Karen’s Opinion

My son turned 24 years old yesterday. Yesterday was also Father’s Day so it was celebration day all the way around. Greg made his own birthday cake and it was delicious. It was a yellow cake with white chocolate mouse filling. I offered to make him a cake but he has been wanting to try out his cake slicer and said he was going to make his own cake. Here he is blowing out his candles. The candles melted so quickly that we had puddles of wax mixed with frosting. I’ll never buy those skinny swirly candles again.

Once upon a time, the Internet was a safe and happy place. That changed when the vultures decided to use it for evil purposes. I don’t even want to go into how things are used to exploit others. I hope that the vultures are in the minority. I used to be afraid. I watermarked any photos of real live people that I posted on my blogs. I became lazy though and stopped watermarking. It was just another step in my already busy day. After reading about Danielle Smith’s family, I think watermarking is a step I will be perusing once again. Darn vultures.

Danielle has responded to her new found notoriety on her blog. She sounds like a good sport about the incident. Luckily, the photograph of her family was used in an advertisement and not on some porn site.

There are many great sites that enable you to watermark your photos. I use Picnik. It is free.

School is out for most of the kids in our county and it is time to start thinking about vacation plans. Every few years, we would try to plan a special vacation. By special I mean a vacation that was planned enough in advance that we could save money that enabled us to take said vacation. When my parents lived in California, we took the kids and traveled up highway 1 in my folk’s motorhome. We went to Monterey, San Francisco and even went as far north as the Redwood Forest. I will never forget the look on my kid’s faces when they saw those tall trees. That trip was worth every dime.

There are times when we are interested in a nice vacation that doesn’t require us to break the bank. That is when we think of Branson, Missouri. Now that our son and his future wife will be living in St. Louis, Branson will be even closer. The Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel are the best places to stay because you are pampered there. My dream of the perfect vacation is to enjoy the hot tub and have my bed made for me. That certainly happens in Branson!

There are so many things to do in Branson. There are shows that everyone enjoys and shopping for us gals. My husband even likes to shop in the outlet cooking stores. He is always searching for the perfect stock pot. If you are a golfer, you will love the challenge of Branson’s beautiful golf courses. From planned excursions to relaxing days beside the pool, Branson is an affordable vacation.

This week’s prompt for Heads or Tails is either Lost or Found.

I am pondering what to write for this meme. I could talk about the weight I am hoping to lose or how I finally found the purse handles I need to sew more bags. I wonder if it would be interesting to talk about how my dog found a snake in the yard yesterday. I have decided to post this cute poem.

Lost, Lost, Lost

Timothy Rose, Right down to his nose
One day got lost in his hat, hat, hat.

And I suppose ‘T would have reached to his toes,
If his cheeks were not so fat, fat, fat.

And nobody knows Where Timothy goes,
Since the day he got lost like that, that, that.

How did Friday slip right past me?! Here are the questions for Four Foods on Friday. If you’d like to play along, visit Val’s blog at Funcraftsandrecipes dot com.

#1, Kelly’s question. What is your favorite memory associated with the smell of a certain food? As in, you smell it, close your eyes and are instantly drawn back to a magical moment in time….
Wow! This is a great question.
My Grandma Dyksterhuis, or Grandma D as we affectionately called her, lived in a cozy house that seldom changed. It was comfortable to know that when I visited, the big red chair was there and I could curl up and read her latest issue of Reader’s Digest. Her home had a pleasant smell. The smell of apples and peaches sitting in a boxes on her porch was heavenly. She canned her own fruits to share during cold winters. Now, whenever I visit the orchard, I am reminded of my Grandma D.

#2. Name something red that is in your cabinets.
Very old red hot candies used to decorate Christmas cookies.

#3. Ice. Do you have an ice maker, use ice cube trays or buy by the bag?We have an ice maker.

#4. Pepper. What kind do you use most often? Is it in a grinder or a shaker? I love the new grinders that you can buy at the grocery store. I am not sure what brand it is but it grinds coarse black pepper.