Monica Kochelee

I had a coupon for a Smithfield’s seasoned pork roast, so I decided to buy one last week and we tried it out last night.  It was the one that is seasoned with herbs and stuffed with Wild Rice.  It took longer to cook than it was supposed to, which I guess is normal for most roasts - it is aggravating when the directions say 22 minutes per pound and you have 1 1/2 pounds and it takes an hour to cook!  I know the temperature on my oven is good, I bought TWO oven thermometers and they say it is right on.  Anyway, it took longer to cook than it was supposed to, which is aggravating.

I guess my entire family is not a big fan of heavily seasoned items, we found this to be way too spicy hot with black pepper and way too heavy on the garlic.  We would have liked it much better if the seasoning was cut in half.  I might buy it again and then wipe off half of the seasoning before cooking it!

When I got home this evening I was hoping that my hubby was going to cook burgers on the grill outside.  I love it when he cooks burgers on the grill outside.  Let’s face it, I love it when he cooks ANYTHING outside!  Probably largely due to the fact that leaves me with one less pot or pan to clean up from cooking inside!  But also I like it during the summer because it helps to keep the house from getting overheated from cooking inside.  During the summertime, cooking outside is definitely the way to keep a house cooler! 

But my hubby was asleep when I got home, and he stayed asleep so I had to fend for myself.  I don’t like cooking on the grill outside.  I don’t know why the propane grill makes me nervous, I guess it’s because I have to make sure to turn the propane on and off again and I’m afraid I’ll forget.  Or maybe it’s the open flame, but I rather doubt that because I cook with propane inside!  I think I’d really like to buy one of the Outdoor Electric Grills for me to cook on, I would not be as nervous about that.  I’d probably keep it in the garage, though, and leave the garage door open.

I used to work with a woman who had bare naked windows. She lived out in the woods, with no neighbors in sight, and she loved having no window coverings at all. She showed me pictures of the different rooms, she was very proud of the fact that her windows were bare. Although she DID have some hanging plants in front of the windows and some shelves with plants in front of some windows, for the most part I thought that the windows looked too sterile; I feel that curtains add a lot of personality and warmth to a room.  I also feel that insulated curtains are a good idea to help save energy and reduce heating and cooling costs.  I’m always all about saving energy and heating and cooling costs!

The Curtain Shop website accepts competitor’s coupons and has a price matching guarantee - they will match their competitor’s online prices for the same product. They have a wide assortment of high quality window treatments, from tab top curtain panel, valance treatments, drapery ensembles, sheers and door panels to name just a few.  They also sell bedding ensembles and rocking chair cushions to complete the ”feel” of the room being decorated.  This is a good website to check out when redecorating a room!

I was just reading an article on Time.com that France has decided to extend their 35 hour work week. I didn’t know that France had a 35 hour work week! That meant that if they worked more than 35 hours, they got paid overtime! Anyway, France’s government has decided that they will allow businesses to require that their employees work longer hours without paying them. Understandably the businesses are happy about that, the employees not so much.  I know I’d rather have a 35 hour work week!

The local newspaper ran a short story, contributed by some readers about a couple from Maryland who go to the grand openings of Chik-Fil-A restaurants around the country. (For those of you who may not know what Chik-Fil-A is, it is a fast food restaurant that sells chicken products, no beef products. Their advertising campaigns involve cows encouraging people to eat chicken.)   Their chicken sandwiches and nuggets, and their fries are very tasty, and I can understand people wanting to get free food from the restaurant, but this couple has gone to extremes!

They camp out in the parking lot the night before so they can be one of the first 100 customers. Chik-Fil-A gives out “free Chik-Fil-A for a year” coupons to their first 100 customers. This couple has gone to eighteen of these grand openings in the past year, and have decided that they can’t use all the coupons, so now they just go for the fun of it and give the coupons away.

I don’t understand what is so much fun about camping out in a parking lot to be one of the first 100 customers to get free food if you then give away the free food! I’m udderly confused.