Viewing Member - lennynatural

Wishing all you sexy ppl a very happy Valentines Day.

As you may know form my previous blog, I'm in the market for a new TV. It wasn't that many years ago the biggest decision you had to make was simply what screen size and brand you wanted. Today the choices are overwhelming. CRT's, LCD's, plasma, projection, DLP, etc. I don't want to be dumbstruck when I go to the store and rely on a salesperson's recommendation, which may be driven by a commision, so I have been doing online research. I found a forum where ppl express their opinions about the various technologies. But damnit, the ppl there are nuts. The hostility and name calling and general mayhem in there, I would have thought I was in a political forum. What ever happened to staying on topic and respecting other ppl's views? I wonder what those ppl are like in real life, lol.

Sunday my TV broke. I sat down to watch the ball game and the TV turned on by itself. Oh shit, I thought, I must have sat on the remote. But I looked over and saw it sitting next to me. Then the TV turned itself off. Hmmm, I said, what's going on? I sat there for a few minutes and witnessed to thing turn itself on and then off, and then on and off, etc, etc, etc. This continued until I unplugged it. Time to think about a new set. I was thinking about getting a new one anyway. Then today, I decided to clean the bedroom a bit, I moved the bed so I could clean behind it. When I pushed it back I heard the sound of wood cracking and the corner of the box spring hit the floor. I wonder what will break tomorrow. I'll have to be careful not to turn anything on or move anything.

It's the middle of winter here and the current temp is 63 f which is 40-50 degrees warmer than normal. I know this warm weather isn't going to stick around for long, but such warm temps are highly unusual for this time of year. I'm going to put on sunblock and go outside.

Every month I get an email from my credit card company urging me to sign up for paperless statements. "It's safer than receiving your statement through the mail" Well yeah, if they don't mail you a statement it can't be lost or stolen and end up in who know who's hands. So I enrolled for the paperless statement. Now instead of getting a statement in the mail, I get an email telling me my statement is available at their web site. Good enough so far. But wait, I go to the mailbox and find they sent me a packet of "convenience checks" which contains all my account information. So the point of paperless statements is blown out of the water; they are still sending me paper with all my account info on it via the mail. There is a disconnect between advertising and actual practices.

I am wishing everybody a happy New Year. I wish you good health and much wealth and happiness in the new year. I also want to thank everybody here who has been a friend in one way or another. Perhaps you talked to me in chat or in the forums, or read my blogs or look at my pics and leave comments or vote. And especially those who have played scrabble with me. A big thank you to each and every one of you!

Today marks the 6th anniversary of my wife passing. I don’t know how I got through that. Yeah, the passage of time helps. The support of friends helps more. I am grateful for all the help I have received from friends, including ppl here.

No longer crying, but sad at times.

put your foot in your mouth and couldn't get it out? I have, but generally don't worry about it much.

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope Santa is good to every one of you!

My mother used to make the most delicious fruitcake for Christmas. When I was a little kid I remember her spending the best part of a day making it. She would make it weeks ahead of time and then wrap it up and pull it out about once a week to give it a shot of brandy. When Christmas came, she would serve it. I can still taste it. I wish I had her recipe, but I don't think anybody saved it. So, I started looking for fruitcake recipes. I didn't find any that tickled my fancy but I also looked at stollen recipes as that uses many of the same dried fruits and nuts as fruitcake. I figure the bread part won't taste like fruitcake, but the fruit part should be similar, especially if I get the dried fruits and nuts drunk first. So after much searching I settled on a recipe and proceded to gather the ingredients and review the procedure. I started soaking the fruits and nuts in rum the other day and having inspected it earlier I decided it was ready today. Here is the result.



I have never had stollen before so I don't know how mine compares to any other, but I did taste it and it's great. It's not as fruity as fruit cake but as I suspected the flavors of the fruits and nuts is similar. The bread is a rich bread so it's not just a bread loaf with fruit and nuts. What I made today won't last until Christmas, so I will be making it again.