I can't remember the cartoon lady's name, Chloe, but we have a Christmas ornament of her with lights wrapped around her body. The first one is my favorite. "Bite me size", lol. And the two peas in their respective pods made me giggle again. I'll work on keeping my hairy chinny, chin, chin a little higher. It was a tough weekend and the week ahead will be long, full, and all I'm really looking forward to is bedtime on Friday night. How pathetic is that? (maybe my much needed haircut on Friday afternoon will prove a boost, too). Michelle, your arrangement is just lovely. I have a particular fondness for cattails, and always want to pick them early on... but don't really know how to collect them to prevent the seasonal, fuzzy explosion... what's your secret? The annual take-downs are arriving in the shop for cleaning and mending. I'm fine with the mending part of it, but I so loathe the cleaning. It's hard on my hands/wrists and it's so terribly boring. I have a solid month of it ahead of me, I reckon. More rote, and while it's not what I need on an emotional plane, it's does rather pay the bills handily! More sucking up is order, I fear. :/ The book sounds fine... assign it and I'll go for it. I'm thinking a diversion of any sort might just be a very good thing for me about now! Now it's time for me to tend to the dishes in the kitchen. And clean up the broken wine stem that belonged to my grandmother. Now only two are left... out of 10. My irritation at "frat. house carelessness" will subside, but today I didn't need to see one more pretty, "fun" thing broken. Maybe I should simpy accept it and use DixieCups? What is it Taryn says, "calm, blue ocean... "? I need more tassels, methinks. ;)

Oh yes, Archie, Veronica and Jughead--my favorite comic books. I'd ride my bicycle to Madings Drug Store for a real chocolate ice cream soda--you know the kind with seltzer water and chocolate syrup and ice cream, real whipped cream and a cherry. I remember learning cursive and using a Schaeffer pen that you would put into the ink bottle. You drew the ink in using a lever on the pen. How about felt poodle skirts and lots of crinolines? How about bubble shoes and pony tails with scarves tied around them and jeans with the legs rolled up and Dads white shirt? How about guys with duck tails and cigarette packs rolled up in the T-shirt sleeves? How about really ugly one piece gym suits? How about learning to drive a stick shift? I remember Our Miss Brooks, American Bandstand, and The Lone Ranger. How about Ida Lupino and her swirling dresses? Give me some time; I'm sure I'll remember more.

I was driving home from college and had to pass under a railroad trestle that diagnolled the street. As I was coming up to the bridge, an 18 wheeler lost a tire and rim, that rolled across 3 lanes of traffic, hit the concrete pillar of the trestle, bounced back across 4 lanes of traffic, across a parking lot and landed in the back of a pickup truck parked in front of a car repair shop. Everyone in all 4 lanes of traffic, slowed down and watched it all happen, no one was hit. The guys in the shop came out and just stared. I don't think the driver even knew he had lost his wheel. Back in the late 70's when I-15 finally was finished and didn't go through Las Vegas, DH and I were heading for California. It was late afternoon and had been raining off and on. I looked over at the skyline of Vegas and there was a huge rainbow over the entire city. A Kodak moment and I didn't have a camers. Swear!!!

This is an old thread but the tips are still useful! I'd like to add another tip to clean coffee makers. You probably heard, seen or have used Brew Rite and Dip It cleaners. It will save you alot of money if you just go to the laundry isle of Walmart or other stores and purchase a box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Washing Soda = Sodium Carbonate = Brew Rite. Sodium Carbonate is also in Dip It cleaner. They are all the same stuff but in different bottle and a whole lof of cost difference. I believe at Walmart, an 8oz. bottle of Brew Rite is $4.98, but a box of 55oz. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is only $3.24. If you do the math, you'd be saving at least $30 using washing soda. I know there are many type of coffee makers out there. I'm going to give 2 methods, for percolators and for dripper. If you have another type, just use one of these methods. For Percolators: Use 1 tablespoon of Washing Soda for every 4 cups of Water. Pour into the carafe, stir these well to dissolve the washing soda. Assemble all components (stem, cup & lids), and brew/perk as usual according to your type of percolators (stovetop, electric, etc.). Turn off the heat or unplug, let it sit for an hour while the unit is cooling down. Discard the mixture and rinse each component with water thoroughly. For Drippers: Use 1 tablespoon per 4 cups of water. Mix the washing soda well to desolve before pouring the mixture into the water reservoir. (Do NOT put just washing soda powder into the water reservoir.) Then, brew as usual. Discard the mixture and pour just water into the reservoir. Brew again to rinse. Do this for a total of 3 times, each time changing with fresh water. It should clean just as well as Brew Rite and Dip It.