J-U-L-Y 27, 2009…

July 27, 2009 By

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… and we got our first HOLIDAY catalog in the mail today! Yes, that’s right. I’m sitting here with the air conditioner on because it’s so hot, humid and uncomfortable and I’m flipping through the pages of a holiday catalog. My kids have even done some “Christmas shopping” in it, dog earring the pages of the things they would love to have.

I forgot what store my husband was in over the weekend but he said he could have swore he saw candy with Halloween packaging too! No way! Not in July!

I can understand pushing back to school sales now, but Christmas and Halloween? WOW!

By the way the catalog we got was from the Lakeside Collection (www.LakeSide.com). They have a really cute lighted garland that wraps around your computer monitor and is powered by a plug that goes into your USB port. Humm… I might jus thave to get that.

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I SURVIVED!!!

July 27, 2009 By

I survived my radio interview this afternoon. OH MY GOODNESS! I was such a nervous wreck all morning. It didn’t help matter any that I had a dizzy spell earlier this morning either.

WOW! All morning I was so nervous. It was one thing interviewing Kenny Loggins. It wasn’t recorded and it was just me and him on the phone so if I goofed up and sounded like a fool only he heard me. With this radio interview for Purse Strings THOUSANDS of people will hear it. YIKES!

Both the host, Maria, and the producer said I did fine. “Hearing” is believing. I have to hear for myself. I think I rambled too quickly and I know I was at a loss of words too.

I rehearsed the questions over and over in my head and I had an outline printed out with the questions and the answers I wanted to give. Wow…what a waste that was! I never even looked at it.

I’m still in SHOCK!

The show will air on the radio station on August 4, 2009. WISH ME LUCK!!!

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WNBA NY Liberty – LOTS of fun & excitement for everyone!

July 26, 2009 By

WOW… we just got back from NYC a short while ago. We went to see the WBNA NY Liberty vs. the Phoenix Mercury team. I’m so exhausted I’m surprise I have enough “oomph” to even type this post.

Our trip started off well. I was a bit worried it was going to rain but it ended up being a nice sunny afternoon for our trip into the city, although it was very hot and humid.

I love driving into NYC and go down the West Side Highway. We get to pass the Intrepid Air & Space Museum and the Circle Line. We also pass Trump Towers.

Here is a picture of the Intrepid. I’m sorry the tree blocked off the ship’s name. I took the picture as we were driving past it.

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I’m happy that we didn’t hit any traffic on the way to Madison Square Garden (MSG). I was concerned that since it was Sunday everyone who went upstate for the weekend would be coming home to the city. Turns out that traffic hit as we were leaving the city so it worked out perfectly. We even made great time getting to the Garden.

The last time we went to MSG to see Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus it was a mad house. This time around it wasn’t as packed which I was very happy about.

We had GREAT seats for the game. We were pretty much at center court. The seats couldn’t have been any better. And get this, in the section we were at they came around and took your order if you wanted something to eat or drink. WOW! How posh. LOL! There was a menu tucked into the cup holder and a man running around taking orders and in mere minutes they brought us our food. The food and beverages are very expensive, so if you go keep that in mind. We got two orders of chicken nuggets, fries and two bottles of water and it cost $32! But I guess that is to be expected at any venue you go to.

As we were sitting there watching some of the pre-show entertainment I happened to noticed in the court seating my son and daughter’s two best friends. Talk about a small world! Out of the 11,000+ that were at today’s game they just happened to be seated in front of us down at court level. They were happy to see us too. They were there with their uncle.

It was fun to watch both teams warm up. The stadium played a lot of high energy music during the warm up. In fact the entire game was filled with music that really kept the energy level inside the stadium on “high”.

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My family and I have never seen a professional basketball game before so it was a first time experience for all of us. I think we were all pretty mesmerized by the action on the court, the music, the lights and the gigantic score board that was right in front of us.

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At one point I commented to my husband that watching the WNBA NY Liberty game was like watching Basketball and Broadway mixed together. That is how much action was going on both on the court during the game and all the entertainment that have in between quarters, half time and when there were time outs. Cheerleaders, a dance squad, kids taking shots to win prizes, dogs, people dressed up like Sumo wrestlers. Seriously! There was something for everyone. Even if you don’t like Basketball (we do), just the other entertainment they provide you makes it well worth the trip.

There is a mascot called Air Maddie. During a time out the mascot came back out but in an inflated costume. It was such a site to see! The mascot proceeded to dance around to the music and even spun around on one arm in this blow up costume. I caught a picture of the mascot jumping up in the air.

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The mascot even started to dance to rap music and pulled it’s pants down to exposure “I Love NY” underwear…just like how the rappers wear their pants around the button of their behinds. The crowd roared with laughter!

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The game was exciting! To quote my kids (‘tweens and their lingo) these ladies have “mad skills”. In parent talk that means the ladies on both teams are extremely talented. Don’t let the fact that these are women fool you. These young ladies are equally as talented as their male counterparts. Sadly they don’t get as much recognition and exposure as the NBA does. The women of the WNBA are some incredible athletes. I was shocked to see that two of the ladies were very petite too. I’m 5′ 3″ and one of the players was the same height as me. One young lady was even smaller. Of course there were super tall ladies on both teams too.

The NY Liberty team was doing great up until half time. After that they started to loose steam. The Phoenix Mercury team pulled ahead with a short lead but then the Liberty team got their second wind and came back fighting in the forth quarter. Sadly the NY Liberty team lost. The Mercury’s had 94 and the Liberty’s had 88.

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I forgot to mention that the Jumbo-tron is also a lot of fun to watch. They show people from around the stadium. A lot of the time people are dancing to the high energy music that is playing throughout the game. They focused on a small boy, about 8 years old. He was dancing (very well I might add). Then they focused on an older gentleman and it was almost as if they were having a “dance off” on the Jumbo-tron. It was SO FUNNY! That young boy can REALLY dance too. He was such a ham. A natural in front of the camera. Kudos to that young boy for making us all laugh.

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Going to the WNBA game was such a blast! I am so thrilled that we went. My entire family had such a wonderful time. And judging by the die hard fans that were there it’s a big thing. The fans get very involved, dancing, standing up, shouting, clapping hands…everything you can think of! I found it interesting how many of the fans seem to know each other. I’m guessing these people go to all the home games. You can see in this picture how some of the fans were standing up.

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When it came time to leave the weather had another plan. The sky opened up and it was pouring BUCKETS. We had to wait at the Garden outside for a good 15-20 minutes until the rain slowed down. When it did we finally made a run for it, not realizing that there was a MASSIVE “river” of water following the side of the side walk so we all stepped into it and had to ride home in wet shoes. Oh well. It just added to the fun of the day. Of course as we were driving back the sky was blue and sunny again, as if it never rained. Except for the massive “ponds” of water on the West Side Highway.

My kids had so much fun. On the way home to entertained themselves by beating on each other with the inflatable spirit sticks. LOL!

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The kids are also excited to show off their WNBA NY Liberty jerseys. My daughter is wearing shorts, you just can’t tell in this picture. My son just happened to pick the right color shorts to match the jersey.

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If you happen to live in the Tri-State area you should really check out a WNBA NY Liberty game at Madison Square Garden. It’s a lot of fun for the entire family.

If you wish to attend any other other Liberty games you can order tickets by going to this site, http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/n3w4v0 and use the discount code WNBABLOG. That will give you 33% off tickets as well as $10 parking. The parking alone is a huge savings. We usually pay about $40 to park in the city.

Now it’s after 11 PM. I’m exhausted but my kids are full of adrenaline from the game so they can’t go to sleep (the loud thunder and lightning is not helping matters any). Wish me luck! LOL!

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Pasta – The affordable dinner alternative

July 26, 2009 By

Since I’m on the subject of food and economic times (see previous posts) I thought I’d mention an interesting web site that offers some delicious pasta recipes.

As you know pasta is an inexpensive meal option. I know, some will argue that pasta is not good for you or high is carbs, however there are healthier alternatives available on the market including whole wheat pasta. Besides, pasta is just so darn good! I could eat pasta everyday.

Did you know…

- The average cost of a fast-food dinner for a family of four averages a little over $20. Here in NY it’s MORE then that and if you have a husband or son with huge appetites you are looking at a lot more money too.

Feeding the same family a pasta dinner can cost less than $5. This means choosing pasta can save families roughly $15 a meal. What works for me!

- Pasta’s versatility and varieties gives you numerous options for meals with many different pasta shapes that can be served in salads, soups, salads and traditional dishes. Pasta can be served hot or cold too.

- Pasta is convenient. With it’s ease of preparation families can serve different meals all week long with very little time spent on food preparation. Plus pasta keeps a long time in the pantry so it’s always on hand when you need it.

There is a web site called Makes a Meal (www.MakesaMeal.com). If you put in your zip code or state (top right) it will bring up all the available pasta varieties in your area. If you click on each brand you’ll come to a page with more information about their products and some yummy recipes you can enjoy. You can even create a free account and save recipes in your “recipe box”.

If you happen to have Mueller’s pasta in your area there is a $1.00 off coupon you can download. You can find it by visiting the Pasta Value site for Mueller’s, http://www.pastavalue.com/. There are a few more pasta recipes there (their Economic Stimulus recipe looks SO GOOD!).

Some of my favorite recipes for pasta include Chicken Alfredo. We pick up the pre-cook roasted chicken from Costco (about $4 and change), tear off the meat and put it aside. Then we cook some penne pasta and steam some broccoli. When the pasta and broccoli are done with put it all into the pot the pasta cooked in, add in the chicken and a jar of pre-made Alfredo sauce and some black pepper and garlic to taste and mix it all together. YUMMY! It makes more then enough for our entire family and it costs us UNDER $10 (or $2.50 per person!).

Another favorite is to take the same pre-made roasted chicken and some pasta (usually penne or ziti) and mix in some Yoshida sauce (or teriyaki) and some broccoli for a chicken teriyaki dinner. This is another one that costs us even LESS then $10 for the meal and we usually have left overs.

What are YOUR favorite pasta recipes? I would love to hear from my readers what their favorite pasta recipe is. I’m always looking for delicious recipes to try.

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Review: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People

July 26, 2009 By

As my regular readers know my husband’s job has been teetering between being unemployed to working for considerably less ($28,000 a year to be exact!) then he makes now. THANKFULLY we think there will be a happy ending to our situation, but for millions Americans across the country, sadly, that is not the case. So many people are really going through a difficult time right now between down sizing, lay offs, companies going bankrupt and the whole state of the economy.

I just finished reading a book from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series called Tough Times, Tough People. WOW! Talk about “tough” people. After reading some of their stories I know personally I would have fell apart. I am amazed at how much strength and determination people truly do have, especially faced with really difficult situations.

I enjoyed this book so much I made my husband read it, and he’s not big on reading non-Dallas Cowboys books (LOL).

The book contains 101 stories about people and families that overcame economic crisis and other stressful challenges.

The book is split up into different sections…

- Simple Pleasures
- Family Ties
- Silver Lining
- The Power of Positive Thinking
- Accepting the New Me
- Fired!
- With a Little Help from my Friends
- Tough People
- For Richer or Poorer
- Grief and Healing
- BONUS: 10 additional stories of hope and faith

My favorite sections are simple pleasures and silver lining. I honestly didn’t read the Grief & Healing section. I skipped over it. With all the stress that we’ve been under with my husband’s job I didn’t want to read sad stories. I’m sure I’ll go back and read that section when things are better. I’m the type of person to bawl my eyes out over a commercial, do you know what I mean?

What I love about this book, and all Chicken Soup books, is that each story is only a page or two long. I kept this book handy so whenever I had a few moments, like waiting for a pot of water to boil, or during commercial breaks on TV, I was able to pick up the book and read a story in a matter of minutes. The great thing about the stories is that they give you hope and some are really “uplifting” so in a matter of a few stolen moments I can read a “feel good” story which in turn made me feel better.

There are some people who supplies stories for the book I would love to meet in person. I am totally amazed at how even in the worst situations some people just seem to have it together and the emotional strength not to let it get the best of them. Kudos to all those amazing people!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People is written by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark and is available where most books are sold including Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.

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Bowls of Hope – Help feed America’s hungry

July 26, 2009 By

Imagine waking up one morning only to find your cabinets are empty and you don’t have anything to eat? That would be a horrible feeling, wouldn’t it, especially if you have children. Sadly many families across America are experiencing that each and every day due to the horrible economic times we live in. I couldn’t imagine my children going to bed hungry and waking up in the morning to find that we had nothing to eat. It just breaks my heart to think about how many families are going through that right now.

I just learned about a wonderful campaign going on right now until December 31, 2009, from Post Cereals called “Bowls of Hope”. The Bowls of Hope program will help provide healthy, balanced breakfasts to struggling families across the country. Every time you purchase a box of Post Shredded Wheat the company will donate one bowl of cereal to Feeding America, up to 15 million bowls. Wow! That’s a lot of healthy breakfasts.

The Bowls of Hope program includes the purchase of a variety of Post Shredded Wheat products including original, spoon size original, Shredded Wheat and Bran, Shredded Wheat Lightly Frosted and Shredded Wheat Honey Nut.

Shredded Wheat is a great source of fiber with all the benefits of whole grains. It really fills you up too! I eat Shredded Wheat and just one bowl is enough to keep me full for a long time. I guess it has to to with the fiber and whole grains.

The next time you are shopping in the cereal aisle and looking for a healthy cereal that fills you up pick up a box of specially marked Post Shredded Wheat and help a hungry person have a healthy breakfast too thanks to Post and Feeding America’s Bowls of Hope program.

To learn more about other ways you can help feed American visit http://www.feedamerica.org/.

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