03/11/09 02:06 - 38ºF - ID#48018

A bit of Spring

I have it!

I'm sorry to say I cannot share it yet since it is in the form of a couple sprouted seeds that are carefully being tended to in our spare bedroom aka the plant nursery.

Much to my surprise when I checked on my "babies" last night, a few of my Cosmos seeds had sprouted already.

Permalink: A_bit_of_Spring.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: gardening

03/10/09 03:06 - 39ºF - ID#48007

Seeds

The nicer weather prompted me to go to Urban Roots to buy my seed starting supplies.

I planted a few flowers and veggies and have everything setup in our spare bedroom. It's the warmest room in our house and once the weather is a little better I can move the seedlings (I hope they sprout) out to our covered front porch which is like a greenhouse.

(e:tinypliny) I downloaded an app for my iPod touch that helps me keep track if my shopping lists and costs. It's not exactly what I want but it's a start and better than manually entering everything in to Excel.

Permalink: Seeds.html
Words: 106
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/17/09 01:34 - 31ºF - ID#47780

First signs of spring

I saw the first small signs of my spring flowers in my gardens today.

How I cannot wait for spring.

Permalink: First_signs_of_spring.html
Words: 20
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/04/09 12:14 - 15ºF - ID#47633

The groundhog outcome is predetermined

weeks in advance too. So much for even having false hope of an early spring, it's already decided well in advance of the groundhog coming out of his burrow.

blah.so sick of winter!!

Permalink: The_groundhog_outcome_is_predetermined.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/30/09 11:30 - 22ºF - ID#47572

Hibernating

Both online and in real life. I'm so over this winter weather.

I hope the groundhog gives us some good news.

Permalink: Hibernating.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/12/09 02:30 - 25ºF - ID#47379

Microscopes

We need to buy one as a gift.

Neither myself or my husband have any idea of what to look for when buying one.

It would be a for casual use as the person who wants it is a teenager ans doesn't need it for school but we don't want a toy. This might be the launching point for a great scientific career!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

tinypliny writes at 09:31:40 01/13/09 - Comment #44444: Sorry for spamming - the oil immersion lens is probably not a good option for a standard teenager. :) It does need a lot of care and cleaning! I remember constantly dreading that I would forget to clean up one day and waste all that money that went into the upgrade, thankfully that never happened because I developed this OCD of cleaning up after every use. It was a major pain but totally worth it. Anyway, make sure you explain this to the teenager. The oil immersion lens attachment is almost like a costly whiny baby.

tinypliny writes at 08:44:11 01/13/09 - Comment #44443: I just remembered one more detail. One of my lenses had an oil-immersion option - you would put a drop of dense oil (came with the microscope) over the cover-slip of the slide and lower the lens in it. That lens had nearly a 2000x magnification.

tinypliny writes at 06:49:00 01/12/09 - Comment #44383: If you actually shopped around in the toys department, you might be able to get them cheaper. Look for:
- some source of illumination of the stage (where the slides are placed)
- Greater than 400x magnification. Anything less is not going to be useful for high school microscopy/ cell structures.
- Movable lens arm and adjustible focal length for the lenses.
- At least one low power lens (<400x) for gross adjustment of the lenses.
- Good reviews (of course)

I had one from Olympus back home. It was pretty good but it was expensive. When I bought it the highest magnifying lens was around 600x but I upgraded to 1000x with an extra lens when I graduated from high school and went to college.

jenks writes at 06:46:28 01/12/09 - Comment #44381: see if you can get in touch with the med school- when I was a med student we all had to have scopes, and everyone would buy/sell them every year. They're decent scopes, but even used would probably run you a couple hundred... (if I remember right they're >1000 new) hmm, so maybe that's not the best idea? But it's worth asking....

tinypliny writes at 03:13:55 01/12/09 - Comment #44370: I would recommend a high power microscope. What is your budget?

Permalink: Microscopes.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/12/09 12:14 - 24ºF - ID#47377

Wegmans was the place to be on Friday!

I saw (e:tinypliny) and (e:mrmike) within moments of walking in. Forgive my slightly dazed look and the moment it took me to recognize you both. I'm often in a daze while in Wegmans.

I'm surprised you both knew it was me under my hat, coat and scarf. I'm often bundled up beyond recognition.

(e:tinypliny) it was a quick trip. I picked up some Wegmans brand pasta sauce (oh my poor mother would just cringe if she knew I was using sauce from a jar!!) and some Wegmans Linguine and Fettuccine. We cooked that for dinner on Friday.

Maybe this weekend I'll redeem myself and make some homemade sauce.

I disappointed to learn the Neat Receipts scanner only grabs the total and the store name from the receipt and not the line item breakdown. A much cheaper stand alone scanner with a good OCR software should be able to grab everything from the receipt and send it to Excel.

Permalink: Wegmans_was_the_place_to_be_on_Friday_.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/08/09 04:45 - 25ºF - ID#47333

I guess I'm not the only obsessed

NeatReceipts®

NeatReceipts is a mobile scanner + digital filing system that helps you manage all of your paperwork on your PC. Includes our NeatWorks software that identifies and extracts the important information from paper and automatically organizes it for you.

Oh yeah, I'm buying one soon.

Permalink: I_guess_I_m_not_the_only_obsessed.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/04/09 02:18 - 30ºF - ID#47279

Cooking Adventures

in a word: FAIL!

My bread did not rise. I think I'll try the dough again with the stand mixer but I need to haul that bad boy down from the attic and then find a place for it. We have a small kitchen in an old house and I'm worried I'm going to blow every circuit in the house when I fire it up. It does not fit in any of my cabinets so that why it sits unused and new in a box in the attic. Shameful waste.

Not to mention, I might have to use it on the stove since I don't think I have enough clearance on the counter tops to open it to pour my ingredients in.

Next up.

Homemade veggie lunchmeat and maybe a stuffed seitan roast from
VeganDads' blog.

We're not vegans but I sometimes cook vegan recipes as I'm always looking to add variety to our menus.

Off to Wegmans and the co-op.

Permalink: Cooking_Adventures.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

01/04/09 02:06 - 30ºF - ID#47278

Food Prices and spreadsheets

I think I am becoming obsessed with our food costs and the cost of the other stuff we buy.

I am happy for the wide selection at Wegmans but they sell 3 different brands of Jasmine rice in the store in 3 different locations at 3 different prices per pound, technically 4 different prices since one brand they sell comes in 2 different sizes at 2 different prices per pound.

In case anyone cares:
Wegmans brand @ 1.81 per lb sold in 2 lb box
Goya brand @ $1.40 per lb sold in 5 lb bag
Dynasty brand @ 1.20 per lb sold in 5 lb bag

Either Dynasty or Goya also sell a 2 lb bag at $1.65 per pound. I cannot read my own notes! LOL

I have started a price comparison spreadsheet since I shop Wegmans, the Co-Op, Super Bazaar, Ni Hoowa Supermarket and the farmers market and Aldi on occasion.

I know all about Guercio's as I grew up going there with my Grandma and every other old Italian grandma on the west side but I have a reason for not shopping there. I'll keep it simple in saying, it's just a place I don't go anymore after some really rude treatment of my father who has known the family since they were all kids.

I'm excited to see a Pakistani and Indian grocer (ironic?) going in on Sheridan drive. It's not open yet but more ethnic shopping options are good.

Now we need more Mexican food items available. The Tops on Niagara Street carries a lot of Hispanic food items but it tends to be more Puerto Rican than Mexican. Who would have thought the only Mexican grocers in the area would be in Brockport and Albion?

Next time I'm out near Brockport maybe I'll stop in to see if they have the dried salted plums my husband loves but cannot get until we head west.

I'll see how long my labor of food costs continues. I am not sure I can stand to be inside during our summer months working on spreadsheets.