Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween Thoughts

Adults are the #1 freak-show for spending for Halloween. (Kids still rack up on the candy, though.) Halloween is gaining on Christmas for the highest spending holiday category. The National Retail Federation expects consumers to spend about $4.96 billion on Halloween cards, candy, costumes, and decorations. That translates to about $60 per average consumer. And that number is up 51% over last year. It’s the 2nd or 3rd biggest party (depending on who’s counting) behind the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve. So, what’s the scare scoop?

There really is a Great Pumpkin, apparently. Or folks are jumping on the Linus Bandwagon. There is a surge in Great Pumpkin Parties across the nation, complete with “Boo Gifts” from the large round fellow (who in my imagination looks remarkably like Coach Phil Fulmer, but I digress). It seems to me that if this is going to be a trend, there are folks who could burn up some of their spare time volunteering at a soup kitchen – serving, of course, pumpkin or squash soup!

Did you know that Hallmark is producing over 300 different Halloween cards this year?! That boggles my mind.

The largest age group going over-the-top for Halloween consists of folks 18-24. 85% of them are throwing some kind of Halloween-Bash. And please note that Halloween parties aren’t limited to one week anymore – it’s a month-long celebration. Pumpkin, get partying!!!! FAST!

I am starting to wonder when people are REALLY going to get smart and COMBINE Halloween and Oktoberfest. Back to the topic....

After taking the goblins trick-or-treating, it's adult Toddy Time! Here's what I'm whipping up in my cauldron .... Caramel Apple Pie Tini
1-3/4 oz Bailey's with a hint of Caramel
1/3 oz. Smirnoff's Twist Green Apple Vodka (slurp!)
1/3 oz applesauce
Dash of caramel syrup

Pour applesauce in the bottom of a martini glass. Dash your caramel syrup on top of that. Shake remaining ingredients in your dazzling cocktail shaker with ice. Strain and pour yourself into bed. Gotta' rest those tootsies that I crammed into witch boots all day (it's amazing what a girl will do to entertain small children)! Might as well enjoy a cocktail while lounging!

Monday, October 29, 2007

RED SOX SWEEP!! SWEET!!

Off to celebrate. Back soon. XOXOXO

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Donde est La Diva?

I know, I know. No postings in 5 days. Bad Main Dish. It's the busy time of year with my PR biz, so of course, I scheduled 2 babies during this time of year (several years ago) just to make things more interesting - hence, I'm on the Kiddie Birthday Party Merry Go Round. New parents are so naive! Little did I know then, it's also relentless soccer season and fall ball for tykes (however, I really do love it all). Not to mention football and World Series.

Which brings me to the confession: I have been watching MUCH more TV than normal just to follow my beloved Boston College whip up in the last 2 minutes on VA Tech (who otherwise was handing it to us on a big platter) and the Bo Sox in the World Series - yea! I about withered last night due to it being a travel day, so the Main Squeeze and I planned a Christmas party that will happen about 2 weeks after I return from my Carnegie Hall debut.

Last weekend, the Main Squeeze and I visited Camp Mac and the McBride family - la-la-love them a lot. Allen took the photo of us in the Talladega National Forest (also pictured are Shot Gun and Jake- above and left).
Sorry for the delay. Here's your Diva Lifestyle Reminder for the week: Sometimes, especially when things are beyond hectic, get out of your routine and do something unexpected and get a breath of fresh air. A horseback ride followed by a hike to a gorgeous vista does just the trick!

Monday, October 22, 2007

For Boston, For Boston!!!

(The title is the first line of the Boston College Song. Click here to hear the melodious refrain http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/bc/multimedia/bc-for-boston.mp3)

I'm beyond ecstatic over my Red Sox winning the Pennant AND GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES as well as BC RANKED #2 in both BCS and AP polls (they didn't play this week and moved up a notch - LOVE THAT!).

Being a baseball and football fan, though I remain eagerly yet cautiously optimistic as both teams have a reputation for heartbreak - and curses. Of course, the Bo Sox broke The Curse when they spanked the Yankees in the World Series a few years ago (still happy about that). I am wondering if Ohio hasn't broken the apparent curse this season for impending doom-like upsets for #1 and #2 ranked teams. Here's hoping!!!

All of a sudden I'm less concerned about the weird kicking strategy Auburn employed Saturday evening and the totally incredible LSU coaching decision what with the Boston sports situation. Now, I'm really considering going to the BC-Clemson game in a few weeks - being the most geographically convenient, but my schedule is a disaster. What do you think, Poodle?

More later.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Diva Doins

Alerting you to the latest cool Diva thing to do TODAY:

Young Birmingham Diva, Jennifer Adams will be at Jonathan Benton Booksellers (Mtn. Brook) from 4:00-6:00 p.m. signing her new book, Mixing New Orleans, two topics near and dear to my heart: Mixed drinks in New Orleans. Now, this is research I HAVE to know about!! Jennifer took a leave of absence from her "real" job, moved to New Orleans, and literally drank her way through it!!! With intentions to benefit the good of the group. WOW! Impressive.

Can't make it today? No worries. Call Jonathan Benton Bookseller at (205) 870.8840 to reserve your copy and have it signed while she's there and pick it up as you're able. This book makes a great gift for the holidays for the special Diva or Dude in your life!

The drink on the book cover photo is a Pimm's Cup. "I discuss the Pimm's cup and the city's most famous location for drinking them (The Napoleon House) in the book. The Napoleon House is widely considered the best place in New Orleans for a Pimm's Cup and they go through hundreds of them a day," she told me. Jennifer's recipe is:
1 3/4 ounces Pimm's No. 1
7 up
Cucumber Slice
Fill tall Collins glass with ice cubes. Add Pimm's and fill remaining with 7 up. Stir and garnish with a cucumber slice.

Jennifer told me that her favorite drink lately is a mojito. "The Mojito in the shot that I am holding is Fresh Berry Mojito from the Marigny Brasserie on Frenchman Street in New Orleans. The place is not in the book because, well, it's not old. But, it is a great off-the-beaten-path place to grab a drink and their mojitos are legendary." Just special tips for you, my fabulous readers! By the way, doesn't Jenny look like a toddy expert you want to hang out with?!

When I told Jenny that the mojito in her hand here didn't look like any mojito I've had the pleasure of encountering, she responded, "The recipe for the one I am holding I don't have, but it is basically fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) macerated and soaked in Champagne overnight. Then those are added to a glass with mint and a little sugar. They are then muddled in the bottom of the glass and ice and light rum are added and some soda water. It is garnished with a slice of strawberry."

'Scuse me while I run out for ingredients, this great toddy book (supporting a LOCAL bookstore), and to make reservations on Express Jet to The Big Easy. Cheers!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Vampires and Homicidal Maids

Do you ever get the feeling that there's something sinister in the air??? People conspiring against you??? Is it getting close to Halloween and folks taking it a wee bit too seriously? I offer the following true, scary story ...

The professional cleaning service who "cleans" my house is trying to kill yours truly -- a good, paying customer for many years. ME!!! I work out of my house. Been doing so for the last 15 years. Anyway, yesterday morning during the routine cleaning unbeknownst to moi, the cleaning team put a toxic concoction in all of the toilets. I did hear a sizzling sound throughout the day, but assumed it was due to the fantastic purple and silver scarf wrap I was wearing over my all-black outfit. It did look good. My shoes ... Oh, sorry. Right. Posting. I'm back. So, I was here working ALL DAY breathing POISON. If I didn’t before, I have some kind of breathing problem now – I can barely catch my breath and the stuff dripping in my throat is like slime from New Jersey. The headache I had last night was beyond horrendous. Imagine my surprise when my doorbell rang this morning. The cleaning service showed up unannounced at 9 a.m. after I complained. I'm starting to think that they were checking to see if they'd done me in yet or if they needed to try again.

I was home when the homicidal cleaners showed up BECAUSE my 4 year old BIT my 6 year old approximately 5 seconds before we HAD to walk out the door. I'm talking punctured and bruised skin kind of bite. LORD! Anyway, I had to punish the biter and the bitee had to be at school. Yeah. Fun morning.

Whaddya think, Kitten? Can I blame the biting behavior on the sinister toxic fumes pulsating through my home's ventilation system? Should I terminate the cleaning service before they terminate me? I'm leaning towards yes.

Monday, October 15, 2007

SHRIEK!!!

Boston College is ranked #3 in the BCS and AP!!! I just fainted!

Better go to http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex for the whole list, Pumpkin. I'm off for a celebratory toddy!

Get Your Yard in Gear, Part III - Final Chapter

I am compelled to finish what I started, so I submit the final chapter of the fall yard tips. We'll move on to what you're clamoring for (tee, hee!) - Halloween topics.

Turning to Trees
Looking around, you notice the gorgeous colors - if your trees aren't dormant due to the drought. Don't freak out YET about your seemingly dead trees, bushes, or plants until the spring if you're in my neck of the woods, the "Severe Drought Zone". Hopefully, we'll get some rain so as not to further tax our perennials. But back to the topic...
What’s your favorite fall foliage color, Pumpkin? Not all leaves contain sufficient amounts of pigment to produce vibrant color, which is why the leaves of some trees turn from green to brown. Here's a list of some of the best fall-foliage trees:
Yellow: sugar maple, tulip poplar tree
Orange to rust: sugar maple
Red: red maple, oak
Mixed colors: dogwood, crape myrtle, sweet gum, pear, sassafras.
If you're looking for trees with excellent fall foliage, visit local nurseries when the colors are at their peak. Fall is also the best time to plant trees because it gives the roots time to establish before the summer heat beats down on the tree. Trees for planting are often on sale at the end of the growing season.

Roses
· Fall is not the ideal time to prune roses. This could stimulate new growth that may not be able to survive much longer. Do cut off any dead wood.
· Replace ties with jute twine. Natural fibers make the best ties because they are more flexible. They will break down over time. At that point, though, it will be time to retie the plants anyway.

Fall Gardening Resources:
Weather.com – Home & Garden, Lawn & Garden. Put in your zip code and it tells you what plants grow in the climate as well as a garden forecast. You can also put in a plant name and month and it tells you what to do with that plant.

Scotts.com - I signed up for their email list on what to do to my lawn and when. You put in your zip code and type of grass you have. It's an excellent service, I guess; they didn't have any drought tips and sent out emails to my withering zip code encouraging all sorts of planting. So, take it, as with everything else, with a grain of salt. Otherwise, a great resource.

Your local county extension office

Auburn University (or your local land grant university)

Off to brush up on pumpkin tips for tomorrow. Toodles, Poodles!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

My Eyes, My Eyes. A Reprise, of sorts

Several of you close to the Main Dish got an email or heard the story this summer. I post it now for the good of the group. We had another incident in the car this very afternoon before soccer with hand sanitizer. Muffin, remind me to program Poison Control into my cell phone. Here's the original story and what to do:

The Brainiac is watching the SpongeBob Network downstairs resting before the T-Ball play-off game. I’m upstairs working. Suddenly, I hear loud, awful shrieks of agony: “Ow, ow, ow. Mommy, help!!! HELP!!! I’m blind. I’m BLIND!!!!!”

I don’t think I hit a stair running to him, those words being pretty alarming to a parent. In a burst of wisdom, the child, watching TV, decided that he needed sunscreen (he won’t be going outside for hours, by the way) and starts applying to his face. Of course, it runs into his eyes; hence, the ear-piercing screams akin to amplified nails on a chalkboard. Apparently, sunscreen REALLY BADLY stings when it gets in the eyes. I quickly wet a washcloth and put it on his eyes, but that didn’t work for long. Then I knocked off everything from my bathroom counter, hoisted the kid (boy, he’s heavy!) up there lying down, stuck his head under the faucet and ran water. The screaming intensified as he bumped his head on the faucet trying to … well, I don’t know what he was trying to do. I left him there, told him NOT TO MOVE, and I called the doctor’s office, who told me to call Poison Control. I was surprised since he hadn’t ingested it (Thank GOD!), but the nice lady at Poison Control knew exactly what to say.

You know, I’ve read: “Avoid contact with eyes. If contact occurs, flush thoroughly.” It seems straightforward enough, but now when faced with it I wondered how to properly flush an eye – especially an eye belonging to someone other than me. So, Poison Control Lady told me to put the screaming banshee in the shower for 15 minutes. The Sun-Screamer doesn’t even have to keep their eyes open and it will still work. The eyes may appear blood-shot, but don’t put any eye drops in the eye for 24 hours. He’s totally fine, by the way. Can see SpongeBob clearly from a distance once again.

Side note: I'd been using the sunscreen stick on the boys' faces ALL SUMMER. Why he thought to squirt the stuff on his face ... oh yeah, he's a a boy and boys will do weird, strange things, so just get over it (I'm channeling the Main Squeeze, a successful father of a successfully grown boy).

May you never need this information! But if you do, please note that the same approach applies when hand sanitizer is squirted into the hand and bits of it splash into the eye. Although, a mom feels much more helpless driving down the road away from home at 45 mph than in the comfort of her own abode. Thank goodness for bottled water.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on?

Quick reminders (random order) for you awesome Divas and Dudes-

1. Vote in the poll to the left. I cater to your whims ... um ... except for one of you and you know who you are, though the incessant tries for about 2 years are amazingly flattering :)
2. Please visit my sponsors.
3. Post to the blog instead of emailing moi your comments. They're terrific. The group wants you to share. Really. Why should I be the one to have all the fun?

Guys, have you purchased your purple tie or shirt for the season? Tick, tick - fall's here! Love those shoes, Poodle. And Kitten, that color is amazing on you. You are the best-looking group of blog readers ever!

So, I had to break up the Fall Foliage/ Yard Work Parade (let me know if you're clamoring for Part III, 'cause you know I have it in the wings - post to the blog!!!!). While I do love, love, love a theme, I had to interject a little of my own personal spice. After all, all yard work and no play leaves a Main Dish ... well, heading for the shower thanks to all this humidity!

Kisses!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Get Your Yard In Gear, Part II

Don’t let your pots rot
Disinfect pots to get rid of moss and soil residue that may have disease:
· First, soak the pots in a sink, bucket, or bowl filled with a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water. Then scrub them inside and out with a scouring pad or bristle brush (Do you still have a baby bottle cleaning brush? Use that – it’s perfect).
· To prevent buildup of icky mold, let pots dry completely before stacking and storing by laying them on their sides, one tucked inside another
· Never stack pots vertically—changes in temperature and humidity will make them swell, causing them to stick together and they’ll break when you pull them apart. Didja' know that, Kitten?

Don’t be a tool to your tools
· Since tools seldom become obsolete, it makes sense to keep them going as long as possible.
· At the end of your gardening time, wipe off dirt and moisture
· Every couple of months, sharpen dulled edges, grease creaky hinges, and replace missing parts. · Disinfect pruners before using them on other plants as you remove spent blooms and foliage throughout the garden.

Light – Bulb on Bulbs
As far as planting goes, bulbs are on my mind, specifically tulips, crocuses, jonquils, and irises.
· Plant them before the ground freezes.
· Keep them in a cool, dry place until you plant them (mine are in my garage refrigerator currently)
· You don’t necessarily have to dig them up year after year.
· When selecting bulbs, bigger is better. Large bulbs produce more impressive blooms.
· Bulbs should be firm and look fresh
· Plant them with the fat side down. I'll bet you wondered about that.
· They need to be planted in well-drained soil. When bulbs fail, it's usually because they rotted in wet ground. Most bulbs prefer full sun. I know I do.

More to follow, my little garden mumsie. I'm on a roll. Yard bags adorn my curbside hoping to be picked up tomorrow (Columbus Day - we just never know when the city trucks have a mystery day off!). Toodles!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Fall is here. Get your yard in gear. Part I

The weather is gorgeous outside. The humidity is gone and hair isn’t frizzing so much. It will probably get hot again, yet there are no worries of a freeze any time soon, so you can’t really winterize. But you can organize, my little Mumsie!

Fall is a great time to plant perennials, bulbs, trees and shrubs. Fall maintenance gardening primarily consists of weeding, deadheading, dividing overgrown plants, removing spent annuals, amending soil and adding needed mulch.

Schedule the work over several weekends so it doesn’t become overwhelming. Take a walk around your garden and look at how all the plants did over the summer. If you're yard's like mine, your precious plants are mostly dead due to the drought. Moving on:

Clean up your act: Cut down and remove the past season’s annuals and vegetables, shake soil from roots and add them to the compost pile. Cut back faded or dead foliage on perennials after the first hard frost, and compost.

Top Dress (plunging neckline, anyone?): Top-dress the area you take plants from. Topdressing means applying a layer of fertilizer, mulch, or compost to enrich the soil; all of these provide nutrients and organic matter that leach into the soil throughout the winter.

Intensive Care. Check the overall health of plants; look for diseases and damage.
· Rake up and compost fallen leaves on the lawn, and pull weeds.
· Start planning for mulch. Put that blanket on in a few weeks to protect plants.
· Brush off any mulch that is sitting on branches of shrubs because it can cause leaves and needles to yellow.

Princess Perennials
Perennials can be cut back for the next season: Cut the stems off right near the ground, giving the plants a neat appearance and readying them for spring re-growth. To save the plants you use for cooking, such as rosemary and thyme, pot them in a suitable container, place them in a sunny area in your kitchen, and use them throughout the winter. Dividing perennials (esp. tubors) reinvigorates plants and gives you new plants to add to other areas of your garden or to share with neighbors and friends.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

What is the deal with the South Carolina flag?

This flag is displayed everywhere both as a flag and as an adornment. I mean, it's a nice place with a rich BBQ history and all, but car decals bearing license plates from other states? Why when you live in, say, Alabama do you fly your South Carolina flag outside your house? What do these SC-o-philes want to convey? Do they wish they were back there? Is it a harkening to something? A secret fraternity?
I went so far as to research the flag hoping to gain insight. Found out the crescent moon isn't a moon after all; it's a symbol taken from the Revolutionary War uniform signifying military prowess. And people accuse Southerners about still fighting the Civil War - you folks got it all over the rest of us! The Palmetto Tree is the state tree and it got that designation from Revolutionary War times due to its strength (a fort wall made of this tree's trunks withstood bombardment from a naval attack). So, now that I'm informed about the history of all this, WHY do people put this flag all over the place? Enlighten me, PLEASE!!!! I want to get in on the fun. It's a great place with totally fun people. When it's humid (read: 99% of the time), you can smell the sweet tinge of bourbon in the air. It's my kind of atmosphere, you know!

Obviously, I don't get it, so if someone out there would please explain this phenomenon to me, I'd feel so, so much better.