Window Shopper

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Not long ago, my husband and I made two videos that showed how much we love where we live; the slower pace, the lakes, trees, wild life plus the historic places for people to see and enjoy. Hometown videos give the viewer a picture of the life in a small, rural village. Beginning as a retirement town and fast growing into a family center as well, this area is blooming into a retirement hub as well as a tourist attraction in the summer months. We enjoy the benefits of both the retirement area and tourist attractions with the several lakes, recreation centers, restaurant, tennis courts, drive through golf course and so much more. We enjoyed making the videos because it is just pleasant to live here.

Even now, when the weather is starting to turn cooler, we have seen those who are dedicated to their sports heading to the tennis courts and golf course with rackets and golf bags in hand. Enthusiastic golfers and tennis players still have a lot of time before our weather makes it less possible to play the game they seem to love so much. Occasionally, we head in the direction of the golf course, driving into it since they ran the street right through the course which we thought was weird but is fun nevertheless.

All in all, this is a good place to live with the prices somewhat cheaper here than other places. Housing is easier to find and affordable. When others are paying over a hundred thousand dollars for a place to live, you can find many, many places that are far less in price. We live in a neighborhood that has woods nearby. In this village, only a few houses are on a street and the woods is part of the charm. Each neighborhood has their share of the trees to live around. Sometimes in the fall, we will wake up to a family of deer in our yard. So beautiful are these creatures. Yes, this is a good place to live.

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That statement for those diehard fans was a DUH, I know. But I’m a slow learner so it took a few days for me to get that fact in my head. While we love pro football, we are not always available or able to watch the games. In other words, we are NOT diehard fans but we do love to watch the game when time permits. I haven’t been as much of a college football fan but some games are well worth the effort too. Now, whether it’s a tailgate party or sitting at home in front of the television, big screen or small, you have to have the good football food to go with it, right? Time to get to the store and stock up.

I have a few ideas for things to serve at such functions, whether it’s a few family members around the tv or a bigger tailgate party. You definitely want to have something that’s going to warm the stomach and the heart for that game! I suggest chili recipes and dips to go with it. Yes, yes. All lame suggestions since you are there at the tailgate party and I am not. Nope. I just know what I would like to have at such things. Chips, dips, popcorn, pretzels, sandwiches, hot stuff for the cooler days and nights like various chili bowls, various barbecue things like wings and pork tenderloin, brownies, cookies. See? I do know. No, I did not mention every possibility since that would take an entire blog with nothing on it but that!!! But you get the idea. Two places I know have good chili recipes are Tinfoil Chef and Popcorn Cook blogs. They both have put up chili recipes that will get you though a good football party, one is HOT and the other is not. Yep, it rhymes. More later on that football tailgater or big screen moment. Oh one tiny thing here. I am shamelessly promoting both blogs. One belongs to my husband and one to me. *grin*

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We are awaiting an ice storm right now. I do not think it would be wise to book a game of golf for tomorrow around here anyway. Maybe in a month or so. Then a person could probably get around a course. There are die hard players who, I know, have those glowing golf balls or the black ones you can find in the snow. I simply do not see why anyone would want to golf in the snow or the dark. Makes zero sense to me.

You know, when I was a teen, my Dad would go out early in the morning and play a round of golf before he went to work. Since he owned his own business, he could get in a bit late on golf days. The problem I saw was that there were rainy days, windy days, really dark days. But through all of that, he loved the game so he played as often as he could.

These days, they have the lit up golf balls so that you can play in the dark. I see no real use in that but then I do not golf. I did try it but I could not get a real love for the game. As with my Dad, I think that a person would have to have a big love of that game to want to tromp around in the mud, sand and wet places just to hit a smallish ball towards a hole that is not really visible from the tee where you start. Actually, I would be willing to bet that if my Dad was alive right now, he would love to have a game of Nike golf since he was happy with that particular brand. As I said, Dad loved to golf. I think he would eat and breathe it if he could have.

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The long awaited Super Bowl Sunday is here! We have been actually looking forward to this since last year because we missed the last Super Bowl altogether. Gearing up for a game day is not the easiest in the world when you have thought of little else….well, other than the family, blogging, income, bills, pets and the weather, I mean….except the goodies and expecting the phone to ring right when the best play of the game comes on.

Ahem. So, we went to the store the other day to pick up the game day essentials like potato chips, dips, makings for the Frito pie we planned on making and a few other goodies that escape my mind at the moment.

The adventure was in Walmart, otherwise known as….if you love the product, don’t expect to see it ever again. We happened on an end cap that had a new form of Pringles! I usually do not get excited over potato chips. After all, they are just potatoes cut up into thin pieces, then dumped into grease to fry. YUCK! But I have a weakness for potato chips nevertheless. When suddenly, what to my wandering eyes did appear but a whole shelf of Pringles Extreme! Never having seen such a sight, I stopped and peered at the latest and greatest form…“Screamin’ Dill Pickle”!! Oh my!

If the product was anything like the name, I would be in snack heaven. I love pickles and add a favorite comfort snack food like Pringles, now that’s fantastic. So, we bought a couple of cans of the newest offering and took them home. These were supposed to be for the Super Bowl Sunday game. My curiosity would not allow us to let those cans sit. If we did and they were a disappointment, there would be nothing we could do about it. That would be the middle of the game when we opened them. NO! We had to do something and quick!

The plastic lid was removed carefully. The inner seal (which is the biggest pain to take off but I still am grateful since it means nobody has gone before us) whooshes off. There they are. Little chips stacked up nicely. I took one out, very carefully bit off a small portion and waited. It did not take long. BANG! Huge pickly chip taste straight to my mouth! It was as if a giant pickle was pressed into a potato chip, joining them together in a blissful taste.

Of course, we ate them already. Are you serious?!!! Yes, we did have to go back and get a few more cans. After all, we could then put them on a sandwich and be able to have the best of both worlds, pickle AND chip sandwich. WOW!!!

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Yesterday, the fight for the Super Bowl prize went a step toward the winner. The Patriots won against the Chargers and the Giants were the winners against the Packers. I wanted to see the Packers against the Patriots. That would have been an awesome game. However, the game that will be fought on Feb. 3rd is going to be as good, I am certain.

We will be gearing up to watch the show ourselves. It promises to be a great match. But we have to get the right supplies for the game. Watching this on television has it’s major advantages to being at the game, you know. There you are at the game. If you have nosebleed section tickets, you can hardly see anything. But if you happen to be at home, watching on your big screen TV, seeing those guys thrashing it out on the field just like they have been taking testosterone boosters, tackling the guy with the ball. Yes, I admit it. I am a female who loves football but doesn’t do that great a job recapping the game. Sigh. So, I’m just going to go get the Cheetos and Pringles to squirrel away for the big date.

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I realize that the last minute gift ideas can be difficult to come by but this idea works especially for your resident sports fan. Now you can get your sports fan a dog tag that has the sport, the name of the person and/or an additional line on the tag. The symbols are for such things as football, basketball, baseball, soccer, bowling, hockey, stockcar and much more. As you can see in the picture below, I was able to get one for football since I’m a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Go Cowboys!

(The name of the person was blurred out on purpose. The tag looks great!)

But you do not have to limit yourself to sports because the tags can say just about anything you like. Except for obviously things that are not nice, you can have what you like engraved on the dog tags. If you have a love interest and you would like to give him or her something that is very different, this is your gift. As I said, the sports fan will love the dog tag to announce to the world what they love. So, pick a tag, pick a color, pick the words you want engraved and you’re in business!

Now, depending on how elaborate you want it to get, you have your dog tag ready to ship. One of the coolest parts is that they’re not expensive! For some fun in your life, get the dog tag!

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I am not a fanatic football fan. Nevertheless, I do like to watch football from time to time. The problem that I had initially at home was that my husband has never been, even remotely, a sports fan. But when I showed him a game, he got into the action because he loves strategy games and football is nothing if not strategy in the pros. So now, when I watch football so does he. My favorite teams have been picked because of their helmets or their team colors. But, hey, I am female so I can pick any old way I want to.

When I was about 10 years old, watching pro football on television was born out of desperation, really. My Dad wanted to watch it and I could watch that or go do something else. What can I say? I was a bored kid. It was Sunday and Dad was not about to go riding in the car for the heck of it, which we seldom did. So, I got the football bug.

Having traveled around the country, I thought about it a lot whether I would actually go see a pro game or not. Even when I was is Cleveland, it crossed my mind to go see about Browns tickets but I usually went on because I had to do my job. Sigh. It could have been a very sweet deal but I also knew that it was possible that by the time I got back through Cleveland, the game would be over. Bad news there.

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