American Idol Top 13!

Yes this is the top 13 of the American Idol. On Tuesday night the guys sang and on Wednesday night the girls sang. Then Thursday night was the result show.

There was over 33 million votes to come in.

America picks the top ten. Then the judges are going to pick six contestants to sing for there life and one of the three spots that the judges get to pick. 

I am going to write a list of all the contestants and the songs that they sang.

Here is Tuesday night with the guys:

Reed- Moves Like Jagger
Adam- Think
Deandre- Reasons
Colton- Decode
Jeremy- Gravity
Aaron- Never Can Say Goodbye
Chase- Srorm Warning
Creighton- True Colors
Phil- In The Air Tonight
Eben- Set Fire To The Rain
Heejun- Angels
Joshua- You Pulled Me Through
Jermaine- Dance With My Father

They said that they were going to call one of the guys back for a number thirteen spot and that person was Jermaine. 

Here is Wednesday night with the girls:

Chelsea- Cowboy Cassanova
Erika- What About Love
Jen- One And Only
Brielle- Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
Hallie- Feelin' Good
Skylar- Stay With Me
Baylie- Amazed
Hollie- Reflection
Haley- Sweet Dreams
Shannon- Go Light Your World
Jessica- Love You I Do
Elise- One And Only

Top 13 Contestants:

Philip
Jessica
Hollie
Joshua
Heejun
Shannon
Skylar
Elise
Colton
Jermaine (The Gentle Giant)

The six contestants to sing for the wild cards and there songs:

Jen- Oh Darling
Jeremy- I Know You Won't
Brielle- Someone Like You
Deandre- Georgia On My Mind
Erika- Edge Of Glory
Reed- Use Me

The Judges Picks:

Erika
Jeremy
Deandre

Next Week the guys have to pick a Stevie Wonder song and the Girls have to pick a Whitney Houston song.
Mary J. Blige will be the first guest mentor.

I hope to hear your comments and who you are voting for. Thank you for taking your time to read this!♥

Oh, the Places You'll Go, and other reflections

Today is the big release day for the new Lorax movie based on the beloved book, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. More importantly, it is also the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel).

It is hard to find a person who hasn't in some way been entertained and inspired by Dr. Seuss. The first of his books I remember reading is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I also read If I Ran the Zoo so many times to my children that I can still recite most of it and who hasn't made green eggs for their kids? I never could bring myself to add green food coloring to ham, though.

In honor of this day, I found some rare plants inspired by Dr. Seuss. Do you think Dr. Seuss was inspired by any of these for his truffula trees?


"Mister!", he said with a sawdusty sneeze, I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,
And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs" --
He was very upset as he shouted and puffed --
"What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?"
-- From The Lorax, Dr. Seuss, 1971

By Fort Photo, Michael Menefee: "Oh Gee!" the Lorax said with glee, "I've found a green bee in a truffula tree!"

From Lolabud: Remnants of my clematis blooms, a reminder of Dr. Seuss', The Lorax.

From Lee Sie's Photostream: The Truffula Trees

From MegaGood: Flowers from a Dr. Seuss Arrangement

From Doug's Blog: A Garden of Dr. Seuss Flowers in Boston Near the Location of the Reformation 500

From Nathan's Two Cents

From houzz.com: Great Design Plant: Tree Aloe (Aloe barberae). Plant this Dr. Seuss-like evergreen for an added character in your garden

From Eric Toensmeier - writer, trainer, plant geek: This was apparently Dr. Suess' inspiration for the truffula trees in The Lorax. Theodore Giesel (Dr. Suess) lived just down the road from my house, in Springfield MA.

From Floral Sense: The Blog: Thing 1 and Thing 2

Also from Floral Sense: The Blog: And my floral interpretation of the Lorax trees in the theme colors

From amyfancher.com: Sculptural flower arrangements inspired by Dr. Seuss!

From Project 365, A Picture a day ... and maybe more: Truffula tree

From Rwanda on the Wing: I am not sure Dr. Seuss visited Africa before writing and illustrating The Lorax, but if he had, he would have seen his fictional truffula trees. The umuko, as it is called in Kinyarwanda, or Erythrina abyssinica, lights up the hillsides of Rwanda.

I don't know where Dr. Seuss got his inspiration but he certainly has continued to inspire us, gave us joy in reading and sometimes taught us a few lessons from life. I am pleased to join everyone in celebrating his accomplishments.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.”
“And will you succeed?
Yes! You will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)”
-- From Oh, the Places You'll Go, Dr. Seuss, 1990

Snack time!

I am sorry to say this is not a healthy recipe or a gluten-free recipe. This is however an easy recipe and sometimes easy wins for me. I also thought it was tasty and made a TON of snack mix. This will serve a large crowd.

I made it because I wanted something tasty that wasn't corn chips or potato chips. This just seemed a more festive alternative. The taste reminds me of chips and onion dip combined in a form that is less messy. Here's the recipe and I will follow it with some gluten-free suggestions.

Ranch Snack Mix

1 box of Crispix Cereal (approx. 12 ounces)
1 box of Cheese-it Crackers (regular-sized box, approx. 13.7 ounces)
1 bag of small-sized pretzels (approx. 10 ounces)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 packages of Hidden Valley Seasoning Mix
2 gallon baggies or a very large bowl

Divide between 2 gallon bags, equal parts of the cereal, cheese crackers and pretzels. Leave enough space to carefully roll the bags to mix in the oil and the seasoning mix. If you would like, carefully stir the mix with a large spoon.

Drizzle  the olive oil between the two bags and roll so that the oil will blend into the mix.

Add one package of Hidden Valley Seasoning mix to each bag. Rolls until seasoning mix coats everything, and you're done. This should last in a sealed container for up to two weeks.

Note: I don't believe the size of the boxes really matter or how much of each ingredient you add. I like the Crispix best so I would probably add more of that than anything but you can make this your way or make a half recipe if you don't need such a large quantity. I used a very large plastic bowl that held the two gallons of mix and I carefully turned the bowl until all was mixed. Be careful not to break the ingredients because you don't want to be left with crumbs in the bottom.

By the way, my husband commented that this stuff was just too good and we were going to have to do something with it because it was making him f

For a gluten-free alternative: Crispix is not gluten free because it contains barley, so substitute Rice Chex for the Crispix. For the cheese crackers use either Wellaby's Cheese ups or Shar Cheese Bites. Glutinos has a gluten-free pretzel that is good and the Hidden Valley Ranch Mix is gluten-free so here are my gluten-free alternative suggestions. I think adding the seasoning would enhance these gluten-free products and make it even better for a party. I think it would be good enough to serve to all guests.

If you try the gluten-free mix, please let me know how it turns out.

Daily Free iTunes & Android App Download

Daily Free iTunes & Android App Download

Check out today’s FREE Android App download on Amazon: Shopper’s Paradise HD (Normally $2.99) but FREE today.

Product Features

• Create your shopping empire in this strategy tycoon game
• Build, hire, manage, maintain, and more to get customers in and profits high
• Ace out your competition with movie theaters, hotels, and other buildings

Today’s FREE iTunes App: Dr. Seuss The Offical Lorax App (Free)
Speak for the trees, for they have no tongues, with the Official Lorax App! Hold the phone up to your mouth, and talk. The Lorax’s mouth and moustache will move along with your voice.

This post was obtained from www.dealwisemommy.net.  

For similar posts, visit cjrlwebinteractive.blogspot.com. 

One Year Of Blogging!

Yes Yesterday it was one year since I started my blog. I just can't believe it has been that long already. There has been a lot happening for me in the year also.

I added a lot of tabs to my blog with different things I just keep thinking about writing. Books that I have been reading, My personal life, Music, American Idol, The Holidays, Football and Albums I like to listen to. I may be adding one more to the list that I have been thinking about. It may be t.v. shows that I have been watching. I still am thinking about that one.

I said there has been a lot happening for me over the year. Here is a little revue of the year I have had. In February I started this blog and I was not working. We also had the blizzard this month. I remember going outside and helping Drew dig our car out and he wanted to drive around the block to see how bad it was. So I was the one to drive. I also found out this month I was going to be a Grandma. My son's girlfriend was pregnant. We also had to get a new car because the old one was falling apart.

Then in April I had gotten in contact with my ex-husbands ex-girlfriend. I hope this make sense. His ex-girlfriend is the mother of his 8 year old daughter. In April we found out that she was living in Milwaukee so we started to go and get her for some weekends. She really like coming by us because we would take her out to do different things. She was really attached to Drew too. We went up north for Easter.

In May was our one year Anniversary. Yes Drew and I will be together this May for two years already. Our girls graduated high school last year and we had two graduation parties. We went to Chocolate Fest.

In June was Drew's birthday. We also had my ex's little girl that weekend so she could be here to celebrate his birthday with him. This month also starts Summerfest. I always starts the last week of June and the first week of July.

In July we went to Summerfest to see Styx. My 19 year old niece was married. We had my ex's little girl for a week.We have been living together for a year.

In August I finally started my job. I couldn't believe I finally found a job. It was the baby shower for my granddaughter. Also trying to get back to school supplies for two kids.

In September my granddaughter was born. We went up to Shawano to be there for her birth. This was with the help of my son calling saying he wanted mom there. We also had my ex's little girl this weekend. Also Drew had a rose laying on the bed when I had come home from work.

In October it was my birthday. So we decided to go up north just the two of us for my birthday weekend. We went to see some friends and had a great time. My son, his girlfriend, my granddaughter, my mom, my cousin and my we had my ex's daughter came to visit us.

In November was my youngest daughters birthday and we took her and her friend out for dinner. Then there was Thanksgiving we stayed home and I had to work. This was the first time Drew ever made a turkey and it was great.

In December we went to the Christmas Party at Drew's work. We did take my ex's little girl. She just loved it. Then there was Christmas. My kids came with my granddaughter for Christmas Eve morning then they went Illinois and we went up north by Drew's family and spent the night there. Christmas Day we went by my mom's and then to my sisters house. From there it was home. New Years Ever we spent by ourselves and it was great.

In January was renovating our place. Found out my oldest daughter was graduating college this year. We went to see the Carnival of Lights it has over a million lights and a mile long.

In February  we had our early Valentine's. We went to the Mitchell Domes and went out for dinner. It was great.

The way I had gotten this started was with the help of Drew. I have the most wonderful, sweetest, loving and handsome man. Most of all he just wants to make sure I am always happy. I keep telling him as long as I am with him I will always be happy.

I have met some wonderful people on here. I know there are a couple people I would really like to meet. Thank you for reading what I write and leaving the comments.

A great website

I just received an email that asked, "What would you do if you could add an extra day to your year?--Wait, today is that extra day!"

That gave me some food for thought. Today is an extra day we have to catch up and for me, to do some extra garden planning. It is also a rainy day and that isn't exactly what I had hoped for, but as a gardener, I do think rain and proper planning are essential.

http://www.garden.org/

That is why I wanted to recommend one of my favorite informational websites. It is a website that gives you a bit of everything, from houseplants to regional zone info. It talks about bugs and gives you information on almost every topic. I really like the regional garden guides, the calculators, the plant finder and the pest control library.

It would be hard to answer every question that comes up, but this website attempts that.

Of course what you may want to do on this drizzly and possibly stormy leap year day is sit down with you latest garden book and have a good read. I would suggest that a nice cup of Earl Gray topped off with cream in a comfy armchair would just be my idea of heavenly.

Seed starting progress

Last week I planted some of my seeds in peat pots so I could transplant them in our garden later in the season. I am already having more success in this attempt at seed starting than I did last year. One of the things I am doing differently putting my plants under a grow light. Last year I just put the seeds in a room where we had a daytime light source. They grew, but it wasn't spectacular. This year the grow light is making all the difference.

To see how what I did to start the seeds go to my blog post on starting seeds indoors.

Almost a week ago I started with the little Jiffy starter pots above. I bought them at my local WalMart and I ordered some seeds online and bought some in the store.

Above, in the foreground are my Evergreen bunching onions and at the top of this photo are the my American Flag Leeks. I will have to work with them make sure they are hearty enough to plant in the garden. Last year, my onions didn't grow at all.

At the bottom of the above photo are Munstead English Lavender sprouts. Last year, they didn't sprout at all.

In this photo are the tomatoes I have sprouted. Last year I was able to grow some tomatoes but I had problems with the seeds floating all over the trays. They haven't all sprouted yet.

I also have a few cilantro plants. I am very excited about that, too.

None of my pepper seeds have sprouted. I do think they will but it takes longer for them. It might be next week for pepper plant sprouts.

I think the basil is my favorite. Last year, I bought basil plants for $3.49 per plant. That means I have about $84.00 worth of plants here. That is especially wonderful when I think about how much I will be saving if I can grow these plants and transplant them into the garden. I am especially excited to know that the grow lights are increasing the chances of my success.