Last night I used my trusty bacon and sausage drippings to whip up a batch of gravy for biscuits. Today I fried eggs in more drippings (in a cast iron skillet).

While my affinity for bacon drippings may not qualify me for any healthy-living awards, it garners me kudos as a cook, which is what it’s all about, right?

Curiosity is killing me - do you use drippings? Is it a Southern thing? I’ve got a perfectly good polls plugin sitting here gathering dust, so I thought I’d put it to good use and ask y’all.

Inquiring minds want to know:

 Loading ...

Thanks for participating!

Awwww, would you just look at the title of that book Lily is pouring over?

Y’all don’t give up on me! I’m trying to get caught up on my design business (started taking new orders again) which makes me a more sporadic blogger. Don’t forget me!

FYI, really long post titles (250+ characters) wreak havoc on your feed; I managed to destroy mine for a week until a little googling revealed my mistake, which was easily fixed by shortening the feed-offending title.

Think blogging is good for you? So do scientists. Neat, huh?

Check out this path that draws and calms you on my photoblog.

Is this actually a daisy, or just a cute little weed?

At our Mother/Son Outing we were given a questionnaire to read with our sons at lunch. It’s purpose was to discover how well we really knew each other by seeing if we knew the answers to each other’s questions. I don’t even seem to know myself, based on how difficult some were for me to answer. Some things I couldn’t narrow down to one choice; I had an easier time with the multiple choice questions.

Do you want to play? Erase my answers and insert your own and post it in comments (if you are a lurker, this is a great opportunity to leave a comment. Pretty please!).

Here’s a picture I found this week. I didn’t realize that I had it. It’s my mom, sister, and I (I’m the older sister). Doesn’t it transport you straight to the 70s? I still remember those vests and that frilly-armed shirt.

Ready? Here we go:

What are your favorites?

1. Color (green and yellow)
2. Season (fall and spring)
3. Food (pasta with Alfredo sauce, mushroom and Swiss burgers, Mexican, chocolate)
4. Animal (hmmm…. as a child I was fascinated by the lynx)
5. Bible verse (Romans 8:26, Ephesians 3:20, Roman 9:11-16, Proverbs 3:5-6)
6. Holiday (Thanksgiving - you get to visit with the family, but less stressful than Christmas)
7. Book (how about authors? Jane Austen, Robert Ludlum, Dostoevsky, Dean Koontz, etc.)
8. Movie (While You Were Sleeping, Moonstruck, Pride and Prejudice (BBC), Emma, Kate and Leopold, The Manchurian Candidate (original 1962 version), North by Northwest, The Princess Bride, The Philadelphia Story, Spiderman 2, The Terminal, Waking Ned Devine, That Thing You Do, … can you tell I like movies?)
9. TV show (24)

Which do you like better…?

10. Hugs or kisses? (hugs)
11. Sugar or salt? (sugar)
12. Going to bed or waking up? (going to bed)
13. McDonalds or Chick-fil-a? (Chick-fil-a)
14. Swimming or skiing? (never been skiing and I’m not much of a swimmer - none of the above?)
15. The ocean or the mountains? (mountains)
16. Going to the dentist or the doctor? (doctor)
17. Walking or running? (walking)
18. Reading or writing? (reading)
19. Singing or dancing? (dancing)
20. Dogs or cats? (dogs)

Don’t worry if you can’t answer them alI; had trouble myself. I would just love to see who’s dropped by for a visit.

Check out the spider I caught on my photoblog!

Blessings,

79 words

Speed test

I saw this tonight, and being unable to resist a challenge, I had to play.  I got my best score the first time, and then it was all downhill.  I think I’m just too tired (insert any other good excuse here); I’m sure I’ll be back to try again later.  This is actually quite encouraging because I’ve had so much trouble with the super flat keyboard on my new Mac.  I told my husband that it turned a 70 wpm typist into around a 15.  Those were probably pretty accurate stats for the first couple of months - but hooray!  I must be adapting!

How did you do (because I know you had to go try it, too)?

I’m really hoping to replace my computer early next year. I understand that unexpected events, such as car repairs, could keep that from happening, but my fingers are crossed. Tight. I’m considering taking the plunge and switching from a PC to a Mac. I’m dating myself here, but my first computer was a Mac. The very first Mac (see photo on right). I picked it up out of the back of an Apple truck my freshman year of college. We had a hand-me-down PC after that, and purchased our last two computers: a Gateway, and then a Sony VAIO (my current computer).

I would love to hear feedback from Mac users, pros or cons, or anyone who’s made the switch. Does anyone use a Mac at work and a PC at home (or vice versa)? Any advice appreciated here.

Also, will my True Type fonts work on a Mac?  I have a lot of fonts.

(This is a published article: I didn’t write it!)

God bless you! Whether it’s pollen or a spring cold, there’s a whole lot of sneezing going on.

What makes us sneeze?
In addition to being a symptom of an underlying condition, such as allergies and colds, we sneeze when something irritates the membrane of the nose. Here are some of the reasons we sneeze, according to the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine and Discovery.com:

• Foreign object in the nose, including particles of pepper, smoke, irritating chemical fumes, or gases
• Withdrawal from opiate drugs
• Stepping outdoors into bright sunlight, which even has a scientific name: Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome
• Tweezing your eyebrows
• Combing your hair
• Rubbing the inner corner of your eye
• Eating too much

Why you sneeze the way you do
It’s in your genes, reports Discovery.com. Whether you sneeze once, twice, or thrice, you’re genetically programmed this way so don’t even think about trying to change it. “In my family it’s three sneezes,” says sneeze expert Roberta Pagon, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, “but someone else’s family had eight.” She said one of her sneezing subjects always sneezed 43 times when first exposed to bright sunlight.

How many times do YOU sneeze? Find your special sneezing pattern in this poem and see what you get for it:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy.
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told.

Why we say “God bless you” after someone else sneezes
The pope said so. That is, Pope Gregory the Great, who lived from 540 to 604 AD, said so. He happened to ascend to the Papacy just as the Bubonic plague took hold. Saying “God bless you” after someone sneezed was literally that–a blessing. Straightdope.com reports that when people sneezed, they were immediately blessed with a “God bless you” as a prayer to prevent them from getting the plague.

Sneezing superstitions (and none is true):

• Sneezing expels the soul.
• Your heart stops.
• Your eyes will pop out if you keep them open while you sneeze.
• Sneezing before breakfast is a sign you’ll get exciting news before the end of the day.