Stop Sign Guidelines

If you're like me, you often find yourself pulling away from a stop sign wondering, "Did I actually stop long enough just then? Or was that a 'rolling stop'?" (This concern over rolling stops should not be confused with Tennessee residents who live in our apartment complex who seem completely oblivious to stop signs. Even a rolling stop is better than no stop at all.) This "was that a full and complete stop?" question is especially front-of-mind when I happen to notice that I have a cop car right behind me as I'm pulling away from the stop sign. Yikes!

A few years ago, I saw a "bit" about full and complete stops on Comedy Central's spoof cop show Reno 911. Whenever I am sitting at a stop sign, this scene from the show plays itself out in my head. One of the officers is teaching a traffic school class for delinquent drivers and is reviewing various traffic laws. His guideline for pausing appropriately at a stop sign was that you should say aloud, "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four TO THE FLOOR!" Although I don't often do the one-two-three counting part, it is rare for me to pull away from a stop sign without saying, "Four to the floor!" Whee!

Sunday Morning Breakfast Sandwiches

Here's what we're having for breakfast this morning. It's a classic recipe, easy to make, and very delicious. Let me know if you ever get around to trying it and how the whole microwaved egg thing goes for you. It seems more scary than it actually is, but if you stir your eggs up too vigorously, they can get pretty tall once your microwave them.

Stuff you will need:
-1 egg
-2 pieces of bread (English muffin, bagels, or sliced)
-1 slice of cheese (preferrably not American)
-3 pieces of bacon (we use veggie bacon)
-1 sausage pattie (we use veggie sausage)
-mayo (if you're using a dry bread, like we do)
-garlic salt
-pepper
-seasoned salt
-1 coffee mug, buttered on the inside (use a baggie, dip in margarine, then smear the inside of the mug)
-1 extra baggie to go over the top of the mug when you microwave it

Directions:
-Cook the bacon and sausage first (we make ours in the oven, rather than fry it up or microwave it)
-While the bacon and sausage is cooking, start "buttering your mugs" (sounds more risque than it really is -- hee, hee!)
-Crack one egg into each buttered mug
-Sprinkle garlic salt, pepper, and seasoned salt on top of each egg (the amount is up to you -- we tend to sprinkle liberally)
-Stir egg and seasoning enthusiastically
-Cover mug with baggie so that it appears that your mug is now wearing a plastic hat (pull baggie down over handle, at least, or it will fly off during the microwaving process)
-Bacon and sausage should be done by now, so remove them from their cooking process (whatever that may be)
-Put your bread in for its initial toasting (our toaster takes two rounds to get dark enough, but if yours does not, then you will have to adjust my toasting instructions)
-When your bread pops up, put your egg in the microwave for one minute
-Put your toast down for its final toasting
-When your egg is done, pop up your toast
-Spread mayo on your bread if it's a dry, dense bread (no mayo needed if you're using bagels or English muffins)
-Break bacon slices in half and put three halves on each slice of bread
-Put cheese slice on one piece of bread, on top of the bacon
-Put sausage pattie on one slice of bread
-Put cooked egg on top of sausage pattie
-Put other slice of bread (with bacon) on top, completing sandwich
-Microwave whole sandwich for 15-25 seconds to melt the cheese

Enjoy!

Guess who's turning 35?

It's not me! It's Leslie Rollins (that guy I live with)! He celebrates the big 3-5 today! He's a little bit bigger now than he was in this photo above, but just as full of activity!

If you would like to send him well-wishes, just drop them into the comments section below. I'll make sure that he reads them when he gets home tonight.

Happy, happy birthday, Les!

Overheard at the last Preds game...

"I am so sick of these bell bottom jeans! I can't wait for that fold & roll style to come back in!"

Of course, I was all about the old "fold & roll" back in high school (yes, even the guys were doing it!), but personally feel now that jeans with a little flare at the cuff are more flattering overall. I don't want to go back to folding and rolling, living the life of a peg-legged, oversized-shirtted, big-haired girl! It's just not me anymore!

And so I have chosen a new motto-of-the-day: "Just say NO to fo' and ro'!" I admit that not everyone is going to understand what my motto means and, as a result, it probably won't do much to stem the tide of retro fashion. But it's fun to say aloud at least (really, try it)!

Considering that I couldn't even find a photo of the fold and roll style on the internet, I'd say the fad is not knocking on door . . . yet. But when it does arrive, can stirrup pants be far behind?

Something I won't be wearing this winter...

Well, I know that I've gloated (especially to my Michigan friends) about the nice Nashville weather in the past, but I just can't resist gloating again. I got the new Land's End catalog in the mail today and, as I looked at the back cover advertising New Extreme Squall Boots, I just couldn't help thinking, "Well, that's something I won't be wearing this winter!" Yes, the thought of a mild winter still brings a smile to my face, even after experiencing one first-hand last year. It just doesn't get old!

But now that I've said that, we'll probably have the snowiest winter on record and I'll be out there in my flip-flops with blue toes and icy toenails. The Farmer's Almanac does provide me with some comfort (or a false sense of security), however, predicting a fairly mild winter for Tennessee. Yippee!

Meet George Jetson

People who have read my post about our washer and dryer will know that I can get a little excited about technology, especially things that make life easier around the house. People who have read my post about "things that dry other things" will know that I am always hoping someone will invent something cool, even if there's not an urgent need for it.

So I was delighted today when my husband sent me a link to the following article from Wired magazine about a research team from MIT called the Counter Intelligence Group (it's a pun, and you'll see why soon -- hee, hee!) and their research regarding ways to make working in the kitchen (See! Get the pun! Counter!) more high-tech. Fridge cameras, smart cabinets, recipes displayed on the counters, and reusable dishes. It blows the mind.

If you are easily amazed like I am, you will love this article! Enjoy!

Ready to Eat (oh, I'm ready!)

I recently discovered some great ready to eat Indian food from MTR Foods, so I thought I would share (the information, rather than the actual food -- however, if you come over in a few moments, I'll have some cooked for you) with those of you who enjoy Indian food, like I do. I bought about three different kinds of MTR curries at a local international foods store (the one in the Farmer's Market, for those of you who live in Nashville), and they have all tasted great! In my opinion, they are a great improvement over frozen versions of curry because they have a lot less "chemical" taste. Based on my experience, I would definitely buy these again.

The curry products are shelved in the ready-made food section (in a paperboard box) and the curry comes in a metallic pouch which you can either empty into a dish and microwave or dump into a vat of boiling water and heat up (inside the pouch -- and we all know how fun it is to cook a pouch!). Either way, you have a delicious curry lunch ready to eat in 5 minutes or less.

I am cooking rice at the same time, so my cooking time is a total of ten minutes. Still, that's not bad for a quick lunch at home. Yum!

Inventors, help me out here!

Here are two very practical things that I wish someone would invent:

1. A cordless hair dryer. I have one hair dryer and one curling iron on my bathroom counter and each morning it seems like at least three minutes are spent untangling their cords. Sure I could wrap the cords up each morning so that they don't get tangled with each other or I could put them on opposite ends of the counter, but I would rather just have someone invent a cordless dryer.

2. A dryer lint screen that is easy to clean. I have never experienced an easy to clean lint screen (I use a vacuum to clean mine right now) and it seems that, with all the dryer technological improvements we currently have, it's a major oversight to not also improve the lint screens. Has the world gone mad?!

I just realized that both of these inventions involve drying things in some way. Apparently, I am obsessed with drying. Who knew? Coincidentally, I am also in love with my thirsty towel. It's good at drying, and I respect that. Thanks for creative inventing, Thirsty Towel inventor!

Reason #21 to go in late to work

We recently got an iMac and my husband has set the clock to actually speak the time aloud on the hour. The computer says, "It's 2 o'clock" to the tune of Big Ben's Westminster chime, which you can listen to on this page.

I think this is so cool that I usually try to hear it twice each morning -- once at 7:00 and again at 8:00. Of course, this makes me late for work.

Obviously, I could get up an hour earlier to listen to it at 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., but then I would be missing out on an extra 30 minutes of sleep. And that's just crazy!

My Friend Sam's New Blog

My friend Sam started a blog about a month ago and, as it's always difficult to have people find your blog among the thousands of other blogs out in the blogosphere, I thought I would post a link to it here.

Sam (formally Samantha) is an Ann Arborite (since I used to work in Ann Arbor, I know quite a few of those Ann Arbor dwellers) who knows much more about books, music, and movies than I do. She also knows about "cool stuff" that I would never have stumbled upon if not for her "head's up" to me, like KnockKnock (some of the coolest stationery around), for example.

Pop on over to her blog and post comments if you get a chance. It's more fun to blog when you get some sort of response (speaking from experience, of course).

How To Sneak Up on Somone

My husband wishes the Wallendas would read this article about quiet walking. It kind of made us wonder how loud we might sound to our downstairs neighbors (if we had any). I can tell you that we do not employ quiet walking techniques, even though we generally don't stomp around either.