Domestic Geek

A little bit ago I was getting myself ready to go to bed since I'm exhausted and I need to get up early to go Thanksgiving shopping with Dad in the morning. It dawned on me that I hadn't made my shopping list yet. D'oh! Fortunately, since I have a Standing Shopping List, it didn't take too long to get it ready, but that could've been a big problem come tomorrow morning if I hadn't gotten it printed out.

With all of the OT I've been putting in this last week and a half, I figured out this afternoon that it's totaled almost a whole extra week's salary. Cool. I decided that because of that it was ok to splurge on the cutest scarecrow decoration I saw at Hobby Lobby today. They had just marked down all their fall decorations to 80% off today, so this item that was priced at $99.99 only cost me $20. It is three stuffed scarecrows with a wheelbarrow. It is absolutely adorable! I'll take a picture tomorrow to share when I have better light. When I got to the register with it, the clerk scolded me for buying it and even joked that she refused to allow me to purchase it. I guess she wanted it and had hidden it behind others so that she could get it after her shift. Well, it was out in the open when I saw it, so someone else must've been looking at it as well.

I just watched a program that I tape every Saturday on PBS called Knit and Crochet Today. There's a style called Tunisian Crochet that I'm interested in trying. Note to self to find out more about it. It takes a special hook and stitches stay on the hook in one pass much like knitting. The pattern the stitches make is more sturdy than crochet, much like knitting.

I wrote almost a year ago that I wished that the Tootsie Roll company would put out packages of only Vanilla Tootsie Rolls.


Well, a voice mail on my phone from my friend Nina (Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!) alerted me to the fact that I have gotten my wish! Target is carrying limited edition bags of Vanilla Tootsie Rolls for only $1.99 each! I picked up two today and will probably grab a couple more later this week. I'm going to be good and ration them, though. Don't want too much of a good thing.

Edit: I just found that you can get the Vanilla Tootsie Rolls at Amazon.com for $2.99 a bag if you want some and can't get them near you.

I've been out looking the past three days for replacement cannisters for my kitchen counter. Why is it that I can't find what I want? I want a simple set, preferably square, not metal, two of them large enough to hold a whole bag of flour and sugar. I'm not asking much, but apparently this style is not popular right now. I'm been to the Container Store, WalMart, Target, Linens 'N' Things, Bed Bath and Beyond. I've even looked on Amazon and Overstock. My next stop is a cooking store out in Littleton sometime next week. If they don't have any, I don't know where else to go. I've even started looking at plastic storage containers that I could put up in the shelves, but I'm not finding anything quite right, either. Grrr.

While wiping down my kitchen counter this evening, I came to the sad realization that I need to purchase new flour/sugar/tea cannisters. They are made of metal and the bottoms have become rusty and are now staining my counters. I've had the same set since my first college apartment, so that must mean I got them in 1986 maybe? I think 21 years for a $20 set of cannisters was a pretty good run. I guess I need to stop at Linens 'N' Things or a similar store sometime soon and procure new ones, preferably glass or ceramic. It's time.

For the record, I love that product CLR. Took the rust stains right out.

Back when I was a music student in college in the late '80s, I was introduced to the most fabulous piece of music software called Finale®. Many of the graduate composition students wrote their scores with it. When I was student teaching, my mentor also had it and used it to write practice drills for her students. It was the top of the line music notation program back then and I'm happy to see that they are still the premier software package available for musicians, composers and music educators today.

It truly is an amazing tool and easy to use. It now includes a lot of sound libraries and you can import music clips, as well. It certainly has come a long was since its early midi playback.

I see that the company that produces it, MakeMusic, Inc., also has a piece of software called SmartMusic®. It's a music practice program, even providing accompaniments for the popular Rubank series. I wish that had been available back when I was studying music. Perhaps I would have taken it more seriously and better a better musician through its use. There's a wonderful tour on their website describing how this program works.

So if you're a professional musician or a student, go check out MakeMusic's site and see these and the other wonderful computer software titles they produce. There are free demos available for download. It's making me want to get back into music again.

NOTE: I think this was a paid post at one point, but I'm leaving it because the software really is awesome!