Fireplace Screensaver

PES

Season Premiere

We’re going on vacation in a little more than a week. We’ll be in Maine for ten days. The neighbors will pick up our newspaper and the mail. The dogs will go to “camp” with the breeder. (That’s what we like to call it.) The thermostat will get turned up a couple of degrees to save money.

Charles’ biggest concern while we’re away? That TiVo will run out of recording space! There’s too much new fall programming and we’ll be gone for so long. We’ve got two TiVos that are networked together. Between the two, I think they can hold sixty hours of recording. (Definitely not enough for Charles … there are a lot of new shows on TV.)

So he’s on a marathon this weekend to watch all of the movies previously recorded and never viewed. This way he can clear off TiVo and relax while on vacation. (Who knew how much work it takes to get away from all the stress! )

TiVo
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (from excessive use of the remote control)

Fragrance Samples

A friend’s hair color turned gray at a very early age – in her mid-20’s. So she started coloring her hair early on. It was a constant challenge, being young and on a budget. (No expensive salon visits for professional colorings!)

One Christmas, she sent out a holiday newsletter, you know, like the ones where families list their kids’ accomplishments throughout the year (Timmy stopped wetting the bed and Mandy got an STD). In this case, my friend separated each month, where she listed one or two trivial things that happened. At the end of each month, she filled us in on the color and performance of the dye job, such as “Miss Clairol #39 – Sunset Brown. Too brassy and faded fast. Switched to #38 by mid-month.” It was the best holiday card I ever received! (No offense to the pug Kwanza card, it just wasn't as memorable.)

After our bathrooms were completed, Charles and I began putting things back into cabinets. It was then that I noticed his collection of fragrance samples. (You saw my previous posting on Hoarders, right?) Stacks and stacks of vials of the stuff!

So, instead of the regular cologne, I’m making him use the fragrance samples each day. For the past three weeks, it’s been Aramis Surface. (He had two of those and those little vials hold a lot, unless you shower yourself in it and who wants that?) Not much of a scent. My favorite so far was the Kenneth Cole fragrance – very clean smelling. Watch for this year’s Christmas card. It’ll be a stinker.

BaseNotes (Everything about the fragrance industry, including reviews)
Fragrance.net (Online discount retailer)
Christmas card newsletter templates (From Microsoft)
Miss Clairol (Just in case.)

Click here to visit the Snackworthy site.

YouTube Partner Program

When our bathrooms were being renovated a couple of months ago, my dad and the guy working with him spent many days replacing the plumbing under the house. Our house has a crawl space under it where all of the pipes are. Since they had ripped out the floors of the bathrooms, it was a easier to work with the pipes. The contractors decided to replace all of the piping - even out to the main water line. (Yea - more money!) Several days in a row, the water would be turned off while they worked and they would patch enough of it by the end of the day so that we could turn the water back on at night.

One afternoon, I arrived home to find Charles out by the street. He was getting ready to turn the water back on at the main valve. I walked into the house and went back to the master bath. My dad was standing on the ground (remember, no floor in the bath). He was crouched down with a flash light in one hand and a cell phone in the other. The plan was for my dad to tell Charles to turn the water on and he would check for leaks under the house.

Just as I'm walking into the bedroom, I hear him speaking into the cell phone telling Charles to turn on the water. Seconds later, one of the pipe connections in front of my dad bursts with water shooting directly into his face. They had forgotten to glue that one connection! (If it had happened on a sitcom, you would be rolling your eyes.) My dad got totally drenched and I got a good laugh! No other leaks under the house, by the way.

I recently heard about a father who posted a video on YouTube of his son after a visit to the dentist. The kid was still feeling the effects of anesthesia. His dad was part of the YouTube partner program. When the video went viral, the kid's dad made more than $25K from his share of the advertising revenue.

Which begs the question - why didn't I have a video camera that afternoon???? That must have been at least a $50K profit sharing video. D'oh!

YouTube Partner Program
David Devore After The Dentist
YouTube Video On How To Glue Plumbing Pipes
Flip Video

Glee Returns

Glee returns on Wednesday at 9:00 on FOX.

I've been singing "Don't Stop Believing" all summer since watching the pilot episode this past spring. It's been on my iPod and I listen to it at work. Unfortunately, every time the music begins to crescendo, someone stops by my desk to ask me a question. So, I start it over again - you know - to feel the moment in its entirety. Yeah, I can totally recite the first verse by heart. Don't have a clue what's in the second verse though. Some day maybe.

If you go to iTunes, you can download some new songs from the cast. I hear they are even working on an album. Get in line behind me. I'm a total Gleek.

Glee
Click here to go to Snackworthy and comment on Glee.

Desperate Classic Housewives

This past Friday, we invited the neighbors on our block over for happy hour. There’s one couple on the corner who have been retired for some time. The “mayor”, as we call him, celebrated his 80th birthday a few years ago. In his early 20’s, the mayor played drums professionally, even for Gypsie Rose Lee (Wow!).

It’s fascinating to me hearing about the past of someone older – learning what they were like before they were the person that I know today. I enjoy trying to imagine what they were like at my age. (Although, I never, ever, ever needed to see the photo of a previous boss when she was a professional bodybuilder - and it was printed on a birthday cake no less!!!!)

StoryCorps is a series on NPR that strives “to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening.” I also love our local paper’s weekly photo column titled “My First Car” typically old pictures of people posing in front of their autos.

Maybe it started all started from watching The Golden Girls. (Picture it, Sicily…) Either way, I’m a sucker for a good classic story.

StoryCorps
My First Car
The Golden Girls
TV Land's parody of Sex and the City - with Bea Arthur (you've got to see this)
TV Land's parody of Desperate Housewives - with Charo

Genealogy

My dad’s birthday was this past weekend. He brought an old photo with him to lunch on Saturday. Dad asked me to scan it and print copies.

The picture shows my dad holding my older brother who was just seven months old in the photo. (I should have Photoshopped some horns onto him for torturing me as he did while growing up!) Next to my father is his mother. Next to my grandmother is her mother. And next to my grandmother’s mother is her father. That's my great-great-grandfather with the cigar in his hand on the very left.

Five generations all in one photograph! You don’t see that everyday, now do you? (And on top of that, the photo makes my dad look tall!)

My dad spent some time trying to remember his great grandfather’s first name, but could never think of it.

So I thought I’d do something nice and search for it online. I started the search with my grandparent's names. There were more than 15 million entries that might be matches to them. (Oh, if only I had been born with a less common last name!)

Any ideas on the best genealogy sites? Visit the Snackworthy site and submit a comment to provide your best suggestions!

Here’s what I tried so far:

Ancestry.com
Genealogy.com
Familysearch.org

Zombie Squirrels

A couple of weeks ago, my yoga instructor read a poem from Mary Oliver at the end of class titled “Snow Geese” from her book “Why I Wake Early”. It was inspiring and thought provoking – to live in the now and enjoy the beauty all around us.

I typically wake up early in the morning and go to the gym with a work out buddy. The trick is to get your exercise before your mind wakes up and gives you excuses to avoid it. (I’ve been told that I look like the walking dead at the gym.) After a half hour of weights, we typically run or walk through the neighborhood for some cardio all before the sun comes up and it gets too hot.

On the morning after yoga with the poetry, I was relating the poem’s meaning to my friend. We were both talking and talking and talking so much that we almost didn’t notice the dead squirrel lying in the middle of the sidewalk. Until my friend almost stepped on it. And shrieked. And jumped behind me and grabbed my shirt.

We continued walking, while I laughed (for the rest of the day). A few days later, the squirrel was finally gone, which left us speculating about zombie squirrels coming back to haunt our morning walks. (Don’t tell my Norwich Terrier about zombie squirrels. She’ll never get any sleep.)

Interestingly, a web developer created a game about zombie squirrels – sort of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with guns and dead rodents. Go to his site to play.

Or read some poetry if you’re into that peace, love and Zen crap.

Zombie Squirrels Attack
All Squirrels Must Die! (My dog Bobbie's favorite web site.)
Why I Wake Early

TiVo and YouTube

We had some friends over the other night for happy hour. After a few drinks, the conversation turned to funny commercials. One of our guests made a beeline to my laptop, cranked up YouTube and showed everyone the Boost Mobile video. It features two pigs sitting in a restaurant, talking about eating ham. (If pigs can eat ham, why can't Charles, right?)

While this was entertaining, it was more fun watching our guest do the ‘talk to the hoof’ gesture (pictured) that the pig makes at the end of the commercial. (I did say we had a few drinks in us by then.)

Without thinking, we were passing around the laptop to watch the YouTube video. I had completely forgotten one of the benefits of TiVo – the entertainment equivalent of bacon.

With TiVo service connected to a high speed Internet, you can watch YouTube videos on your big screen TV. No need to pass the laptop; everyone can watch at the same time. (Unless you want to watch your guest re-enact the ‘talk to the hoof’ gesture each time the video is played as the laptop goes around the room.)

By the way, happy birthday Scott. See, I never even mentioned it was you doing the ‘talk to the hoof' gesture. Oops.

TiVo
Boost Mobile commercial on YouTube

Personalized Gift Wrap

You know I’m a sucker for personalization. Offer me any product that I can customize, put a photo on or have embroidered and I’ll buy it.

So, I love the personalized gift wrap that I found on Namemaker.com. They have more than thirty different prints that you can order with three choices for the font. You have up to 37 characters to customize the gift wrap.

I’m trying to decide on the most shocking order (in 37 characters or less) for the order fulfillment person at Namemaker.

Hope the STD clears up-get well soon.
Good luck in prison-enjoy these cigs.

Got any suggestions?

Namemaker

Beautiful People

Here’s my last suggestion for surviving the summer of bad television. “Beautiful People” is a comedy originally produced by BBC. It is airing on LOGO here in the U.S.

The series is about a flamboyant thirteen year old in Reading, England and his eccentric family. (While the entire cast is great, the mother’s character steals the show.)

You’ll need to pay attention though. The accents are heavy and the talking is fast. But what you miss in the dialogue is made up for in the over-the-top scenes you see.

Watch the series on Logo website.

(By the way - "Project Runway" premieres on August 20th on Lifetime. Four weeks seems like a lifetime from now.)

Logo

Glee

In case you missed the preview a little while ago, you definitely need to watch “Glee”. It’s a new series starting this fall on FOX.

It’s from Ryan Murphy, who created “Nip/Tuck” and “Popular” (an old favorite of mine that was cancelled way too early). Part comedy, part drama. It’s a little like “Ugly Betty”, but in a high school. And there’s a glee club instead of a magazine. And there’s singing and dancing. OK, so it’s not exactly like “Ugly Betty”. But you’ll like it, trust me.

Still need convincing? It has Jane Lynch, the dog trainer from the movie “Best in Show”.

See the first episode on FOX’s website by clicking the Watch Full Episodes link.
Then go immediately to iTunes to download the music. (I mean it!)

Glee

Better Off Ted

Mid summer TV sucks. I can't even begin to watch another reality show about dancing stars or celebrities trapped in a jungle.

Catch up on some primo television you missed the first time around - online of course. "Better Off Ted" is a comedy set in the crazy offices of Veridian Dynamics. If you've ever worked for a large corporation, you'll recognize the insanity immediately.

Episode four is probably the funniest half hour ever. The company's new light sensor system doesn't detect African American employees. Things go wrong - very, very wrong from there.

Still need convincing? Portia de Rossi (Ellen’s girlfriend) is one of stars of the show.

See it on ABC's website by clicking on the Watch Free Episodes link.

Better Off Ted

Popsicles

This last post about Wrapables is a gift idea for Father’s Day – just a few weeks away. Give pops a set of Tovolo Popsicle Molds.

The handles catch any of the popsicle dripping so he can keep last year’s gift (another neck tie?) clean. He’ll really appreciate that, I’m sure.

And, they’re extra large so there’s more to enjoy! Everyone will appreciate that. And for good measure, check out the link to Epicurious for popsicle recipes. (Let's hope you can't mess up these recipes...)

Popsicles

Popsicle Recipes from Epicurious

Cats Gone Bad

Dogs have always believed cats to be the scourge of society. Now the pups have gotten better about communicating their disdain. (Rather than barking at the door all day).

Bad Cat books, calendars and stickers show us the true nature of felines. The inner thoughts of Frisky and Fluffy have been exposed and some of them are just plain evil, I’m afraid to say.

The series is a collection of cat photos with names of the guilty party along with a few words that capture the essence of the moment.

My Cat Hates You

Bad Cat Stickers (You'll have to search for Bad Cat Stickers - this site doesn't allow links directly to their products...)

Wireless Catalog

You’re taking your work way too seriously lately. Showing up to the office on time, staying until 5:00 and hardly even goofing off throughout the day. It’s really got to stop.

So what’s the best way to lighten up? Bring out your inner child with these pens. Jot down some very important meeting notes and then draw something on your Etch A Sketch.

Boggle and Operation round out the set. And all for less than $20.

It’s all about achieving a work/fun balance.

Wireless Catalog

Dixie Longate

One last thing for Mother’s Day – Tupperware! Wait, before you roll your eyes (and I know who was about to), you have to see this plasticware from a new perspective. I never knew Tupperware made products for jello shots. (Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.)

Dixie Longate is the national top seller of Tupperware. Providing you with new ways to use the kitschy plastic, Dixie hosts a Tupperware party in New York. Late last year, we were able to catch her party in her tour across the U.S.

And boy did I learn a thing or two about Tupperware. Did you know they make a drip-less tumbler that, according to Dixie, is perfect for not spilling your martini when you get into a car accident? Mom will love one!

Watch a sample of her party on YouTube to learn about jello shot holders
Dixie Longate's Home Page
Buy Tupperware from Dixie

Cubicle Warfare

April Fool's Day is this Wednesday. What have you got? OK, you’d better start preparing now. It’s not too late.

First, pick up a book called Cubicle Warfare. It gives you step by step instructions on office pranks. Find it at your local bookstore.

Second, go to the Museum of Hoaxes' top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes for added inspiration.

Now you'd better get moving. You’ve only got two days left and you don't know how long everyone else has been planning.

Cubicle Warfare
Museum of Hoaxes

Your Fonts

How’s your penmanship? I’m sure it’s just lovely. Mine? Well, let’s just say that no one will be using me to hand address their wedding invitations.

Since you’re so proud of those writing skills, you can now have a personal font made for your computer. Go to Your Fonts and download their alphabet template. Fill it out, scan it and upload the template back to their web site.

In a few short clicks, you’ve got a font of your handwriting.

What could be better than that? Wait, I know...maybe something to help decipher my boss’s chickenscratch.

Your Fonts

Paper and Cake

Next time you're planning a party, where's the first place you'll go? Don't say the party store. Or even Oriental Trading Company.

You're better than that. (I mean, you read Snackworthy, for goodness sakes!)

Especially when there are sites like Paper and Cake. They offer downloadable tablescapes on the cheap. Sure, you have to do your own printing. (It's not that bad - point, click, take off printer. Calls for a drink.) For only five smackeroos, you get PDF templates of invitations, menus, flags for cupcake picks, napkin rings, wine glass tags, etc.

They’re creative, colorful and a way to avoid generic party decoration shame. Martha Stewart would be proud. (Well, maybe...)

Paper and Cake