Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone! ! !  :)


I hope everyone spends their days feeling the love of family and friends always, but especially so today!

Make someone you love feel special today!

DIY - Replace Thermostat

While lunching with a good friend of mine I mentioned my non-functioning thermostat.  I was describing how the furnace worked, but it would no longer regulate itself.  It was either on (read non-stop, burn-in-hell-hot on) or off (as in freeze-your-buns-off-and-die off).   I know I won't get any sympathy from those of you whose temps actually go below 50 degrees F, but, when it drops below 73 in the house here, I freeze and I want heat.  {can you hear the spoiled whine?}

So, I was explaining how I was constantly running back and forth to the thermostat.  On, off, on, off, which seemed like every five minutes, but was probably closer to every hour or so.  I was mentioning this while sitting outside enjoying the nice day at Miguel's Mexican Restaurant (yes, it doesn't make any sense to be talking about heat problems while being able to sit outside in comfort, but it does get a bit nippy in the evenings).  I was enjoying a refreshing margarita while pounding down the entire Del Jardin Burrito I ordered.  (I couldn't help it, . . . even though it was BIG, well, . . . it really wasn't my fault, . . . it was just sooooooo flavorful, I. could. not. stop.)  But, because I didn't want to embarrass my friend, I did somehow manage to refrain from licking the plate . . . but, . . . just. barely.  If you have never been to this place before, I must say, I can HIGHLY recommend it!  My friend ordered the Fresh Spinach Quesadilla and it was divine!  They really do use the best, the freshest, and most flavorful ingredients.  I look forward to my next visit there!

Now, I know I should be grateful the furnace still worked.  I should be especially grateful I had some motivation to burn off a few calories with the constant getting up and down and going the entire 12 steps over and the entire 12 steps back every time the temp got too far one way or the other.  And, if I am going to be eating the entire extra size portions they put on my plate, I definitely need something to motivate me to move a whole lot more than I do currently!

Yep, there's mercury in those little tubes!
This will be going to the household hazardous waste center!

But, while regaling my friend with the minutia of my household woes, she casually mentioned that I should just replace it myself.  She said her daughter does that kind of thing all the time.

Whoa!  What?  I didn't even think about it before.  I just kinda assumed, you would need a PhD in heatology-furnacology or something like that to tackle that kind of job.  So, when I got home, I googled it.  Yes, I googled.  (Any Confessions of a Shopaholic fans out there?)  And I found this link.

The gentleman in the video made it look sooooooo easy . . . I figured that even I could do it.  So, the next day, off to the big box store I go.  Wow!  I discovered a whole new world of temperature control.  Do you know they even have thermostats you can program for every day of the week?  To turn off and on for waking and sleeping hours, for at home and away hours?  Thermostats you can control through your phone or computer?  Of course you did.  I just never thought I could get one of them.  I opted to skip the extra bucks for the ones I can control through my phone or computer, but I did get one I could program for every day of the week!  Yay!  A warm home when I get home!  No waiting!

Yikes!  This looks scary, but all I had to worry about was those wires right in the center.

So, then, home I go, thermostat firmly in hand.  

First step, I went out to check to see what size filter I needed for my furnace that I should have done BEFORE I went to the big box store.  Put, the cover back on and went back in the house.

Decided I did not want to tackle the switch so close to the evening, just in case I messed it up and didn't have heat the whole evening/morning (night is ok - I don't like to sleep with the heat on), so I baked flatbread instead.  It's a good thing, too, because it helped to heat the house.  For some reason, the heat would NOT kick on even though I hadn't messed with anything yet!

The next morning, I thought I'd go back out and check to see if I had accidentally put out the pilot light while checking on the filter.  I hadn't wanted to try to check on it in the dark the night before.  Seems some silly blond must not have put the cover back on correctly, because as soon as I replaced it, the heat kicked on.

Emboldened, I decided I would try to move ahead with the installation of the new fully programmable thermostat.

Second step, I flipped the power switch on the fuse box for the furnace to off.  This apparently is a VERY important step if you don't want a new hairstyle and skin color or heart rate.

Third step, take the old cover off, identify and mark the wires that are already hooked up.  Then take the thermostat off the wall.

Fourth step, wrap the ends of the wires around a pencil to keep them from falling back into the wall.  Mine already had a do-hickey on them to prevent that (you can see it if you look closely at the base of the wires - a blue bit of wire or something wrapped around them right where they come out of the wall), but I dutifully wrapped them around a pencil anyway!

Fifth step, paint the wall that will now be exposed because the new unit is much more compact than the previous one!  Do a better job than I did at it though.  (Don't look too closely at the wall . . . I did try to crop the bad bits out of the photos!)  I hate it when I get impatient!

Sixth step, put the wallplate up, make sure it is level and mark the holes with a pencil.

Seventh step, drill a hole in the wall for the screws.  Or, if you are lazy like me and don't want to have to make a trip out to the shed to get the screwdriver, hammer a nail into the spot and then pull it out.  Then, put the wallplate back up and screw it in place.

Eighth, hook the wires back up to the posts as marked and continue on with the instructions that came with the unit you purchased.

Ninth, turn the power back on and hope like hell you did it all correctly.  If not, grab a glass of wine and call the handyman.  However, . . . . if you did do it correctly, you get to go eat some more flatbread, put your feet up and brag it about it on your blog!  So, . . . here I am! ! ! !  Bragging!  Thanks, Ms. M! ! ! ! ! {giggling and waving at Ms. M}

{Insert pic of me doing happy dance!  I probably saved 
myself a fairly good chunk of change for this little project.}

Ok, well, I know this wasn't the most fascinating post ever, but, I guess, I'd better get back to taking care of other business around this place . . . I mean, it's not like I don't have a ton of things to do!  And, I don't want to permanently stretch my arm out too much with all that back patting and all.  Especially over a project that really wasn't a bit difficult.  In fact, it's one of the easiest DIY projects to be found around a house.  So, see you around!

Pretty, Pretty Bowls

My friend is getting ready to pack up her house for a big move and she had a few things she didn't want to take along.  So she gave me these sweet little bowls.  Her parents got them in a trade with a family in Germany sometime in the mid-late 40's or early 50's.  I just love them!  They look so sweet and spring-y!  (Thank you, my friend! ! ! ! )  I have been searching online for information on them.

So far, I haven't had as much luck as I had hoped.  Although, I am very much leaning towards believing they are from the von Schierholz factory in Germany, which has been producing porcelain since 1817 in the town of Plaue in Thuringia.  I did find a bowl online that is very, very similar to the ones she gave me.  The makers marks are very close, but not quite the same.

This is the one I found on the internet (it has fewer flowers around the rim than mine, but otherwise, they appear to be the same):

This is the maker's mark on the back of it:

And, these are the ones I have:

And the mark on the back:

Here is a closer look:

In the lower right corner, there appears to be a 6564 stamped and just below that an 8 and then right where the bottom curves up, there is a small 2.  The other one appears to have the same markings minus the little 2, but the 8 is very faint, even more faint than on this one.

The crown and shield appear to be the same on both the one found on the internet and mine, but mine do not have the name von Shierholz on them, and the "handmalerei" notation (German for hand-painted) is in a different text/font style.  It appears there are many variations on the makers marks for this company based on the number of different ones I found on the web, but none are quite like the one I have.  The one above is the closest I've found so far.

I would love to know when they were made and if they are, in fact, von Schierholz.  One of these days I may take them with me to an antique shop and see if anyone can help me on this.  In the meantime, is there anybody out there who can shed any light on them for me?  I'd really appreciate help you might be able to offer me! 

Thanks for taking a look and for any help you might be able to provide!  Talk to you soon!

Snow, Lunch and Welcome!

We have snow in our back yards, too!  This is a vintage
photo I took several years ago - since the clouds robbed
me of a good view of them for this post!  Sorry for the
washed out quality!  It was just too faded to get all
the richness of color back in it!  But, I did try!

First of all, I would really like to welcome and thank Rosemary over at The Summer Porch for stopping by for a visit and for following my blog!  I scooted over to take a peak at her "Porch" and just loved her photos and blog and quickly signed up as one of her followers.  It looks like we both started our blogs right about the same time!  I know I am looking forward to having a glass of lemonade or sun tea while spending a little more time on her porch and hope you will take a moment to visit with her also!

Secondly, I would like my dear cuz to see that we, too, have snow here in our back yards.  (She was kind enough to share her snow pics from her little 9 acre farm.)  This is just to the north of us.  See the tops of the mountains?  They are being a tiny bit shy and are trying to hide behind all those clouds.  Go ahead, look a little closer.  Ignore all that green stuff in front.  Just there, right above the clouds.  See them?  You can just barely see the very tippy-tops of the mountains and that they are blanketed in a nice thick layer of white, like a fluffy down comforter to snug them all in.  The snow report for our local mountains says they just got an additional 6" of powder on a 2' base.  Mammoth is showing an additional 2" on a 13' base (and they were all the way down to just a measly 11' base just a couple of days ago!).

Ok, here's another shot.  This time we are looking eastward, towards Idyllwild, hidden by the clouds up there at the top of the mountain (on the other side of these mountains, you will find Palm Springs).  Again, just ignore, and look behind, all that green stuff we have on the ground here (you know, you might remember them - grass and leaves and stuff?  :-).  Ju-u-u-ust above the green and ju-u-u-ust below the clouds.  See? The snow level came down very, very low!  Br-r-r-r-r-r-r!

One last shot.  This one is to the west, above the hills behind my friend's house where the clouds are trying to push their way over the hills at the end of the day.  She lives around Corona, and just a short 45 minute drive beyond these hills you will find my house.  The snow rarely falls on these hills, but they got some yesterday!  I know, it is rough, but somehow we manage to struggle through it!

I took these shots from near my friends house today (Sunday - but by the time I will actually get this posted, this should probably say yesterday!).  We have been trying to get together for lunch for the past few weeks, but things just kept getting in the way.  But, today, we finally were able to make it work.

Conventionally grown in the pinkish wrapper at
the top and the organically grown ones in the
whitish wrapper at the bottom!

I started the day with my weekly trip to the Farmer's Market.  The stand I always buy from seems to consistently have the best berries and I somehow was under the impression they were organically grown, but today after I had already purchased my basket I found out that they are conventionally grown.  So, I gathered up some strawberries we could do a taste test on.  I had just bought the conventionally grown berries, so I also searched out and bought a basket of organically grown berries.  I do not know which varieties they were, and I know that would have more to do with taste differences than organic versus conventionally grown, but . . .  I decided I would have my friend help decide which were actually better.  While they were both very, very good, the organically grown ones were unanimously chosen as the winners.  Unfortunately, they are not always available!  But, as long as they are, those will be the ones I purchase from now on!

Then we had mimosas by her pool, just relaxing, fanning ourselves (oops! what I meant was . . .) being fanned by her pool boys, and soaking up some of that lovely sunshine!  Just kidding, cuz . . . while the sun WAS out, it was actually way-y-y-y-y too cold for that!  We actually had to wear our heavy jackets while we took her sweet pooch for his constitutional before we left for our girls day out.  I think it must have been down in the low 50's, maybe even as low as the high 40's, but to us it felt like it was in the 30's!

Our first stop was the theater.  We went to see 127 Hours.  If you don't know anything about it, it is a movie based on a true story about a guy who goes hiking alone without telling anyone where he is going, and of course, disaster strikes.  He falls into a crevice, miles from anywhere/ anyone and out of site of anyone walking/flying around above, and ends up getting his arm pinned between a rock and the canyon wall and after several days and no hope of being rescued, all his water has been drunk and he begins drinking the only other liquid he has available, which he described as being "No slurpee", he frees himself by breaking the bones in his arm and then cutting his arm off.  This is exactly where being so squeamish can be detrimental to movie-going.  There were, needless to say, parts of the movie I could not watch.  


The movie shows the range of emotions he went through and the thoughts and hallucinations that were running through his mind throughout the ordeal.  He handled it with humor, videotaping messages and his goodbyes to his family and friends, with extreme frustration at times (who wouldn't? ? ?) and grace and a level-headed concentration on not losing it.  It really makes you think about the lengths one would go to stay alive.  Could you drink your own urine?  Could you cut your arm off to survive?  Could you do it without bleeding out?  He is a tough guy and is still out there hiking and even climbing, but apparently, he now always leaves a note as to exactly where he is heading!  It was very good and I am glad we went!  Just don't plan on going out for steak and Bloody Mary's afterwards!

My Australian Violets - just because they are
so cute and I love them, even though they are
desperately trying to take over my ENTIRE yard!

After the movie, we stopped back by her place to take Champ out for another little walk.  He is getting up there in years and has a very difficult time, so she has to take him out fairly frequently.  He is such a sweetheart, he is totally worth it!  But, it also gave us a little breather between the movie and lunch so I could get the movie firmly out of my mind before we headed out for our lunch.  

For everyone else, these may be called violas, but growing
 up, we called them violets, so they will forever be violets to me!
They are one of my favorite flowers because they look so sweet!

We had a nice long, leisurely lunch at Macaroni Grill.  But, since all I had eaten for the day prior to that was the strawberries, I was so-o-o hungry by the time we got to the restaurant, I forgot to snap a pic of our delicious lunches!  :-(  Sorry!  We started out splitting a Caesar Salad and snacking on the freshly baked rosemary bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  For my entree, I had the Fettucini Alfredo with a nice glass of Chateau St. Michelle Riesling.  It was just yummy!  My dear friend had the Pasta Milano and the Riesling also.  She says that is her absolute favorite dish there.  She likes it so much she can't quite make herself try anything else!  I know exactly what she means!  Once I find a favorite, I don't want to take a chance on anything else! 

It is like a little mini-vacation to be able to sit, relax, talk, laugh and catch up on all the events in each other's lives.  Good food, good drink and good company!  A day well spent!

So, back to my regular life, one of the things I am working on is this scarf.  I am trying to teach myself to knit from a book.  It is slow going and I am not nearly as comfortable with knitting needles as I am with a crochet hook, but I am hoping it will get easier as I do more of it!  I still can't tell what exactly constitutes a row by just looking at the work!  How lame is that?  :-)  It seems so much easier to identify and count rows in crochet!

Things I am "reading" are Sophie Kinsella's books: Twenties Girl, Remember Me? The Undomesticated Goddess and Can You Keep a Secret?.  Her books are the perfect antidote to stressful days!  My friend introduced me to her through her Shopaholic series.  Love, love, love them!  I would love to get the entire series on CD!  I absolutely love being read to!  I love books on tape (CD) for that reason!  At lunch, I can pop out my ipod and break out the knitting needles and sink back into my seat to be transported to another world for 45 minutes or so!  And, since Sophie usually gets me laughing out loud, I can go back to work feeling a little more refreshed and a bit more able to get through the second half of the day!  If you haven't read her yet, please do!  You'll be glad you did!  I promise!

If you want to test out whether you would like books on tape, you can listen to Miette's Bedtime Stories online for free.  She reads short stories and has rather an eclectic selection from which to choose.  If you have a favorite author, you can check out the listings she has on the right side of her page to see if she has "read" one of their stories and take a listen.


I am also working on a story for this "Dinner Party" game one of my epals told me about.  (Thanks, John!)  I'll share a bit more of that in a future post.  But, it is something that has held my interest for quite some time.  I have thought about it frequently and I am very anxious to do it up right and would like to share it with you someday!  I'm afraid I am going a bit overboard with it, but that is what is making it so much fun for me!

One of the other things I am working on is painting the inside of my house.  I tackle one room at a time.  This long holiday weekend, I am painting the bathroom.  Why does it always, always, always take so much longer than I think it will?  But, I have to admit, it is turning out to be so totally worth all the hard work!  I am really loving the way everything is beginning to look!  This project is long overdue!  I only have the living room, dining room, laundry area and all the closets to go!  Then I get to start decorating! ! !  Yayyyy!  One of these days, once I have everything done and all back in order, I may try to share some pics, but that is going to be way, way, way down the road yet!  I am sooooo slow!

While doing a little surfing, I happened to run across this article, and it piqued my curiosity, so I googled the Wagon Teamster's blog.  It is a fascinating read and I thought you might enjoy it, so I am sharing the link.

Before I go, since this post is a little short on pics, I thought I'd share a pic of the blossoms on the new peach tree I told you about in one of my previous posts.  Aren't they adorable!  I was surprised to see they have no scent!  At least, not that I can detect!  My mother has the nose of a bloodhound, so she might be able to detect something there, but I sure can't!  My lemon trees and orange tree are another matter.  The lemon trees are loaded with blossoms about to open, any day now!  Soon the air will be perfumed with their scent.  It is so intoxicating, I wish they had scratch and sniff screens so I could share it with you when they do finally open up!  It is so difficult for one pair of lungs to sniff up the whole thing alone!

And a shot of the grape hyacinths that have popped up in the last week or two.  The paperwhites have already come and gone without me documenting their existence this time around, but they'll be back! 

And finally, a shot of the orchid I bought a few weeks ago paired with a maidenhair fern.  I also recently purchased some air plants.  I still haven't decided what to do with them just yet, but will figure out something soon, I'm sure!

So, what are you working on, reading, creating?  Let me know!  See you next time!  TTFN!

Dragon Fruit!

Remember my post a while back about missing the bloom on my dragon fruit cactus?  And how I wasn't going to miss out on the actual fruit this time to those ever pesky, naughty-naughty, nasty little ants?  Well . . . . this time, I won!  

I kept an ever watchful eye on it and it finally ripened up . . . and this time I got to the ripe, juicy dragon fruit before the ants did!  So, I am sharing the bounty to prove I did it!  The red fruit is about the size of a softball.  It tastes a little like kiwi, but not as sweet.

BTW . . . . the yellow stuff is mango . . . not grown by me, but part of my afternoon snack today anyway!  Which I shared with others!  I didn't eat all that stuff all by myself!  ;-)  The mango was not quite ripe and was a little tart and not nearly as sweet as I was hoping!  Darn!

My friend wants to give me another dragon fruit cactus that is of a different color (and maybe a little different flavor . . .  maybe? ? ? ).  I think she said the inside is yellow.  I'm anxious to try it, but I asked to wait until I get my garden squared away this next summer so I can figure out where to put both of them!  They can get quite big and take a lot of room and need a strong support.  The one I have is still in a temporary pot/location while I work on finalizing my garden beds.  Once everything is in place, I can see what spaces I have available.  Yayyy!

Stay tuned!

Peter Pan

Peter Pan at South Coast Performing Arts Center

Please, do yourself a favor and go see this play (take a quick peek at the video link above).  I saw it with a friend this weekend and it was fabulous! They are starting to blur the lines between film and theater with this one.  It was held in a tent that seats just over 1300 people, with part of the tent, an area equivalent to the size of 3 IMAX theaters, serving as a 360 degree screen on which the background was projected.  There are 12 projectors each responsible for 30 degrees of the scene.  They blended some amazing CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) with the action on the stage, or, in this case, over the stage!    :-)    They were able to have 5 people in the air at a time and it all combined to make you believe they were really flying, or swimming, depending on the scene.  The photos here have been taken from the Peter Pan Souvenir Program I purchased as they do not allow any photography, which I understand, but am sad I couldn't share some of the best parts of the show.  (Copyright to all photos in this particular post belong to them.)  Actually, you would need video to really capture the amazing effects they were able to create, again, check out the link to the video promotion above.  You actually felt as if you were flying or swimming right along with them.

Bottom is the round stage, the dark band above it is the audience and
the blue, underwater scene above is a 360 degree underwater computer
generated image that you "move" through with the action in the play.

It began it's run a little over a year ago, summer of 2009, in London and arrived here from San Francisco.  It is currently playing in Costa Mesa at the South Coast Performing Arts Center and will be traveling on to Atlanta and Chicago after the beginning of the new year.

My friend and I started the day with a "tour" called Into Neverland given by Ian Street, who played Curly, one of the Lost Boys from the play, and another member of the crew and I deeply regret that I cannot recall his name.  They were both extremely personable, informative and entertaining. They provided a lot of behind the scenes information.  I would strongly suggest you take advantage of this presentation if you possibly can.  It really added to the whole experience.  They provided a wealth of information regarding the history, statistics and inside stories that helped make a great play even more enjoyable.  Ian also shared that the crew had created an alternative Peter Pan "horror" show and posted it on YouTube.

Curly is the cute blond, second from the left.

We had about an hour between the "tour" and the time the play actually started, so we grabbed a cup of hot cocoa while we waited and just chatted away until it was time to head into the tent for the performance.

It would be extraordinarily difficult to describe the wonderful job they did with the CGI.  When the children were flying away from their home, you were flying right along with them over the city, between the spans on the bridges, past great domed buildings and right through the clouds.  And when they dove into the sea, you went right down along with them, with soap bubbles rising in the air from the middle of the stage adding even more to the feeling you were under water, as the scenery around you moved you through the sea.  The mermaids were breathtaking to watch as they seemingly swam along on fabric that held them suspended above the ocean floor.  No wires holding them up, they totally depended on the strength of the fabric and their own body strength to keep them from falling to the stage.

But, I have to say, my favorite character by far was Tinkerbell, who was superbly played by Emily Yetter for the performance we saw.  What a naughty, feisty, ornery and completely adorable little fairy she was!  She played the part so convincingly that it was hard to remember it was not a young child we were watching.  Her mannerisms and the faces she made were exactly those of a child.  She threw the most amazing little fits shaking her head with her little cheeks all puffed out, fists waving in the air!  And I was mesmerized by the way they had managed to get lights in her hair and costume.

Peter Pan, the eternal, impish little boy, was played by Nate Fallows and he did a great job with his performance.  During the scene where Tink was dying he explained that in order for her to live, everyone had to softly say they believe in fairies.  I wasn't sure if we were really supposed to be saying it out loud, but I certainly felt that audience participation would have been very much appreciated at that point.  I know I felt very much compelled to join in to save Tink!

Jonathan Hyde did double duty as Mr. Darling and as Captain Hook and he played both parts very well.

The pirates were a fierce bunch, but in the end, were, of course, no match for Peter and the Lost Boys.

The puppets were made of things that one would find in a nursery.  The crocodile was made of coat hangers and, I believe, clothespins.  He had a terribly fierce roar as he is demonstrating in the photo above.  He leaned out over the audience and bellowed out at them.  It is quite understandable that Captain Hook would be so terrified of him.  There was also an ostrich made of among other things, a rugby football and a badminton shuttlecock.  He was so cute, I wish I had a picture of him, but you can catch glimpses of him in the promotion video.

And poor old Nana.  Nana was a very convincing and compelling dog.  You almost didn't notice the man behind her giving life to her actions.  When Mr. Darling got upset with her, you could feel her sadness and dismay.  The puppeteer did a fantastic job of bringing her to life while becoming almost "invisible" himself.

All of the cast did a great job and brought everyone to their feet at the end.  It was one of the best performances I have seen in a while.  It was a truly enjoyable and memorable performance.

Have you forgotten the story?  Is it perhaps time for a refresher?  If so, here is a link to DailyLit.com, where you can subscribe for free to this or any of a number of other books.  They deliver portions of the book to your email so you can read it a little at a time.  I think it is time for me to reread it and I have subscribed and read the first 4 installments already.  I hope you revisit this story and enjoy it again!

So . . . tell me, . . . do you believe?