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Gaining Followers on Spotify

About a year ago I signed up for one of the very first American Spotify accounts. It was available in Europe for a couple of years, but for some reason – I’m sure it had to do with money and royalties – they did not bring it to America until 2012. I found a tekkie friend who shared one of his 5 allotted invitations to join up the first day and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I don’t know what the average user does about playlists, but I made up a BUNCH of playlists. I started out with a modern country playlist because it was easy to recognize the current stars and their current hit songs. Then I went to rock and roll from when I was in high school Those songs will always have tons of memories for me – they are what I grew up listening to. The third playlist was harder and took longer, but it is my favorite: adult contemporary. I like this music because it is fresh and easy on the ears. It is the kind of music that you hear on all the different genres of radio stations, but they appeal to everyone.

I had no idea that anyone cared about my personal playlists, but a few months ago I started getting email notifications from Spotify that people were subscribing to my adult contemporary playlist. I don’t know these people and don’t know how they found my playlist, but it is kinda flattering to find out that a lot of people share the same interest in music with you. I keep adding subscribers somehow – about 1 or 2 a week. Last time I checked, I had 64 subscribers to my playlist from all over the world – and I don’t personally know a single one of them!

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Discovering the Fun of Baking

This week I have felt very creative and brave, so I’ve been downloading recipes and learning how to bake from scratch!Thanks to my mom, I already knew the basics of baking. I know the difference between flours, the difference between baking soda and baking powder, and how to measure ingredients properly. But until now, all of my baking has been done using packaged mixes and following the directions on the box.

Now I have a small collection of recipes to use for baking cakes, breads and cookies. I will be moving up to pies next week. I have been thrilled with the excellent results of my baked from scratch cakes so far. I can’t wait to try some of the different icings and frosting types on the different cakes. This is fun – but fattening. I will be doing longer walks and some aerobics with my Wii to help keep off the extra pounds.

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Wearing Green and Drinking Beer

This weekend is all about Saint Patrick’s Day. Here in Nashville we love any holiday that gives us an excuse to drink beer, so this is a big deal for downtown bars and restaurants. On top of the holiday, we have the SEC basketball playoffs here this weekend, with a huge number of extra partiers to accommodate.

I heard some big numbers on the news about how the downtown bars and restaurants can only actually seat something 75,000 people on a weekend, but with the basketball game there are going to be more like 100,000 people looking for fun and refreshments on Friday and Saturday nights. With all these extra people, Nashville decided to have a big street party and rope off a few blocks downtown to allowing drinking on the street – a very rare thing for our proper southern city!

To be honest, I do not drink much beer. I tend to not want the hassle of watching my intake and fretting about driving home without the risk of trouble with cops. And second, I don’t want all the extra calories. Third, I only like beer that is ice cold. I don’t want to hold a bottle in my hand and just sip on it for an hour with the heat from my hand raising the temperature of the beer. I don’t like drinking from a bottle anyway. I like a glass – and not plastic, I mean a real glass.

Sorry if I sound so finicky, but I have learned what I like and what I don’t like and I will certainly seek out the things that I like if I have that option. Maybe once in a while I might be at the boss’s house for a backyard barbecue and have to drink a beer from a red Solo cup, but most of the time I will be seated in a sports bar or a stadium suite and enjoy an ice cold beer served in a glass along with the peanuts or Chex Mix and a good baseball game or hockey game underway.

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March Comes “In Like a Lion”

The old wives tale for predicting the weather here in the South is if March “comes in like a lion,” then it will “go out like a lamb.” So, in other words, if the weather is strong and rough in the first week of the month of March, then it will change to mild and warm and pleasant by the end of the month. I don’t really see the logic in that, as spring usually means mild and warm days anyway.

Anyway, here it is the first week of March and the weather is awful. It turned cold and rainy and windy, and it is supposed to stay like this all week! So I guess we can all take comfort in the thought that if the old wives tale is true, that this will all be over with in a week or so and the rest of the month will be lovely!

I can’t wait for the chance of frost to be gone so I can get my garden started this year. I am being very ambitious and trying some extra vegetables this year. I used to be content with just a few tomato plants and a couple of pepper plants. But this year I am planting yellow squash, zucchini, and green beans, too. Those always seem to do well in this climate and don’t need a lot of care – just pulling a few weeds once in a while and that’s it. So maybe next weekend I can get the seeds started and I can have an early harvest of fresh vegetables from my own yard!

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Single and Not Minding That

Yes, I’m single and I’m OK with it on Valentine’s Day. In some ways, it is better to be single and dating several guys – you get more gifts! I resent a Facebook friend’s comment that I should be eating ice cream and crying tonight.

The guy is a family friend is serving in the Navy and he recently got engaged. Of course, I am happy for him and his fiance, but I do wonder if this is going to be a long term, successful relationship. Almost all of their communication has been long distance phone calls, which have to be short because of the expense, and emails. I do not think that you really get to know someone well after less than a year’s emails and short phone calls. I hope they don’t get married right away – in my opinion they should wait until he is out of the Navy and they have more time together in person.

One of the fun things about being single is getting to know other people. I have found that it takes time to get past the fake bravado and extra efforts that people make for their first impressions. I want to know what the guy is like when real life happens, not just dates. How does he handle an emergency? How does he act when he doesn’t get his way? What does he do when he is not with you? How does he interact with children and senior citizens? All of these things have to do with character and values. If his values are far different from yours, you need to know that before going deeper into a relationship.

Anyway, I’m dating three different guys right now. I am not looking for a husband as much as someone to spend time with doing fun things. I am very happy being single and I loved getting roses, candy and a beautiful necklace from the guys in my life. I can assure my FB friend in the Navy that were no tears and ice cream for me tonight.

 

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New Converts Can Be So Annoying

This girl who used to work with me keeps popping up around town. I have seen her at a couple of restaurants, at the YMCA, and in the grocery store. I always make an effort to go up to her and say hello, ask how she is doing, etc. But she is a new convert and last night, when I saw her at the grocery store, she started preaching a bunch of stuff about being saved and told me that I am going to Hell. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to get into a deep religious discussion in the produce section of my grocery store.

I think the annoying part was her judgment of me and attempt to convert me along with her. She asked me the most bizarre question and since I didn’t giver her the answer she wanted, she started attacking my personal beliefs. I had to raise my voice and tell her to back off – in the middle of the grocery store! Good grief!

Oh, her question to me was, “How do you know that you are going to Heaven?” and it wasn’t really about her caring about me so much as an attack on my beliefs. That really pissed me off. If you want to talk about religion with me, invite me over to your place some night and we can share a glass of wine and talk about it in a constructive conversation. Don’t ambush me in the grocery store and tell me that I’m going to Hell.

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Hot Yoga Pants

photo yoga pants
My girlfriend Natasha is a yoga instructor and very enthusiastic about her yoga classes. She keeps inviting me to come, but I have never really been a fan. I don’t like to exercise and this does not look like something I would enjoy doing.

However, these yoga pants are really hot and I would be fine with buying them to wear around the house. I even see girls at the Food Lion wearing yoga pants while they shop. I guess if you are well toned and not fat, you can get away with wearing pants like this out in public.

I’m not fat, but I think yoga pants don’t look good on a lot of people and unfortunately some people don’t seen to realize that fact. When I see a fat girl walking around in leggings or yoga pants, it makes me want to go up to her and slap some sense into her. Seriously!

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Big Party Weekend in Washington DC

Tonight starts one of the biggest party weekends for Washington DC – the Inauguration! I actually know people who are going to one of the Inauguration Balls and loaned one of my girlfriends a gown to wear. How funny to think that my dress is going places that I cannot!

I wanted to know what is going on besides the Inauguration Balls, which are just party of all the festivities in DC, and found a complete schedule of the inauguration events, with names of the celebrities and performers on the ABC News web site.

While surfing around some other sites, I found a playlist of songs by the scheduled singers and bands on Spotify. I think that was a good idea to put together and will check it out next time I’m on Spotify – probably sometime late Saturday, while my dress is dancing with the stars in Washington, DC.

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Adventures with Food

This week I decided to get out of my rut and give in to my wild side at the grocery store. I took my regular list to Kroger yesterday but made a point of going down all the aisles – every single one, and to buy some new things to try in the kitchen.

I started with the deli and bought some hummus and pita bread. I have never had store bought hummus but have eaten it at restaurants. So at least I know what good hummus is supposed to taste like and I’ll see if this brand is any good.

I looked at the meat counter and the prices for beef are crazy high. Instead of buying a strip steak like I usually do, I decided to try some lamp chops. They were on sale for about half price, and I decided that if I didn’t like them then the dogs would get a nice treat and I would not be out much money, thanks to the sale price. Turns out that on the grill they tasted just as good as the strip steaks I’ve been buying.

In the dairy aisle, I bought a quart container of buttermilk. I have no idea what to do with it, but I know that every once in a while I come across a recipe that calls for buttermilk and I never have any on hand so I skip over that recipe and find something else. Well, now I have it on hand and I will be looking for any recipes that call for using buttermilk as one of the ingredients. It will be fun trying something new.

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Friday Feels Like Wednesday This Week

All these holidays days off earlier in the week plus bookended by weekends have got my internal date/day/time clock totally messed up. I still know about what time it is, but my days are so confused. This does NOT feel like a Friday. I cannot believe that tomorrow is Saturday and I have two days off again so soon.

I did enjoy having Christmas on a Tuesday. That gave me the whole weekend plus Christmas Eve being on a Monday was like a free bonus day to get all the last minute things done. I know a lot of people took off Monday completely or were able to leave early to get home and prepare for Christmas day.

This weekend is my R & R weekend. I don’t have to clean anything, the tree and decorations are already put away, and I think I will stop by Redbox for a couple of movies to take home with me for a Friday night movie and popcorn night.

Tomorrow I will deal with a little bit of paperwork – I have to make new files for the bills and taxes for 2013 – that means I will get some practice writing 2013 and letting the fact that this really is a new year sink into my brain! Then I might call a friend and see if anyone wants to go to the movie theater and watch either the Hobbit or Lincoln with me. If you want to go, hit me up!