The Jennifer Blogs

Before FarmVille, my mom would send me e-mails that said things like,

"Hey Honey,
How are you? Your dad and I miss you. Hope you are doing well. We went to Bingo last night and Dad won $10 dollars. Boy, you should have heard Betty cuss! She was so mad because it's either me or your dad winning every week. Two weeks ago I won the jackpot. Sadie is okay, but she has been barking a lot lately when people come to the door. I hope she's not going blind."

Now that Mom is playing FarmVille, I get a lot more email than I used to get, but this is what they look like:

"How do I get my cows in the barn?"

Yeah.  That's the whole message.  No wasting any time asking, "How are you?"

Going through my inbox for the past couple of days, I have decided to share a few with you.
1.  "I hit add neighbors up at the top of the farm page and lost both the two you put in for me. I still have the request form but I don't know how to do this."

2.  "I must be doing something wrong as I lost the 2 friends you sent, then they came back with some others and now they are gone again so I only have you and Veda and Ann. I can't understand why I am losing them."

3.  "Question. When I plant the veggies or seeds, whatever I plant stays in my hand even when I am through and I have to leave the program to get it out of my hand. Is there a key somewhere to push to get rid of the item. Come see! I did a lot today. I got some animals too."

4.  "I can see all my work around the house is going down the tubes now that I'm playing this game."

>>Yeah.  I can see that too.

5.  "How much cash or XP do I have to have to get more land?"

6.  "I can go to the English countryside now. My spaceship is on hold and my cotton is planted. Should I go when I am ready or wait until I am more familiar?"

>> It's not a spaceship.  It's a hot air balloon.  But I suppose if you've been up all night with your FarmCrack that your eyes could be playing tricks on you.

7.  "I have started my stables and have a chicken coop.  What are you guys going to do today?"

>>That's my favorite.  Like I'm supposed to believe she's been building a horse stable in her back yard and working on the chicken coops.  What am **I** going to do?  Because whatever it is, it's not as productive as she's been!

8.  "Hi hon. Someone wanted to be my neighbor and was wearing a scarf but it said two mutual friends and your name was there so I accepted."

9.  "Hi hon. Guess you are up and on the farm. Can you send me some building materials if you got any extra?"

>>I'm doing great, Mom.  Thanks for asking.

This is what happens when you give your mom a MacBook and teach her how to use Facebook.

My friend Deneen mentioned today how much she loves browsing Fred Flare. I have been shopping their site for some time, and realized that I have quite a few cool websites in my bookmarks that are really fun! If you're looking for unique gift ideas for Christmas, these are my recommendations:


Blue Ribbon General Store - lots of fun stuff!
Destination Dinners - I've ordered from them a lot. Lisa is a great lady who really knows how to offer customer service!
Joy T-Shirt - They sell t-shirts, but these are like none you've ever seen!
Japan Trend Shop - Lots of crazy, funky stuff ~ just like you'd expect from the Japanese!
Firebox - Out of the UK, but if you're one of my UK or other overseas friends, this probably isn't an issue for you. And if you're a US friend, it's still worth the look!
This Into That - Art & a gift shop. This isn't really feasible for most people on your gift list, but if you wanna spend the money on me, I'll take the bookshelf.
Perpetual Kid - 'Cause what if you really do have someone on your list who would appreciate a Nice Jewish Guys 2011 calendar?
Delight - A little o' this and a little o' that.
JD Foods - Because everything should taste like bacon!
Ruby Jewel - Homemade ice cream sandwiches. And yes, you can ship them!
Ice Cream Source - Sticking with the shippable ice cream theme, how about some pomegranate martini ice cream?
Beat Up Creations - This is an Etsy site. I love Etsy for so many things, but this is one of my favorite shops on Etsy.
You Bars - Customize your own protein bars and protein shakes. You can do this for yourself, or for a health nut in your life! You can even put your own labels on them.

First I should tell you this is not my mother.  I could never use a picture of my actual mother.  That just wouldn't be right.  So I used a stock photo of someone else's mother.


I hate to use my first blog in a long time to whine, but when I stopped to think of what's going on in my life right now, all I can think about is the crap stuff.  So I'm hoping that by writing it all down I can get it out of my system and then maybe focus on the good stuff.


First of all, my mother was just in Singapore for a three-week visit.  We had a great time, but we all joked that my 73-year-old mother is way younger than the rest of us.  She wore us all out, including my teenagers!  (Of course, I should go on the record as saying my kids have gotten pretty lazy lately and aren't in the great shape they once were.)  Mom was ready to go-go-go every day, so that meant a lot of days where I would work, work, work just to get ahead so we could have one day where I didn't have to work.  I sacrificed sleep too.  So now that Mom has been gone for about five days, I'm coming down with something.  She left Tuesday morning and on Friday I started to feel "off."  Here it is Sunday night and I'm still not well.  It actually feels like strep throat without the burning throat.  Weird, right?  Especially since that's what makes strep throat, strep throat!  I've got something going on back there, but not quite sure what it is.  Thing is, I can't go to the doctor because there's really nothing to treat quite yet.  So I'll have to wait until the symptoms get worse or maybe go away on their own.  I'm hoping for the latter.


While Mom was here I was having some pretty bad pains in my leg.  My right calf was burning.  The cramp would begin almost immediately as we began walking anywhere.  Just three or four steps (at a snail's pace even) and I was in excruciating pain.  I went to the doctor while Mom was still here and he ordered an ultrasound.  I didn't want to go while Mom was still here, so I made that appointment for Thursday.  So the day before I started to come down with this non-strep-throat thing, I found out that I have a torn calf muscle.  In fact, the doctor said it appears as though it's a chronic thing and that this has been happening for a long time, possibly even before my injury six years ago that led to my knee surgery five years ago.  I was told to rest the leg.  My doctor doesn't want me walking anywhere.  He said if I have a choice to walk a couple of blocks or take a taxi or bus, I should opt for the public transportation.  No walking.  Period.


So now maybe you see why I can't think of anything else to write about right now.  I'm living in a foreign country where all I wanna do is walk around and take in the sights.  There are many great tours out there.  I've been on several, but not all of them.  But for at least six months I can't go anywhere on this leg if it involves walking on it.  And while I'm resting that now, I've got this crazy non-sore-throat thing I'm also dealing with.


But -- I've got it all down now.  It's been written.  So maybe I can walk past this and figure out what's next, or at least find the good stuff in my life that seems to be hidden behind my shadow of misfortune.

I'm beginning to wonder if my mail was swallowed by Eyjafjallajokull, the Icelandic volcano. You see, my mom mailed a birthday card to The Boy in plenty of time for it to arrive by his 23 April birthday. Around that same time, my friend Lou Ann mailed me Flat Stanley so I could photograph him on the Singapore Flyer or some other really cool Singapore destination.


The thing is, Iceland's volcano decided to erupt and mess with our airspace about this same time. So now I'm wondering - since neither piece of mail has arrived - whether it was lost along the way or maybe it will show up sometime by 2012.


Mailing things internationally can be a bit challenging as it is. It's not a huge deal from Singapore to the US, but it is expensive. But mailing things from the US to Singapore is kind of a hassle, so I feel so grateful to anyone who is willing to send us packages to a place where so many things are illegal or outlawed.


Gum, for instance. Mom sent me some of my favorite gum from the US, but it was taken from me by the Mail Police. Not only did they take it from me, but they made me open my package in front of them, remove the gum and then they proceeded to dump the gum into a bucket of water.


I'm hopeful eventually Jean-Luc's birthday money and Flat Stanley will show up someday, that is, unless Flat Stanley broke out of his package and opened the envelope and is on some shopping spree in Hong Kong. We may never see either of them again.

I have a craving for homemade chocolate chip cookies. And whose better to bake than Nanny's?

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar.
Add egg and vanilla. Mix until light & fluffy.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt, and add gradually until blended.
Add Rice Krispies and chocolate chips
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.