Re: Another Va. member in Chesapeake

Just catching up on my emails, I've lived in Chesapeake since the eighties, and it certainly is nothing as described above.  While we certainly have drugs, crime and taxes, it certainly isn't someplace I don't feel safe walking in.  Yes, I have lived in South Norfolk (a "township" in Chesapeake) I never had an issue with coming into my home at two in the moring without a gun and a body guard.  (In this part of Virginia, our "city" has replaced the county with the different towns pulled into one city instead a county. Taxes are high, they are higher in Portsmouth, and you certianly have a much better qualily of life in Chesapeake.  As far as your water bill, you should call the water department and ask them to check for leaks.  I can't imagine having that high a water bill for just two people.  I belive the highest that I have ever had was around $90 while having 6-8 people in the house, getting ready for a wedding and finishing up construction. Dianna in Virginia --- In ChristmasChannel@yahoogroups.com, <fanof48nascar@...> wrote: > > I use to live in a small town called Poquoson which is on the Bay and is Near Nasa and Langley.  The crime rate was almost zero.  It is a fishing town.  I am now in NC. > > susan e > Saving Money In Small Town In North Carolinahttp://savinginasmalltowninnc.blogspot.com

Frugal: $10 Grocery List for when you're Broke

Frugal: $10 Grocery List for when you're Broke   $10 Grocery List for when you're Broke http://www.budget10 1.com/household/ dirt-cheap- groceries- 14.html Surviving on a Budget, $10 Grocery List Has this happened to you? Following several harrowing hours of balancing the checkbook, making payment agreements with various creditors, you sit back and look at the balance in your checkbook and realize you have about $20 left for the entire week. Somehow, with that measly $20, you have to put gas in your car for work... and still buy groceries to feed the family.So how do you do it? You put $10 in your car & spend the other $10 on groceries... and you eat for the entire week. How can someone eat on $10 a week? Here is a list of groceries that can be purchased for approximately $10. 1. Baking Powder (MYO!) 2. Eggs 3. Flour 4. Fruits (on sale) 5. Hamburger 6. Rice or Ramen Noodles 7. Margarine 8. Milk 9. Potatoes 10. Salt 11. Vegetables (on sale) 12. Tuna (1 or 2 cans) What's For Breakfast? * Scrambled eggs in a Biscuit * Fruit Smoothie, Hash Browns * Muffins, many kinds... * Pancakes, Fruit * Potato Pancakes * Tortilla with scrambled or fried eggs inside * Donut Muffins * Rice Pudding What's For Lunch/Dinner? * Tortilla with anything you have on hand in it. * Tomatoes/onions/ hamburg etc. * Shepherds Pie (Hamburger/gravy over mashed potatoes/corn) * Veggies in gravy over rice * Baked Potato and Vegetables * Scalloped Potatoes and Vegetables * Oven Baked French Fries & Salad * Vegetable Soup w/ or w/o Rice * Tuna/ Pea Wiggle (serve over toast or biscuits or saltine crackers) * Scalloped Potato/Tuna Casserole * Popovers fill with: tuna pea wiggle recipe or gravy/veggie mix * Chicken Pot Pie Although the above menu is very limited, but this grocery list is for the tough times! ~

Christmas Eve" by Mina Morris Scott

VINTAGE VERSE: "Christmas Eve" by Mina Morris Scott from the IDEALS Christmas Magazine 1969 Kindle the candles and sing the sweet carols; Hang up the holly and tinsel the tree. Christmas is coming with all of its gladness, With treasures and pleasure for you and for me. Hide the gay gifts and secret surprises; Bake the plum pudding, the cookies and pie. Pin up the stockings along the broad mantel, Santa may come in the wink of an eye. Off now to bed and the deepest of slumbers, Wondering if we have forgotten a thing; So we drift off into blissful oblivion, Dreaming of joys that tomorrow will bring.

VINTAGE RECIPE: "Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls"

VINTAGE RECIPE: "Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls" "Peanut butter adds flavor as well as protein to these holiday sweets. They can be wrapped in wax paper and then in tissue paper to make a colorful centerpiece or gift." 1 cup light molasses 2/3 cup light corn syrup 1 tablespoon vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 quarts popped corn 1. Combine molasses, corn syrup, vinegar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently until mixture reaches 250 degrees F. or until a little syrup dripped into cold water forms a hard ball. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. 2. While syrup is cooking, spread out popcorn in a deep roasting pan. When peanut butter mixture has been combined, pour immediately over popcorn and stir until popcorn is evenly coated. 3. Lightly oil hands and shape mixture in 12 balls. Set aside to cool completely. 12 servings.

Cinnamon-Honey Butter

Here is a wonderful recipe for Cinnamon-Honey Butter, shared by Ina Garten. One pound of butter will make 4 gifts for Christmas or any other holiday! I would suggest using the 1/2 cup plastic GLAD containers with the screw-on lids, to store the Cinnamon-Honey Butter in. Once you fill the containers with the Cinnamon-Honey Butter, place the container in a cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon threaded with two bells. The butter should be refrigerated until ready to serve, at which time it can be served softened. Serve with toast, pancakes, or biscuits. The Cinnamon-Honey Butter will last in the refrigerator as long as your regular butter. 1/4 Pound (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, Softened at Room Temperature 3 Tablespoons Honey 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon 1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt Whip all ingredients together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Fill containers with Cinnamon-Honey Butter.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Coca-Cola Cake

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Coca-Cola Cake 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups granulated sugar 3 tablespoons cocoa 1 cup butter or margarine 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 cup Coca-Cola® 2 eggs 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of salt 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Heat butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola® to boil and pour over the flour mixture. Mix well. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and marshmallows and blend. The batter will be thin with marshmallows floating on top. Bake for 45 minutes. Frosting 1/2 cup butter or margarine 3 tablespoons cocoa 6 tablespoons Coca-Cola® 1 box confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Boil first three ingredients. Remove from the heat and blend in the sugar and vanilla extract. Spread on warm cake.

CHRISTMAS FRIENDSHIP LUNCHEON

Christmas Friendship Luncheon In order to share a little holiday cheer with friends who are so dear, a Christmas luncheon is an ideal way to spend the Christmas in July season. The most important element of the luncheon is a beautifully set table. Start with a lovely embroidered tablecloth and white placemats with silver satin around the edges with matching silver cuttlery, glasswares, Off-white plates, napkins that match the placemats to complete the setting. Include a flower arrangement in a beautiful vase or flower pot made from your favorite flowers. Write each guests name on cardstock, punch a hole in the corner, and tie it around the bottom of the urn with a pretty satin ribbon. On each friend's plate leave pretty poppers filled with tiny gifts. Now that your table is complete, for the rest of the how about the rest of the house? I try to stick with the holiday colors of red, green, yellow, gold and silver. Evergreen garlands are draped over the mantel and doorways. An abundance of candles are lit around the house (and bathroom – it's nice to enter a restroom with the glow of candles.) I add fragrance to the house by simmering cinnamon sticks and cloves in a pot of apple cider on the stove. The entryway, bathroom, coffee table, and select corners are adorned with containers of poinsettias. And I hang silver stars with iridescent marbles in the center from the kitchen fan and on doorknobs. The kitchen is where I set up an appealing buffet. I put another cranberry organza tablecloth on the kitchen table. Here, guests can help themselves to holiday punch, coffee, or champagne (with orange juice if they'd like.) On my kitchen counter I lay a silver linen tablecloth and scrunch it up to add a relaxed but dressed look, on which I put the plates of food. Lunch includes a cranberry and toasted almond green salad, chicken, (I try to change the kind every year) quiche, (again different each year) and homemade bread (it might be corn or banana or garlic or…) After we've eaten at the table and talked for a while, I clear the plates and serve dessert. If it's cool out I'll serve hot chocolate. If not, more juice or champagne is in order. I put a variety of small desserts on a tray and ask each guest to help herself as I go around the table. The tray includes fresh baked cookies, muffins, fruit tarts and brownies. The conversation continues until we are all talked out and caught up with each other's lives. Friendship needs to be nurtured and a holiday luncheon is a great way to thank your girlfriends for their companionship. They've enjoyed the lunch, love their party favors and look forward to getting together again the next year. GAMES Card Game The idea is to have 2 decks of cards, pass out one deck of cards to everyone at the party circling around giving everyone one at a time until all the cards are gone. Hopefully everyone will come out with an even number of cards.. Have a bunch of nice little gifts wrapped 5 or 10 depending on the amount of guests.. Put the gifts in the center of the room.. Then with the second Deck of Cards have someone call out each card, the person that has the card that is called gets up and picks a prize, when all the prizes are taken from the table, everyone can steal the gifts from each other, when the whole deck has been called out the people with the prizes on their laps keep them.. This game is fun because everyone likes to pick a certain prize that looks interesting and they try to steal it back and forth and other people try not to let you remember they have a prize, but of course they have to keep them in the open.... (This game works for birthdays too.)

Junk

If you all won the Lottery and became multi millionaires tomorrow would you be holding on to that junk STILL ??

Tidewater Bichon Frise Rescue

Robin Gray Tidewater Bichon Frise Rescue Suffolk, VA 23438 757-986-BARK http://www.virginiabichonrescue.org

Cranberry Punch

Cranberry Punch 2 pints raspberry sherbet 1/2 cup lemon juice 2 cups orange juice 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 quarts cranberry juice 2 (28 oz) ginger ale In a large pitcher combine lemon juice, orange juice and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add cranberry juice and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight. Then pour into your punch bowl, add ginger ale and using an ice cream scoop place balls of sherbet to float on top. Delicious. Caramel Cashew Chewies   3/4 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 1/2 cups flour 1 cup old-fashioned oats 1 pkg. (14 oz.) caramels 1/3 cup half-and-half  cream 1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks 1 cup salted cashew halves, chopped   In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg.  Combine the flour and oats.  Gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Press into a 13 x 9 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the caramels and the cream.  Cook over low heat for 4-5 minutes or until the caramels are melted.  Stir occasionally.  Pour over the crust.  Sprinkle with the chocolate chunks and the cashews.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the chocolate is melted.  Cool on a wire rack before cutting.  Makes about 3 dozen LHam Pasties (Iltapalapasteija)   1 cup flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup butter 4 tbsp cold water   For The Filling: 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup half-and-half 1 cup shredded cheese 1 cup finely diced ham 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon prepared mustard   Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Cut in the butter until the butter is the size of peas.  Sprinkle the cold water over to make a dough.  Form into a ball.  Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  To prepare the filling, mix in the eggs and the half-and-half.  Blend in the cheese, ham, green and red peppers, salt, and black pepper to taste.  Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Roll the pastry out to 1/8 inch thickness.  Fit into 3-inch tart pans or into one 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Brush the bottom of the pastry with mustard.  Pour in the filling.  Bake the small tarts about 12 to 15 minutes or until set.  Bake the large tart for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Makes twelve 3-inch tarts or one 11-inch tart   * Exported from MasterCook * Yule Log Recipe By : Real Food for Real People Serving Size : 24 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Candy Chocolate Christmas Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ ------------ --------- --------- -- 4 cups Rice Krispies cereal 1/2 cup Peanut Butter 3/4 cup Light Corn Syrup 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine 1 dash Salt 1 teaspoon Vanilla 12 ounces Chocolate Chips -- melted In a large saucepan, combine butter, corn syrup and peanut butter, and cook over medium heat until butter is melted and ingredients are mixed well. Remove from heat, and add salt and vanilla. Mix well, then add rice krispies cereal to mixture and stir until all cereal is coated with mixture. Pour warm mixture into a wax paper lined 9 x 13 inch pan, and spread, thenlightly pack with buttered hands, to form a flattened crust. Spread melted chocolate chips onto top of crust. You will need to work quickly to roll your yule logs. First, using a sharp knife, cut the crust down the center forming two separate squares of crust. Next, working from the center-out, roll the logs jelly roll style, toward the outer ends of the pan, making two separate yule logs. Tightly wrap logs for slicing later, or slice immediately, and place slices into a sealed container to retain softness.

Water Heater Reset Button

I got up on schedule, just to find that there wasn't any hot water!   Everything check out OK for the water heater..... that we could find!   So, I called Stan's Refer and Repair Service and ask if they could check the elements.... .. they then ask me if I had pressed the reset button on the water heater?! What reset button, I ask??? Well, come to find out that under the upper front cover on my water heater there's a little red reset button...... .. nope, I never saw it, nor pressed it, nor did I know about it...Posted by: "NancyC"

How to plug the oil leak in the Gulf.

-:

timholtz book

http://www.timholtz.com./book.html

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares Recipe

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares Recipe 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup peanut butter 12 oz butterscotch chips 3 cups miniature marshmallows Mix butter, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips in a double boiler just till melted, then remove from heat. Place 3 cups miniature marshmallows in a buttered pan and spread on warm mixture. Save a few chips and marshmallows to decorate the top, or be generous and add extra. Cut in squares when cool. It's that easy. Delicious! Note: If you cannot obtain miniature marshmallows, you could try using sliced large Marshmallows instead. Use 10 large marshmallows to replace each cup of the miniature kind. Substitute chocolate chips to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares. Yummy!

Messies clear up a guy space

In messiestalk@ yahoogroups. com, Sara Robinson <srobinson@. ..> wrote: > > I'm a certified home redesigner and stager (you should see what I can do to houses that aren't my own!). One of the things we learned in training is that men have what we came to call "the cave gene." They HATE having people mess with their stuff. And this becomes an issue for anybody in a profession that involves coming into a man's home and changing things around. > > It's not hard to see why they'd be this way. Say you're a prehistoric guy living in a cave. Say you go out all day hunting, and come back to find your stuff messed with. Somebody could have taken your property, tampered with your food, messed with your mate -- whatever happened, the odds are overwhelming that it's Not Good. Worst of all: it's a failure on your part to maintain your boundaries, which are even more important to men than they are to women (it's a testosterone thing; that hormone makes all critters territorial) . In short: it's a threat to your sense of control and order. > > The scenario where you do one-day home makeovers (like you'd see on TV), with the people going out for the day and coming home in the late afternoon for the reveal, is fun for women; but men invariably HATE the changes, no matter how much better they make the house look and work. > > Redesigners deal with that by asking them to live with it for two weeks. If they don't like it after that, they're free to move things back -- or, heck, we'll come back and do it for them. 99.9% of the time, the guy is over himself in about three days, usually to the point where he's sending us love notes. Once he's been in the space for a while, and notices how much better it works -- there's a place by his chair to set down a drink and the remote, and good enough light to read by -- he's thrilled. But that initial reaction is always ugly. > > Based on my experiences, a few suggestions for getting guys to accept these changes: > > 1. Ask your guy if you can do a little cleaning and reorganizing in the area around his favorite chair. (His throne, if you will.) Get permission first, then do it while he's out. When he gets back, it should be rearranged so that there's a nice clear table with a cold beer and a remote; a folded blanket arranged on the chair; good light nearby; a clear view of the TV; and his favorite things hung out on the wall nearby. (One client's husband was overjoyed that we'd resurrected an unbelievably tacky elephant-foot side table she'd stashed away in the basement, and put it with pride next to his chair. I noticed that he actually had a lot of safari-themed things -- mounted antlers, a faux-zebra throw -- stashed away. I clustered them around "his" corner, even putting a big potted palm in the corner behind his LazyBoy. He actually cried when he saw the whole effect. It was "his" place in a way it hadn't been before.) The spirit is: this is his cave, and you made it all clean and homey and nice. > > If he likes it, he may be more willing to let you change other things. > > 2. Accept that they're going to bitch when you change things. It's just part of their process, because of the cave gene. Most of them will get over it in a surprisingly short time. Some won't. Take notes, and strategize future changes in ways that work around this. > > 3. Ask them outright how they'd like to proceed when getting rid of things or changing things around. Acknowledge that it may be very uncomfortable; how can we make this easier on you? > > 4. Use the two-week rule when practicable. "I'll set the squirrel cage aside in the trash pile for two weeks. If you still want it then, we'll put it back. If you're ready to let it go, I'll get rid of it then." This gives them time to get through that initial reaction, and get over themselves. > > 5. Get a dumpster. There's something about a dumpster that's like a siren song: it absolutely calls to men to fill it all the way up. Once they start flinging, you need to keep a close eye on them, or the living room couch, the dog, and your youngest kid could end up getting tossed into it, too. The enthusiasm this generates is astonishing. > > Sara

Patio Planters

A nice explaintion on how to make (frugal or re-purposed) tiered planters .  http://www.positive lysplendid. com/2010/ 05/tiered- terra-cotta- planter.html

10 May 2010

Cleaning out the closet...back down to just the one closet of hanging clothes. That will still get edited out some more. A lot more! Most of the folded clothes have also been sent to the donation bin. Four bags out on Sunday. Four bags filled today.

Still have the summer clothes to go through. Plus the suits...they are almost ten years old...time for them to go. Amaziing how long I have been wearing the same thing??? Keep wearing the same thing so getting rid of as much as possible.

You can not organize clutter---it must be eliminated! Evict it NOW!

Cuties!

Daddy, how was I born? A little boy goes to his father and asks 'Daddy, how was I born?' The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and googled each other. There your mother agreed to adownload from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit thedelete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:  You'll love this ....... 'You got Male! "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a glass of red wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

WTF Google...

A different kind of company name 4/01/2010 12:01:00 AM Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We've been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka... http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/different-kind-of-company-name.html