Goodbye NJ101.5

Since I work from home (I'm an online trainer during the day) I started listening to talk radio.  NJ1015 is a New Jersey station and kind of funny so I would listen to Dennis & Judi from 10 to 2 and then I think it was Carton & Rossi from 2 to whenever the kids came home. It got better when it became Casey & Rossi a few years later.  Then they ruined it by getting rid of Casey :(

I wasn't a huge fan of Judi, thought she was very closed minded & self centered, but she & Dennis had a good schtick going and it worked well.

One day Judi left and Michele Pilenza took over and it became a fantastic show. The only thing that might have been better than Dennis & Michele was when Dena Blizzard filled in one summer.  (www.onefunnymother.com) Both Dena & Michele were like breaths of fresh air.  They both made Dennis less of a hard ass and the show was just a joy to listen to. 

In the time it was Dennis & Michele, I started my business and they were so kind to allow me to talk about it and promote it.  I even did a beach writing birth announcement for Michele when she had her 2nd son.

As a thank you to both of them, I did this stick figure drawing and was going to give it to them on their next diner tour.

That same week they announced Michele was leaving and Judi was coming back.

I was not happy, but hoped that maybe the years and the difficulties she endured while not working would have humbled her and she would be maybe a little more open and easier to listen to.

So I went back to the beach and redid the stick figure drawing. (can't find the original, will post it if I find it) 

As a part of the diner tour that Spring, they were in Toms River so I scooted down there and presented them with their photo & had them sign a 2nd for me.

I framed it and would display it at craft shows occasionally but stopped because Judi had not changed.

She was still the self centered spoiled bitch and Dennis was even becoming more negative.  

I even tried to be nice and made her  a sea glass necklace with her name. Boy do I regret that now.

Their tirade yesterday about the compassionate people who came to the Brick court house to support Sammy 

Sammy is the abused Cocker Spaniel that was brought in by his owner in a garbage bag, severely abused, neglected and near death! The owner claimed he found the dog on the roadside! Sweet 13-year-old Sammy's remarkable recovery has captured our hearts.

showed their true colors and I refuse to be associated with a company that allows for that kind of hatred to be aired.

Compassion is something that comes from your heart and if you don't want to see the scumbags that did this to Sammy and other abused animals face stiffer penalties, and then to make fun of others who do...

Than I have no use for you.

That kind of negativity has no place in this world. 

Good thing I have a Netflix subscription because the radio is off. 

Day 4 - No Power at the Jersey Shore

Not liking living like the Amish!  Can't get to Mantoloking to do my beachwritings.  Not sure when we'll be able to get on the barrier island again. I miss my beach.  Thursday morning JerseyShoreDad & I ventured up to Belmar to see if we could get on the beach.  We did and I took some photos to share with you.  This gazebo is between 5th & 6th in Belmar & it's where we got married.

I still love the ocean. 

Please donate if you can, the Red Cross is the most safest place to start.  

We survived & we will rebuild. You can't break Jersey. 

Just a note - I'm having a sea glass necklace sale on my facebook page. Free shipping to the US. 

NamesontheJerseyShore

That's Evil - Tomslitehouse Candles

Husband: "It smells like someone is making cupcakes. Is that one of the tarts?'
Me:  "Yep."
Husband: "Tell Karen I said that's evil."

Who is Karen  & why is she evil?  Because I was burning her Red Velvet Cake tart when Mike said that.

Karen is the proprietor of Tomslitehouse.  A Belmar, NJ based Soy Candle making company. She's evil because her Red Velvet Cake candles and tarts smell exactly like someone is making cupcakes, EXACTLY.  Oh and both Mike & I are back doing Atkins and it was creating cravings!

I first found out about Tomslitehouse on Facebook. I'm not sure how I found out about them, but I'm a big fan of shopping at local businesses so I started following her.  I finally got to meet Karen at a Toms River craft fair in early December 2011. I was selling my beach writings and she had a lovely display of candles.  When it grew quiet, I left Mike in charge of my stand and walked over to introduce myself to Karen.

My house would never smell the same again!

Before I get into reviewing all the scents I have (and I have a bunch) I want you to read this I copied from her site, it's written by her husband, Tom.

The story of how this store came to be is a story of perseverance and renewal. To make a long story short, Karen, my wife and our resident candle maker, is a breast cancer survivor. Like many people who go through chemotherapy, Karen sought a daily ritual that relaxed her and lifted her spirits. During one visit to her oncologist, she mentioned she burned a lot of candles; that they were helping her get through her ordeal. Her doctor said “I hope they’re soy!” We had never heard of soy candles until that very moment, but when he explained about the chemicals in paraffin candles, our passion and, then, our business venture began. Karen went to classes to learn how to make soy candles; we began by giving them as gifts to friends and family members, and then started selling them at local craft fairs. They were a big hit and we’ve been at it ever since. That was five years ago and we’d never go back to paraffin candles…ever!

 Learning that paraffin candles have been linked to breast cancer was enough to get me to toss out all my paraffin based candles!  I quit smoking for my lungs, might as well as get rid of paraffin for my hooters!

My first purchase was a Honeysuckle candle.  Years ago I had purchased a Honeysuckle candle from one of those overpriced shop-at-home candle companies and fell it love with it, but I have never been able to find it again, until that day when I met Karen.  The second I opened the jar, I knew I had to have it.  As soon as we got home from the craft fair I lit it and it was perfect.  Better then I remembered the other one smelling, and better for my health!


A few weeks later Karen & I ended up doing another craft fair together.  This time I had my 10 year old son Jared with me.  He spend quite a bit of time smelling the scents at Karen's booth.  Before we left he asked me to buy him a candle.  I figured he'd want chocolate or a candy type smell.  Nope, he want Ruby Red Grapefruit.  (This kid also asked for a memory foam pillow for Christmas!) I'm not big on grapefruit because I'm not a fan of sour things.  This candle won me over.  It is a clean fruit smell but not a fruit-Y smell, if that makes any sense.  It smells like grapefruit without smelling like something made to smell like grapefruit.

At this same craft fair Karen was burning a tart called Fraiser Fir. I kid you not, it smells exactly like a Christmas tree.  Shortly after the show I contacted Karen to buy this from her.  I had a fake Christmas tree and wanted the house to smell like I had a real one.  This fit the bill.  A family member said to me "your tree is so fresh, it smells great!" I had to show her the tart burning on the stove!

I also picked up Macintosh Apple that day.  Folks, I kid you not, this smells EXACTLY like an apple, again, without smelling like it was made to smell like an apple. I'm actually burning it as I write this and I'm looking for the plate of apples (and peanut butter, gotta have peanut butter with apple slices). I'm probably going to over use the term "clean smell" but it really is a nice clean crisp apple scent.

Then I entered a contest on their page and won a whole fricken bunch of tarts.

When I opened the package and saw two different lemon flavors I wondered what was the point.  Lemon is Lemon.

Yeah, I was wrong.  The Lemon Cheesecake is a sweeter creamier lemon smell, where the Lemon Drop smells like I just dusted with Lemon Pledge.  And yes, that is a good thing because I LOVE Lemon Pledge.  And when your house smells like it's clean, somehow it looks cleaner too.  Ok, maybe not, but if you do a surface cleaning and then burn a Lemon Drop tart or candle, your family will think you worked harder then you did!

It looks like melting butter!

The Apple Jack & Peel is a different scent then the Macintosh Apple.  Burning it makes it smell like an apple orchard in my house!

Fireside piqued my interest.  Is it going to smell like I'm sitting at a fire?  It smells homey but I couldn't quite figure out what it was.  Then I read the description

A pleasant vanilla and hot embers type with notes of charred woods of birch, pine and cedar and a musky, balsamic, ambery-vanilla and sandalwood dry down.

Yeah, that's it, Balsamic, birch, pine, cedar, ambery-vanilla and sandlewood, that's totally what I was thinking.  LOL whatever combination she came up with, it's wonderful and smells warm. Great for a snowy cold night if you don't have a fireplace, and I don't. 

Gingerbread Brulee, are there gingerbread men dancing around my house?  That is what it smells like!


All in all I am very happy with every scent I've gotten from Tomslitehouse whether I bought it or won it.

She sells her scents in different sizes & as both tarts and candles.  Her big jar candles can be refilled for a reduced price, which is awesome.  I also like that when I'm done burning one scent, I can pour the melted soy back into it's container, wipe out the tart burner & change to a different scent.  No big clean up involved.

Oh and for how far from the candle or tart can you smell it, I would have to say it depends on the scent.  I feel that certain scents stand out differently then others.  The Apple ones, the Lemon , Honeysuckle, Fraiser Fir, Grapefruit and the Red Velvet Cake can be picked out in every room of my 1500 sq ft, 2 story house.  The Fireside makes the house smell great without being a specific scent.  I'm hoping to pick up a vanilla scent soon so see if it is similar.

So go forth & check out Karen's site and buy some candles or tarts.  I recommend it and your boobies will be grateful!

After the storm

Irene was kind to us.

Power shut off for about 30 seconds twice late Saturday night, but that was it.

No flooding either.  Some areas of Brick are experiencing flooding, but thankfully not us.   I haven't even seen my neighbors pumping out their basements either.

My friends up in North Jersey didn't fare so well.  Flooding in their homes and not being able to even get out of their neighborhoods because of the flooding. 

And no power to pump out their basements. 

This is the Patriots baseball stadium in Bridgewater, NJ

When Irene was a Category 3, we were going to evacuate.  We were going to my MIL's house.   But as Irene downgraded we decided to stick it out.  I'm so glad we did.  MIL lost power Saturday night and it just came back on this morning (Monday). Also she couldn't get out of her town until later Sunday.  I would not have been happy being unable to get back to our house to see how we fared.  

Also had we evacuated, I wouldn't have been here to get a ride in the back of a police car around 12:30 Sunday morning!

LOL  That sounds more exciting than it actually was. 

I'm part of our towns CERT Team (Community Emergency Response Team) and 3 of us were asked to come to Police HQ around midnight to help with the expected overflow of calls, power outages, opening shelters, etc.  And since we were asked to come in what was believed to be when the storm was going to be bad, they came & got us. 

I didn't know the back seats of police cars were molded plastic benches.  OUCH!

What we ended up doing was napping in the "war room" because the storm, as it hit us, wasn't that bad.  Sure we had lots of rain & wind, but no damage & no panicking.  

Now it's Monday.  I have a few beach writings to do, but thankfully they all understood it was going to take a few days because of Irene.  My husband is off all week so I we decide to take a quick ride to check out the beach.

This is what we found

Closed.

I'm hoping that they're closed only because they haven't really checked out the ramp & stairs and that they will be opened back up tomorrow. 

Brick Beaches are closed today for clean up too.

So today I'm back to work, so thankful that I work from home and that we have power & internet and no water damage. 

My thoughts go out to my friends & family and others up & down the east coast who are suffering the effects of Irene, even though she's long gone. 

OH and a side note, my video storm feed made it on Fox 5 in NY! :D

Watch the Hurricane

As long as I have power you can watch these live feeds from Brick, NJ

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brick-hurricane-2011

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Hurricane-Irene-Brick-NJ

Glass Blowing with the 10 Year Old

Meet my younger son Jared.

He's a bit crazy :D

But we like him that way.

Anyway, for his birthday he wanted to go to Hot Sand in Asbury Park, NJ and do glass blowing, like I did for back in December.  As luck would have it, just a few short days before his birthday, there was a Groupon for half off Hot Sand! (yeah me!)

We finally got there about a week ago. 

While their only rule is that you have to be at least 9 years old, be smart and realize that if your child can not sit still and listen to directions, maybe you should wait until they're a little older. 

Remember the glass is HOT!

And you have to blow quite a bit!

Check out that hot red glass!

Keep BLOWING!

After this they put it in the oven to bring the temp down slowly & a few days later you can pick it up.

Here is Jared's Blue Glass Ball. 

OH and since I'm talking about Jared, I should mention one other thing.  Last night his Minor Little League team won their division Championship!!!

It's been a good week to be Jared!

L is for Leverage

Leverage is the thing you have that you can hold over another persons head to get what you want. 

It could be the better snack at the lunch room table. It could be skills that you can offer to a prospective employer.  It could be sex.  Almost anything can be used for leverage if the other person wants it bad enough. 

It's something politicians use all the time.  

Now before I get into this, please understand I am not a very political person, but I am going to touch on the subject today because of something going on in my town. 

First let me tell you about our Governor Chris Christie.  Like him or hate him, you have to appreciate his straight-forward attitude.  Like it or not, you know where he stands.   Do you have that person in your life that before you even open your mouth to say something, you know they're going to respond, because they never change.  That's the way Chris Christie is.  I don't always like what he has to say or what he believes in.  But I know that he's going to speak his mind.  While he is a politician, he almost seems genuine.  That's a lot to say for a politician, especially one from NJ.

So why am I talking about Chris Christie?  Well he told the towns in NJ that they can not raise the property taxes more then 2% without approval from the residents.  

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country.  I know people that have modest homes on modest to small pieces of property that pay over $10,000 a year in taxes.  That is NOT a typo. TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! So let's say you're paying $12,000 a year in taxes for easier math purposes, on top of your mortgage payment, you're paying $1,000 a month for taxes. 

So now let's look at those that have paid off their mortgages and have lived in their homes for 30 years, they still have to come up with $1,000 a month.  I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to retire, seriously. 

So back to leverage.  There's a vote coming up asking the residents if it's OK to raise our taxes 12% instead of the of cap of 2%.  "They" say it's going to average out to about $30 a month more.  The leverage they're using is our garbage collection. 

"If it doesn't get passed, you're going to have to pay a private collector and there will be different garbage trucks driving up and down your road every day of the week."  Was one of the comments I've heard.  

I lived in Piscataway for a good portion of my life before moving here to Brick.  We had private garbage collection at least part of the time, and I don't remember seeing garbage trucks every day.  It was the same as it is down here.  They came by one day each week.  Actually now that I think about it, it was twice a week to pick up our garbage.  

But that is their main leverage. That and they're going to lay off 29 cops.  Well I learned recently at least 14 are retiring, so that number is bound to change.  

Side note - cops & firefighters deserve the best we can give them.  Do you have a job that you risk your life every day you go in?  I don't, but they do.  So I feel they deserve high pay and a great retirement package. 

Ok back to the topic.  I think what they're leverage is bullshit.  Plain and simple. 

People aren't working. NJ has one of the highest unemployment rates.  People aren't getting raises and businesses are closing down left and right.  Ocean Spray is considering moving their factory out of NJ because of the taxes. 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

My husband and I are making less then we've ever made since we got married.  I love my day job, but because of the economy, I have not had a raise in almost 5 years.  That's why I started my custom beach writing business.  Like I said, I love my day job and I get to work from home which has benefits that can't be beat, especially when there is bad weather or kids are sick.  My husband was out of full time work for almost 2 years because of the economy.  I don't even want to know what our credit scores are because we had to cut back on EVERYTHING and some people didn't get paid. 

We didn't demand that people pay us more for getting less.  Either we figured out another way to make money (my beach writing, husband does work with a company called WFG) or we stopped spending money on things we didn't really need. 

Is that such a rare concept?  

"Stop spending money on things we don't need."

I don't think so.  It's common sense. There are plenty of things in town that can be cut out, or the prices can be raised.  Perfect example, a senior citizen in town doesn't need to have a part of his taxes go toward the day camps our town offers.  So the raise the price of registering your kids for that.  If you can't afford it, don't send your kids or I don't know, cut back somewhere else.  Give up your nail appointment each week or eat at home more often. 

Everyone has to tighten their belts.  This means towns as well. No more can we Jerseyians afford astronomical property taxes.  

So I can tell you right now that I'm voting No on this ballot.  Figure out another way to make the budget work.  We people have to do it and so does our government. 


I've told my husband several times that I'd move to Delaware in a heartbeat. I'd rent a small house and buy an RV so we can come back to visit relatives during the holidays but have our own place to stay LOL.  But then I'd have to change my business name to NamesontheDelawareShore and I don't think it has the same ring as NamesontheJerseyShore.