A to Z MONDAY

Brought to you this week by the letter.....


For SPAM! No, not the kind that infects your computer.

The king of mystery meat......this kind.......





There should be a warning before posting a picture like this! But really, how would you know what this succulent pork product looked like fresh out of the can.

In case you are wondering.....Grandma J can only eat SPAM when it's fried to a crisp, and only once every ten years or less.







SPAM comes in a plethora of flavors. I'm sure the word variety is more appropriate that the word plethora...but y'all know how much I love the word plethora.








Check out this plethora of sandwiches you can whip up with SPAM!

I love this ad! Mostly because I loved George Burns and Gracie Allen! And of course nothing goes better with Spam than Jello...yellow Jello.

This ad is probably from 50's when most women didn't have a car at their disposal during the week. But they probably had plenty of Spam....and that was not cool.

Don'tcha love this ad? When grandma J was growing up she used to wonder where all these families lived. The families whose mom's whipped up nice platters for lunch, because she wanted their kids to be her best friends. Rita never called us G-Men when she handed us our PB&J sandwiches....but once in a while I think I heard her say G-D.....maybe.

Do you need a fresh idea for your next Halloween costume?

I almost didn't have the guts to post this picture....emphasis on the word almost.

Who knew there was a SPAM-Mobile? People line up for free samples....something Little Oscar might want to consider with his Wiener-Mobile.




Now that Grandma J has peaked your interest in SPAM....you might want to plan your next family vacation with the SPAM Museum in mind.

Visit the Spam website to learn more about Spam, or maybe shop for kitchenware, toys or apparel...seriously!

Please head on over to see more S words at A to Z Mondays. And, how about joining us as we work our way backwards through the alphabet?

It's What Champions Do

When your baseball team becomes State Champs, and summer is over, you start football practice at school.

But, come Saturday.....




You trek on out to the middle of nowhere. Down isolated country roads twenty miles from the nearest Starbucks civilization.






You travel past other kids, just waking up, and not quite ready to meet the day. You feel their pain when your grandma honks her horn your passing car causes them to stir.





But then you get to your destination.....your practice field....your field of dreams.

Early Saturday morning wake-up calls are worth it for once again, Starbucks your grandma to take you to practice....baseball practice.






Nothing is more rewarding than a three hour practice in the middle of a hidden, covert field in the middle of Texas. It's especially rewarding knowing your grandma can't get close enough take any tight shots.





Unless it's of the dragon fly that kept her company and amused all morning.




There's nothing fancy about this practice field....just plenty of room with makeshift batting cages and diamonds. No league to tell you your time's up, or coaches from other teams lurking.

Sadly, the property is for sale. The neighbors don't like all the riff raff.





These neighbors.

I can see how this practice field is bringing the neighborhood down.
click on the picture to see the ritzy estates.





Then it's lunch at Fuddrucker's in the mall. It's really hard to eat and smile with a mouth full of a 1/2 pounder!

And The Chocolate Goes To......


Not so fast! You know Grandma J doesn't use a random automated winner picker when it comes to important stuff like naming a rubber squeaky toy family member. Instead, she decided to print out the comments, cut them up, fold them, and put them in the official mixing bowl astronaut helmet for a hand drawing. You know, we gotta have a bit of pomp and circumstance.....




So, crab and I paid a visit to my granddaughter and JJ to keep the selection of the winner on the up and up. Of course if my memory was functioning properly, I would have remembered about all the bad blood between JJ and crab! Duh!






Things were going along quite well without any major incidents......Grandma J's granddaughter picks the winning comment....





.......and in the blink of an eye, JJ is flying through the air, lunging at crab! Grandma J shouts out, Mother of all things holy, don't hurt the crab. JJ retreats, and no one got hurt.

Now the reason y'all are here....the winner is.......



Congratulations to Cdub! The crab's new name is Crusty!


Cdub, I hope you enjoy the selection of chocolate goodies I ordered for you. I picked the following three items.......a cross-section of items from the Dove Chocolate Discoveries Catalog.








Enjoy your winnings Cdub! Crusty is a happier crab now that he has a real name! email me so I can get your address to ship your prize: jannieret@hotmail.com



Some of you mentioned that you didn't know that Dove Chocolates had a catalog. Dove Chocolate Discoveries was launched in 2007. Their products are sold exclusively through independent contractors called "Chocolatiers" through fun home parties.

My daughter Kim became a Dove Chocolatier several months ago, and has grown her business to the level of Manager, winning trips to Dove Headquarters twice. Since it's such a new concept in home parties with such a wide variety of products, I thought showcasing Dove as my contest prize would be a great way to introduce you to the products and company.


Check out the Dove Catalog, you will be surprised at the selection of yummy stuff they offer. And, for the next two days, Kim will accept orders via her website if you mention you came from Grandma J's blog....kind of like a virtual party.



If you haven't heard of Dove Chocolate Discoveries, you might be interested in becoming a Chocolatier in your area. You can check out Kim's Dove website.

Thank you to all........

.......who entered the Name That Crab Contest.






A winner will be announced before the rooster crows!

Just a Head's UP...

It's been a hectic week here in Central Texas. Cowboys are rounding up their longhorns for rodeos, and cowgirls are attending line-dance classes.

Well not all cowgirls......




Grandma J has been spending more time than she cares to talk about with her cardio-neuro scientist.

Just so you know, that doesn't mean she's put her blogger friends, or Blisters, as some of you are referred to, on the back burner. no.sir.ee.

So because she loves you all, she wants to remind you that you still have time to vote in Grandma J's Name That Crab Contest.

Like less that five hours... 3 p.m. PDT so don't be a slacker




The prize is a plethora of delicious chocolate products from this Dove Chocolate Catalog worth over $60!

The order has been placed, and awaiting a winner for the purpose of shipping! Could that winner be you? Maybe your Aunt Viola?

Name Me

OK, here it is, the contest you have all been waiting for. Last October, Grandma J had a contest to name her beloved bear, that she referred to as Astro Bear. With a $25 Walmart Gift Card as the prize, lurkers clamored out of the wood works with names like Apollo, Bernie, Sam and BB.





The winning name was drawn from Astro Bear's helmet by A-Ron....and that name was Phillip Johnny Bob! The winner was Mila @ Life With Kaishon.



This new contest is to pick a name for Grandma J's crab. The crab that came back to Texas with Grandma J only to suffer under the teeth of JJ. After some rehab back in his home state of Virginia, crab is back in Texas....in dire need of a name.

Now, besides having a little bit of a dark side, and of course being afraid of dogs, and prone to attacking bears.......




Crab doesn't like baths or fresh water in general.






Crab loves looking in mirrors....crazy crab!



Now....it's time to name that crab! Please, just one entry per person, and the contest will end at 3 PM, PDT on Thursday. This will give everyone time to rub two brain cells together come up with a fancy shmancy name for the newest member of Grandma J's family here at the Spa.





See how happy crab is already??



And what is the prize?

Grandma J personally selected items for a Dove Chocolate Gift Package, worth well over $60 of delicious goodies. Relax with a Dove Chocolate Martini while enjoying decadent Dove Chocolate treats; smooth, crunchy, sweet and amazing!

You can see all the items I had to chose from.... in the new Dove Catalog .

Amen, Dear Brother

On Sunday, Grandma J decided to bring Phillip Johnny Bob to the earliest Mass ever church at 7 A.M. because they serve breakfast burritos afterwards, and they beat the heck out of the donuts after the 9 A.M. Mass. Being a nice guy who wants to bond with Crab in the worst way.....PJB asked if Crab could come with us. Grandma J, who loves to volley between referring to herself in the first and third person the idea of inclusiveness, said sure, why not?

So it was off to church without incident.





Afterwards the Phil and Crab seemed to be getting along, and I could see that eating burritos attending church together was a good idea.






Until Crab went for PJB's throat!





Crab was made to ride shotgun where grandma J could keep an eye on him. But all this brings up other issues that could be contributing to Crab's behavioral problems because I don't think most crabs live in Texas attack bears.

There are some ideas coming down the pike, or since we don't live near a pike, the cow trail. By ideas, Grandma J means a contest...a contest with a super gift.

Check back tomorrow for the details, and how you can be the big winner of the best contest ever. By ever, Grandma J means the best contest ever sponsored by her..

It's A to Z Monday

Brought to you this week by the letter T


My T word is TOAD




Now, the American Toad is formally called Bufo americanus, and on F week, you can call it a Frog you can read all about it here.





This my friends, is a Texas Horny Toad.......yes it is and Grandma J wouldn't lie to you about such things having to do with Texas.....evah!



Now, for a fleeting moment I entertained the thought of showcasing Celebrity TONGUES....just for a fleeting moment, so slap me silly.


Now, go check out some great T words at A to Z Mondays! And once again, maybe you might want to join us and share your T word.

IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL!





Things sure have changed since my kids were in school. For the last couple of weeks I've noticed Target and Walmart have tons of printed lists of supplies required by the different schools. They have them all arranged by class and teachers in a color coordinated file system.

Is this the norm everywhere? I can't imagine the financial dent this must put in a family budget if they have several children.

Since I don't have to worry about spiral notebooks and number two pencils.....I decided to do my part and took my Granddaughter for a back-to-school pedi.







Grandma J just doesn't always sit on the right side for picture taking, but as you can see, her granddaughter is busy reconnecting after a long vacation in So CA.

But all wasn't lost because ...........






Someone else reluctantly agreed because his mother insisted to getting his toes groomed.