Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sundays In My City #64 - & LAST CHANCE TO ENTER Giveaway!


This week's Sundays In My City is a short one. I've been on the run lately and since it's Oscar Sunday, I'll be parked in front of the television for the better part of the day checking out the stars and the awards show.

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It's been a busy couple of weeks as I zipped through making this baby quilt for a wonderful family friend. A bouncing baby boy is on the way and this "I Spy" quilt will hopefully keep him occupied and happy while he's playing and learning new things. The baby shower is next weekend and I'm hoping the mom-to-be loves it.


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And this is the LAST CHANCE to enter my $100 CSNStores.com Gift Certificate Giveaway. All you have to do is leave a COMMENT BELOW. And for extra chances, leave a comment HERE and HERE too! (that's where you'll see full details too) Giveaway ends at Midnight, February 28th Pacific Time.

Will you be watching the Academy Awards?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sundays In My City #63 - And Giveaway!


The skies opened up again Saturday and poured-- big time. But days earlier, the skies were a gorgeous blue, storm clouds were rolling in, and the moon was high over downtown Los Angeles.

That white dot isn't schmootz on your computer screen, it's the moon.

This picture was taken from our back yard and I caught it just in time. Another minute later, the moon was lost in cloud-cover and the skies were gray. Sunshine has been peaking out every now and then but no rainbows in sight this time.

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Don't forget to enter my $100 CSNStores.com Giveaway.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment BELOW.

For more chances to win, leave a comment HERE and on any of my new posts between now and February 28, 2011-- The more you comment the more chances you have to win!

Bonus entry: Blog about this giveaway and leave an additional comment HERE with your post link.

Usual CSNStores.com Giveaway terms and conditions apply: US and Canada only (sorry). YOU pay the shipping. One time use only. No exchanges or returns. Must have a blog to enter. I draw winner randomly. Entries close Midnight, February 28, 2011.

How's your Sunday?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Do You Bar Stool? Plus a NEW GIVEAWAY!

The past two weeks have been filled house hunting with my BFF all over town, searching high and low for the perfect place for her to call home. Although we're not close to finding her dream house or condo yet, it has been interesting to see what's on the market and, well, frankly, how other people live.

The word "nasty" has come to mind a lot during our hunt. "Shocking" too, in that so many people have no clue how to present a house for sale-- Like cleaning the cat box, picking dirty laundry up off the floor or using a little elbow grease to clean the bathtub. But, as they say, to each his own.

And speaking of owning-- It seems every condo on the market has adjustable bar stools in every size, shape and color to go with the standard-issue counter seating adjacent to the kitchen. The thing that struck me about the stools is they looked to be the furniture in the best shape in the units we saw which means the owners are clearly not doing this with their stools......

Seriously? And this made the local news, by the way.

And I'm guessing they're not dragging their bar stools around to do this either....


So what's all this talk about bar stools? It's my way of announcing a $100 CSNStores.com Gift Certificate Giveaway. Yes, CSN has nice bar stools, in case you're interested.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below and on any of my new posts between now and February 28, 2011-- The more you comment the more chances you have to win!

Bonus entry: Blog about this giveaway and leave an additional comment below with your post link.

Usual CSNStores.com Giveaway terms and conditions apply: US and Canada only (sorry). YOU pay the shipping. One time use only. No exchanges or returns. Must have a blog to enter. I draw winner randomly. Entries close Midnight, February 28, 2011.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins
Photo Credit: © pisotskii - Fotolia.com

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Manliness

You know I love this guy-- The Old Spice Guy-- I've shared his manliness with you before. He's pretty darn cute.

In this advertisement provided Procter and Gamble Co., actor Isaiah Mustafa is featured in a new
Old Spice commercial. (AP Photo/Procter and Gamble Co.)

Today I spotted his latest commercial and thought I'd brighten your day with a hunk of burning love. I especially like the very last part of this short video.


Enjoy! And please pass the chocolate dipped strawberries.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Sundays In My City #62 - Does This Scream Football?


So it's Super Bowl Sunday in my neighborhood and if I could have possibly forgotten that fact, all I have to do is look out my window-- At my neighbor's PINK garage door....


Yep, it's football's biggest day of the year but it's also the annual birthday party for my colorful neighbor's daughter. Each year on Super Bowl Sunday, the girlie-girl pink paint comes out and a massive gaggle of elementary school kids and their parents arrive to hoot and holler in the back yard starting right around kick-off time. There's Justin Bieber music, games, face-painting, Disney characters and a catering truck or two. I'm talking about a BIG party.

I live next door to Mr. Mom and Mrs. Corporate Bigshot who have two young children. He's a real hands-on Dad so every holiday and birthday is celebrated with great fanfare, a big party, and color coordinated paint on the garage door and picket fence that lines their yard.

Seriously-- It all get painted about six times a year-- with it painted white again in between!

And the yard gets replanted each time with flowers galore. Today, these beauties were planted...

Pretty nice huh? They'll last about 2 weeks then get pulled up and replaced with something less glorious but for now, I'll enjoy a hint of Spring that is rarely seen in Southern California....


How's your Super Bowl Sunday?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gasp!


I was reeling over the alleged lack of beef in Taco Bell tacos-- You know, the lawsuit claiming only 36% of their taco beef is actually beef, giving a whole new meaning to the term "mystery meat".

Godson loves Taco Bell and so do I, so the mystery meat revelation was unsettling to say the least. When Taco Bell countered with their 88% real beef public relations campaign I justified the remaining 12% "fillers" as "seasonings and vegetables" and put the controversy out of my mind.

Every Tuesday after school, the Taco Bell #3 Combo-- 3 Crispy Taco Supremes, are smelling up my car on our drive home. He usually eats two and I, um, err, occasionally eat one, as we cruise over the hill to my side of town.

Have you ever eaten a taco while driving twist and turns on a narrow canyon in swiftly moving traffic?

It's best left to professionals-- Which I am clearly not.

Case in point-- Driving home yesterday, starved out of my mind, with the Ghostbusters theme song playing at an ungodly decibel level. With a taco in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, navigation aided by my knee, I was taking a bite of (translation: practically inhaling) my fave mystery meat supreme when I hit a whopper of a pothole....

And swallowed a HUGE piece of taco shell-- WHOLE. Dang!

As the very hard and very jagged two inch square chunk of taco shell scraped its way down my throat at 35mph, I momentarily thought I would, quite frankly, die from the pain.... So, in an attempt for serious relief, I guzzled 16 ounces of root beer so fast it started coming out of my nose-- But still the taco-- now painfully lodged in my throat, did not budge.

Still driving hair-pin turns in fairly heavy traffic, I searched for a spot to pull over but to no avail and started coughing like a crazy person, all the while Ghostbusters, which Godson has on "repeat", continued to blast my eyeballs around my head. Godson, by the way, was oblivious to all of this and continued munching casually on his tacos.

Fast forward two miles later, the little grocery market half way over the hill brings me hope for salvation. I pulled into the tiny, over-crowded parking lot, jumped out, and gave myself a freakish version of the Heimlich Maneuver in an effort to dislodge the piece of taco shell that was now feeling like the size of New Jersey half way down my throat.

Unfortunately, instead of moving the shell up and out-- The crispy shell moved south and further down my esophagus. But-- if I leaned forward and slightly to the right, with my head tilted to a 45 degree angle to the left, with my arms over my head, I could almost breathe comfortably. This position was not, however, conducive to driving, nor was it a red flag for any of the market's customers to offer assistance, so the problem and the pain continued.

Godson eventually rolled the window down and asked what I was doing. Squeaking out a call for help, he was a champ, jumped out, and started pounding on my back, before running back to the car and get me his soda.

If the situation wasn't bad enough already, I chugged Blue Mountain Dew to try to "soften" the chip and relieve the pain. All I can say is, if the mystery meat, an enormous taco shell stuck in my throat, or choking root beer up my nose didn't kill me, I assure you Blue Mountain Dew nearly pushed me over the cliff-- That stuff is nasty, and thanks to the hideous amount of caffeine it contains, I am sure to be awake for the next 36 hours.

But "the blue Dew" helped soften the crispy taco shell enough to move to a less painful position and I could freely breath again.

Thank gawd.

As I type this, about 8 hours after my "leisurely lunch", I swear I can still feel what can only be summed up as a "taco chunk" in the middle of my chest that feels similar to "heartburn from hell". This experience confirms my "adventure" was anything but FAST food.

Was this a junk food "teaching moment" for me? You bet!

I know for sure I will never drink a Blue Mountain Dew ever again. I will never drive with one hand while I inhale food with the other. And I will only eat Taco Bell sitting in the restaurant dining room directly next to the Heimlich Maneuver "how-to" poster.

Better yet, I think I'll skip tacos all together for, oh about, the next hundred years.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins
Photo Credit: © kmit - Fotolia.com