You Can Do It - Geocaching Challenge Cache

GC408QX YOU CAN DO IT! CHALLENGE CACHE


The only time we have found 6 types of caches in one day is in Boonsboro MD, during geowoodstock.  But I think this can easily be done in State College Pa...  I'm working on a plan.  I should also check to see if this can be done easily closer to where the final is located - near Duryea, PA 

You must first complete the challenge portion of this cache by finding SIX cache types in ONE DAY anywhere in Pennsylvania! The thirteen acceptable cache types are:


  1. Traditional Cache
  2. Multi-Cache (Offset Cache)
  3. Mystery or Puzzle Caches
  4. Letterbox Hybrid
  5. EarthCache
  6. Virtual Cache
  7. Webcam Cache
  8. Wherigo™ Cache
  9. Event Cache
  10. Mega-Event Cache
  11. Cache In Trash Out Event
  12. GPS Adventures Maze Exhibit
  13. Project A.P.E. Cache


W..W...W... Wednesday (Books!)


To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
 
I tried reading A Hundred Summers, but got bored.. I haven't given up, yet, but for now I moved on to The House At Riverton, which seems a little more interesting.

From Goodreads:

The House At Riverton
Summer 1924
On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

A Hundred Summers
Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak. 

That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancĂ©, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations. 

Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever.


• What did you recently finish reading?
I finished all of the Royal Spy series by Rhys Bowen. 
Light, fun, slightly historical, cozy mysteries
Next in the series due out in August.

My Summer Reading Recommendations are here:

• What do you think you’ll read next?
"Time is one of our most precious resources. Each day ourcalendars are packed with appointments and entertainments. To makeends meet, we cut corners, swapping substance for speed. At the endof the day, our busyness has produced very little fruit, and we areleft feeling more frustrated and exhausted than the day before.

The way we spend our time says a lot about what we value. Whatdoes your schedule say about the things that are most important toyou? Is busyness a buffer to keep you from hearing God?

It is in times of rest that we are able to quiet ourselves andlisten for God's voice to teach and lead us in life-giving truth.The purpose of this book is to help you understand more about Godand His design for your schedule and your life. His plans for youdo not include utter exhaustion and a frazzled spirit. God haspeace, rest, and a purpose in mind for you, no matter what yourpresent circumstances may be. Each chapter includes "Time Out"questions for group discussion or personal use"

Crepes a Dozen Ways

(Recipes by category at the bottom of this post)
These may be my new favorite food.  They are really great for breakfast on the go - my kids can pick them up and eat them on the way out the door on their way to work and practices.   These are filled with strawberry jam, and with leftover pudding and whipped cream.  Just what I happened to have on hand. I've read that they are great with nutella.

2 eggs
2Tb melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
Blend Well (I used the kitchenaid, but a whisk works)
Add 1 cup of flour
1 tsp salt
Optional - Add vanilla
Blend well

Use 1/4 of a cup of batter per a crepe
Swirl it in the pan - it should be thin
cook for about 45 seconds - until the top is solid.  
Flip, cook on other side just long enough to brown lightly


A few years ago I had this book - I can't remember how I came to own it, it may have been a gift from my mom, who knows I love vintage cookbooks.  I remember reading through it, and deciding that I must someday learn to make crepes.  Then I put the book somewhere, and got busy with the 9,000 other projects on my list.

If I had only known how incredibly easy these are to make.  I would have started working through every recipe in that book immediately!  I know lots of cooks have already said that they are easy to make, but I don't always believe others idea of "easy".  I am not big on measuring, preciseness, or paying concentrated attention to, well, much of anything.

And crepes sound so fancy.  I'm not fancy.

This morning I went to my favorite cookbook- YouTube - and watched a couple of videos.  The first had me refrigerating the batter for an hour.  Even made a joke about how if you can't wait an hour, you are too crepe obsessed.  No..  I can't wait an hour because although I got up at 5:30 am, until I steamed the carpets, fed the calf, collected the eggs, finished my bible study homework and started the laundry..  I had 30 minutes to make breakfast, before my son left for work.

I'm also a tad bit stubborn, and I had decided i WAS making crepes this morning.  So two videos later (the 2nd try wasn't in english) I found this:  http://youtu.be/C1DgmbMMOgA

Notice his reference to nonstick pans.  Problem #2 - I don't own nonstick pans.  I use cast iron skillets.  Really old, well seasoned, cast iron.

Just so you know, they work just fine.  

So now I'm looking for what else I can do with Crepes. The possibilities are pretty much endless.  Breakfasts.  Desserts.  IN place of tortillas or wraps.  In place of noodles in lasagna. 

To make a chocolate crepe, add a melted chocolate bar to the recipe above.  Do a google image search on chocolate crepes - they look amazing!


Breakfast:
a crepe with an omelet & ham inside.  Interesting!

This is a buckwheat crepe, but a "regular" crepe could be filled with egg & bacon like this just as easily


Simple Berry & Cream Crepes

Simple Cheese Crepes - filled with Cottage cheese, lemon, & sugar

Viola Crepes with Pansy Syrup


Lunch:
Tarragon & Celery seed in the batter 
Filled with Ham & Asparagus

These have a meat and mushroom filling, similar to something I'd fill ravioli with.  What I love about these is how they are rolled rather than folded

Crab meat Crepe Bundles
I don't eat seafood - but I love the way these are bundled.  I know I can do something similar with chicken!


Dinner:
Manicotti, using crepes

A crepe taco, or even quesadilla

Spinach & Mushroom Crepes, topped with bechamal sauce

Baked CrĂŞpes Cacciatore with Parmesan Cream Sauce


Crepe Enchiladas


Sweet Treats:
Lemon & Sugar

Crepe Apple Pie A la Mode


Banana Caramel Coconut Crepes


Cakes:


Martha Stewart Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake
Video How To - http://www.marthastewart.com/251099/darkest-chocolate-crepe-cake
Recipe - http://www.marthastewart.com/356131/darkest-chocolate-crepe-cake
(before making this, read the next one - apparently this doesn't taste as good as it should for all the work it involves)

The Real Crepe Cake


Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for Banana Bread Crepe Cake With Butterscotch here:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/04/banana-bread-crepe-cake-with-butterscotch/

=======================================

Hiding The Electrical Box



My front porch drives me nuts.  It is always dirty and dusty, it's narrow, the cement is cracking, the dogs sleep on the chairs, and often bring dead things onto the porch.  

I can't change most of that.  But that electrical box?  That I could do something about.

(the cabinet there holds all the misc sports stuff - wiffle ball, volley balls, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, croquet set, bocci ball...)

BEFORE:
AFTER:

To hang the curtain, we drilled into the siding and placed eye bolts in, then hung the curtain from a heavy dow rod run through the eye bolts.  We get heavy winds here, so I wanted something extra sturdy.


Grilled Bruschetta Portabellas


Portabella mushroom caps
Tossed lightly in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, and grilled

While still on the grill, top with Bruschetta
Add shredded cheese (montery jack is good)
and grill until cheese is melted

add a sprig of basil


Button Bracelets


This is such a quick and simple project.  For some we used jewelry cord, for some we used embroidery floss.  Cut about 18 inches of cord or floss.  Fold it in half, tie a knot about half an inch in (as shown on the right on the photo above)  Run the cord or floss through the buttons, tying a knot behind or between each button to hold them in place.  The loop on the left then wraps around the button on the right, to form the bracelet.  


Quick, SImple, Cheap - Homemade Ice Packs


1 cup rubbing alcohol
2 cups water
zip lock bags
blue food coloring (optional)

Mix, freeze.  

That's it!  SO simple, and these are awesome.  Do some in gallon bags for more flexibility around knees, etc - use the same amounts given here.  When frozen, these feel exactly like the expensive ice pack I paid a lot for, for Matt's knee.  

Next I want to sew some covers for these..  we can wrap them in dish towels for now, but covers are nice.


=======================


Tips for Setting Up A New Android Phone


Again, I needed a new phone.  My latest Droid 4, refurbished, and sent to me just a few weeks back because I wore out the keyboard on my first one, no longer would charge on any charger other than an old bedside dock cord from 3 or phones back.  So here I am setting up yet another phone...

FIRST:
On My Old Phone

  • checked to see if there were any photos I wanted saved.  Since all my photos sync with google automatically as I take them, there was nothing there I needed to copy over, but I did check, just in case. (I've switched to syncing to the private folder in facebook now, since that is where the photos usually end up anyway)
  • Take Screen shots of each of my screens.  On ICS, hold the volume down and power buttons at the same time.  Then I copied all of these into evernote to reference later.
  • Copy all of my library out of aldiko.  Just to be safe, I jotted down the page numbers of all the books I am currently reading, so if I cannot just copy the library in, at least I will know where I was at in each book. (I could not copy the library folder over - I still had to import the books.. glad I had those page numbers!)
  • Copy the cardiotrainer file - I just copied the whole folder, and once I install cardiotrainer on my new phone, I'll replace the new folder with the old one. (This worked flawlessly)
  • Copy the Task List folder - mine does not sync anywhere online, so if I delete it without copying it, I will lose all of my lists
  • Copy the MyDays folder (also does not sync)

On My New Phone:
  • After registering it with my gmail address, the first app I download is golauncher ex. This allows me to resize widgets, add extra homescreens, and customize the look of my phone.
  • The next app I download is Zedge.  Rather than transfer my ringtones, etc, I redownload them..  because I usually have too many and this seems like a good time to start fresh.  The "DROID" notification will drive me nuts really fast, so changing my notifications is a priority. 
  • Open the google play app, choose settings/menu & uncheck the auto add widgets box.  (That keeps it from adding a shortcut for every app I download onto my homescreens)
  • Open the gmail app (once installed) menu/settings/myemailaddress/ turn off the sound notifications.  (as much email as I get, it gets annoying to be notified every time!)
  • open the stock texting app and disable notifications, under menu/settings (this is because I use a different texting app - if you like the stock app, you will want to keep the notifications!)  TIP - if you use the stock texting app, look through the settings and consider changing the option for reply all.  If you change it to individual conversations, when you send out a bulk text, everyone you sent it to will not receive all the replies.  (I am right now receiving bunches of private texts all in reply to a bulk email a friend sent...  it's pretty annoying.)
  • On the apps screen, I drag all of the apps (I use a LOT of them!) into themed folders.  I'll list the folders in another post (coming soon)
  • With Go Launcher, choose menu/preferences and enable infinite scrolling.  Now the screens all scroll in a loop, not just to the left and right.
  • With golauncher installed, choose menu/edit and add 2 more screens.  (Post showing each of the screens and how I use them coming soon)
  • Go to https://play.google.com/store  Choose "My Android Apps" on the right.  On the left at the top I can now see two phone options - my old phone, and my new one.  I click on the old one, then open each app listed in a new tab.  this takes awhile.  I then click install on each app, and choose to install on new device.  This is time consuming.  There must be a better way, but I have not found it yet.
  • Up on the right hand side of the google play sight, I choose the settings wheel, then choose the settings tab.  Here I can rename my device, rename my old device, and disable my old device from being shown in menus.
  • Somehow I got on a telemarketers list for some cruise ship promo.  They call a lot.  It starts with a loud cruise ship horn.  I added the number to my contacts, then opened the contact, choose menu, and send all calls to voicemail.  Still cluttering up my voicemail, but at least I do not get interupted by the calls.  
I love Calendar Pad - because it shows the text for each event, not just blocks of color.  Syncs beautifully with google calendar.
Odds & Ends:
  • My favorite texting app is handcent.  I like the way it looks.  Recently though, it could not sync contacts with facebook.  I found the explanation, and a work around, here: http://www.handcent.com/dir/help/list##h16  Basically, Use FriendSync - which my phone used to do without an add on, but apparently facebook blocks that option now.   FriendsSync is not like  a stand alone app - to use it, first go to menu/settings/accounts.  While you are there, click on facebook, and uncheck the sync contacts, so that you don't end up with duplicates.  Now choose add account, and add FriendsSync.  The first link in this paragraph has screen shots - but it's really simple. 
  • In handcent, I can set separate notification sounds for different people.  So a text from my husband sounds different than a text from redbox.  At the top right of any text you receive, look for the outline of a person with the outline of the settings wheel on it.
  • I LOVE calendar pad for my calendar.  I create a 4x4 widget on one entire screen, and then press down on it to resize it to make it even bigger (golauncher allows me to resize widgets).  I then go into menu/settings and change the start day to Sunday (Monday is the default)  Then I go to calendar settings and beside each calendar I do not want to see in the widget (like  my agenda - that would completely clutter up our regular calendars) I choose setup, and uncheck the view box.
Misc ICS OS Tips:
  • Hold down the power button and the volume down button at the same time to take a screen shot
  • Hold the Home button for a list of apps that are running. Swipe them to the side to shut them off.
  • This article is loaded with ads and a little slow to load, but is a nice overview of some of the Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System features

Summer Reading Recommendations

Rather than list off all of the books I hope to read this summer, I am going to update this periodically with the best books I read - my recommendations for summer reading:


Murder, madness, & Mystery at the fair that changed America.  

Wow.  Some reviewers have noted that this is two storied in one, but I think they are wrong.  I think there are closer to ten stories here, all woven together.  The creation of the ferris wheel (which was created to outdo the Eiffel tower at the Paris World Fair), the ship from Europe that began to go to the Titanic's aid but did not make it there, the start of frank Lloyd wrights career, the story of a delusional man who murdered the mayor,  and the obvious 1893 celebration of 400 years since Columbus' arrival (known as the worlds fair) and the story of one of the first known american serial killers, just to name a few.  

It does not read like non fiction.  It is so well written, so interesting, that it is hard to put down.

Evanovich is always good for a light, funny, summer read.  Her newest,  is coauthored by Goldberg, who wrote the Monk series that the tv show was based on.

A quick, light, entertaining, read. It reminds me a lot of the show White Collar, but with a Stephanie Plum cast of characters. (this is not a plum novel, but the crew sounds like a lot of her associates). I enjoyed it and look forward to more in this series.


When I was reading Christmas themed books last Christmas, I discovered this series by Rhys Bowen. I've read books 1 & 2 so far - and I love them.  Set in the 1930's in England, they are quick, easy, entertaining reads.  Book #7 - Heirs & Graces, is due out in August.

Not since reading The Room by Emma Donaghue have I been so completely pulled into a novel. This was a riveting read, near impossible to put down.

This book is set in the prohibition era, and at times you expect Rose & Odalie to run into Gatsby himself. It is delightful to read, with the speakeasies and the clothing so vividly described without being tedious. (I've recently read Inferno & The Kill Room, Brown & Deaver could take some notes from this on how to set a scene without being so tedious that the reader forgets why anyone is in that scene to begin with.)

The narrative is fantastic. The early reference to The Wasteland by TS Elliot hints at the depths and twists in this book, which are at once so clear, and so unclear, that at the end you may wonder what this book was really about. Normally I cannot stand that in a book, I like clear endings with everything wrapped up neatly, but in this book I simply do not care that I don't have all the answers. It's truly that well done.

If you like to think more deeply about plot lines and inferences that the author quite likely never intended be sure to read Odalie by Alice Dunbar. It is very short, not really much longer than this review, and free to read online.

(a side note - I read through some of the reviews here, and many seem to think there are only two options for the ending. I see a third. Not one or the other, but a blending of the two. I'm not prone to over thinking things though, and allowing for the blending allows me to take the text pretty literally as the author wrote it. ) 

It is rare that I am unable to predict where the "twists and turns" of a book are leading, but this one surprised me. It was hard to put down, and an awesome story.  My first Coben read, but definitely not my last.


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7187395-the-walk
This series drives me nuts, in that it was supposed to be a trilogy, and it's now up to book 5 being released in May 2014.  Maybe it will end up being TWO trilogies, at this rate.  But, the definition of "trilogy" aside, this is hard to beat for great summer reading.  Read all 4 books.  Light, interesting, quick reads.


This is a series - VIntage Ladybug Farm is the 4th & latest in the series, and it was, like the others before it, VERY good.  More light reading, well written, mildly sappy, a feel good series without being drivel.  Fantastic summer reading.

From Goodreads:
Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise...

Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs, the three friends buy a run-down mansion, nestled in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. They christen their new home "Ladybug Farm," hoping that the name will bring them luck.

As the friends take on a home improvement challenge of epic proportions, they encounter disaster after disaster, from renegade sheep and garden thieves to a seemingly ghostly inhabitant. Over the course of a year, overwhelming obstacles make the three women question their decision, but they ultimately learn that sometimes the best things can happen when everything goes wrong..

I read my first Kate Morton novel earlier this year, The Secret Keeper.  Loved it.  I have a bunch more of hers on my summer to read list.  From goodreads:

During a party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the road and sees her mother speak to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy. 

Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to the family farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by questions she has not thought about for decades. From pre-WWII England through the Blitz, to the fifties and beyond, discover the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths people go to fulfill them, and the consequences they can have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers, and schemers told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world



Not My Favorites, But Still A Good Read:
Stick with it through the first 4 chapters or so, and it does get better.  It's really a great story, it just could have used a lot more editing.

This is actually a really good, light, summer read, if you ignore the title and change your expectations. My goodreads review: 

It didn't actually seem to have much to do with Martha Stewart endeavors really. She put some stuff in some jars, & used glitter. It was more about her dogs, and her mammogram. Interesting to read about on their own, it felt wrong to then try to pull them into some "tao of Martha". It reminded me of one of my kids school assignments, where they wrote the essay then realized they read the assignment wrong, and rather than rewrite it they tried to tie it into the assigned topic. Minus points for language (It just feels rude when authors swear in a book like this. Crass, & so opposite the "tao of Martha". ).