National Months - April

 Fun national months for April, here we go!

National Afternoon Tea Month 

Afternoon tea is a ritual that started over 200 years ago in the United Kingdom.  Of course, due to the high price of tea, only the upper class enjoyed this ritual.  Afternoon tea consists of light finger sandwiches, scones, small cakes and, of course, tea.  How to celebrate?  Hold an afternoon tea at your home with your friends.  Visit a tea house near you.  Or, how about trying that new Boba place around the corner?

National Canine Fitness Month

Good thing I'm taking my weird dog Pippen on his daily walks.

National Cannabis Awareness Month

This day is set aside to shine a light on the untapped potential of the cannabis plant.  How to observe:  Do some research and learn about the potential of cannabis.  Discover the ways the producers are using cannabis to improve the environment and human health.  Funny how this coincides with 420...

 

National Poetry Month

The Man in a Jar   by Irwin Mercer 

I once knew a man who lived in a jar.

For a stranger sight you'd have to go far.

I asked him once why he lived in a jar.

He grimaced and said, how bizarre you are.

My jar's cozy, warm and bright,

Even in the full moonlight

The only drawback is, you see,

Getting out quickly when I have to pee.

National Soft Pretzel Month 

I mean, who doesn't love soft pretzels?  Check out my soft pretzel bites recipe here.

National Jazz Appreciation Month

Kick back and listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Ella Fitzgerald and let the music move you.

 

National Humor Month

Humor is essential to our overall health.  Jokes and silliness increase our heart rate and blood flow, bringing blood flow to our brain and vital organs.  How to celebrate?  Tell a joke.  Act silly.  Watch a funny movie.  

National Card and Letter Writing Month

Why not take a few minutes and write some letters to friends and or family members and drop them in the mail?  People love getting happy mail!  I know that's the first thing I read when I get the mail!

Don't know what to write?  How about: an uplifting message, a funny or happy memory that you share with this person.  Maybe a thank you for something.  How about just to say hello?  This would be an excellent idea for a Girl Scout troop.  Seniors love receiving cards and letters.  Contact some senior living facilities and have your girls make spring cards.  The residents will surely appreciate receiving uplifting mail.

Have a great month everyone!

Retail Problems - Self Checkout

 I thought I would dedicate a post to self-checkout.  It's called self-checkout (SCO) for a reason.  You scan the items out yourself.  The employee standing there is for any problems or questions that arise.  Not to scan your entire order.  Oh, and it's fifteen items or less, by the way.  I'm surprised at the number of people who can't read the sign.  It is definitely not two carts full of merchandise.

OK, now that we have cleared all of that up, let's get started.

Customer:  "Why is there only one cashier?"

Me:  Because we don't have enough cashiers.

Customer:  Well, if I wanted to scan stuff, I would go to Wal-Mart.

The SCO machine accepts credit or debit cards only.  The customer came up and asked me to read it to them.  She replied, "Oh.  I guess its a good thing I went to the eye doctor this morning."

There are customers that are on their phone.  They can't scan and talk at the same time.  They end up causing the line to back up.  You are either on the phone or you are scanning.  Not both.

Some customers decide they want a job.  "They should give me a discount for scanning my own stuff."  Umm, who decided to use the SCO machine?

I get some crazy questions like, "Can we check out here with food?"  I work in a grocery store, so, yea, that's what you scan here.

There's the customer who told me, "I don't want this because it's too wet."  And she handed me a red cabbage.  In case you are wondering, it wasn't wet.

There are customers who approach SCO and throw all of their stuff on the floor.  I guess they can't see the shelf attached to the machine.

And of course, the customers who approach the machine and say, "I'm not good at this."  

Oh, and I can't forget the woman who said to me, "Sister, I need help over here."

My personal favorite was the customer leaving SCO, mumbling to herself.  She walks toward the restrooms and enters the men's restroom.  Fifteen seconds passed, she came out mumbling and entered the women's restroom. 

My Weird Dog

 My weird dog Pippen is looking to join a coyote family.

I woke up at four in the morning to some very loud animal activity outside my house.  There was an animal screaming bloody murder outside the window.  Yea, I didn't think animals could scream, but after last night, I now know the truth.  Once the screaming stopped, there was some howling.  I decided to roll over and try to get some sleep, but the howls started to get louder.  That's when I realized the howls were coming from inside the house.  I decided to go check on the child dog before he wakes up the entire neighborhood house.  

If you know of any coyotes looking to expand their family, let me know.  

Weather Person

 I think my next career should be a weather person.  You know, those people who are on TV or the radio and try to predict the weather.  I say try and predict because they aren't always correct.  The last two Fridays here (locally) the weather people predicted huge snowstorms.  Both days we got.....nothing.  It's funny because these predictions cause people to go into a frenzy and panic and they head to the grocery store and buy as much food as possible.  It's like they won't be able to get out of the house for a month!  We live in Chicago and have excellent snow clearing and salt trucks that constantly drive through the streets during these storms.  You might be inconvenienced for a few hours at most.

As a weather person, I can give my weather predictions and, if they are wrong, I'll still get paid and continue to keep my job.  Sounds like a great gig to me.

Do you think weather people should get paid when their weather forecasts are wrong?

Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes

 We celebrated My Weird Dog Pippen's 11th birthday yesterday.  The lucky pup got to bark along with us as we sang, "Happy Birthday," to him (his favorite song to bark sing).  

I made Pippen a couple of pupcakes for his special day using the recipe below.  The recipe makes mini cupcakes.  I cut the recipe in half and made two large cupcakes.

Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes

ingredients:

2 T peanut butter

2 TBSP oil

1 medium banana, mashed

2 TBSP honey

1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

pup-frosting:

1 medium banana, mashed

4 TBSP peanut butter

Instructions:

Oven 350.

Spray 12 mini muffin cups or 2 large muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray.*

Mash banana.  Mix in the oil, peanut butter and honey.  Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Scoop batter into muffin tins until 3/4 full.

Bake 10-15 minutes.  They are done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pupcake comes out clean.

Allow pupcakes to cool on wire rack before frosting.

For the pupcake frosting:

In a bowl, mash banana.  The smoother the mashed banana, the smoother the frosting.

Add peanut butter and mix until smooth.

Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

Top with a small bone shaped dog treat. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*I used silicone baking cups.  A lot easier to work with, in my opinion.

I cut this recipe in half and made two large pupcakes and they turned out beautifully.

If you make the pupcakes, let me know in the comments below!

Enjoy!

My Weird Dog

 My weird dog Pippen has had a rough time these last few months.  He still thinks that he is a puppy, trying to attack every dog that walks by our house.  Unfortunately, he has had some issues with his back legs and has spent a few nights camped out by our front door.  Something he does not enjoy because he is all by himself.  

Pippen's sight is not as good as it used to be in the old days.  

He is still quite spoiled (by me).  Although I have noticed RT sneaking him some little tasty tidbits.

Pippen is still loyal (to me).  And loving (again, to me).   And, well, he still has his weirdness. 

Today we celebrate eleven long wonderful years with my weird dog, Pippen.

Happy Birthday, Pippen!

Cheers to eleven more!

Auto Correct

 I have a love/hate relationship with auto correct.  I have it turned on my phone because I like to type fast.  I would like to think after all of these years of hanging out with me, Auto Correct would know me and know exactly what I am trying to write in my texts.  And, because I'm typing so fast, I make a few mistakes and Auto Correct jumps in and says, "I have your back."  I mean, that's what friends do, right?

My downfall is the trust that I have in my "friend."  Sometimes I'm trying to get information to someone quickly and I don't have time to proofread what I am typing.  And why should I?  My best friend should have my back and know exactly what I want to say.  Instead, my friend corrects my typing by putting in words that don't belong in my sentences.  After I hit send, I read my text and realize it doesn't make sense.  I begin to realize that my "friend" has not taken any English/grammar classes and is just tossing in random words, changing the tense of a word or completely changing the words altogether.  My texts look like I was drinking too much when I sent them.

It's time to sober up friend auto correct.  Get yourself to an AA meeting an English class and start changing your ways!

Do you use auto correct on your phone?

Do your texts look like you've had too much to drink?

My Weird Dog

 Took my weird dog for a walk this morning.  I've been taking him for a walk every day because our yard has become quite muddy, due to the weather.  Oh, and because he's spoiled.  On this particular walk, I went to pick up after him and there was a hole in the bag.  Luckily, it's been raining a lot lately, so I was able to shower rinse off in a puddle.

Moral of the story:  Make sure your poop bags don't have holes in them.