When Will It End?

 I am not talking about water in the basement, our soon to break down stove,  the noisy/gas leaking hot water heater, our leaky kitchen faucet or even the big screen TV that just up and died on us last week.  And  my car AC that needed replacement?  I am so over that!   Until now, I  have been just taking a deep breath and telling myself that shit happens (pardon the language!)    However,  I am going to tell you what has my blood boiling today!! 

The problem started on February 15, when I booked our November flight to Florida, using our NWA World Perks points.  Woohoo, a free trip, finally!!  You see, before that day, every time I tried to use my points, there were no available seats!  It had become almost impossible to find a flight that was not blocked!  So, this time I  decided to call far in advance, nine months to be exact! I could have had a baby in 9 months, certainly that would be enough time to find a flight that wasn’t blacked out!!

I was determined not to hang up the phone until I got confirmed dates.  As I gave them one date after another, they continued to tell me (over and over), that there was nothing available on that day.  Finally I said:   “You tell me when I can use my points and fly for free!!!”  She had ONE day that we could travel to Florida, and ONE day we could return.  Forget about direct flights—that was only in my dreams!!   They have us stopping twice on the way there!   And on the way home?  The only available flight leaves Orlando at 6:30 a.m., which meant we had to leave Cocoa Beach at about 2:00 a.m. to get to the airport on time!!  But only one extra stop on the way home!!  

Like I said, I was determined to use our points and THAT WAS FINAL!!   So I booked—despite the fact that our normal 2 week trip has now been reduced to a 1 week trip, which included 2 days lost to travel!!   But really, my main man and I remained positive!!  We looked at this as an adventure!!  Woohoo!!  And we beat the system—we actually got to claim our 2 free tickets!!  Life was good!   Since we booked in Feb, I have already received 4 schedule changes, and it is only July!!  I wonder how many more there will be before we go!  

By the time we booked those flights, hubby and I had already decided to stop using our “NWA-World Perks” Card, but instead we took out 2 new cards (one personal and one business) that gave us cash back!  This would be much better.  We would take the cash, put it into a savings account, and only use the money for travel tickets!!  What a perfect plan!  That way, I could shop for cheap tickets, on ANY airline, and not have to worry about blackouts!  The best of all worlds!  We agreed that we would put away the US Bank Perks cards (business and personal) and only use the new ones.  So that is what we did.  A couple final bills came to us that only included the “auto pay” transfers that I had set up with various companies such as telephone, cable, and business distributors.  As the bills came to me, I called and gave them my new number.  After that, I stopped getting bills from US bank, and we lived happily every after!!

WRONG!!!  Everything was transferred on the personal account, however there were a few of my business distributors that still had my old card number.  Oops!   

After the March statement, I never received another bill or correspondence from US bank, until June 25.   It was an automated urgent message informing me that there was a problem with my account and I should call back immediately.  As I entered the requested numbers, I was asked to hold the line for the next available operator.  Finally when “the next available” came on the line, I was shocked at what I heard!!

The usual questions were asked:  “What is your name?  What is your card number? what is the zip code on the account?   Well, up to the last question, I was giving all the right answers!  But when I was asked my zip, I was told it was the wrong answer!  “What do you mean it’s wrong—I should know my own zip code”!!  (But then of course I actually had to look at my address just to make sure, since I am getting old, if you know what I mean-LOL!!)    But I was right!!  I had given her the right number!!  But she insisted that was not the zip on the account.  “We have been living here for 4 years—that is our zip code!!”  I said.  At this point, my heart started racing!   Then when I told her my address, she insisted that it was not the one on my account!!  For a minute I thought my identity had been stolen or I was in the Twilight Zone!

Finally I gave her a zip that matched!!   But it was  not my current zip!  It was my old zip, and address, from 4 freakin’ years ago!!   I was definitely shocked and appalled!  How could this happen??   All I knew for sure was that since I was not physically using that card, and I was no longer receiving monthly statements, I must have given the new number to all my peeps!   How wrong I was!!!   My first reaction was that someone else was using my number, but when she started to tell me  what was charged, I knew they were mine, and I had just forgot to give a couple of my contacts the new number!  YIKES!!

I spent hours on the phone trying to find answers, have the account re-directed to the right address and get copies of these bills so I could check them out and get them paid immediately.  It also took much time to convince these same people that I should not have to pay any late fee’s or interest charges, since I have always paid my bill ON TIME and IN FULL and BEFORE THE DUE DATE! 

I had them fax copies of the bills to me.  After checking to make sure the charges were all legitimate, I paid the bills over the phone.  They told me that since it was apparently their fault, credits would go through for the late fees and interest, on the next bill which I should be receiving shortly, now that they had the correct address.  The June statement came to the right address, so that should have been the end of it.  NOT!  I received the June statement and it did show credits for 2 late fees and 1 interest charge, but there was still one interest charge on this statement that should not be there!  

Now, this is the kicker:  I called to have it removed before paying the bill and after entering my information, the operator came on the line and told me I had entered the wrong zip code!!!   Grrrrrr!!  ONCE AGAIN they changed my billing address to the old one!!  Can you even fathom that???  I sure couldn’t. I could feel my blood pressure rising, as I went through my story over and over again, and kept being transferred to different departments!  Finally, I was connected to someone who sounded like they knew what they were actually doing!  He explained that the first person who changed my address back to the current, only changed it in one location, and it needed to be changed through out the entire system!  He was extremely confident that he had now taken care of the problem for good, and I should have no more problems, and that I should wait 2 days, and then set up an “on-line” account, so I could keep track of any future activity!!  I decided that I did need to do that, just to make sure all was good in “Perk” land!   

This brings us up to this morning.  I went onto the i-net to register for on-line banking.  And once again, after putting in all my vital statistics I kept getting denied!  This happened 3 times before I decided to just call and ask what the problem was.  Yup!! You guessed it!!!  Apparently I was putting in the wrong zip code since the one on my account was my old zip, which belonged to the old address that was currently on my account!!!  How could this keep happening!!!  Honestly, I really thought that after the hours I spent yesterday, we finally had everything corrected. 

Again, as I felt the BP rising, and my heart beating out of my chest, I had to repeat my whole story to not only that person, but to 2 more people as I kept getting transferred!  After 2 more hours of explaining, demanding answers and looking for guaranties that this would NOT happen again, I was finally told that to insure this from not happening in the future, it would be necessary for me to physically go into a US Bank and only then would this problem be permanently corrected!!   So now, I have another couple of hours of waiting and explaining to look forward to tomorrow!

Now you are probably thinking that I should just close this account and be done with it!!  But since I booked our last trip, I actually still have enough perk points to almost book 1 more or at the very least, be able to use  toward a rental car.  And I really hate when I have something free coming and I don’t use it!!  But I can guarantee you that once I use every last p0int that I can—I will officially close it out!  But in the mean time??  How many more hours will I have to waste?  Any guesses??

Flying high in April…

Shot down in May!  As my good friend Frank reminds us:  “That’s  Life” !!!

But  why is May lasting so long!!!!  lol   In order to appreciate the good things in life, you do have to experience the bad.  And we have definitely had our share of bad,  in the last couple of months.  But,  no  worries!!  The bad will not last forever!!  That is not the cycle of life!!   You got the Aprils and you got the Mays.  

The goal of my blogging is to keep things  light and fluffy.  I really do not want to  whine and complain about the negative things in my life, after all so many peeps these days, are stuck in May and dealing with lots worse than us!  We really are blessed!   We do have the best family ever!  We have a beautiful home and I love  my work (when I have it)!!   

However, we all know that when it rains—does it not pour????   And yes, the water is still finding its way into our basement—but we are working on it!!  Our Home Equity Loan is proof that we will not give up until we are dry or run out of borrowed money!!  And some day, when I can laugh about it, I might just tell you the whole story!!  And maybe I might even be able to laugh about the fact that our big screen HD TV died last night for no good reason!!  But I am sure it is not because it needs the $200 bulb that we have already bought and paid for, in anticipation of the picture going out, since that does happen about every 8 months!  Oh noooo–that would be way to easy!  Instead I think it has something to do with the fan, which probably would cost us more than the TV is worth.  But the good news is that I hear—Big Screen TV’s are much cheaper today than in the past!  After all, ours is  an older model—not even a flat screen!   And we were planning on getting a new one some day, just not right now! 

And I am not complaining about the new problem that has caused our stove to give off a “gastly smell over the last couple of days!   After all, Taco bell is just down the street–YUM!   And the water heater?  Well, it has been making that load horrible noise for months now, and we have lived with it!  But, the other day when I was downstairs and it kicked in—I wasn’t expecting the gas smell!   That can’t be good!  

But really, April  is just around the corner, honest!

Cheers

This weekend my main man and I took a road trip to MN.  Our daughter and (soon to be)  son-in-law live there.  We really never need a reason to visit the kids, but we actually had some wedding things to take care of, so it was a good excused to go.  Eating and drinking  seems to be the  main theme of all of our visits even though we did manage to complete the addressing of wedding invitations,  the fitting of Angela’s most beautiful wedding gown, and the purchase of the supplies needed to make her wedding veil.  We even spent hours at an Art Festival!

But, back to the theme of our weekends—eating and drinking.  It has come to be a normal part of each visit with these kids, that Nick and I do a “shot”.  It is not like we always want to, or need to, but if one of us says to the other:  “Is it time for a shot?”   of course the other can’t back out!   Usually we have a shot at the end of the night, after we have already had enough to drink!  But—I just think that is a waste of good tequila to slam it down, and then go to bed!  All that does for me is give me a bit of a headache in the morn!  So this time I decided to be a little smarter about it!!

I said to Nick:  Let’s have a shot in the beginning of cocktail hour instead of waisting it at bedtime!  Of course he agreed with me, hence, the start of cocktail hour on Friday night.  Let me just say that this was a really good plan and it would have worked!!

We followed or shots with our usual before dinner cocktail (and perhaps a shnook for good measure).    Our favorite MN restaurant is a sports bar called “Majors”.   They have really good food there, and the atmosphere is OK if you like sports!!  About every  5 feet or so, there is a big screen TV, and they all display either baseball,basketball, football, or hockey, depending on the season!  (For one brief moment I thought I saw something good on one of the TV’s but it must have been a commercial LOL)  Anyway, we are usually too busy talking to pay much attention to whatever ball is being tossed, kicked, or hit! 

Ooops, I am getting off track again—back to my point.  Usually I have 1 tequila with dinner and the rest of our four-some have a beer  (of course  hubby usually has 2, since he never has to drive once we get there!)  This night, I made the mistake of just ordering tequila on the rock, instead of asking for Patron, or Sauza!!   I used to be able to say:    “I never met a tequila that I didn’t like!!”   But over the past couple of years, I have certainly found a few that have totally disappointed me–and this was one of them!!!   I did try, and I got more than half down, but it really wasn’t worth waisting the calories on!  

Anyway, I did have just enough to drink, since Nick and I started with a shot!  I really didn’t need to have any more!!     But then—we decided to go to JJ’s, which is the bar/restaurant right next door.  We always talk about going there, but for some reason it just didn’t look appealing!  Angela thought it looked scary, and I always say that it looks like it would be a smokey bar, but of course that is just silly, since MN has a NO SMOKING policy!!  LOL

Anyway, this time we decided to be brave, take a risk, bite the bullet, and go over to JJ’s for a drink.   Of course  they all had a beer,  and I should have had a glass of water!!!  But NOOOO!   Since my last tequila  was sooo disappointing at Major’s, I decided to have a Patron!   Yum—it was Buck!   But of course this was the one that woke me up at 4 a.m. with that:  (one-to-many) headache!   Grrrrr and I thought I solved that problem by having the shot first!   When will I ever learn!

Anyway, fun was had by all—Friday and the rest of the weekend!   Cheers!

Update!

Remember the Fly in my “Newman’s Own Organic” olive oil?   Well, I did not get $10,000.00 or free olive oil for life.  Instead I got a gift box and this is what I received: And now that I got my compensation, I am not sure what to do with it!  First of all , they sent like 6 giant candy bars, and about 10 boxes of cookies!!  Out of all the candy bars, there was only 1 that was true dark, dark chocolate (which is what I like)   Of course that  didn’t keep me from eating a few more!  (Chocolate=yum!)   But the cookies?? I do not eat cookies.   Hubby might eat a couple , but most of them we will just give away to the kids/grandkids, or Jerry will take them to work.  And really, it is not like they are bad cookies, it is just something that I have no use for.  

I received 4 tins, and 16 rolls of mints.  There were 4 different flavors: peppermint, winter-mint, cinnamon, and ginger.  There were 2 bags of mini rice cakes:  cinnamon and salted.  The cinnamon were tasty. I had a few and Sara finished the bag!   We haven’t tried the salted ones yet—not sure about those!  The one thing that I know will get eaten is the 2 bags of pretzels.  Jerry loves pretzels!  The dried cranberries I might try but I would never buy them on purpose!  I love craisins, but dried cranberries are just not the same–a bit too sweet for my taste!   And the dried apricots?—I don’t think so!!   That pretty much completed our gift box, except for the replacement olive oil—NO FLY!

I am not exactly sure how to feel about this gift box.  I was wondering if Newman’s ORGANIC might make anything that is actually healthy or good for you?   Besides the olive oil, I would not purchase any of the other products that were sent.  Needless to say,  I was a bit disappointed.  Maybe I should return it—-and hold out for the big bucks!  (kidding!)

I did send back the fly, and I am sure that most of the products that we received will get eaten by someone!  In fact, one of the boxes of cookies  is already gone!  My grandson Michael sure did like the “Fig Newman’s!”  But that is not the end of the story!  As an extra bonus, I received a bottle of balsamic vinegar!  Thank you Newman’s Own.   That was a treat!                   Life is good!

I got the beat!

My Main Man always tells me I am unique.  It’s a really nice way of saying that I am unusual, or a little bit different then most.  In other words:  “I dance to my own drummer!”  Speaking of dancing. . .

All of my life I have enjoyed it!  I may have mentioned in the past, how much I love to dance.  I started taking lessons when I was 5!  Get this, my sisters and I had to take tap and jazz lessons, instead of ballet.  Why–you ask?  My mom always told us that ballet would make our legs too muscular!  (I remember her saying that, like it was yesterday!!)   Through the 7 years of lessons, I dreamt of becoming a professional dancer–or at the very least, a dance instructor!   Anyway, blah, blah–neither happened.  But I have always loved to dance, as much today as when I was 5.

Am I a great dancer?  Not so much!  But I do have the beat and I can shake my bootie!!  Whenever I hear music, whether it is on the radio, at a party, or even in church—my body starts to move.  About the church thing?  Ya, when we are singing in church, my butt sways back and forth to the song—I can’t help it!   Sometimes I catch myself doing it without even thinking about where I am!!  But you know, some of the songs at church are pretty jazzy!!  Dancing just totally fills me with joy and brings a smile to my face

Yesterday I was on my way to work— in the car alone, with my music cranked up.  I usually (OK always) sing along to my Cd’s.  But I got a new CD for my birthday that has this awesome ”swing” song on it.  Wow!!    I was totally getting into it!  I played it over and over, not only so I could learn the words, but the beat just had me dancing in my seat!   All of a sudden I noticed a few people in other cars, staring at me, maybe even smiling a bit!   But I didn’t stop and I didn’t care, cus I was feeling  good, and getting lost in the music!  Of course I was not totally lost, I was driving, after all!               I’m just sayin’

“Fly” with me

I have to prefix my story with a few facts.   Fact 1:  I probably have a bit of olive oil almost every day.  Of course my peeps know how much and how often I eat tomato/basil—not only as an appetizer, but  often for lunch, and occasionally for dinner!  I know you probably think that I should be sick of it by now—NOT!!   Fact 2:  My olive oil of choice is Newman’s Own.  I think it has a good flavor, at a reasonable price.   Fact 3:   I also really, really loved Paul Newman!!  Those bright blue eyes!!  I could get lost in them!  Besides, he always seemed to be on of the “good guys”—No scandals that I know of!   Fact 4:  The Newman’s Own Company donates a goodly amount of their profits to charity.  That makes me feel that when I buy the products, I too am making a donation (in a round-about way)

Last week I opened a new bottle of  Newman’s Own olive oil.   As I was pouring, I noticed something floating in the bottle.  As I looked closer, I discovered that there was a dead fly in the bottle!!   Not only did this ruin my tomato/basil, but of course it was necessary to inform the company of this problem.  This is the correspondence:

To:  Newman’s Own 

We use olive oil almost every day, and Newman’s Own is our favorite.  Last night I made a tray of tomato/basil on Triscuit crackers, and the last step before putting it  under the broiler is to drizzle with olive oil.  I opened a new bottle of Newman’s Own, and started to pour.  As I was doing that I noticed something floating in the bottle!!!  Well, you can just imagine how traumatic that was!  This was totally gross and disgusting, not to mention the fact that it ruined my batch of appetizers!!  And this was the only bottle of o-o I had in the house!!!

I did not take the bottle back to the store, but rather decided to write to you.  Now, if I was one of those money-hungry good-for-nothing people that go out of their way to sue companies when they find critters in there food, I would be calling a lawyer instead of writing this letter, even though in this economy, (being out of work) I could use the money, if you  know what I mean!!!  I am also not going to go to the media with this discovery, however, to be perfectly honest with you, I do write a blog, and this would make for a good one!!  I’m just saying!

However, I do believe that we should be compensated for this 25 oz. bottle of olive oil, bar code #  5764503010, BT:163  8269  BEST BY 03-2010, and for our inconvenience.   Also, I am not even sure when that fly got in the bottle—could it have been in the entire batch of olive oil made that day, and now everything has fly juice in it?  Do I ever dare buy another bottle or should I switch brands?  We buy many different Newman’s Own products, and have many favorites.  Now–what am I suppose to do with this discovery?  I look forward to hearing from you, and I will hold of blogging until I do.  Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. 

From:  Newman’s Own

Dear Terri,    I am sorry that you have had this experience with Newman’s Own Organics Olive Oil.  I would have been very upset also and I am sure it was an unpleasant occurrence – to say nothing of the fact that it ruined your appetizers.   

I can’t say how a fly got into your bottle of Olive Oil, but do think it is a very rare incident.  It is the first time I have had anyone write with an experience like this.   Manufacturing today is automated, sterile, and clean, however, on occasion, there can be mishaps.

I will be happy to replace your bottle of oil as well as send you a box of assorted Newman’s Own Organics products.  If that is satisfactory to you, please let me know and include a mailing address where I can have it sent.  You are a valued Newman’s Own Organics customer and we are committed to providing you with the highest quality products and services available.  Sincerely, Peggy ——   Director of Customer Relations

Of course I wrote back:   

Hi Peggy,      This discovery was definitely unpleasant!  In fact, I still have not bought any olive oil because of it—I am a bit nervous!!  I have never gone this long without olive oil in the house, I always make sure that there is a back-up!  I am sending you a picture that I took.  That fly is actually in the bottle, and the bottle was totally sealed!  Would you like to have this bottle back?   Feel free to send someone over to pick it up—just let me know first.

I was hoping for $10,000.00 or at the very least, a lifetime supply of olive oil, but a replacement bottle and a gift basket sounds nice    As I mentioned in my first correspondence, I am a blogger and do plan on writing a blog about this incident, with pictures.  Who knows, my readers may advise me to hold out for the cash! LOL    Here is my contact info. —–

From:  Peggy

Terri,      Thank you for the picture – that will be a big help for Quality Control.  They will also want to see it and if you don’t mind I will have a prepaid mailer sent to you so that you can return it to us.   Thank you for your blog site – I will look for your review, and I will have your box of  “goodies” sent out to you soon.   Again, I am sorry for this experience you have had.

So Now:    What am I supposed to do with this??  Do I accept the bottle of olive oil, and gift box?  Should I send the bottle (and the fly) to them and go back to buying this product like nothing happened?  I’m not sure!! It’s not like I put the fly in there!!!  I’m just sayin’—I am an innocent consumer, just wanting to enjoy my tomato/basil with my evening tequila!  Is that asking too much?   Hmm—Anyone out there with some advice?  What would you do?

tweet-tweet!

Recently I signed up for a “Twitter” account.  I don’t spend much time with it, probably cus I don’t totally get it.  But I try, and I am proud to say that I now have 5 followers—3 of which I don’t even know!!   OK, not big numbers-but I’m new at this.  Maybe someday I will have 10!!  My twitter name is AbsolutelyTerri if there is anyone out there that wants to bring up my number!

Until recently, I only followed the ones that followed me!  But now, I have added a few celebs to my list of peeps I follow.  I am not one to read gossip magazines, unless I am having my hair dyed (ooops I mean styled! lol), or if I am in line at a grocery store!  I will look at the headlines—but I definitely never spend my hard earned money to read about exaggerated un-truths!   

I do enjoy “The View”.   I have been watching/listening to it ever since the Lisa Ling days.  Right now I really think that this show has the best mix of hosts since I have been watching!!   I was especially happy when Sherri Shepherd  became a permanent member.

So, back to my story.  I started to follow the  ladies of the View on FB.     Shortly after,  I sent Sherri a tweet.  I said:   I admire your devotion to your son, your frustrations and your celebrations! You seem to be a wonderful mother.

Let me just say, I have never written to a celebrity before and I had no idea if she would even read it, since I am sure they get so many tweets from random peeps!  But guess what??  WOOHOO!!  She actually sent me a personal reply,via e-mail!!  Her exact words:  “girl…I’m not all that…Just trying to do the best I can with this little one”

Do I feel  special or what??  An actual celeb took the time to tweet me!!  I am touched!   I may even tweet others!   Thanks Sherri for making my day!

What’s in a Name?

I have 3 awesome kids!  Kevin John, Sara Nicole, and Angela Rose–in that order.   Each one of my children are totally unique!  All, completely different from each other!

Anyway,  I was watching ”60 Minutes” tonight and much of the show was all about Vice-President Joe Biden.  I am not going to get into his politics, but I do want to mention his 2 sons.  I don’t remember their names but I do remember the comment:   “he calls both of them HONEY”.   Now this—I can relate to– and this is what I am talking about  baby!! 

As I have gotten older I totally, almost always, call Sara–Angela, and I call Angela–Sara.  Why?  The only thing I can blame it on is my age!  I always know who I am talking to, but the name usually just comes out wrong! 

So now, you are probably thinking that Kevin is safe, cus he is my only son.  WRONG!!  So often when I am referring to Kevin I call him Tom!!     Where does that come from?   Well, I do have a brother named Tom, who is quite a bit younger than I am, and I did “mother” him MUCH when he was young!!  So, Kevin is not even safe from being called by the wrong name!!

This brings me back  to the VP calling both his sons “honey” rather than calling them by name.   As the years go by, and names don’t come to mind as quickly as they used to, I do tend to call family, friends, and  acquaintances:   HONEY, sweetie, baby, or other terms of  endearment.   Is that bad?  Mmmm, I think that most people in my general  “baby boomer”  age group, can relate to this!  Is this wrong?  I don’t think so!   I think it is just “mom”—getting older!!  I’m just sayin’!

Purple Velvet

Deep Purple velvet is the rich color.   And the taste?  Yummers!   I had occasionally eaten them as a child, but I don’t remember every being impressed.  But then a few months ago, we had Pickled Beets as a side dish with our dinner.  Man, I sure had forgotten just how tasty they could be!!  As we were enjoying them I said:  ” we should have these more often”!   But, I guess Pickled Beets is just one of those things that is easily forgotten about, as a veggie choice!

So last week I stopped at Pick ‘ n Save for a few things.   While I was looking for something else, I spotted the beets.   I just had to buy them!  After lunch I decided to have just a couple.  I read the nutritional info—15 calories per serving/ no fat !   This was just too good to be true!!   Something that I liked so much, and it had so few calories!!  Of course, 1 serving was only 4 beets and the jar contained 9 servings.  But I was a good girl, and only had  2 servings!!  (OK, maybe I cheated and had one extra beet–but they were so good!)  I put the rest back into the fridge for another time–maybe I would serve them with dinner some night, since Hubby loves them too!

The next day I opened the fridge and spotted those beets.   They were just looking so good!!  My mouth began to dance with anticipation!!  So, I opened the jar and put 4 beets into a bowl.  After I ate those—another 4, and another.  And as I continued to eat all the beets, I added more and more of the pickled juice to my taste treats!!  When all the beets were gone,  and the juice remained, I thought to myself:     I am sure that the juice is considered as part of the calorie count, after all it is in the jar and actually tastes better than the beets!!  So, one dip of my spoon at a time, I drained that jar dry!  I rationalized it, by telling myself that I still had only eaten about 100 calories, and it was so tasty!!

But deep down I knew that the calories were for the beets only!  Of course I only came to this conclusion after the jar was empty and I read further down the label where one of the main ingredients was High Fructose Syrup–hmmm, do you think that was in the juice??  No wonder I can’t loose any weight!!         

I would like to think that there are other people out there that enjoy the taste of the juice as much as I do, and that in a perfect world, everything in a jar should be included in the calorie count—but every recipe that I looked at, said to drain the beets!  I don’t get it—waisting the best part?  It is just wrong.  And while we are talking about the best part–who doesn’t eat all the juice and onions left in the bottom of the jar after you finish the Pickled Herring??   I’m just sayin’—YUM!!!!

 

 

Bye Bye for now!

We are sitting on the balcony, looking at the totally blue ocean and watching  the swimmers at the pool.    Jerry is having his last beer.    We just got back from Coconuts.  The temp. is about 70 and sunny!   I do still need to put on my long pants , but for now, it’s all good! 

It was a wonderful vacation!  What is left to say but:   THANK YOU MOM AND DAD.  You have given us, our children, and our childrens children—-so much!!     WE LOVE YOU.