One of my Punkymom friends just got back from Maine and she let us see all of her pictures. It just looks so beautiful and idyllic. They were there ten days and had only two days of sun, but, even in her cloudy pictures, there is something so peaceful and ’storybook’ about it, you know? That was one of my folks’ favorite places to travel and I can definitely see why. My friend has family there, so she of course stayed with them, but, I think if I went I would definitely try to stay in a Maine bed and breakfast. Ever since my brother’s wedding, where we stayed in a B&B, I’ve become sort of obsessed with them! I’ve always been obsessed with old houses, though, so I don’t know why it took staying in one to make me so crazy about them. Maybe it was too many years of watching Newhart, that turned me off prior to that! Theirs wasn’t a really old house, though, so it just seemed annoying. It might have just seemed annoying to me, because, it was from the owner’s perspective, and owning one, I’m sure – could be a pain in the neck! But Maine just seems like the most perfect setting to stay in a B&B! The whole historical, and laid back, atmosphere would be just right!

Well, I will tell you. Actually, I think I’ll let a fellow blogger tell you. I went looking on the web for basic miga recipes to share with you, as I had a reader ask about them. And on my little web-searching journey, I found the answer on a blog! That was just perfect, to me, as I love showcasing other bloggers! Charlotte, is based in Berkeley, California and her blog is called, Love and Cooking – gotta love that title! And you will find quite an interesting (and two year long!) conversation attached to her migas post, which is called, Migas (Mexican breakfast).

Here at our house, we make probably the most basic miga recipe ever! We just tear up the tortillas, fry them, then crack a ton of eggs and get them ready for scrambling. (We probably use about 12 tortillas and 12 eggs. I often do more than 12 tortillas, though – because so many of them get eaten while I’m trying to cook! Dirty little homemade tortilla chip scavengers!!) I put the newly made tortilla chips aside for a bit, then start scrambling the eggs. When the eggs start to dry up a bit, but, not too much, then I start tossing in the chips, a little at a time. You don’t want to put them in too soon, because then the eggs make the chips all gooey, but, if you wait to long, they don’t attach to the eggs. And that’s just no fun! I love those perfect bites of semi-crunchy chip with a big chunk of egg stuck to it!

And that is my miga story! Yes, we are gringos, I fully admit it. We don’t do it right. But we like it that way. And – I was taught by a Mexican friend. So that should count for something!

Sammie and I were really wanting to make them the other day, but, my back was killing me! There was no way that I would have been able to stand there frying the tortillas in the oil. It is a lot of standing around. When we lived in Richardson, we had bar stools, so if I was achy or sore, I could just pull a bar stool up to the stove and sit there and cook them. My sister-in-law had bar stools in this house when she lived in it, but, I think that kitchen is just too darn small for them! And I think we actually haven’t had migas since we’ve been in Alabama! Which is dumb, because all five of us love them! And you know how hard it is to please a family of five at dinner time! Well, we’ll get to them one day – especially now that it’s on my mind! Hey – maybe that would be a great dinner for the first night of school. Yeah, that is a good idea!

There is a cool new site for us ladies and I’m having so much fun looking around on it! It’s called HerFabLife.com and signing up is so easy! It’s all about the latest and the greatest trends – in fashion, music, stores, restaurants, spas and hotels, and there is even a section called ‘Hot Guy of the Week’. I thoroughly enjoyed checking that section out! Just looking, everybody chill out!

It is great because it is user-generated content, so if you have just gone to the coolest new bar and you really want to let people know about it, you can! Just sign up and head to the ‘add to the site’ section and fill in all the information that you can about it! You can also vote on all of the content that people submitted. There was one entry about perfume, that the user just really made me think about perfume, and how cool it is, so I voted her five stars!

And you can bookmark the stuff that really interests you, and then you can also share your bookmarks with a badge on your blog or website. You will notice my badge in my right sidebar under “Cool Stuff”.

There is even a section full of the latest trends for the man in your life. It’s called ‘For Him Only‘.

I’m really interested in sites utilizing user-generated content and keeping up with what’s hip and cool is definitely a hot topic for the Web 2.0 crowd – it’ll be fun to watch the growth of this site!

I sure didn’t. We were driving through the country and we passed these long, low buildings – lots of them, all in a neat row. Mark says, “Yeah. Those are chicken houses.” How the hell did he know? He grew up in Florida! He definitely spent a lot of time out here, though. He is constantly telling me stories about this place or that. Anyway, I sure thought of my friend, Ang. of Ang.’s Chicken Coop, when I saw the chicken houses! I meant to tell her about them and I forgot!

We kept on driving and after a while, there was a sign out in the front of someone’s house that said, “Chickens for Sale”. I imagined that was maybe someone like my friend, Ang., raising them on their own farm and I thought that is so much nicer for the chickens, than to be stuffed in the chicken house like sardines, with a million other chickens.

Of course, in my head popped pictures I’ve seen of chicken houses on the PETA website – ewww! Those were awful, and although not as nice as living on Ang.’s farm, I do hope those chicken houses that I saw were WAY more pleasant than the awful pictures that I saw!

Local businesses can have a horrible affect on the environment and its citizens nearby. It has been proven again and again that some of the age-old practices of typical businesses are just not good for the environment or the people around them. There was a business not too far from my house that was actually completely shut down and all of the residents were given funds to move out of the area. Mark will not let me buy produce when people are selling it on the side of the road, because he is afraid that it came from too close to that area.

There is a company that supplies EHS Compliance Software to businesses. They are utilizing the best of technology to help companies keep on top of their environmental footprints. They have a long list of clients that they have helped towards this mission.

The EHS metrics software brings together environmental health and safety professionals with information technology. In one area of their expertise, over 100 wells can be monitored and assessed for environmental damage in less than an hour!

Their staff works with their clients from the top to the bottom for the EHS software implementation. They work with the senior level company staff on strategy and planning, but, are also very present in the day to day happenings of the business, actually acting as extensions of their client’s staff.

The company was founded in 1998, and I think they are providing a wonderful service to all of the citizens who live near potential bio-hazard businesses! I bet they could have saved the town and the people near me that were so deeply affected by environmental waste. This is one company that I would really love to see expand and grow!