Volunteering

Another thing I want to do this year is volunteer more often. I have always liked volunteering, and I have done it since I was in Junior High. However, the years 2007 and 2008 are the ones I was full force volunteering. This past year, 2009, I feel like I let it slide a bit and only participated in a handful of events. I should be able to at least volunteer once a month. That's only 12 times in a year of 365 days. If you think about it it's almost nothing. I'm not counting donating my hair to Locks-of-Love since that was a long time coming...


Photo from Light the Night Walk 2007

The Last ones

This is the one photo I took of the magazines. It might have been a more dramatic photo to have piled them all, but I might have not gotten ride of them if I did that. Best to have done it quick and with not much thought. The magazine even went through a name and format change from What's inStore to RED in 2005...

Little by little

Little by little I am making progress. I got rid of a huge pile of magazines that i have been accumulating for a little over 9 years. The magazines I got rid of are the monthly magazines that my work gives us.

At first I saved just the copy that I received to keep my own records of the times with the company. Then, I decided that two copies of each issue is what I should really keep in storage. So when I asked co-workers if they would give me their copy instead of tossing it, I ended up having anything from 5-30 copies of each issue. I thought to myself I will keep the two best copies of each and use the rest for crafts of some sort. I did babble here and there trying different crafts, but I am not patient enough.

So out they went in the recycle bin. Hurrah, progress! Although, I keep finding extras that I had stored in various other places, but their time has come...

Have a great weekend!!!

Documentary Weekend...

Yup, this past weekend I watched some documentaries. 

○ Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price - This one makes me want to buy less goods made in China, and solidifies why I prefer to not shop at their stores.

○ King Corn - This one makes me want to keep away on the lookout for products that contain corn syrup and avoid them. Also makes me want to avoid grain fed beef.

○ Welcome to Macintosh - This one makes me want to buy an apple product. I have none.

○ Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders - This one makes me think about the way I spend my money and better understand the nations debt.

Deb's Glazed Ham

Here's a recipe a friend game me. I typed it exactly as she wrote it.

Deb's Glazed Ham

               Boneless Ham
               Cloves
               Dijon Mustard
               Brown Sugar
2cans      Chunk Pineapple w/juice
1 1/2 c    Orange Marmalade
1c           Dark rum - Bacardi

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut all excess fat from ham then score the top and place cloves on ham. use spatula & spread dijon mustard over the top. Put brown sugar over the mustard. Bake for 1/2 hour.

While ham is baking mix the remaining ingredients in saucepan over low heat. Bring just to boiling then pour over top of ham. Bake for an additional 1 1/2 hours, basting frequently.

*Before pouring mixture on top of ham take toothpicks & stick pineapple chunks all over the top of ham.

Dia De los Reyes

Back where I was born(Eagle Pass, Texas, USA border with Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico) the X-mas decorations stay up until el Dia De Los Reyes. So I am keeping my holiday decorations up too. Should take them down this coming weekend.

No snow just ice

No snow just a bit of ice on X-mas Eve 2009.

My new short hair

Day after the cut...

maybe a little ocd

Over a year and a half ago, or maybe closer to 2 years, I decided to grow out my hair to donate it to Locks of Love. The original plan was to grow it for a year, however it did not grow as long as fast as I thought it would.

So I just let it continue growing with the intent of cutting it sometime in 2009. However, every time I thought I was ready to get it cut and send it to Locks of Love, I really wasn't. Turns out having long hair started feeling like a security blanket and something I could hide with. Weird.

I have a thing(maybe a little ocd) about keeping things longer than I need. Then I end up keeping stuff that just piles up. Not like those hoarder crazies that keep everything. It does not bother me or pain me when I do get rid of stuff; and I can do it in a whim without second thought.

Mine usually starts with an idea of how I can reuse, re-purpose, recycle, or up-cycle something. So I accumulate the things needed for whatever idea I had. Then, after having way too much stuff for that project. I start it, Get bored with it; finally tossing out the stuff I accumulated for it.

So this year my main goal is to be less hoardy. I needed to start somewhere, so the first thing to go was my hair A friend made pony tails of my hair, cut them and then used clippers for the rest. Felt so liberating once it was done.

I probably should have taken before and after photos.

 This is the hair.

Just a random photo

Welcome New Year 2010!

Welcome New Year 2010! Do you make new year resolutions? I don't know that I'll be making resolutions per say, more like keeping things in mind. Maybe just the typical stuff like being a little less whoardy, eat better, be happy, less credit cards, volunteering, etc... There are also things that I would like to do online and offline but then I get too many ideas that then I don't know where to begin. No matter what I am as ready as ready can be to ride the 2010 year!

Thanksgiving Week!

Just a quick brief on my Thanksgiving week.

My Thanksgiving week was full of food, shopping, and a little bit of art. My mom flew in from Texas on Sunday night and flew back earlier Saturday. Every day in between, Monday - Friday, including Thanksgiving Day, we were out shopping.

In between all the shopping we did a pit stop on Wednesday at the Phoenix Art Museum. It was as good as the previous time I was there. This day we also went to check out the new Wild Horse Pass which is part of the Gila River Casinos. Thanksgiving Day we opted for ham instead of turkey.

On Friday, for the first time ever for both my mom and me, we got up early to and went to the Target 2-Day Sale and actually waited in line before they opened. They gave us a free reusable bag designed by Marcel Wanders. They had some great sales of which the door busters were the best deals and were all gone within the first few hours. I finally have the complete FRIENDS series.

Forgot to take pictures. I should really start making it a point to take my camera with me and take photos.

Theatre for Everyone

The Childsplay 2009 - 10 season recently started. The booklet that I got says Childsplay's 2009-10 Season of Strikingly Original Theater for Young Audiences and Families. It's at the Tempe Center for the Arts.

I have volunteered to help stamp and pass out books of upcoming shows twice before with the Target Storybook Season. I was able to help out again this past September when the new season began. This season began with a play adapted from the book Honus and Me. Us volunteers stamped/stickered the paperback book of Honus and Me and put an insert of Androcles and the Lion, which is the play to follow, and passed them out to the families that came to see the night's play. The bonus was that those of us that wanted, got to stay and watch the play.

I am really enjoying volunteering for these events.

Midwestern Meats

We went to Midwestern Meats from a Facebooked recommendation that it is one of the best places to purchase meat here in the Phoenix Metro area.  So I checked out the website and it convinced me to go plus per their list online they say they have lamb. So we make a special trip that for us was about 35 - 40 minute drive. We walk in the door and the place was small compared to what the online photos make it seem to be. The selection of cuts of meat were not any different than what could be obtained at places near where I live and, unless it was hiding in the back, there was no lamb. Also, we were given looks when we were in there that seemed to say what are these gay guys doing in here. Oh well...

The following Sunday I got the Lamb we wanted from the Fresh and Easy that is just down the street where I was greeted with smiles.

Purex Insider

I submitted to be a Purex Insider back on 9/2/09 and received a response on 9/8/09 that said no without saying no. :) I was rejected... :) Something about them only having limited amount of slots. I'm thinking I may have not fit the demographic because looking at their site seems only females got accepted and all the reviewers of the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets talk about the positives of the product. And lets be real, there are pros and cons to their product. So here's my two cents on that product that I have been using for the past several months.

What I like about the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets is that they are convenient and simple to use for the everyday type of laundering. To use the product I drop one sheet in the laundry machine, turn it on, add the items to be washed, and let it do its thing. Then I transfer it to the dryer. It leaves the clothes with a soft clean smell. I found a fourth use for the used sheets. They are great to wipe dust off electronics. Specially the PS3 that seems to be a dust magnet.

What I do not like about the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets is that they are not good at tougher jobs. For example, they will not take out the smell of cat pee and white socks will be clean but not white. Although, they do leave a soft clean smell I do miss the smell that using an actual fabric softener (Downy, Snuggle, Suavitel) and dryer sheet gives to laundry.

It is more than likely that I'll continue to use the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets for small everyday laundry needs however for tougher jobs and for that great clean laundry scent I'll stick to the actual stuff.