FALL FUN & NEWS

NESTLE TOLL HOUSE COOKIE PIE (Six Sisters Stuff-Copycat Cooking)

INGREDIENTS
1 Unbaked 9-in Pie Crust, homemade or store-bought
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Butter, softened
1 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts(optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, then line the pie plate with the prepared crust and set aside.

Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy, then beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar.  Add in the butter, then stir in the morsels and nuts.  Spoon it all into the pie shell.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted between the edge and center come out clean.  Cool on a wire rack or serve slightly warm with ice cream or whipped cream.  For those who dare to be more decadent, drizzle some chocolate or caramel syrup on top. Enjoy the yumminess!

Studio 7L - 7 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris, France

BOOKS, BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS
Karl Lagerfeld is a guru well known for his fashion, furniture and handbags.  But did you know that he's seriously into books? 

In fact, he founded a bookstore in Paris called 7L that boasts about 80,000 books. But his own personal library at home includes about 250,000 books and magazines!  He prefers to read to get information, and rarely uses the Internet.

MAKE CASH FROM CASH
Have you ever paid attention to the serial numbers on your cash?  If not, you may be holding on to a gold mine right in your wallet or purse.  The people at www.coolserialnumbers.com are collectors that look for special or unusual serial numbers, and if they like what you have, you can earn some cash.  They mostly look for dollar bills, but a few include any denomination. Here are a few examples from their website.

79999999 - 7 in a Row
67676767 - Super Repeater
00090000 - 7 of a Kind
11110000 - Double Quads 

PIZZA LOVE AND SOME CASH
I promise I'm not pulling your leg, and this is a real job offer.  If you like eating or preparing pizza, you can get paid anywhere from $300 to $1000 a day, depending on your experience by visiting this site: https://ooni.com/blogs/news/ooni-pizza-taste-tester-job.  This is the perfect work from home job no matter where you live in the world.

The roles include some product testing and recipe development, and it's up to you to sell yourself into this pizza perfect job by presenting a video of your skills up to 1 minute, along with your resume, to Ooni no later than October 14, 2018.

But wait - you won't even have to cook the pizza in your own oven.  If you're selected, they'll send you the ingredients AND their specialized compact oven so you can taste existing recipes, or to come up with your own for their company.

PEANUTS AND MORE
Do you like Charlie Brown and the Peanuts, and still watch them on television?  Did you know that you can experience a scenic train ride the on the Great Pumpkin Patch Express in Colorado?  It's a 30 minute train ride there, and once you arrive, there's lots to do.  Visit Lucy's Psychiatric Help Booth, Trick or Treat with the kids, Wine and Beer Taste if you like, win prizes for Halloween costumes, enjoy pumpkin carving and so much more.  Visit www.durango.com, or call 1-888-872-4607.



WHAT'S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Do you remember Bewitched, the magical comedy program that was on from 1964 to 1972 with Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York? The original pilot of the show was sadly filmed the same day JFK was assassinated, and because Ms. Montgomery and he were friends, made it rough for her to complete. She also wasn't the producer's first choice for the role. Tammy Grimes was. Then it was redone as a movie in 2005 with Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman. 

Well, it looks like this classic is being redone on ABC and I can't wait.  I can't tell you how many times I used to twitch my nose and pretend something fun was about to happen.(lol)

SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE
In Long Grove Iowa, Bob Williams is all about chocolate and paying it forward.  First, he gets Hershey chocolate bars from Dollar General, hands 2 to the cashiers in the store, and then whoever is behind him in line gets one.  People that he sees while running around town get a bar too.  Wherever he goes, candy bars will travel.

For the past 10 years, this 94 year old World War II vet has given out almost 6,000 bars of joy, and Hershey's will be spotlighting him and his random acts of kindness in one of their new marketing campaigns.  Well done, Mr. Williams and very cool!

IS YOUR HEART SHOWING?

If Moe's Southwest Grill is in your neck of the woods, be sure to grab your FREE 6 Ounce Queso Cheese Dip and Chips on September 20. They're giving it away all day long!

SAVE ON TRAVEL
Cheapair.com did a study where they looked at millions of rates/flights and determined that to save 10% or more on domestic airline tickets, they would need to be purchased at least 70 days in advance.  Farecompare.com states that buying your tickets on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturdays are the most economical.  Don't forget to sign up with apps like Hipmunk or Hopper to get email alerts on cheaper rates too.

CARTOON TRIVIA
J. Wellington Wimpy, aka Wimpy from the Popeye comic strip/cartoon was something of a con artist, and he loved hamburgers. (If you've been visiting this blog, you know I have to have my cheeseburgers!)  

In 1931 he would visit a diner,  ask the chef to cook him up a hamburger, and he would pay for it on Thursday.  In 1932, the phrase was changed up a little to say that "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."  Of course, Wimpy never bothered to show up on Tuesday to pay his debt, thoroughly stressing out the owner of the diner. That phrase became  so popular, that it showed up in other comedy programs like Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show and the Office.  I wonder if I can go into Red Robin and try that?!(lol)

ATTIC TREASURES

Have you ever watched The Antiques Roadshow?  Do you have some things you found in the attic that you're sure can earn you lots of extra cash?  If so, take really good pictures of the merchandise, provide as much info as possible, then send it to wiiw@countryliving.com, where a collecting team may take a look and give you an idea of its worth.  

Do you like Taylor Swift, and live in St. Louis?  They're looking for lots of workers for her upcoming concert, and the pay is $22.50 an hour! They need help with rigging, electrical work, camera operators, teleprompters and more, and the job will be on September 17 and September 18.  For more info, visit www.stlworks.com or call 314-589-8000.

BLOOD ORANGE SANGRIA

JESSICA MERCHANT - HOWSWEETEATS.COM

INGREDIENTS:

6 blood oranges
2 (750ML) bottles of pinot grigio
1 cup club soda
1/2 cup brandy
12 ounces of strawberries, sliced
1 pint of raspberries
1 apple, chopped
1/2 cup sugar, for glass rimming

DIRECTIONS

Zest one of the blood oranges and combine it with the sugar in a small bowl. Rub the sugar and zest together with your fingers until fragrant. Juice four of the blood oranges (I simply did this by hand), discarding any seeds or pith. Chop the remaining blood oranges into pieces.

In a large pitcher, combine the wine, brandy, blood orange juice, club soda, apples, strawberries, raspberries and blood oranges. Stir well to combine. Place the orange sugar on a plate, then run a lemon, lime or orange slice around the rim of each glass. Dunk each glass in the sugar, coating well. Fill each glass with a few ice cubes, then add some of the fruit

from the sangria. Pour the sangria into each glass and serve!

All images and text ©How Sweet Eats.

SAVE YOUR CASH

This time of year, we're starting to order more stuff online, but there a lot of clever scam artists waiting to get our hard earned moola.  If you've been making purchases from eBay or Amazon, and a buyer asks you to pay differently than you've been doing - stop!  Fake sellers may tell you to pay with a money order, gift cards, or to click on a special link.  Paying this way can't be tracked by Amazon and eBay, and in the event of a scam, there's no way to  to get your money back.

Really, it's 2 things(lol)

I DON'T GET IT
Back on February 14, I posted about Gaslighting.  If you're someone who's ever been treated in this manner, you won't ever forget those feeling of ineptness, insecurity, loneliness, fear or frustration.Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when I recently looked at the reactions to the post, it surprised me to see  that someone considered it funny. Then I tried to think of any scenario or an instance of domestic violence that would be laughable,and I couldn't.  This is not funny or cute, and it makes me nervous that whoever this person  is may be abusing or mistreating another human being, or someone who knows my stand on domestic violence is lurking around a corner waiting to curse me out or worse.  If you are an abuser or mean-spirited person and don't understand what domestic violence means, I feel sorry for you, and wish you well.

JUST NOT RIGHT
Most of you know that I reside in North Carolina, and a hurricane is coming our way.  It's great to prepare if you can, but there's no reason for a business to start charging exorbitant prices for gas, food or water in order to line their pockets.  There's also no need for consumers to start fighting over products in the local Walmart, Kroger or Dollar General.  Reaching into someone else's cart, or pushing someone out of the way is exceptionally rude and uncalled for. Also, why in the world would someone purchase the last cases of water in the store at regular prices, then go out into the parking lot to sell each case for $18???!!!!! Acts like this make me wonder how these same people would feel if someone hurt their wives, brothers, husbands, grandparents or children for a case of water, a bottle of soda or a bag of chips.  I also can't help but think about what would happen during an actual apocalypse.  Kindness is FREE all the time, every  time.

ARE YOU JUDGED BY WHAT YOU READ?

Whatever happened to sitting on the couch to show off your photo albums?  As this guy was checking out in Walmart the other day, I noticed he was grinning from ear and doing his best to impress the girl in front of me who was next in line.  She had a 5 year old son, and his daughter was 4. He suggested that her son meet his daughter for a playdate, possibly setting the scene for marriage in the future. 

Then, despite the cashier trying to move things along, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through pictures of his daughter, paying no attention to the growing line of people who were loudly getting pretty fed up while he chatted(lol).  After all that - he left the store without her phone number. Yikes!

DO PEOPLE JUDGE YOU BY  THE BOOKS ON YOUR SHELVES?

Planner with cool stickers from my buddy and artistic blogger Elizabeth

Yep, sometimes this Planner hangs out in my bookcase

Add caption

If you would have walked into my home about 35 years ago, you may have been amazed at the massive amount of romance novels on my bookcases, mixed in with a little nonfiction.  Fast forward to 2018, and there's good mix of thrillers, erotic romance, nonfiction, and cookbooks on display. 

In addition, I carry books everywhere I go.  Despite what I read these days, people draw these crazy conclusions about my life.  I'm a hermit who never leaves the house, I'm a geek, I want to be a spy, I'm a sex fiend, I don't have time to watch television, I'm a gourmet chef, I must have studied to be a doctor, and goodness knows what else!(lol) To be honest, I just read stuff that I like and find interesting. Do people make assumptions about you based on what you read?

GRAB THIS NOW
Summer may be almost over, but the temperatures in some places is still pretty brutal, so that's why this hat is a must!

The smaller version of this Palapa Hat is about $350 from Nordstrom, but why not go all out and get the $6,500.00 version from the design team of Olmos & Flores, and stay extra shady?

FUN TRIVIA
Technically, Gilligan's Island aired its final episode in September 1967 without being rescued. They made it off the island in 1978, but were stranded again by the end of the show.  Then in 1979 on The Castaways of Gilligan's Island, made it off the island again, until they decided to return by choice at the end of that movie.  Can you believe that the Coast Guard was regularly contacted to rescue the 7 actors?

Mary Poppins is one those movies I can watch over and over again, but did you know it won 5 Oscars?  They include Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song(Chim Chim Cher-ee), and is the only Disney movie to have won this many awards.  By the way, the remake will be released in theaters on December 19, 2018 with Emily Blunt.

Who comes in second with 3 awards?  Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

YUMMY, YUMMY
Did you know that women have more tastebuds than men? According to a Yale study, 35% of women vs 15% men are considered supertasters because they can actually identify sweet, sour or salty flavors better than most other people.

SHOW OFF YOUR COOKING SKILLS
If you have a cool, tasty and unique recipe with Pillsbury biscuits, cookies, pizza dough or crescent rolls and uses 8 ingredients or less, you have until September 12 to enter https://www.pillsbury.com/bake-off-contest/entry  for the chance to win $65,000.  But even if you don't win the grand prize, there's still the chance to win some extra cash!

YELP FOR CASH
Sure, Yelp is still popular for providing restaurant reviews, but did you know that you can actually earn money for eating at literally thousands of food places that participate in the program?  It's easy to sign up by linking your credit or debit card, paying your bill, then getting 10% added right back to your card!  Sign up here - https://www.yelp.com/rewards/signup.

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE - David Venable













INGREDIENTS

• 1
  package chocolate fudge cake mix
• 3/4
  cup water
• 1/4
  cup vegetable oil
• 3
  egg whites
• 1
  (6-ounce) container strawberry yogurt
• 2
  quarts fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1
  (16-ounces) container whipped cream or fresh whipped cream
• 4
  ounces mini chocolate chips
  
  DIRECTIONS
  Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a rectangular baking pan
  

  

  Beat cake mix, water, oil, egg whites, and yogurt in a large bowl on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into the greased pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Cool completely. Turn cake out onto a cutting board. Cut in half horizontally, and place the bottom layer on a trivet. Frost the cake with whipped cream and then scatter sliced strawberries on top. Place second layer of cake on top and repeat layering with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
  

  

  Garnish with a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips on top of the strawberries. Yum!
  
  If you want to cheat, or don't have the time, purchase a chocolate pound cake and cut it into layers instead.
  
  

Smiling at someone is always FREE, and laughing for 15 minutes per day can actually burn anywhere from 10-40 calories.

lol