Cleaning 101

Hi, My brilliant husband came up with a terrific idea. School for the cleaning impaired. I need to offer courses in the maintenance and upkeep of the home and personal property. "Home-ec" for the next generation. There is a need. I have seen it, along with the dirt. We have a whole generation that has no idea how to clean, sew, fix or keep their stuff. I can handle instruction on household cleaning and repair, Marshall is an expert on mechanical, electronic and electrical items. We could make a small fortune teaching people how to deal with the basic necessity items that break and require cleaning. I can see it now.....look out Molly-Maid! Can't you just picture it. The oportunity to delve into the secrets of laundry, the how & why of stain removal, buying a power washer, sewing a table cloth, knitting a Peter heater and so much more. Making a jello mould, the all-time favorite grapefruit basket, dessert presentation using doilies and icing sugar....the list is endless. Home-ec has become a totally lost art. It's time to revive it. I seem to be the only person who knows that baking powder and vinegar will clean anything or the trick of using shaving cream to clean up carpet stains. Heloise and I are a dying breed. If you don't know who she is, you need to take my course. What will the next generation do without all this useful info? The trash pile is getting higher everyday and we don't recycle enough stuff. We are going to drown in our own garbage. It's time to learn to keep things from becoming tomorrows garbage heap. Cleaning up after ourselves is just a microcosm of how we keep our planet. If we delt with our own backyards, the rest of the world would be simple....and cleaner for it. Xox M

New Toy in Town

Hi,
 I'm typing to you from my new toy, an iPad. It was Marshall's idea to give me one for my birthday. Yes, the man who avowed NEVER to own a Mac product, broke down and purchased one for me.... So 'technically' he doesn't 'own' one, I do. Ha!!!

 It is pretty cool, I have to admit. I have figured out what I need to know how to accomplish pretty much by myself. The fancy tricks I can pick up later if needed. I have my e-mail account, a library hook up for e-books, an app for spider solitaire, Skype and all my contact info transferred.... Apple life is good.

I haven't used an Apple product in almost 30 years. The first computer I ever worked on was a Mac. I loved the way it was so user friendly and thought just like I did. I'm finding this iPad to be just as nice.... Sometimes. We do have our moments. Some of them are not pretty yet. I like the portability of this gadget. Sitting in the living room by the window is lovely as I read my email. The key board is a hoot. It is just my size and I can bop along on it. I have tried putting a book on reserve at the local library, we'll see what comes of that. I have used the camera... That is a neat trick too. I haven't figured out how to get the pictures from my iPad to come up on this site so you will just have to bear with my learning curve for now. Any and all suggestions for assistance are welcome. I'm not drowning but I could use a life line for a couple of things. Like how to get a paragraph break to work. I apologize for this all turning into one big blob of type but the blog doesn't seem to recognize the end of my paragraphs. Yet!
(I cheated and amended this  blog on our PC)


 My niece is going to be totally jealous. I know she wants an iPad of her own. I promise to leave this in my will to her.... What she does with it, since old technology is now considered anything older than 6 months, is her problem, not mine. Time to get some real work done... How to upload a Sudoku app!

xox
m

My Birthday Party

Hi,
everyone should celebrate my birthday.... that's my take on it. I love having a birthday. The alternative is not that inviting, so I party every chance I get.

This year we rounded up a gang of buddies. Dance-rats, neighbours, old friends and new ones. Threw everyone into the mix and went out for Indian food. I think it was a success. There certainly wasn't any food left over. Even my husband, who normally shuns Indian food like the plague itself, admitted to finding this particular restaurant fare "better than the real stuff in India". A left-handed complement if there ever was one but I was thrilled that he liked what he ate.

To deal with the dilemma of 15 people ordering in a restaurant, I took it upon myself to pick and choose what came to the table. Some of our guests had never savored the India palette previously so I tried to cover all tastes and levels of spice intensity. The empty plates were a testimony to my success. Chicken Korma, samosas, pakoras, vegetable curry, fish, lamb... I ordered it all and nothing remained at the end of the dinner. There were numerous conversations floating around the table until people chucked into their fare and then it was very quiet for the next hour or so. The restaurant, Palace of Asia, did a wonderful job of feeding us. It's a beautiful dining room in a funky strip mall. From the outside it looks like a dental office. Inside you get a grand, elegant restaurant with delicious cuisine. We all found it (some a little later because of GPS mis-cues) a delicious event. I was even presented with a slice of chocolate birthday cake with a candle and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" sung by the waiters and my guests. I got a excellent gifts, which were not part of the plan but I loved the thoughts and the effort my friends all made in joining me to celebrate.

I now have to wait another 363 days to do it all again..... where shall I drag everyone off to next year?

xox
m