Happy Friday!

We made it through another week!

Who else thought this week would never end?  I for one didn’t think it would.  Mommy has been dragging all week saying she was tired.  I can’t have that.  I need mommy fully rested so she can have snuggle time with me.  Is that so wrong?  🙂

August is here and hopefully all of this heat will be coming to an end soon.  Mommy says if we can make it through August, then it’s down hill from there.  I hope so because this little oinker is not very fond of the heat.  Once it goes away, I may try to venture outside again.  Right now – eeww – it’s too hot for anything but staying inside near the air conditioning.

Do you have any great plans this weekend?  Mine is to help mommy clean house tomorrow and then hopefully we can have our snuggle time.  I hope cleaning goes fast!  She’s giving us all our honey do lists.  I got my room again and laundry.  That means I have to pull all of my dirty ‘stuff’ to the laundry room.  I would complain but the rent is free here 🙂  Plus, I get perks… who doesn’t like perks, right?

Everyone have a great weekend and do something fun.  XOXO – Bacon

 

Cleaning Instructions – Really?

What’s the cleaning instructions on your clothes labels my friends?  Snorts and rolls with piggy laughter!

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

This month was a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Knowing this, my mom went all out – snorts.  I am going to tell you about the hottest thing that mom has eaten lately.  She gets this salad every.chance.she.can.  Notice I said “get” and not “fix” – snorts with piggy laughter.  Okay, this month mommy is cheating by not fixing this delectable, gorgeous salad.  She has been on this DIEt thing lately – not only to lose weight but to get a few of her numbers down in her bloodwork.

Well, my daddy is a meat eater – go figure huh?  There is a local steakhouse that he absolutely loves to go to and will jump at the chance anytime he can.  But here’s the great spot, mom loves this Strawberry Pecan salad they have and she says it’s a meal for her.  What daddy does is order his steak and upgrades his salad to this masterpiece for like less than $2.50 – can you believe that?!  That way, daddy gets his Flintstone steak and mom gets her beautiful salad.

And on this beautiful salad is red onions, grapes, strawberries, pecans, oranges and lettuce.  It is topped with a strawberry vinaigrette. Can you taste it?  I told mommy that this little oinker wouldn’t even mind this salad for dinner.  What about you?

  

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

Our next scheduled Shopping Around the World is for Wednesday, October 28th.

This month is a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendars

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

Our next scheduled Shopping Around the World is for Wednesday, October 28th.

This month is a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

 

Shopping Around the World

This month items to price were:

FIVE Ingredient Salads.  There you go.  Cold salads, pasta salads, seafood salads, chicken salads, hot salads – any salad of your choosing – five ingredients.  List the ingredients, prices and how you make your five ingredient salad.  We have enjoyed seeing everyone’s homemade dish over the past couple of months.  IF you can attach a picture to your FIVE Ingredient Salad that would be awesome!

  This was a challenge.  I like a lot in my salad – variety keeps me interested in eating the things *I should*.  It’s always an endless battle.  And I’m really trying to fix salads more often these days.  Me and the hub unit have come across the perfect FIVE ingredient salad for us which consists of the following:

(1) A bag of mixed lettuce ($3.00 a bag); (2) A 1/2 pound of ham ($6.00 sliced at the deli); (3) Shredded cheese ($2.50 for the block); (4) pecans ($8.00 a bag); (5) Thousand Island dressing ($2.49 bottle).

We go for the mixed bag of mixed lettuce because it has everything in it – but it’s one item, right?  Between me and the hub, the one bag can last two nights.  So for this meal it cost $1.50 for the salad mix.

We like to add a little meat to the salad for a chef salad.  We get the ham from the deli and ask them to shave it thin.  We get 1/2 pound and we can eat on this all week – it doesn’t take much to put in the salad – just some for taste.  So I’m estimating for the salad portion for the both of us $2.00.

We buy the blocked cheese when it is on sale and I shred it myself.  One block can do salads all week so for the both of us on cheese $0.50.

Now pecans are expensive around here – and we are in the south!  I like to buy a big bag of them at $8.00 – they freeze very well.  I will take some out, chopped them and toast them in the oven.  Then I put them on our salad for crunch.  Kind of like having croutons but way better.  The one bag lasts us for about 2 weeks so averaging it out it costs about $1.00 for the both of us.

Then the dressing – you have to have dressing and we both love Thousand Island.  The one bottle lasts us all week – it’s a small bottle 😦  That averages out to $0.50 for the both of us.

So what is the bottom line for this salad for the both of us together?  $5.50 for dinner.  And we change it up from time to time.  Salads are so versatile and we love them.  What about you?

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world!

Me and my pal Fozzie started Shopping Around the World and it has become a huge hit.  We all want to know if we are paying more or less than everyone else – snorts.  We are going to do it again this month on Wednesday, May 27th.

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.  This month we are focusing on items that we *have* to have in our lives.

Items to price this month:

• FIVE Ingredient Salads.  There you go.  Cold salads, pasta salads, seafood salads, chicken salads, hot salads – any salad of your choosing – five ingredients.  List the ingredients, prices and how you make your five ingredient salad.  We have enjoyed seeing everyone’s homemade dish over the past couple of months.  IF you can attach a picture to your FIVE Ingredient Salad that would be awesome!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendars

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world!

Me and my pal Fozzie started Shopping Around the World and it has become a huge hit.  We all want to know if we are paying more or less than everyone else – snorts.  We are going to do it again this month on Wednesday, May 27th.

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.  This month we are focusing on items that we *have* to have in our lives.

Items to price this month:

• FIVE Ingredient Salads.  There you go.  Cold salads, pasta salads, seafood salads, chicken salads, hot salads – any salad of your choosing – five ingredients.  List the ingredients, prices and how you make your five ingredient salad.  We have enjoyed seeing everyone’s homemade dish over the past couple of months.  IF you can attach a picture to your FIVE Ingredient Salad that would be awesome!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

 

Happy New Years! – Article from my Mom :)

 Happy New Years my friends!  Can you believe that it is already 2015 – Where did 2014 go?  Today, I’m going to do something a little different here on my blog.  I want to share with you something that my mother wrote recently on handicaps.  It may be a little long, but I hope you take the time to read it.  I think this will be perfect to start this new year with awareness and kindness and paying it forward.  Enjoy and let me know what you think 🙂

Let’s play a game.  Close your eyes, tight now no looking.  Now, I want you to try to do things around your house.  Go to the kitchen and get a drink; try going to the bathroom; turning the television on; or making a phone call.  Can you do it?  Can you remember the layout of your home?  Can you remember what your phone looks like and where the numbers are?  What about the remote control?

 These are all problems that my husband encounters everyday.  You see in 2004, he was in a minor car accident and almost died. That’s right I said minor accident.  He was only going 30 miles per hour when a car accident happened and his airbags deployed.  The force of the airbags against his chest caused massive blood clots in his lungs.  He was in intensive care for nearly 12 weeks coming close to death several times.  In fact at one point, the doctors asked mommy if she believed in miracles because it was time to start praying for one. 😦

Within two years of his accident and many, MANY surgeries that we lost count, he lost his vision.  This is not a story to say, “Oh dear, you poor thing”.  This is a story to enlighten people, restaurants and businesses.  Handicaps are not just visibly seen by wheelchairs, walkers or canes.  Some handicaps you would never know unless you knew the person.  This is my husband Jim.  He does everything we do just with a little help.

 When we go out together, we are always holding hands.  This is something that we have always done for the 26 years we have been together.  But now, it’s also to help guide Jim.  He doesn’t use a cane and it’s not because of vanity.  Jim and others with vision impairments want to be ‘normal’ as much as they can be and I can deal with that.  Wouldn’t you?  He does everything you and I do but just with a little help.

 When we go out to eat, we hold hands walking to the table.  If you are close enough to hear us, you might hear me say, “Walk straight, your chair is to the left.”  And you will see Jim walk straight to his chair just like he ‘saw it’.  You may hear me discussing the menu just like regular people do on, “What do you want to eat?”  You might even hear me tell him when the food comes to the table, “Chicken on the bottom, green beans to the left and corn to your right.”  But other than that, Jim can eat all by himself just like a big boy. 🙂  So, you might not ‘see’ that he has a visual impairment.  And after dinner when we walk to the car, you will see Jim open my car door for me and then walk to his side and get in.  Does that ‘look’ like a handicap to you?

 But here is where we need to step up in businesses and restaurants.  We are all for a little romantic dinner in a restaurant where the mood is set and the lights are low.  But some restaurants tend to push the envelope a little more these days.  But for someone with a visual handicap that might ‘see’ perhaps a little light to guide them, a little mood set with lights low makes them completely blind.  The little bit of tunnel vision Jim might have in one eye is now completely blocked by low light setting and where he might be able to look ‘naturally’ before now he can’t.  You add the low lighting with a white table cloth and white dishes, he is going to stumble around on his plate.  His drink might get bumped.  He may drop his napkin.  Waiters/Waitresses – please note this is not something that he is doing ‘on purpose’.  Please don’t say something to him negatively.  Please don’t “talk down” to him like a child.  And by all means watch what you say not to insult.  People with vision impairments don’t do these things on purpose.  They don’t want the extra attention.  They want to feel normal in every aspect that they can.  When we ask for a table with a little more light, don’t make a big deal by the request.  I mean we could eat at home and we often do but don’t we all want to go out from time to time?

 And bathrooms in public – sigh.  More businesses and restaurants really need to come up family bathrooms.  We have come across these in our travels and they are fabulous!  Why do you ask?  Well, hopefully in your own home you know the layout of your bathroom.  But in a strange place, can you imagine closing your eyes and feeling your way around in a bathroom when you have to potty?  There have been a lot of times that I will walk Jim to the door, open it and try to peak in to tell him where everything is – beware men – I’m not trying to look at what you are doing 🙂 Really, I’m not.

 If you see someone that is acting ‘off’ and it doesn’t ‘show’ that they have a handicap, they may just have a visual handicap that you don’t see.  Instead of walking by or acting like you might catch it, why don’t you stop and chat.  Don’t worry, they won’t bite.  Believe me, just because they are visually impaired,  they do have a sense of humor still.

If they are trying to go to the restroom, why don’t you volunteer to guide them.  Trust me, they won’t hesitate for your help.  If they drop their flatware on the floor, why don’t you replace it and touch their shoulder and say, “No problem sir”.  If you have someone that asks for a more lit table, don’t belittle them or act like it’s a big deal – accommodate

And don’t think Jim is being a snob if he doesn’t shake your hand when you offer yours.  Just a heads up – most people with a visual impairment can’t see your hand.  🙂  Sometimes it helps if you touch their shoulder and say, “Good to meet you”.  And of course, if I’m there I will be glad to tell Jim your arm is extended.  Don’t worry.  You can shake hands.  You won’t catch his blindness.

Most handicapped people don’t want a free pass.  They want to feel like they fit in and can still do what they once could.  Jim is the same.  He knows our house like the back of his hand.  He takes care of the kids and the house.  He can clean like you wouldn’t believe!  He makes the beds.  He does all of the laundry.  He does the dishes.  He can cook for himself.  Astonishing huh?  It just takes a few tweaks on my part to make his life like it once was.  The microwave is marked, the washing machine is marked, the dryer is marked – all with little tabs that he can ‘feel’ to turn on and off.

 I’m not writing this story for sympathy.  I’m not writing this story for money.  I’m writing this story for knowledge on visual impairments.  The next time you see someone with a visual problem – where you see it with someone using a cane or being guided by someone, don’t fear them or treat them differently.  Be kind and helpful.  And hey – why not even help their caregiver out for a while.  Do you know that must people with visual impairments still like to do things for their loved ones.  This has been one of the biggest downfalls to Jim’s vision.  There are times that he would love to go get me a card or some flowers but how can he when he can’t drive himself to do such a wonderful gesture?  Perhaps if you know someone with a visual problem, offer to take them out for such a trip 🙂

In the new year let’s start practicing a little Luke 6:31, “Do to others as you want them to do to you”.  Happy New Years!

 

Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.This month we are focusing on items that we *have* to have in our lives.

Items priced this month – Prices in Georgia USA:

• Water.  We buy 24 packs of Nestle water when they are on sale for $3.00 – this is for 16.9 ounce bottles.
• Bath Soap.  We are kind of picky here at the Hotel Thompson on our bath soap.  Mommy ❤ the Lever brand – that’s almost all she ever buys.  Every once in a while, our local grocery store will have packages of two bars on sale for $1.00!  Mommy stocks up on it when they go on sale.  It always smells so fresh!
• Deodorant.  What is up with prices on deodorant?!  Mommy and daddy – even though it’s made for a woman snorts – use Secret clear gel.  This runs $4.99 a bottle – that’s almost like highway robbery just so you don’t stink… well that’s what mom says – snorts.  Sometimes if mom is lucky, she can get a package of two for $7.99 and she sometimes has a coupon for $2.00 off making it $5.99 for two – which is a lot better than $4.99 for ONE.  Thank goodness I don’t need this stuff – WOW!
• Laundry Detergent.  We use Tide pods – dad ❤ this stuff.  It’s easy for him since he does all the washing/drying.  He can just throw a pod in and doesn’t have to measure anything.  We buy a tub at Sam’s Warehouse for $21.00 for 90 pods.  That’s pretty good for us – it almost lasts us an entire year!  Not bad at all my friends.
• Random Item.  Andy Capp’s Hot Fries.  Delicious – Yummy – Out of this World – Licks Piggy Lips  This is one of mom’s weaknesses.  If she goes to our local Sam’s Warehouse, she has to buy a box of these.  There are 48 bags to a box and the box runs $9.00 – that’s lots of joy.  Have you seen this?  This is what the picture of them look like to the right.  You want some now, don’t you?  Snorts

If you have some items that you want to get on the list, email me at baconthompson@gmail.com

Hope you had fun!!