Saturday, June 30, 2012

June's Five Fabulous Finds

Zum Clean
We make a conscious effort to use household items that are environmentally friendly.  For me, one of the most difficult places to implement this was with laundry detergent.  This is not because such a product is hard to find; there are many earth-friendly detergents on the market.  The problem for me is that I have this thing about the way the detergent, well really my clothes, smell.  I want them to smell good.  Seemingly I have different ideas than most about what good smelling clothes really means.  Simply stated, I don’t want my clothes to smell sweet and I don’t want them to smell like food.  When I say food, herbs are okay, but no pears or apples or coconut or vanilla.  Because nature, or maybe its nurture, is such a powerful thing, my youngest daughter shares my quirkiness with regard to laundry detergent.  She and I have had a few mother-daughter bonding moments while opening and sniffing the various brands of detergent in the grocery store.  We are both happy with anything that smells clean.  I know you are wondering what I mean by clean.  To me, clean is mint or eucalyptus.  I can’t really explain this; its just the way it is.
My search for an earth friendly good smelling laundry detergent ended with Indigo Wild’s Zum Clean aromatherapy laundry detergent.  


I love the eucalyptus citrus scent.  If that doesn’t do it for you, they have several others.  You can read more about this and Indigo Wild’s other products here.
Photoshop Express App
I have all but eliminated the use of my laptop in my life in favor of my iPad.  I have had to sacrifice a few things doing this, but I am learning to adapt.  I am a fledgling Adobe Photoshop user.  I have it on my desktop and I use it regularly - especially since I have started the Visual Cents Project.  I primarily use it to crop photos and do minor tweaks to the brightness and contrast.  I know that the software is capable of so much more than what I do with it.  Maybe some day I’ll figure out how to make myself look fifteen pounds lighter and wrinkle-free.  Until then I’m happy with the basic effects that I know how to use.  Because I don’t employ all of the fancy stuff available in the full version of Photoshop, I am happy with the limited things that I can do on my iPad with the Photoshop Express App.  Like most things, it has pros and cons.  This past week its biggest pro was that I could take, upload, edit, and post pictures to my blog without having to carry my laptop.  This App is definitely geared to the general consumer rather than the photo professional, but it is fun to play with and does an okay job with minor photo enhancements.
Jet Fuel K-Cups by Coffee People
At our house coffee is a basic food group.  And in our personal food pyramid, there is no maximum number of servings allowed per day.  We drink a lot of coffee - from morning to bedtime - and yes, then go right to sleep.  Though we have a “regular” coffee pot, the majority of the coffee we drink at home is brewed in the Keurig.  Doing this means that we can have a variety of coffees on hand.  
One of Weber’s household chores is to make sure that we never run out of K-cups.  He keeps track of what we have and who has K-cups on sale.  He knows that I am a fan of bold coffee.  The bolder and stronger it is, the better I like it.  When he ordered K-cups this month, he bought Coffee People’s Jet Fuel for me.  It is an extra bold coffee and is so smooth.  It is full of pure coffee lfavor and not bitter at all.

Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport
If you have been reading my last week’s posts you know that we spent five hours in the Charlotte airport last Saturday.  Over the years, I have spent many hours in many different airports.  The Charlotte airport is by far the nicest airport that I have experienced.  It was easy to navigate. There were lots of food and beverage choices.  You could get a pedicure.  The concourses were lined with rocking chairs.  And, every airport employee with whom we came in contact was helpful and cheerful.
I was most impressed by the women’s restroom attendant on Concourse C.  She sang.  She sang to everyone who came into the restroom.  Her song whose words were intended to bless all of her guests that entered her restroom were from her heart.  Because we were in the airport for so long, I made several trips to her restroom.  On my last visit she said, “Here comes my friend again.”  She followed this by saying that she hoped that I got where I was heading soon.  This attendant did her best to comfort all the weary travelers with whom she came in contact.  She ushered mothers with small children to the larger stalls.  She made little boys who felt uncomfortable about being in the women’s room with their moms feel okay about being there.  She also offered wisdom to all who entered.  She urged all of us waiting in the airport to use this time to call a friend.  She went on to talk about how important friends are in our lives.  
This woman clearly took her job seriously and gave all that she had to doing it well.  Most of us don’t think about making a career of being an airport restroom attendant.  However, if all of us in the working world were as happy doing what we do and as committed to serving the people with whom we interact each day as this woman was, I guarantee the world would be a much better place!
Sarna Lotion
I am an insect magnet.  There could be a hundred people in a room and one lonely biting insect and I would be the one to get bitten.  I think those biting bugs know that they will get the most bang for their bite if they gnaw on me.  Once i’m bitten, huge welts appear and the itch becomes crazy-making.  I don’t know if I am truly allergic or just hyper-sensitive to insect bites.  I have also read that people with lupus are often particularly sensitive to insect bites.  It doesn’t really matter what the reason is.  The fact is that bug bites make me miserable.  The misery comes from the fact that none of the standard anti-itch remedies seem to work for me.  I can pour a half a bottle of Benadryl on a bite and continue to scratch.
While in Delaware, I became a feast for the east coast mosquitoes.  The various parts of my body became the stops for a progressive dinner.  By the time they were fat and happy, I was miserable.  The Benadryl that I had with me was useless.  My dad offered me Sarna lotion, something that I had never heard of.  


On the bottle it says that it is for itchy skin from rashes, sunburn, eczema, poison ivy and insect bites.  A that point I had nothing to lose and would have tried just about anything.  I slathered it on all my welts.  Almost immediately the itching subsided.  A miracle occurred!  And, it has continued to work, even on the Texas bugs who seemed to have been malnourished while I was gone.  Sarna Lotion’s active ingredients are camphor and menthol.  No steroids.  I am now a fan.  Hopefully the magic will continue.


Farewell June.

Visual Cents No. 47


"Black-eyed Peas Be With You"

Friday, June 29, 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Visual Cents No. 45


"Does That Really Say No Parking?"

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

Visual Cents No. 42


"St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Lewes"

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Nickeled, Dimed, Dollared, and Tried



We are leaving for Delaware this morning to attend my grandmother.s funeral on Monday. This post will chronicle getting from Dallas to Lewes, Delaware.

Obviously since this trip is because of a funeral, it was not planned in advance. I made our reservations last Monday using Expedia. I know that the airlines used to have what the called bereavement fares; the one time I inquired about flying under such conditions, the fare was actually higher than the regular ticketing. In this day and age when the airlines are charging extra for everything, I didn't. expect any special discounts or considerations. I had no problems booking through Expedia on this short notice and getting what seemed to be a reasonable fare.

The reasonable fare was only sort of true. When I tried to get our seat assignments, the diagram of available seats on our flights only showed middle seats as being available. I quickly surmised that all those news stories from a few months ago about it costing more for families to sit together are true. We were given the option of "upgrading" to a "choice" seat. This translates to choice seats are a window or aisle seat. We were willing to keep one of our middle seats and pay the additional cost for one of us to move into a choice seat the same row as the other. No such luck. Not available.

After considering our options, we both moved to the window and aisle seats in the same row. At the time we did this (midnight last night) the middle seat was vacant. Our logic was that perhaps we would have the entire row to ourselves. How many people really want to go to Charlotte, NC on Saturday morning? As it turns out, a lot!

While we were changing our seat assignments, we were also given the opportunity to upgrade our passenger status to "preferred.". Being a preferred passenger means that you get to board the plane first, which really means if your seat is in the back of the plane you can get on first and put your over-sized carry-on bag in the overhead bins in the front of the plane so that you don't have to drag it all the way back to row 32. Thus, leaving no overhead bin space for those of us actually seated in the front of the plane. The truth is that the $35 that one pays to be labeled as a preferred customer is not really about boarding first, it's about buying yourself a premium location for your carry-on stuff. Oh, and you get to board through a special line. It consists of approximately a three foot special section that then merges with the rest of us cheap lowly schmucks.

My carry-on bag will be securely placed under the seat in front of me. Should the plane go down, I can be easily identified as the passenger whose legs are entangled in a Nikon camera bag.

The first thing we did this morning before leaving home was check our departure gate. We found that information and then some. Our flight was delayed by nearly an hour. The airline itself, I'm sure out of kindness and consideration of our much needed sleep, did not notify us of this. This departure delay left us with a seven minute connection in Charlotte for our continuing flight to Salisbury. Having checked in at home last night and already having boarding passes, we figured we would deal with this issue at the airport when we checked our bags.

We arrived at that airport to discover that in addition to our flight being delayed, this morning's earlier flight to Charlotte had been cancelled and all of those passengers were trying to be rebooked on later flights. Needless to say, the USAir ticketing counter was packed with frustrated travelers and frazzled gate agents - never a good mix.

Having checked in at home, we had already given the airlines the extra $25 for our checked bag - because we knew that the guy sitting in row 32 would have put his bag in the overhead space and there would be no place for our bag. As it turns out, if you board the plane with your bag and it won't fit then the flight attendants will gate check it for you - for free. Something to consider, but not this time. We did things the proper way. Unfortunately, this worked to our disadvantage once we were at the airport.

The only way to check-in is via self-check at an airport kiosk. Once you have done this, you are in the queue for an agent to call your name and tag your checked bag. Because we had already checked in at home, we never made it into that queue. We stood in line while the line diminished both in front of us and behind us. Finally an agent took pity on us. He checked our bag and fixed the problem with our seven minute connection. He swapped this impossible connection for a five hour layover. What a nice guy!

Despite all of the horror stories about airport security checkpoints, we had no problems or issues with this part of our journey. Weber did comment, however, that just having passed the birthday milestone that affords him the senior discount at IHOP, he is looking forward to the airline's important age, 75, because you are no longer required to remove your shoes and jacket when going through security. This is probably because the TSA agents don't want to have to dress and undress senior citizens. Why would they when they can spend their time body scanning all the cute young things?

I did find it rather amusing that while I was standing on the secure side of the checkpoint putting my shoes and belt back on, two of the TSA agents were having a discussion about what kinds of guns they owned and whether they should trade them in for more powerful ones. I wonder what would have happened if Weber and I had been having this same discussion as we were passing through security? FYI If anyone ever hears the two of us having such a conversation, please call 911 immediately. Doing so would be in the best interest of all of us.

We made it to our gate with nearly two hours before boarding, enough time for a slowly consumed fast food breakfast. We were not picky about what to eat, but what to drink is non-negotiable. Coke not Pepsi. Noticing Pepsi signs at all the shops in close proximity to our gate, Weber asked an airport employee if anyone had Coke. "Burger King at gate E6. I'm with you; I don't like that (Pepsi) stuff." We were at gate E35. The good news is that this turned out to be a calorie-free breakfast by the time Weber walked the entire length of DFW's terminal E, twice!

We finally boarded the plane. The gentleman who had been assigned the middle seat between us gladly swapped with us for the window.

Like good air passengers, we dutifully listened to the flight attendant give her safety speech. She mentioned the responsibilities of those passengers seated in the Exit rows. I found this rather humorous since these people had to pay a $46 "choice seat" fee for the privilege of being responsible for all of us in case of an emergency. I guess you are paying for the security of knowing you'll be the first one down the slide. Think this through guys; you'll be at the bottom of the pile when the rest of us follow you down the slide.

The flight attendant continued with the reminder that our seat cushions may be used as flotation devices and that there are life vests between our seats. I half expected her instructions to conclude with, "Please swipe your credit card to disengage these devices."

After reading the card illustrating the safety features of our aircraft that is located in the seat pocket in front of us, we read the in-flight menu. It was located between the USAirways magazine and the barf bag. The food choices were a little overpriced, but not ridiculously so. I found the most interesting selection to be the last item on the menu.

In the bottom right hand corner is the "The US Airways Power-Nap Sack.". It contains a fleece blanket, an inflatable neck pillow (presumably not intended as a flotation device), eyeshades, 3M earplugs, and a $10 gift certificate good on your next SkyMall purchase. I guess this is for those who are prone to sleep shopping. All of this can be yours for only $7, which is cheaper than any of the menu's meal options.

Nuts, almonds not peanuts, are only $4. It is sad that the generations that come after me will never know the era of free nuts and pretzels during air travel. I even remember when you got playing cards and pilot's wings. Sigh! A piece of nostalgia is lost. Drinks are still free though; and they have Coke!

After we had reached our cruising altitude, the flight attendants announced that they would begin food and beverage service in the cabin. They concluded with a reminder that "for safety reasons all passengers should use only the lavatories in their respective cabins.". What this means is that the twelve people, literally twelve people, in first class were to use the forward lavatory and the other 138 of us would share the two in the rear of the plane. How's that for potty parody? In my opinion It is not worth the added cost to fly first class just for bigger seats and unlimited drinks, but private restrooms, whose use doesn't require super powers to maneuver around the drink cart in the aisle to get there, will definitely cause me to think about forking over those extra bucks next time.

It is about time to stow all electronic devices in preparation for landing. More later . . .

We arrived in Charlotte on Concourse B. there was a flight board visible as we exited our arriving gate. It said that the flight to Salisbury that we were on originally was delayed until 3:10. It was 2:30. That flight was leaving from Concourse E. If we walked quickly maybe we could make that flight. Off we went. Thanks to moving walkways and escalators, it didn't take us long at all to traverse almost the entire airport - to discover that there were indeed seats on the plane but because we had a checked bag we could not have them. This checked bag is becoming quite the burden.

So, we had a plate of Carolina pit BBQ, a fried pickle, and a diet coke. We are now waiting for someone to vacate a couple of the lovely rocking chairs that are scattered amidst the terminal. As I just admitted in a text message to Erin, I sort of like hanging out in airports. And because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, she admitted that she does too.

The BBQ place gives free refills on drinks! The BBQ is pretty good too. Now we only have four hours left to spend in the airport

What I learned during my five hour layover in the Charlotte airport:
Pork BBQ is pretty good.
A lot of people travel to, from and through the Charlotte airport.
How to upload pictures from my Nikon camera to my iPad.
That it is problematic to upload pictures from my iPad to Blogger.
That this can be done with a little technical support from my husband.
Having a personal Wi-fi hot spot is a pretty nice indulgence.
I like rocking chairs.
I should have brought a jacket.
Resistance is futile after three hours of smelling Cinnabon.
Customer service representatives say the dumbest things.

Weber called the car rental company to confirm that we would not have any problems because of our delays. The woman's initial comment was, "We close at 5. Can 't you get here any sooner?". If we didn't have the super powers necessary to maneuver over the drink cart on our first flight, I'm thinking we don't have the ones that will get us to Salisbury by 5:00 pm either. It remains to be seen whether or not we will actually have a mode of ground transportation once we arrive.

The journey continues . . . .

At 8:15 we finally left Charlotte for Salisbury, nearly six hours later than our original flight was scheduled and thirty minutes late for this flight.

We arrived in Salisbury at nearly 10 pm and our question about a car rental was answered immediately. The Avis counter is pitch dark, despite someone assuring us that we would be accommodated. Needless to say, Weber is less than happy and more than mad. I think he has talked to everyone at Avis who is on duty at this time of night.

A very nice cabbie gave us the low down on local hotels. For a very reasonable $10 he delivered us to a nice, but overpriced because it is Saturday night in the middle of summer near the beach, motel.

The car rental counters at the airport don't open until 10:30 tomorrow morning. So, we are ordering Chinese take-out and will then get a good night's sleep. In the morning we'll enjoy a "complimentary" breakfast, and try again to rent a car and finally get to Lewes.

The fun never ends.

Visual Cents No. 40

"Rest in Motion"

Friday, June 22, 2012

Visual Cents No. 39


"What Happens Backstage Stays Backstage"

Thursday, June 21, 2012

In the Hand of the Weaver

In the Hand of the Weaver
(a pantoum)

I am the shuttle.
Strings of ideas entangle me
Someday to be woven together
Trust in God the warp.

Strings of ideas entangle me.
Big and small, concrete and abstract.
Trust in God the warp.
An enlightened mind the weft.

Big and small, concrete and abstract
Someday to be woven together.
An enlightened mind the weft
I am the shuttle.



KEB 6/21/2012

Visual Cents No. 38



"Peek-A-Boo"

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Visual Cents No. 36


"Through the Looking Glass Looking Through"

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Visual Cents No. 33


"That's Muscovy Duck, Not Ugly Duck!"

Friday, June 15, 2012

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Visual Cents No. 30


"Indian Blanket Inner Workings"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Visual Cents No. 29


"Bench in a City in a Park"

Monday, June 11, 2012

Inbox, Birthday Box


As I sit down to write this, my email Inbox contains 504 items.  This is not because I am important or popular; it is because I am lazy and unorganized.  The discipline of filing necessary emails as I get them and deleting those that I don’t need has escaped me.  About once every six months I will do a massive purge.  This is a time consuming and frustrating chore.  You’d think I’d learn.  The good news here is that if I have need for a previous email, I have it.  The bad news is that it is next to impossible to find it.  Come January 1, 2013 I know what my resolution should be.
Because my management skills here are so bad, I am always hesitant to sign up for business email lists.  The last thing I need is more junk mail to deal with, right?  Well, I am having to rethink that stance.  
Unlike me, Weber is quite organized with regard to his email Inbox.  He has neat folders with titles in his email  - and he uses them!  His Inbox rarely has more than the current day’s mail sitting in it.  Every now and then he’ll look over my shoulder and exclaim with horror, “Do you know how many messages are in your Inbox?”  With a little embarrassment I usually promise that I will do something about it . . . .sometime soon.  Sometime soon is a relative term.  I’m just not sure to what it is relative.
Because he is more organized, which can be construed as more responsible, whenever a business asks for an email address, we always give them his.    When asking you to join their “preferred customer” lists, most places ask for your birthday and anniversary.  They really use that information.  Yesterday was Weber’s birthday and in the last week or so he has gotten quite a few birthday “presents” (in the form of email coupons) delivered to his Inbox.
He has gotten:
  • A free small sandwich from Schlotzsky’s
  • A free Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity breakfast from IHOP
  • A free bowl at Genghis Grill
  • BOGO breakfast a Mimi’s Cafe
  • A free breakfast bagel sandwich at Einstein’s Bagels
  • A “surprise” from Panera Bread next time he visits
  • $15 from Novica
  • $10 from DSW Shoes
  • 5x the reward points from The great Indoors and Sears
  • 3x the reward points at Best Buy

This is a pretty god haul! And all one has to do to receive these things is add his or her name to business email lists and be willing to deal with the junk email during the eleven months that do not contain your birthday.  If you and your Inbox are organized, this is no big deal.  If you are like me, perhaps this showering of gifts will serve as the motivation necessary to seize control of an over-stuffed Inbox.  
Maybe I should wait until November to sign up for these things.  That gives the businesses plenty time to add me to their mailing lists and it gives me a reasonable chance of being able to find theses birthday emails.
I’ll let Weber deal with any anniversary specials we might get next month.
FYI, it is just my Inbox that is out of control.  I am a little OCD when it comes to the organization of most other facets of my life.  My pantry is organized in stacked and labeled Tupperware containers, my underwear is neatly folded, and all my books are shelved according to the Dewey Decimal system.  Okay, I’m kidding on the books, but the other stuff is true!

Visual Cents No. 28


"In Search of the Octomom"

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Friday, June 8, 2012

Visual Cents No. 25


"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Visual Cents No. 23


"I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain"

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Visual Cents No. 20


Texas "Not-so-wild" Flowers

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Friday, June 1, 2012

Visual Cents No. 18


"Ears looking at you, kid."