End of a Love Affair/Scan Your Children!

Tuesday....last night was fun at Petterino's. The Cabaret show had been on hiatus for six weeks so we were all itchy to get back on stage. Table of six: Judy, Bernie, Janet, Curt, Adrienne and me. We sang well! There was also the cast from a new Billie Holiday show in attendance and they regaled with a few numbers from the show. Oh, and the amazing Joan Curto and Suzie Petri - Cabaret veterans also treated us to a tune each. Carla Gordon did a cute song she wrote about Twinkies. The song I sang is one that hits close to home - no problem feeling the lyrics on this one!

So, I walk a little to fast, and I drive a little too fast,

And I'm reckless it's true, but what else can you do at the end of a love affair.

So, I talk a little too much, and I laugh a little too much,

And my voice is too loud when I'm out in a crowd, 

But what else can you do at the end of a love affair?

Do they know, do they care

That it's only, that I'm lonely and low as can be

And the smile on my face isn't really a smile at all?

So, I smoke a little too much, and I drink a little too much

And the tunes I request are not always the best,

But the ones where the trumpets blare.

And I go at a maddening pace, and pretend that it's taking his place,

But what else can you do at the end of a love affair?

Sigh.

So, the list of my favorite things! I got some good feedback on yesterday's post. My sister, for one, said it inspired her to remove an annoyance from her life. She carts her PC notebook around her house and has found herself irritated by having to tote the power cord too and contort herself to plug it in wherever she goes so, she ordered herself an additional power cord. Little things like that make one feel hummy, yes?
More of Sarah's favorite things:

• Fujitsu ScanSnapS1500 Scanner - Robin, my accountant, made me get this when we first started working together. It was kind of a gulp 'cuz it's not inexpensive $450ish. And I'd used scanners before and found them to be an annoyance: too big for my desk, slow, finicky, not two-sided, prone to paper sticking and jamming, not forgiving when the paper was rumpled, and, if what I was trying to scan had different page sizes, (think a whole bunch of store receipts) it couldn't handle that. All these things, my Fujitsu handles with ease. Can't say enough good things about it. Really! Chances are if you spend time with me, I'm going to subject you to a scanning demo. And funny! When I was selling the furniture at the office, one gal came for some of the file cabinets and I convinced her to just go buy a scanner instead! Wouldn't it be wonderful if you had almost no paper in your life? If you could reclaim the space that all your paper files take up now? Get this scanner and you'll find yourself scanning EVERYTHING.  I have my scanner set to instantly open up to My Documents and "ask" where I want to store the image. It's a breeze to give the document a name and put it where it belongs on my desktop. I keep nothing as paper except for things like stock certificates or original birth records. If I could scan my children I probably would have done so by now! 

• Buffalo TeraStation - And should you worry that all your important documents (all those real estate closing documents and IRA statements) now live precariously on your computer which could crash at any moment, stop fretting if you are backing your stuff up properly. Each night my complete hard drive is backed up to my Buffalo - if my computer crashed it would be a snap to rebuild a new one with all my applications and data.  Ah...you say, what if your house burned down or someone stole all your electronics? I've got that covered. Each night, in addition to my data being backed up with the Buffalo, I also back up my critical files (everything in My Documents, Outlook and also my Quickbooks) to a cloud provider. It's not expensive if you're just backing up your data (not the apps) - about $50/year.  I use a provider called I-Drive and each morning I get a report from them letting me know the backup occurred successfully.  

• Intimacy - Here's one for the gals. This is a store on Michigan Ave (in the Bloomingdale's building)  - franchised all over the country for those of you not in Chicago. First heard of this store from one of my clients who made a special point of going when she was in town. You've got to make an appointment and be on time. Kind of fun to go with a girlfriend. All the fitters are good - experts in fitting bras. What's amazing is that most women have no clue what their proper bra size should be. And most of us are guilty of wearing our bras too loosely so they don't provide proper support. Chances are, your correct size is two sizes smaller in girth than you've been wearing with a cup size one size larger than you've been wearing. So if you think you're a 36B, chances are they'll fit you into a 32C, or something like that. The bras are expensive - about $100 each and you'll end up buying peripherals like the mesh bag for laundering and the special detergent.  I could never go back to department store bras.

• Pommery Mustard - I have a love affair with this mustard and I'm not even an avid mustard lover! First tasted this in my '20's at a party where the host put out a roasted turkey and this mustard - oh, and some good bread. That's was it for the entree. I wasn't eating bread so I filled a plate with fresh roasted turkey and a mound of mustard and sat happily just dipping the turkey into the mustard. I've bought this mustard ever since, give it as gifts, use it in creative ways. Everyone I've given a jar to has similarly become addicted. These days I buy three jars at a time on Amazon - it's hard to find locally. Absolutely incredible - like nothing you've ever eaten before and good for you to boot!

Well the list is longer but I'll stop now.  Didn't write about my enormous Calphalon skillet that looks like it was ridden hard and put away wet - it's that well used. Also could have written about the Dean and DeLuca green tea I order ten boxes at a time, or my Holmes humidifier with a Brita filter that I keep at my head at night to keep my sleeping breathing air moist and healthful. And then there's peeled garlic from Whole Foods - not having to peel sticky garlic makes me happy. My coffee maker with a thermal carafe that keeps my coffee at a proper unscorched temperature all morning. Tantra yoga should probably get it's own blog post and then there's my elliptical trainer, Wikofonia for getting song charts and gel nails to name a few of my other favorite things. Oh, and New Scientist magazine, pilot v-ball fine point pens that I buy by the box and, and.......

Challenge today - how about looking critically at your infrastructure. Does it serve you well or is your life full of petty annoyances that, if you did something about, would make life better?

Peace,
Sarah