Using a Laptop

You should have seen me - I have just been trying out the laptop because my PC is showing signs of not lasting too much longer but I just can’t seem to get on with it.  Talk about ham-fisted or that thing where you twirl your hand one way over your head and the other way on your tummy with the other hand.  LOL - I had no idea what I was doing at first. 

The typing part seems ok but trying to move anything or get to anything without a mouse is awful – I am just not sure I could get used to it so it seems I may have to save up for a new PC after all.  I know I could use the mouse with it but it would be better if I could just move it from room to room without wires hanging everywhere instead of being stuck in the office all day every day.  I was even wondering if I could use it in the garden if the wi-fi reached that far and if I could see the screen out in the sunshine.

I was very good and spent quite a long time trying it today but I just gave up in the end – I am not known for my patience in doing things.  If I am going to do it I want it done now J  So filly-faddling around with my finger on the “square thingy” was not the easiest of things or the quickest.  I lost a few messages by just slightly touching on the wrong thing.  Why does that thing never go where you want it to and when you have it just line up to click the button below it disappears again.  I had things shooting all over the place and things opening that I didn’t want. 

As for trying to scroll down at the side – well as far as I know you can’t without getting the mouse over there and clicking it before hitting page up or down or the arrows.  Talk about cack-handed – I was useless.  I am not kidding – it must have taken me 4 times as long at least to do the few things I was trying to do on there.  Definitely not for someone as impatient as me unless I really can get the hang of it!

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Can any regular readers tell me if they miss the trivia and chuckles I used to post at the end of each blog. 

I have been trying to just blog once or twice a week and with this new format.  But if you want me to bring back the trivia and chuckles I am more than happy to do so if you just let me know you want them back.

Out of Hibernation

It is lovely here today - warm and sunny - a beautiful spring day.
LOL - it makes me realise I am going to have to come out of hibernation and get some extra things done around the house.  Also to find some different clothes to wear as jumpers have just been a tad too warm the last couple of days – where did all the clothes I wore in the autumn disappear – like my memory they seem to have vanished from my wardrobe.  I need to investigate in the depths of my shelves to see where they have ended up.

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After 6 years of living here after downsizing I am still feeling too cramped and it really seems to come to the fore after the winter.  I think I tend to naturally hibernate in the winter and stay in all wrapped up but come the spring I want to let the sun in and have nice bright rooms but it doesn't really happen in this house as they built it with the windows in the wrong places J  I want more women architects – who puts a kitchen with a window on the side of the house facing next door and a utility room next to it with a window facing the garden – I ask you!  I know, I should have realised that when we bought the house but to be really honest we bought it in November when it was dull anyway and the house itself is lovely if only there were no close neighbours to prevent the light coming in.   I would love to be able to  move up to a bigger house again, not necessarily with more rooms but with bigger rooms as I feel too cramped, that and the fact that all my stuff from the bigger house is crammed into a smaller one, instead of me bring ruthless enough to get rid of some of it.  But I am a collector and once things arrive they rarely leave unless they are broken.

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I could, and should, have spent the winter sorting things such as putting all my CD's on to the computer and selling the CD's (but I haven't got an ipod so could only listen on the computer then).  I have literally hundreds if not thousands of CD's and of course they all take up space - 4 large carousels and 2 whole cabinets of them.  I hate to admit it but I have all my old records (albums and singles), all in pristine condition in boxes up in the loft (and cassettes).  I have a wide taste in music from pop to rock and from classical to new age.  I suppose my favourite music is soft rock and new country (which I tend to think of as soft country rock).  Actually thinking uploading all those, it would probably slow down the computer with that much music taking up the valuable space on my 6 year old PC that is showing signs of not being able to cope already.  I think I really do need to start saving for another one. 

Where's My Meringue?

What is it about men (or my man) that they can’t follow the most basic instructions that you give them?

Earlier this week we went to the dentist which is in a different town (well and county actually) to where we live now but we still go back as we like the dentist.  While we were there we bought some of our favourite cakes from a shop over there (the only place we can get them from) – he likes their fresh cream and jam scones and I like their meringues (very small half shells which are chocolate coated on the bottom and held together with whipped fresh cream and have a strawberry on top.

Later that evening before I had chance to eat my meringues I developed tummy pains and spent the next few hours in and out of the bathroom keeping the seat warm in there.  The next day I decided the best thing was to not eat anything for 24 hours so I said to hubby on two separate occasions to take the cream out of my meringues and have it with his scones.  I figured this would save them from going soggy and I would be able to enjoy them the following day with some fresh cream that we had bought for some strawberries.

Well the next morning I came down to get some breakfast and went to the fridge for the milk when I spotted the meringue box with only one meringue in it (minus the cream)!!! One of his scones was still sitting there too (laughing at me from its box, I swear!).  When I irately enquired as to where my meringue had gone he said “I thought that was what you meant – to put all the cream on one meringue and eat it”.  To say I was not amused is an understatement as I knew we wouldn’t have chance to get again for them for another 6 month.  All the next day I was longing to have them but was very good and waited until the following day just to be safe, so to find that I had suddenly been deprived due to my hubbies total stupidity yet again of not being able to follow basic instructions was just soooo disappointing.  I had made sure I explained it clearly to him on two separate occasions - when I thought of it and when he was going to eat them. Why do men only half listen and make the rest up to fit in their minds – or is it just my hubby?  At least I enjoyed the second small meringue but as they are so small one is just not enough.

LOL - I am sitting on a pillow whilst typing this as I couldn’t believe it but I have bruised the back of my thighs from spending too long sitting “on the throne” when I had my tummy problems earlier in the week!  Obviously we need to have a more rounded seat.  Perhaps they should invent padded seat covers for such occasions!  

But definitely more padding than on this one:

Anyone for Sushi?

I have a friend who recently tried Sushi at a restaurant in London and was rather disappointed – she had been so looking forward to it too.  Luckily her husband loved it and it was his birthday present after all, so all’s well that ends well J  But it got me thinking about where you can get certain food in restaurants when you are “out in the sticks” in the country as we are and how far you have to travel to get something a bit different.

Sushi is not a meal we can get around our area.  We have quite a variety of different foods available locally but definitely not Sushi.  We must have about eight Chinese restaurants and takeaways, the same for Indian food, Pizzas, Kebabs, good old English fish and chips and the odd Italian restaurant all in our nearest quite small town.  A bit further afield there are obviously a lot more but I can’t even imagine if there is a nearer Sushi restaurant than London.

So I guess, unless we want a trip to London, it is make your own Sushi.  After all, it can’t be that hard if you don’t have to cook it – LOL.  There are a whole load of Sushi recipes online to try.  I noticed one recipe called for ½ cup “imitation crabmeat” – what on earth is that? I can only think they mean “fish sticks” which used to be called “crab sticks” over here years ago.  Then there are “nori seaweed sheets” – well that is not something you can buy in any of our local supermarkets.  So maybe this making your own Sushi isn’t so easy after all.

Time to try another recipe – an easy one this time – it called for fresh tuna fish (so far so good), Sushi rice (well maybe not too hard as I guess it may be rice cooked in fish stock – but need to check that).  Then I hit the last ingredient – “wasabi paste” – what the heck is that!  I just know my local supermarket wont stock that!  End of that recipe too!

OK, so I check out Traditional Japanese Sushi – that can’t be too hard – straightforward with nothing fancy like some of the others.  Nope – apart from fish (easily acquired) the recipe also calls for the non-existent around these parts “seaweed sheets” and the “wasabi paste again”.  It must be a bit boring all these recipes calling for the same things J

So if I did want to try Sushi (which I don’t think I am that bothered about) it will have to be a long trip to the capital and find some in London!  I don’t even fancy raw fish.  I do like my food cooked, although I do like smoked salmon.  I don’t even like many shellfish – only prawns and shrimps.  I just cannot see any reason to swallow something whole like oysters – I mean what the heck, where is the taste in that?  I like my food so I like to chew my food.  If I am going to have calories I need to think I have enjoyed them on the way down!  I dare say, though, that Sushi made properly is really nice.  If I ever get to try some I will let you knowJ

Today’s trivia snippet:

The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

Lastly, todays chuckles:

On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother.

The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents.'

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A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar.

During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone.  'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.'

I'm Electric!

Do you suffer from static? – I certainly do! 

Depending upon what shoes I am wearing I get a shock from the car door when I close it after I get out.  This happens so often that I nearly always try to either pull my sleeve down to push the door closed or I close it with my elbow.  At least we don’t use keys to open them these days as that was a work of art for me to try and do that without getting a shock.

The poor cat gets a shock from me often.  One cat seems to be ok for some reason but the other one must be a bit static too I think because I often give her a shock when I touch her, especially on her nose.  I feel so guilty after I have given her a shock too!  I sometime wonder if I should even give her a fuss just in case I give her a shock.  She doesn’t seem to take too much notice though so maybe it is just me that feels it.  How can I not fuss her though L  I doubt she would appreciate me adding conditioner to her fur!

I have to wash my clothes with a conditioner to finish – I know we all do these days, but years ago they didn’t bother, although I always did.

When I wash my hair I have to get the drying “just right” to avoid static as much as I can.  After washing, conditioning and towel drying I have to use a spray to help stop the static.  Then I have to leave it until it is almost dry and use an anti-static air styler on it to avoid making it more static.  Hairdryers and straighteners make it even more flyaway and static.  I can’t wear a jumper or anything likely to be too static while my hair is drying and just after drying either as that also makes it static.  Scarves and polo neck tops are a nightmare.  Once it goes static it tends to fly out at all angles from my head and looks like I have “been pulled through a hedge backwards” – that’s a funny saying really as most hair would surely look better after being pulled through backwards than it would if you were pulled through forwards.  When mine gets static like that it will follow my hand up in the air if I get it near my head.  As for keeping a style – well forget it!

I have to be careful with some clothes as I can feel that they just have too much static in them.  If I do wear anything that has, then apart from making it worse for my hair and touching things it also crackles like mad when I take it off and sometimes even when I move – I sound like a bowl of Rice Crispies.

Slips (petticoats) were always clingy for most people I think when they were made of nylon but I still have the same effect with mixed fibres.  When I do wear a skirt, unless it is cotton and lined with cotton too, I have to wear a slip to stop the skirt itself from clinging to my legs and they don’t seem to sell many that aren’t made from nylon.  Have you seen those old ladies with their dress clinging tightly to their legs like shorts – well that is me if I am not careful!

Then there are supermarket trolleys – they are horrendous if I have a particularly static day or wear the wrong shoes.  Every time I put something in the trolley I have to be careful not to touch the trolley and I have to make sure I am careful to push it without touching the metal at the side of the plastic handle.  I do get some very funny looks from people as I involuntarily leap back from the trolley in the middle of the shopping aisle.

LOL - it’s a shame I can’t be plugged into the house at night to drain the static from me like the way they use solar panels – I might generate enough power to boil the kettle J

Today’s trivia:

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

Today’s chuckle:

I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, 'Mom, that lady isn't wearing a seat belt!'

‘No Cook’ Chocolate and Coconut Truffles Recipe

This recipe was in a friend’s town magazine and was a suggestion for children to make for Mothers Day.  Well as I was dying for some chocolate today and had none in the house I could resist temptation no longer and decided to give the recipe a try.  It is extremely easy, although it is a bit mucky to roll it into balls – but that’s only because I hate getting my hands messy, kids and dads will probably love it.

They taste absolutely gorgeous, sort of chocolatey and chewy – very like chocolate macaroons I have had in the past.

All you need is a mixing bowl, scales, spoon and something to lay them flat in the fridge to set properly (although I shouldn’t think they will stick together if you pile them up).  The only slight ‘cooking bit’ is melting the butter if it isn’t a warm day.  Just pop it in the microwave with the milk in the mixing bowl (for about 30 seconds – depends on how soft the butter already is – just try for 30 secs and if not long enough, for a little longer until runny or almost runny – if you stir it round the rest will go runny but you don’t want it to start bubbling – you only need to melt it, not cook it).

'No Cook' Chocolate and Coconut Truffles

Ingredients

50g (2 oz) butter (or margarine)

60ml (4 tablespoons) milk

75g (3 oz) caster sugar

25g (1 oz) cocoa powder

100g (4 oz) oats

100g (4 oz) desiccated coconut

25g (1 oz) chopped nuts

15ml (1 tablespoon) milk

To make

1.    Melt butter and 4 tbsps milk together until runny

2.    Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix well

3.    Allow to cool (if still warm)

4.    Form into small balls

5.    Place on baking tray or plate

6.    Put in fridge for a couple of hours to allow them to set firmly

If you want to make them look professional or for a gift you can roll them in coconut, chocolate powder or vermicelli after rolling them into balls and / or put into sweet cases.  Then you could tuck them into a box or basket to give as a present.

They can of course be made without nuts – just replace with more coconut instead.

Other suggestions are to add ground almond instead of the nuts, add a couple of drops of almond or vanilla essence.  You could probably use coffee (mixed with the milk and cooled) instead of the cocoa powder for coffee truffles instead.  I am sure there are many slight alterations that can be tried.  This is the first time I have used this recipe so I haven’t yet tried playing around with alternatives.  

Enjoy J

Ooh one thing I meant to add – it makes more than shown in the photos – some had already been nabbled by the time I got the camera!

I Lost It!

We went to the supermarket yesterday to do our monthly shop and I dropped a right clanger. The normal items like milk, bread, meat, yogurt etc. we get each time so no problem but I keep a list of other things that I will need when I go each month.  These are things that probably only run out every few months so when I start the new one I write it on the list to get another one in stock for next time.  LOL – yes you see I am organised.

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I try to write the list in the order that we go round the supermarket too so that we don’t have to double back for anything.  My husband hasn’t quite got this!  So if he adds anything to the list without asking me where he should put it  we may get right to the end of the supermarket and then find that the next items on the list (something he added) is right back at the entrance so we have to go all the way back for it.  So you see the best organised plans can go to pot!

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But I digress as the problem last night was that I lost my list not long after we got in there. We had only gone round the first few rows of the shop, which happens to be the fruit and veg section so I didn’t need the list until I got to the next rows.  When I went to get it out of my pocket it was gone!  Now we hadn’t gone far and I know I had it when we got into the shop as I had checked there was nothing we needed on the list before the fruit and veg rows.  I went back round where we had been but there was no list to be found.  We turfed out all the fruit and veg in the trolley to see if it was in there – no.  I asked a couple of the shelf stackers – no they hadn’t picked it up either.  Now I am pretty sure that my list would be no good to anyone else so I can’t see anyone else picking it up but as it was nowhere to be seen I can only imagine that a member of staff had noticed it and picked it up as they walked past to keep the aisles tidy.  Any other time it would probably have laid there for an hour or so!

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Now when I used to shop weekly, if I had forgotten to take the list I could probably remember most things on it,  but now we shop monthly some of the things on the list may have been on there for nearly 4 weeks and I can’t remember what I have gone to the cupboard for yet alone remember what we nearly ran out of  3 or 4 weeks ago.  Of course, the other problem is that these are important items that when we want to use them they will not be there, so when we finish the current toilet rolls or tube of  toothpaste it will mean that when we go to the cupboard for the replacement there will be none there and we will be stuck.  Although actually I did play safe with the toilet roll situation and bought a pack just to be sure.

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If I had just forgotten to take the list it would be so much easier as I could check it when I got home and if there was anything we had missed we could make sure we picked some up before we ran out.  But not having it at all means we will have no clue until it is too late.  A bit of a problem if it is the last toilet roll, for instance!

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I tried all the CSI tricks and looked to see the imprint of the list on the next sheet of paper which was almost there but not quite enough.  I couldn’t find a pencil but I tried rubbing over it with a crayon but I hadn’t written the list hard enough for it to imprint on the next page.  So we will just have to keep our fingers crossed that we don’t suddenly run out of something very important.

Today’s trivia:

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!

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Today’s chuckle:

Some more of the Catholic Elementary School Test Answers

THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA . THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.