Create Your Own Cookbook

Do you have a folder of some type filled with assorted pages of recipes you have been given by friends or cut from magazines and newspapers? Would you like to have one cookbook with all of your favorite recipes? This is not a sales pitch; however, I have discovered that Better Homes and Gardens sells a personal cookbook that they call a Taste Book. You can select the book design, select from the many recipes already available, or add your own. Then you can have the book printed and sent to you for yourself or a gift. I haven't tried this yet - but it seems like it could be a good gift idea or way to organize recipes.

Can You Buy Happiness?

I just read about some research that has been recently done regarding happiness and purchases. The assumption going in was that experiences would generate more happiness than material purchases. However, it seems this is not always the case. A positive experience such as an enjoyable vacation, concert, or day at the amusement park seems to generate more happiness than a material purchase such as a sofa. However, experiences don't always turn out to be positive. Negative purchases of experience or material goods seem to be about equal.

This seems like it could be a pretty complex issue. For example, if you buy materials for a hobby, are you buying an experience or material goods. What about if you buy a painting? And one person's dream vacation might someone else's nightmare.

We want to know what you think - take the poll on the right side of the screen, leave a comment, or do both.

For more information from Discovery @ Olin, Washington University Business School - Happiness for Sale: Do Experiential or Material Purchases Lead to Greater Happiness?

What Would You Take to Antiques Road Show?

This is the item that I have always thought about taking to Antiques Roadshow. It belonged to Pat's grandmother and originally had electric candlesticks and the glass fruit in the boat also lit up. I've always been curious about it. I'll have to admit that it is not really my style however, I enjoy things with a family history. So, we'll continue to hold on to it and maybe someday our grandchildren will be curious about it too.

Antiques Roadshow Coming to Phoenix

Antiques Roadshow is Coming to Phoenix

Have you always wanted to bring something from your home to Antiques Roadshow to be evaluated? Now is your chance. The show will be in Phoenix on August 1. You will need a ticket. The tickets are free but there are a limited number available. You need to apply for tickets. The Antiques Roadshow website says that applicants will be accepted at random to be given tickets.

Standin' On The Corner

Are you an Eagles fan or maybe you just like the song "Take It Easy". Well, if that is the case, you can go to Winslow, Arizona and visit the Standin' On The Corner In Winslow Arizona Park. There is a statue of a young man holding a guitar and a mural of a girl driving by in a truck. There is no cost to visit the small park.

For more information: standinonthecorner.com or winslowarizona.org.

Baseball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum

Do you love spring training baseball games? The Mesa Historical Museum has a new exhibit which commemorates 100 years of professional baseball in Arizona - Play Ball: The Cactus League Experience. The exhibit will include interactive children's games and never-before-seen memorabilia. Their website - playballexperience.com - includes a history of the Cactus League. It even allows you to share your favorite Arizona spring training memory.

The Mesa Historical Museum is located at 2345 N Horne St. Call 480-835-7358 for more information.

Fun Free Holiday Tags, Small Boxes, and more

We just learned about thetoymaker.com and thought we would share the information with you. You can print free Christmas tags and small gift boxes and many items for other holidays. There are also coloring pages and paper toys that can be printed. Everything looks nice and fairly easy to do.

A Special Greeting Card

Did you know that you can request a special greeting card be sent from the President under certain circumstances. You can request one for: the birth of a child, someone celebrating their 80th or older birthday, a couple who was just married, or a couple celebrating their 50th or greater wedding anniversary. Recipients must be U.S. citizens. It might be fun to surprise someone with one of these.

For more information: White House Greetings

Minature Christmas Village

We discovered a house in Chandler with a huge minature Christmas Village in their garage. They are open on Saturday and Sunday nights. They also have a food drive box in their drive way if you would like to make a contribution - it is completely voluntary. This is a lot of fun for adults and children to look at. The address is 720 N Los Feliz, Chandler. They gave us permission to post pictures and their address on our blog.

Holiday Lights at the Phoenix Zoo

Another fun holiday season evening is the Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo. This is particularly enjoyable with children. You can stroll through the zoo where the plants are decorated with hundreds of lights and there are numerous light sculptures to enjoy. Zoolights runs from November 27 to January 11. You can buy tickets on-line by visiting their site (click on previous Zoolights link).

Amazing Photos Through History

Millions of photos from Life Magazines archives are now available on-line through a photo archive hosted by Google. The archive includes photos that we never published in the magazine. You can do a search on a particular subject by adding "source.life" to your Google search term. Or you can go to the home page and do a search there or click on a decade to view - the 1860's through the 1970's. You can also click on famous peoples names, places, events, sports, and culture. The pictures are pretty amazing.

Home Page of Life Magazine Photo Archives

"Phoenix" Search of Life Photo Archives

How Do You Cook Your Turkey?

There are several different ways to cook a turkey. For many years, I have been using the Reynolds Oven Cooking Bags. I follow the directions on the box. I shake the flour in the bag. Then, I put a lot of cut up carrots, onions, and celery in the bottom of the bag. I place my turkey on top of the vegetables in the bag. These yields some great tasting carrots and lots of flavorful juices/broth to use in making gravy. One year, I had my oven stop working on the night before Thanksgiving. I cooked a turkey in my microwave in one of these cooking bags and turned out just fine - it was even browned some.

One other thing that I do that works well is that I cook additional stuffing in my crock pot on low. I put the stuffing in the crock pot at the same time I put the turkey in the oven. I used store bought stuffing mix and add the usual ingredients on the box plus a chopped up granny smith apple.

How do you like to cook your turkey? Leave a comment and let us know.

Holiday Music

It is hard to believe that it is almost time for Thanksgiving and Christmas already. If you are ready to get into the mood - you might want to listen to a radio station such as 99.9 FM KEZ which is playing Christmas music all of the time now. I'm not ready to listen to Christmas music all of the time now but it can be fun to listen on occasion. One of my favorite newer Holiday Cd's is the Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays. The CD contains Holiday music not just Christmas music. I also really like a duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie of Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy. It is available on Bing's Crosby's Christmas Classics CD and possibly on other Cd's. This music is also available on ITunes. Leave a comment and share your favorite Holiday album or song.

A You Up for a Challenge?

You might want to consider the upcoming Urban Dare Race in Scottsdale on November 8. It begins at noon with check-in beginning at 11:00am at Scottsdale Civic Center Mall at Drinkwater Blvd and Second St. The cost is $90.00 per team.

What is an Urban Dare race? Teams consisting of two people race across a course that will require speed but also the ability to solve clues at various spots along the course. There may be some skill challenges involved too. It is recommended that you bring a digital camera and a cell phone. You may want to phone a friend for some assistance with questions. Also, some clues may require that you take a picture of yourself at specific locations.

Are you intrigued? Read the Urban Dare blog or the AZ Republic Article - Game on: Urban Dare Race Tests Wit, Athleticism.

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?

This is kind of fun if you are a Jane Austen fan. I'll have to say that I appreciate the books a lot more now than I did when I was younger. Her ability to understand and portray different personality types and social interactions is as true today as it was when she wrote her books. Just the settings and background have aged.

Take the Quiz here!

Photography Workshops to be held at Arboretum

For those of you who live out of state you might be surprised to learn that Arizona has an arboretum. Even in the desert there are a few trees that grow. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is located east of Phoenix. Maggie Leef who is a nature photographer will be offering three photography workshops at the Arboretum. The cost to register is $22.50 for non-members and $15.00 for members. The classes are as follows:

Beginners Photography Class, Nov. 2 from 9:00am to Noon

Fall Color Photography Class Nov. 16 from 9:00am to Noon and Nov. 29 from 9:00am to Noon

Class sizes are limited so you do need to call in advance to enroll. Call the Arboretum at 520-689-2723. To see some of Maggie's pictures click here.

There a number of other special events at the Arboretum that you might enjoy. Or you might enjoy just visiting the Arboretum and going for a nature walk on the trail.

Schnepf Farms corn mazes

As hard as it may be for some people to believe, corn is grown in some parts of Arizona. Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek has been growing a corn maze for a number of years. This year's maze features Muhammad Ali. Below is a link to a slide show of this year's corn maze plus some from past years courtesy of azcentral.com. There are lots of things to do at Schnepf Farms, so check out their website to see all of the options.

Corn Maze Slide Show

Free Star Gazing

ASU has free Astronomy Open Houses scheduled throughout the school year. The next one is September 26 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. This is a chance to stand on the roof of one of the buildings and look at the night sky through a more powerful telescope than someone would normally have in their home. Check their website for more information regarding a talk and other activities.

Stitch N' Pitch at AZ Diamondbacks Game

Do you like doing needlework and are looking for a fun event? Consider going to the Stitch N' Pitch event at the Aug. 24 Diamondbacks game. Watch some baseball and work on a knitting, crocheting, or needlework project. Sit with a bunch of other fans doing the same thing. You get into the game early and attend to a needlework expo. You get a t-shirt as well. For more information, click on the links below. There is even a link to a pattern to knit your own baseball cap!

Info on buying Stitch N' Pitch tickets

AZ Diamondbacks info about event

Official Stitch N' Pitch website

Personalized Radio

Have you heard of the Internet radio site Pandora? You create your own personal music stations by starting with an artist or song. It then plays music which is similar to that which you selected. You can mark songs while they are playing with a thumbs up or thumbs down. The program uses this information to better tune the station to your tastes. The more songs you mark the more the station will be personalized to your taste. You can save the station for the next time you visit. You can create different stations to suit the different genres of music that you like. While the song is playing you can also display information about the artist and the album the music is from. It is also suggests similar artists that you might like.

There is now information about sharing a station that you have created with a friend. I haven't done that before but it could be fun.

What is really nice about this is that the music comes out of your computer speakers. You could even set up a station for listening at work without the need for a radio on your desk.