By now, you’d think we would have some kind of system for making sure such things are handled, but no, we both manage some kind of mild amnesia right when it’s time to hit the sack. What startles me is that I haven’t started always remembering, just to save myself the agony of possibly having to venture back into the cold of the room after having tasted the glorious warmth of the space beneath the covers. Even more surprising is that my husband hasn’t clicked into his energy-saving gear and dispatched with the overhead light altogether, since the bedside lamp does a fine job for just getting ready for bed or in-bed reading. This is one time I would have absolutely no hesitation or objection whatsoever, delighted with the savings and the removal of all possibility of having to dart back out of bed, trying to get across the room, turn off the light, and get back under the covers before my nerves registered the cold.

Another surprise to me is that my gadget-happy electrician husband hasn’t installed some kind of remote control for the light. Our split-system air conditioner has a remote control, which he explained to me would be great for fiddling with the system after we’d crawled into bed. In other parts of the house, we have motion sensors for lights, too, although that wouldn’t quite work in the bedroom. With all the gadgets he sees in the course of a week, working in commercial and residential facilities, I’m astounded that he hasn’t landed on something perfect for compensating for our forgetfulness.

It’s not just the bedroom light, either. Often, we’ll be cocooned under the covers, finally starting to unwind after a long day, slowly releasing the tension from thoroughly-stressed muscles, and one of us will notice that there’s just a little too much of a glow leaking into the bedroom from the kitchen…some random light got missed in the bedtime light-killing ritual. This is even worse, since you have to leave the relative warmth of the carpet and venture across a cold-leaking wood floor to get to the usual culprits. Less painful is the bathroom light, since there’s a fuzzy rug on that floor, but the return vent in their has a nasty habit of sending up just enough cold air, on the coldest nights, to make you confident you’ll never again forget those bothersome lights.

Maybe we should up our levels of ginko biloba, to boost our powers of memory, or maybe we should just get more sleep, so we’re generally more alert…or maybe I should try to convince my husband that we need a whole-house remote control system for the lights.

Looking at my favorite fast food shakes, I’m going to touch on each one and not even do it in the “top 10″ order like I originally planned.  It’s hard to really make that decision, and since I’m sometimes a rather indecisive person, I’ll just give you a list of my favorites and let you decide how you’d rank them.

We’ll start off with good old McDonalds.  I’ll have to say that several years ago (how long’s it been - 8 years?) when they went through a drastic change of their shakes to the thick, creamy with strawberry lumps one they have now, it was a good change.  I still remember living in Greenville, SC and heading out for a McDonalds shake knowing that if I went to the McDonalds closest to where I lived, I’d get the old McD’s shake style but if I went out for a longer drive to one farther away, they’d have the new creamy one.  McDonald’s strawberry shakes are still probably my favorite, though I do like my variety. They’re thick, lumpy with strawberries (which my kids don’t like), and creamy-so-creamy.

Then you’ve got Burger King and their good ol’ standbye strawberry milkshake. You can definitely taste the syrup and it’s nothing like McDonalds, but I grew up probably with more Burger King shakes than McD’s, and I still enjoy a good large size shake at the king of the burgers. I’m almost thinking that they also changed their recipe several years back?  Well, not a major, major change but still a definite reworking of the old standard. Correct me if I’m wrong.

We currently live in a small town, and Burger King is a decent half hour drive away.  McDonalds is close by, but, as a family, we just don’t go there too much (long story - let’s just say my son likes real onions and not the rehydrated onion bits McD’s likes to place on their burgers; I also spent too many hot & greasy days emptying wire baskets full of fries at a McDs). We do have Wendys.  Now, I’ve never been a Wendy’s fan (square burgers? c’mon!), but I’ll concede that living where we are right now has forced me to actually like Wendy’s food -  most of it, that is. Their fries are still a mile lacking. Wendys recently came out with milkshakes - even strawberry - and their shakes are pretty good, too.  I’ve only had one strawberry shake so I can’t write too much about it. What we typically do is just get large Frosties, bring them back home, remove a couple spoonfuls of ice cream (that’s all Frosties are - just soft icecream in a cup instead of a cone) and add a little bit of milk and strawberry syrup. That’s pretty much my weekly strawberry shake right now. Part Wendys, part me.  It’s not too bad, either.  Definitely cheaper during these penny pinching times. But then our Wendys just upped their prices on many items. Guess for them the worldwide recession means it’s time to make a bigger profit or something.

Chick Fil A (practically impossible to spell their name right the first time) has strawberry shakes, and I’ve had several of them.  The first one may have had some spoiled milk in it or something?  They’re malty like but the first one I had (in a mall in North Canton, OH) was nasty.  Since then, I’ve had several more, and I’ve grown accustomed to the malty taste (still not my favorite), and they’re doable. Definitely a different taste than McDs or Burger King.  Wendy’s almost has a little bit of a malty taste to it, but not nearly as strong as Chick Fil A.

Guess I’ve run out of the top fast food shakes. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and the other pizza places are behind the times and only dream about soda. I’ve heard rumors that Hardees sells milkshakes (truth, anyone?) but I hate Hardees so I’ve never been brave enough to swing through their drive thru just to order a strawberry shake.  Of course, if I did, they’d probably only offer chocolate (like Wendy’s used to only offer chocolate frosties for all too long … brrrr!).  Friendly’s strawberry shakes are pretty good, but they’re out of the realm of fast food, plus their shakes are too small and cost too much.

One of my all time favorite strawberry shakes was from a small ice cream store up near the Quebec/New York border. I used to spend part of my summers during my teen years up at some camps thataway, and that soft ice cream stand had shakes to die for.  I can still taste it on my mouth.  Something about using real strawberries to make a shake. Can’t remember the ice cream store’s name right now.  Dairy Haus is another one of my favorite ice cream stands. But I’ll pass on the strawberry milkshake there anytime (even throw it into a wire trash basket) in favor of their raspberry custard swirl soft ice cream cones.  Mmmm …

Classes for the fall semester were to begin in just a few weeks and it was time for her to start preparing for the task. There were the syllabuses and the tests along with the research projects that would be required to pass her class. She did not intentionally try to make her classes difficult, but by nature they were. Hematology and psychiatric care were her favorites as opposed to geriatric and oncology, which she found trying. Still, her grades never reflected so much as a flicker of struggle through any class. Perhaps her photographic memory helped.

Her three classes that she would be teaching, Microbiology, Pediatrics and Anatomy, were proving to be labor intensive on her part. Just the syllabus for microbiology took 3 days to write, never mind the tests and projects. One day she would learn that if she would just save her work on a flash drive to access it by computer and not make it date specific, she would be able to reproduce the same work each year, thus shortening her preparation time. Perhaps she should try that this year on the peds class. “It sure would eliminate a lot of hassle” she spoke out loud as she was feeding her cat “Tigger”. “What do you think? Do you think I should give it a try this year uh?” No response from Tigger was usual. The calico cat only cared about her stomach and her perch on the back of the couch.

Deciding that the pediatric class was the test bunny, she sat down and began to schedule out her class on the computer. The syllabuses were easy but the tests were challenging. Breaking open the folder that contained last year’s tests, she retyped them into the computer. Now for the research project, that was always a struggle. She tried to dream up new ones every year for a couple of reasons. First of all, so she wouldn’t get bored seeing the same thing each year, and secondly, students from prior years wouldn’t be able to share information that they’ve already researched. “Bilirubin!” she shouted. That would be the subject for the research this year. Each student would be required to pick an aspect of the condition and provide a ten page research paper back to her on a preformatted college flash drive that each student was required to purchase.

“There, we’re done Tigger!” she exclaimed. This year’s syllabus was now on her website. The tests would be put there as needed and each student would be able to access her site and take the tests as needed and view the syllabus. Technology has really empowered the educator, she thought. Thank goodness.

We frequently get coupons from Arby’s in our weekly circular (i.e., a newspaper-style mailing of advertisements for local companies, sometimes with coupons to suck you in), and there’s often a coupon for a 99 cent small shake. Jamocha is the trademark milkshake at Arby’s, but they do offer other flavors, including some kind of orange cream, sometimes. Just a couple days ago, as a matter of fact, I swung through Arby’s drive-thru to pick up one of those 99 cent Jamocha shakes for my husband. He was working on some calculations, and the shake had just the right blend of sugar and caffeine to help him wake up and tide him over until dinner was ready. Gotta love it—you can sneak in a Jamocha shake and still not exceed a “one cup a day” coffee limit! For our family, that’s an important point….

Generally speaking, despite a minor tendency toward addiction where chocolate is concerned, I’m not especially a fan of chocolate milkshakes, although, every now and then, I get a hankering for a Wendy’s Frosty. The Jamocha shake is a great blend based with chocolate, though, and I think the coffee facet must be the redeeming factor that makes me willing to go for a Jamocha milkshake pretty much any time—no craving required. Because of that fact, it’s a good thing that the closest Arby’s is about ten minutes away, in a direction we don’t usually go. Otherwise, with the convenience of the drive-thru, I’d probably use up every single one of those 99 cent coupons and keep going anyway, especially during the summer.

Once the summer is over, and we’re into the colder months, I’ve always regretted the closing of places like Rita’s and some Dairy Queen locations. Thankfully, there are places like Arby’s and Chik-Fil-A that are open year-round, with milkshakes always available. Granted, not everyone craves ice cream based treats when it’s 10 degrees outside, but sometimes, a milkshake is the only thing that really satisfies!

I still think that Chik-Fil-A’s Coffee Caramel milkshake is the best coffee-related milkshake out there, but when there are no Chik-Fil-A locations within a 20-mile range, the Arby’s Jamocha milkshake stands in pretty well as a substitute, especially since our local Arby’s distributes coupons on a regular basis!

I boarded the Boeing 767 and took my window seat with grace. Leaning my head back and on the window, I closed my eyes, thinking that if I appeared to be asleep, the person next to me wouldn’t try to talk to me. As the plane began to take off, I couldn’t help but notice that my seat mate had his keys in his hand. There was a really neat looking gadget attached to the ring but I was unable to determine exactly what it was. I tried my best to get a good glimpse of it without looking as if I was staring at it but it really had me intrigued. What could it be? It has some writing on it but I was too far away and didn’t have my glasses on to see what the lettering was.

The flight settled out at approximately 20,000 feet, and the guy got up and got his computer down from the overhead bin. He saw me staring at his key chain that he had left lying on the seat between us. I briefly glanced at him and then looked away. He had smiled back and said hello. Oh great. Just what I didn’t want to happen, have a conversation. None the less, I was obliged to reply with a cheerful greeting. He then said “I noticed you have been staring at my keys.” I informed him that I was trying to figure out what that gadget was on his key ring. He picked it up and showed me. It was a customized USB flash drive, executive style. The lettering spelled out “The Key to Life”.

I had to ask. “What’s The Key to Life?” He smiled and replied, “I’m glad you asked. Let me show you.” He plugged the USB Flash drive into his computer and uploaded the file. I was instantly captured. It was a presentation on the Wordless Book. It held the answer to my emptiness. Never would I have thought that a simple gadget would rearrange my life to show me a path that gave me the meaning to life. I was instantly changed; transformed into a new person. I had to ask where he had obtained such a life altering gadget. He explained to me that he worked for a mission board and that they had a promotional flash drive company produce in bulk USB flash drives with the Wordless Book preloaded on it. They would be giving these flash drives out to various people with the hopes of transforming lives just like mine was.

“Do you have anymore? I would love to have one to take with me.” He smiled and handed me a handful of them out of his briefcase. “Give them out and fulfill your commission.”

Modern medicine has come a long way. At many of the living history museums and encampments, school children learn about the primitive medical procedures used during the early American wars. Who of us, that had the opportunity to visit such places on grade school, junior high school, and senior high school field trips, doesn’t remember the all-too-graphic demonstration of the tools our ancestors, apparently, used? The tour guides always seemed to enjoy that part of the demonstration a little too much, for my taste, with my already overactive imagination. They would explain how the doctors or people filling in for them would be all set up in the tents, with their saws, bone-strippers, and all kinds of other implements that still set my teeth on edge and my skin crawling, at just the memory. In those days, especially in the middle of battle, there wasn’t time or in-depth knowledge to consider the possibility of “replacement parts.”

Thankfully, in this wonderful era, when we can be washing dishes, washing laundry, drying laundry, cleaning the stove, cooking dinner, talking to friends across the country, and brewing coffee, all while watching a live broadcast from the other side of the world, there is such a thing as a replacement liver, and the little boy who was so seriously injured in that car accident just may be able to walk again, even though he lost both of his legs. Right along with all these possibilities, discovered almost as quickly as the possibilities, comes the necessity for a whole new level of sterilization. Bits of bone, tissue, and muscle that are going to go into someone’s body require a special level of cleanliness, and custom metal baskets for cleaning surgical implants are critical to reaching that end. The human body is “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and it has a built-in automatic system perfectly designed to resist the introduction of any foreign material. To counteract that system without shutting it down and endangering the body at large, great care must be taken in preparing the “foreign material” to be introduced.

Among those preparations are the cleaning processes, and as thoroughly as this cleaning must be done, the implant has to be treated gently enough to not damage it. The processes, of course, vary depending on the nature of the implant, but everything must be sterilized so no uninvited foreign materials go along for the ride. For this, there are specially-designed custom wire baskets, with the mesh size, surface finish, and core material all chosen for this specific application.

Nobody wants to think about needing surgical implants for any reason, but it’s reassuring to know that there are people thinking through the details, designing the specialty wire baskets for preparing the implants and doing the necessary research to be sure that, if we do need them, the implants will be as safe as possible for us.

 Have you ever notice how something as simple as dimmed lights sets the mood of a roomright away?  Nobody has to stand at the door and point it out.  Nobody has to tell the occumpants of the room to talk a little softer or be a little calmer (well, not with adults anyway.  It just happens naturally.  A dimmly lit room sets a mood, a tone so to say.

There are times when it would be nice to set the mood of a room even in my own home.  I would love to be able to dim the lights after my sons have had their baths and they’re reading on the floor with Daddy.  A full belly, nice warm bath followed by a dimmly lit room with a story, what better recipe is there for getting ready for bed?  I wouldn’t even mind dim lights when I’m reading before bed. 

What about when that migraine is coming on and all you want is to get away from the bright lights blaring in your eyes or when sitting down to watch that favorite movie.  The normal lights are too bright but turning them off makes the flashing of the screen hurt the eyes.  Of course dim lights are also great for that home cooked candlelight meal or that romantic time sitting on the coach in front of the fireplace.  Lighting really cann change the way a day is going.

I’ve been looking at the options The Home Automation Store offers for dimming the lights.  Their options do not require new wiring of the home (very important!) or high cost.  A few little things and we’re ready dim or brighten those lights to our hearts delight.

The SL575 Dimmable Screw-in Lamp Module is the quick solution to having dimmable lights in your home.  This module screws in to your lamp or recessed light and then you screw in your bulb.  Easily program it to an X10 remote or an X10 switch.  Some great options to check out, for controling the light, would be the KR22A CreditCard Thin Remote Control and the WS12A Decorator Dimmer Switch.

Dimmed lights sound like just what we need around here to set the tone in our house.  Maybe one of these days, when we’re settled in our own home we’ll invest.  It sounds wondeful!

This specialty is advertised as a limited edition flavor, and I saw, somewhere on the internet, that it’s available only through August 2. Pity, that–this one is great! It’s been described as “like a frozen caramel macchiato,” and I’d say that sums it up pretty well, although I think it’s a bit creamier than most macchiatos and a much better option for any time outside in this heat. As much as the budget will allow, I’ve been taking advantage of every trip past a Chik-fil-A. My theory is that if the shakes sell well enough, the company may decide to make this “limited edition” flavor a permanent addition to the menu.

It may not work, though. Perhaps the coffee caramel shake will become a seasonal flavor, like the minty green shamrock shake at McD’s. That would work, I suppose. They (whoever “they” are) say that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. “They” could be right…. I sometimes wonder if I’d be so quick to get to McDonald’s to get a shamrock shake as soon as March has begun, if they were available year-round. After some consideration, I have to conclude that I probably wouldn’t get any, all year. Maybe we’re seeing the truth of another philosophy, that “familiarity breeds contempt.” Okay, maybe not contempt, but weakened desire, anyway.

Then again, maybe I’m the only person who really enjoys these. I know my husband likes them, but, to be perfectly honest, he’s the only person with whom I’ve discussed them, other than my mother, who doesn’t like the taste of coffee, anyway.

One way or another, whether coffee caramel joins the flavor list on the Chik-fil-A milkshake menu or not, this has certainly been a great summer, as far as fast-food is concerned. With that addition to Chik-fil-A, besides the addition of the southern chicken breakfast and non-breakfast sandwiches at McDonald’s, I would say that fast food has made good strides, this year…maybe not great strides in the realm of nutrition, but happy strides, nonetheless…more the warm-fuzzy kind.

My spouse is quick to point out the calorie content of such things, especially if we get them “too often.” I tried to check on Chik-fil-A’s website, to see if there was any information about the coffee caramel milkshake, either it’s expected lifespan or nutritional information, but the site doesn’t seem to be doing too well, with a whole lot of time required to load a blank screen. One way or another, I have to agree with someone else who commented on these shakes–”They’re worth every calorie!”

It was often the case when I had to work in some other room and my young one was all alone in the other room. I used to get worried and at times even used to hear him cry in my imagination and came running back just to see him gurgling. It was then that I decided to look for a system that could help me be at peace while letting me keep a distant eye on what my child was doing. I scanned the Internet and found The Home Automation Store. It had the look of a winner website and I liked it the moment I saw it. It had details of all that I wanted to know and the discounts were great compared to what other places were charging for the same products.

I had seen this product at a number of places, but The Home Automation Store website explained the details and the specification to a totally non technical mother like me in such a great manner that I was sold the moment I read it. The GX5201 is a child monitoring system that will make any mother be at ease. This portable security solution is made possible by a 2.4 GHz wireless system that includes a high-resolution camera with a built-in microphone and a large 2.5-inch colour TFT-LCD screen monitor. This system is often used at homes and day cares to keep a track of all activities which tiny toddlers are up to on a regular basis.

The best part is that this system can handle the light levels of the room no matter what time of day or evening. It can work both in the day as well in an almost dark condition. The portability of the monitor allows you to keep a watch over your child at all times from various locations in your home, and the sensitive built-in microphone means you will not miss even the quietest sound. You can even set the system to alert you if it detects sound over a preset level with the new sound activated alarm feature.

Available at The Home Automation Store at, this system come with a great discount. It was available at a sale price of $53.33 against the retail price of $79.99 which was great by any measure. Coming with the USPS delivery, it is assured to be shipped out within 24 hours. The payment options could be paypal or VISA. Both were suitable for me and I knew I had to get it. I wanted peace of mind and here it was. Peace for me and my family.

Once you have a plan in place, you can begin by exposing the existing foundation on the outside of the connecting wall. This will help you to know where the existing floor is so that you can join it with the floor of your addition successfully. Next you’ll be able to dig for the foundation of the addition. There are many different types of foundations you might choose for your structure, depending on whether you want a basement, or you could also do a slab or even a pier foundation. The type of foundation you choose will tell you how you’re going to proceed from here. Once the foundation you’ve chosen is complete, you’ll move onto your floor system (framing your floor). If you’ve chosen a concrete slab however, you’ll skip this part.

Your next step will be to frame up the walls. After your walls are framed, you can then go ahead and put the sheathing on the outside of them. Next you can move onto framing the roof. After this you’ll then put up the shingles, metal roofing or other material you end up choosing to cover the roof. The windows can be put in next, as well as the exterior doors. Once you finish this step, your addition is “sealed in”.

If you have plumbing and electrical work going into your addition you’ll want to have that work “roughed in” (wires or pipes put in) next. You may choose to sub contract this work out even though you are doing the rest yourself. If so, you can work on putting up the siding outside while your plumber and electrician work inside. Next you’ll put up the drywall and then the trim around the doors, windows and baseboards. At this point, it’s good to go ahead and paint. That way you can then put your floor in next and not have to worry about dripping paint on your brand new floor!

After you get your interior doors in and the plumbers and electricians complete their “top out” you’re ready to move into your addition! If you are looking for a general contractor in Maryland to complete your addition, call DR Hartman Construction Inc to help make your dreams of more space a reality. They can help you build just the addition you need.