Score Times Two

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I can spend a considerable amount of time on my feet. When you're dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis, that can be painful. When I started this job, I went for slides or mules; shoes without a back; which could be easily exchanged for work boots or grabbed when I was running late in the morning. One of the things I learned, in reading about RA, was that sturdy shoes with a back, were something worth an investment. I looked at my slides. Right. These are comfortable. Why would I think of replacing them?

Long ago, and I honestly don't have any idea how long ago it's been, I discovered Clarks shoes. They are pricey when purchased off sale or online or in their stores. But they have two things going for them. One, they wear like cast iron. Seriously. I just haven't had to replace Clarks because I've worn them out. And two, they are extremely comfortable. Adding both of these things together, the price paid for a pair of Clarks is, in my opinion, well worth it. You'll get years of wear out of a pair of shoes. Extra value comes when buying shoes from the outlet malls or when they are on sale. 

This spring, JC Penney had their spring Clarks sale. Now, I don't really need shoes, but I have now come to see the comment about RA and shoes is true. As much as I love my slides, I do not feel comfortable wearing them to work anymore. I've "walked out of" a couple pair frequently. And without the back, I'm not the most sure-footed in walking. So, I have three pair of comfortable Clarks slides on the shoe rack that I only wear when I'm not going to be walking a lot. I needed more shoes which would be good for being on my feet and doing inspections. Now is the time, when there is a sale, to be shopping. 

I took a gamble on a pair. 

Yes, they are red leather with two elastic straps across the top. Shoes found on JCPenney.com aren't always in stores, but they are Clarks and I've never had a problem with those ordered online. These are wonderful. I think they match my personality. I would have loudly colored shoes to go with my loudly colored socks. 

Right before Memorial Day, Penney's had another sale. I was surprised to see Clarks included in that sale. Again, I don't really need shoes. The addition of the red ones was adequate for the shoe rotation while doing inspections. I have three pair I rotate through inspections. I find that wearing the same shoes in a row seem to promote achy joints and tired feet. Not so when I rotate shoes. 

These are comfortable and I anticipate wearing them for a long time. But...what's often happened is that I'll find a pair I like and wish, some months later, that I'd bought another pair in a different color. I looked through the sale. They had these in a different color. I spent three days thinking about it, looking at the budget, thinking some more. In the end, I decided this was a good buy for the budget because I won't need shoes now for some time. 

Viola. 

Blue shoes. They also had a black pair but I couldn't justify buying two pair even though I'm, effectively, retiring three pair of slides. As with the red pair, these are comfy and they look great with jeans and with or without socks. They are easy to get into and stay on my feet. I'm going to wear the heck out of them, although, probably not walk through the grass in the front yard after a rain. 

Beverage:  LaCroix Berry Seltzer

Deb

So You Don't Have To

In the great quest to eat things with odd flavors and report back to you, I have consumed two items within the last couple of months. First off, there is a new Pop Tart flavor. Now, I don't go out of my way to eat Pop Tarts. I was actually looking at cereal or breakfast bars to keep in my desk drawer at work. The breakfast toaster pastries are in the same location. Colorful graphics on the box drew my eye, as it's supposed to do.

I like watermelon. I regularly buy it at the store, but, seriously, in a toaster pastry, warmed? Reddish-pink with green swirls of icing. This should be "interesting".

Visually, it looks like these were sat upon before going into the bag. I think we can figure out how Pop Tarts are made. They lay down the bottom crust. The next machine lays down the filling and another machine applies the top crust. They are squished together, probably just like your mom does to the edges of a fruit pie. Perhaps there is some cooking here to make the toaster part of this food simply a warm-up. After the sandwiching of the tart, another machine applies a layer of frosting and, if necessary, yet another machine gets to apply a squiggly something or other. The whole thing is dried and then shoved into bags, sealed and shoved into boxes. Human hands do not meet this pastry until you open the bag and move the tart to the toaster or, in the case of some of them, eat them without toasting. (I'm looking at you, plain blueberry or strawberry flavored.) I'd be interested to know exactly how many Pop Tarts can come off a conveyor per hour.

But how do these taste? I can say, unequivocally, blah. There was a watermelon sense about them, but that was completely lost in the bland flavor of the pastry itself. I was disappointed. I expected these to be weird in a "Whoa. Watermelon" sort of way and they were weird simply because they weren't watermelon. If you have young kids, these might be amusing, but don't expect any watermelon enthusiast to enjoy them.

Next on the "Oh look at that" is a new flavor from Oreos.

Honestly, I'm not going out of my way to look for things. If those things happen to cross paths with me when I'm looking for something else, well then, it's my duty to try them. Otherwise, I'm not in the cookie aisle. For the record, none of the breakfast bars I saw was remotely appealing. I have to pass through the cookie section of the store to get to oyster crackers so that's how I happened to spy these. Perhaps this isn't a "new" flavor, in that it was released this month, but it's new to me.

Peel back the top of the package and there are dark and white layers. There was a slight aroma of s'mores, but if you were blindfolded and had this under your nose when the top was opened, you'd have a moment of, "I know that smell, but I can't place it". It was the same with opening the Pop Tarts. Seriously, if you are going to incorporate some flavor we are not expecting, make it obvious when I open the package. This limp attempt at a scent doesn't entice me to want to try the cookies.

In true Oreos fashion, I had to pull them apart.

They are constructed as all Oreos are, excepting there are two layers of filling. You can, if you like, peel the filling layers apart, but it doesn't always separate easily. The fillings remove easily from the cookie so if you like to completely separate your Oreos, you can do that.

Taste. Bland with a side of bland. Oreos chocolate cookies have a good chocolate flavor. When they step out of that box and make vanilla cookies it's akin to vanilla-flavored cardboard. The cookies were mealy and crumbly and just didn't hold up to being dunked in milk, something Oreos takes great pride in trumpeting. The chocolate filling was grainy and the marshmallow filling was barely marshmallow flavored. You'd do better to toast a marshmallow and stick it on the filling. I think the cookies were supposed to be graham cracker flavor but that was nowhere in evidence. I wasn't disappointed, per se. I bought these expecting them to live down to low expectations and they certainly did. If you have access to a microwave, you can make close to campfire s'mores. Stay with that and save your dollars.

So, there you have another installment of "So You Don't Have To". I haven't bought anything strange lately. I'm changing my diet around so the Oreos and the Pop Tarts were kind of a last hurrah for awhile. But, you never know. I'm out of the bags of sugar snap pea pods I've been taking to work for lunch and eating while playing WOW. Plus, I'm out of dish soap. I have to go get more which means walking into the store. You never know what will hop off the shelf and into the cart totally unaided. I swear. I had nothing to do with the 2 boxes of Triscuits in the cart.

Beverage:  LaCroix Berry flavored seltzer

Deb

Family Outing

I was leaving work last week and saw this family out for a stroll.

Not sure where they nest around the office/warehouse development. There are a couple of retaining ponds, one to the left, where they were headed, and one ahead to the right; so there is ample water and food for them. I remember when, several years ago, we had a nesting pair in front of the old office. Getting into and out of the building was an adventure.

Who wants to go to the park?

Beverage:  LaCroix Berry Seltzer

Deb

Unexpected Fulfillment

Last week, I came home from work to find a pink slip from the post office in my mailbox. I needed to swing by the main building in downtown Wheaton and pick up something. The sender was listed as "Dreamscape". Um...yes. That's very informative.

It took me a couple days to have time to get there. All the while I went through my head trying to remember who "Dreamscape" was and what could they possibly have sent me which would require a signature upon delivery. I needed stamps so picking this up was a good thing. Maybe it was a scam. I can refuse it, right? I was nervous, you need to know, because I simply could not remember anything from a "Dreamscape". The post lady came to the window with a small parcel. Here's the package.

I looked it over. It still didn't register as anything I might have ordered. The return address was rather smudged so I couldn't quite tell from where this had come, but I signed for it, thinking it might be something from my friend in Australia. I sat in the car, squinting to read any identifying marks. Finally, the words listing the contents of the package became clear. "Dice," it read. DICE! I know what these are!

Occasionally, I'll see a Kickstarter listed on some news site I read. For a time, I must have seen a half-dozen Kickstarters for dice. I like dice. As a former weekly Dungeons and Dragons person, dice are cool and a necessary part of gaming. This particular Kickstarter was years ago, I'm thinking at least 2. The designer of the dice has been very diligent about keeping people informed of the process but he vastly underestimated the time it would take to get his idea from concept to finished product. I supported another dice Kickstarter like that and am wondering if I'll ever get my dice although the creator of those dice has become better about answering emails.

These dice came from Taiwan.

I couldn't get a good photo of the box. They are called "Space Roller" dice. I liked the simple, other-worldly look of the boxes. Very clean design. The dice?

He billed these a "Tron dice", taking their design cue from the Disney movie Tron. I very much enjoyed that movie. It was ahead of its time and wasn't a huge success. Because the Kickstarter was filled beyond what was anticipated, everyone got purple dice. Specific tiers of support, which included me, could pick an extra color. I added the black to the gold and silver. In black light or UV light, the swirls glow, according to the video and photos I saw. I just think they are visually arresting.

I liked the little thank you card enclosed with each box. The guy doing this is looking to get into bigger dice production and he thanked us for allowing him to do his first real production. I haven't actually used these to see how true they roll, but no matter. I just think they are cool.

Beverage:  LaCroix Berry Seltzer

Deb