(Someone) Save My Soul.........

Ok, fine. I have been a bad girl.

There is a lot of "drama" going on at work. While I try to avoid it, I do find myself dragged into it to some extent. 

Maybe I said some not so nice things about the (Bitch) who is causing problems. 

Maybe I told somebody something that could be construed as a "rumor'. But it was the truth, and I am sticking to that story.

The Drama at work is ripe for a reality show. I won't get into the (almost) humorous details here. I can't. But that does not matter. 

I can't help it. I have added my two cents worth to the situation, as everyone else has. Simply because it affects everyone.

And OK fine....I have had a situation or two where I have been a little impatient with my traveling bracelets. Three weeks or more is a long time for me to wait between posts. So I rattle the cages. Where are the bracelet(s). Why have I not heard from someone who has had it for 2 weeks....and on and on...

And OK fine. My thoughts have not been always kind. I may have cursed a bit. I may have complained a bit too much.

And OK fine. I may not have shown enough gratitude.

I promise to change my ways.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I don't care if you, Prophet Isaiah, called me on my cell today from a 1-800 number. I do not even apologize for declining  your call, thinking you were captain so-and-so calling from Seattle from a number that looked similar (as all 1-800 numbers do to me). I answered those calls a couple times thinking I won some prize, only to have my ear blasted out from the cruise ship horn in the background blowing deep and loud. Honestly, Prophet Isaiah, I thought it was that captain.

Couldn't you have called from a number looking like 1-800-God-Call?

So you left a message, Prophet Isaiah. You told me that I had a horrible soul. You told me that I needed as many prayers as possible to save me and my evil ways. You left a 1-800 number for me to call back that did not match the 1-800 number you called from. 

Tell me, Prophet Isaiah. Is that my private number? My direct line to salvation?

You tell me that if I do not call, all sorts of horrible events shall come my way. Damnation was to be the least of my problems. I needed to repent, and call that 1-800 number right away. Have I really become such a bad person that I need God's henchmen to come after me?

I don't know....but the God I choose to talk to is kind, loving and understanding. He knows I will come because of the love and goodness he has, not because I am so frightened that I leave a trail of piss as I approach. He would rather see me come with gladness in my heart. Why would I want to come to a mean old ogre?

No, Prophet Isaiah, I will not call your 1-800 number. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. I am sure it is for the cruise ship that goes directly to hell. If not that, then it is your sticky fingers that want to go directly to my bank account to fund that same cruise ship (or is it your yacht?), as I am sure your way to salvation is not through prayer and good deeds, but through fear and financial contributions.

Prophet Isaiah, you are now on my reject list. Please don't call back. If God wants to talk to me, He will, he knows how to get hold of me.

Oh My Aching Arse!!!

Some of you know that I have been on a fitness kick for a while.

For 20 months now.

I have been REALLY good getting myself to the gym and working hard. So good that it eats into my beading/designing time severely. Its the main reason why I am producing so little. There are only so many hours in the day (most of which are taken up by my day job).

I figure that with the time to change, get back and forth to the gym, do my work out and then come home and shower, a good 2 hours are gone.

I spend an hour on the eliptical. Then I do weights for about 20 minutes.

Is it paying off?

I am 30 - 35 pounds lighter (depending on how I am surfing on the scale). But most of that weight was lost during the first 8-10 months. Since then I have hit the dreaded PLATEAU.

I did have a set back where the whole month of May was lost due to surgery and recovery. I didn't go to the gym at all in May. Ok, I lie. I did try twice. Then I decided it was too soon. I paid for rushing back too soon. Not good.

Once I did go back in early June, I found I tired a little too easily. Instead of the hour on the eliptical, I could only do a 1/2 hour.

I am back up to that hour now. But I am still at the plateau.

I changed my diet. I cut way back on my carbs. For a bread addict like I am...I hardly EVER eat any bread anymore. I have also restricted other carbs such as pasta and rice.

I don't have a lot of sweets. I am trying to cut sugar as much as I can.

I tried to get on the Biggest Loser Show by going down to the audition, and sending in a dumb video. I got my rejection letter last week.

So...what's next??

Taking the advice of Bob Harper and Chris Powell...I need to change up my work out routine.

Yesterday I did not go to the gym. I have become one of "THOSE" kind of people that feel guilty and miserable if I do not go (except for one allowed "day off").  I felt guilty. But those days happen. And I have prepared myself for them.

Just in preparation for the non gym days, I walk the dog "the long route". And I now have Bob Harper in the form of a DVD at my beck-and-call. I can now have him barking at me "dig deeper", "Don't quit". Any time I want.

Yes...Bob and that medieval looking instrument of TORTURE called a kettlebell. The one I have is a mere 10 pounds. It is not that heavy. (but wow!! Did I REALLY lose the equivalent of *3* of these!!??) But let me tell you. I went along with the exercises on the DVD. There are a lot of squats, and lot of hoisting this 10 pound instrument of the devil over my head while doing squats during this workout.

I THOUGHT I was in somewhat a good shape. Nope. I AM NOT. I lasted a half hour and had enough (where is my eliptical?)

Today, from all those squats, my arse muscles hurt so bad I could hardly walk without looking like I just got off a horse.

Bob Haper whooped me. He beat me up.

Today I went to the gym. It seemed so easy, even though I bumped up my resistance one notch.

Tomorrow....maybe I will do the kettlebell in ADDITION to my eliptical just to show Bob they SHOULD have picked me for the Biggest Loser.

Digital Publications.....What's Not to Like?

More and more, printed material is migrating over to the world of digital media.  Computers, Kindles, iPads  and the like make it easy and convenient for everyone to get their favorite newspapers, magazines and books electronically.

The benefits of digital publications are many. You can carry around a library of books in one small handy device instead of big heavy boxes. Magazines no longer need to be heaped up in piles cluttering your house. Newspaper print will no longer blacken your fingers, or clothing. And let’s not forget the convenience. You don’t have to go to the bookstore across town to buy a book. You don’t have to wait days (or longer) to get books by mail. Your mail box won’t be crammed full by the magazine subscriptions you have.

I agree, you gotta love the convenience, the lack of cluttered bookshelves (or even the need for one) and magazines strewn all over the house. So what’s not to love about the digital world? Hmmm??? I have my list. Maybe you have your list too. Here is my list in somewhat of a descending order:

10. Prices    Have you noticed that some prices of a print book sometimes do not differ by that much from the digital version? Sometimes the digital version is more expensive.  Can anyone tell me why? There is no printing involved, no storage, no handling. I would rather buy the book if for no other reason than to sell it at a garage sale.

The Kindle version is more expensive than the new paperback

9.  The Study   Gone is the “romance” of having a “study”. You know, that room where there are shelves of books, and big padded comfy chair where the gents would retire in their “smoking jackets” and snifter of brandy to read about travels to some exotic land. Ladies would have a tray containing a teapot with creamer and a sugar pot for their cup of tea and a plate of cookies or cucumber sandwiches while spending a leisurely afternoon reading a steamy romance.  The atmosphere in my opinion just is not there without being surrounded with bookshelves filled with books. A computer in the corner and sitting in a room devoid of books just seems to be lacking in this romantic notion of mine.

8. Bookstores going out of business   Borders went out of business. I still miss my local Borders as I liked it much better than the local Barnes and Nobles. Now I only have the one bookstore where I can go into and waste hours while either escaping work or escaping home. Bookstores are a hiding place for me where I can browse books and magazines. If there were no bookstores and all publications were digital, where would I hide?

7. New book (magazine) smell and feel.  I love the smell of a new book. So much so that I when I started self publishing years ago, I would go out into the garage and take a deep breath to smell the “New Book Smell” from the cases of books I had received from the printer. It is kinda like that “new car smell”. It is heady, it symbolizes a new start, a sense of accomplishment and great expenditure of money that is to be paid back over a time period when that heady scent is no longer there, and you begin to wonder why you got yourself in debt to begin with.  But I digress…..I still love to open a new book. Maybe it is wrapped in cellophane and I am the first to leaf through the glossy pages. Maybe my finger prints are the only ones on that publication. You just can’t do that with digital publications, can you?

6. Starting a fire for BBQ .  I prefer the charcoal barbeque. Gas just does not do it for me. I like the smokiness that the coals impart to food. No I don’t want to start a debate as to which is the better method, I only want to say that while using my “chimney starter” for the coals, newspaper is used to start the flame. A few wads of newspaper gets the whole stack of coal glowing hot in just minutes.  How do I use my kindle to get a fire going? Is the screen reflective enough (like a mirror) to beam a ray of sunshine to get a spark going? What would I do then on an overcast day? Just wondering, that’s all.

5. Bookmarks    I am sure you have noticed the lovely bookmarks you can buy. Every theme you can imagine: religious, whimsical, scenic, your favorite characters or movie stars are printed on to book marks. There are elegant metal hook shaped bookmarks, beaded bookmarks, cross stitched books marks, bookmarks of all sorts of materials and art work. If there were no printed books, a whole industry would be put out of business. How would you use these bookmarks with digital publications? I can see the day when a generation of people would not even know what a bookmark is any more than a generation (or more) know what a rotary phone is.

4. On the Road and Door to Door   Will there be hotel rooms with a digital versions of the Bible in the nightstands? Or what would those visitors who come knocking at the door give you instead of the printed Watchtower? What will  “Bible-Thumpers”  thump on? Kindles?

3. Door stop   Have you tried using your Kindle as a doorstop or wedged under a table leg to level a wobbly table? I would not recommend it. It can do funny things to your Kindle that you might not like.

2. Bird Cage   I rely on the newspapers that are flung (for free) in my driveway for the lining of Lucy’s cage. She keeps current with the news, fashions and grocery store sales with the newspapers I put at the bottom of her cage. She has all day to study them. How would I keep her current with digital publications? I don’t think she could handle a Kindle.

1. Swatting flies and assorted insects  Have you tried swatting a fly with a rolled up Kindle?  Or your i-Pad? Will it work better if you use a newspaper app?

Focus

It must be human nature since most of us have a tendency to do this. We can’t help it. It must be so ingrained into human behavior that we need to work hard not to behave this way.

Imagine: a photo of a beautiful model’s face. She  has beautiful eyes. Her make up is spot on perfect. You lust over her hair, you just wish you could have her color, her style and the sheen of her locks. The curve of her impish nose is just cute as a button. Then you see it. That blemish. Just barely discernable, but it is there. Suddenly that is all you can see. No longer are you taken by all the other positive attributes.

Imagine: A child comes home with his report card. An “A” in history, and “A-“ in English, another “A” in Biology, and a “C” in Algebra. What do a lot parents focus on? The “C”!

Imagine: You are at the grocery store. You want to buy some apples. You reach for the perfectly shaped red apple. You see the tiniest of a “spot” on that apple. It’s likely not even a bruise, it is just a different color on the skin that does not affect the fruit. But you notice it. I bet you will put it back and look for that perfect unblemished apple.

We naturally seek out what is different, what doesn’t fit in the scheme of things and we put our focus on that. Perhaps this behavior had its beginnings in man’s early days. Man had to scan his surroundings to find things that didn’t belong because perhaps that difference in the forest was the beast that would kill him, or become his tribe’s dinner.

We do not need to look for the beast in the forest, but we do look for other beasts that do not fit in and we dwell on those beasts often to our detriment. Admit it, you do it as much as I do. We just can’t help it.

I did that very same thing most recently worrying about some of the traveling bracelets that were MIA. I really got sad when I thought that four of the 10 were MIA. Since then 3 have turned up, thankfully. But I had to actively change my focus from worrying about what I thought was wrong to thinking about what was right. I had to let go of what made me sad and look at what made me happy with the project. If I did not do this, the energy and focus of what I was doing would sour everything.

Do you like my necklace? Let me
point out the misplaced green bead....

How many pieces of beadwork have we made that have one little mistake in it? Perhaps it is one bead that is the wrong color. Perhaps a stitch is too loose or too tight. Or maybe the tiniest piece of thread is showing where it shouldn’t. Have you found yourself showing that piece of beadwork to someone saying “I love this piece, BUT I have made this little mistake HERE……..” I would bet that the person looking at it would never have noticed had you not pointed out that one little boo-boo. So why did you call attention to it?

What about the time you posted a necklace for sale and you had compliment after compliment. You had perhaps 50 people tell you how wonderful your necklace is. Then along comes this spoil sport with no manners, no feelings and ruins your day. You know in your heart of hearts that it is not worth spending a single thought on on this miserable person who tells you that your necklace can be made by a 5 year old. And by the way, how dare you charge so much for that necklace since surely they have a similar one at JewelryCrap for $5.99 (and you want $90???!!!). But that one comment outweighs

the 50 other positive ones, doesn't it. You just can't get that

one negative comment out of you mind. It FESTERS, doesn't it?

I have focused on the one idiot amongst the 50 roses just as you might. Why do we let that one person foul our otherwise beautiful glow of compliments and praises? We let that one negative comment cause self doubt, insecurity, and decreased self worth. We allow those negative comments to eat away at us, even though we KNOW we should ignore it.

We choose, even if it is a subconscious thing, to focus on that anomaly. We look at that beast in the woods. Maybe we are afraid it might kill us. I say we need to learn to hunt it down. Have it for dinner! Slay that outlier. Focus on what is good. Focus on what gives you strength and joy.

By all means, ignore the fools who want to bring you down. You don’t need them or their negativity. Just change your focus.

The One That Got Away

UGH!!!!

INSECTS!!!

Seems I have a yearly battle with one type or another.

There were armies of ants.

Then there were mosquitoes.

And let's not forget flies. Do you remember my post on the Six Legged Terrorists? No? Then click HERE to read about the disaster that they caused me to create.

Presently, my warfare is with the Indian Meal Moth.

It is a common pantry pest. I have even seen them fly around in grocery stores. They love flour, rice, pasta, grains and nuts. These moths make a mess of stored dried goods.

I had problems with them before. I seemed to have eradicated the little buggers. I have not had a problem with them for a couple years.

NOW THEY ARE BACK!!

It amazes me. I put my goods in sealed plastic bags, or in glass jars with tight lids. Even so, I have at times found an infestation in a glass jar of flour that was put into that jar once I came home from the store. So that tells me that the product had the pest prior to me bringing it home.

Where are they hiding??

I saw a moth flying around one evening. I killed it. Then I saw one on the face of the cupboard. My hand caused its death too. The "good" thing about these moths is that they are stupid. They just sit on a surface until they are squished, not like a fly who seems to enjoy a game of cat and mouse. They just sit and wait to be swatted. When the moths fly, it is another story. They fly in erratic zig-zags that make catching them a challenge. But I have become good at catching them in flight as well.

After seeing a few, I did a quick check to see what item(s) they were infesting, and found none.

The one or two moths found flying and on the inside of cupboard doors over a few days became a regular carnage of 10-12 moths a day. Last night with my nightly moth patrol, one got away. That was enough!!

I can take no more!!

I took everything out of the cupboard they were in. I found a sealed bag of nuts that had the tell tale web and ground up nuts. In the trash it went. I found some rice. Same thing, out it went. I found a jar of pasta that looked suspicious, out it went too.

Cleaning up

I washed the inside of the cupboard, wiped down everything else. It all looked good. Then I bought the moth trap. It is a sticky tent with a piece of material that has moth pheromone that will attract the male moth. I placed that inside the cupboard to help me with the war against the pest.

I think I need to inspect my beads as well. I am sure there are some bead pests. I was looking for some beads that I KNOW I have. I just can't find them. Maybe there is a bead-eating pest that I have to wage war on. Do you have bead-pests that you just know are devouring your beads? I think they are not only the cause of my missing beads, but the horrid mess my "studio" is in. I would never have left it in such a mess. I just know something is causing the disaster it is in.

I think I have a handle on my pantry pest. But I think I need to call an exterminator to help me with my bead pests. Anyone with any suggestions on how to handle bead-pests??

What am I Doing??

I hope that many of you are enjoying my Traveling Bracelets Blog.  I have been spending a lot of time getting that up and going, and a lot of time keeping it going. I think it has taken on a weird life of its own, both good and challenging for me.

It did take a lot of time creating 10 bracelets to go on their journeys. From creating special designs and beading them up, took more time than I thought it would. I enjoyed making the bracelets, playing with the colors and designs.

I am still working on bracelets (but not for the Traveling Bracelets blog, as keeping track of 10 bracelets is more than enough for me). I am working on them only because I want to. Maybe I will offer them for sale, or maybe there will be some lucky recipient. Who knows.

But for now, it's fun, easy and relaxing. After a couple more, I might do something else to challenge myself and do something different. But for now, I like the easy simple bracelets to balance other challenges I have.

Here is what I have been working on:

Machu Picchu:

I will be going there in November. So that was my inspiration for that bracelet.

Pattern

Finished Cuff

Kilim:

A Kilim is a woven rug or tapestry made in a specific way. This is another Turkish inspiration. It is a work in progress. Close to being done, but not yet. I have to finish stitching the beadwork to the cuff and add the edging..

Pattern

Work in progress

What is next:

Ganesha:

I am still drawing inspiration on my Trip to India I took last November.

Bragging Rights:Sharon Sargent

Art Nouveau is one of my favorite styles. This one is by Mucha. In order to get the detail "GOOD", the design had to be quite large. Not for the faint of heart, this pattern is about 13 inches wise, and over 30 inches long, containing over 113,000 beads in 49 colors!!

Sharon did a stellar job with this. I think it was well worth the effort. She won several awards at fairs with this:

First and Best of Show at Calaveras County, First and Best of Division at Tuolumne County, First and Best of Show and Best of Division at Amador County, and First and Viewers Choice for needle work at the International Quilt Fair.

Do you want to try this pattern? Find it HERE

OR a cropped (Shorter) version HERE

Or a detail of the face HERE

An Olympic Race

CAUTION!! 

POLITICALLY INCORRECT RANT.  READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

If you don't like this topic, ignore it and find something nice and silly to read. 

(as if fears of offending ever bothered me much to begin with!)

I LOVE the Olympics. I am totally in awe of the athleticism I see on TV. I admire the strength of the swimmers, the speed of the runners, the grace of the gymnasts.

I do wish they would show more of the "lesser"sports. Badminton, equestrian sports, fencing and I bet there are sports I am not even aware of. I think there should be more time given to other events, not just the ones that the US seems to dominate in. But that is a whole different rant, if I were to "go there".

For the highly covered sports, it is the gymnasts that really capture my attention. I remember back in high school getting banged up shins because I could never get my fat body over the "horse". I remember fearing the balance bar because I fell off more than once. Forget the uneven bars, I had all I could do to hoist my bulk up on the lower of the two bars.

The acrobatics on the mats were not much better. I managed a forward somersault. I even managed a backwards one. But I could never ever get my feet above my head, let alone fly through the air.

Wincing in remembered pain, I watch as these athletes do things my body can only dream of. They have my full admiration.

I watched the US team go through all the challenges. Little Gabby Douglas is a star! She is absolutely phenomenal. She has more athletic talent than I could ever dream of having. I cheered as she got the Gold. I cheered for America as she claimed her Gold for the US.

But WHY must we put RACE into this equation? WHY do we have to say she is the FIRST BLACK-AMERICAN to win the Gold in gymnastics? Is that REALLY necessary? To me, that means we have two teams. A Black American team and (Other Race) American team.

So do we signify if a Spanish-American wins? Or what about an Italian-American? Let's not forget the Native-American.

Why can't we just say AMERICAN and be proud of that. Gabby is an American. Any other racial distinction is racist.

People get up in arms when it is said that Black-Americans are more prone to violent crimes. That is considered racial profiling. We can't question the legal status of someone who cannot speak English and appears to be from Mexico. That again is racial profiling. In these cases race cannot be spoken of without a lot of fingers pointing yelling "biggot"!

Am I the only one who thinks that putting any kind of race qualifier in any situation, good or bad, simply encourages further racism? To keep saying Black-American, Mexican-American, German-American, Italian-America etc does nothing more than to keep the divide.

I am all for celebrating different heritages. I love this about the US, believe me. But in the Olympics, it is a contest between nations. Romania against Greece, Sweden against Australia, Germany against China. I have not heard it said that Bavaria is competing against the Cantonese...

But here we are...it had to be stated that Gabby is a Black American.

I think we can see that for ourselves.

And what does it matter?

She is AMERICAN. Nothing else matters.

Maybe I should claim to be a "first" in the beading world. Let me draw upon my own heritage. I can claim I am the first German-Lithuanian-American-One of 3% of the population which does not get wisdom teeth-X-Welfare-Single Mom-Safety Engineer-Beader to have had a bead stuck up her arse and suffered a horrible scratch as a result.

Sorry, but I think that is about as important as putting a race qualifier in front of the word AMERICAN in the Olympics.

Gadgets We NEED!

I love to cook.  I collect cookbooks and magazines to the point of being crazy.

I love to go to cooking stores. I could spend hours looking at cooking gadgets. Toys of the trade. I have a few drawers full of these toys. There are all sorts of imaginable items to make a cook's life easy, and more fun. A gadget for this and a gadget for that.

 I have a few items on my wish list:

Strawberry Slicer

I love fresh strawberries. There are lots of them available for much of the year here in California. Most are grown locally by small farmers and you can find the big huge corporate growers as well. You can buy strawberries being peddled on many a street corner by the crate. So yummy!!

I usually just wash them off, take off the green leafy tops and slice them in half. A little sugar and sometimes a tad of whipped cream. Can't get much more summery than that!

I never considered thin slices of strawberries. Maybe I could dry them for cereal. Or just have thin slices instead of stuffing my mouth with a half strawberry. Plus this gadget would make a colorful addition to my drawer of stuff (that rarely gets used)!!

Tomato Slicer


I eat a lot of salad. I have at least one salad almost every day. In most of my salads, I will have a tomato, especially this time of year when I can go out in my garden and get fresh home grown tomatoes almost daily.

Sometimes I love sliced tomatoes with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella, with a bit of salt and pepper.

Or what better sandwich is there than a BLT on the freshest of bread??

But slicing tomatoes can be troublesome. Especially with a dull knife. It is shameful that my knife is always on the bad side of dull. It squashes the tomato. Cutting thin slices is something a dull knife will not do.  Not to mention the uneven slices. Some fat, some thinner. Oh the mess! I can't begin to tell you how terrible it is!! I think this would solve my problem. Nice even slices in a fraction of the time!!

Just image how many picture perfect tomato slices I could make! Shall I slice some for you?


Mushroom Slicer

Here is another gadget I wonder how I have lived so long without!! Have you ever made mushroom soup and cut up mushroom after mushroom (I will not buy the precut nasty ones, so don't even suggest that!). It takes forever!! Do you think those who partake of my mushroom soup appreciate the time I took in slicing mounds of mushrooms (it does take a lot of them for a good sized pot of mushroom soup!).  Oh the agony I endure by slicing each little mushroom into thin slices. It's a time consuming unappreciated process.

Can you imagine the time I would save in slicing the fungi?? I might have time left to clean up the cobwebs and dust in my house!!



Ham-Dogger

Ok, don't laugh. It did take me a moment or two to fully appreciate the utility of the can't-live-without gadget!!

You know the problem. The number of hot dog rolls never matches the number of hot dogs you get in a package. So you always wind up with too many if you plan on having a roll for each dog. If you are serving hamburgers as well, you will also need hamburger buns! Acchh!!! How many packages of each will you need? What if you buy too many of one and not enough of the other?

So when you are having a BBQ for your friends, you don't have to worry anymore!! Just buy the hot dog buns and you don't even have to worry about how many packages of each type of bun you need! (can you say Costco here I come! Load me up with the H-D Buns!!).

Now with this ingenious gadget you can make burgers in the shape of hot dogs!

Does your guest want a hot dog! Great!! You have a bun for it!!

Does your guest want a burger!! Great!! You have the SAME bun for it!!

AHHH!!! My cookouts will become soooooo much less stressful!!


Banana Slicer


Just how did I EVER live without this gadget???

Certainly this is something I REALLY need. I must stop using my teeth to slice the banana as I am eating it out of hand. I am probably wearing out the enamel on my front teeth. Maybe even wearing down the very teeth!

Ok, I admit using a spoon to cut up my banana into my bowl of cereal is not good form. But I thought I would save time, and there is one less dirty piece of cutlery to wash.  I am sure that Chef Ramsey would not approve of my method and he will come and shut my kitchen down.

Using a knife does not help in cutting uniform slices either (see my dissertation on that problem in the above Tomato slicer commentary). There is nothing that displeases the tongue more than uneven slices of anything. The "mouth-feel" is enough to gag the strongest of us.

Have you tried to cut a banana evenly? You have to be an engineer complete with drawings and plans to negotiate the curves.  This is where you need that agonizing class in calculus that you took thinking "when will I EVER use these math skills?" What they never told calculus students was calculus is necessary for cutting uniform, civilized slices from bananas.

It is not an easy task, certainly not for the faint of heart. The banana slicer puts an end to this age old problem.

But wait!!! Here is another model!! Oh!! Can you imagine!! I could pop out banana slices faster than a Slice-O-Matic!! Maybe even use it as a banana gun of sorts!

In either case....I think this is the ultimate gadget for the ladies to have. Leave it on the counter....look at your hubby/boyfriend when he has not done the Honey-do list or has otherwise pissed you off, then look longingly at the banana slicer....then back at him....repeat as needed.

It will strike fear in his heart.

Lorena Bobbit should have had one of these, don't you think??