanted me to have a different cell phone plan so that I could talk to her at a more cost effective price than my plan, so she got me a new phone. The Alltel Hue, which despite my first panic moments of trying to figure out everything the phone could do? Is working out pretty well. I took my first pictures and my first video and sent them to her via text message.

Considering the lack of space we have there have been times when I considered getting a TV wall mount with one of the flat screen televisions, in the dream land of things I’d love to be able do. It would also keep cats from trying to sit on top of the television set, which in itself would be a huge plus given the nightly chasing the one cat off of the television set adventures.

Most people looking for quick weight loss ideas are not looking for how I lost the most weight this past year, a soft/bland diet because of diviculitis created a loss of almost 20 pounds by the time I could eat regular food again. I used to love jello until that experience made me tired of jello (smile). There are other ways to focus on a quick start to weight loss that typically is water weight but does give you a bit of a boost when it comes to longer range weight loss goals.

Yesterday I attempted to make Bruschetta for the first time, I was disappointed by many of the recipes out there so decided to attempt my own. I wanted tomatoes, peppers and onions, which none of the recipes I found online had. I opted to roast a yellow pepper, but I think it would be good even if you did not roast the pepper. It’s easy and quick:

Five Roma tomatoes diced
Red and White onion diced (I used about a quarter cup)
One yellow pepper diced (roasted or not roasted)
Two tablespoons of dried sweet basil
Three tablespoons of Olive oil
Two tablespoons of Wish-Bone® Salad Spritzers® Balsamic Breeze® Vinaigrette Dressing (I opted for this since I don’t have any Balsmic Vinegar)

Mix and voila! You have a nice fresh bruschetta that is great served on toasted bread and if you toast the bread lightly then top with the bruschetta and a dusting of cheese, can be lightly broiled to melt the cheese and still tastes great.

I’ve had more than a few pieces of religious jewelry that are considered favorites through the years. My most treasured two is my “miracle medal” that I got when I was in New Orleans and a simple pearl rosary that my father got me when he was in Rome that was blessed by Pope John Paul. An interesting jewelry item that I’ve noticed has made a comeback is necklaces with a small “prayer box” in which the person is supposed to place a written request for something on a very small piece of paper and then place it into the locket like container.

I’ve noticed that after many years of cooking for five children and their assorted friends now that it is just my husband, my youngest daughter and myself that I’m really having a hard time in cooking the right amount of food just for us. The other day I tried to make a smaller batch of lasanga casserole and ended up with enough for two dinners and a lunch. The good part is at least there are more leftovers…

If you really want to have a classy moment, think about what kind of wine would go with a snazzed up mac & cheese. A nice red or a light zin? That would probably depend on which extra ingredients you added to yours, and if you belong to one of the wine of the month clubs chances are you’d have a nice selection of wines to decide from…

So far the most interesting thing has been crushing cheese crackers to use instead of bread crumbs as a baked topping. That would add a nice extra cheesy flavor. I think I’d be nicer than the current judges are being right now, with or without the wine.

Recently some of my political posturing on my other blog has gotten me some negative comments as well as some actual threats, one day it got to the point where if I received one more “I know where you live” type missive I was going to consider some sort of digital signage to place on my front door leaving a not so nice message to those who were being less than nice. However, there’s no reason to insult the mailman…

Recently I was outside washing off my deck with the traditional water hose which once again was missing the nozzle since it disappeared to points unknown when my neighbor suggested borrowing his power washer that used an ac compressor instead of what I was doing. It was the first time I’d used a power washer, and wow, did it really work so much faster than my traditional hose, even if the nozzle would have been found. Now of course, it’s raining…I think deck washing is like washing your car, it always rains right after you do it.

I love watching Food Network, I just got done watching Alton Brown do mac & cheese and now there is a contest on that very same food type, mac & cheese. My youngest likes it from the box, my favorite is the way that Alton made his, homemade and baked, but I also like to place sliced tomatoes on the top when baking. Now unfortunately a nice dish of mac & cheese sounds really good…

When you are a parent and you are dealing with the expenses of diapers and if you don’t nurse, formula, you believe that there will come a day when your child will not be so expensive. You then get lulled into a false sense of security for a few years, even when school first starts and you spend a little more. Then *Boom* the teenage years hit, where special shampoos, make up, acne treatments and a myriad of other items become “necessities” that your teen can’t live without…So my advice? Enjoy every phase, because there will be a totally different one right around the next corner before you know it.

Internet friendships can lull you into a false sense of security when it comes to what type of personal information you share with someone. Recently I discovered that someone that I thought was a friend didn’t keep things confidential that had been shared and worse yet? Actually gave private information to someone who disagreed with me politically so that they tried to threaten me with the information. Before you speculate, it wasn’t anything about me, but was about one of my children who have nothing to do with my political blogging and when I called their bluff? Ended up not being used.

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My living room has been taken over by more than just baby items, it’s become the place for my daughters and assorted friends to drag out the Dance Revolution game and pads for their playstation 3 game set. I tried it, personally I think the reason why they wanted me to try it was so they could laugh at me. I watch them do it with such ease but I have to tell you, it’s much harder than it looks. At times I’ve been tempted to secretly practice when they are not here or sleeping just so I could beat them…but? At least they are exercising while playing rather than just sitting there playing games that take no real physical energy.

With the increase in home foreclosures there are more and more places online that you can turn to for foreclosure help. I know quite a few people who have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. Not all of them have been able to save their homes but for some, there are ways that you can stop a foreclosure before you loose your home and the investment that you had in it. It’s well worth it to do the research to see if you can get help.

Now that my grand-daughter has gotten to the point where she needs to have the playpen up when she is taking a nap or playing as opposed to before when all I needed to have was my bed and her jumper seat, it’s created a need to switch some of the office furniture and the computers around. Rather than move my whole blogging operation set up that I have in my bedroom downstairs into the living room, we’ve decided to move the my oldest daughter’s desktop computer that she left here into the living room which has more space for the playpen. So, when the baby is napping? I can do some work without having to have her be downstairs and me be upstairs.