June 30, 2008

Carnival of Aloha!

The Carnival of Aloha went live early this morning and I forgot to tell you! Oh, I’m so bad, but the posts will stay up, so get on over to Evelyn’s place. She’s directing traffic as we race around the islands, sharing stories about our beautiful paradise. Don’t you need a little tropical escape to help you ease into the week? Evelyn has hooked us up with eight great posts about life in Hawaii. All you have to do is kick your shoes off, imagine the warm sand between your toes, relax … and read. Aloha!

Technorati Tags: blog carnivals, Carnival of Aloha, Hawaii, Hawaii blogs, life in Hawaii

June 29, 2008

Self Portrait Sunday for June 29, 2008

Two of my favorite people in the whole world have been visiting this week. Allysther and the boy are on the move again, this time from Korea to the East Coast. Hubby/Dad Zanla will follow in a few weeks to begin his new military assignment. They have to stop and visit home in Hawaii each time they travel, of course. Allysther, the boy and I had lunch on Friday, then went shopping for office supplies. What? Isn’t that what you do when you have a reunion with friends? We got together again yesterday for lunch with the Table of Contents at the same restaurant (Allysther’s favorite.) I thought I had taken at least one picture of all three of us, but somehow missed that opportunity, to here’s me and the boy, too. Yeah, I don’t look so hot, but he’s cute enough to make up for it, don’t you think? He was more than willing to stay here with me but Mom and Dad seem to need him around so, alas, the skeet house remains childless.

Cass, I’m thinking you could spice up Self Portrait Sundays by having a different theme each week. Like say, everyone in pajamas one week, work clothes the next, cooking in the kitchen, fooling with their hair - that kind of stuff. Oh, maybe each of us in sexy costumes for Halloween! Just a suggestion, mind you. It’s works well the way it is, but a theme could be fun, too. Whaddaya think? I think I need to get over to Midlife Musings to see who else took a self portrait today.

Technorati Tags: friends, meme, self portrait

Posted by skeet @ 3:36 pm • Photos, Meme • 7 comments  

Share Some Good Stuff

Do you get as sick of the daily news as I do? Wouldn’t you rather just ignore the ugly headlines for a little while and indulge in something uplifting instead? I would and sometimes I do. So do some of my readers, and they’re kind enough to Share the Good Stuff when they find it.

JenX named her blog Daily Mitzvah. It’s all about ways to make the world a better place and about people who are doing that in some innovative ways. Her story about To-Go Ware is a fine example of both. A female college student developed a creative solution for conserving recources, and her product provides employment for women living in marginal circumstances. It’s a winning idea all around - Good Stuff!

My pal Val knows everything and is a tireless champion for the disabled and developmentally challenged. I love her story about a man who created a browser for his autistic grandson and is now sharing it with the world - for free! While it was developed for children with special needs, it can be a great boon for all children. Hey Val - that’s Good Stuff!

You came across some Good Stuff recently, too, right? Why not share it so the rest of us can enjoy it? It can be from your local news sources, a website or even your own personal good news. Tell us about the neighborly thing that happened in your community, or the modern furniture you finally got to replace your old milk crate shelving. If it’s made you smile it’s stuff worthy of sharing. Write it up and send me your link. I’ll feature your post and give you a link-up the next time we get together to Share Some Good Stuff!

Technorati Tags: current events, good news, good stuff

June 27, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #35

Four Foods on Friday this week is all about inspitation. Val wants to know where we get our cooking ideas. You’ve got some kitchen stories you want to share, don’t you? Post the answers to the questions below on your blog, then get on over to Val’s place and let her know you played. She’ll talk nice about her participants later and give us all a little linky-love, too.

#1. Name one cookbook, cooking website or food blog that you frequently use.

When I was a kid our grocery store carried little paperback cookbooks on a variety of topics. I think I remember that they sold for 25¢ apiece. Mom would buy one whenever she had a little grocery money left over. I remember the one that had 101 recipes for ground meat, and one that was all cakes - that’s where she first found the recipe for the 1-2-3-4 Cake that I still love. Years later she found a decades-old bound copy of the whole collection of cookbooks in a used-book store. It was in bad shape even then, but served her well even after she duct-taped it to keep it together. It’s still my favorite cookbook. It’s got all of the basics - the mother sauces, how to handle and cook each type of meat and to know when your produce is just right for consumption - plus spectacular entrees for holiday dinners and showy desserts and snacks for when you’re entertaining. It’s the Culinary Arts Institue Encyclopedic Cookbook and it’s still available today, much revised since my 1948 edition was published. I really should buy a new one and retire Old Faithful, don’t you think?

#2. Do you watch any cooking shows on tv? Which ones?

I love-love-love all of the cooking competition shows. Top Chef and Iron Chef America are my favorites, closey followed by America’s Next Food Network Star. Oh, and Bobby Flay’s Throw-Downs and the cake guy and the national cookoff championships for everything from cake decorating to chili.

#3. Are you in a cooking rut? Name a food or dish that you’d like to find a recipe for.

My mother’s old-fashioned chess pie! It doesn’t have fruit and nuts like some recipes I’ve seen. It’s more like a creme brulee in a pie shell.

#4. Share a recipe created by somebody else that you haven’t tried but would like to.

Unfair question! There are so many recipes I want to try. I’ve copied a couple of dozen from FFoF participants and bookmarked some favorites on the Top Chef and Iron Chef sites. Since I’m supposed to pick one I did so, arbitrarily. It’s Richard’s Coffee Braised Pork from Top Chef, Season 4. The link will take you to a video of Lee Ann Wong preparing the dish. I don’t want to post someone’s copyrighted recipe, so go there to check it out please!

Technorati Tags: cookbooks, food, meme, recipes

June 26, 2008

Have you got some Good Stuff?

Have you been checking the back pages of your local paper lately? If you haven’t gotten around to it yet, there’s still time! Do me (and yourself!) a favor and make it a point to find the good news that probably won’t be the lead story at ten. Pick a news source anywhere in the world or something great you’ve found on the web. Better yet, share a heart-warming, first-person moment that gladdened your heart. Did you order your Halloween invitations already so you wouldn’t forget this year? Is Friday your last day of work before your long-awaited vacation? Maybe you finally figured out how to do that thing that makes your life so much easier?

Here’s a great example of Good Stuff from my pal Val: She dilignetly seeks out the good news, especially when it deals with the special needs community. She recently found an encouraging news story about teens who are bold enough to face their state legislators to lobby disability awareness in schools. Stories like this make me feel good about the leaders of tomorrow! Don’t you just have to smile when you see an uplifting story like that? Those little day-to-day moments that make us smile are the stuff of a happy life and worthy of sharing. Here’s your chance to recognize them for what they are and spread a little sunshine in the process. Post a link to your good news below. It can be a post on your own blog or to the source that made you grin. If you have a blog, invite your readers to share their happy moments, too. I’ll do a roundup of your stories later this week. Make sure you come back to read the good news when we SHARE THE GOOD STUFF!

Technorati Tags: good news, current events, local stories, meme

Scrabulous - my latest obsession

A friend sent me an email invitation to play Scrabulous with her a few days ago. We’ve had a game going ever since. I also have games going with several other people. The really nice thing about this game is that you play when it’s convenient. You don’t have to be online at the same time as your opponent. You’ll get an email when they make a move. When you make your play, they’ll be notified.

Some additional features: A handy drop down box gives you access to your choice of the two dictionaries used by serious Scrabble® players. I especially like the list of all two-letter words. Very useful when you get in a bind. When you close the dictionaries you’ll see a message box. You can use it for live conversation if you and your opponent are online at the same time, or leave a message for them to find later.

I can never get enough word games, so I’ve been playing with a robot to fill some time between live-people games. The computer generates some really oddball words, so I’m learning a lot. I haven’t been motivated to find out what all of these strange words mean. It’s enough right now just to add them to my store of available ammunition for future games. I’m playing at level ten and winning maybe ten percent of my games against the computer. I got a bit frustrated and considered setting the level a little lower, but I’m enjoying the challenge and feel like it really means something when I beat the robot at this level. I’ll stick with ten for right now.

If you’re interested in starting a game with me, go to Scrabulous, enter your email address and follow the directions for setting up a game. Once you’re registered you can create a screen name. I’m skeeterbess over there and use the RoadRunner email address that some of you have. If you use a name that I’ll recognize you won’t even need to notify me - the website will do that for you. The set-up makes it possible to have a dozen or more games going at once, so bring it on. I’m game!

Technorati Tags: games, online games, Scrabulous

June 24, 2008

Tuesday Teaser photo verification

We have another first-time winner this week folks. I stumped some of you, but Gina knew it was the latch on the door of a truck or van. She’s won a linky love post and will be entered in the drawing for a gift card at the end of June. Congratulations Gina!

Mahalo to all of the “regulars” and to all of the new players. We had a nice crowd this week. Invite your friends and come back next week when I’ll try to stump you again with a new Tuesday Teaser!

Technorati Tags: contest, contest winner, photo puzzle, Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser for June24, 2008

Can you identify the item depicted above? Take your best guess and post it in the comments below. If your guess wins, you’ll get a nifty prize. Here’s how it works:

1. Write a comment giving your guess as to what the item is. Be as specific as you can. A table is too vague - a clamp on a card table leg is specific.
2. First person to identify the item wins. If more than one person provides the correct answer, time and date stamp will determine who was first.
3. The author of this blog will be the sole judge as to what constitutes a correct answer. Sorry - no hints will be given. I will attempt to respond to your answers at least every few hours, but I am not continuously at the keyboard so please be patient.
4. The contest will end in forty-eight hours, whether or not a correct guess has been submitted.
5. Skeet’s Stuff is a do-follow blog, so you get some link value just for commenting.

What will you win?

1. The author of this blog will write a LINKY LOVE POST (review) about the winner’s blog (commercial sites ineligible.) The LLP will contain the url for your blog plus at least two deep links and will be posted here on Skeet’s Stuff, a PR4 PR2 PR0 (bah google!) Ha! PR3 blog. Skeet writes good reviews.
2. The weekly winners will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10.00 gift card from Starbucks or Amazon or a ten dollar payment through PayPal.
3. Drawing for the monthly prize will be held on or about July1, 2008, and will include all weekly winners for the month. There are four Tuesdays in June thus the maximum number of people who will be eligble is four.

Comments submitted with commercial links will be deleted. If you would like to market your product, service or website through skeet’s stuff I’ll be happy to discuss your needs and my prices. Please submit your request via email.

Technorati Tags: contests, photos, photo contest, photo puzzle

June 23, 2008

Self Portrait Sunday for June 22, 2008

Okay, it’s won’t be Sunday by the time this is posted because right now it’s four minutes ’til midnight. But here I am, right before I went to the store this afternoon. Nothing special going on today. I was just feeling lazy and didn’t get online. I guess we all have days like that, hmm? Either that or it’s just me getting old. It’s a shame I didn’t follow up on the life insurance quotes I got when I was younger. Running out of years, you know? The kid is pretty self-sufficient, though, so I suppose he’ll do fine even if old Mom doesn’t leave him a bundle.

Did you check out Midlife Musing to see who else did Self Portrait Sunday? I didn’t … but I will. Hope you’ll join us next week!

Technorati Tags: self portrait

Posted by skeet @ 12:14 am • Photos, Meme • 4 comments  

June 20, 2008

Great tragedy

What a week it’s been. First I whacked a hole in my hand, now my Friday night is ruined. There are four things I never run out of: coffee, tea, ice cream and fudge sauce. Well, actually there’s a fifth - toilet paper - but let’s just deal with kitchen staples. I can’t believe I totally forgot when I went out today that I needed to stop at the grocery store on the way home. I just ate about two tablespoons of Kona Coffee Ice Cream and a smear of hot fudge sauce. That’s not enough to satisfy my Friday evening routine. They didn’t have the good French Vanilla last time I shopped for ice cream. The Kona has been wonderful, but I was looking forward to enjoying some French Vanilla this evening. Now I’m gonna go to bed cranky.

Note to self: it doesn’t do any good to write notes to self if you’re gonna leave them on your desk when you go out.

Technorati Tags: deprivation, food, ice cream, snacks