Popcorn from the Dollar Tree

I don't usually eat popcorn for breakfast, but I've just been to the dollar store (on Bethel). They had microwave popcorn 3 packs for $1.00, so I thought I'd try it. Not bad. I don't think I'd had it since I used to take my work break at the veterinary college lunch room at OSU. My microwave is fairly new so I did 1 min. 35 seconds instead of 1:45. One bag makes 9.5 cups popped which is quite a bit more than I would make from scratch. The company is Pop Weaver, manufactured in Van Buren, IN.

And so I checked and yes, the Weavers have been popping corn for four generations right next door in Indiana. Other products too, plus they'll do private label.  http://weaverpopcornmfg.com/ptest.php?id=4&order=1

I like the Dollar Tree. Prices really are one dollar. I bought 20 Hallmark cards, a 3 pack of Palmolive soap, which I really like and can't usually find, a night light, a scented candle, a bottle of Dial liquid soap, and the popcorn--- for $18.00. There are do-gooders who want to shut these bargain store down because. . . they don't serve nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables. Well, neither do gas stations and shoe stores. https://www.dollartree.com/locations/oh/bethel/7501/

Another bargain

I went out and bought 40 lbs of kitty litter this morning, and in pushing the cart to the cashier I saw a rack of clothing, $10, 50% off.  So of course, I had to stop and look.  I picked up something that looked like floppy yoga pants, but the tag was missing. They were the right size and a nice subtle dark color that I could at least wear around the house. I took them to the register where the clerk had to flag down someone to go check.  She came back with a skirt that was $6.50.  I told her that wasn't what I wanted, but they needed the tag.  They took 50% off the skirt and gave me the pants.

Now the problem is these $2.75 pants are covering my shoes.  Debating whether to just cut off 4" or take the time to hem them.  What would you do?

Pilates in Pink

I stopped at the Half Price book store yesterday and found this exercise DVD for $2.00 with the pink resistance band.  I’m watching it now, and think the warm up exercises for the arms and fingers are well worth the price.  I think this may be slightly different than the $10-15 DVD still available in stores, but I’m enjoying my bargain. Finding a good spot where I can see it from the floor will be challenging.  When I was getting therapy for my shoulder/rotator cuff injury about 15 years ago I had a set of bands.  However, once they develop a tiny hole, it’s all over.

Advent Lutheran Tag Sale

                                 

Love this annual sale!  Spent $6.50 at the Advent Lutheran Church Tag sale. I got "The chocolate Deck" for $.50, not sure what I'll do with it but if I'm ever hungry for Grilled chocolate-stuffed bananas, I'm all set.  Also got 4 CDs, 2 were Phil Dirt and the Dozers, a very popular 50s-60s group in Ohio—when they play at Lakeside, they really pack the house and give a stunning performance. 

TRACK LISTING: Vol. 1
1) Phil Dirt Theme 2) Denise 3) 16 Candles 4) Why Do Fools Fall In Love 5) Silhouettes 6) California Girls 7) Morse Code of Love 8) Ten Commandments of Love 9) Walk Like a Man 10) Papa Oom Mow Mow 11) My Girlfriend 12) Leader of the Pack 13) Dance, Dance, Dance 14) Gloria 15) Only You (skip version) 16) The Lion Sleeps Tonight 17) Hey There Lonely Girl 18) Don't Worry Baby 19) When You Dance 20) God Only Knows 21) No Particular Place 22) Baby Workout 23) Only the Only

TRACK LISTING: Vol. 2
1) What's Your Name 2) Pretty Little Angel Eyes 3) Duke of Earl 4) Little Darlin' 5) Help Me Rhonda 6) Runaround Sue 7) Hurt 8) I Get Around 9) I Knew You When 10) And Your Dreams Come True 11) Mr. Bassman 12) Unchained Melody (Vito & the Salutations version) 13) Teddy Bear 14) Get A Job 15) Smoke Gets In Your Eyes 16) Higher & Higher 17) Twilight Time 18) The Way You Look Tonight 19) Unchained Melody (Righteous Brothers version) 20) Rag Doll 21) Summer of the Century 22) Sh-Boom 23) Marlena

An extra computer mouse for 50 cents,  because you never know. . . And a small table for $3.00 with heart shaped shelves that appears to be hand made--maybe a shop class project. One of the volunteers told me she has one just like it made by her father-in-law, and her husband is 80. We have a small, cheap plastic table at the lake house collapsing from all the books I've put on it, so this will replace it. Mine is stained, but not varnished, but found a sample and a template to make it on the internet.

                                     

Are flares back in style and I missed it?

I bought a pair of light colored (oyster) chino slacks today, hook and button waist, slightly riding low, Merona, nanotex, and although I wasn't surprised at the length, since I usually have to shorten slacks, I was surprised they are flared.

But for $2.99 (I bought them at Marc's a remainder outlet), I won't quibble. Now I'll go hem them.

Gloria Estefan

Another really terrific CD--this one for $2.00 from the library Friends' sale--Gloria Estefan's "Hold me, thrill me, kiss me," a collection of cover tunes, and all very nice. The title song was a 1952 big hit. If I can just find a boom box that plays cds, I'm getting a nice collection of love songs for our anniversary background music.

Gloria's family fled Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba in 1959. Her father was imprisoned while taking part in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was not released until President John F. Kennedy arranged a prisoner exchange. She on the other hand, displeased many Cuban Americans by throwing a $30,000 a head fund raiser for President Obama in April, although she claims to be non-partisan. Well, the marxists, socialists and progressives who people his staff are not, so she has chosen a political philosophy that has torn Cuba apart for 50 years. I think many celebrities and entertainers have a huge guilt complex about their wealth, and believe if they swing left they can shake some of it.

New books on my shelves (or couch)

After exercise class yesterday I stopped at the public library branch and found out the book I'd placed on hold had 9 other holds! Wow. It's called The Checklist Manifesto. It's been getting some buzz--the author was even on the John Stewart show. I'm not a list maker; I resist lists. But as I age, my internal list generator has sputtered. Freakonomics blog agrees. Even those of us who don't like to make lists, will probably like this book. JAMA reviewer wrote: ". . . is beautifully written, engaging and convincingly makes the case for adopting checklists in medicine. . . a direct call to action to change the way health care is delivered."

So while I was there I spent $7.50 at the used book cart--3 books and one genealogy journal. I like my vegetable grilled fresh in a little olive oil--maybe 4 or 5 mixed together. But I bought Sensational Vegetable Recipes anyway. Thought maybe the photos would inspire me. Good quality paper and excellent photographs. Filo vegetable pouches. Cauliflower fritters with tomato relish. Sweet potato muffins. Hmmm.


Then I picked up Taste of Home Annual Recipes 1999. It's always fun to read while watching TV, and I'll probably take it up to our lake house, because it's compact and won't take up much space. Peachy Pork Chops. Turkey Salad for 60. Chocolate-filled Cream Puffs. The calorie police are coming! Watch out.


The third book was Prevention's Ultimate Guide to Women's Health and Wellness. I think this is on the bargain shelf at major book stores now because it's 2002. But this one looks like it's never been opened. Must have seen what the author said about women and smoking! Lots of white space, colored boxes with anecdotes, decent photographs for the exercise section. One doctor says she tells all her patients this: 1) Exercise regularly, 2) maintain a healthful weight, and 3) use exercise to control moodiness. Advice for backs: bend your knees rather than your back--will reduce strain. Another doctor's advice on coughs: 1) try to avoid decongestant nose sprays, 2) use cough suppressants sparingly, 3) don't insist on antibiotics (I'm surprised that there would still be doctors that would give these out on request).

Cross posted on my book blog.

Matching thread for my matchy matchy outfit

The other day I mentioned that I'd bought a 3 piece outfit--slacks, sweater, long sleeve shirt--the shade of infant formula spit up at the Discovery shop for $3.00. At that price, I figured I could wear it to exercise class, washing the car or for swimming in Lake Erie. However, the slacks are a bit too long. So I dug around in my mother's sewing cabinet, through Neno's (my husband's grandmother born in 1887) wooden spools and those from the years when I used to sew. No matches for my matchy matchy bargain. I'll have to check with the neighbors. A new spool of thread would probably cost more than the outfit.

Beautiful chickens

Artistically speaking, poultry are beautiful animals--vibrant colors, distinct breeds, and dumb as a rock for the most part. A number of times I have passed up some great chicken art--I'm mean, unless you have a themed kitchen, what do you do with them? I remember one time I saw a huge collection of magazine or calendar art from Watt Publishing's Poultry Tribune, inside a post binder at a used book store, and unfortunately, passed it up. Another time I saw a very reasonably priced watercolor in a local gallery, but again, passed. Today I was at a tag sale at Advent Lutheran Church. Art is always overpriced at these events, but there it was. . . an original 8 x 10 oil for $1.00. The price seemed right, although I'm sure the artist is a hobbyist. It's on good quality linen canvas, not stretched and poorly framed. It's sort of folk art, with a great deal of attention to the feathers. I just love it. The artist, P. Julian, either had a good grasp of the beauty of chickens or copied a 19th century print. Isn't it beautiful?

This week's bargain--Urbie Green and Umpteen Trombones

Doing jumping jacks in aerobics class can cause heart rate problems for me (born with an extra circuit that causes A-fib), but so can finding a great bargain. But a bargain with trombones! Be still my heart!

Thursday at the Discovery Shop (resale shop for American Cancer Society) I found a CD titled, "Umpteen Trombones" featuring Urbie Green and 20 other trombonists (Kai Winding, Eddie Bert, Wayne Andre, Will Bradley, Bill Elton, Phil Giardina, Mervin Gold, Mickey Gravine, J.J. Johnson, Barry Maur, Lou McGarity, John Messner Jr., Buddy Morrow, Jack Rains, Sonny Russo, Charles Small, Chauncy Welsch, Jimmy Cleveland, Harry Di Vito). I knew nothing about it, but for one dollar, it would have to be very bad or a pirated copy not to be the deal of the month, or year. I bought it and 3 others for a total of $4.00, Regis Philbin (2004), Charlotte Church (1998), and Jack Widner at the Clarmont (local pianist, n.d.). I popped it into my CD player in the van on the way home--and WOW! I thought I'd cry, it was so beautiful. My right hand was trying to do that little slide vibrato movement while I drove, and that's just not safe!

So I needed to find out something about it and turned to Google. Here's the most helpful item I found about Umpteen Trombones after looking through what seemed like dozens of newsletters about jazz and listservs about trombones and prices ranging from $4 to $200:

Rich Woolworth on The Trombone Forum in 2005 wrote: " "Umpteen Trombones," released on CD in 1987, is "Twenty-One Trombones" (Volume 1), originally released in 1967. Several years after Volume 2 was released (1968) Project 3 re-released both as a two-record set. To my knowledge Volume 2 was never released on CD.

Volume 1 is mostly ballads and showcases Urbie's gorgeous tone and tasty style. Volume 2 is nowhere near as good as Volume 1. Volume 2 leans more heavily on pop tunes of the day with a boogaloo beat and novelties ("The Green Bee" is of course a rock version of "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" and was considered for the the theme song to the 1968 TV show "The Green Hornet". It seemed like a perfect match but Al Hirt's version was selected). Volume 2 does have some nice Ellington tunes, and "Timbe" by Tommy Newsome is a study in bell-tones."

At All About Jazz I found a brief bio about Urbie Green and his son Jesse Green:

"[Urban] Urbie Green was born [Aug. 8, 1926] and raised in Mobile, Alabama, and by the time he was sixteen was working professionally with Tommy Reynolds band. There followed music and years with Jan Savitt, Frankie Carle, Gene Krupa, and finally, Woody Herman. In October 1950, Urbie became part of Woody Herman's Thundering Herd, and in 1954 won the Down Beat International Critics Award for NEW STAR.

Urbie became one of the most sought-after trombonists for recording and club work in New York City. He is a multiple winner of the Most Valuable Player Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and perhaps the most recorded musician of all time. He has recorded with Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Leonard Bernstein, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Mile Davis, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Barbara Steisand, Perry Como, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, J.J.Johnson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, Buck Clayton and Herbie Mann, to name a few. . . Urbie Green actually settled in the Poconos and raised a family with his wife Kathy Preston, herself a big-band singer. Pianist Jesse Green is their talented son, and he still calls Delaware Water Gap home. . .Jesse Green dips his toes into the New York scene occasionally, but he spends most of his time teaching piano and trombone out of the home he shares with his wife and three daughters.

So I'm happy.

The Charlotte Church CD turned out to be a Christmas album, but that's OK. The Regis CD wouldn't play in the car, but worked in the office. The Widner CD has some serious issues--a little faint background squeek, and some burps, but I gave it a good rub on my sweater, and it improved a lot. (David Meyers notes that Widner is in the Columbus Senior Hall of Fame, 2003).