This Week's League Assignment: Not Easy Finding Green

This week's assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is:

Alright League members, it’s time to put away your keyboards and pick up your camera. This week’s assignment is our first photo challenge! The subject matter of your photo should be…

Things that are green. 

This seemed somewhat  hard as I wasn't sure what I had around the house that is green. And I was too busy to look until now, just in time to get this blog posted before tonight.  And I have a felling I missed a few things, but this was the best I could do.  Kermit the Frog said it's not easy being green, but in my case, it's not easy finding green.

Here are some just-snapped photos of stuff that is green or contains some green.

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Read some of the other participating bloggers's entries for this week:

Infinite Hollywood
Green Plastic Squirt Gun
Shezcrafti
Team Hellions

 

Kool-Aid Ice Cubes

Source: let-me-hear-your-scream.blogspot.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Over the last few months I've been addicted to pinning on Pinterest.  I've gathered a lot of recipes for dinners, desserts and drinks, but have yet to try any of them until now.  The dessert ideas I've pinned far outnumber both those of dinner and drinks.   Unfortunately I don't have a Crock Pot, making me unable to try some dinner recipes I discovered that are made from a slow cooker.   And I've gotten some any dessert ideas that I never have time to even think of trying them.  Some require a blender, which I also don't have.  How do I live without a slow cooker or  blender, I don't know.  A slow cooker would  be good since I have to be up early for work in the morning and often get too tired to cook the night before.

But enough of all that.  The one drink idea I did just try was using Kool-Aid to make colored ice cubes. I'd bought several packets of Kool-Aid mixes with a coupon about a month ago and did not get around to making any until a week ago.  I made three different flavors including lemonade (which yes, looks clear like a regular ice cube). See the before and after photos below.

This is a really great idea.  It not only changes the color but the flavor a little.  Try it. It's great for summer.

The ice cubes in the glass before
adding the soda.

After adding lemon-lime soda.

This Week's Assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers

Here it is again after a week's break.  The League's topic this week is the following:

Who cried when Old Yeller got shot?  What TV show,  book, movie, etc., turns you into a blubbering baby every time you see it? 


A few things I need to admit: I have never fully watched "Old Yeller."  I recall it being on TV one night and only catching glimpses.  How I missed the tragic end, I don't know.  I don't  know what was really going on that night.   I'm not so sure now whether to to put this one in the Netflix queue just yet.

And one fellow League blogger mentioned "The Neverending Story" for this topic. I'd heard the theme song many times when it came out but had yet to see the movie until until two years ago when my town's cinema presented it as part of their Kids Summer Movie Camp, for which all ages are admitted for one dollar.   I didn't cry.

In fact,  I cannot think of a single movie that jerked out the tears. I guess I don't watch enough of them. However, the subject of this assignment did get me thinking of something else that did cause me to cry quite unexpectedly and without even thinking to do so.  The topic also reminded me of something I recently saw posted by a friend on Facebook just a while ago.

The photo above refers to a PSA done by singer Sarah McLachlan for the ASPCA (watch below if you are so inclined):


Several others commented on the photo saying how much they hated this commercial for  the ASPCA and I stated how I once saw this commercial twice in the same day and that tears came from my eyes immediately.   It came on suddenly after seeing the images of the abused animals.  The thought that anyone abusing the animals is sad in itself, but this commercial just makes it seem sadder that it already is.  The commercial begins with  McLachlan's 1999 song "Angel"  playing over images of the animals. When this song first came out, I was working nights at a restaurant and would hear it on the way to and from work on my car radio.  Before seeing this commercial, hearing that song would remind me of coming to and from that one-time place of work.  But now it's become associated with this commercial, I can't bear to hear it anymore.  Never did like the song to much to begin with.

The day I first saw this commercial, my mom assumed something was up when I told her about this commercial and how it had made me cry.  But sometime later, I learned I wasn't the only person who felt that way upon seeing the commercial.   Somewhere others admitted to having cried over seeing this ad.  Rarely have I ever encountered such a tear-jerking commercial.

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Read some of this week's other participating bloggers:
Toyriffic
Green Plastic Squirt Gun
The Man Who Stares at Toys
ShezCrafti (See link above in the "Neverending Story" paragraph)
Rediscover the 80s
Eidetic Memory

And Cool and Collected's own post.   Now why didn't that make me cry?

Trip to Chukchansi Casino

Photo of Chuckchansi Gold from Wikipedia. 

For someone who's never been to a casino,(as was true for me before going to Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in  Coarsegold, California today)  learning to play the machines can take some time, but if you try you'll learn and even if you don't win a lot, you will still have fun.

A group I joined on meetup.com had been planning a trip to Chukchansi for a while and eventually decided on July 1.  It was a bus trip and a five-hour stay.  The bus picked up casino attendees in Santa Clara, San Jose, Gilroy and Los Banos before heading to the casino. I live in Hollister, near Gilroy, so that was where I caught the bus.  It was a fun ride.  Getting to look out the windows and see lots of mountains and country areas,  with houses, fruit stands, gas stations, roadside diners, and such along the way. Going through Los Banos, we could see all sorts of businesses, schools, gas stations, restaurants. Same when we passed through Madera, which is just before the route that leads to the casino.   The trip was worth the bus ride alone.

We were given a $5 voucher for food and $10 e-cash for the machines, and received Players Club cards. For the first hour after we arrived at the casino,  I wandered around checking out the many different machines,  trying to figure out how to work some of them. I made the mistake of not asking at first.  Around 1PM,  we met for lunch.  There are several places to eat, including a buffet restaurant, which is where we met ate.  We'd planned to meet for lunch at one, but I was sure where they'd said to meet, so at 1PM, I began checking all the food places  I  had some chicken and slices of pizza and Dr Pepper, and a brownie for dessert. I then went to the Lucky Seven machines (at least three different ones of this theme). I finally asked for help and soon caught on how to play.  It was fun!  I managed to play a few rounds of this , using the rest of my e-cash and some of my own cash, until it was time to meet outside the front lobby to begin boarding the bus home.

Sorry for a lack of photos, but in all the excitement and madness I forgot! I also saw many machines I would have liked to try, but there's only so much you can do in a five-hour trip.

All, in all, a great first visit to a casino. I would certainly love to do it again!!!  I'd also love to take a trip

to another casino in California. Cache Creek and Table Mountain both sound like fun ones. Table Mountain, incidentally is about 19 miles from Chukchansi, located near Fresno, CA (spotted a road sign for this one on the way).    Even a  return to Chukchansi.  Any would be fun.

Thrift Store Holiday Items--Too Late, Too Soon?

It's barely the end of June and the summer season officially started eight or nine days ago.  And the Fourth of July is just four days away. So it's not unusual to be seeing the temporary stands (seen at left) with different organizations selling fireworks being set up over the last week or so.  And seeing summer toys such as water pistols, swimming goggles,  and buckets and shovels in stores is obviously occurring now.

But over the last month I have been noticing  holiday stuff at thrift stores for Easter, Halloween and Christmas.  Why is this?  Easter is over and not everyone is thinking about Halloween and Christmas just yet.   I'm already dreading seeing the Halloween and then Christmas stuff arriving where I work.  We have two new employees who have yet to see any of the seasonal items, but they will be seeing these items soon, before summer is even over.  We can expect Halloween first, around mid-July or early August. And expect to see the Spirit Halloween banner at the end of July (as was true last year) on whatever abandoned building they plan to take over this year in your neck of the woods.  Last year, in Gilroy, CA they took over the building vacated earlier in the year by Famous Footwear after years of opening in the former Linens & Things building that was taken over by Marshalls last year. 

Now for the holiday stuff currently at the Goodwill.  Why does goodwill think people are going to buy plastic Easter eggs in June? Unless there are crafters planning for next Easter, I'm not sure how many of these are being sold right now.  It's almost as weird as seeing Valentine candy at the store in September or Halloween candy just before Christmas, as I have seen in the past.   But that's probably even worse-this candy still edible months after the holiday it represents?   And these random doo-dads for Easter, just with do people do with these things?  I've never seen much use for them, as cute as they may be.  Those holiday snow globes always seem cute, but I can't seem to find a place in my house where these things would be safe and not crash to the ground.  UGH! I don't even want to  imagine what would happen!

Halloween is the next holiday (aside from Labor Day) coming up and I can see some people already planning on his one.  I'm beginning to wonder what the hottest costume this year will be.  And I'm thinking I should re-list my Halloween stuff on Etsy soon to see if any of it sells this time.  Last year was my first time selling on Etsy, but it was without success.  As I said earlier, don't be surprised if you see a Spirit Halloween store banner on some vacated retail building as early as the end of July even though most such stores don't open till as early as Labor Day weekend. 

But Christmas already? It's bad enough seeing it in September, overtaking Halloween displays before the calendar switches to October, but seeing it in June seems even worse.   Who is even thinking about Christmas in September, let alone now?

It's even weirder that all the different holiday stuff gets mixed together on one shelf, almost as if they are trying to make all the holidays into one.  Often something once associated with one holiday becomes customized for another. Gingerbread houses, once a staple of  Christmas are now made for Halloween as well.  That ever- present candy corn? Not just for Halloween anymore.  It now comes in all color schemes for all holidays.  And according to one blogger, during Halloween season thrift stores often misplace items in that section .  I guess they too often associate Darth Vader with Halloween, and think someone will use a Playstation controller guitar prop as part of a rock star costumer.  I once saw Halloween candy mixed in the Christmas display at Goodwill and could not help thinking that that is just so wrong, as well as wondering if the candy was still edible after almost two months.  I mean, it's bad enough you see Halloween candy in regular stores as early as August. Who buys it then?

Also I'd like to  note that until about last week the holiday shelf was across from the wall that was carrying the summer toys. The positions of each of these displays has since changed, but the items are still basically the same.

My Second Trip to Lane Bryant This Year

It was well over a week ago (last Friday), so I wasn't sure about blogging about it now, but I got so busy over the last week that finding time to blog has been hard.  Time to catch up.

At the beginning of May, the blog Bella Styles held a contest on Facebook and Twitter to win gift cards from Dots, Sonsi, Just My Size, and Lane Bryant.  I decided to enter. You could enter for more than one, but I only entered for Lane Bryant, and you could one win one gift card.  It's always fun to enter such things, but the chances of winning are always one in however many.  However, only a small number of people had entered, so this wasn't a very competitve contest.  When I checked the winners results on May 31, imagine my surprise when I saw that I was winner of the LB gift card for $100.    I received it in the mail the second Monday in  June and  and used it 11 days later.

As I had back in January, I took advantage of Lane Bryant's semi-annual bra sale, "buy 2, get 2 free."  I only get initimates from this store, since I'm not really a plus-size, except in the chest (TMI???)  I won't get into much more detail :-)  But I had a hard time deciding and was in the store for about two hours, as was the case last time.  This time I also bought some sleepwear, also on sale.  I saved over $100 on over $200 of merchandise, and since I had the gift card, I only had to pay a little over nine dollars more.  I loved this sale!  It may be a while before I need more, but I'll be back for underwear at Lane Bryant.  The gift card came at a perfect time!

And while I'm on the subject of Lane Bryant, some of you who shop there or at one of its sister stores Fashion Bug and Catherines, you may have heard the company owning these stores has been sold to the company that owns Dress Barn.  The company will be closing the Fashion Bug stores as a result of the sale.  Lane Bryant and Catherines will remain open, however.  This  news has had many shoppers protesting, especially on Fashion Bug's Facebook page.  A lot of them say that they can't afford the clothes at LB, Catherines or Dress Barn.  I then thought of someone I once worked with.  She worked for the Fashion Bug in Gilroy, CA, in the same building strip where I work.   It closed about a year or so ago. The girl I know who worked there said it had too much competition from Old Navy two doors down and from Walmart a block away.  Yeah, those stores are obviously cheaper.   I only went into the Gilroy, CA Fashion Bug once or twice when it was still around.  I never bought anything, not even the bras, which are about the same sizes that Lane Bryant carries.  Didn't think of that then.   I did see this girl I know working at Fashion Bug at the time.  She has since gotten another clothing retail job, but I shudder to think that she would be needing to look for one soon if the Gilroy Fashion Bug had stayed open until now.  It's too bad this chain had to close entirely.

Not sure if I can afford to shop at Dress Barn, a I have only been to one sore, at the outlet center in Gilroy.  Not sure of the prices, as I just passed thru the store, barely glancing at anything.   I'm guessing  the gift cards for Lane Bryant will now be used at Dress Barn as well since they are now owned by the same company. We'll see.

League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Patriotic Pop Culture

This week's assignment from the League:

Next week, the League will be taking a break to honor the Fourth of July, so the purpose of this week’s topic is to get you in the holiday spirit:

—-

Patriotic pop culture. What movie, TV show, comic book, etc. makes you want to stand up and salute Old Glory?

I got to thinking about something I always want to do when any holiday comes along, but rarely have time to do so: make desserts for the holiday.  Working often makes me too tired for this.  But even when I do, July 4th is one holiday I don;t normally consider for such.  I'm always desiring to make  a pumpkin cake for Halloween or a some Christmas cookies.  But rarely do I think of making desserts for July 4th.  

I recently got addicted to Pinterest, as have a lot of people, and one boards I created is Holiday Stuff, with photos of holiday desserts and decorations.  I also created a board called Desserts That Look Good, and wonder if I ever will make any of those either.  (This board is for non-holiday-themed desserts, and is something I'd like to blog about later).  

I surprised my self with some of the Forth of July desserts I pinned onto the board.  With the day almost a week away, I'm not sure if I will even think of making any of them.

Spangled Sandwich Pop.  This seems easy.  

1. First, skewer mini ice-cream sandwiches on popsicle sticks. Then, press the exposed filling into a plate of sprinkles or nonpareils.To keep mess to a minimum, serve the pops in colorful cupcake liners. To keep mess to a minimum, serve the pops in colorful cupcake liners.  

Source: leeloveshottrends.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Another dessert that looks tempting to try. I have the cake pan, but will I have the time?

Source: indulgy.com via Jamie on Pinterest

As for other stuff, well I'm not sure why I pinned some of the things I did.  Some seems a little out of my league.  I'm not into cheesecake, for instance, yet somehow I decided to repin this:

Source: myrecipes.com via Jamie on Pinterest
There are other July 4th desserts I pinned, but that is all I want to discuss. You can see them on my Pinterest page (links above).  My whole story is I often want to make something like these, but rarely find the time and energy.   I don't know how others do it, when they have children and I don't.   It always seems like a good idea when you first see it. 


And I don't yet know what I am doing for the holiday this year. 


Links to other bloggers participating this week:
Green Plastic Squirt Gun
Adamatomy
Branded in the 80s
Infinite Hollywood
Shezcrafti
Flaslights Are Something to Eat