JoyfulC

A wallet is one of the few things that has never been left behind at my location. But just about everything else has. I've even had guys get out to the car without their prescription glasses. (Actually, this happens surprisingly often.) I've learned to ask people to put their watches, cell phones, sun glasses, prescription glasses, whatever in their shoes. No way will they be able to get out the door without them if they're in their shoes.

I have 22 inches of scar from above my right hip to below my right knee. It's a reminder to avoid sudden stops.

You know those 2-way radios I mentioned buying? Scratch that. We had to return them. We weren't very happy with them in the first place. They misrepresented in their sales materials, and had obviously never been field tested before being released to production. But we probably would have sucked it up with all that. But then one of the batteries exploded while I was holding the one unit. What is it with quality control these days?

I went on a quest a few years back for the perfect (non commercial mix) pancake recipe. Mine involves yogurt, baking powder, baking soda and some cider vinegar. But these pancakes are robust and reach right up off the plate and grab you, they're so buxom! Another rising ingredient I've learned about just in the last year is butter. This is what makes puff pastry (which is really easier than you'd think) work. The pastry is folded and folded again, with the butter in between the layers, then when it bakes, the butter releases steam that lifts the pastry. I also found a biscuit recipe that works on the same concept in Garden & Gun Magazine -- these are really good! http://gardenandgun.com/article/our-cover-blackberry-farms-buttermilk-biscuits Additional Comments: I should note, too, that what makes yeast breads rise is that yeast give off carbon dioxide as a byproduct of their digestion of sugars. What makes non-yeast breads (quick breads) rise is also carbon dioxide, but it's achieved by combining an acid and a base with water. Baking powder is a combination of baking soda (a base) with cream of tartar (an acid) in a neutral carrier (corn starch, I think). Add H2O and you get a release of CO2.

Realizing your almost 4 mo. old puppy is probably going to be way too smart for you. I took the boys out this afternoon, and when I brought them back in, the old beagle was dawdling. I was on the back porch with the back door to the kitchen closed. When I turned around, the puppy had his paws wrapped around the back door knob and was making motions like he was trying to turn it. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Go to the library and check out a book called Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois. It's not as hard as you might think! Since my husband retired, he has really become a master in the kitchen. I haven't eaten any store bought bread or baked good in years (with the exception of occasionally eating something at someone else's house). He makes all the yeast risen breads and I make all the ones risen without yeast. Good luck! http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

This isn't a flat database. It's a multi-table relational database. And it's not the information in my tables I want to be able to share, but the whole application (tables, forms, scripts, queries, reports, relationships). I would hope another SP who used it would fill the tables with her own information. The runtime might work.

I never saw an owl in flight. I never even imagined it.

Stopping the movie mid-way through to make tasty, buttered popcorn. Not the fake nuker stuff, but real pan-popped popcorn with melted butter on top. ... And then only being able to think about how it's very likely GMO corn. Augh. Why is it so hard to just get real food??

Pig tails and warm German potato salad. Das schmecks!!

Oh yeah! I just remembered. I'm pretty sure I'm one of your kids too!! What's our address again?? ;)

I LERV ORAL!! Please include me!!

Since we got a puppy for Christmas, I guess one resolution is to come up with a healthy recreational program for the little fellow. I'd also like to nap more, write more, and get more massage.

My husband says I have to work, backing him up in his biz. And I hope to get some pics of a friend of ours doing his DJ thing for his possible web site.

Thanks for that. My husband has an "Operation Red Nose" type business and is doing pretty well with it. But helping him with this has really brought home to me the need for his type of service. I had no idea!

With much sadness, we have to part with this because we're moving into smaller digs and we need to pare down. It's a great resistance training system that relies on a patented "isokinetic resistance" system to ensure that you can always complete your reps. It automatically adjusts resistance to your ability. (It works by way of a pair of, essentially, brake pads. The faster you can do your reps, the more resistance. The slower, the less.) For this reason, it's ideal for women looking to get into shape, and anybody looking to recover from an injury. (The latter is mostly how we used it.) It's well loved and well used, but still in great shape. It includes: --shuttle & press bar --butterfly attachment --abdominal crunch bar --power meter (shows resistance per rep, etc.) --exercise poster It's in good condition, despite all the mileage we put on it. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost the manual but we're available for support. We're asking $150, and for a small fee, we can include delivery and set up. To see it in action, here's a link to an old ad for it on YouTube: They always try to sell these things with the notion that, by using them, you're going to get "buff" and lose weight and have six pack abs and such. Maybe. All I can say is, as much as we used it, it never did that for us. But it DID allow us to build the muscle and strength we needed to participate and have fun skydiving, and for me, it gave me the muscle I needed to play hard in my work. We're also selling our Nordic Track Cross Country Ski Trainer for $50.

Not sure about that combination, but if you picked up a Voxox(.com) number for your work phone, it might do it.

It looks like the puppy is going to make short work of those few houseplants that managed to survive the kitten.

I think Sippy Wallace said it best: "Women be wise. Keep your mouth shut! Don't advertise your man." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BozPEpeMg2c

I hate buying things (and I hope I'll be happy with this purchase), but I invested in a new pair of 2-way radios for use with my husband's business. We've been using an old pair we bought years ago for a drive across Canada in separate vehicles. But they only have a 3 km range and they eat through batteries, needing three AAs each. The new one have up to 35-mile range, rechargeable batteries, weather radio and lots of useful features. Can't wait 'til they arrive! For us out here, they'll probably be way more reliable than our cell phone. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=685747&csid=_61

I know, but I'm not telling! ;)

I should note too that sometimes a rate fluctuation is just a miscalculation on our part. But when we know we've screwed up, we have to put it right. Sometimes that means putting the price down a bit. Other times, raising it. When i first started seeing people out here in the sticks, I lowered my rate. My reasoning was that the lower rate would compensate my Ottawa regulars for coming the distance to see me. But it turned out that those regulars who could and would come all this way to see me continued paying my old rate, even though I told them a lower rate was available. And for those who couldn't or wouldn't come out here to see me, the lower rate didn't affect their decision. Meanwhile, I was advertising and picking up new clients out here, at the lower rate. Which was not good for me. The lower your rate, the more appointments you need to accept to cover your costs each month. In my situation, I need to keep traffic to a minimum, so by simply returning my rates to where they were before I left Ottawa, I could cut down on a lot of traffic. Of course, I continue to honour the lower rate for those good customers I acquired at that rate. But the higher rate takes more pressure off than you'll ever know. Over the years, many prospects have informed me that if I'd simply cut my rates in half, I would get twice as many customers. They say this like it's a good thing. But let me ask you this: if someone told you if you worked for half what you do, you could work twice as many hours, would that sound like a good thing to you? Run twice as hard for the same amount of money? I just don't see the selling point in that argument.

Gouging?? That's a bit hysterical, isn't it? After all, using the services of an SP is an extreme personal luxury. Not a life necessity like food, fuel, heat, shelter, shoes for your kids. Gouging happens when one jacks up the price of something that people can't go without. If they raised the price of Porsches by 25% one year, though, it would not be thought of as gouging because Porsches are luxuries for those who can afford them. There is no obligation to make them cheap enough for everyone to have one. To put some perspective on this matter, when I first worked in Toronto in 1982, the going rate was $250/hour. That's what I'm charging today. During that time, rents, many food costs, cost of a new car, fuel and heating oil have risen steadily (which I don't mind so much; I am more upset that quality and customer service has plunged). In one year, due to the application of the HST, my home heating oil bill shot up 8%. I'm not talking about luxuries, but life necessities. Prices may fluctuate a bit from one year to the next, but looked at over the course of decades, our rates are stuck in a rut. Generally, it's considered to be in very poor taste to complain about the price of luxuries. No one owes you a luxury experience. It's something you can either afford to treat yourself to or not. Merry Christmas!

I made a spinach quiche with lots of garlic for our Christmas Eve dinner. Fred made oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. We might have a shrimp cocktail later. (Or we might just polish off that quiche.) Tomorrow Fred is making his maple cider brined pork with yams. My contribution is the homemade applesauce.