What do I know?

Ralph mentioned that he read the blog from yesterday and that on the flooring test, the marinara sauce doesn't look like marinara sauce. People, work with me! It's a restaurant. We don't keep the cats there. It was definitely marinara sauce; ask Deborah, she put it there. As for Ralph, he obviously spends too much time around the litter boxes. And I, for one, am not complaining about it!

I worked all day yesterday in the zen garden and on other outdoor cleaning projects. Got a lot accomplished. When I go out there, I dress in my oldest and ugliest clothes, put on a scarf to keep the bugs out of my hair, and wear sunglasses to create some aspect of anonymity. Not so sure that works. My neighbors always see me in this get-up, so I'm sure they know it's me.

  

Anyway, I was out there working diligently. I just sneezed, my pants were hanging off my hips, and I'm sure I looked relatively scary when the guy who does the work on the community property pulled up on his stand up tractor. He introduced himself as Kip. I see him all the time. He wears sunglasses, ear protectors, and this very clever pointed bamboo hat. I thought he was Oriental or Hispanic. What do I know from afar? He's neither. I figured he came to mow my lawn.

No, he came to chat. As I said, what do I know? He told me he's been around for a long time doing the grounds. Actually, I never realized it was the same guy. I thought it was several different Orientals or Hispanics. Whatever. As I said, what do I know?

He told me how he watched the progression through the years of my pool deck and how much he really likes the pavers. We discussed that for awhile. Then, my right nares started to drip. Since I sneezed before his arrival and had no opportunity to go to the garage to get a tissue, I had to quietly sniff. He kept talking. The sniffing wasn't working too well. He continued talking, turned his head, and I frantically wondered if I could quickly wipe my nose on my shirt. UGH! How gross! The moment passed and he turned to face me. I kept thinking this conversation is never going to end. My nose is soon going to be running down my face. I desperately wondered if he noticed anything. He asked if I saw my neighbor, Harold, lately. It just went on and on.

  

He left. I was relieved. Then he turned and came back. He said, "Every time I think of Harold, I think of 'Harold, turn up the mic.'"  I never noticed that Harold wore hearing aids or that he was hard of hearing. While I was thinking that, Kip said, "You know, from Woodstock." I laughed and said, "Oh yea!" And waved him on his way.

OMG, no, I don't remember that from Woodstock. All I remember is the nudity, rolling in the mud, smoking weed, and general chaos. I know this from the news, not from personal experience. Or perhaps Deborah told me; I think she was there. She likes that sort of stuff...talking music, here. There was lots of music, and among the few things I know, I know she likes music.

As I said, what do I know? Well, one thing I know is that pants hanging around the hips is neither sexy, comfortable, nor attractive. It's gross and disgusting. Too bad all those kids walking around looking like jail birds don't know it too. Right, they do know, they just don't care. I know that. Oh, and I also know that for the number of times a day I sneeze, I should always carry a tissue in my pocket. And I also know I will never wipe my nose on my shirt. How about you?

  

Everyone hates change

Carmella's Casa Italiana is attracting new and loyal customers from our small business ads on http://craigslist.org. Welcome to all the new faces and thank you so much for the gracious compliments on our menu and service.

Lots of new things are in the works at the Casa. We're planning to have new flooring installed and to paint. We made a decision on the flooring, but it's back to the drawing boards on the paint. I selected a pale green that I originally wanted for my home. Green goes really well with brick, and the front of my house is brick. There is that brick paneling at the restaurant, so that's why I thought of green.

That being said, we have those beautiful murals, and the green goes well with the brick but not so much with the murals. One of our customers mentioned that staying in the green family of colors would be too much green. That makes sense. So, feel free to stop by, order pizza or pasta, and help us make a decision! Doug was a great help 5 years ago when we picked the yellow that I currently want to change. Change is good, right?!?! Admit it, everyone hates change!

John, from Manasota Flooring, assured us this product is durable, stain proof, water proof, and so on and so forth. We felt compelled to test the product, so that's marinara on the flooring in the top picture. The bottom picture is after the clean up; and as you can see, there's no stain! This color is going to go great with the black tables. Besides agonizing over the paint color, we're also agonizing over new table cloths. I sent away for several table cloth swatches and encouraged Deborah to do the same. She's the creative one, so I depend on her to pull it all together! And of course, we're also processing all the input from our loyal customers!

I received the yearly dreaded email from the President of the Homeowner's Association about work that needs to be done outside around the house. I already mentioned that incentive to work in my zen garden flew out the window when the thief stole my plants, yard ornaments, shepherd's hook, and other plant hangers. Last weekend, I overcame my apathy and worked in the garden. I'm happy to report the President is mollified and I can carry on with other things. Well, I'd rather go biking, but there are a few other projects to work on, so I guess for now I'll forego fun in favor of beautifying my residence. What I should do is work on homeland security. For crying out loud, they can kill the terrorists Moammar Gadhafi and Bin Ladin but Sarasota's finest can't catch the yard thief. UGH, I must put this to rest!

In case you can't tell, the top picture is before and the bottom is after. I know, the grass looks like crap. I'll have to be more consistent with the fertilizer, or something. I guess I'm still not totally ready to hang up my gardening hat!

Don't be so sure

There was an amazing moon on Tuesday morning, but by the time I saw it, I wasn't in an area where I could pull over to take a picture. When I arrived at MMH, I couldn't find it. I think it was sitting too low in the sky to be seen from the hospital. I got the moon at apogee on Wednesday morning and the moon again on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, I missed the full moon on Wednesday night. I must be slipping.

The sunrises are so late now and it's been so cloudy, I don't even have any sunrise pictures. Had I known when I was a kid that the moon, sun, planets, and constellations would hold such fascination for me, I would have paid more attention in class when we were learning these things. I remember the earth revolves around the sun creating the change in seasons (not so much if you live in Florida! *LOL*) and the rotation of the earth on its axis causes day and night. And of course the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Give me a gold star!

It's all about the stars!

 

               October 12, 2011-Moon at Apogee              October 13, 2011

I also remember that when Ralph was in fourth grade, his teacher marked his answer wrong for the definition of latitude. I was not armed with any research when I went to school to ask her to fix his grade. I figured she made an honest mistake. Turned out she didn't know the definition of latitude and she refused to be convinced that I was right and she was wrong. Since she was teaching the class, I'm surprised Ralph knew, and still knows, the correct answer. I probably helped him with his homework at that time. I wonder if she ever realized her error. If you don't know the answer and you've been having sleepless nights over this, the answer is at the end. And no, I didn't 'just Google it,' I know the definition, unlike Ralph's teacher! Geesh, where was Google back then when I needed it?!?!? If she wouldn't believe me, perhaps she would have believed Google...but as I already documented, there are many mistakes in Google...I'm doomed!

I'm happy to report that the restaurant sponsored a blood drive with the Suncoast Community Blood Bank on Friday from 4:30 -7:30 pm. Extending gratitude and many thanks to the all the donors who showed up for the cause. Donating blood saves lives and all blood types are needed. I'm usually wiped out the night of and the day after giving blood, but I don't let that stop me. Donating blood is just another one of my many obsessions, what can I say?!?!

 

                   We're still on the marquee!       Tim, one of our cooks, on his way to donate!

As always, clicking on each picture will make it bigger and easier to see and discern what's going on. Ralph questioned me earlier in the week about the pictures in the previous blog. I asked him if he saw the notation below the picture and if he followed the directions. Yes, he saw it, and no he did not follow the directions. Then he said, "I thought you took those pictures from an airplane."

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus, and no, Ralph, I really don't go riding my bike when I say I'm off for a 20 mile cruise. I really bike up to the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport where I keep my small single engine plane in a rented hangar. I take out the plane and when I reach an altitude of 5000 feet, I go joy riding over The Meadows. When I see an alligator sunning itself on the bank of the lake or resting in the shallow end, I whip out my Sony Cypershot and have a Kodak moment. People, and Ralph, click the pic!

OK, lines of latitude run east and west and measure distance north and south. Lines of longitude run north and south and measure distance east and west. So, when your kids ask why do they have to learn this stuff that they'll never use again, all you have to say is, "Don't be so sure." Now, sleep tight!

Nothing's ever 'done'

Sounded like we got a lot of much needed rain last night. The pool level is good, and the pool is turning greenish yellow. Guess I better get on that. If Beaver, aka James Logan, lived closer, he would help me. He's owner of Sunbeam Pools in New Port Richey, Florida. The surrounding lake levels are up to speed. My zen garden is thriving, except for the Angel's Trumpet plant. It looks like there might be another caterpillar in there eating the leaves. I can't find it, but they are cagey little creatures and they like to hide from the naked eye and the eyes with glasses.

The caterpillar I saw was much smaller. This must be the grand daddy of them all!

I put in my retainers last night secure in the knowledge that they are bacteria free thanks to the Efferdent. Then this morning, I filled an Oikos Greek yogurt cup half full with very warm water, dropped in the Efferdent table, and placed the retainers in the resulting effervescence. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a......Sorry, that's Alka Seltzer, which I thought about using but decided Efferdent would be the better choice since Alka Seltzer, to my knowledge, is not designed to clean retainers. No muss, no fuss.

Fat chance! Is anything no muss no fuss with me? I obsess over everything and form these strong attachments to my clothing and other things. So, of course, I still have my retainers from 1988. And of course, I was compelled to place them in the Efferdent. No, they didn't come out as nicely as my current retainers, but those are different and only two years old.

After all that, I had to mourn over my 1988 teeth. I expected that my teeth would be brought back to their former 1988 shape with the repeat braces. Not so. They have an acceptable shape now, and I didn't wait until they reverted to their former state of 1986 crookedness, which was very disturbing and bothered me for years. Had I known they would have a new shape, I might have opted for new retainers to stop the movement instead of almost two years of silver. Whatever! What's done is done, right? We'll see.

To add to the Efferdent fun, when Ralph saw the box of 240 tablets on Saturday morning, he asked if I was getting dentures, as though dentures are something we go to the store and purchase off the shelf like a box of Cheerios or a bag of Doritos. I'm not sure that someone with my teeth obsession would ever need dentures, but last night as I was brushing and flossing my teeth before bed, I thought how cool would it be if I could drop my teeth into the Efferdent like the retainers and just call it a night. Then it dawned on me, I might be calling it a night, but I would also be calling my teeth dentures. OK, enough of that!

Another obsession of mine is with my furniture. When I relocated to Florida in 1988, the same morning my braces were removed, I brought my living room furniture with me. That was the furniture that I replaced a few weeks ago. I still had the recliner because I wanted to sell it on craigslist.org. The recliner was almost like new and still has many years of use to it. Ralph had a stronger attachment to it than I did, but I wanted to sell it anyway. It finally sold to a lovely couple and they picked it up yesterday. I was sad to see it go and sadder that Ralph was here to witness it tied in the back of the truck going off to its new home. Life goes on...

Bye recliner, we'll miss you. You served us well through the years.

And on...A new Carmella's Casa Italiana Facebook friend informed me that I set up a profile page for the restaurant instead of a business page, which violates Facebook rules and regulations. (Now I'll be obsessed with looking out for the Facebook police!) He has a business of setting up business Facebook pages and offered to help. There's always a fee involved and since we're in the red, I can't justify another expense. I'm muddling through on my own. If you see the page, please 'Like' it. There's something there in the column on the left in the Carmella's Casa Italiana profile, but I don't think it's finished. I tried to do it from the iPad but the going was rough. It will have to wait until I get on my desk top, since the laptop is still down. Many thanks to my new friend who so graciously pointed out the error of my ways.

It's raining again, just as I was getting ready to go outside and hose off the litter boxes. What a pity. Guess I'll have to find something else to do, which will be easy. When you work full time, take call, and run a small family business, there's always something to do, like Jury Duty in Tampa. What's up with that? I live in Sarasota and work in Bradenton. Received my summons yesterday. Nothing is ever 'done.'

Right. I don't see myself among the chosen 12 either.

iPad and Efferdent

I'm on call and this is a great weekend to be on call since it's too windy to ride and there is the threat of much needed rain. Plus, my new iPad came and I'm trying to learn my way around using it. I paired my new keyboard, thus I'm creating this blog on the iPad. (Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.) My laptop bit the dust for the second time earlier in the week and so far I have been unsuccessful in getting it to boot up. Oh well, if I find a reliable computer tech, I'll have it repaired. Lucky for me I backed up all my info before this latest crap out.

No one stopped over for me to restore their headlights. Could be no one needs this service or it could be that most people don't obsess over such things. Well, Beaver did his headlights the same weekend that I did mine, so at least one person does. I considered trading in the Rav4 because the headlights were so ugly looking. It's a keeper now!

For some reason, I had on my glasses the other night when I was in the bathroom getting ready to put in my retainers. Yes, retainers. Two stints with braces over 20 years, so this time I wear the retainers. OMG! I could have fainted when I saw the retainers. Talk about obsessing, there was no way I was putting them in my mouth. Not looking at them with glasses in place disguises a lot. I won't go into the details, but today I picked up Efferdent. 240 tablets of Efferdent. I wear the retainers once a week, so that's one tablet a week. So I have 240 weeks worth of these effervescent tablets, or 4.6 years. If you need some, stop over. I'll gladly share some with you. I don't know why the staff at the orthodontist's office didn't tell me about this product. It says right on the box that it's for retainers. Brushing with a toothbrush and toothpaste does not get them clean by any stretch of the imagination. People, if you or your kids wear retainers, make life simple and sanitary and buy the Efferent, or come and get some from me.

I've taken quite a few 18-20 miles bike rides and I've made several new friends. Below are some pictures that I think you will enjoy of my new friends. The first little buddy was stretched out in the shallow part of the lake. When I dismounted my bike to go back and take his picture, he swam off and came back letting me get this head shot. Until he winked at me and lazily walked off, I thought the second guy was a rubber replica and that someone was playing a trick on me. You think that's unusual, last month I thought that the baby fox stretched out in the street leading to the Tabernacle was a dead palm frond.

 

Please click on each picture to get a better view.

I saw some sun rises and moon rises. Helped save a few lives. My plumaria in the front zen garden is blooming. And my restaurant fed the starving masses. 

 

 

I hope it all continues. Life is good. 

Google brings comeuppance

On Sunday, Ralph and I had our traditional yummy and fabulous breakfast of Finnish Pancakes. It’s been a family tradition for over a year now. The last few Sundays, we each said it was the best ever! Safe to say that I have finally mastered the recipe that I tweaked. Sunday was also our first day of opening the restaurant on Sundays. Hopefully the word spreads quickly.

Finnish Pancake served with honey, sliced peaches, and whipped cream!

Speaking of family traditions, my cousin Jackie hosted the 4^th Annual Sperlunto Family Reunion at her house in Plymouth Meeting, PA on Saturday, September 24. My mother and both my sisters went. A wonderful time was had by all and I’m sorry I missed it. Deb and I can’t be away from the restaurant at the same time, and since I went the last two years, it was definitely her turn to go.

While she was there, my Connecticut sister read an article in the Philadelphia paper about the last episode of All My Children (AMC). If all you avid fans remember, that episode aired on Friday, September 23. Hope I’m not sending you into tears and withdrawal by broaching the subject. In any event, my sister said that in the newspaper article, it mentioned that in the final episode Erica “got her comeuppance.” As she was telling me this, my sister added, “Whatever that means!” 

Well, I know what it means. Comeuppance means that someone got what they deserve. But I felt it also carries another connotation, another je ne sais quo that I couldn’t convey or put my finger on so to speak, so I Googled it.

Yes, the word Google has moved from being not only a noun but also a verb. With the advent of the world wide web, you know, the information super-highway, comes a veritable wealth of information, not all of it accurate. We must "Google" to find it. Remember that: not all of it is accurate.

When I Googled ‘comeuppance’, this is what I found:

1.            A punishment or retribution that one deserves; one's just deserts: "It's a chance to strike back at the critical brotherhood and give each his comeuppance for ...
2.  ˌ   kʌmˈʌp əns/ Show Spelled[kuhm-uhp-uh ns] Show IPA. noun Informal. deserved reward or just deserts, usually unpleasant: He finally got his comeuppance ...
3.      comeuppance n. A punishment or retribution that one deserves; one's just deserts: 'It's a chance to strike back at the critical brotherhood and give.
4.      See comeuppance in American Heritage Dictionary 4. noun. A punishment or retribution that one deserves; one's just deserts: “It's a chance to strike back at the ...
5.      Definition of comeuppance , meaning of comeuppance , Comeuppance - 1 deserts, comeuppance, comeupance an outcome that is well deserved. 

There were more entries, but this is enough to prove my point.

OK. Do you see the common mistake? It was repeated over and over, so much so, that I began to doubt myself. (Praying, God, please don’t let me doubt myself!)

You’ll remember that a few weeks ago I blogged about Blue Bell ice cream I bought, flavor Dessert Trio. Ralph had some, and the next day he told me how “Three Deserts” was now his favorite ice cream. I teased him, asked if that was desert as in the Mohave Desert, and went on to say in the blog that although he doesn’t talk much, sometimes he’s a hoot. (As an aside, Ralph wasn’t very happy about my comment.)

So, the moral of the story is, be careful with the information that  you Google. Make sure it’s accurate. Oh, I never did discover the other element of comeuppance that I couldn't quite define.

On another note, it seems the more information that is available to us, the less we know. It used to be that it was acceptable to say to someone regarding a question for which we didn’t have the answer, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you.”

Not so much anymore. Whenever I ask questions and  the person doesn’t know the answer, all I hear is “I don't know, Google it.”

The last time someone said, "I don't know, Google it" to me, I responded, "Kiss my a--."

The startled reply was, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Innocently, I said, “I don’t know, Google It."

Hmmmm, sounds like comeuppance and just desserts to me, or is it deserts?

As seen on TV

We finished strong in the restaurant in what started out as a slow week. Thank you so much to all our loyal customers who brought in many first timers! Could this be the year that we move out of the red and into the black? Well, working hard has nothing to do with it because we've been consistent with that. It's going to depend on you. So, come on in. Check out our new menu, outstanding food, and friendly service. Coming soon will be our new look! So, don't miss out and go find out what you're been missing. See you soon!

I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond on Saturday for some things for the restaurant. When I went to check out, I couldn't decide if I wanted to wait in line behind a senior who looked like she had a major project going on or behind a young woman with an overflowing cart. I picked the young woman with the overflowing cart. I figured this line would move faster, and I was right. After all, there's only so much time I can devote to meditation, butt squeezes, Kegel exercises, and life review in a given day.

Bed, Bath and Beyond is no different than any other store. They have displays at the check out counters to encourage impulse buying. Typically, I resist these ploys. Easy to resist at Albertson's where all the chewing gum and candy bars are displayed. (Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not big on candy bars and I hate gum.) Not so easy at Bed, Bath and Beyond. There to my left was this product screaming my name: Auto Headlight Restorer Kit. Years ago I used Industrial Strength Cleaning Wipes on my headlight lenses to remove love bugs. Those wipes were not meant for use on plastic, so the lenses were scratched and dulled and looked ever so ugly.

Sam's Club offers to restore the lenses for $35.00, but the one time I questioned a Sam's employee about it, he didn't say anything magical to make me want to part with $35.00, so I didn't do it. This product cost $9.99. I had nothing to lose, so I bought it. If it didn't work, I figured I'd return it and get a refund. The box said "As seen on TV", which is not exactly a selling point for me since I didn't see it on TV and also that it takes 30 seconds. I didn't see the 30 seconds until after I completed the project. 30 seconds would definitely be a selling point.

To make a long story short, it worked like a charm. So much so, that I'm really sorry I didn't think to take before and after pictures. It took longer than 30 seconds, but it was worth it. It wasn't arduous to apply, so I also did Ralph's headlights. His lenses must have a different problem, because his didn't come out as great as mine.

 

After Lens Restorer

I don't often do product endorsements, but if your headlights are dull and scratched and you hate how they look, you will definitely love this product. If you don't want to spend the money, come on over and I'll do it for you. I have a lot left in the bottles!