Conquering Naniland

I'm going to blog more often again when I can organize myself to be able to use my computer again. I finally have the padding figured out to be able to stay in the current wheelchair without pain. There is a support post for the back of the chair that hits my tailbone in a way that pushes it in and up. Remember, I use a wheelchair because I have little to no movement in my legs and hips, so moving around to relieve the pressure is not an effective "easy fix." Add to that it took a while to identify what point in my body the pain was coming from and what part of the chair was responsible for the pressure.

So now that I know what kind of padding and where I need it, I can spend the day in my chair. Now I have a new problem to solve. The mechanical base necessary to make the chair do what it does makes it too high to fit under a table. That doesn't just mean I'm challenged setting up a computer working area but sitting at a table to sort through papers or bills without things dropping all over the floor or eating a meal present obstacles. I also don't go out much. As much as the chair is supposed to give freedom and mobility, I don't like going places alone anymore. Sitting at a table in a restaurant when I must tilt the chair forward to reach the plate is pretty embarrassing. The humiliation is still there, but it's easier to deal with if I'm not alone.

I started physical therapy on my legs. In the over a year to get the chair including 5 months that I couldn't sit in the old chair that caused my out-turning hips, my legs and hips have become too weak to use a slide board or to stand and pivot. I just started in-home PT with the therapist showing David and the 4 aides that are here most often the exercises so I can do them every day. My immediate goal in the next few months is to be able to use a grab bar to stand for just a little.


Television

I love the ad for the Volkswagen Atlas! It's set to The Birds and The Bees and starts with the Beetle rocking with steamy windows and the young couple upgrading as their family grows after seeing the new cars "rocking." They show you the source of the rocking in the Atlas; a family of five with a dog and squealing happy kids. I think the ad is incredibly sweet.



I've read articles criticizing the use of innuendo or nitpicking that innuendo. Oh please! It's a cute way to show 5 different models of different sizes selling the largest one as a family car. Is it risqué? Um, considering that drugs for erectile dysfunction are on TV in all their "you know you want it" glory and the Go Daddy girls, no, not risqué at all. And as far as nitpicking "logical sense," it's a commercial not a drama. -eye roll-



The Handmaid's Tale

I decided not to put my book reviews on The Chronicles of Nani. I still post my few lines of non-spoiler thoughts with my rating at Good Reads. I'll link to those reviews here if you'd like to read them.

I just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwell. I gave it 5 of 5 stars. You can see my review here: my review



That's a little bit of what's going on in Naniland, a world I must conquer daily. But I do conquer it!

Super Bowl Commercials

I haven’t written in a while. If you look at today’s first post you’ll notice a book review that got five of five stars. It also took just a week to read. I usually have enough on my plate that full books take couple of weeks. As a rule if I haven’t written in a while check out the “currently reading” book!

There were some things that I took a break from reading for. I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. I like Jon Stewart’s name for the game, the Seahawks’ “take your Broncos to work day.” I don’t really have a lot else to say about the game except that there were playoff games that were played better but I didn’t have to miss any commercials or Bruno Mars for a bathroom break this year. My opinion, the halftime show was great this year except that The Red Hot Chili Peppers could have stayed home. Bruno Mars was fantastic and I would love to torture David by making him go to will Bruno Mars concert someday.

As for the ads there were too many car commercials and the car commercials were not written as anything special. Super Bowl commercials are supposed to be either funny, shocking or moving. My number one commercial this year was M&Ms. I had to get another opinion to make sure that it wasn’t just that I love the M&M characters, especially Yellow. But David agreed and he doesn’t have a personal connection to Yellow.

The Tim Tebow ad for T-Mobile was fantastic. I loved his being able to laugh at himself with why “No Contract” is the best way to go. I also really liked the Chevy Silverado ad with the “sexy bull.

I thought it was very cool that there were two, count them, two yogurt commercials this year. I have to give the best yogurt commercial nod to Chobani for the bear trashing the store until it finds “natural” yogurt. But I’m still in Oikos fan. The Oikos ad was just a few seconds and couple of paid actors too long. The sexy ad with Oikos spokesman John Stamos had some serious innuendo but it ends with his two former Full House costars at the end giving the joke that the three still live together. It was a dumb joke and not funny. They could have finished leaving innuendo open or create a light joke-ending from that innuendo. There’s nothing wrong with innuendo; sex still sells.

It boggles my mind what people who have big mouths and little worlds find to complain about. There are complaints about the Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad with America The Beautiful sung in many languages celebrating our diversity and it celebrates the immigrants who added to our American culture. As the daughter of an immigrant I am offended that there are people who actually find that ad to be offensive. I don’t think I’m “better” than everyone else but I’m certainly “better” than someone who finds equality to be offensive.

I’d like to share a public service announcement that aired in the early 1970s when I was a very young child and that spot has never left my mind or the way I think.


That PSA is why I’ve often said that I’m not “politically correct,” politically correct is me. Not labeling people, being open and loving them for who they are has always made sense.

Which brings me back to how exactly does the average brain work and can we fix it? I generally don’t read a lot of the commercial reviews after the Super Bowl. I review them myself. But I do read the teasers before the Super Bowl. Going into this year’s Super Bowl there was already a lot of hubbub about Cheerios bringing back their interracial family. I wasn’t sure what spot they were talking about so I had to go looking to find that spot. Folks, I guess that PSA really stuck because I remember the ad but I didn’t remember that it was an interracial family. The original ad was a great ad and I remember the adorable little girl putting Cheerios on daddy’s heart while he was asleep because Cheerios are heart healthy. An awesome ad because I remember it, I remember the message and remember the product. I forgot to notice and be bothered by the fact that the little girl, Gracie’s, parents have different skin colors. This year’s Cheerios is a continuation with daddy using the Cheerios to let Gracie know she has a little brother on the way. Gracie adds a Cheerio to “bargain” to add a puppy in the mix. What I really took away, aside from brand recognition, was when daddy said “deal” the look on mommy’s face was priceless.

The Monday After...

Cluster made with Espresso Italiano by Violamoni

Good snowy Monday morning! Although it’s a little later now, after breakfast and all, I managed to wake up just one minute before the alarm today. We went to bed a little late, but sleeping all the way to the alarm is a good thing for me! I say snowy, but it’s just a little snow right now; we’re expecting up to 3 inches today last I heard. No, that doesn’t thrill me, but espresso with breakfast helps me deal. ;)

I’m hearing great reviews of the Taco Bell ad yesterday with the octogenarians escaping the retirement home and doing crazy 20-something things including a late night trip to Taco Bell. Humph… Whatever; I didn’t like it. Maybe it’s because I don’t like the song. Maybe because I don’t like the idea that people are obsessed with wanting to be 20-something. I enjoyed being 20-something when I was 20-something but I don’t want to be it again. I enjoy being 40-something just fine. When I’m in my 80s, I might want an occasional Taco Bell, like I occasionally do now, but not because I want to pretend I’m in my 20s; it’ll be just because I’m in the mood for American mexicanish fast food. Maybe I’m overanalyzing but I didn’t find the spot to be good or funny.

The game was more exciting that it should have been. It wasn’t so much good as it was an interesting sway of momentum before and after the early in the second half partial blackout. I’m glad it didn’t happen before the opening kick-off return. I wanted Baltimore to win; I’ve liked Joe Flacco since he was a rookie. I did enjoy the Twilight Zone moments where my favorite ad seemed to have predicted the San Francisco come back and in 30 seconds prevented their win! Regardless of the outcome of the game, it was still a great ad, but with the outcome, it became an ominously powerful ad! Not bad for a one time only shelf-life on the spot!

Okay, no more football, advertising or espresso talks. Let’s join Heather and Wayne at Acting Balanced and Touristic respectively for the Monday Quiz About Me.

1. Are you good about going to the doctor?

I have to be now, but I wasn’t so much in the past. Now (I have doctors that make me schedule ahead and call me when they haven’t seen me in a while. I actually call that a quality of a good doctor now!


2. What do you think about the practice of restaurants adding automatic tips for large groups or specific events?

I think it’s a shame that so many groups tip low enough that it’s considered necessary. I don’t think a server’s tips should be considered part of their wage. Minimum wage is minimum and should be the full base of pay for a minimum wage position. No one is hanging out at the door threatening to call the police if a customer doesn’t leave a tip because it’s not mandatory. If anything a tip is a gift a customer gives for service and it should never be taxed. A server’s wage is what they are paid by their employer and tips are gifts and therefore not taxable.

Oh, and the story that made this a topical issue? The woman is the absolute worst example of a Christian ever. The whole eat fish during lent came from a time when the fishermen were the poor people and the sacrifice was to support the poor by eating fish, not at all a fish dinner in a nice restaurant. (A better Lenten sacrifice is a ham sandwich from a local sandwich shop) So given that, I’d think an 18% tip, when the actual average people leave is closer to 20, would unquestionably be part of that 10% to God because it’s more “doing His work” than having fancy new gilded hymnals with that 10% donated by everyone at church.


3. When was the last time you went out for dinner? 

On our anniversary, December 23, we went to Mancy’s Italian Grille…and we both had fish.


4. What is your best budget saving tip for recovering from an unexpected expense or planning for one?

Unexpected expenses for me are almost always medical. I’ve found that the hospitals are really good about making arrangements for payment plans so you can pay a large, to you, bill on installments. They’re even great about updating the installment plan without raising the payment when you have another bill that comes in. Much as I hate copays, I love the fact that the hospital work with me so I can manage to get the testing done that I need.


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

5. What is your favorite coffee or tea, just your number one favorite. (even I am going to pick just one for my answer! LOL) If you don’t drink coffee or tea, How do you feel about tap versus bottled water?

And practicing brevity, but not by saying I’m practicing brevity first; my favorite is Starbucks Verona.

Super Commercials

My 5 favorite Super Bowl Ads This Year

#1 Tide Montana Stain


#2 Bud Light Voodoo Doll


#3 KIA Forte


#4 Bud Light Lucky Chair


#5 Axe Astronaut


Your opinions may vary.  As I told David, post them in your own blog!  No seriously, I'd love to hear what your favorites were!

Happy Super Sunday

graphic made with All Star Sports by Twin Mom Scraps

I’m not going to talk up the Super Bowl a ton, I just wanted to include it in a post because after today that cluster won’t matter. I’ll probably take some pictures of the four of us watching the game. Well, it’ll at least be the three of us; When David and I are cozied up watching TV Carla can’t stay away from the attention from us both. But we’ll watch the game, I’ll watch the commercials, we’ll make dinner at half time.

It’s been a big couple weeks of prep for the game, but I haven’t watched a lot. I don’t care about the pre-analyzing the game to death and I could care less abbot the human interest stuff. Yeah, the coaches on the two sides are brothers, so? My interest in the Super Bowl is watching a great game, and I’m unhappy when it’s not a great game, and great commercials. I’m also unhappy if the commercials aren’t top notch for the money that goes into ad time and production. Every time I see the ad after the Super Bowl debut I’d better smile and say “Oh that was a Super Bowl ad!” As an advertising fan I expect them to be that memorable. But the real truth is wouldn’t miss the heart wrenching video packages about some players struggles in college and the half time shows are seldom worth watching if they were gone. I keep the sound up so I can duck back in during the commercials.

Okay, now I’ve totally justified using my Super Bowl graphic! Perhaps you’ve noticed the scrapbook clusters the past few days. Clustering is something I don’t really do well and I’m trying to get better in my scrapbook pages. No I don’t ever plan to do a whole page cluster with a tiny photo in the cluster and I won’t put a cluster on every page; on many pages I do it’s not appropriate. But I do want to get better at that scrapbook skill. It’s not promoting for the designers or anything. Some of the kits are ones I’ve had since 20078 and aren’t even available anymore. Some of them are very current too, but I don’t link to the kits I use, just credit them. If you’re a scrapper and are interested in a kit, drop me an email and if it’s still for sale, I’ll send you a link. So you’ll continue to see scrapbook clusters on the top of my blog a few times a week. Feel free to give cluster feedback in comments too!

Okay, I’m going to try to do just a little more scrapping today before the game. David took off to find a couple of trains because there was a glimmer of sun that appears to be gone now and called from Kroger. He’s says it’s insanely busy there. Of course it is! Best time to be in a grocery store on Super Bowl Sunday is after the game has started. But don’t look for junk food then; it’ll all be sold out!

Models and the Alphabet

Menfolk: you may not understand this one, but you’re welcome to read it!

I’m differently endowed than many in the bust department. Whether it’s a curse or a blessing; depends on opinion. At 46 years old a plus-size bra size that cannot be found in stores is both essential and difficult to find. Braless is something that ended at 11 years old and probably could have, should have, earlier because I never wore a training bra or even double A, I was an A at 11.

For the past 15+ years I’ve worn one style and only that style of bra. It was an excellent bra for me, fit and supported well, was comfortable. There was a Bra World store near where I lived in Michigan which is where I discovered that wonderful bra and they actually had it in my size. I was a regular customer because it was the only place I’d ever been able to by my size “off the rack.” Unfortunately, smaller sizes were more easily found in lingerie shops and a handful of women who needed the larger sizes weren’t enough to keep the business going. My friends who went in with me told me that they were an expensive shop, but they were the only place I could get bras!

My bras were priced in the $30-40 each range in the mid-90s and I waited for a good sale when I needed new bras and stocked up. When Bra World closed, I turned to catalogs and then the internet to find that one style that was worth every penny of its price to me. I had a site that I got my bras from on the Internet and my style bookmarked. At the end of last year it was time to replenish my bra supply. I stock up every couple years. My bra, the style I’d worn since before I finished college, had been discontinued.

When I went to my bookmark, the site offered two different styles from the same brand that were supposed to be comparable. I ordered a couple of each, figuring the same brand and a comparable style should have a similar fit. NO WAY! One style mashed my breasts against my chest with leftovers spilling out of the cups all the way around! The other style fit but funneled “the girls” into a 1980s Madonna shape. Those ones were returned; all 4 of them.

So now I am searching for a new bra. Given that my size is still not one you find in stores, the internet is my bra mall. This morning I had to laugh, then almost cry. I did a search for plus-size bras. I found a bra on sale for only $19…but it was only available for $19 n a C-cup. Then there were few like this one:

Plus size, really?  Plus what?

Wacoal Inspiration Underwire Bra

In a search for plus-size bras? The model doesn’t look like a plus-size anything and I have to wonder how many pins were used in the photo session; this bra doesn’t come in anything smaller than a D cup. That’s NOT a D-cup in that photo!

I did a paper about images of women in advertising for my Women’s History class in college in 1997. In that paper I talked about the plus-size women’s clothing industry and the lack of plus-size models in advertising and catalogs. About how the images created unrealistic representations of the clothing and it was not only false advertising, but detrimental to self-image of their customers; bad business. It’s a decade and a half since I wrote that paper and there are more plus-size models in larger women’s clothing advertising but that demeaning Madison Avenue image of women isn’t gone yet. I’m not even going to try that bra pictured above because even if the model is wearing the smallest size available I have no idea what size to buy. If that’s a D, what am I, a Q?? David had suggested that maybe it was a bra for plus-size women but with average to small breasts, but  that's not a plus size models and again, the smallest size is a D; still doesn't work.

Not all of the larger-sized bras are modeled on small, skinny women. I just find the ones like that to be misleading and frankly, insulting. I realize that a special size that has to be ordered cannot be photographed to replace actually trying it on, but at least provide an image that has some semblance to reality. I won’t even try a “plus-size” bra that’s not modeled on a plus-size model or a model with plus-size cups

A much better representation of a plus size bra

Underwire Lace Top Full Support Bra by Aviana®

There are a few that I think I want to try based on realistic photos and descriptions of what they might look and fit like, but I’ll order just one of the style to be returned or to order more after I try it on. I still just find the gross misrepresentations frustrating as my struggle to replace 20 years of support.

Happy Monday!

Yes, I know that for many, Monday and Happy do not and should never appear in the same sentence. But I’ve always liked Mondays; the clean slate and fresh beginning to the week. For this particular Monday, you can’t get cleaner than rain washing everything or fresher than the gale winds purifying the air!

Okay, I exaggerate the weather a little It’s not raining right now, there’s even some sun coming through the clouds and it’s windy, but the windows aren’t trembling, but I do need to make my own sunshine today and with my allergies acting up, I need the exaggeration!

We celebrated Orthodox Easter this year. That is we did Easter Dinner with Pop and Aunt Judy the week after Easter Sunday, which happened to be Orthodox Easter Sunday. I “helped” by making the cream cheese stuffed celery. I’m the only one that eats it. That celery really never had a chance to make it to the table. The stuffed celery has been a holiday favorite of mine as long as I can remember. It’s going to be my mincemeat pie. Every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas Mom bought mincemeat pies. Mums was the only one who liked them, but Mom always made sure there was a mincemeat pie so she could have some. When I’m 80 years old, there will be a plate of cream cheese stuffed celery for me that no one else eats. Except that if I start being in the same place as Rina for Thanksgiving again at some time in the future, she eats the stuffed celery.

What I don’t do is Deviled Eggs. I’ll eat cake with him, but Lucifer needs to share his eggs with someone else! Ah, but yesterday, Pop tried a new recipe instead of the traditional deviled eggs. The recipe included spinach dip with the yolks and it was a savory filling rather than the usual sweeter filling that I don’t care for. Wow! It was good! We also had tasty ham that wasn’t Honey Baked and vinaigrette-based potato salad. Totally tasty unorthodox Easter fare on Orthodox Easter!

Continued as the Mug Shot begins…

Monday Mug Shot

 

The Jell-O Gallery

LeRoy New York

We sat at the table over and after Easter dessert and talked, reminisced a bit. The topic of discussion was the upcoming summer vacation plans and the things we all enjoy on vacation. Pop talked about the stop we made in Sutton, West Virginia some 10 years or so ago. Sutton is a small town, but it’s no accident that we were there, it was a planned visit. My great-grandfather’s last name was Sutton and out family roots trace back to the Original Suttons who founded the Braxton County Seat!

That was a fun trip. That trip was also part of Pop’s big reason that he really didn’t have any desire to see more of Europe. Occasionally visiting family in San Marino, about once a decade, is fine for him because he prefers staying in his “home country.” “There is so much of America I have to see.” He loves the small towns and little tributes and museums to the local heroes. As much as he griped about a dry county, he enjoyed seeing the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in Corbin and the Harlan Sanders museum. Travel by car and stop often is his idea of an ideal vacation. I’m very much the same way. Although David prefers to rush after trains by day, on the less favorable for photos days, he enjoys most of my choices for the kitschy small town attractions.

On our end of summer vacation last year, the one where the weather was insane and Hurricane Irene dictated how much time we spent in Western New York and Canada instead of further east, we visited a few small towns, wineries and the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. The Skylon is a pretty major attraction. I totally loved our stop at the Jell-O Gallery in LeRoy, New York. LeRoy is the birthplace of Jell-O! The gallery is not large in size but it’s huge in information and things to see.

We learned about the first Jell-O dessert idea and how it failed in the American market, even in the local market. The product idea and company changed hands several times and Jell-O’s success finally started when it became popular as a dessert at formal dinners. Can you imagine being served a bowl of Jell-O after a formal dinner today? Of course there was a time that sorbet was only something they served between courses of a fine dinner too, but Jell-O, that stuff we had as kids and was in cafeterias and hospitals got its real marketable start as an upper class food! The tour of the gallery is guided with just tons of facts I never knew.

And the visuals! We saw antique packaging and advertising (don’t think I wasn’t in HEAVEN!) and a roster of flavors that did or didn’t work. Coffee Jell-O did work for while in limited markets. But honestly, I like Jell-O, love my coffee, but I don’t find the idea of mixing the two so appealing in 2012. Even so, I admit a certain mild intrigue with the modern recipes for it.

At the end of our tour, which begins and ends in the gift shop, I was so tempted to buy some of the antique Jell-O molds! But for my souvenirs, I got a t-shirt, Lime Jell-O earrings and my mug.



And now for Monday Meme time! After some thought about what time I have available, I decided I really can’t do both the old and new Monday question memes. Having given some serious consideration, I’ve decided to stick with the Monday meme at Acting Balanced, the new and improved Monday questions, my words, not Heather’s.

1. Finish this sentence - I dream of....

An empty beach and one of these:

Beach Wheelchair

Isn’t that cool? If I’d have been a generation older and diagnosed with MS, I’d be living in a nursing home with David visiting me once a week. Now I can dream about beaches!



2. If you could choose your last meal, what would it be?

Chocolate, a huge plate of cake-cookie-ice-cream with hot fudge and chocolate chunks with Godiva Raspberry cordials for dessert.

Why do I know this is my last meal? (If I’m on Death Row, I probably don’t deserve chocolate!)



3. What was your favorite toy as a child?

I loved my Drowsy Doll! I took her everywhere with me!

I think this is where the love of polka dots started for me!



4. What color looks best on you?

Golly, I hope it’s green. I would say that’s the prevailing color in my non-baseball wardrobe. It does make my green eyes glowy!



And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!


On the subject of my polka dot roots, I have lots of dots, my Kindle cover is polka dots, I have many notebooks with polka dot covers, I have to make sure I don’t overdo the dots on my scrapbook pages, I have a scrapbook supplies file called “dots!”

Maybe you have a favorite pattern too. Lots of stripes in your wardrobe? Are all of your throw-pillows floral? Can you not resist Christmas plaid giftwrap? Maybe you like dots, like me… What’s your favorite pattern?

Is Your Coffee Windows AND Mac Compatible??

I was looking at the latest Bed Bath and Beyond mailer, BB and B is one of my favorite stores.  Scented candles, warm blankets, kitchen gadgets and coffee all in one place; what’s not to Nani-love? I was drawn to the front cover right away because it had…a coffee maker!

The CBTL, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, brewer is a new single-cup brewer, like Tassimo and Keurig, and like Tassimo and Keurig, it takes a different single cup package to make a cup of coffee. First off, I think it’s a little late to join this game. Second, perhaps you saw my Tweet this morning directed to all three companies involved. Someone’s gonna win and at least one someone is gonna die!

History shows this sort of thing. It doesn’t matter which coffee brewer is better, it really isn’t a question of quality, it’s marketing and price. Look at JVC’s VHS and Sony’s Betamax videotape in the 1970’s. Betamax was the better quality home video system, but marketing and cheaper pricing eventually drove Sony out of the home video market at that time and VHS became the standard in homes everywhere.

In the 1980’s the war was for home computer superiority. Which system would reside on your desk at work, at home? Of course what need was there for a computer at home, to make you work after work? Only a true geek would want a “home computer,” so it really was a fight over business. I love the end of The Pirates of Silicon Valley where Steve Jobs insists that the Apple platform is better than Microsoft and Bill Gates tells him he just doesn’t get it, that it doesn’t matter.

And it’s true that it doesn’t matter. Sony already worked with professional media businesses and had a reputation to protect; they weren’t going to back down on their quality. Steve Jobs had a reputation to build. Sony went back to where they were already established and VHS became the videocassettes in everyone’s homes. While Microsoft became a computer giant, Apple kept plugging on teetering on the brink of ultimate failure for years before things finally broke out for the company with all those “little i” gadgets. Ultimately some win, some lose and some work harder to find something else.

So the single-cup coffee wars will go. Keurig has a new maker out now called the Keurig Vue. It has more settings for customizing a cup of coffee for each coffee drinker. What I find just horrible about the Keurig Vue is that it does not use the standard K-Cup. It has a completely different cup that isn’t compatible. You couldn’t use a Betamax cassette in a VHS player and people had the less expensive VHS player, Betamax was a doomed format! It took years of people making the “easy choice” for a home computer because the work machines ran Microsoft programs and an Apple wouldn’t. There are adapters to fix that problem now, software that is compatible for both and thanks to USB, you don’t have to read the box to figure out if it’s a MAC or PC printer.

Tassimo brewers brew with liquid milks and make 8 different styles of drinks. I’ve never tried a Tassimo brewer, so I can’t give you a comparison to my Keurig Elite. I chose Keurig because I’d have told you it was another VHS/Beta war and while Tassimo was marketing its quality, the less expensive Keurig was touting convenience. Tassimo is possibly better, but I felt more secure with Keurig.

Bed Bath and Beyond doesn’t even carry the Tassimo brewers anymore, but the brewers sold on Tassino's website have come way down in price. That’s actually not a good sign for Tassimo! The Keurig Vue is a good $100 more expensive than a regular brewer and the, new kid, CBTL brewers sell for more than my Keurig Elite, but comparable to the average of the regular Keurig brewers prices. The CBTL brewers do make frothy espresso, with a drip base that moves up and down to prevent splashing for a smaller cup. Personally, that’s one more moving part to wear out and I’ve never been too put-out swiping a sponge across the back of my Keurig maker.  Starbucks is planning to come out with their own single-cup brewer this year too with yet another style of packaging to use in it.

How many single-cup brewers will there be, all with their own special coffee packaging? More important, which ones will die in the saturated market? That’s important because if you buy the wrong brand, you may end up with a coffee brewer that you can’t find coffee for! For me, I’m sticking with my Keurig Elite until it dies. Hopefully there will be some standardization or at least a strong indicator of which ones will fail by the time I'd need to replace it.  If there's not, it may be a better financial choice to go back to a full-size pot coffee maker until the single cup brewer companies settle who will live and who will die.  

Honestly, I hope the Keurig Vue is one of the failures. When a computer’s Operating System is upgraded, the new software may not work on the older version of the OS, but the old software still works on the new system. Would you upgrade if you have to replace all of your software? When audio CDs came out, I upgraded to a stereo that would play the new CDS as well as my vinyl records and cassettes. With the Keurig Vue, it’s pitch the K-Cups and buy all new. Bad design!

I think ultimately the standard Keurig will survive. Cuisinart had the better idea making a single serve brewer that uses K-Cups. I want the regular Keurig to survive because I want Cuisinart to survive because they’re smart. Ultimately Steve Jobs rose to the top because he was tenacious and smart. I like seeing smart win.

Super Bowl Wrap

Okay, the final score was bad, but the game was pretty good after the first quarter. I didn’t think either team looked that great in the first quarter. The Super Bowl should be a close game; it’s the two best teams in the league and the biggest sports day of the year. 30 seconds of ad time is millions of dollars. The game had better be enough to keep people watching so the advertising investment is worth it!

The Super Bowl ads were quite good this year, with only a few quite bad ones. There is much talk about the 60 second Chrysler ad at half time with Clint Eastwood. Okay, to be honest as I was watching it, I really thought it was a quietly political ad. Not totally sure it wasn’t a political ad. Funny, as I understand Eastwood is a conservative and as a political ad, it’s anything but Republican!

The end of the Depression and through the years Budweiser ads were good, but not as strong as Bud ads have been in the past.

I will NEVER eat another Dorito again.

I could have done without the David Beckham ad. It was supposed to impress women. Might have worked on me with a better looking man.  What was it selling again?  I was too busy being grossed out.

The Samsung Mobile ad started off looking like they didn’t produce a new spot for the Super Bowl. Then it just got dumb, I mean really stupid.

I loved the introduction of Ms. Brown in the M&M’s spot and Red’s insanity at the party where she WAS NOT NAKED! Sorry guys, it’s NOT that kind of party. (but it was that kind of ad!)

Special kudos to Dannon Oikos for the first ever yogurt commercial in the Super Bowl. The spot was so-so, but it was the brand’s first time. I cut them some slack. (And I love Dannon Oikos!)

The Honorable Nani Mentions: (because there is only one winner)

I liked the KIA Altima commercial with the sandman who tripped and gave the man so much dream glitter that he had a dream so awesome that included Motley Crue, bikini girls and a giant sub sandwich. In the end he busted into his wife’s dream and she dumped her romance novel guy on the horse to join hubby’s dream in the Altima. A full story in 30 seconds without words, brilliant!

I also really loved the Chevy Silverado ad. Everything will be gone after the apocalypse except the Chevy Silverados and their drivers…all eating Twinkies. I LOVED that tip of the cap to the 70+ year shelf life and the “only ‘food’” that will survive the end 0of time. I also loved the jab at the one guy in the group who didn’t make it because he drove a Ford.

The third Honorable Nani Mention goes to the Dog who can’t fit through the door to chase the Volkswagen so he works out, gets thin enough to crawl out and chases the car. Then the commercial breaks to the screens in the cantina from Star Wars and a debate about whether the dog of the kid in the Darth Vader costume was funnier, with Darth Vader using the force on the dog’s fan. The ad was cute without the last bit, but great with it!

NUMBER ONE

The best of the best Super Bowl ads this year was Audi’s Vampire Party, promoting their “Daylight Headlights.” Well, the guy on the “blood run” gets there with those headlights and well… Awesome end scene where the driver “figures out” what happened to everyone else!

See all the Super Bowl spots here:

Mashable Business 2012 Super Bowl Ads

Hallmark Wisdom

NOT a sponsored post. It’s just me being mushy 10 days before Valentine’s Day.

Heart from Your Own Special Way by Digitalegacies Designs

I just love the new Hallmark commercial for Valentine’s Day. Maybe you’ve seen it? I don’t love YOU, but I love US. I feel that way about David. Oh, I do love him, but what I love most is the “us” we’ve become.

One of the songs I wrote when I was in my teens is a love song called “Forever.” It’s a simple song and the words are perhaps a little trite. I was a teenager. I can say with confidence now, that at 17 I really didn’t know what love was. I wrote the song for the man I thought I’d someday meet. That guy in the song, really isn’t David. As always with my wishes, “this or something better.” I got something better!

The line from Forever that is in juxtaposition to that Hallmark commercial is, “when one and one are one, the world we own.” One and one aren’t one, they never should be. When that unity candle is lit, the two candles that light it shouldn’t go out. One and one should make three. The joining of your heart with another doesn’t snuff you out. Two people don’t give up their own beings for love, that love is an entity of its own. Love makes life richer, it makes MORE, not less.

Maybe that’s the best thing about finding that right man later rather than earlier in my life. I knew who I was and was comfortable with that. I had a full and happy life before I met David and I haven’t given up anything that made me satisfied and happy to be with him. I have more. So does he. I always ask him, when it comes to the things he enjoys without me, “what am I worth to you if I take away from what made you happy before?” I want the emotional investment he made to be value added to his life, like the investment I have in him is for me.

So this year, I have to find a Hallmark card for David for Valentine’s Day. I’m sure there will be one that says the right thing, because the commercial speaks so poignantly to me. I get a little choked up every time I see it. I do totally love the us we’ve become and it gets bigger and better every day!

Help!! I Need Link Swaps!

Hello friends! I’m in a bit of a bind! One of the consequences of closing my designing doors is that I’m no longer listed in blogs as a Scrap Bird designer. As a result, my Google rank dropped back to a 2! I need more link swaps!

If you’re not familiar with Goggle’s ranking system, it’s a combination of facts, the biggie being links to your blog. I know I was barely a 3 before, so I must be barely a 2 again now. Where this hits me hardest is that the sponsored posts available to me have gone down and right before the holidays is an awful time for that to happen!

I try to always choose sponsors that are relevant to the content at The Chronicles of Nani, paying close attention to the ideas behind the products or services and that they are things that might be useful to check out for all of you, my readers. In return, I can afford coffee and even scrapbook materials and just last week, I entered that charity poker tournament that my sponsored post earnings paid for!

What I’m asking is, if The Chronicles of Nani is not already a link or blinkie on your blog, would you consider adding me? In return, a link or blinkie to your blog will be added to my friends links on the side bar. I would really, really appreciate the help!

You can contact me about the link swap through the comments here (I moderate, so no comment is published if you add personal information or an email address!) or my emailing me at chroniclesofnani@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for helping this modest student out!

ATTENTION COCA COLA COLLECTORS

That’s what the sign said.

I just got a call, that familiar Kenny Chesney tune that says hubby is calling. David was chasing a couple of trains before work, on his way to a meeting in Wauseon, when he saw that sign. He said if it said M&Ms collectibles he’d have stopped to look for me. (I LOVE that man!) But thought he’d give me a call to see if I had any friends or regulars at this coffee hop who were near the area and might be interested.

The sign said “Attention Coca Cola Collectors, Garage Sale, Over 500 items.” David wasn’t sure if that meant 500 Coke items or 500 items including Coke collectibles. The Garage Sale is running through Saturday at 222 East Legget Street in Wauseon, Ohio. If you are a collector and in the area, it might be worth a look!

If you find any treasures, drop me an email!

Digitalegacies Designs Sale Paper

I hope everyone has been visiting Scrap Bird on Thursdays for the great half-off kits available with all of the fantastic personal and commercial use goodies in all of the stores. We’re growing again, even more designers! I’ll have all the blog links up soon. I’m still catching up from being gone a week!


This week, the Digitalegacies Designs offerings in the Crazy Thursdays sale are Eight Days A Week and One Step at a Time. Both are only $2.50 today only!!


But wait, there’s MORE!


Okay, that’s corny, but we’re talking a dollar sale! There are just a few days left to get any Digitalegacies Designs template set for just one dollar! That’s right, half off the Project 365 sets with four templates each and a third off the quilt-inspired Premier Templates.

Coming soon!

A new quick page set will be in the store soon! The Look of Love is four quick pages, one made with each of Laura, My Blue Heaven, Because of You and Your Own Special Way, the Digitalegacies love-kits!


Just put your photos behind the png files, flatten and print! Look for the set of four pages in the store soon!


As June starts, a new DST blog train kicks off the month on the first, plus a new I Wanna Talk About Me challenge and bonus too!

New Sponsors To Consider

We just got home very late last night, so I’m catching up on a lot of things this Memorial Day! Thank goodness for a day to catch up! There will be a Monday Mug Shot, later, this evening after I check-in on the assignments list for the last week in my web pre-class for school and see about lunch! David made a late waffle breakfast this morning, so I really at least owe him seeing if he’s hungry before I “head off to school!”

Before I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to some new ideas that sound pretty good! You’ll find these links in the bulletin board too!


Medical ID Bracelets

If you or a loved one has a medical condition like diabetes or a heart condition or allergies to medications or food, they really should have some kind of ID that’s always with them. Medical ID bracelets or pendants are a great way to do that.

I had an ID bracelet for my penicillin allergy when I was younger and I really should wear it, but I don’t. I’m rethinking that now, especially when I know there are more Nani-stylish options to the old medical alert jewelry. I love the dog-tag style necklaces and I can get one in colored aluminum. It can be engraved to say my name, allergies to Penicillin and food allergy to MSG. Hey, if I should ever pass out at a Chinese restaurant, they’ll have an idea where to start investigating!

Check out the site, even a pendant worn under a shirt could save your life or the life of someone you love in an emergency!

See the Medical ID Jewelry at MemorialBracelets:

Medical ID Jewelry





Kids Clothes

Baby Me has some awesome styles for babies, toddlers and young girls and boys, totally adorable styles!


Be sure to check out the clearance section too! for deals like this pink skirt set for only $9.00!




This toddler boys hoodie is in the clearance section for $12.00.

Get inspired for kids’ styles and check out the cute fashions here:

Girls' and boys' clothing boutique!





Baby Photos

Once you have your baby all dolled up, why not submit one of those great photos you have in the Great American Photo Contest? If your precious baby photo wins, it’s a $2500 first prize! That will buy a few diapers and the clothes they grow out of so quickly and all you have to do is share photos and show off your little one. That’s easy!

Check out the details here:

Improving Your Web Presence

If you are using your blog or if you have a website you are using as a revenue earning place on the web, you know how important search engines finding you is! Check out Steve Wiideman’s SEO consulting site. You can get some search engine optimization tips there while you have consider if Steve might be able to help you increase your visibility and your profits on the web.

Check out what Steve had to offer here:

SEO Consulting Services

Digitalegacies Designs Sale Paper

Happy Thursday everybody!

Just a quick stop in to remind everyone about Crazy Thursday at Scrap Bird. This week there are 22 products at half off, including Eight Days a Week by Digitalegacies Designs!


If you need happy colors and a lot of room for inspired journaling, consider Eight Days A Week! This kit was made with Project 365 layouts in mind, but it’s super versatile!


The kit comes with 3 full alphas and the Project 365 Templates set 1, a $1.99 value, as a free bonus! Today the kit with bonus is $2.50!



Or if you want some quick and easy Project 365 or any multi-photo pages, try the Project 365 Quick Page set!


Four ready to go pages, just slip your photo behind, resize as necessary and there you have it. Now you are ready to spend some quality time with the journaling, or to add your own extras. Those are $1.38 today!


Also, as April is wrapping up, this is the last day for the Add It On For Free special from Digitalegacies Designs! Buy the kit, get the add-on free!


Coupon codes for the free add-ons:

One Step at a Time - kjad4365
Homemade Love - lknd856hn
Because Of You - dkrj25jdh
Your Own Special Way - lknrj37hdn

Just put both items in your cart and enter the code, the price for add-on will disappear!



Tomorrow will start the NSD weekend sale at Scrap Bird! 40% off the entire store all weekend plus see the Scrap Bird blog for more specials and the freebies announcements! There is a special NSD freebie from each Scrap Bird designer this weekend AND the second part of our fabulous Flowers Blooming collab is free for three days too!! Most of the freebies will go into the stores after the weekend, so make sure you check out Scrap Bird while everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is on sale or free!

Have fun shopping the sales!

A Little Pre-Easter This and That

I love THIS!!


But seriously, who eats the tail first?? The rest of the bunny will fall!


You gonna see THAT?




A new old Star Trek. How Captain Kirk became Captain Kirk, meeting Bones, Spock’s decision to leave Vulcan. I think it looks interesting. Going to talk to the Mr. about it. :)





I can’t believe THIS!

I made Middle Eastern dinner for both of us, David too! I made chicken shwarma on hummus, which I figured was the only way he’d try hummus. He said he liked it as a sauce for chicken! He like the seasoned rice too but he wasn’t crazy about he green beans with tomato sauce. I make a modified eggplant preparation with zucchini that I’ll try next. Or maybe he'll try one of the great Lebanese restaurants we have in Toledo!!



I’m glad THAT

There’s no snow in the forecast this weekend! Regular Easter...but I think I’ll kinda miss Frosty Cottontail!

Everyone who is celebrating it this weekend,
Have a Happy Easter!
But do eat the ears on your bunny first!

Digitalegacies Designs Sale Paper

TODAY ONLY!!



APRIL DEALS!!


Use the coupon codes for your freebie add-ons! (One coupon per order)

One Step at a Time - kjad4365
Homemade Love - lknd856hn
Because Of You - dkrj25jdh
Your Own Special Way - lknrj37hdn

Nani, Nani, Nani

My new electric best bud!

I actually was going to do one of my potpourri entries yesterday with a few briefs, but the first one ended up so long! I’m just very pleased with the progress of Wife 1500 so far. If it’s working for me, you might find a kernel or two that works for you too. Yes, a pun with the kernel comment there. hehe


Now to finish what I started yesterday!

First off It’s another Crazy Thursday at Scrap Bird! This week you can pick up my Project 365 template sets for half off. That’s only a buck! Four templates in each set, that’s 2 months of Project 365 layouts with your choice of paper and elements but done the easy way! Just place the paper above the layer, create a clipping mask and you’re good to go! You can see many samples of those layouts by clicking “365” for the posts with that label.

365

One Step At A Time Layout


I got the first layout with One Step at a Time from my CT! This one was done by Jana, one step at a time is baby’s first steps! I kind thought in the back of my mind that this kit would be good for this kind of layout and Jana definitely proved that thought right! She did just a great job!



Sweet Thanks

I got this very nice thank you from Linda, Tirza’s Treasures!

It’s presented as a sincere thank you for awards and nice comments. It doesn’t have to be passed on today or ever, but it can be. Very cool sentiment!

I get many awards for which I am so grateful. I do, sometimes a little while after receiving it and sometimes right after, acknowledge all of them, but I don’t always pass them on. It’s not that I want to spoil the fun, but I sometimes just don’t have the necessary time to do it. But I do appreciate them all just the same.

Now, I’d like to pass the sincere thank you to everyone who reads this. Thank you for taking a few moments from your day to stop in at my cyber-coffee shop and read a little! Thank you for thinking of The Chronicles of Nani!



FINALLY!

More mundane but, to me, exciting news! In the wake of the feel-good donation to Locks of Love, and finally moving my hair care to Ohio with the rest of me, I’m going to savor the fruits of wedded bliss! I’m getting my teeth cleaned! That’s not nearly as corny as it sounds. My teeth badly need cleaning. I’ve been near-broke and uninsured for a few years! With “I do” comes “add my wife to the policy!”

I am almost militant about brushing and I am what my old oral hygienist thought to be rare, I floss every day! I’ve been told my smile is one of my better physical traits and right now my teeth could really stand a face lift! So next week will be my first visit to my Toledo dentist. They’ll do X-rays and the initial consultation to decide what the cleaning and caring plan of action will be to get me back to smiling confident that my smile is my best best-feature it can be!

A week later will be sorta bittersweet. I’ve had the same optometrist since eight grade. It was reading glasses then, but he is also the one who recognized my dyslexia and helped me with eye exercises to overcome it and make reading easier for me. He taught me how to put contacts in. He gave me an explanation that a young me could comprehend about exactly what astigmatism is. (He used the baseball-football analogy)

But Dr. Levin is in Northville, 70 miles away now. If I need a new prescription, that’s a long way to drive with unreliable vision! So, in two weeks will be my first visit to an optometrist who isn't Dr. Levin or one of his partners. I think this is even scarier than a new person cutting my hair!



Opposing Views and Paid Posts

I wanted to mention this just to let you know what I do behind the scenes! Anyone who has ever left a comment here knows that I only publish approved comments. This does a few things. The number one thing it does is gets rid of any need to enter a confusing set of letters before the comment posts. When I read it, I’ll figure out if you were a real person or a machine. I’m an accomplished hunt and peck typist. That means I’m pretty quick and even accurate if I put my mind to it, as long as what I’m typing are words as I know them. When I have to type in those security combinations, I usually have to do them 2 or 3 times. A machine would probably do a better job of faking being a human than me! I understand how it works as a security measure, but since I read them all before they appear, I don’t care if I’m deleting gibberish from a bot. I don't like the security codes and I don't think I need to put anyone else through it here.

The other more important thing comment approval does, is it let’s control-freak me have...control - over the content of my blog. This is important because I don’t allow comments that hurt or slander me, my readers or my sponsors. Yes, I’m protecting the generous sponsors who support my caffeine habit by letting me do a little promotion for them through compensated posts. As I say in my disclaimer on the bulletin board, I choose opportunities to promote products and services that I think are a good idea or in the case where I’ve used it , a good product. A good clue is that if there is a link in the text for a non-scrapbook post, it’s a compensated post. When I am recommending a product or service on my own without compensation, the links will here on out be after the post. For the most part they usually have been anyway, but I'm going to do it that way from now on so you know if it's a sponsored post or my personal testimonial. I'll never say I've tried a product unless I have, sponsored or not. If you disagree with a product that is a sponsor, please feel free to leave a comment, even leave an email address and we can trade emails about anything you think would be a better product. I do read every comment and I always check out links you share. However, if the comment is on a compensated post and especially if it recommends a competitor, I won’t publish it. That’s contrary to the contractual agreement with my sponsor and my own personal business ethics. But if you want to chat about it “off-blog” leave me contact info and we can chat over the coffee I can afford after doing the post!

Well, there are my little bits and bits for this week. Exciting weekend scheduled!!

Nani's Scrappin' Sale-Paper

Welcome to a crazy, insane Thursday!

Why crazy and insane? It’s a crazy insane sale at Scrap Bird! This week is the start of Crazy Prices Thursday at Scrap Bird. You’ll find half off deals all over the store! That includes half off all Digitalegacies products that are regular priced over $2.00!



That means you save more than the price of the add-on for “Because of You,” “Your Own Special Way” and “Homemade Love!” They’re all $2.50 today! If you have Valentine pictures to scrap or those shots of the kids making cupcakes, today is definitely the day to outfit your craft folder on your HD and get ready for some serious crop time!

“My Blue Heaven?” regular $5.00, today $2.50. Pick up the brag book pages and still have enough for a cup of coffee left from your savings! “Eight Days A Week” is $2.50 today. That saves enough for a set of Project 365 templates or pick up the Project 365 quick pages with “Eight Days A Week” for half off today too!

If you have some spending cash earmarked for digi scrapping supplies, today is the day to stop by Scrap Bird! Stock up that digital craft drawer! It’s not just Digitalegacies Designs products, there are tons of products at half off. Of course, I’d appreciate it if there were some DD items in your cart too!

** Scrap Bird is based in Poland, so be sure to get in before midnight there to get the half-off deals. (6PM eastern in the US)

Monday Mug Shot

Budweiser Brewery Tour
St. Louis, Missouri

This mug is NOT about the Super Bowl, but since it was selected because it’s the dat after the Super Bowl, I'll mention a couple things about the Super Bowl. First, it was a very entertaining game, right up until the end this year. True, the team I wanted to win was the one who suffered the final blow instead of delivering it, but it was a really great game to watch. That was wonderful since I didn’t expect there to be much entertainment in the commercials this year and for the most part, they didn't’t make me look wrong! I was disappointed with the Budweiser commercials. Bud’s commercials have always been entertaining with other mascots and stars. The Budweiser Clydesdales have always been the company's dignity, they made it more than beer. I really dislike the current series of commercials that makes the Clydesdales nothing more than cheap company caricatures. I liked them better left alone as the silent pride of the company. What, with the economy they can’t afford to pay frogs, lizards or Dalmatians union scale for their appearance??

Okay, now about that mug...

My Mom and I went to Bud World when we were in St. Louis in 1996. Touring Bud World is free and you don’t have to be a beer drinker to experience it. Mom was definitely NOT a beer drinker!

The Budweiser complex in St. Louis is pretty big. We went with a guided group through different buildings, following the distilling and flavoring process and seeing the process as beer was being made in mass production quantities. There were the buildings that even the heartiest of the beer drinkers said smelled foul as the fermentation was taking place and other where you could start to really smell that what was there would eventually be beer. Mom said those ones STILL smelled foul!

About half way through the tour was the horse stables where we got to see the noble Budweiser Clydesdales. we also got to check out the carriages and as I recall, a vintage beer carriage as well. Then the tour went on to the final peroration and packaging and a discussion about the different types of beer Bud actually makes. I was impressed that Budweiser represents so many brands and types of beer.

When the tour was over, it was on to the last stop, which in this case is NOT the gift shop. That was across the hall and an option! The last stop is the tasting room! Now remember, I said the tour was free? Well, the cost of tasting is included - FREE BEER! Everyone from the tour got three plastic glasses to try three beers of their choice. I tried and really liked the Michelob Dark Bock Beer. I guess that wasn’t such a surprise because I do like brown beer. But my most cherished souvenir from Bud World is not that there is an American beer that I like and not even the cool mug with the Clydesdales, but I have a picture of my Mom drinking beer!

Now Mom was not an immigrant. She was a second generation American on my grandfather’s side and mixed heritage American from many generations back on Grandma's side, even to the point of that drop of Naive American blood that I say a prayer of thanks for every time I look at my legs and say “No, they don’t need shaved today, either.” in the summer! But Mom married into an immigrant family and she leaned form my paternal grandfather some things about spirits and being polite. Nono and many of the Italian immigrants in the neighborhood made their own wine at home. When you were a guest in any of their homes, you were offered a glass of wine. They were very proud of their home brew and it was considered insulting to not have a glass. This was the reason Mm gave for trying the beer at Bud World. She didn’t want to be insulting.

She agreed that the Michelob Dark Bock was good...for beer. But I don’t recall that I ever saw her drink beer again!