PDX has my Heart!

Posted by random olio

I love Portland. Today I came across this amazing video from the Discovery Channel. Their website states that the video is:

“Comprised of 308,829 photographs taken from over 50 unique locations, it took an average of 3.8 hours to make each second of this film. The intent of the project was to place our cameras in unique locations across the city, achieve significant ranges of dynamic camera motion, and pursue cutting edge time-lapse techniques.”

I am in awe of the work that went into this short video. Ah, the bridges, Mount Hood, Portland at night, during the day, the waterfront, Powells, Voodoo doughnuts, food carts…

Now do you see why I love Portland? This is the perfect “Visit Portland” ad.

Enjoy and have an amazing, adventurous, relaxing, and playful weekend!

Warning: Mortgage Auditing Program

Posted by random olio

So this week we received a letter in the mail stating that we “may be owed a refund of several thousand dollars from your mortgage lender.” It then gives the date we signed our home loan and the amount of our original loan. The letter goes on to say:

“Government studies by the FDIC as well as financial audits of lenders have shown that thousands of mortgages contained mistakes or overcharges. Your monthly mortgage payment may have been miscalculated and you may be due a refund from either your current or previous mortgage lender. The average refund is $1,497.32 and one third of the refunds equal $3,000 to $7,500. You are eligible for a mortgage analysis and refund review.”

At first I thought wow, I would not mind a refund! Then I think…this is not from my mortgage company, and all it says for the return address is: Mortgage Auditing Program//Division of Consumer Services – of WHAT company? So I Google: “Mortgage Auditing Program” and all I find are tons of hits about how this is a scam. That you have to pay $249 to sign up, etc. Yuck, I hate stuff like this, because it always makes me think of my grandma and how if she had received something like this, she might have believed it. She was very trusting of companies she worked with, and this is just vague enough and enticing enough to mess with your mind. Who does not want to learn that they could receive a refund from their mortgage company?

If you stop to think about it, the only time you usually see any type of refund from a large company for a mistake is through a class action lawsuit. So if your mortgage was miscalculated, then most likely others were too, or it was part of a larger situation where large numbers were effected and charged a fee they were not truly required to pay. If that happened, you would hear about it in the news or directly from your mortgage company.

Further research shows that the Better Business Bureau gave this company an F rating and they had 41 complaints in the last 12 months. With the following comment: “For $249 the company performs a review of the payments you have made to your mortgage lender.”

I just wanted to share this in case anyone else receives a similar letter. It is frustrating because I do not want individuals to get duped and excited about the possibility for a refund from $3,000 to $7,500!

In Plain Sight…Ending

Posted by random olio

I am a bit bummed out. There are only two episodes left of the TV show: In Plain Sight. Have you seen it? If not you will want to Netflix and start with the first season. I am getting too ahead of myself though. I started watching In Plain Sight because I was a West Wing addict. I really liked the role Mary McCormack played on The West Wing so when I saw she was on a new show a few years ago, I was intrigued.

Here it is five seasons later and I am sad, because it is the final season and there are only 2 episodes left. If you have not heard of In Plain Sight, it is about two US Marshalls supporting the Witness Protection Program. Not having ever witnessed a crime I really knew nothing about the Witness Protection Program. While this is a fictional show, the storyline is very realistic and it has really made me think about what it must be like to be a witness. Your identity has to be changed. Nothing you did before can be the same. If you are a lawyer, you can do nothing pertaining to law. To give up your life, your job, friends, sometimes your family and start over fresh somewhere else, so you can stay safe because of something you witnessed.

I also like watching In Plain Sight, because well Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack’s name on the show) is a badass. Yes, I use this word a lot. She does not take crap from anyone, she is strong, brave, and has no patience for the trivial parts of life. You want her on your side. Can you tell sassy women inspire me?

So while I mourn the loss of this great TV show, I hope you add it to your list!

Dukes of Hazzard + Big Wheels

Posted by random olio

What activities made you happy as a child? Could you list them right now? If so, do they bring a smile to your face? I started thinking about what made me happy as a kid this past weekend when I came across this picture of me on my Dukes of Hazzard Big Wheel.

me on my new Big Wheel

I LOVED Daisy Duke. She was just the epitome to me at the time of what I would now call a badass. We did not have a TV growing up, so I would live for the chance to watch Dukes of Hazzard at my grandma’s house each week. I remember a local store (I think it was called Zayre’s) had a photo signing by Daisy Duke herself. I do not remember if I actually got to meet her, but I was so proud of that photo with her signature. In my mind she was famous.

I also loved the Dukes of Hazzard theme song. Hey, I am from Indiana. You can take the girl out of Indiana, but you cannot take an Indiana childhood out of the girl. Enough said.

As you can tell from the above picture, I obviously loved my Big Wheel too. It looks like it is brand new and I do know that I am riding it in our living room (flip flops and all). Somethings do not change, I still check the temperature in April to see if I can wear my flip flops yet, and in October to see if I can continue to wear them or if I will freeze.

What I love most about this photo is the absolute glee and happiness on my face. This is my inspiration this week. That I can approach life today with as much excitement and joy as I did on my Big Wheel version of the General Lee.

Are you with me? What Big Wheel riding, Dukes of Hazzard moment of your childhood made you feel like a badass and you smiled from cheek to cheek?

Why are Chocolate Chip Cookies the default cookie?

Posted by random olio

Ah, what a wonderful weekend I had. It was between 75-80 degrees over the weekend, and we did all we could to be outside most of the weekend. I got a little pink, or maybe a little burnt. I do not mind. As pale as I am, I am used to the first sun of the season to leave me a little crisp around the edges. We had brunch outside, ran errands, decided to stay in Portland and do an early happy hour, I sat in the sun and read, and we extensively cleaned up our back yard. A full, sun filled weekend. It is supposed to be nice again today, but then we go back to rain for the rest of the week. I am just grateful for any amount of sunshine we can get right now!

I was also going to make Chris some of his favorite chocolate chip cookies yesterday, but then I was just wiped out after hours in the sun and hours cleaning up the backyard. Instead while parking my butt on the couch, and letting my mind wander a bit, I came to this random question: Why are chocolate chip cookies the default cookie or usually the cookie of choice? At meetings you usually get a choice of ham, turkey or veggie sandwiches or wraps. When you get a cookie it is usually chocolate chip. Why is that?

When I Googled: “Why are chocolate chip cookies the default cookie” all I got was a list of recipes for chocolate chip cookies. So I decided to look at the history of the chocolate chip cookie. This is what I found on Wikipedia:

“The chocolate chip cookie was accidentally developed by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1930. She owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts, a very popular restaurant that featured home cooking in the 1930s. Her cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, was published in 1936 by M. Barrows & Company, New York. It included the recipe “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie”, which rapidly became a favorite to be baked in American homes.

Wakefield is said to have been making chocolate cookies and on running out of regular baker’s chocolate, substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate from Nestlé thinking that they would melt and mix into the batter. They did not and the chocolate chip cookie was born. Wakefield sold the recipe to Nestlé in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Every bag of Nestlé chocolate chips sold in North America has a variation (butter vs. margarine is now a stated option) of her original recipe printed on the back.”

Ah, Nestle Toll House. Just thinking of the yellow bag reminds me of my grandma. She always made the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips, and at the time (I am not sure if it is still the case today) the recipe called for Crisco. I never thought anything of it. Now I am grossed out thinking of all the many batches and batches of cookies I ate that were made with Crisco. I use butter today. My mom used margarine, mostly because I think it was the least expensive. She also made a variation of the chocolate chip cookie in bar form, what she called: “Congo Squares.” It is interesting to think my grandma = Crisco, my mom = margarine, me = butter. I guess you do not always do things they way you were raised.

Massachusetts has even named the chocolate chip cookie the state cookie. I love them, and I eat them, but how did they become the cookie of choice? What is your default cookie?