My Two Cents | Bead Happily Ever After

I’d Be Lost Without It

Posted on September 13, 2010 by crystal

Hi there!

You’re just in time for the weekly question! 🙂

Around here, one of the first things we do each morning is turn on the teakettle. It’s electric and I love how quickly it heats! I can be enjoying a cup of tea a couple of minutes after I hit the “on” button.

We’ve had this teapot for about 10 years. Before that, I had to boil water on the stove – some years a gas stove, some years an electric. But, holy moly, with all of the stoves, water used to take forever to boil! There we’d stand patiently . . . waiting . . . waiting . . . which I guess explains why “they” came up with the expression “A watched pot never boils”.

(By the way, who are “they” and what makes them so smart?) 😉

Anyway, here’s my favorite mini appliance/kitchen gadget!

Take my TV, my washing machine, even my Swiffer dusters!

But I beg you . . . leave me my electric teapot!

What item in your home would you be lost without?

Hugs,

This and That

Posted on August 23, 2010 by crystal

Welcome, welcome! How was the weekend?

Busy? Relaxing? Too short? (Oh yeah, on that last one!)

We’re living in a crazy world, Kids. Lately, I’m concerned I may be missing some of your comments. It’s not enough that we are plagued with telemarketers, junk mail, and email spam (even though we jump through hoops to be taken off lists). The newest menace is “comment spam”, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds. This blog has an automatic filter that catches spam comments – but it’s not perfect. Sometimes it also “catches” wonderful comments!!! 🙁

When my blog was new, it was easy for me to sift through the small number of spams to look for any legitimate comments. But these days, the spam program can gather 200+ “spams” in a matter of hours! It’s no longer practical for me to skim through all of them, so I have to just empty the whole folder. I HATE to think that YOUR comment might be deleted along with all the spam.

What to do? Well, let me know if you don’t see your comment show up on a particular post. I usually try to approve comments several times a day, so if the day is over, and your comment is missing, please drop me a note by clicking here.

OK, on to this week’s question:

When you buy shampoo, lotions, toothpaste, lipstick, etc., must you have your favorite brand? Do you experiment with different brands? Or do you just buy the one that’s on sale?

Hugs,

A Day for Everything!

Posted on August 6, 2010 by crystal

Good thing Kelly’s looking out for us . . .

Otherwise, we might not have known that yesterday was National Underwear Day! Isn’t that a riot? 🙂

I guess the best way to celebrate would be to go out and buy some pretty new “unmentionables” (which is how a “young lady” would refer to her undergarments when I was growing up).

Thank heaven women no longer have to suffer with corsets, girdles, or whalebone stays. Although underwires are still around and they can be tortuous!

And I wonder if somebody should spank the maker of Spanx. After all, a girdle by any other name is still a girdle. Shouldn’t we embrace our natural ~~[bulges]~~ curves in this brave new millennium?

Hard to believe another week has already gone by, Kids.

Have a super special weekend!

See ya Monday 😀

Lots of hugs,

They’re Thieves I Tell Ya

Posted on August 5, 2010 by crystal

Cue up the music from “Jaws”!

Da da… da da… da da da da da da da da da da daaaaa!

(I’m trying to set a theatrical tone here.) 😉

Have you noticed?

Are you aware?

of the incredible… shrinking… food!?!?

Yikes!

Well, ok, it’s not that dramatic, but it sure is a trend that knows no limits!

For years, I’ve been noticing that crackers and the cookies seem to be decreasing in size. Boxes of cereal seem lighter and even ice cream sandwiches are losing weight. 😉

But yesterday, I was totally taken aback to discover that one of my very favorite snacks is just a shadow of its former self. Imagine my dismay when I tore open a yummy crunchy granola bar,

and saw that it barely filled half of its little package/sleeve!

Immediately, I assumed it was a mistake – an “irregular”!

I checked the rest of the bars in the box and discovered . . .

THEY WERE ALL THE SAME!!!

Oh the horror! The disbelief! What is going on???

It’s a sneaky way of raising prices. They think they’re fooling us – that we won’t notice we’re paying the same amount for less product!

Well, I’m on to them (and I know you are too!).

Luckily . . .

there is a silver lining . . .

We’re saving calories! 😉

Hugs,

A Skeptic’s Review – Cold Tea

Posted on July 22, 2010 by crystal

If you’ve been with me from the beginning, you probably know that I love tea! (story here)

I love it hot, and in the summer there’s nothing more refreshing to me than a frosty glass of iced tea!

But, I must admit, I’m very fussy about it, and how it’s made. So I was skeptical when I first tried a “cold brew” tea bag that’s advertised as the perfect way to make iced tea in a flash.

Would cold water really allow the tea to brew well?

What if it tasted as bad as powdered mixes for iced tea? Some of those are just terrible!

After making a glass, it looked good . . .

Surprise, surprise! It tasted good too! 🙂

I’ve made more since and discovered that very cold water doesn’t brew quite as well as “cool” water does, so my only advice would be to place the tea bag in room temperature water, and then after you remove the tea bag, you can add ice cubes to chill it thoroughly.

Let’s see . . . quick, easy, tasty, and refreshing.

Thumbs up! 🙂

Hugs,