An Aha Moment with Ketchup

Yes, you heard me right.

We don't do the drive through very often, but my son had a friend in the car, and we were headed fishing.  It just was easier to pick up lunch on the way.  I enjoy ketchup with my fries, but I usually don't order it, for me or for the kids.  It's beacuse of those messy packets.  The ones where you tear the corner off, and then you have ketchup covered little triangles of aluminum and plastic.  Then you've got to squeeze the ketchup out...onto what?  A napkin?  It ooozes through.  The bag that the food came in?  Then you don't have a safe place to put the little messy bits of remaining ripped packets.  I had no idea how much all of this bothered me until the other day, and Chick Filet served these:

Hallelujah!  Pull the top back, and dip (or tear the top off and squeeze).  How simple is that? Thank you Heinz!

Speaking of ketchup, my brother in law made some awesome ketchup from scratch the other day.  He looked at the ingredients on the Heinz bottle and made his own. 

It is YUMMY!  Although somehow when you say ketchup, you are expecting Heinz, and when it doesn't taste like Heinz, you are disappointed, right?  So I think my brother in law's should be called something else.  Just to get around the expectations.  

And while I'm pondering about condiments, why are there 30 different kinds of mustards, and only one kind of ketchup? 

Behind the Scenes at The Zoo

We were able to tour the Zoo last week and got a bit of a "behind the scenes" experience.

 

I could stay in the aquarium all day.  There is something about all of those colorful, fish swimming that I can't get enough of.

I'm glad I have never had the "opportunity" to have met any of these guys in the wild. Their black eyes make them seem even more menacing.

The zookeeper told my kids that this cat, whose habitat is northern Russia, will be Extinct in the wild within their lifetimes.  She said there are only 35 of these leopards alive in the wild right now. They are hunted by the natives of that part of the world for their fur.

This giraffe was hand fed from the time it was a baby.  So, he was very friendly.  All I could think of was this big guy following his owner around like a puppy...all leggy and frisky, and 15 feet tall!

And, in case no one has ever warned you, giraffes are very slobbery, and they are usually drooling on you if you happen to be underneath them!

If You Sell On Ebay, Here's A Reason Why You Need An iPhone

I've been in a MAJOR clean-out mode.  I'm feeling a little trapped by my possessions.  The keeping of them, the cleaning of them, the ordering of them, the remembering that I own them.  I'm finding that at least 60% of the things around the house go un-used. 

Maybe it's my fault for letting this go on for too long.  I've got baby toys in the basement, and my "baby" is 6.  Others are better at regular purging.  I aspire to be like them. 

My kids are all exctied to have a garage sale. I was thinking the quicker way to rid myself of all of this stuff would be a few car loads to Goodwill. But, the kids really want to be in charge of the "big sale".  I think it's about handling the money, and selling lemonade and cookies more than anything else.  We have agreed that EVERYTHING left over immediately gets chucked into the car bound for Goodwill. I could use some Garage Sale advice if you have any. I've never had one.

For the stuff that's maybe worth a little more, I'm giving Ebay another shot.  So the heirerarchy is: Ebay, Garage Sale, Goodwill. I resolved to charge enough for shipping, as I always seem to short myself, which is a constant irriation.

Here's what I wanted to show you:

There is an app for Ebay Selling!

Here's the first screen.  So easy!  Do you see that little bar code screen at the top?  Your phone can scan bar codes and automatically upload your item. Now, not every bar code scan works..but it's worth a shot, and it's fun.

And if the bar code doesn't work, you can take a picture of your item right then and there. Type in a quick description, and you are Selling!