Pop-Tarts Inventor… William “Bill” Post, passes at 96

Did you know that Pop-Tarts were created in 1963? They were originally called, “Fruit Scones.” This name didn’t seem to fit, so they were renamed, “Pop-Tarts” after the Pop culture at the time. However, I had a funny thought, “POP-out-of-the-toaster” might have played into the name too.

William “Bill” Post, who invented Pop-Tarts 60 years ago, passed away at 96 in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 10, 2024. Here’s where it gets tricky. News articles say that Post invented Pop-Tarts, but when I went to the Pop-Tarts website, it doesn’t mention his name at all. That’s sad, right.

Well, Netflix is coming out with a film on May 3rd, “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story” directed by and starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld. This has to be good with Seinfeld. I look forward to the film to better understand “who” invented the Pop-Tart!

Who is DATING out there? GREAT idea for you…

Look what’s been coming to my Junk folder lately. A lot of these dating messages. Obviously, some spammer has my email. Without even opening the messages, I smiled. So, THIS is how it’s done.

Like writing a job resume, crafting an online dating message takes skill. I admit, I don’t have it. Years ago, I tried online dating. I’d last for about 2.5 weeks, realizing there were a lot of strange people out there and I had just wasted 3 months of money!!

The issue was with the profile. First, you need that GREAT photo. Even if it doesn’t look like you, it has to be great. When I say, “even if it doesn’t look like you,” I mean that it sometimes takes zillions of photos to get ONE winner. That winning photo, might not represent who you are on a daily basis; however, it doesn’t matter. For purposes of the profile, it’s a glamour shot. DONE!

Next the profile message. I was never good at this. That’s why I smiled at the dating emails coming to my Junk folder. My message to attract someone was boring. Basically, imagine fishing without any bait. That’s how my dating message was. If you fish without bait, it means you don’t really want a fish.

Now, if you REALLY want to catch the fish, you need good bait. These messages in my Junk folder made me smile. Such fake love messages, but they work! I admit, I was drawn to them. Take the one that says, “Are you ready for some magic and romance mixed together?” Who would say, “NO?”

So, I’m sharing this idea. If you are still dating and having trouble writing your profile. Draw writing inspiration from dating emails you find in your Junk folder.

Guaranteed — You’ll increase your online match results!! 

Marketing is marketing, even in the dating world.

Winter has arrived… Time for knitting!

What do you do when your weather hits -1 degrees? The weatherman says if we are out for more than 10 minutes, we can get frost bitten. We don’t believe him/her. So, we bundle up (just in case, they’re right) and head outside. We don’t last more than five minutes and we are back in the house.

As I was house bound, I wondered what to do. Ok, read a book, watch TV, call a friend, clean the house, writer extra blog posts (LOL)… you get the idea. I needed something different. The light bulb went off.

Where was all my extra yarn? 

I found it after a good search. I decided I’d make a lap blanket. So, I’ve been happily knitting in the evenings. Inside a knitter’s mind.

Knit, knit, knit…REPEAT.                                         Next row.                                                  Knit, knit, knit… REPEAT. 

It’s like we are in a trance. I’m using an Alpaca yarn, it’s very lush and warm. Perfect for cold weather.

While I’ve been knitting, I started listening to The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. The movie is out now, but usually the book is better. Isn’t the recommendation to always read the book first? 

Has anyone seen the movie yet? Would love to hear your review.

Start here…

2024 STARTS… Make things happen!

It’s a NEW YEAR, I’m excited. Time to Make Things Happen!

This photo is how my brain works. A vision board full of sticky notes, depicting all the exciting, creative and crazy ideas going on in my brain. What I like about sticky notes is that I can move my ideas/goals around. If a goal is not going to meet a particular date/time, no problem, move it to bottom of the board. Focus on what I will accomplish by deadline, then circle back to the goal I moved to the bottom of board.

Years ago, I worked for a man who thought like I did. He was big on white boards. Every office had huge white boards. Whenever we had a meeting, everything went on the white board. Discussing root cause analysis on a product failure was great. One person wrote on the board, everyone chimed in, it was easy to erase, move text over, etc. When we filled up board, someone took a photo. THEN we erased and continued. Later someone wrote up the notes and sent to all the attendees. My type of meeting!

So here’s to MAKING THINGS HAPPEN in 2024!

From Bavaria, Christmas decorations…

Walking in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, they had so many beautiful Xmas scenes in the windows. Look at this one of the Angel orchestra, how clever.

Another nice touch, they decorate with small Christmas trees outside their homes. They have electric candles on the trees. In the old days, they actually used real lit candles.

Here you have stuffed bears in the windows. This was a Teddy Bear shop.

This was such a simple tree. I’ve always liked hearts, what a great idea! The red felt hearts stand out because of the light wood. I would do this.

This was interesting, so earthy the way they decorated their window with wood, etc. The cakes, I didn’t touch them, but they look like hardened sand, clay or concrete? 

I fell in love with their door stops. I haven’t seen these in America, but I don’t think we have as heavy doors as they have. Where we stayed, in a charming old home, they had different door stops on each door. This HOME was on ours, but there was a cat that I liked.

As I walked the neighborhood, I came across a sewing store. She had patterns of a reindeer door stop. Of course, I had to buy it and a pattern for a cute bear, I bought that too.

So, there you have it. Another quick visit around Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

I have to say, it did get me in the mood to decorate, make Christmas fun in a NEW way!

Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas! 

WordPress: When a new feature isn’t that great.

Hello fellow Blogger, A Grace Full Life, I hope you don’t mind, I am using your Blog post as an example to discuss a new feature WordPress has come out with in our Reader view. Have you noticed the Comments in a post are now showing up in the Reader?

I used this as an example, because the comment was so long that on my Ipad, it took up my entire screen. I used to see just a thumbnail of each post, so I could quickly scroll through and my FOCUS was on the Blog post writer, NOT on the comments that are left on each site.

Has anyone else noticed this.

Thoughts… Like it or not?

I’ve written to the Happiness Engineers mentioning my displeasure with this new feature. Also, asking if there is a way to turn comments off, so they don’t show up. If you are like me and not a fan of this new development, you might want to send them an email.

Baseball – What do you think, a vintage Cubs hat?

Baseball season is in full swing. I’m not a huge sports fan, meaning I’m not watching every game or anything like that. However, I do support our team, the Cubs.

I was visiting a friend, walking the neighborhood and stopped in my tracks when I saw this tree. How clever. This art creation of a Cubs fan took effort. It’s so funny, looks like an older man. Profiling here, tall and a bit chubby, holding a beer, maybe with shirt too tight? We have to go older since the hat looks vintage.

Looking at the hat. What is that to the left of the “C?” Is it meant to be a drawing of a player with helmet on, bat in hand?

Maybe that hat is the colors of the Cubs, but it’s not an old Cubs hat. Any Cubs experts out there or OLD ENOUGH to know logo changes, LOL.

What do you think?

When a PICTURE makes you THINK of pasta!

When I was at the grocery store, I saw Pierogi, so many choices. I have a friend who gets in the mood for them. It’s interesting, because they are like Italian ravioli. Then, I thought, you’ve got the Asian pot stickers. All a little different, but the same idea with a different name.

Do you have a preference for any of these? I wonder, do the Germans/Austrians have something like ravioli or pierogi? I know they make great dumplings.

Thinking of dumplings, I’m getting in the mood for Matzo Ball soup now!