This is Why I Love Hewlett-Packard

As most of you know I have a small business. Because it's still small I have to be careful about every dollar I spend on business expenses. So when I accidently ordered three packages of Hewlett-Packard photo paper (from hp.com) with 25 sheets in each package when I meant to order the 50 sheets-per-package size (because the cost-per-sheet is lower), I immediately re-ordered the correct size, and then called HP customer service to arrange to return the first order.

Before I even tell you what happened today let me just mention that shipping for paper, ink, and many other essentials from HP is FREE, even for NEXT DAY DELIVERY. That's awesome. AND if you need to return something, you simply call and get a return number, print the return tag they provide, tape the box back up, attach the return tag to the box, and drop it off at the nearest FedEx pick-up point. AND the return tag includes postage! So returning items is not only easy, it's also FREE. Shipping charges add up so free shipping is always much appreciated. The last time I had to return something to HP my Paypal account was credited before I even took the package to FedEx. I love that.

Back to today. I telephoned the customer service department to get the return number and link to print out the return label. Can you believe it, the guy said, I'm refunding your account but you can just keep the paper.

Huh??? "Keep it??" I thought I'd heard him wrong.

He laughed, and said "I can do that, and I'm doing it right now. Consider it a small gift from HP."

Wow. Sure, it's only a little over $40.00; a drop in the bucket for HP, but it's a lot to me.

And did I mention I LOVE my HP photo printer?

A Gorgeous Summer Day

It's a shimmery summer day here in Benicia, with just enough of a lovely warm breeze to set the leaves in our birch tree sighing. I'm sitting outside in the "cat garden" with my laptop and a nicer setting you couldn't find anywhere I think! It's too bad the lighting is really not too good for viewing a computer monitor! But I'll persevere at least as long as my laptop's battery holds out which is about another hour. It's just too nice of a day to be indoors (plus this is a good opportunity for me to do some deep watering of our trees and tomato plants).

The bird in this photo visited one of our hummingbird feeders a few days ago. He's definitely NOT a hummingbird, and I'm pretty sure he (or she?) visited us last year about this time as well. Naturally, I can't remember what kind of bird he is, and I'm thinking we never were really sure if he was a northern tangier or an oriole, even though we checked our bird guides. He's got an orange head and body and tail, with brown/black/grey on his wings and belly. If anyone knows what kind of bird this is, please let me know!

We've got lots of hummers right now, too, and mockingbirds. The mockingbirds usually nest somewhere nearby and sometimes dive-bomb our cats when they are in the garden. As if the cats could get anywhere NEAR the nests! They are well-confined to their garden, but I guess the mockers don't know that and, after all, a few years ago our male Burmese cat, Tony, did find a mockingbird nest (they nest in evergreen trees only about 3 feet from the ground, how foolish is that?) and killed all three of the babies just before they fledged. It was tragic.

Mike is at work today and, can you believe it, he had to work on the Fourth! I was NOT happy about that, nor am I pleased he is working today. It's a shame he has to miss this gorgeous weather. No one should be inside on a day like this. And I just noticed that a pure white gladiolus has sprung up and bloomed! We planted bulbs years and years ago and didn't do a good job cultivating them so over the years we've had fewer and fewer. Last year I'm not sure we had any at all and now, out of the blue, popped this one tall stalk with a dozen buds, the lowest three already blooming. I often think things like that are "signs."

I wonder what it means?

Happy (Belated) Father's Day, Dad !

Last month I posted a photo of my mom from the 70's, for Mother's Day. So here (a little late) is a picture of my Dad from the same general time period. Happy Father's Day, Dad! (I don't feel too bad about this post being late because I was actually with my Dad on Father's Day.)

I think this photo is about 1977 or so (dontcha love those plaid pants). During that time he was president of a little company called Automecca which produced the vehicle shown in the photo, the Roamer SportsVan. My dad has always been seriously afflicted with the Entrepreneur Bug and has owned a number of businesses over the years. As anyone who owns a small business knows, its rare to make more money than just enough to live on! I think my mom would have preferred my dad to have always had a "regular" job, but what would our lives be if we didn't take a few risks and go after our dreams?

My siblings and I certainly picked up on that lesson. Out of seven kids three of us run (or have run) our own businesses, and most, if not all, of my other sibs have expressed the desire to do the same. I guess we've inherited that mix of dreamer, optimism, and creativity that makes calling our own shots so irresistible. I'll never get rich with my little biz, but I'm sure having a good time.This photo is from about 1960. I'm on the left of my dad and my brother, Mike, is on the right. My dad taught all of us kids to ride two-wheelers as soon as we were old enough. He was very much involved in Boy Scouts for many years with both my brothers, and I got to go along on many hikes and campouts. He body-surfed and built sandcastles at the beach. He was my first dance partner, and he taught me to drive a car. Of course, he did once leave me behind at a hardware store when I was about 3 (he forgot he had me with him)!

Nobody's perfect but, as a dad, mine comes pretty darn close. Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you!

The Purr...fect Solution to Keeping Cats Safe & Happy

Here's Jack safe behind our cat fencing. We installed this fencing three years ago when Jack and Scout were kittens. We had lost our handsome male Burmese, Tony, to a car earlier that year. It was so traumatic for me that I knew I could no longer allow my cats to roam the way I always had. I didn't want to go through finding another cat in the neighbor's yard, dead, from being hit by a car right in front of our own home.

We looked at a lot of different types of fencing and finally settled on the product provided by Purr...fect Fence at http://www.purrfectfence.com/. When properly installed this fencing is truly escape-proof yet allows cats the freedom to enjoy the outdoors and frees me from any worry that they will be playing in the road. We have a cat door so our cats can go in and out as they please which frees us up from being a door monitor.Here is a view of the cat garden from where I was standing under the arbor. They have all this room to roam! You have to look closely to see the slim black poles and the mesh fencing attached to it which runs just inside the wood fence. That's how unobtrusive the fencing is; it certainly doesn't make our garden look like a prison yard.Jack likes to stroll (or patrol?) along the stones that border our flower gardens. There's always a bug or butterfly to chase, grass to nibble, and dirt or warm concrete to roll on.
Looks like Scout is right behind him! She's really the superior hunter and has brought in many a lizard, bird, or rodent. That is the only downside to letting my cats go outside. I do have to clean up feathers or lizard pieces now and then, or corner and trap a mouse that she's brought into the house and let go. Nice!

In California there is talk of making owners register & license cats, just like dogs, and of requiring cats to be confined to the owner's yard. Happily, we're ready for that now. I know I've blogged about our cat garden before, but after spending an enjoyable hour out there this morning I just felt compelled to write more about it, and encourage anyone with cats to look into installing this awesome fencing. It could totally change your life and save that of your cat.

In Defense of Self-Portraits or, "Dah-ling, you look mah-velous!"

Ok, so we all hate photos of ourselves. I don't like getting my picture taken because I never like the way I look when I see the photo. I compare myself to the way I looked ten years ago. I was thinner; my hair had less gray in it; I had fewer wrinkles. What I usually find myself saying is, "Don't aim that camera at me -- I look terrible!" And the last thing I thought I'd ever do is . . . take a photo of myself deliberately!

Ok, so no one looks as "good" as they did ten years ago - why would we expect to? Isn't that just silly? Ten years of living is going to leave its mark on us, especially if we are living life to the fullest. Every gray hair has its story, every wrinkle, too, and would we honestly give up a single wonderful meal shared with family and/or friends in order to carry just one or two fewer pounds?

So let me put in just a few words in defense of self-portraits, in favor of jumping into (instead of out of) group photos, and of allowing others to point their cameras our way because we do want to be captured in all our glory and with all our imperfections because . . . ten years from now . . . we aren't going to look as good as we do today, right now!

That's right - ten years from now we will look back at the pictures and say "whoa, baby, I looked good!"

My advice? Get out that camera, hold it at arm's length, point it at your face and take a photo because, dah-ling, you look simply mah-velous!

World's Most Beautiful Bride-to-Be

If you've been watching my ticker box you'll know it's only FIVE DAYS 'TIL THE WEDDING!
This is Dianna Marie Oliver. Soon to be Dianna Marie DeZubiria! She's marrying my son, Rodrigo. I have always wanted a daughter (or two!) and soon my wish will come true! Next on my Wish List?? Grandkids (hint hint)!

Here are just a couple more photos from Dianna's bridal shower on June 1st. It was a wonderful party at her aunt Jeannette's lovely home. Forty of more people were there and Dianna received so many nice gifts including (All moms, hide your eyes!) several articles of lingerie.
It's not just her wedding gown that will be a special surprise to her husband-to-be on June 14th!
This is me, my niece Megan, my Mom, another niece Kirsten, and my sister Lisa. We all attended the shower together and had a great time. The food was delicious, the decorations very pretty, the games fun, and we got to meet lots of Dianna's family, friends, and co-workers.

The next few days will be whirlwind-busy while we all scramble to finish up last-minute preparations for the wedding on Saturday. I just called Mike at work to remind him to ask for at least Thursday and Friday off. I wish he could get more time off but that probably won't happen. We'll make the long drive from northern Cali to southern Cali on Thursday, and will probably stay at my mom and dad's house (if there's room).

I will see many of you there! And for the rest of you, stay tuned.....there WILL be photos!

Baby Girl

Here's one of the newest additions to my ever-growing family. This is Leah, 3-month old daughter of Brittany and Brandon. Isn't she absolutely adorable???

My younger brother, Steve, is Leah's grandpa, and I think it's entirely unfair that Steve got to be a grandpa before I got to be a grandma! He has two grandkids now, and another on the way.

Well, maybe I won't have to wait TOO much longer since my oldest son, Rodrigo, will marry his sweetheart, Dianna, in just 8 days!

There's Nothing like Fresh-baked Bread

Nothing tastes better than fresh-baked bread. While I was growing up my mom baked 4 loaves of bread at least twice a week for our large family. I loved coming home from school and smelling that bread baking in the oven . . . almost as much as I loved smelling her fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies! My mom still bakes, though not as often since it's now just her and my dad at home, but I always look forward to her bread when I visit.

These days everyone is so busy that few have the luxury of devoting the majority of an entire day to the process of homemade bread. Even for people who are self-employed and work from home, like I do, can't devote the time (at least not very often) to make and knead the dough, put it through all its necessary restings and risings and, finally, bake it. So, when I found this book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day," looked through it and realized the authors literally meant FIVE minutes a day, I couldn't wait to try out their new technique.

You've seen the photo (above) of my first loaf of artisan bread. It turned out great!

This is the dough ball before it was baked, on a wooden chopping board sprinkled with cornmeal. I chose the "Light Whole Wheat Bread" recipe for my first attempt.
Yep, those are cat paws. It's Jack. He always wants to help in the kitchen. I let him watch. No touching or tasting!
Here is the bread after I cut the first slice. The texture is wonderful, the crust thick and chewy just the way I like it and, best of all, it tastes delish!

Did it take just 5 minutes a day? If you don't count the time I spent reading the book -- YES! It's amazingly simple. All you do on the first day is mix together water, yeast, salt, and flour in a great big bowl, either by hand or with a mixer. Then you simply let it rest (in the same container) for a couple of hours (resting & baking time is not included in the 5 minutes a day calculation, of course). The dough rises and then falls a little in that time. Then you pick up the bowl, put a lid on it, and put it in the fridge.

The next day you cut off a piece of dough the size of a grapefruit, shape it into a ball, and let it rest on a cornmeal-sprinkled board for 40 minutes. Then slash it a few times with a serrated knife and bake for 35 minutes or so. And there's still enough dough in the bowl for 3 more loaves of bread! Each recipe is large enough to bake 4 loaves at once, or one loaf at a time for up to 14 days.

That's it! NO KNEADING! That's the hard-to-believe part for me. I've baked bread for 20 years and every recipe, except quick breads, requires kneading of the dough. Plus, the only rising or rising time is the initial two hours, then the 40 minutes before baking.

I'm very excited to have found this book and am going to buy a copy for myself. Until then I'll try not to spill anything on the copy I borrowed from the library.

Last Post from China

I only have a few minutes for one last post from China, so thought I'd leave you with a photo of me trying sheep eyeballs for the very first time! Yeah, they were delicious -- NOT! I also tried sheep testicles! Now I can say I've tried them and didn't like them!

I have more stories about eating strange things in China; hopefully, I will have time to post some of them when I get home. So much more to tell and just not enough time! We've got another travel adventure ahead of us, too, as we take a taxi to the train station, a sleeper train to Shanghai, then either a bus or another train to the Shanghai airport. It's truly exhausting. Then I've got a 14 hour, overnight flight ahead of me as well. Hm, somehow it's just not sounding so bad when HOME is at the end of it all!

That's it for now; thanks for coming along with me on this incredible journey! Next stop -- The United States of America!!!