Burlap For The Dining Room Table

One of the many touches that my mother had around the old homestead was the amount and usage of burlap. In just about any of the rooms in this house had something burlap in it. Some people collect unicorns, but my mother collected many things. One of them being burlap.

I came across a fitted faux washable burlap tablecloth on line this morning and it took everything that I had not to immediately order one. I mean the price was right and I do believe that it would great on the dining room table, but I have bigger things and items that are waiting for me to get around to.

I have bookmarked the site for further reference. Who knows maybe if I put it on my Christmas wish list, I just might find it under the Christmas tree this year. It might help if I tell people that is one of the items that I would love to receive. Lord knows I don’t need any cookies, candies, slippers or a new tie! Burlap would be wonderful compared to some of the yearly presents that are purchased and given with out any thought or consideration.

 

Health and Beauty Issues

Today’s technologies are simply brilliant these days, with state of the art facilities and products available while all becoming more affordable we now have the ability to do just about anything to anyone as we please. The medical field is a fascinating field, one that is growing faster then most of us can keep up with. I enjoying the various television shows that are centered around the medical field. House has become one of my favorite shows as of late, an interesting program, as well as entertaining, to say the least.

Dermatology has a lot to offer these days, liposuction in chicago is being done at Lakeview Dermatology, in the Park Ridge area, which is a leading dermatology clinic that specializes in laser acne treatments, liposuction, hair removal treatments, Restylane treatments and many other skin care treatments as well, which are making numerous people so much happier with their bodies and their health. We are a population of people overly concerned with our appearance so this is a great field to be in these days.

Not only are we concerned with looks for appearance sake, but for numerous health reasons as well. I know several people that have turned to these type of procedures, all of them are very happy with their results, no law suites are pending and everyone is happy with their new looks and their longer life expectancies.

Eating Dinner Out At A Local Buffet

This Friday night a few friends and I are going to eat out at a local all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant.  You order a main dish that includes meat and potato, and then you go to the buffet counter and get all you want veggies, salad, rolls, fruit, desserts, and more potatoes if you want.  The restaurant is about the best value meal you can buy in the area, and the wait staff is friendly.  The only problems I’ve had there is sometimes they cook the steaks more than I like so I’ve learned to tell the waitress that I want it cooked rarer than I really want it.  That way it usually comes out all right.  One thing is for sure, if you leave hungry it’s your own fault!

They have a coupon book that gives loyal customer rewards, when you eat there you leave a ticket at the cashier’s desk and they fill it out with how much money your meal was.  After you spend $100 they send you a coupon good for a free meal.  That’s one of my favorite local restaurants, good food, good value, and they send you free meal tickets every few months! I like free and hate to cook, so it’s a win, win situation for me.

Got Milk?

Was watching the news yesterday morning (I’m thinking it was The Today Show) and they were running a story about how within a short period of time milk is going to cost $6.00 a gallon! They were blaming the increasing cost of fuel for the increase, which is the reason that the price is rising on just about everything.I think that is horrible! Milk is going to become a luxury item at that price! For many years there has been a huge campaign about how healthy milk is, but I think that people will end up drinking more sugary fruit flavored drinks like kool-aid instead of drinking milk if it gets that expensive! If milk gets that expensive, I imagine the milk related products like cheese, ice cream, butter and yogurt will rise in price as well!

Again, I think that is going to be driving people towards eating the cheap junk food instead of dairy product.

love me some milk
Got Milk?

Ordered the Wine Barrel Spigots Online

I was hoping to find the spigots that I needed for the wine barrels that we use out back somewhere in town, since I bought the darn things in town many years ago. Alas, that turned into a wild goose chase and I finally decided to go online and find the right ones. I should have just done that from the get go.

Sometimes trying to support local businesses is not worth all the extra time and gas to find what you need. Since it costs me at least $6 in gas to go to town and back, I can afford to pay shipping and handling up to $6 for anything I buy online and come out ahead. My new wine barrel spigots should be here by Monday, at the latest.

wine spigots for barrels
Spigots are made specifically for the 5- to 30-gallon Barrels .

Looking For The Perfect Mocha At A Reasonable Cost

It wasn’t all that long ago that the McCafe was the new “product” from McDonald’s and they were advertising it very heavily on local TV. I’ve seen several different commercials recently, and that’s with just the little bit of TV that I’ve watched. According to the local Business Journal, the man who owns most of the McDonald’s franchises in Alabama has spent a WHOLE lot of money remodeling the Alabama restaurants to include a McCafe.

I’m looking forward to visiting a McCafe and trying their coffee. I wonder if it tastes as good as a Starbucks and how much of the flavoring you have to add yourself instead of a trained barista. I’m not optimistic what-so-ever, since every time I drink just a plain old McDonald’s coffee it upsets my stomach for hour after drinking, so I would imagine that it will be the same with their specialty barista drinks.

So far I haven’t found anywhere that makes the hot mocha that I enjoy drinking day or night, summer or winter as well as Starbucks. But seriously someone could go broke frequenting Starbucks. Last time I was at a Starbucks I was really happy to see that they have started their own “Customer Rewards” program so that after a certain amount of purchases you get a free drink. The bad news is that you have to purchase 20 drinks to get a free one. That’s a lot of purchasing going on in order to get a free one. At least with Sheetz you only have to buy 10 in order to get a free one. They are a bit cheaper than Sheetz and are the closest to the Starbucks flavor that I have found anywhere else yet.

 

 

The Old Homestead Crying Out For A New Kitchen Undermount Sink

It really shouldn’t surprise me that so many things are in such bad shape around here, but with so little time and little money to put back into the old homestead it sure is frustrating and very disappointing. The latest thing that I have discovered is the need for a new Undermount Sink in the kitchen.

Now instead of going into town and spending the time and money that it takes for the gasoline that it takes for the trip, I have asked my eldest sister to take a look for me on the Internet to help find some sites that have affordable Undermount Sinks. Since she is very familiar with everything around here just about as well as I am and I trust her judgement since she helps out more than anyone else around the house when she is able. Right now I really have my hands full on the farm, this crazy weather makes farming so much harder to deal with, so any help right now is totally appreciated.

I don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I tend to buy frozen dinners that you just toss in the microwave for a few minutes. Eat it while watching the TV or sitting in front of my computer. When I’m done eating, everything expect the fork and the glass that I have used goes right into the trash, so there isn’t a lot of dishes and clean up in that old kitchen, but I don’t want to wait much longer to where it will turn into a real pain in the neck.

Weather, Yards and Gardens

Today I woke up to the buzzing sound of a neighbor’s lawn mower. Oh good grief, can it be that time of year already? I guess I need to drag my lawn mower out of the depths of my garage and make sure it starts and runs again this year. My immediate neighbors all take great pride in their lawns and landscaping. Several of them pay a professional lawn care company to come mow their grass once a week. I am sure that they enjoy having someone else take care of that chore, especially when it gets hot in the summer time. But I enjoy being out in my yard and doing the work myself.

I like a more natural look for the shrubs and flowers rather than the sterile, edged lawns across the street. I am going to do some gardening this year – nothing too big and fancy, but I want to get outside and enjoy the sunshine on the weekends, and I like picking fresh vegetables and fruit from the yard to include with my meals. Home grown is always a good ingredient to be able to toss into your meal at the last minute. Hopefully I will be one of those people that will bringing in a variety of fruits and veggies and leaving them there for the other employees to take and use. Lord knows I’ve taken home plenty of these freebies so it will be good ton be on the other side for once.

Hot Apple Cider

This is fast becoming the type of day where a nice hot cup of apple cider, with a shot of some spiced rum will taste mighty good. I was all set to make myself a cup when I noticed that it wasn’t even noon yet and decided that I should wait a few more hours at least before indulging. I’m not a serious drinker what so ever, but on cold and wet days such as this, it sure would be a nice treat and certainly only one shouldn’t be an issue. Some warmth on the inside sounds like heaven at this point.

For the most part I rely on hot coffee, but some times a guy needs to switch it up and I’ve never really been into drinking hot tea, even though they have a trillion different varieties and flavors out there on the market these days.  So a hot cup of apple cider once in a while is a nice change of pace with or without the spiced rum. Of course after dinner while kicking back on the sofa watching a game or the news a nice cold beer always tastes good no matter what the weather is like outside.

 

Lazy Susans

This year I am hoping that my sister will really love the 24 inch kidney lazy susan that I found out she was eyeballing back a few months ago. Last month I managed to find and order the one that she was all excited about online at a really decent price, so that is one gift that I was able to place a check mark beside on my long list of presents that need to be bought, wrapped and ready for the family Christmas get-to-together that has been at my sisters house ever since our parents passed away.

It is a bitter sweet day for all of us, but as long as we are together we seem to get through it. It’s a lot of work for my sister each year, but I think she really enjoys it all after all is said and done and hopefully this lazy susan will be put to good use for all of the holidays from here on out.

kidney shaped lazy susan
kidney shaped lazy susan