And Another Thing . . .
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Monday, March 15, 2004 I discovered a new magazine at Border's the other night, MaryJanesFarm. It's "published quarterly, whensoever possible" and this is their 4th issue since January 2002. The issue I just read is from November 2003. It's 1 part catalog and 2 parts magazine, they say. I can't stop thinking about this - it's so nice to find something new. Stella and Shannon - I thought of you two often as I read it - it's ad-free and the subtitle is "Simple Solutions for Everyday Organic". I loved the stories, the photography, even the catalog part was interesting. A subscription includes $3.13 shipping for each magazine so I guess I'll just have to keep checking back at Border's for the next issue! (Actually, I'll watch their website - there's more there I haven't read yet anyway.)
Last week Steve and I both received letters from our credit union saying that a batch of Visa numbers had been "compromised" so they blocked our cards from use. (The letter just said there was a batch, I have no idea how many people were affected.) I was greatly relieved to hear this because my card had been declined 3 times in the last couple of days, prior to receiving that letter. I kept checking my balance online and couldn't understand what was happening. There were no mysterious charges or anything but for some reason, it never dawned on me that there might be a problem with the card. I assumed I'd made a mistake of some sort. Duh. I received my new card Saturday so life is good again. I rely heavily on that Visa debit card. I think I've changed it everywhere I need to - with PayPal, my webhost company, my Mobil Speedpass, Simon's Asheron's Call account. I reviewed what bills I would have mailed last week where I used the card - I usually do that wherever possible rather than writing a check. I missed one though because I received a call from my dentist's office this morning and as soon as she told me who she was, I knew why she was calling. She thought that might have been the case because another woman in her office had the same problem and is a member of the same credit union I am.
Oh look - it's a Stella & Shannon Theme Entry. Here's another thing they both do - post to-do lists! Snuck into work early to drop off a batch of those big honkin' peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies for the American Heart Association bake sale. (Thanks again, Gretchen, for that recipe - they are fantastic.) Wrote and posted Saturday entry. Oh heck, maybe a new look is in order for the journal. Called Simon's oral surgeon with new debit card number. (See above snafu.) Ordered chives and parsley in bulk from Penzey's. I know, I know but I need them now. Also ordered a small portion of wasabi powder so I can try the recipe in the catalog, Wasabi Steak & Noodles. Meat & noodles, any combination is a Steve & Simon favorite. Ordered ink cartridges for my printer and Steve's, from Xtremetoner.com. Replaced the "9" on our mailbox, knocked off by the snow thrown by the plow this winter. Paid for the book on I won on eBay, Square Foot Gardening. Filled the birdfeeders. Swept the poop deck, which is just what it sounds like - where little Reggi poops when the snow drifts are twice as tall as she is. Did a happy dance when I saw the last book I won on eBay arrived in the mail today, Handmade for Profit. Went to Great Northern Pizza for not one, but two slices of pizza (to go) for lunch. I really love that soft, flavorful crust, but now I'm set for a while. I had a slice of lasagna pizza (using ziti in stead of lasagna noodles but otherwise tasted just like good lasagna) and a slice of bacon, lettuce and tomato pizza. It was just that, a BLT on pizza crust, including mayo, with a sprinkling of cheddar on top. Having lettuce on a pizza wasn't exactly weird but have I mentioned how much I hate the ribs of lettuce?? Watched The Good Life whilst eating said pizza. It's one of my favorite shows on HGTV - about people who have followed their dreams of the good life, usually meaning they drop out of the rat race and do something they are passionate about and live where they really care about. It's cool. (You're right, having money doesn't hurt these people.) Literally clapped and squealed with joy when opening my wholesale order with the funny cards and the black & white photographs from Go Girl. Their last catalog asked for submissions for dog and cat photos - and I see by the insert that they have them ready now, called Talk to the Paw. Guess what's on the cover? A picture of a dog with the caption, "It's great to be a dog, because if you gain weight, it's somebody else's fault." Uh-oh, that hit a little too close to home. They only have a handful of cat cards, but here's one, "There is no snooze button on the cat who wants breakfast." Or "Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit." (Mom, that last one was for you.) Oh, I could go on all day. I feel another order coming on. Please let my good feeling about these cards be right! I hope I can't keep them in stock. Put together Steak San Marco in the crockpot. It's a recipe Jennifer gave me, but I kind of winged it a bit. I didn't have any onion soup mix, because I usually make my own. But I didn't feel like looking up the recipe so I just threw in a little thisa and thata. Ordered a bunch of frames from framesbymail.com - for things I promised to frame for Steve and for Nancy ages ago. I have no idea why I procrastinated this so long - I love frames! I think it's because the frames for Nancy are for the cards I've made for her over the years. It's not so much they are odd sizes but the frames on that website only go as small as 5" and I need smaller. So I'm going to do a little fiddling with them. If I work it out, I just might offer frames for sale on the PTD website. I hear that a lot - that people want to frame my cards. I'll have to give this more thought and see how these work out. The 11" x 14" poster Steve asked me to frame for him is from last basketball season - of his beloved Syracuse Orangemen. Bless his heart for not once asking me about it. Though maybe the pressure would have helped! Praise the Lord - my two audiobooks are available for pick-up from the library today. I have been getting increasingly cranky listening to the radio in the car. I should have pulled out another cassette tape but I feel like I'm bored with everything I own. I'm probably not bored, if I'd just looked. I'll head down to the library after Simon gets home from school. Yeah, like he'll want to go. I kill me. Took Simon to Best Buy and bought a CD burner. We talked about it months ago but he seemed to have lost interest. Today he mentioned it again because his computer went glitchy for a minute and he remembered the last time something happened he lost all the iPod songs he'd downloaded. And now he has way more songs. So quite spontaneously (yeah, me - really!), I said, "Let's go buy a CD burner," so we did. And I picked up my audiobooks at the library. I want to finish Fred's book tonight and start another but first I'm going to work on my thank you cards for my birthday gifts. I designed it this morning and cut most of the pieces so it's production time. I'll be making about 10 extra for the store. Could someone please let my boss know that I really don't have time to work at WNYCS anymore? It's a darn good thing I enjoy my job and the people I work with because there sure is a lot of fun to be had elsewhere in my life.
Dinner: Steak San Marco, a recipe from Jennifer. Reading: From Chunk to Hunk by Fred Anderson Listening to in the car: I picked up my two new audiobooks at the library - will probably listen to the shorter one first. Will report details tomorrow.
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