We’re here at last! The final week before Christmas. The time when even laid-back husbands realize they had better get cracking. If you’re one of those guys, or are one of the many traveling to your slightly daffy Aunt Bethany’s house for Christmas and don’t know what to give, then these cookbooks are a perfect...
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Tagged: cheap magazine subscriptions, cheap magazines, Shape Magazine, subscription deals
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Happy Unholidays!
We’re here at last! The final week before Christmas. The time when even laid-back husbands realize they had better get cracking. If you’re one of those guys, or are one of the many traveling to your slightly daffy Aunt Bethany’s house for Christmas and don’t know what to give, then these cookbooks are a perfect choice for you. All are $20 or less, including some nifty Kindle editions for less than a buck.
Keep in mind that prices can and do fluctuate. Prices quoted here are what I researched the day I wrote this post.
Also keep in mind that Amazon does FREE SHIPPING on all orders of $25 or more. So stock up, and stick ‘em in those empty Christmas stockings.
Crock Pot Cookbook: 440 Slow Cooker Recipes
Robert Wilson
Kindle Edition
99 cents
Bobby Flay’s Throwdown!: More Than 100 Recipes from Food Network’s Ultimate Cooking Challenge
Bobby Flay
272 pages hardcover
$17.26
Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids
Rachael Ray
192 pages spiral bound
$11.53
Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes
Paula Deen and Melissa Clark
480 pages hardcover
$15.44
The Pleasures of Cooking for One
Judith Jones
288 pages hardcover
$18.38
How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food
Mark Bittman
1056 pages hardcover
$18.38
Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It
Guy Fieri
$16.46
416 pages hardcover
Tagged: Bobby Flay, Bryan Miller, cookbooks, cooking, cooking everything, cooking for one, crock pot, featured, food network, Guy Fieri, guy food, Judith Jones, kids recipes, Mark Bittman, Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, southern cooking, throwdown
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" rel="nofollow">Buy NowNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a funny Christmas movie that’s become a favorite in my household. The 1989 flick stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, fired up with holiday spirit, but oblivious to just about everyone and everything else as he pursues his manic goal of a good, old fashioned Christmas. His wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) is leary of his plans, as are his son Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis). Clark has invited his parents Clark Wilhelm Griswold Sr (John Randolph) and Nora Griswold (Diane Ladd), and the in-laws Art Smith (E. G. Marshall) and Francis Smith (Doris Roberts), slightly whacked Aunt Bethany (Mae Questel) and toupee-challenged, cigar smoking Uncle Lewis (William Hickey) to spend the holidays at the Griswold Chicago home.’
Sound like a typical family holiday get-together?
Wrong.
25,000 lights-just your average house decorating project
After the in-laws settle in, Clark goes all-out, creating a decorated house that can be seen from space. He installs 250 light strands containing 25,000 lights, stapling himself to the soffit and falling off the roof. After hours of work, his initial unveiling fails. Unbeknownst to Clark, his mom and wife keep turning off the main switch inside the garage where a rats nest of extension cords are plugged in. The error corrected, Clark fires up, creating lighting that can be seen from space. It draws so much power that the local electric utility is forced to kick in their auxiliary nuclear generator, ticking off snobby yuppie neighbors, already disgusted by several Griswold close encounters.
Enter the uninvited kinfolk
The Kansas hick kinfolk appear at the unveiling , having traveled in a beat-up old RV, a rolling tenement well past it’s prime. Clark is shocked to see cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn), her sleazy slob husband trooper hat wearing Eddie (Randy Quaid), with their kids, Rocky (Cody Burger) and Ruby Sue (Ellen Hamilton Latzen) and huge, drooling dog Snotz.
The gift you wish she hadn’t
Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany arrive. Bethany gives Clark a screeching wrapped present, her cat. Released, the cat discovers tasty Christmas tree light strand wiring, disappearing in a flash of light and puff of smoke.
Eggnog and moose mugs
Eddie and Clark reminisce about Christmas while drinking eggnog out of antlered moose mugs. Eddie reveals he’s lost the family home, and now lives in the RV. Clark offers to help Eddie treat Rocky and Ruby Sue to a good Christmas. Eddie agrees, giving Clark a list and advising him to get a good gift for himself.
Jet-speed snow saucer takes off
Fun-loving Clark take sthe family to snow resort and jumps on a snow saucer that he’s lubricated, using a new food oil rated to be 500 times more slippery than any other. He launches and the saucer takes off like a jet, leaving a blowing snow trail, weaving through the woods and eventually crashing.
Christmas Eve disaster
After dinner, a hibernating squirrel in the tree awakes and attacks, creating havoc as it runs around. It clings to Clark’s back as everyone attempts to flee. The squirrel nearly escapes until the dog arrives, completing the demolition of the dining room furniture and decorations.
“Jelly Of The Month” club
During all of this, loyal company man Clark eagerly anticipates his Christmas bonus, which he plans to use for a backyard swimming pool. But Clark’s Scrooge boss, Frank Shirley (Brian Doyle Murray), lacking holiday spirit, has heartlessly cut all employee bonuses, instead giving them a year’s subscription to “Jelly Of The Month” club.
Enter the Swat team
Clark loses it, railing at his boss, wishing he had Frank before him so he could tell him off. This inspires Eddie to give Clark a gift. He kidnaps Frank and brings him to the house in his RV for the confrontation. Frank finally sees the light as a SWAT team, called by his wife smashes into Clark’s home. Frank dismisses the SWAT team, saying that it’s been a misunderstanding, sheepishly admitting he was wrong to cut employees bonuses. He gives Clark his, plus an additional 20%.
Santa and his reindeer really do fly
Eddie empties the RV holding tank, dumping toilet contents into a storm drain. Rising methane gas bubbles ominously. Uncle Lewis’s cigar ignites the gas, blasting a Santa lawn display into orbit. Everyone is enthralled, as they watch Santa and reindeer flying across the sky, as Aunt Bethany sings The Star-Spangled Banner. Clark happily realizes that his dream of the perfect family Christmas has come true.
Christmas Vacation was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. and was written by John Hughes, based on his short story in National Lampoon Magazine, Christmas ‘59. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is considered to be by many (me too) to be one of the best Christmas movies ever. But not only can you sit back in your easy chair and laugh your head off, you can become an active participant in the movie by getting your own official Christmas Vacation collectibles, including the film in DVD or Blu-Ray versions, like a Griswold Blackhawks Hockey jersey, drinking moose mug eggnog cup, a snow globe, cousin Eddie’s Trooper Hat, attack squirrel, or proudly wearing a “Jelly Of The Month” t-shirt.
“Fra-gi-le!” exclaims Old Man Parker in the 1983 Christmas classic movie, A Christmas Story. “It’s a major award!” he cries, clearly moved near to tears while his wife stares aghast while he uncrates and proudly displays the lascivious Leg Lamp in the front window of the family’s suburban home in mythical Hohman, Indiana. You can get your own Leg Lamp, but more on that later.
The movie is an affectionate view of a wacky 1940s middle class family with a terrific cast including Darrin McGavin as the old man, Melinda Dillon as his long-suffering wife and Peter Billingsley as 9-year-old Ralphie Parker. It’s a funny, warm-hearted view of Christmas as seen from Ralphie’s point of view, as he struggles with his endless quest to get the Christmas present of his dreams, a Red Ryder BB Gun.
Quest for the Red Ryder BB Gun
The arrival of the Leg Lamp is but one of a series of family life’s mishaps witnessed by Ralphie, and the start of a battle between the Parkers concerning it’s ultimate fate as treasure or trash. Ralphie’s own struggles with everyday challenges both at home and at school are dwarfed by his desire is to get his official Red Ryder BB Gun. But despite his best efforts to plant the seeds of why he should get it with his parents, his teacher and a retail store Santa, he’s always told that he’ll “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Even a department store Santa gives him the same warning just before he shoves Ralphie down a long exit slide with his boot
Pressure builds
Desperate to get his gun, Ralphie’s quest is beset upon by school and the neighborhood. He writes a carefully-worded essay about why he should get the BB gun, only to reel in shock when his teacher Miss Shields gives him a C+.
Daily harassment by neighborhood bully Scut Farcus stresses Ralphie, pushing near the brink. One day he snaps and beats the stuffing out of Farcus, all the while spraying a torrent of heated profanity.
One “Fudge” too many
Depressed by his fading Red Ryder dream, Ralphie is amazed when his dad asks him to help change a flat tire on the family car en-route home after buying a Christmas tree. It would be another opportunity to prove his worth with his dad.
The old man’s language is charged with a high-voltage torrent of profanity, never clearly articulated, but whose meaning is clear. Like when the old man engages the fritzy furnace, demonstrating that he’s one of the fiercest furnace fighters in Hohman history. Pipe bangings, smoke and garbled curses spew out of the furnace vents and the old man emerges from the cellar, smoke streaked but triumphant.
This undue influence upon Ralphie suddenly erupts when Mr. Parker knocks a hubcap full of wheel nuts loose from Ralphie’s grip, that held what was once a tire onto the rim of the family car. “Fudge” says Ralphie, but we all know what he really said. Shocked and dismayed, wondering how his son developed such a dirty mouth, his father orders him back inside the car. Returning home, Ralphie endures his mother’s awful tasting Lifebuoy soap punishment.
Santa To The Rescue
Between the Farcus fight and his “fudge” slip-up, Ralphie figures his chances of getting the Red Ryder BB gun are about nil. But on Christmas morning, Santa delivers the goods. Ralphie promptly goes outside, shoots at a metal sign and the ricochet skins his cheek. His glasses fly off. While looking for them, he steps on and crushes them.
An endearing holiday film
What makes the film so endearing is a combination of a terrific cast and the gleeful narration about life from Ralphie’s perspective, now grown up, by author Jean Shepherd, about what it was like to be a kid in Indiana. Ralphie’s schemes to get his gun while dealing with forces opposing him, including the neighborhood bully and the “triple dog dares” of playground encounters, make for an amusing heart-warming story.
Now you can actually get your own leg lamp
If you yearn for your own Leg Lamp, be of good cheer! It’s available here in several sizes, from a tabletop model sure to irritate your spouse, to full size model perfect for your own front window display, including wooden “Fragile” crate. For a limited time you’ll even be able to pick up an adult t-shirt with a full Leg Lamp and crate purchase. Just click I Want My Own Leg Lamp.
Add the film to your collection
You can add the film to your collection, in either DVD or BLUE RAY versions. I never get tired of seeing the flick. And there’s a 2-disc DVD Special Edition that includes commentary by the film’s director Bob Clark and star Peter Billingsley.
Mount your Red Ryder beauty on your wall
If you wax nostalgic about days of yore, you can pick up an official Red Ryder BB gun and 
have it shipped to your home by Christmas to give to your own son, or maybe for yourself.
Jean Shepherd based A Christmas Story on his short stories
Jean Shepherd’s short stories include: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda 
Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories Both stories are published under the title A Christmas Story in hardcover, audio and Nook format.
I’ve heard the “You’ll shoot your eye out” warning
I heard it and ignored it as a kid when I got my own cherished BB gun. I learned pretty quick not to shoot straight into any hard surfaces, thereby avoiding eyeglass-shattering ricochets. But strange, unexplainable things did begin to happen. Like the windows in my dad’s garage mysteriously disappearing. But that’s another story.
Tagged: A Christmas Story, Christmas, fudge, Jean Shepherd, Leg Lamp, major award, Peter Billingsley, Ralphie, Red Ryder BB Gun, You'll shoot your eye out
You’ve all seen them, early stone or clay figurines misshapen blobs that excite archeologists to cite (guess) origins from this era or that. What it all means is that someone, somewhere, at one time, picked up a lump of clay and set to work fashioning some sort of image representing his or her world. Because of their exotic origins, one can never fault primatives for being poor artists.
I’ve worked with clay before…
But with me you can, as demonstrated by an art teacher I once encountered in college. She asked me to make a figurine out of wet clay. My experience with clay to that point included several aborted attempts to dig out a fort in the hard clay of my home town. I soon discovered that dry clay is about the hardest stuff to dig into other than concrete. But I did notice that when it was wet, clay was sort of fun to play with, as it gooshed through your fingers and toes.
Weirdos in her classroom
So there I was in art class staring at a lump of wet clay. Well, what I ended up with was a taller pile of clay, which I thought was a real progressive sign of artistic expression, but to which my instructor shook her head and moved on down the row, muttering something about weirdos. My creation looked more like The Thing than art.
But even the most unusual creations we students made, can’t be compared to this beauty.
A Strangerine lurks among us
Strngerine
I call this six gun pistol-packin’ bovine a Strangerine. I’ve bought and sold several figurines online ins the last couple of years, but this cow takes the gold. It originated with an artist in Big Bear, CA. As you all know, Big Bear has its assortment of wild-eyed eager artists prowling the mountains looking for inspiration.
Boots on all four hooves
So what the inspiration was for this one looks more like drug induced than artistic eye. This pistol-packin’ bovine has a hard, stealy-eyed look, like the ones the heroes have in Western movies. And this cow looks like a hero. All decked out in a blue vest, a polka-dotted neckerchief, cowboy boots on all four hooves (should I call ‘em hoof boots?) Her ensemble is complete with a cowboy hat jammed over horns. She’s strapped with a six gun complete with a belt that wraps all the way around her ample body, just north of her udders. A prominent yellow star adorns her hat, and her steel-eyed look, that firmness of jaw, identifies her as a marshal or sheriff. She’s ready to draw down and take out bad guys.
But the question I can’t figure out is…how does she shoot?
Does she snap her head around and grab the gun by it’s handle and shoot with her teeth? Or swish her tail in a lightning-fast hip shot to take the bad guys by surprise? Actually, her tail is closer to the gun, and since I have had plenty of experience with cows swatting me with their tails when I worked on farms as a kid, I think the tail is what she probably uses. And dos she yell: “Stop *Moo* or I’ll shot!”
But I can’t say for sure
Well, anyway, you can see my dilemma.
Do I market this pistol-packer to western fans? Or maybe lonely dairy farmers. And what happens if she isn’t milked in time? Does she whip out that gun and hold the poor farmer at gunpoint while he milks her? He better hope his hands are warm, or…
Endless possibilities.
I can only hope that this strangerine appears under someone’s Christmas Tree, waiting to be proudly displayed on desktop, table top, or mantle. It’s now lurking on Addoway, waiting for immortality with the right buyer, a person who will proudly display it while waiting for you to ask: “What the heck is that?”
I’d love yo hear that story.
Tagged: Addoway, christmas gifts, cowboys, cows, figurine, lawman, marshal, sherif, six-gun, stangerine, strangefigurines, westerns
Larry The Cable Guy
“Git-R-Done!” is the rallying cry of 48-year-old Daniel Lawrence Whitney, AKA Larry The Cable Guy. Larry’s “overnight” popularity follows 20 years of working to hit the “big time” using his unique Southern accent, Redneck, and character comedy that uses observations and satire. It’s a long way from the Pawnee City, Nebraska pig farm where Larry grew up. Larry’s made it, and when you hear the phrase “Git-R-Done!” you know his Larry’s victory cry.
What business owners need to speak
“Git R. Done!” is a great example of what we business owners need to speak when unexpected stuff happens. Stuff like customers who won’t return your calls and prospects who fall off the face of the Earth. When that critical order ends up shipped to Outer Nowhere. When equipment breakdowns grind production to a halt. When fuel costs increase. When the government says that the solution for our ailing economy is more regulation and taxes for “rich” business owners making $250,000 like you, struggling to meet payroll, who haven’t seen a paycheck for a month. Business calamities usually occur at the worst possible times. But it’s your job to fix it. And what you say or think affects the outcome of events.
Go with the flow
“I can’t afford this,” and ”It’s too hard!” are great examples of speaking failure into existence. You’ve got go with the flow, meeting and overcoming challenges. Your employees, their families and yours depend upon you. Sometimes that flow is an annoying trickle moving downhill. At others, it’s a roaring tsunami headed straight for you.
Overcome to become
How you face adversity says a lot about your character. We gain insight about character from historical trailblazers and learn what they did to get through tough times.
Winston Churchill was as an inspiring individual who faced great adversity during England’s Nazi blitz in World War II. One speech Churchill gave on October 29, 1941 is remarkable for its simplicity and power. He said:
“Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.”
With such a man leading a battered England, was there any doubt they would triumph in the end?
Stay true to your dream
Your conviction about doing what it takes to succeed must remain just as high. No matter if you’re a single proprietor in a brick and mortar shop, an online seller, blogger or a manufacturer with several hundred on the payroll. If we gave in at the first sign of adversity, nothing would ever get done, created, made or enjoyed. Edison would have given up long before his 10,000th plus attempt to create a working incandescent light bulb. If he had, we would be living in quite a different technological society today. Think you’re too small to matter? Think again.
Get Over yourself
You’ve got to get beyond whatever offends you. Don’t be concerned about what works or doesn’t. Don’t be concerned with what others think about you. Don’t be overly concerned with sales that are slow to come. Whatever business you’re building, it’s building your character as you face the challenges that appear every day. Don’t dwell on the many attempts it takes to create your own light bulb. Dave Ramsey believes that 85% of all business ideas are crap. That leaves 15% that are not. There’s gold in that, there pile of crap. But always be prepared. If things go wrong, if your Master Plan sounds more like ego than logic, revise. Plan your work and work your plan. Just make sure that you have contingencies. With the odds of a failure of ideas so great, it’s no wonder that many small businesses have come and gone because they held onto The Main Idea that they were convinced would work, beyond logic, method, hope, resources, or a contingency plan. Be flexible, not rigid.
Things Change Quickly
The business environment can change fast leaving you standing there with your precious unwanted widget in hand. Just because you like it, doesn’t mean the world will beat a path to your door. Even if your widget is great, you’ve got to gain the world’s attention. Blog it. Tweet it. Post on FaceBooK. Use alternative advertising. Today’s world spins too fast. The internet has boosted us to light speed with a global economy. That means that there are millions of widget makers out there just like you who dream of success you must contend with.
How you treat people says a lot about you
Nothing excuses stupid behavior. Make everyone in your business part of a team. Listen to what they have to say. You may learn something. Like how to streamline your production process from Joe on the line who has an idea you’ve never thought of. Use that idea, but give Joe the recognition and bonus he deserves for bringing it to your attention. Go the Extra Mile and treat you employees like partners instead of than subjects. Extend the same hand of friendship and support as you do your best customers. Because without them, you wouldn’t have any customers or business.
Be accountable, the buck stops with you
Passing the buck is something politicians do. Never avoid responsibility or play the blame game. If you screw up, admit it. Be forgiving of others when they do. Folks employed by you and your customers look to you for leadership, so don’t be whiner. Be an American of good character. Because in this country, we’re all linked by a common bond. We don’t quit. We adapt and overcome. We’re entrepreneurs. To fail is but one step along the way to success. Adversity will come. Face it. Time to create your own rallying cry. “Git R Done!”
Tagged: adversity, American, be forgiving, blogger, brick and mortar shop, business owners, character, customers, Dave Ramsey, dream, employees, entrepreneurs, failure of ideas, Git-R-Done!, global economy, internet, Larry The Cable Guy, production, prospects, recognition, Redneck character comedy, stupid behavior, Thomas Edison, widget, Winston Churchill
