The Bachelorette’s Finalle 2015… am I really watching it?

The Bachelor, followed by its female counterpart, The Bachelorette, because, let’s face it, the shows have been successful and millions have been watching both for years! Why? Why not!

Years ago, when my young adult daughter mentioned college parties built around watching these shows I thought, really? and I kept it a secret!

Years went by, and here I was this season re-descovering The Bachelorette! Oh! The plot got complex over the year, the drama, the sex behind doors that close in our face! The honest tears and desperation exhibited by Kaitlyn, given the seriousness of the problem. Hey, it must be really hard to have dates in exotic places at the unlimited expense of ABC, because let’s face it, millions watch it and I, among them!

To top it all, I am writing about it! What is wrong with me? Well… it’s like therapy. I have to get it out of my system.

Kaitlyn had to make the life-shattering choice: Nick or Shawn?
Nick was the guy with the “preexisting relationship,” like a health “pre-existing condition,” but he got to have sex with her and really fell in love… or lust? No matter which way one looked it, the cliche, “it’s complicated,” applied!

This is a spontanious post! I had to write or risk insomnia! I decided to post when I watched Nick, heart broken, leaving Kaitlyn, who had just unexpectedly rejected him… He stared at the “rejected diamond ring,” and I thought, “he probably had to return it to some famous jewelry store.” Oh NO! Suddenly he threw the ring! Where did it go? Could I have it and pay my debts? Was it fake? Did Shawn may be, just may be, found it and proposed?

I will never know! Darn!
However, as in all good soaps, Shawn was the ONE AND ONLY and I am convinced they will live happily ever after.

The show is still on, as I am writing this post, but they are all just “coming to terms” with life’s real tragedies. I hope they will survive! 🙂

As for me, I am debating whether to watch one of my favorite Mexican soap operas. At least they have the advantage to be subtitled and I LOVE the sound of the Spanish language!

Weekend Easy Meal: Portabella Mushroom and Cheese Delight!

This is a versatile meal and it may replace bread with a large portabella mushroom “hat.”

Ingredients

One large portabella mushroom “hat” (peel off the thin, outside skin and wash well)
One tomato (sliced round)
Cheese slices (I like cedar, but any will do)
1/2 large red or yellow pepper (cleaned and cut in slices)

Olive oil, garlic paste or minced, fresh basil leaves (chopped finely) salt and pepper

Preparation

Coat the mushroom “hat” in olive oil, garlic paste, salt and pepper.
Top with finely chopped basil leaves, layers of slices of cheese, tomatoes slices, another layer of cheese, the slice of red/yellow pepper and top everything with shredded cheese and chopped basil leaves.

Place on foil ( bend the foil to keep the juices in place when you bake)
Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted.
Note: All vegis used in this recipe could be eaten raw, so they are crisp, not mushy and overcooked if you bake them for less than 20 minutes, if the mushroom is large)
Serve warm.

Admission of guilt… I dip the juices left inside the foil, while the dish is baking, in a slice of whole wheat and flax seeds bread… so leaving out the bread is relative.

Please share with us your tips for yummy, healthy and versatile meals.
Wishing all a great Sunday!

When Poison Ivy Won’t Go Away… It’s YOUR SHOES!

Poison Ivy every gardener’s nightmare! A nightmare which could be easily avoided, or could it?

1. Look and learn the three leaves indicative of poison ivy. If in doubt, do not touch.
2. Always wear appropriate clothing. Gloves, long sleeves, long pants, COVER yourself, and you will be safe.

I followed these rules, yet, mysteriously I had the worst case of poison ivy, ever! It just will not go away. I searched for best remedies, my friends added more and more remedies.
Here are a few remedies, which worked ON THE ACTUAL POISON IVY BLISTERS and calmed the itching:

1. Benadryl. CAUTION: DO NOT DRIVE after taking it.
2. Topical medications which helped me: Tecnu Calgel and cortisone creams, 1%. Bathe with oatmeal and aloe, or use Avino products. I have in my refrigerator a homemade blend of oatmeal and aloe vera gel and applying it cold on the affected areas, help.
A knowledgable friend suggested jewel weed, which is a known Native American remedy, but I have not used it and hope there will not be a next time.

The real problem, was that I was now in my second week and the itching was getting worse. When it reached into my throat, I called the doctor and she gave me a steroid shot. Steroids are very bad for anyone, but especially for people who are already at risk for osteoporosis. I am NOT a fan of steroids, but this was a true emergency!

Thankfully, my doctor also ENLIGHTENED ME, WHY THE POISON IVY WON’T GO AWAY

What I didn’t know, was that the OIL in THE PLANT GOES ON OUR CLOTHING AND SHOES and it is NOT WATER SOLUBLE, and it stays on our clothing and shoes, unless we wash everything PROPERLY.

I was stepping on poison ivy, I was washing EVERYTHING: GLOVES, CLOTHING BUT NOT MY SHOES!!!
As a result, every time I touched my shoes, I was re-infecting myself with the poison ivy plant oil which stays on our clothing and shoes until properly washed! And that’s not all!

You must clean EVERYTHING you touched with potentially infected gloves/hands: your door knobs, your car keys. EVERYTHING which might have gotten in contact with the oil in a poison ivy plant.

What does it mean, “properly washed?”

Two useful web sites about proper cleaning, ” From the cleaning supply closed,” (www.poisonivy.aesir.com) and http://www.attackpoint.org.

In short, the washing must be done immediately and it is essential to use a degreasing DETERGENT, not just water and soap. You must get out the oil and grease and soap will not do the trick. Some detergents mentioned were Dwan or Joy and Palm Olive.

It is the OIL in the plant, called URUSHIOL, which is the active ingredient, it is NOT water soluble, and it is active ALL YEAR LONG and normally stays active for 1-5 years!!! So… RUNERS BEWARE OF CLEANING YOUR SHOES!

Other important information.

The poison ivy’s oil leafs seem to be located at waist level and above, not at root level, but I would not risk…
Some people mention getting rid of poison ivy by swimming in chlorinated water, immediately after contact with the plant, or using a very diluted bleach when showering, and adding bleach when washing your clothing and shoes. The chlorine oxadizes the oil.

Personally, I do not recommend using bleach on the skin, as it seems, one might run into different problems if using bleach inappropriately on the skin.
Another suggestion is to do your gardening in the rain, as oil and water repel.

In conclusion:
No matter what you do, please wash not only yourself with a degreaser detergent, but EVERYTHING YOU WORN WHILE GARDENING AND EVERYTHING YOU TOUCHED!
I hope this information helps and we look forward to your shares of experiences!

How To Make Moussaka When You Don’t Have Enough Eggplants

Moussaka, one of my all times favorites, a delicious Greek dish which, as most of us know, calls for many ingredients, but TWO are basic: eggplants and ground meat.

This year, for the first time, I planted eggplants, to be more specific, one plant, to see what happens!!! What happened was not what I wished for and my plant produced one eggplant! One eggplant! That was it.

I still had my mind set on making moussaka, but the recipe I usually use called for at least 2-3 eggplants…
This is the variation, using the one eggplant I had:

Ingredients to make the dish:
1–Eggplant
2-3- large potatoes
1 lbs of ground beef or any other ground meat you have at hand
1 cup shredded carrots
2 Tbs minced garlic
1-2 finely chopped onions (depending on your taste)
1/2-1 cup tomato sauce (could make fresh tomatoes sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients to make a cheese sauce:

2-3 Tbs melted butter (I substituted with olive oil)
2 Tbs flour (to thicken the sauce)
1 Cup half and half (I substituted with Silk Almond Milk and sour cream))
1 egg (I didn’t have an egg:(
1/2 grated cheese (best would be Parmesan, but I didn’t have it and substituted with sharp cedar cheese)
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cut the eggplant and the potatoes in round slices. Rub each in olive oil, garlic paste and little salt and broil on both sides on a cookie sheet. RESERVE the prepared slices for later.

On top of stove, cook the chopped onions, garlic and the ground beef (meat) until there is NO red left in the meat. Add the tomato sauce. RESERVE the prepared meat

In a pan, on top of the stove, on low heat, make the cheese sauce:
Use 2-3 Tbs. of melted butter or oil (as I did) the 2 Tbs flour, the beaten egg, SLOWLY add either the half and half, or the almond milk and sour cream. If you just have some of each, but not enough, combine them.
Add the grated cheese.Stir continually until the sauce looks thick and the cheese is completely melted.

LAYERS:

In a greased, baking dish lawyer the slices of prepared eggplant mixed with the slices of potatoes.
Pour the prepared ground meat on top of the layer, top with another lawyer of eggplants and potatoes.
I added a lawyer of shredded carrots, another lawyer of eggplants and potatoes (if you still have any left)
Poured the cheese sauce on top and bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until done.

Yummy! Enjoy, and please share with us YOUR TIPS.

Internet Dating – A Woman’s Perspective

On July 31, 2013, on this blog I published “Internet Dating-A Woman’s Perspective- The Man from Ghana.
Since then, the article was read by hundreds of people around the world. What follows may be considered Part II of the July 31, 2013 post, and as everything written on The Nude Truth, this story is true.

It seems to be cyclical, every two years, my curiosity to discover what is happening out there, in the internet “dating” world. This time, I started my research with the clear goal to learn, so that I could write an informed post to help others and see the humor in what is happening in the internet dating world. The Ghana man experience from 2013 was enough. As they say, “fool me once, fool me twice…”

I was online for a total of 7 days before I deleted my profile. In one week, I received 161 “views,” 93 “likes,” and 47 messages.

Before I joined a couple of sites, I Googled:
Top Internet Dating Sites, and the search produced five sites. Among them, Match.com and OKCupid, etc.

I checked out several other paid sites, not listed in the top five, which advertised “free memberships,” but in reality, a “free profile,” was not made public until one paid! Not that free, after all.

Still, it helped me determine an important fact: I checked out a few men and women’s profiles. What struck me was that most women desired a relationship within 10 to 50 miles from their homes, while the men wanted long distance relationships, ranging from 700 miles to 3,000! The conclusion is yours!

The top five sites, each, had clients’ ratings listed next to them and the most ratings were given by OKCupid, which is a free dating site, on which one could use their Facebook account to sign up. Easy and your privacy is guaranteed…

I signed up on OK Cupid, which was free.
Within minutes, I received so many messages that I had to turn off my laptop, take a deep breathe and relax, or rather focus on reality: Who were all these people? Was I THAT attractive? Really!!!
To mind came the women on the Dr. Phil Show, who sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to men they never met, outside the USA.
Well, that would not me, definitely, as I have difficulty comprehending the concept of someone becoming destitute believing in the illusion of so called “love…”

How could one fall in love with a picture? A Voice? How about chemistry? My definition of chemistry is one reaches out and shakes a hand, gets a hug. A direct, undeniable attraction between two people. Still, people do fall in love with the idea of love, and sadly, despite the clear warnings on ALL DATING SITES, to not send money abroad or to people one meets on the Internet, people still repeat the mistake!

Anyway, what have I experienced during this one week adventure on the internet dating scene?

At least 1/4 were men who presented profiles featuring pictures of themselves (may be, but I doubt) their child or children or an older parent. I guess the idea was, they cared. they were good family men.
90% of those with whom I exchanged messages told me they were widowed and were single parents. It was painful and hard!!!

The ONE FEATURE THEY HAD IN COMMON:
The initial profiles stated they were in the United States, but after a second email exchange, they “entrusted” me with a secret: THEY WERE ON A SPECIAL MISSION, ABROAD!!!

All, wanted to take the chat off the dating site and offered Facebook accounts, to friend me and chat. I insisted on me getting their information, which they were happy to oblige.

I checked out one Facebook account. A “pilot!” Yes, you read it correctly. An Air Force officer, putting his life out on a limb for you and I! Wow! How lucky could a woman get after being on line less than 48 hours?LOL
On a thorough examination of his Facebook account, it became clear he started the FB account a few months ago and, how silly is this? On the public timeline, there were messages from various women stating how much they missed him, as he was in the air, I guess…

What else? Oh, yes! The profiles were written in good English but as the back and forth emails started, the more they wrote, the worse their English became. It must have been the anxiety of finding love!

After three days of figuring out the “outside of the USA segment,” I wrote a paragraph on my profile, under the Heading, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? (my life, that was!)
I stated, the one thing I was not doing was interested in overseas relationships.
The overseas secret mission people stopped emailing me!

A much smaller, local segment continued to write. The only one which I would mention, was a man who wrote:

“I am a former intelligent, Intelligence Agent… etc” Then he told me he was also a pilot and had his own plane and was just about to go “take off for an hour or so, just to be in the air,” but what HE didn’t know, was the web site showed me every time someone checked my profile. So, while he was “in the air,” the dating site alerted me he was checking my profile. It was funny, but forgivable, since he stated from the beginning, he was “FORMER INTELLIGENT.”

I was tempted to keep going for a while, but the local pilot, asked a question which determined me to end the budding relationship and delete my account.

He asked: Do you own or rent? Is it an apartment, or a house?
How was this his business? Was he fishing for free housing? Oh… may be he wanted to buy me a house and I missed the opportunity!

So… I guess this is all for now. If you wish to receive free tips to improve your daily living, please follow us by signing up in the email box to the right.

We ALWAYS appreciate your comments and shares of experiences. This is how we all learn and better our lives and do it in a light, humorous way.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend!
Rodica

Netflix Movies Review- Foreign Soap Opera Series:)

This week’s review is not the review of an overlooked treasure, but it is what I admit of watching at this time, so… here we go:)

I never watched soap operas, called in Europe “tele novella,” and I cannot recall the exact steps of how I started watching TERESA

Why am I reviewing it? Because it made me understand why so many people get caught up in watching soaps and love them! At least for me, was, still is, as I’m still not done watching the 120 episodes, a way to escape every day reality. Yes, it is silly and a possible waste of time, but also entertaining.

TERESA — summary:

The story of a stunning, sexy and smart young woman whose ambition is to raise above her getto origins. Her motto:

“Between being a nobody and being a somebody, I CHOOSE to be a somebody!”

Love, hate, cheating, ambition taken to the level of possible psychopathy, the rich, the blue bloods and the getto good people but also the evil people in all socio-economic situations. It makes my head spin…

With that in mind, I made a short pros and cons list.

Pros:

If you already speak Spanish, it is great, as the episodes are subtitled. I don’t YET but the language is so clear, so beautiful, that it made me decide to learn Spanish. Spanish and my native language, Romanian, belong to the same group of Latin Languages. I could understand many of the words. Two stuck with me: “Credo,” which means “of course,” In Romanian ‘cred,” means I believe, of course. Also “tonto,” which means stupid, idiot,” and the Romanian slang is “tont.”

The other pros are the beauty of the actors, the fast pace action and light entertainment some of us need to escape reality and relax.

Cons—
Well… these too, are a matter of perception and taste.
It is really up to you to decide, but now you know what to expect.

The acting is many times poor.
The director had some of the male characters repeatedly scratch their heads when in doubt or nervous. This happened so many times that it could make one wonder if they might have a nervous tick or lice or an allergy. It could be annoying, but also hilarious.
The same is true for the characters speaking to themselves ALOUD to make sure the audience “gets it.”

Should you watch this Mexican soap opera series?

It’s a choice, and it’s all yours, of course. “Credo.”

If you have any SUGGESTIONS of movies you watched and liked or disliked, please COMMENT.
Have a great movies evening!
Rodica