What's for dinner tonight?

It's a lovely sunny day. Not particularly warm (it's only in the low 50's), and super windy, but it just FEELS like spaghetti!

A few months ago I switched from ground beef in the sauce to ground sausage. It really makes a substantial difference in flavor. I use the store brand mild italian sausage, but any kind will do. If you want to spice it up, go for it!  The main difference I see with using sausage is that it takes a lot longer to brown it. Sausage also does not crumble the same way ground beef does. You get a work out with the spatula chopping and chopping it into smaller bits as it cooks. It also makes more grease, so be sure to drain it well.

Maybe I should cook it on the bottom of this laptop (I mean countertop!!).

The second swap we made a while back is trading out garlic bread for garlic toast, also known as Texas Toast (Hi Bunny!).  I think it just gets a bit crunchier, which enhances the flavor.

For the sauce I prefer Prego. I know some people have stocked up on Ragu after the Jewel Your Bucks sale, but we just prefer Prego here. I like the traditional flavor (I'm not a fan of mushrooms, onions, green peppers or anything crunchy in the sauce).

What? No photos of it? Seriously, this is spaghetti. I trust you know what it looks like!

Ok fine. Here's a photo of bulk sausage.

Dinner will be ready at 6:30pm. Who's coming?

So why are you here, anyway?

I have a little, free widgit on my site which tells me where people come from that visit me. I get all of about 20 visitors per day (I think most of them are my mom and David from church --hi David!). Oh, and the president of Eli cheesecake came by last week to say hi. I thought maybe I'd get a cheesecake coupon or something, but that's ok. They were still good.

The coolest thing about this little widgit I have is that when people arrive from Google, it tells me the search terms that brought them here. Do you know the two most common search terms that bring people here are:

Organic apple tree spray

and

egg-shaped lip balm.

Sort of funny, really, since the egg shaped lip balm was pretty much a bust for me, and the apple tree spray ended up being useless due to the poor weather, and well, the blight.

I often wonder who reads what I write, and why they read it. Someone once said blogging is an exercise in meglomania...only You think You have something interesting to say.

I don't make any money on this blog. Those Amazon links over there on the right...don't worry. No one ever clicks on them. I just thought it would be cool to load this widgit, and after about ten attempts, I actually got it to work. It makes my blog look cool, don't ya think? About those Google Ad Sense ads--they crack me up. I post about ADT ripping people off and ADT ads fill my blog. Got problems with your HP laptop? Low and behold, all my ads are now for HP. Funny, isn't it? Say, her laptop practically caught the kitchen on fire. I'd better buy one, quick.

Anyhow, to those who are here looking for lip balm, sorry that one didn't work out for you. The giveaway was a year ago. And to those looking for organic apple tree spray, I say rock on. Fight the good fight. If you find something that works, let me know. I might just post it here in my little old corner of suburbia.

Dear HP: Why is your laptop so damn hot?

Seriously, one day you are going to burn my house down or melt my Corian countertops. God only know I cannot use your laptop on my actual LAP since it is too hot to hold. I've resorted to having to use on a ventilated trivet on my kitchen counter.


Oh, I've read your battery fire recall notices...guess what? They never seem to refer to MY model. So I'm mad. No, I'm BURNING mad. You tell me why it is that you used to be able to make a laptop that was compatible with the human lap but no more?


And just in case you're wondering, I'm using it on Balanced Power because anything lower or slower makes it run like a snail.


And just so all the free Internet (except China) world can see, I've documented just what kinds of temperatures this baby can hit in normal use. I started with the laptop in sleep mode, and took a photo every few minutes until it hit its max temperature of 117F!


Please, Mr. HP Pavillion Laptop President, come tell me how this is normal? I'm waiting.

Sitting on a trivet because it's so hot I actually think it would melt the countertop. It's in sleep mode right now.

Battery is on Balanced Performance

Within 3 minutes it's jumped 10 degrees F

Within 20 minutes we clock in at 115F.

And in the 5 minutes it took me to type this blog post, you've reached a new record:

Would you want this on your lap? It's a moot question; you could not STAND to have this  thing on your LAP?

Better make that 117.1F

Make that 118.2F.  I'm shutting off the laptop now.

Crap!

Couponers hit Nightline

Jill Cataldo is on the couponerswanted.com website I read. Fun to see her on TV.

Ok, I know it isn't Christmas, but I love this

Left Brain Grocery List

Hve you all heard this hilarious comedy sketch from comedian Jeanne Robertson? Trust me, it is worth it. You may never send your husband to the grocery store again.

Easter baking? Sugar on sale at Jewel starting Thursday

Nice find from ErinIL at couponerwanted.com!

Starting this Thursday 4lb bags of Jewel brand sugar will be on sale for $1.88 each (regularly $2.58 each) (and to think I literally bought one on Saturday--just my luck). Add to this the current Jewel Your Bucks promotion of $1 back on every two bags of Jewel brand sugar.

2 x $1.88 = $3.76
- $1 Your Bucks coupon
= $2.76, or $1.38 per bag, which is a pretty sweet deal on sugar.