Grannymar

So how many times do I mention the V word this week……?

To keep a burn from blistering, spray with or steep in vinegar.

When you buy chips/French Fries from your local take away do you ask for salt and vinegar with them?  They might be tasty, but I wonder what it does for your stomach since salt and vinegar make a really good copper cleaner.

Do kitchen stools slip or slide on your tiled floor?  Try putting rubber ferrels or tips from crutches on bottom of legs.

Are cooking odours a problem. I have mentioned before to light a candle while cooking, but if you do not have one try boiling a hand full of cloves in water for 30 minutes. All odours will disappear.

We had a debate the other week about slicing onions under water.  Nancy if the bath is in use, I have another idea try freezing the onions before slicing them.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

This phrase has remained etched in my mind since I first heard the ‘Last Lecture’ by Randy Pausch.

The ‘Last Lecture’ was part of a series where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical “final talk”, with a topic such as “what wisdom  or message would you try to leave after you, if you knew it was your last chance?”

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (1960 - 2008) gave this lecture at the university in September 2007.

When I feel I am facing a brick wall I watch the video and each time I discover and learn something new.  This guy was something special.

Only last night I discovered another video of a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon by Professor Randy Pausch to deliver another inspirational speech at the Commencement ceremony in May 2008.  It was not alone inspirational but so full of energy and fun.  If you have not seen them before I highly recommend that you watch them.  They are both quite long so you will need to allow about an hour for each

Elly & George, if you have not seen the second one, go for it on the big screen.

I am sure my regular visitors miss the daily comments from Steph.  Some of you read her blog The Biopsy Report and know that she is travelling a rather difficult road right now.  Following extensive and difficult surgery in Nottingham a few weeks ago she returned home to Dublin and her family.

Unfortunately severe pain continues to be a problem and during the week she had a setback.  In consultation with the medical proffessionals both at home and in Nottingham it was agreed that she should be admitted to hospital in Dublin for further treatment.

I spoke to her hubby on Friday evening and she had returned to hospital that afternoon.  I sent her hugs and good wishes from all who visit Grannymar Gables.

In true Steph style I had a text from the drip her on Saturday to say she was still in A&E with drips going full belt with medication and pain relief.  She was allowed texts but no calls.

Lo and behold; on Sunday afternoon my IM pinged, and it was my brave wired up soldier friend still in A&E longing for a chat with the outside world.  Thoughtful hubby had brought in the laptop for her to play awhile.  I passed on your good wishes and she asked me to thank anyone who had emailed or made contact.

Alas, Steph faces yet another visit to theatre today and I know you will all take time out to think and pray for her as you go about your normal day.

Feel free to leave your messages and wishes here for her, and hubby and I will pass them on.  I will keep you updated as I get news.

Steph, we are all thinking of you and the family at this time.

Big hugs & love xoxoxox

(I have Steph’s permission to publish this information)

Orange, olive and spring onion salad

This serves four people and can make a dainty first course using the orange shells as containers.

5 large oranges

100g black olives

2 spring onions thinly sliced

1 small lettuce if not using the orange shells.

Dressing

1 X 5ml spoon caster sugar

1 X 5ml spoon mustard powder

1 X 5ml spoon lemon juice

5 X 15ml spoons French dressing

1 X 15ml spoon chopped mint

Sprigs of mint to garnish

Peel one orange and cut the tops off the other four, then carefully cut a very thin slice off the bottom to give a flat base and allow the orange to stand without rolling over.  Using a grapefruit knife carefully scoop out the orange flesh trying not to break the segments.  Discard all the membrane and pips.  Mix the orange segments, olives and spring onion slices in a bowl.

Mix the sugar, mustard and lemon juice into the French dressing and pour over the orange mixture.  Just before serving stir in the chopped mint.

Serve on a bed of lettuce or if using the orange shells put them on small plates and spoon in the orange salad.  Garnish with a sprig of mint and serve with crusty bread.

“I wish….” are words we have all uttered at some stage of our lives.  Perhaps it is for something simple like a bar of dark chocolate or an ice cream, a new dress and the pair of the latest high fashion shoes that you saw in a shop window last week or a swish new BMW.

Some wish that christmas or a birthday will come around quickly so they can have the latest LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robotics Toolset, a Wii game, DVD or top notch radio controlled toy or if you are cold like me it might be Foot warmers!

While sitting in an office over a hot PC or laptop, or locked in the boardroom listening to someone droning on endlessly about poor sales figures, accounts diving into the red zone or the latest round of job cuts you may wish to be on a riverbank, fishing, swimming or drifting along in a punt with a cool glass of wine.  You may wish to be on a desert island walking along at the lapping waters edge, or on top of a mountain where the air is so pure it takes your breath away.

Be careful what you wish for.  Sometimes we get so locked into wishing for something that we lose all clear thought of what we are actually wishing for.  There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Each wish has a price and it may cost more than we are actually prepared to pay.

In recent months two examples were brought to our attention in the Media.  Susan Boyle spent years wishing to realise her dream of singing before a large audience.  She did achieve her dream but was not in any way ready to cope with the cost of so doing.

In an interview recently on the radio Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK admitted that he could walk away from the job of Prime Minister and not miss it.  He too had yearned for years to hold that position of high office.

So think well before you wish for something make sure that you are ready to cope with all it involves.

All this because I had a song going through my head all day yesterday!

Do you like my flowers??

This photo appeared on Conrad’s blog the other day.  The post was entitled It All Depends Upon How You Look At It… I tried to be polite with my comment… Well my mother did her best to make a lady out of me!

Had Conrad asked us to give our very first thought on seeing the photo, mine might have been ‘Extreme Constipation’!

The specimen roll of paper above appears to be embossed with hearts.  It was a reminder to me of how this particular product has changed over the years and the uses to which it is put.  Loo paper has almost a status these days.  First off we have one, two and three ply, plain or embossed. I have also come across it coated with Aloe Vera or Shea butter. We have certainly come a long way from cut sheets of newsprint threaded onto string and hung on a nail in an outside privy.

Then we have the more specialist varieties:

The one on the left looks a little rough & as for the one on the right…. well I’m saying nuttin!

I have heard about throwing money down the drain.. but this is taking it a bit far!

The roll above reminds me of a shop in Exchequer Street in Dublin during my childhood days.  The shop was almost opposite the Central Hotel, and I think it was called Waters.  It was an original version of a ‘£Pound’ Shop or ‘2€uro’ Shop as they are down South.  Nancy will tell us what they are called on the other side of the pond.  On fine days boxes and baskets of goods spilled out onto the street to entice the customers to come inside.  Special offers were written on the window in tennis shoe whitener.  The most popular offer (well they had it on all the time) was for seconds in loo paper!

I almost pushed my mother under a moving car one day trying to cross the road in case she decided to save a few bob on this item.  There was no way I would carry a bundle of them home on the bus.  My brothers swore that ’seconds’ meant that they were made from second hand paper that had been washed and re rolled, no matter how many times mammy said they were the end of a run on the rolling machine and unevenly wrapped or cut.

See I am not the only snob!

This final photo of an advertisement takes me back to the days before soft tissue.  The paper was smooth and shiny on the front and rough on the back, not what you would call absorbent.  It came on a roll or loose interleaved sheets in a box.  500 sheets on the roll for 1s/3d and for a box of 300 interleaved sheets it was 1shilling.

The interleaved sheets bring back another memory from 1959.

We, all eight of us were on holiday in England with my Aunt.  One of my Uncles wrote a letter to us with all his news.  The letter was addressed to all eight of us.  Each time someone was mentioned he drew a picture of that person with their name written on them.  I had a bow on my head and curly hair.  Mammy had an apron on and my brothers had long or short trousers according to their age.

He drew pictures instead of words whenever possible e.g. the ship was a picture of the boat, for the sea he drew waves and we also had the sun, clouds and the birds flying overhead.  It was all written on about six sheets of bronco special.  My uncle died over 40 years ago but the letter is still about.  I gave it to his eldest son a couple of years ago.  Somehow computer graphics will never be the same.

For those who are unaware of the Andrex Adverts:

Two priests decided to go to Hawaii on vacation.

They were determined to make this a real vacation by not wearing anything that would identify them as clergy. As soon as the plane landed they headed for a store and bought some really outrageous shorts, shirts, sandals, sunglasses, etc.

The next morning they went to the beach dressed in their ‘tourist’ garb. They were sitting on beach chairs, enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a ‘drop dead gorgeous’ blonde in a topless bikini came walking straight towards them.. They couldn’t help but stare.

As the blonde passed them she smiled and said

‘Good Morning, Father ~ Good Morning, Father,’ nodding and addressing each of them individually, then she passed on by. They were both stunned. How in the world did she know they were priests? So the next day, they went back to the store and bought even more outrageous outfits.  These were so loud you could hear them before you even saw them!

Once again, in their new attire, they settled down in their chairs to enjoy the sunshine. After a little while, the same gorgeous blonde, wearing a different coloured topless bikini, taking her sweet time, came walking toward them. Again she nodded at each of them, said ‘Good morning, Father ~ Good morning, Father,’ and started to walk away.

One of the priests couldn’t stand it any longer and said, ‘Just a minute, young lady.’

‘Yes, Father?’ She said.

‘We are priests and proud of it, but I have to know, how in the world do you know we are priests, dressed as we are?’

She replied,

‘Father, it’s me, Sister Kathleen.’

Again thanks to whoever sent me this one by email.

How about a Nancy pin-cushion?    Since Nancy only had one bar of soap and needed it in the bath, why not try using steel wool to fill your pin cushion, it will keep needle points sharp.

Wash sweaters inside out and leave them that way until finished ironing.   Place a layer of muslin or an ironing cloth smoothly over the item to be ironed.  For machine washing - use the wool cycle only.

You can use certain fragrances to deter moths. Dried lavender blossoms in cotton bags or Cedar wood blocks hung in wardrobes or placed in drawers will do the trick.

Did you ever try cutting a hot or warm cake? Use a thread or dental floss, hold both ends tightly and lower through slowly.

Does peeling onions make you cry? Peel them submerged in a bowl of water. The ONIONS Nancy, not you!