National Bacon Day

I would be totally remiss if I did not mention that today is National Bacon Day, at least per the state of Iowa.  Apparently 5% of their total state income comes from the production of it and in 2011 the state legislature of Iowa proclaimed February 26 to be the Official Bacon Day.

Everyone knows that bacon no longer is merely a food item.  There are bacon wallets:

Bacon flowers:

Bacon bandaids?

And one I found most interesting was bacon toothpaste, although I'd rather have that clean, fresh minty taste!

I think I prefer bacon wrapped medallions of beef.

My husband tells a story of our son grabbing the pot of bacon grease off the stove after breakfast one morning when he was very little and drinking the cooled grease.  I guess that's why he is definitely a fan of bacon and bacon related products.  Jeff, this one's for you!  

Why not have a BLT for dinner tonight in celebration!  

2015 Reading Challenge - Book 6

Finished the Gossamer Ghost.  It was pretty good.  I was able to spot the killer before they were revealed, which doesn't always happen.  It was fun to read the scrapbooking tips too.  

Now, we totally shift gears and my next book is 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

I'm probably one of the only people who did not read this when it first came out several years ago.  I don't normally read romance novels.  Now there is a movie out so I have to see what all the fuss is about.  I hear the film is not getting such hot ratings though.

I am going to use this one as my "Book recommended by a friend" since my girlfriend told me I should read it.  It's not your usual romance story. 

I am about in the middle of it and it is definitely holding my interest.  I am not so sure I would want someone exerting that much control over me though, and I don't mean in just the sexual aspects.      

I decided not to make this be my trilogy category book, although there are three books in the series.  I was afraid I wouldn't want to read the rest of them.  I think that is one of the hardest aspects of this challenge...trying to decide what category to put the books under, since most of them can fit at least two categories.  Such decisions!!!  

I'm three weeks behind if I want to make 52 books this year but I am not going to stress about that.  I'll just keep reading and see how far I can get.  

What's your book this week?  Would love to hear about it.  Did you read 50 Shades?  What did you think?  Going to see the movie?

Get A Different Name Day

Today is Get a Different Name Day.  My name is Janet.  I happen to be very happy with that name.  There are some famous Janet's:  Janet Jackson, Janet Evanovich and Janet Leigh, just to name a few.  A singer, a writer and an actress.  No wonder I like to be crafty!  

I had no say in my name.  In my family, I have three sisters.  All of our names begin with a "J" (Jo Anne - named for my mother, Josephine, and her twin sister, Antoinette; Judy - named by another one of the aunts; Janet - my name was picked by Jo Anne and Judy; and Jaye - named by the neighbors because it had to be a "J" name).      

I'm the cute one, bottom left.

I didn't realize it until a few years ago but there is even a song, "Damn it Janet" from the Rocky Horror Show!  I wouldn't mind getting confused with that Janet (Susan Sarandon)!

In my class during elementary school, there were 3 other Janet's and a Janis (I went to a Catholic school so we were together for eight years).  Guess that was a pretty popular name around 1955!  

While I did not change my name, I did go by the nickname "Jan" for a long period of time.  I remember that I was in Bryman School for medical assisting shortly after high school and one of my classmates said I should shorten it from Janet to Jan because if a doctor needed me in a hurry, Jan was only one syllable, not two.  Interestingly, I introduced myself to everyone as Jan after that.  Even my husband called me Jan and our first mortgage papers show me as Jan.  About 12 years ago, when I was starting my own transcription business, I went back to using my full name and found I really liked it.  My Etsy site, Facebook page and craft business is "ASmile4UfromJanet."  

So, given that today is a day that you can change your name if you want, what name would you pick?  I can't think of anything I would rather be named.  Any suggestions?    

Get Out Your Guitar Day!

Today is Get Out Your Guitar Day!  I have never played myself but I have a few friends who do.  These are just some of the more well known one's I've been able to see over the last couple of years...

Some are pretty obvious.  I wonder if you can guess the rest?  Leave me a comment and let me know who you think they are.

Can't let the day go by without mentioning my good neighbor and inventor of the Pickstrap guitar pick, Aron Marten.  If you play the guitar, you really ought to check out his attachable pick.  There are some cool videos of it in action on his site.

I really prefer the rhythmic beat of the drum or the sultry sound of the sax, but those are for another day...Have a great guitar day!

Ultimate Blog Challenge

I've decided to have a go at the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  It starts in April and the challenge is to blog every day, share that blog on Facebook and go visit other people's blogs who are participating in the challenge. The hope is that it will bring more traffic to our blogs, business to our stores, help to connect with like-minded people and possibly make new friends.

Doesn't that sound like fun?  I am going to use the next month and a half to prepare some blog ideas and thankfully, I'll be getting some prompts to help.

I hope you will join along with me.  Who knows what could happen!  

2015 Reading Challenge - Book 5

I finished "Tales of the Beedle Bard."  It took longer than I thought and I really didn't care for it that much.  I guess fairy tales from the wizard world aren't my thing.

The next book I've chosen (again in hopes of catching up since we are in week 6!) is the book I won from the Scrap Time contest, "Gossamer Ghost" by Laura Childs.  Combining two of my favorite things, scrapbooking and mysteries!  Can't get much better than that.  Thanks again, Christine Urias!

I have read a few of her books before and enjoyed them.  They are set in New Orleans and each book has some scrapbooking tips and recipes from the local cuisine.

I'm counting this one as my mystery book.  How are you doing on your challenge?  Leave me a comment!

Milestones

Yesterday we shared another big milestone in the life of our "baby."  Her first car.  Now that she is back at school and has had one semester of college life, she figured that she was ready to find a job; but, there was nothing within walking distance so a car was becoming a necessity.

For weeks she had been searching the internet to find something that she liked, within our price range.  She finally found one and emailed the info to me.  it was a Honda, located at a Toyota dealership in Concord.  The advertisement was on a local Honda dealership's website and the ad claimed that they would get the car and bring it to their shop so we could test drive it.

For three days I went back and forth with the dealership, trying to get them to bring the car for us to see.  In the meantime, the price of the car (via the online ad) went down by $500!.  Still no contact from the Honda dealership and on the day before Rachel was to come home, the car vanished from the website.  She was very upset.

We told her not to worry, that we would find something else.  We decided to try a local lot before doing a lot of driving around and fortunately at the first lot we tried, we found a car.

 After a careful test drive by dad and Rachel, the negotiating began with the car dealer.  We were able to knock the price down a bit and pretty soon Rachel was signing the papers.

Getting insurance was the next step and we were afraid that she was going to have to go back to school without the car since we were doing this on a Saturday.  As luck would have it, we were able to get the insurance for her and now she is the proud owner of a 2003 Nissan Murano.

Now I'll be a nervous wreck until she gets back to school safely!