Amy Currioman

What is it about cooking pork that makes the house smell so bad? I wonder if that is one of the reasons why pork is on the list of meats that Jewish people are not supposed to eat! I am cooking a crock-pot dish with a shoulder pork roast at the moment, hoping to have shredded pork bbq sandwiches with it for a big family dinner that is scheduled for tomorrow. It takes ten hours to cook in the crock pot, so it just makes sense to cook it the day before the dinner!

Well, thank goodness the garage is attached to the house because I have it cooking in the crockpot in the garage. The smell of pork cooking in the house is very unpleasant and makes me not want to eat the stuff after it is cooked, even if it IS delicious! Come to think of it, that’s why I don’t eat mutton, either, because it is so stinky when it cooks, it just makes me want to avoid eating it!

When I travel around I like to look at the residentail mailboxes that line up along the street.  I think that they reflect the personality of the people who live in the house.  Some mail boxes are whimsical, and are painted to look like a caricature of an object or animal.  Other mailboxes are solemn and stately.  The caricature ones tell me that the residents have a great sense of humor.  The stately ones tell me that the residents are concerned about impressing people with their social status.

I think it would be great if businesses would pay more attention to their mailboxes.  For example, I think if the dentist had a mailbox that looked like a a tooth or a big smile filled with healthy teeth it would make the patients smile and be more relaxed!  And I think that the banks mailboxes should look like piggy banks!  I could have a blast being a mailbox consultant, matching up decorative mail boxes with customers!

When I got married back in 1978 wedding invitations were a big hassle and very expensive.  You had to physically go to the printer’s store and sit down for hours there in the store to pick out what you wanted to buy.  And they were so expensive!  Sure, there were some pretty ones, but it was just another major hassle to add to the bride’s stress.  And even if the salesperson was trying to be low key, it was stressful having one there, waiting for you to make a decision.  Today’s bride has an easier time of it – she can pick out her invitations online and find some beautiful ones that are inexpensive.  And there is no pressure about having someone standing (or sitting) there waiting for you to make a decision.  And some of the websites, like the 123print.com website will send out free samples for the bride to be able to see and feel the quality of their products.  I think that is wonderful, and it sure makes me wish I had been born 30 years later than I was!

I have been begging my hubby for the past three years to rent a steam cleaning machine to wash the carpets in this house.  Yes, I know, you are probably thinking “why didn’t she just do it herself?”  Well, I’ve got some physical problems with my knees and shoulders, and it would be very painful for me to do it, and I would be laid up in bed for a week afterwards!

And my hubby just kept putting me off.  A few days ago a friend of my hubby’s asked him to do some minor mechanical work on his car, and to my surprise my hubby agreed to do it IF the friend washed our carpets for us at the same time that my hubby was doing the mechanical work!  I was thrilled, and the house now looks like the carpets are brand spanking new!  I am thrilled to pieces!

I can remember back when mobile phones first appeared on the market.  They were large, heavy, bulky things that looked more like the kinds of walkie-talkie radios that you see on old war movies!  My first mobile phone was hard wired into my car.  At that point in time, I figured that the only time I needed one was when I was actually driving.  After all, I lived in a remote country area and it would be nice to have in an emergency.  And it really was – I used that phone to call AAA more than once – when I had a flat tire, or needed a jump start, or needed a tow truck!

Having one was a luxury back then, and I felt “wealthy” for having one.  Cell phones today seem to be more of a necessity than a luxury, however!  Public pay phones are disappearing; there used to be one on almost every street corner!  Now I can’t recall seeing one on any street corner anywhere!  And when I leave the house, if I don’t have my cell phone with me I turn around and go back to get it!  I panic if I don’t have it!  Yes, the times sure have changed!