After seeing a recent poll, I decided to check this out: "What is the least expensive and most popular fruit?" 

 According to what I found--it's probably the Banana. I know for a fact that bananas are less expensive than apples, at least in my area! Those were the two answers people gave in this Poll. I eat both; bananas have more fiber & potassium, which is why I choose them.  I also eat apples, but due to a medical condition, I must peel them first--which negates some of their good points.

Anyway, it's up to each person to decide which they prefer. Both are nutritious and good for you. 

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I've been watching reruns of a favorite old tv show: Emergency. The two main characters are firefighters who are paramedics. I started wondering what happened to paramedics once ambulances started carrying EMTs. Are they still around, or did they just go back to being 'plain' firefighters? 

That made me wonder: what's the difference between paramedics amd EMTs.  So I looked it up. It apparently is how much training they get. What surprised me is that one article I read seems to say that paramedics actually have more training than EMTs. And there are several 'levels' of EMTs as well. 

I found an article by an actual firefighter: I work as a firefighter/paramedic and the majority of the calls we are dispatched to are for emergency medical aid.

   Here is part of what he explained: 

An EMT, who may or may not be a paramedic, will usually work out of an ambulance, though most firefighters are also trained and function as EMTs and Paramedics.  

EMTs are, normally, the first group of people to attend an incident. Many times the first responders on-scene will be firefighters, that are also EMTs or Paramedics. 

If you want more info, here is the link to that article: 

https://firefighterinsider.com/ems-vs-emt-whats-the-difference/

I found it quite interesting. 

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I just saw this on Facebook. My answers seemed 'normal'--and they are, for the Midwest, at least. I was surprised to see that people from the South--and New York city--use totally different names for these common items. I'm interested in seeing what everyone here 'calls' these items; I'll post my answers after the photo: 

My answers were: Grocery/shopping cart, BackPack, Soft Drink.

 Other names were: 'buggy', soda/coke/pop

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This morning, around 3am, I was awake & turned on my tablet to check NOTH for spammers. Just happened to see an article saying that Meat Loaf, one of my favorite singers, had died at age 74. I listen to some of his songs daily. Now, I admit I don't like all of his music--but do like many of his songs. 

It's kind of an ironic/funny thing. Recently, I had thought of writing a blog--about how I'm turning into my mother when it comes to singers. 

Mom always said she 'liked' Elvis, as long as she didn't have to 'look' at him.  I never understood why--unless she didn't like the 'swivel hips' thing that people in her generation used to complain about. Recently, I found myself thinking the same about Meat Loaf: I listen to his music videos daily; but I don't really 'watch' them.

However, I will probably always 'listen' to his music. I think the first time I heard him sing was in the Rocky Horror Picture Show: "Whatever Happened to Saturday Night". To me, the only 'good' thing about that movie was the music! But that's just my opinion.

Some of my favorite songs of his are:

I'd Do Anything for Love, Two out of  Three Aint Bad, You Took the Words right out of My Mouth, Life is a Lemon, and Rock & Roll Dreams Come True. And don't forget his version of It's all Coming back to me now.   

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I was never a 'Twinkies' fan. In fact, I don't think I ever had them more than once or twice. Then this year, I discovered a 'new' flavor: mixed berry.  Since that's one of my favorite flavors--of anything: muffins, 'drink' mix, etc--I decided I had to try it.

And guess what? I love it!  I'm not big on 'breakfast' in general; but now that I take a number of medications each morning, I know I should have something on my stomach at that time. So now, I have one Twinkie with my morning tea and pills. The good news: 1 Twinkie is only 135 calories--so it's perfect.  (Occasionally, I'll decide to have a scrambled egg with a piece of toast--but it's so much easier to grab  a Twinkie!)  

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While listening to some of my favorite songs from the 1980s the other day, I heard the phrase: "put another dime in the jukebox"; that brought back memories! But when I was a child, it cost a nickel to play a song. 

Of course, I was a pre-teen at the time. I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I was probably seven or eight years old. The reason I remember it so vividly was that my one grandmother ran a truck stop for a few years--and I spent a lot of time there with her. There was a jar of nickles that I could use to play music on the jukebox--and each of those nickels had a splotch of nail polish on it. When the machine was 'emptied', all of those nickles were put back into the jar to be used again. At this point, I don't remember which songs I played over and over--but I know there were at least half a dozen! I've always loved music. And I still do.

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I wrote this for my group, but decided to share. I think it's humorous! I've shared a number of my short stories in that group as well as one of my novellas. 

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I'm constantly saying: Google it! Do you say that? And do you 'do' that--use Google to search for things? In the past, yes, I used Google a lot. Probably daily. However, I've recently changed to Duck, Duck, Go as my search engine. But I still tend to tell people to 'google' whatever it is. 

I think 'google' has become the generic term for search engines--just like 'kleenex' is generic for any tissue.  I use Puffs--have for many years. But I still catch myself asking for 'kleenex' at times. 

I think it's the same thing for Coke. I don't know for sure, but I believe Coca-Cola might have been the first popular soft drink. My mom loved it; on the other hand, Grandma showed me that 'coke' could clean rust off an old child's 'highchair'!  Personally, once I tasted Pepsi, I decided I liked it better than Coke.

Of course, brings up the question: what do you call Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc? I say soft drink.  But that's off topic! 

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Now that 'fall' is here--or will be soon--people are talking about making homemade Chili. I saw some posts on FB talking about 'what' goes into it.  Now, I'm from Southern Indiana. We always had either spaghetti (broken up) or macaroni in our 'chili'. I have a hunch Mom and Grandma did that to make it 'stretch'! But who knows? It does taste good!  And 'our chili' was thick. Not soupy. Grandma used spaghetti; Mom did macaroni. 

According to some of the posts, even some from Indiana don't do that, which surprised me. They call it 'chili mac' if it has any kind of 'pasta' in it, whether it's spaghetti, macaroni, or noodles. Others, from the Southwest, post that they add more 'spicy' things to it. And some don't even put beans in it!   Or they might use 'white' meat instead of beef.

As for me, I always put broken up spaghetti in mine.  My husband buys canned chili without beans; I choose 'beans' and 'hot' on store-bought canned chili.  If I 'buy' canned chili, I don't bother adding anything to it, so no spaghetti or macaroni in that. 

If I'm making it from scratch, I use Brooks' Chili Mix, which has beans; I use finely chopped ground chuck--or ground round. And I add Gebhardts chili powder.  I also add diced green chillies, with tomatoes. (T uses several packs of Brooks Chili seasonings & adds extra beans--Brooks Hot Chili beans). Yes, our tastes are different--so we each make what we like!  

Well, I started to 'update' this, then realized I had already explained what I meant! If I buy canned chili--no, I don't add anything to it, either macaroni or spaghetti. I only do that when I'm making it from scratch.  In recent years, I mainly stick to canned chili; and I'm not picky (like T is), so I buy anything from Hormel to the store brand. And I do like it spicy, so I get 'hot' when I can.

On the other hand, my husband always makes some spaghetti and pours his canned chili over it!   He is definitely picky about the 'brand'; right now, his favorite is Armour, without beans. Yes, that's contradictory: canned is 'no beans' while he puts beans into his homemade! 

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