The ones we lost in 2009

We lost a lot of “famous folks” in 2009. Here's my list of the ones that touched me in one way or another.....some hurt me badly. I get attached to people; even those I've never met. Here we go:

• Sam "Bluzman" Taylor (October 25, 1934 – January 5, 2009) – Blues musician

• Don Galloway (July 27, 1937 – January 8, 2009) – Actor

• Ricardo Montalbán (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) – Actor

• Andrew Wyeth (July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) – Artist
  

  
  
  
  
  
  His painting Christina's World

• Gordon "Whitey" Mitchell (February 22, 1932 – January 17, 2009) – Jazz bassist & Television producer

• Bob May (September 4, 1939 – January 18, 2009) – Actor

• John Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) – Novelist

• Billy Powell (June 3, 1952 – January 28, 2009) – Musician

• Clint Ritchie (August 9, 1938 – January 31, 2009) – Actor

• Dewey Martin (September 30, 1940 – January 31, 2009) – Musician

• Philip Carey (July 15, 1925 – February 6, 2009) – Actor

• Paul Harvey (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) – Radio broadcaster

• Natasha Richardson (May 11, 1963 – March 18, 2009) – Actress

• Dan Seals (February 8, 1948 – March 25, 2009) – Musician

• John Mayhew (27 March 1947 - 26 March 2009) – Musician

• Irving R. Levine (August 26, 1922 – March 27, 2009) – Journalist

• Lou Perryman (August 15, 1941 – April 1, 2009) – Actor

• Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) – Actress

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Vern Gosdin (August 5, 1934 – April 28, 2009) – Musician

• Dom DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) – Actor/Comedian

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Ean Evans (September 16, 1960 - May 6, 2009) – Musician

• David Carradine (December 8, 1936— June 3, 2009) – Actor

• Peter L. Bernstein (January 22, 1919 – June 5, 2009) – Economic historian

• Johnny Palermo (March 1982 — June 8, 2009) – Actor

• Ed McMahon (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) – Comedian/Announcer

• Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) - Actress

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) – Musician

• Billy Mays (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009) – TV Pitchman/Host

• Karl Malden (March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) – Actor

• Walter Cronkite (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) – Journalist

• John Hughes (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009) – Film maker

  
  
  
  
  
  My favorite John Hughes movie
  
  
  

• Ted Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) - Politician

• Patrick Swayze (August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) – Actor/Dancer

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Henry Gibson (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009) – Actor

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Mary Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) – Singer

• Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009) - Comedian

• Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) - Evangelist

• Brittany Murphy (November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) - Actress

• Arnold Stang (September 28, 1918 – December 20, 2009) - Actor/Voice actor for animated cartoons

May they all Rest In Peace.

It's almost over

2009 is almost over. Did you do everything you expected to do? How about wanted to do? I know it was a crazy year for us and I'm actually really happy that it's almost over! I hope 2010 brings a much different time for us. And I hope it brings you all you want in life.


Countdown-Clocks

Here we go again

Is there some problem with cleanliness? Do workers find it too difficult to follow basic food safety precautions? Is it hard to wash your hands? Is it too inconvenient? Do they even care? Do I sound upset? Well, I am.

I'm upset because 248,000 pounds of beef have been recalled because of E-Coli. TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS.

The beef was shipped mainly to restaurants in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington. The restaurants that are listed (even though the story says the "beef products sold primarily to" which means these are not ALL the restaurants it was sold to) are: Moe's, Carino's Italian Grill, and KRM.

Included in the recall:

• Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• Boneless Beef Tips
• Savory Sirloin Tips
• Bacon Wrapped Beef Fillet
• Beef Shoulder Marinated Tender Medallions
• 75% Boneless Beef Trimmings
• Beef Trimmings
• Beef Sirloin Philly Steak
• EGN Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• EGN Boneless Beef Sirloin Tri Tip Steak
• KRM Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak
• Carino's Boneless Beef Outside Skirt Steak
• Carino's Boneless Beef Outside Skirt Steak Pieces
• Moe's Beef Steak

The Owasso Oklahoma company, National Steak and Poultry, voluntarily recalled the meat and said the "recalled products are in packages bearing a label with the establishment number "EST. 6010T" inside the USDA mark of inspection and packaging dates of "10/12/2009," "10/13/2009," "10/14/2009," or "10/21/2009." The company said the products were shipped to restaurants nationwide."

They say this is the first recall their company has ever had in it's 30 year history. While that's a pretty good track record, one time is enough for me. Six states, countless restaurants. And remember, E-Coli is spread through fecal contamination. FECAL CONTAMINATION. Yep. That's enough for me.

No more Tyra Show....thank goodness

I don't know about you, but I really can not handle the Tyra Banks talk show despite it being on for 5 seasons and winning 2 daytime Emmy awards. The good news for me? It's finally over.

Tyra told People Magazine that this is the final season of her "girl-power" talk show. People said, "Wrapping at the end of its fifth season in the spring of 2010, it will be lights out for the show that brought viewers memorable weave-exposing, cellulite-revealing and tear-jerking moments." I know those are things I can live without.

My picks for the worst of the worst?

Biracial People Who Hate One Side Of Themselves

Could There Be A "Cheating Gene"?

Meet The Grossest People In America

Are these seriously things that we need to talk about? I'll pass thank you.

Now THAT'S better

I was scanning the news stories a little while ago and it seemed like all I saw was bad. First case of highly drug-resistant TB found in US. Seniors worry about Medicare Advantage cuts. Jon Gosselin's NYC Apartment Ransacked. Weapon Involved in Charlie Sheen Domestic Dispute. It made me really sad.

I was about to just give up on the news for the night when a different kind of story jumped out at me. It made me feel a little better about the world.

It started out sad but it ended up warming my heart.

A woman in Italy went to retrieve the Christmas gifts she had hidden for her two toddler daughters and found they had been stolen out of the basement. Frantic, she rushed around town trying to buy new gifts from gas stations. She didn't want them to wake up on Christmas morning and not have anything under the tree. When the police found out what happened, they contacted a toy store owner in a nearby town. He opened his store at 4:00 a.m. just so the lady could get her daughters new gifts.

I hope they caught the low down thief that would steal presents on Christmas Eve and I hope they treat the toy store owner like a hero. If you ask me, that's exactly what he is.

Promises, promises

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I know I promised the other day that I was going to get caught up with everyone here in blogland and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do that yet. Now that Christmas is over, I should be able to get back to normal tomorrow...I won't promise anything but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed!

While I've been away from Blogger, I've been playing around with Wordpress. It's pretty neat. So neat in fact, that I decided to move my cookbook over there. I like it much better. Check it out if you get the chance.

So....

If all goes well....

And everyone cooperates....

And no disasters occur....

I'll see you tomorrow!

OH YEAH! And yay! Yesterday was my Blogaversary for this blog! Woohoo! A year!! :) Thank you to Teena in Toronto who left me a congratulations message! That was very sweet and made me smile!

The reason I'm not here.....

Click here to find out :)
Merry Christmas everyone ♥

Christmas Cookie Rules

Hey guys! Sorry I've been away all week but I've been on a cookie baking mission! I baked right at 500 cookies for family members this week. Wait. It gets better. I cooked them all from scratch. Better yet... I cooked them all in a toaster oven. LOL True story. 8 cookies at a time... You KNOW I've been busy busy!! I finally finished frosting the sugar cookies and packing/wrapping the cookie packages up last night. Late last night. So now I'm back :)

But I'm tired.

So today I'm just going to share an appropriate email that I got from my mom last night. Her timing couldn't have been better! I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season! See you tomorrow!

Christmas Cookie Rules

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calorie free (rule #1), yours is also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching "A Christmas Carol" have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate.

We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

So, go out and enjoy those Christmas Cookies!

AIRG and your pc

I get asked all the time how to get to AIRG from your computer. I decided today to just tell you here that way there is always a place you can go back to and find out.

First of all, let me tell those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about that AIRG is a chat site. It's a ton of chat rooms that are supposed to be accessed through cell phones but I've always been able to get there from my computer.

You used to be able to go through the Opera browser, put in the address and be there, but AIRG has taken that option away. Now it's a little more complicated but not impossible. I'm going to show you step by step...

1. Download Mozilla Firefox browser 3.0 or earlier. You can update later but if you go with the newest version this won't work. It has to be 3.0 or earlier to use the add-ons that you'll need. You can copy and paste the following address to get there...

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html

2. Now you need your add-ons. You are going to need the XHTML Mobile Profile 0.5.3 add-on. Just follow the instructions that they give you...

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1345

3. You also need the Quick Preference Button 0.1.8.1 add-on....

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1851

4. Once you've done all of the above, there is a 'button' on your toolbar that says Prefs. Click it. Choose Spoof then Keep Out.

5. Now simply put airg.com in the address bar and you're there!*


*Do not put www. or http:// in front of the address. Just airg.com

So I hope this helps those of you that are trying to get there. Let me know if it did or if you have any questions. I'll do my best to help you! Have a great day and have fun chatting!!

New look

I got to playing around last night and ended up changing my blog layout. I do this every now and then. If you've followed me for a while you already know this :)

In some cases I don't ever change my layout. For example, I really like the layout that my personal blog (Happy at Home) has. It's been that way quite a long time now and I have no plans on changing it. I like my cookbook (The Eat Food NOT Money Cookbook) layout as well but I have been searching for one with multiple pages for several months. I haven't found one yet so it will remain the same for now.

But I digress...

I've been looking for a different layout for this blog and finally found one that I like last night. How do you like it? Is it better or worse?

I took out several of my widgets. The Freebie Reporter and the Dead or Alive feeds that I had here were two of them. Should I put them back? Were they something that y'all used?

My music player is still at the bottom of this page and I still have it set to not play when you get here. I can't imagine a world without music but I know some people don't like it. If you're like me and love it, just scroll down to the bottom and hit play.

I've also added links on my sidebar to some of the other sites I visit. My personal pages and some of my favorite blogs. They are by no means all of my pages or all of the blogs that I read. That would put us three pages deep if I listed them all.

On a personal note to Doris. I read your comment you left yesterday and I think what you're talking about is the Link Within widget. That widget puts other posts of mine that are related to the current post at the end of it. Sometimes it really works and puts posts that have the same tags or same content and sometimes it's really out in left field and puts posts that I can't figure out how they are related. But I have it on all my blogs and kind of like it. It reminds me of posts that I sometimes forget I even wrote.

I guess that's about all I wanted to tell y'all. Please let me know what you think of the new look. Even if you think it's awful and I should immediately begin looking for something else! I hope everyone has a great Saturday and I should see you tomorrow!

Is it working for you?

Yesterday I put a poll in my post and I'm not sure if it's letting people vote. Please let me know if you can vote or not. If you can't, I'll find another poll. Thanks guys!

Which is your favorite?

Last night I watched several of my favorite Christmas specials and it got me thinking about all the things I love to see and do this time of year. It also got me thinking about all of you here in Blogland and what things you like to see and do at Christmastime. So I decided to put up a poll and find out! Let me know how you voted by leaving me a comment please. Merry Christmas everyone!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

I ♥ Big Brother

Yes, I mean the television show.

I have been a big fan of Big Brother since it's debut in 2000. A big fan. As a matter of fact, I'm such a big fan that I follow them on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. I've had the live feed several times. I get upset if I miss a show. Very upset. These people are my friends after all. I don't want to miss anything they say or do.

Ok, maybe they have no clue who I am or would ever call me their friend, but I am a fan and I do become emotionally involved with each and every one of them during the season. Because of all of this, it should be no surprise to you that I became very excited while reading a story on People Magazine's website this morning.

Let me show you what caught my attention...

Big Brother’s Jeff & Jordan: Officially Together!

Yes! I totally adored them on the show and thought they would make a terrific couple in real life!

When asked if they were together, Jordan said "Yes we are!". Jeff told People "“I liked her on the show, that was obvious, but after the show ended I liked her even more. I get in trouble when I say that, because Jordan is like, ‘You didn’t like me on the show, and now you like me!?’ but what I mean is that I like her even more now that I see who she is outside of the BB house.”"

I am so excited!! I hope it works out for them.

Do you really mean it Google?

Every now and then I pop over to my Google account and look up what search queries bring people to my blog. Sometimes I'm surprised by what Google says. Like today.

Top 5 search queries that bring people here according to Google

1. hate kara dioguardi

Now I know I said I hated her here once, maybe twice, or um three times, but come on Google. Is this really number one???

2. somtimes love comes around

Awww, I like this one

3. but to me this is what i call life

Makes sense...

4. botie call

Um. Ok. Is this perhaps BOOTIE call? What have I written to have this make the list? Was it perhaps the one time I mentioned not being a prude?? Oh my.

5. life and death

I do write about both...

So there you have it. Did one of these search queries bring you here?

Santa's Helper? Not quite..

It is the Christmas season so really I was not too surprised to come across a story this morning about Santa. Ok, it was about a mall Santa not the real Santa. Well, it was about a mall Santa and an Elf. About a bad Elf. A very bad Elf indeed.

Specifically the Santa was a Southlake Mall in suburban Atlanta Santa and the Elf was 45-year-old William C. Caldwell III who decided Santa might like some dynamite for Christmas.

Caldwell decided he wanted his picture taken with Santa so he donned the Elf costume and stood in line with the kids at the mall. When it was his turn, he told Santa he had a bag full of dynamite. Santa decided he didn't want to take any chances and called security who showed up and detained the bad Elf until police arrived and arrested him. The mall was evacuated but alas, the bad Elf was also (thankfully) a lying Elf because no explosives were found.

I think this picture sums up my thoughts about that bad Elf...

Exactly.

Feeling just a little grinchy

I haven't quite gotten into the Christmas spirit yet. As a matter of fact, I really do feel just a little grinchy...



Maybe it will hit me soon....

Don't let your computer catch a virus this winter

The newest virus circulating is
The UPS/FedEx/DHL Delivery Failure...

You will receive an email from UPS/Fed Ex Service along with a packet number.
It will say that they were unable to deliver
A package sent to you on such-and-such a date.

It then asks you to print out
The invoice copy attached..

DON'T TRY TO PRINT THIS.
IT LAUNCHES THE VIRUS!

Pass this warning on to all your PC operators
At work and home.

This virus has caused Millions of dollars
In damage in the past few days.

Snopes confirms that it is real.

Work can be "ruff"

I've heard that dogs can help people through all kinds of things. They are used to cheer up terminally ill patients. They are used to find things. They are used to aid the handicapped. They are even used to ring up sales...

Wait. What?

That's right. A chocolate lab named Cody "works" the drive-through window at a Clearwater Florida gas station. His owner originally brought him to his store to keep him company during the early morning hours. The dog was such a hit with customers that he's been "working" the drive-through window for 5 months now. He even wears one of the gas station logo t-shirts and a name tag. When a customer pulls up to the window, Cody pops up on his hind legs to greet them. Now that's something I would like to see! I hope Cody gets to continue his "job" for many years.

Remember me?

Sometimes I wonder how forgettable I am. And sometimes I wonder how much I forget. Sometimes I wonder if I forgot something or someone important. Or special.

If you've ever looked at my profile, you know I follow a lot of blogs. Thankfully I have the Dashboard to remind me of all of them and update me when someone posts. Otherwise I may forget some of them. But I don't think so.

Some of you know that in the last year we've lived without electricity twice. The first time was a little over three months. The second time was right at one month. Quite literally during those times I thought about my blogs and the blogs I follow at least 5000 times. I missed them. I think all of the people I follow are special and have become quite attached to all of you.

I've just recently gotten to be back here and have been doing my best to catch up on all your blogs. I love to leave comments almost as much as I like to receive them. Thank you to the people who do leave them for me. They really make my day (Unless you're one of the spammers. In your case, I don't like you at all.) and bring a smile to my face every time I read them.

I feel like I'm rambling a little so to wrap this up, I'd just like to remind everyone of my blogs.

I have this one of course. It's my news/things-that-happen-that-I-want-to-rant-about blog. I've been writing it almost a year now.

There's my Happy At Home blog (just click on the title to visit it). It's my ME blog. I write in it the most often and talk about me, my life, my worries, my joys and just about anything else I can think of. I've been writing in it over a year.

Then there's my cookbook, The Eat Food NOT Money Cookbook (again, click on the title to visit it). It contains all my favorite recipes, readers recipes and occasionally recipes from other sites that I fall in love with that are inexpensive and easy to prepare. I also do a monthly review for Cooking Light magazine. I've been writing my cookbook almost a year too.

I'll continue to visit all of you that I already visit and any new blogs that I find interesting. I hope you will continue to visit me and check out my other blogs as well. Have a great day everyone!

Sometimes the subject follows you around

If you read yesterdays post you know the subject was farting.

This morning I was wandering around on YouTube and the following video was suggested as one I might enjoy. I think they may know me.....well. Enjoy your Saturday everyone!

What's all the stink about?

Many of you that know me personally, know that I have to live with certain, shall we say, odors. You could call these odors natural gas...

Picture if you will a farm in Sydney Australia. Animals, a barn, gas lines, grazing meadows. Can you see it in your mind? Good. Now picture the farmer doing his daily chores which includes feeding a 265 pound sow. Still with me? Ok.

Suddenly the farmer smells leaking natural gas! He panics! He phones the County Fire Service who immediately jump into action and send two fire trucks along with 15 firefighters out to his farm to contain the gas leak.

As they race up the driveway, they see the sow. Then they smell the sow. Then they hear the noise emanating from the sow's nether regions and realize that the "gas emergency" is just gas. Yep, that's right. The sow had a bad case of farts.

The story I read said "the pig's owner was "a little bit embarrassed to say the least," and it took fire crews a little while to compose themselves. "We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny.""

All I have to say about that is this; if they enjoy gas that much they should come to my house today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone ♥

I hope you all have a great, fun, blessed and safe Thanksgiving!
See you Friday!

That was considerate...

Sadly, these days home invasions occur more and more. Burglers force themselves into your home and take what they want. Often, those criminals have no concern for your well being. Many times people die. That wasn't the case in Indianapolis this morning.

An 18 year old accused of breaking into a home there heard a baby crying while he was in the process of robbing the home. He then made a bottle for the baby, warmed it up in the microwave and gave it to a child in the home to give to the baby.

The story I read said that the boy is being "held on charges of burglary, robbery, criminal confinement and pointing a firearm." While those are serious charges, I can't help but think that this boy is not a hardened criminal. At least not yet. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to him and the people in his life and his road to becoming a hardened criminal will end now.

Sexiest man alive? I'd have to agree

I've always been a big fan of People magazine and one of my favorite guilty pleasures each year is their Sexiest Man Alive issue. I'm also a huge Johnny Depp fan. In my opinion he's the exact definition of the word YUMMY. So needless to say, I was very happy to see that People named Johnny Depp the Sexiest Man Alive this year! This is his second time to receive that title. The first time was in 2003. I think he looks better now than he did then :) (Honestly I think most men age well and look better the older they get.) What do you think? Is he the sexiest man alive to you?

2009

2003

Do you believe in horoscopes?

Ever read your horoscope and think wow, that's actually what's happening in my life? That seems to be happening to me a lot lately. Today's is particularly on the mark. It says:

"For some reason, individuals of a certain type seem to be gravitating toward you. You've just about had it with listening to sad stories, pleas for redemption and promises to do better next time. That kind of energy just seems to follow you around right now. Practice saying no and walking away. It might be tough to master at first, but you'll get the hang of it eventually."

I have this person that I have forgiven repeatedly for things that should never have been forgiven but being the person that I am, I have forgiven her. I think I'm taking my horoscopes advice this time though and just saying no. I'm tired of being hurt because other people think they are more important than I am.

Does your horoscope ever ring true? Do you believe in what they say?

A funny for the ladies

My mother sent me this email today and it was so cute that I thought I'd share it with you for today's post. Enjoy!

Appropriate Girlie wisdom

Women over 50 don't have babies because they would put them down and forget where they left them.


A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills... she has 14 kids but doesn't really care.


One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.


My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.


The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.


The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.


The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.


Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.


Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.


I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my knicker's.


Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks 2 sizes!



The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him.


I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!


LIVE SIMPLY.....LAUGH OFTEN....LOVE DEEPLY

Thank the SPAM

You know, I got lots of complaints about comment moderation and word verification and so I took them off. But now I get spam comments pertaining to sex and Viagra and such things. While I'm not a prude, I don't appreciate the comments and will not allow them on my blogs. They are, after all, MINE. So because of this mornings spam perpetrator, word verification will once again be required to leave a comment on this blog. Also, I have enabled comment moderation on posts older than 14 days. What irritates me the most is the fact that this person decided to put their Viagra spam on my post about my very dear friend that passed away. I have the following things to say to that:

How disrespectful
How rude
How low

They decided to post under anonymous which I graciously allowed so that people who do not have Google accounts can still comment on my blogs. IF this continues, I'm sorry to tell you that anonymous comments will no longer be allowed either. I hope the people that leave the good comments understand this and I apologize for any inconvenience. I hope everyone has a nice day.

Now that's the pits

You may remember a while back I wrote a story about a Bugatti that was locked away for years until it's owner passed away and it was discovered by family members. I believe I told you that I really liked that car. They are, after all, $1.25 million cars. That's quite a chunk of change if you ask me.

Now imagine owning one of those very expensive vehicles and then having it end up in the ocean. I think I would die. The worst part of it is that the accident was the drivers fault. He blames a pelican for the mishap but in reality it was because he took his eyes off the road.

I was shocked when I came across the story this morning while reading the news. Flabbergasted really. I literally think I would die if I wrecked a car worth that much money. I suppose if I could afford a car worth that much money then I could afford to wreck it but the fact that it was wrecked because a low flying pelican scared me into dropping my cell phone (which shouldn't be in use while driving) and then I leaned down to pick up that phone, taking my eyes off the road mind you, would be enough humiliation to cause my death. If you ask me the man was just foolish. He wasn't foolish enough to be identified in the story though. At least he had that much sense.

I may be back...

Life certainly is a crazy adventure. If you have any doubt of that you can click here to read a few of our recent adventures... I think I'm back for a while now though :) See y'all tomorrow with my news when I get caught up on it. I did see that Soupy Sales passed away. He was a funny man. May he rest in peace.

My Angel & Patrick Swayze: Both gone way too soon

I lost my very special friend on the 9th. It's hurting my heart worse than I could have ever imagined. I can't even bear to rewrite what happened. She meant so much to me. If you'd like to read what I wrote, you can click here. I will love you forever my Cindie Angel. You are so missed ♥

Because of my personal loss I haven't really been online much. It's been a hard thing for me to deal with and I haven't even kept up with my news. I think that it's making me more depressed though. The lack of writing I mean. It's something that makes me very happy and in some ways, keeps me sane. So today I decided that I needed to get back "in my zone". I did read the news. That helped some.

I heard about Patrick Swayze passing away the day it happened but like I said, I wasn't really me...

It wasn't really shocking to me that he died. He'd been sick for awhile and the last time I saw him on TV he looked pretty bad. It's sad the way disease's wear away at you. It breaks my heart. He had pancreatic cancer. He died on the 14th. He was only 57.

Don't call Dell for help

A couple of weeks ago our hard drive crashed on our computer. It was a huge loss for us; pictures, music, programs...all gone. I cried a lot. Luckily we were still under warranty with Dell. We contacted them and they sent a technician out to replace our hard drive. That's where our real trouble began.

First, the hard drive they brought to replace our old one is smaller than the one we had. Second, the programs, including Microsoft Works (which I used often), were not on any of the disks that they sent to "bring us back to original status".

I could have lived without a few of them; the movie maker, Power DVD, some games. But I wanted my MS Works back. Like I said, I used it often. Daily. That's when the phone game began...

We called Dell at least 30 times. We left voice messages to please return our call. Do you think we got even one phone call in return? No.

When we did actually get a live person on the phone, all we got was transferred to another computer or connected to someone in the Philippines that had no idea how to help us. We finally got a hold of one woman who told us we didn't have MS Works on our computer originally. We did. We bought the computer brand new. No one had it before us. We didn't add any software. She was quite rude and said "I'll send you a copy of the invoice so that you can see it wasn't on there."

We are not stupid people. We did not add anything to our computer. It came with MS Works on it. I repeat, we did not add it ourselves.

So I ended up going to the Dell website, again, and looked up our original computer configuration. What do you think I found? Yep, MS Works. So I called them again. Still no help. I was told they would NOT replace the software and that I was wrong, we did not originally have it on our PC, even though it was right in front of me that we did. Needless to say, I'm disgusted with Dell.

Later that same night I received a call from 'Private Caller'. I usually ignore those calls but something made me answer it. The lady told me I could get a free word processing program online and because I need a word processing program I got it. It's actually not bad. It's called Open Office. You can click here to check it out. It's definitely not as good as MS Works but it's an OK replacement. Most of the templates have to be downloaded and there aren't nearly as many as MS Works has, but like I said, it's OK.

I will never call Dell for help again. I will also never recommend Dell to anyone that I know. The computer is good but the service sucks. They are no help whatsoever.

Captain Trips....could it be real?

Some of you may be aware of my major love for Stephen King. Some of you may not. That's kind of beside the point. Kind of...

If you've never read Stephen King's work, first of all shame on you! You're missing out on some really good stories. Second, you have no idea what Captain Trips is. If you have read his work then you know that he's used the idea of Captain Trips in several of his stories.

Basically it's an incredibly bad flu that wipes out the entire world...

I was browsing through my news stories this morning and came across an article from Tokyo. They are suffering through a pandemic flu called H1N1 that has killed 3 people so far. They have even stopped shaking hands on the campaign trail and said that they won't allow people close enough to the podium to get "spittle" on them during their speeches. They expect it to spread further during the autumn weather.

The idea of a flu wiping out tons of people has been in my mind for many years; mostly because of Stephen King. It scares me. It scares me badly. One of the campaigners said she was carrying disinfectant to her rallies. I think I would just skip being in public all together.

The cows are at it again

You may remember a story I wrote back in January about cows attacking people in Colorado (if you don't you can click here to read it). In that story the lady was just injured by a cow that was protecting her calf. Now the cows in Britain are not only attacking, they're killing.

Four people have been trampled to death in the last two months while walking their dogs near grazing cattle in Britain's main farming area. In the last eight years, 18 people have been killed by cows or bulls in Britain. That's scary.

I know it's not a large number considering that Britain has 7.5 million cows but that's still a lot of people to me. I grew up around many different types of animals and have had first hand experience with cows but I never saw one get aggressive.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) said that "cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs." Aren't dogs used to help herd cattle? I believe they are. I've even had a COW DOG in the past. Why would the cows suddenly become enraged by dogs? Maybe they're tired of having dogs nipping at their hooves and running circles around them. I don't know.

I do know that would be a horrible way to die; under the feet of a very large animal. My heart goes out to the people that lost their loved ones.

I also wonder if Britain has dog parks like we do here in America. I would think that would be a better place to walk your dog then in a field full of cows. I know I wouldn't be in that field.

The rules have changed again: Feeding infants

We've been blessed with taking care of our newest grandchild Alexis several times recently. She's almost 3 months old. We know how to take care of infants having successfully raised our own. We thought we knew all we needed to know. Well guess what? The rules have changed again.

Last week when she was with us I gave her a small amount of water (3 ounces). I always gave my children water when they were infants. It never hurt them. Well, when we told Timothy we gave her water he told us we could not do that again. He said his pediatrician told him NOT to give infants water because it caused seizures. My initial reaction was WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?

So I got on my trusty computer and read and read and read until I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head. The general consensus is not to give infants an abundant amount of water because they can suffer from water intoxication and it can cause seizures.

According to Wikipedia, "It can be very easy for children under 1 year old to absorb too much water, especially if the child is under nine months old. Because of their small body mass, it is easy to take in a large amount of water relative to body mass. Drinking water will replace lost water and avoid a dehydration, but if the person is unable to take any other drink or food then lost electrolytes will not be replaced, which can result in water intoxication. Water intoxication (also known as hyper-hydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water."

In other words, it's safe to give infants small amounts of water as long as they are getting the nourishment that they need. Pedialyte should be used in cases when formula, breast milk or food is not being consumed so that the electrolytes are replaced. Pedialyte will also help your infant from becoming dehydrated.

After all my research I feel a little better about the 3 ounces of water that we gave Alexis. Less guilty anyway. We would never want to hurt her and had no idea that water could do that.

Brat Pack loses their creator

I'm sad to tell you that I read about John Hughes passing away today at the age of 59. He was my very favorite director throughout the 80's and I loved every single movie he made. I'm so sad that he died on my birthday. Back in November of last year I wrote a blog on Shine about the 'Brat Pack' and I'd like to share it and the comments I received with you tonight...

The 'Brat Pack' ....those were the days

user

• by Kathy, on Tue Nov 4, 2008 5:16am PST

• 31 Comments

Remember the brat pack? Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Alley Sheedy. I watched Weird Science last night and it got me thinking about all those great movies. I loved them! They ruled my world in the 80s!

I guess my first brat pack movie was Sixteen Candles in 1984. It was a GREAT movie! I totally related to Molly Ringwald’s character Sam. I felt her pain. I really did. And I was so happy for her when she got the cute rich guy in the end! And so jealous!

I think John Hughes had a teenage girl giving him his show ideas. He had to have, everything was so real! I just thought there was no way a man could make so many movies that I could relate to… ‘I’ as a teenage girl of course. The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty In Pink just to name a few… all gems to me.

What’s your favorite brat pack movie? Mine is The Breakfast Club. It probably has to do with my visits to detention in high school. I wish they could have been like that instead of just studying while a teacher stared at me all day…. And who was your favorite brat pack actor or actress. Mine was definitely Molly Ringwald. I think I really did connect with her way back in 1984. I was that same shy but opinionated girl she portrayed so well.

Related: movies, favorites, brat pack, actresses, actors, 80s

Posted by rockin' mom Tue Nov 4, 2008 5:22am PST

Those WERE the days!!!!!

Posted by MochaMama42 Tue Nov 4, 2008 5:24am PST

It's funny, I enjoyed all of the Brat Pack movies. I'm trying to decide which is my favorite, and I can't really narrow it down. Perhaps , Pretty in Pink, due to it's romantic, Cinderella-like theme of a Phoenix rising from the ashes analogy. I am curious to know what is going on acting wise with Judd Nelson. I really thought he would have been more of an acting presence at this juncture. Maybe he will have a "renaissance" moment like Patrick Dempsey.

Posted by Disgruntled Wed Nov 5, 2008 10:05am PST

My high school reunion is coming up so a very timely subject for me.

I'm not sure which movie is my favorite. For me it's a toss up between Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. Pretty in Pink was good but it always bugged me that Molly Ringwald didn't end up with Duckie (Jon Cryer). I always liked Duckie a lot more than the Andrew McCarthy character.

Posted by Question girl Thu Nov 6, 2008 5:33am PST

I never saw a full brat pack movie I'm to young but the parts I have seen are pretty good and your right their aren't many good teen movies any more.

Posted by Jess Thu Nov 6, 2008 8:38am PST

It has to be Sixteen Candles! Jake Ryan gives me butterflies in my stomach. Also, who doesn't have grandparents that annoy and love you at the same time.

Posted by Beth Thu Nov 6, 2008 8:46am PST

I love Pretty in Pink. And One Crazy Summer, does that count? :)

Posted by Brandy~Daisy~ Thu Nov 6, 2008 9:29am PST

My favorite was The Outsiders,Who could forget that one

Posted by Renaissancegirl Thu Nov 6, 2008 9:37am PST

The Breakfast Club was the ultimate Brat Pack movie for me. And Molly Ringwald? My greatest wish was to be her when I was a kid. She was perfect and so relatable. Even today I think she's wonderful.

Posted by coolgal18 Thu Nov 6, 2008 9:39am PST

i was born in 87 so i wasn't around early enough to fully appreciate and experience the 80's.

but god do i wish i was.

i own those movies now and totally wish i could go back and see what the 80's were like as a teen.

sixteen candles is one of the best, "jake ryan" makes me melt.

but pretty in pink is so romantic. i love it.

plus i love when duckie sings otis redding.

one of the best scenes.

Posted by MistressMinx Thu Nov 6, 2008 9:51am PST

Loved "The Breakfast Club"! I think I could relate to each of the characters in a different way, which was why it was such a great movie. The end pretty much summed it up, we are all a bit of each of those characters - the jock, the princess, the nerd, etc.

When I was getting married, I thought of "Sixteen Candles" and the sister who takes valium (I think) and then the veil keeps making her crazy. That scared the daylights out of me (even though I didn't take any medication), so I opted for a hat instead. LOL!

Posted by 80'sgirl Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:27am PST

Having been a teenager in the 80's John Hughes movies were the big thing with us, he hit the nail with the wardrobe and lingo of the time.

Now adays the teenage movies are pretty racy (American Pie etc.)

I remember our dances being like Sixteen Candles.

Also anyone out there remember the "afterschool specials?"

Posted by Don M Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:29am PST

It's goot be a toss up between breakfast club and Fast times at Riddgemont High. Anyone remember Valley girls with N. Cage?

Posted by Don M Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:30am PST

Sorry for my misspelling got in a hurry.

Posted by comeflywithme1990 Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:38am PST

I LOVED THE 80'S!!!!!

Posted by fine...whatever... Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:55am PST

st. elmos fire is my fav brat pack movie...i have always had a huge andrew mccarthy crush and this was my fav movie of his.

was Say Anything an 80's movie? i can't remember now...another one of my top fav's though...john cusack is still awsome!!!


Posted by fine...whatever... Thu Nov 6, 2008 10:56am PST

i totally forgot about vally girls !!! LOL tha movie was great too ;-)

Posted by deleta Thu Nov 6, 2008 11:43am PST

I'm a tad older but I loved The Breakfast Club (and Emilio).

Posted by Lori N Ty Thu Nov 6, 2008 11:43am PST

Ahh, I love all of them. I just watched About Last Night for the first time this last weekend and was not as in love with that as I was (am) St. Elmo's Fire and Say Anything. LOVE the Brat Pack!!

Posted by Sheelah N Thu Nov 6, 2008 11:50am PST

The Breakfast club was my favorite. Then Weird Science.

Posted by ashleyluckey Thu Nov 6, 2008 12:14pm PST

I love Molly Ringwald! She was so fantastic and I loved following her movies. The Breakfast Club is my favorite followed by Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. However, I also loved For Keeps and Betsey's Wedding!!! Great for Molly Maniacs. I had a huge crush on Bender, he was so bad and that was hotttttttttt! Rob Lowe too, that man is beautiful!!!

Posted by mtag Thu Nov 6, 2008 12:51pm PST

It's a toss up between Breakfest Club and 16 candles - Jake Ryan. What about James Spader?! Long Duck Dong! Oh my, those were the days!

Posted by timmy2 Thu Nov 6, 2008 1:11pm PST

not full of the brat pack but your forgetting one of the best and that would be "some kind of wonderful"

Posted by kevin Thu Nov 6, 2008 2:29pm PST

breakfast club all the way... bueller... bueller

Posted by Bellisima Thu Nov 6, 2008 3:59pm PST

One Word:

Nostalgic.......

How sweet, those were classic, my daughter was born in '85, so there is so many memories from this era for me, including these awesome movies, she has all the movies of this era now. :) :) :)


Posted by camdavis@... Thu Nov 6, 2008 5:55pm PST

I've been told by many people that I look like Molly Ringwald but only when I wear my hair short.


Posted by Bunnysmummy Thu Nov 6, 2008 9:31pm PST

I love Sixteen Candles but The Breakfast Club is a close 2nd.I`m glad to see other people think as highly of the 80`s as I do!The 70`s usually gets alot more praise.

Posted by Disgruntled Fri Nov 7, 2008 9:52am PST

Bueller is Ferris Bueller's Day Off and darn it, I wish I'd thought of that. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is definitely my favorite '80s teen movie.


Posted by Ashley R Sun Nov 9, 2008 7:02am PST

My favorite is Sixteen Candles. My fav Brat-Packer was Anthony Michael Hall.

Posted by allee Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:54am PST

I love them all. they are and always will be some of my fave movies. they take me back to before i had to worry about the world. they made me laugh. I still watch them, guess what, so do my kids.

Posted by klgirl78 Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:14am PST

They sure don't make gems like these anymore. Those were the good ol' days... My fave Brat Packers are definitely Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez & Robe Lowe. LOVE 'The Breakfast Club' & 'Sixteen Candles'!

Posted by BG Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:53pm PST

Good ole memories those 80's, and I've seen all those movies. My favorites are Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. But there is one other movie I love and thats The Last American Virgin. It's funny and the soundtrack is awesome. If you like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, you'll like this one.

REST IN PEACE JOHN HUGHES...I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOUR MOVIES ♥ --Kathy

I'm satisfied

If you read my last blog you know that I was very dissatisfied with the phone service we received through Cricket Wireless. It turns out that the problem was actually with the dealer we bought the phones from (K Wireless in Katy, Texas) and not with Cricket itself.

I was contacted via email by the Senior Escalations/Customer Relations Rep for Cricket Communications after he read my blog. He was very helpful and respectful and I am happy to tell you that we will be receiving a full refund!

I guess I learned a valuable lesson: Go directly to the company and not an independent dealer in the mall! I'm so happy that we were able to resolve this issue!

Need cell phone service? CRICKET is NOT the way to go

Let me tell you a little story....

We were in the mall one day in Texas before we moved up here to Georgia and we saw the Cricket Wireless store. There were huge signs saying they were having a sale so we decided to check it out. We were very specific about what roads we'd be traveling to Georgia and where we'd be once we got here. The man in the store assured us that we would be covered the whole way. He even got out a map and showed us that we would be covered all the way up I10. His exact words were "I guarantee you'll have phone service the whole way". He lied.

We lost service when we crossed into Louisiana and didn't have a signal even one time until we got to Atlanta. We never left the course we told him we'd be driving. My children were on the road at the same time heading to Oklahoma and they were frantic because they couldn't get a hold of us. They didn't know if we'd been in an accident or something like that. Not to mention that I couldn't call them to make sure they were traveling safely. We had to stop at a pay phone so that I could check in. We paid $148 for the phones from Cricket just so I could stop at a pay phone and spend more money. Ridiculous.

Once we arrived in Atlanta and actually had a signal we called customer service and talked to a lady named Ann. She talked to her supervisor and they both agreed that they're representative at K Wireless in Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas did not tell us the truth. She was very understanding and told us because their services had been misrepresented that we would get a full refund. Sounds good, right? It's another lie.

They said to take the phones back to the store we purchased them from (which was no problem because we planned on traveling back to Texas to get the rest of our belongings) and that the man WOULD give us our money back. Tim arrived there this morning only to be told he would NOT get our money back. He was slightly mad. He DID act mad I'm sure. Who wouldn't after being guaranteed something, driving 900 miles and then being told no?

Not only did the man refuse to give our money back like we were told would happen, BUT Tim was kicked out of the store! How's that for customer service? That's a joke in itself. Cricket has no idea what customer service means. When you try to call them and speak to someone, all you get is a recording or told that you'll be on hold for a few minutes...which is about 45 minutes according to all my trying to contact a live human being since 8:00 this morning. After waiting that 45 minutes it disconnected me. I am not happy.

So my message to all of you in blogland is DO NOT USE CRICKET WIRELESS SERVICE. You may get lucky and not have any issues but from what I've learned since making the mistake of believing their salesman it's not worth it. They lie, lie, lie. They'll tell you what you want to hear just to get your money. And the service sucks as far as keeping a signal. Trust me on this. I'll happily use AT&T from now on.

How badly would you like it to rain?

How's the weather in your part of the world? I know where we just moved from in South Texas it hasn't rained in a little over 2 months. We were under a burn ban and didn't even get to shoot fireworks on the 4th of July. I thought we had it pretty bad until I read a story this morning...

In Patna, India they are having the worst start of their monsoon season in eight decades. Farmers there are so desperate for rain that they've decided to combat it in a very unusual (at least to me) way: by having their unmarried daughters plow their fields naked while chanting ancient hymns. They believe that this will embarrass the weather gods into sending rain. I'm not kidding.

Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said "They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains. This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."

I don't know about you but that would be one time that I'd be very happy to be married. (Of course I'm always happy to be married but you know what I mean :-D) The only upside I can see is that they wait until after sunset to start. To me that's just crazy but then I stop and think about it and I remember that Native Americans do rain dances so maybe it's not so different. Except they're not dancing. And they're naked. Hopefully they'll get rain soon and those poor girls can put some clothes on!

Probably not a popular post....

This post will probably rub some people the wrong way but as far as I'm concerned I'm allowed to have my own opinion even if it doesn't agree with other people's opinions. I guess I'll just go ahead and say it...

I am SO sick of hearing about Michael Jackson.

Yes, I wrote a post the day he died. Yes, I listened to his music in the 80's. Yes, he was world famous and loved by many. He was also hated and ridiculed by many. AND one of my favorite people, Farrah Fawcett, passed away on the same day but people aren't still talking about her.

I find it very annoying how the same people who made pedophile jokes and "white boy" jokes are now saying how wonderful MJ was. Did they forget what their past opinion was? Are they just following the crowd? What exactly is the deal with that? Maybe they're afraid that people will think badly of them but come on, he was accused of those things. He was very odd. He wasn't "just like you and me".

How is it now, over a month after his death, that he is still in the news every day? Many people that were loved and admired have passed away in the last year but we're not still talking about them 24/7. Why not? What was so special about MJ that people can't stop talking about him? And yes, I am talking about him now. I don't know if that's irony or confusion. I just know that I'd be happy to walk through the supermarket without seeing his face on every magazine or turn on my TV without seeing his face on every channel. It's beyond normal and is really irritating me now.

K, I'm done ranting for today. Happy Sunday everyone. I hope you have a great one.

Hello strangers

Just thought I'd let y'all know that I haven't completely abandoned my blogs. We've moved from South Texas to Georgia and things are a little hectic right now. What is wrong with the economy? Can anyone answer that for me? Last year at this time things were wonderful and now we can barely keep a dollar in our pockets. Ugh. See you tomorrow hopefully!!

It was a bad day for us 70's kids/80's teens

Yesterday we lost two greats in the entertainment world. I feel like I grew up with both of them.

I first found out about Farrah Fawcett passing away at the age of 62 around 11:00 a.m. yesterday. I was so heartbroken. She was a truly beautiful soul. She fought so hard over the last three years to overcome anal cancer but in the end the cancer won.

I can remember being 13 and playing Charlie's Angels with my sisters at our aunts house. I was always Sabrina, my sister Pam was Kelly and Adrianne was Jill. I always wanted to be Jill. To me she was the most beautiful. Adrianne got to be her because she was blonde. Some girls have all the luck.

I read alot about Farrah yesterday. I saw alot of pictures too, but the one picture that kept coming into my mind was the one that hung on just about everyone's wall in the late 70's. I think it captured her perfectly. Just looking at it, at that smile, those eyes, that beauty brings me back to the days of no worries, of no pressure, of pure love. I will so miss Farrah. She will forever be an Angel to me.

Farrah Fawcett

February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009

We talked about Farrah most of the afternoon then around 2:00 p.m. my husband sent me a text that said "did you hear about Michael Jackson? They said he had a heart attack and he's at the hospital." Well of course I had to look it up online and I was completely shocked to find out that not only did he have a heart attack but he died.

Michael had to be one of the oddest but most incredible performers there has ever been. He had the weirdest personal life I can imagine but as a singer he was outstanding. I was a huge fan of Michael in the 80's and watched his life with awe.

Thinking back on his incredible life I see images in spots: The Jackson 5 with little Michael out front belting out ABC; can you moonwalk?; catching on fire during a Pepsi commercial; his odd marriage to Lisa Marie Presley; his retreating further into his own world leading people to try to figure it out without his help; the accusations; the surgeries. I could go on and on but I think I'll stop there.

There is going to be an investigation into his death (he was only 50) and I guess we'll find out more at a later date. I am still shocked that he's gone. Incredibly shocked. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought to myself "Michael is dead". I don't know how long it will take my brain to accept it. It doesn't want to at all.

Michael Joseph Jackson

August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

Cookie dough may taste great but be warned: It's making people sick

I'm sad to tell you the newest food recall involves one of my very favorite foods: Nestle Toll House Cookies.

Friday Nestle recalled 300,000 cases of cookie dough including refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tub, cookie dough tubes, limited edition cookie dough items, seasonal cookie dough and Ultimates cookie bar dough. It includes chocolate chip dough, gingerbread, sugar and peanut butter dough and other varieties. The recall occurred after 66 reports of E-coli were reported in 28 states. All the infected people consumed raw cookie dough.

According to the story I read, "The FDA advised consumers to throw away any Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes and asked retailers, restaurateurs and other foodservice operations not to sell or serve any of the products. "This has been a very quickly moving situation," Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said, adding the company took action within 24 hours of learning of the problem. O'Hearn said the company will "cooperate fully" with the FDA's investigation."

According to the Nestle website, "Consumers who have purchased these products should not consume them. Instead, we are asking that consumers return these products to their local grocer for a full refund. We invite consumers with questions to contact Nestlé Consumer Services at 1-800-559-5025 and visit our web site at www.verybestbaking.com.

The products involved in the voluntary recall include all varieties of Nestlé TOLL HOUSE refrigerated Cookie Bar Dough, Cookie Dough Tub; Cookie Dough Tube; Limited Edition Cookie Dough items; Seasonal Cookie Dough and Ultimates Cookie Bar Dough. Variety information is included in the list below."

Description Consumer

Unit Code (UPC)
Nestle Toll House Cookie &
Brownie Dough
COOKIE & BROWNIE DOUGH BAR
Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0
50000 62231 3
Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 11308 8
Chocolate Chunk
bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62235 1
Walnut Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62233 7
Jumbo Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62237 5
Oatmeal Raisin bar
16.5oz 0 50000 06219 5
Sugar Cookies bar 16.5oz 0 50000 62244 3
Sugar
Cookies bar 16.5oz 0 5000012178 6
Mini Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 50000
62242 9
Mini Chocolate Chip bar 16.5oz 0 5000012188 5
Mini Brownie Bites
bar 16oz 0 50000 62227 6
Fudgy Brownie With Peanut Butter Filling 19oz 0
50000 00820 9

COOKIE DOUGH TUB
Chocolate Chip tub 40oz 0 50000 62246
7
Chocolate Chip tub 80oz (5 lb) 0 50000 00934 3
Sugar tub 40oz. 0 50000
62253 5
Gingerbread tub 40oz 0 50000 44060 3
Peanut Butter tub 40oz 0
50000 44062 7

TUBE (CHUB) DOUGH
Chocolate Chip tube 16.5oz 0 50000
62239 9
Chocolate Chip tube 32oz 0 50000 00400 3

ULTIMATES COOKIE
BAR DOUGH
Ultimates Peanut Butter Cups, Chips & Chocolate Chunks bar
16oz 0 50000 00922 0
Ultimates White Chip Macadamia Nut bar 16oz 0 50000
00923 7
Ultimates Chocolate Chip & Chunks with Pecans bar 16oz 0 50000
00925 1
Ultimates Chocolate Chip Lovers 16oz 0 50000 00926 8
Ultimates
Turtles bar 16oz 0 50000 00928 2
Ultimates Peanut Butter Lovers bar 16oz 0
50000 00507 9
Ultimates Chocolate Chip with Caramel Filling bar 16oz 0 50000
44066 5
Ultimates Chocolate Chip with Chocolate Filling bar 16oz 0 50000
44069 6

SEASONAL COOKIE & BROWNIE DOUGH
Valentine Hearts Sugar
Cookie Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 12009 3
Valentine Swirled Chocolate Chip bar
16oz 0 50000 00931 2
Fudgy Brownies With Raspberry Filling 19oz 0 50000
20090 0
Easter Eggs Sugar Cookie Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 52009 1
Easter
Swirled Chocolate Chip bar 16oz 0 50000 00932 9
Easter Swirled Mini Brownie
Bites bar 18 oz 0 50000 20093 1
Red, White & Blue Swirled Choc Chip bar
16oz 0 50000 00937 4
Halloween Pumpkin Pals Sugar Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000
06217 1
Halloween Swirled Chocolate Chip bar 16oz 0 50000 00929 9
Halloween Swirled Fudgy Brownies bar 18oz 0 50000 00088 3
Christmas
Shapes Sugar Cookies 15.5oz 0 50000 00505 5
Christmas Swirled Chocolate Chip
bar 16oz 0 50000 00930 5
Christmas Swirled Fudgy Brownies bar 18oz 0 50000
00089 0
Limited Edition Mint Swirled Chocolate Chip 16oz 0 50000 00827 8

Discontinued Varieties
Valentine Hearts Sugar Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000
44056 6
Easter Brownie Bar 18oz 0 50000 00518 5
Easter Bunnies Sugar
Cookies 13.5oz 0 50000 44058 0
Halloween Sugar Shapes 15.5oz 0 50000 00829 2
Christmas Sugar Cookie Tube 16oz 0 50000 00448 5
Oatmeal Cranberry
Cookie Tub 48 oz. 0 50000 62229 0

So I guess my mother was right; I shouldn't eat raw cookie dough. None of us should (I know it's terribly hard NOT to eat it....it's so delicious). The website also said not to cook the dough and eat it believing you will then be safe from the E-coli. While it's true cooking does destroy the bacteria, anything that the dough has come in contact with (your hands, the counter, a knife) will have the bacteria on it and you can still become ill. My advice would be to just return it to the store and get your money back. I know that's what I would do.

By the way, haven't I mentioned how scared I am becoming of food? I don't mean ALL food but I mean it when I say one of these days I'll grow or raise everything I eat. It's just too scary to trust that all the food I buy is safe. Cookie dough. Imagine that.