Cookie Dough

My daughter recently had her birthday and wanted to make a cookie cake, but with a twist. She loves raw cookie dough (doesn't everyone?) but knows that you shouldn't eat it for health reasons.

So she put a thin layer of cookie dough in a 13 x 9 pan, cooked it for 10 minutes until the cookie dough was melty, then lathered icing on it.

It was gooey and decadent and delicious. It tasted like cookie dough fudge and was wonderful.

Richard Doetsch

"The 13th Hour" by Richard Doetsch is a wildly original story line that kept me on the edge of my seat until I finished it (the book, not my seat).

I'm not giving away an of the story to tell you that Nick Quinn's wife is murdered and he's offered 12 hours to relive and find and stop her killer. (What I won't tell you is exactly how that works since that's part of the fun).

Hallmark

I just found out that 2 of our local Hallmark stores have closed. This is such a bummer since I love Hallmark. I've been a Keepsake Ornament member for many, many years. And I love the cool gifts that they offer for specials when you buy 3 cards.

The closest one to us (now) is 20 - 25 minutes away, so I probably won't be going that often. I think I'll write the Hallmark people and ask them about the plans to reopen. I don't know if each store is independently owned (franchised?), or if Hallmark corporate makes the decisions on store locations, but I want my Hallmarks back !!

I'm not affiliated with Hallmark in any way

Stephen White

I've been seeing Stephen White's series featuring psychologist Alan Gregory for ages in my Mystery Guild book club magazine, but it wasn't until recently that I decided to start the series.

I enjoyed it, and I'm eager to see how White develops the characters and expands the types of investigative situations in which Gregory will be involved. As of now, there are 17 books in the series, so I'm hoping they're entertaining and thrilling to keep me interested in reading all of them.

Adgitize Customer Service

While I'm thinking about customer service, I have to applaud Ken Brown at Adgitize (yes, that's my referral link) for taking outstanding care of his members.

Ken is extremely responsive to any question that arises. He quickly amends any errors (if they occur at all), and compensates members for the inconveniences.

I've personally benefited from Ken's excellent customer service several times ( most recently, a few days ago) so I wanted to give him a public pat on the back.

Lowe's Customer Service

I have another exceptional customer service report today. If you remember, a few days ago I posted that my refrigerator croaked and I bought a new one at Lowe's.

When visiting the store over the weekend, we saw that the refrigerator was now even further on sale. I asked the store personnel about a price adjustment and they were very helpful with it.

They refunded my original purchase, then I bought the frig at the sale price AND redeemed a coupon. So I ended up saving about $140. I just wanted to share a big pat on the back to Lowe's.

I'm not in any way affiliated with Lowe's

Big East Basketball

What a disappointing postseason for the majority of the Big East basketball teams this year. It's so surprising that some of the top teams have been upset so early.

I just saw that Villanova was upset by St. Mary's today. Georgetown lost to Ohio University (which is only about 30 minutes away from us, so that was actually kinda cool).

And my Louisville Cardinals lost to California last night. I wish the game had been earlier in the evening since I had to watch it on my computer and I was getting so sleepy that I couldn't watch the second half. (I guess that makes me a bad fan).

Migraine Headaches

First, let me say that I know nothing about migraine headaches since I've never had one. But this weekend during lunch, my son tells me that he's losing part of his vision in one eye (like he'd glanced at a bright light and now has a blind spot). So we quickly decide to go the quick care facility. During this time, he's developing a throbbing headache, but his vision is returning to normal.

The doctor says it's probably a migraine but schedules an emergency brain CT to rule out any other factors. The scan is normal, kinda as expected.

Our primary care doctor today says it may be a basilar migraine which may not allow for typical treatment options. So we're seeing a neurologist as well.

This is maybe the second one he's had where he's gotten this "sick", so I'm reading as much as I can find about migraines. If you know of any good website or book references, please leave me a comment.

Added Mailing List

As you know, I'm a big fan of independent affiliate programs and love to help promote small- and home-based businesses. So I've added a mailing group for my Free WAHM Affiliates site to share the best of home-based businesses that offer affiliate programs with no joining fees, no kit purchases, and no purchase requirements.

I also intend to use it for sharing updates on new programs, closing ones, changes (such as fees, quotas, etc), link changes, sales and coupons from the affiliate shops, and more.

I've decided to moderate the group (at least in the beginning to ensure no spam) and is limited to 1 post per person per day. If you're interested, I'd love to have you join us.

New Refrigerator

Quite unexpectedly, we woke up this morning to find that our "old" refrigerator wasn't working. The frozen foods were thawing and melting, and the cold foods were getting warmer.

It wasn't a planned purchase, but I had to buy a new refrigerator today. Luckily Lowe's had appliances on sale for 10% off, and luckily I had another 10% off coupon. So I'll be getting the new frig tomorrow morning. It's the one pictured at left, and I AM excited about the freezer on the bottom.

I'm not in any way affiliated with Lowe's or Samsung.

Jan Burke

I just finished "The Messenger" by Jan Burke and thought it was an entertaining story. The main character is a guy who was granted an unnaturally long life and he hears the last thoughts of the dying and relays them to their loved ones.

I'm curious now to check out some of her other books. I'm kinda in a supernatural thriller or time travel mode right now, so I'll see if her books fall into that catgegory.

Louisville vs. Syracuse

What an incredible game yesterday as Louisville beat Syracuse for the 2nd time in Big East play. It was made even more memorable by being the last Louisville basketball game to be played in Freedom Hall. Louisville will be moving to a new arena next year.

Even though I haven't been to a Louisville basketball game in many, many years, it brought back so many memories. I was in school there during the phenomenal 80's when Louisville had Final Four appearances and then won the National Championship.

Cleaning Top Sites

I've been cleaning out my Top Site list and weeding out all the nonfunctional sites. A few years ago, top site lists were hugely popular as a way to generate traffic to sites. Of course, I joined a bunch, and created one of my own.

Now, though, many of the top lists that I joined have been abandoned, so I've been "housecleaning". Also, for my own top list, I've deleted sites that are closed 'cos I HATE dead links.

(I just wish I was as enthusiastic about REAL housecleaning.... oh well....)

I'm not in any way affiliated with GoTop100, but you can create your own free top list there.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I just finished the latest book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child featuring FBI special agent Pendergast. This is the 9th book and I'm so glad they didn't stop after the last one ("The Wheel of Darkness").

I'd describe the series as supernatural thrillers and you can read more about them on the authors' website www.prestonchild.com The books have made me very curious about New York museums, though, but I bet they can be creepy.