Slocomb, Alabama - Tomato Nut

I have been trying to get a good photo of the new Tomato Nut in Slocomb, Alabama, but often I forget until I've driven by or someone will drive up behind me, so I haven't gotten a good photo of him, until now.

Slocumb is near Dothan, home of the National Peanut Festival, so several years ago, local artists painted over 40 peanuts and one of them had a home in Slocomb.  Slocomb happens to be the home of the Tomato Festival...so, they combined a peanut, who loved tomatoes and Tomato Nut was born !!

He stands outside the bank and he use to look like this:

 

Then one day I noticed he was gone...where was the cute Tomato Nut ??

He then re-appeared but now his arms are outstretched and he has TWO baskets of tomatoes and a different shirt:

I also noticed the little plaque at his uh...feet...is gone.  The bank did change names, it use to be Slocomb National Bank and now it is Friend Bank.  I think he is cute - with one basket or with two !

Nutella Cheeseball

We had our Christmas White Elephant exhange last week.  As with previous years, we just bring some snacks to share.  I saw this Nutella Cheeseball on Gimme Some Oven! and decided to give it a try.  I modified it a bit because it makes a lot !  Basically, I just cut the recipe in half and used smaller chocolate chips.

Nutella Cheeseball

1 (4 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened (at room temperature)
1/2 (6 oz) Nutella (I used Kroger Crunchy Hazelnut Spread)
2 oz. Tollhouse mini chocolate chip morsels

Mix softened cream cheese and Nutella together, place in plastic wrap and shape into a ball, place in freezer until firm (1 - 2 hours).  Remove from freezer, shape into a round ball, cover with the mini chocolate morsels and serve (keep refrigerated until serving).

Serve with graham crackers - I found some Chocolate Graham Cracker sticks and they were perfect.

I LOVE my little cheese-ball server - I got it several years ago in the after Christmas clearance sale at Target. Well worth the $2 I paid for it - isn't it cute ?

Funny Friday - Hand Shadows

Ding Fries Are Done !

It is the Christmas season and that means lots of Christmas music (I LOVE Christmas music !!)  I've heard Carol of the Bells 2 or 3 times just today.  I can't help it...Family Guy has forever changed the way I hear that song.  Usually, Carol of Bells is instrumental (although sometimes you hear lyrics) but now...THIS is all I hear in my mind when that song is played:

Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

I'm not feeling well today so I'm using the day to watch things I've recorded and clean them off my TiVo.  One of those recordings was "Due Date", about half-way through, a small snig-bit of this song played and I LOVED it. I am 100% positive I've heard this song before but never knew the name of it.  The movie was just okay to me (3 stars), but the I thought it had an awesome soundtrack ! I looked up the soundtrack on Amazon to add to my wish list and guess what? This song is NOT on the soundtrack - boooooo ! None-the-less, it is still a great soundtrack (but this song SHOULD be on it)

Happy Birthday Donny Osmond !!

Happy 54th Birthday to the greatest singer ever to walk the face of the earth !!!

Photo by Brandon Osmond

Funny Friday - Knock Knock

Photos - National Geographic

I  love looking at photos - especially unusual and older photos that makes me wonder about the story behind the photo.  National Geographic has been known since its beginning for its beautiful photos.

Recently, I discovered this website that has lots of great National Geographic photos.  For some reason this one struck me as especially beautiful.  It seems this is a photo of a young art student - but the photo itself is ...well...art !  I love the way the sunshine giver her an angelic glow:

Click HERE for more wonderful photos.

Dire Straits - Skateaway

Anyone that truly knows the real me, knows how much I love Dire Straits !  I've been a fan since 1979.  The first song I remember hearing is Sultans of Swing and fell in love with their sound.  Very different than the other songs (mostly disco) at the time.  I got their Makin' Movies Album (yes, ALBUM) and one of my fave songs became "Skateaway" !  I heard it on the way home today and remembered how much I loved that video so I had to look it up.

She is wearing the "latest" in music listening pleasure at the time - the Sony Walkman, the iPod of the 80s

TORO, TORO TAXI, SEE YOU TOMORROW MY SON

Sadly, I note that Jayzik Azikiwe, the beautiful lady in this video (whose father was the first president of Nigeria after it gained its freedom), died of cancer in January 2008, but her legacy as the Rollergirl will always live on.