Morning Show Notes - Thursday, December 30th


-Cleve's Coffee Club begins on Tuesday at 6:50 AM. Each member inducted into the club get a bag of fresh coffee for Augusta's Buona Caffe and a stainless-steel 88.3 WAFJ mug. Fill out the entry form on our website under "Contests."

-We talked about your personal highlights of 2010 this morning. Join the conversation on the 88.3 WAFJ Facebook page.

-Ryan Abel joined us from A Love Project to talk about the results of our Christmas Cheer Tour. A total of 1,300 coats were collected, well beyond our goal of 1,000, along with 200 blankets and 200 other pieces of clothing. They were distributed to the Garden City Rescue Mission, Salvation Army of Augusta and the Augusta Rescue Mission. Plus, individual families benefitted from your donations, including a Graniteville family who lost everything in a house fire.

-Gas prices are around $2.89 in Aiken County and $2.99 in Richmond and Columbia Counties. The AAA says expected $3.00+ per gallon throughout the month of January. After that prices should start to drop as demand dwindles in the dead of winter.

-Steven Curtis Chapman and his family were on Good Morning America yesterday with Robin Roberts. See the video

Morning Show Notes - Wednesday, December 29th


-This is a busy week for sanitation workers collecting the trash created by Christmas presents. The Aiken Department of Public Safety is warning the public about giving criminals an invitation to come steal your gifts. If you are throwing away boxes, they suggest that you cut them up and place them in the garbage container or in garbage bags. The reason is that if you have some big ticket items and the boxes for those items say what was in them, you've given a target to a potential burgler.

-Many of us are resolving to lose weight in 2011 and for some, that involves joining a gym or starting an exercise program. This morning, we asked for advice on choosing the best gym or workout. Karen gave great advice on the 88.3 WAFJ Facebook page: (1) check into the rates and make sure that the "intro" rate doesn't go up in 6 months or a year as the cheaper rates seem to do and (2) don't sign a contract-join somewhere that you can pay month to month without a contract. There are only a few places like that but worth it because if you are locked into a contract-which is normally at least 2 years-you have to pay regardless of whether you use it or you have to pay a huge amount to get out of it. Join the conversation and see what others are saying at http://www.facebook.com/883wafj.

-One of the ways you can lose weight is by being chosen to be on one of five 88.3 WAFJ teams competing in Team Lean with the Family Y. Sign up to be considered at http://www.wafj.com/.

-Shepeard Community Blood Center is in need of blood donors today. You can give at either the Regal Cinemas in Augusta or the Evans Cinemas from 4 to 8 PM today. You'll get free movie tickets as a way of saying "thanks" for saving lives.

-We talked about an Easy Pasta Bake in Simple Cooking today. The recipe is in the post below this one.

Simple Cooking - Wednesday, December 29th


Easy Pasta Bake

1 box corkscrew noodles
1 pound hamburger meat
1 regular-size jar of spaghetti sauce
1 2-cup bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the hamburger meat in a skillet.
Boil and drain the noodles.
Mix meat, sauce, noodles and half of the cheese and put in a baking dish.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of mixture.
Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and sauce is warm.

John's sister-in-law, Laura, made this for their family gathering on Christmas Eve and everyone loved it. It is a versatile recipe in that you can use different types of noodles, add more cheese if you want and add seasonings or spices. If you need to make it for a large group, just double or triple the ingredients.

If you have a quick and easy recipe to share, send it to john@wafj.com. If we use yours, you'll get a thank-you gift. We feature a different recipe every Wednesday morning at 8:10.

Morning Show Notes - Tuesday, December 28th


-Monday Morning Mindbender (on Tuesday)
Q: Forget eating the Christmas dessert leftovers! Try wearing them! One skin and beauty expert says that this orange-colored dessert can be used for exfoliating skin. Which dessert is it?
A: Pumpkin Pie
Skin and beauty expert Stacy Cox suggests using your side dishes and desserts for less traditional purposes. She says that pumpkin pies can be used for exfoliating skin treatments while cranberries can make an excellent hair mask. Of course, even if the treatments aren’t quite as effective as you hope for, you’re at least certain to smell delightful on New Year’s Eve.

-Troy McKinney of North Augusta correctly guessed that the Cheapie of the Week is Coast Bar Soap. Kroger has the 2 bar pack on sale for $1 through Saturday (01/01). Use the printable $1 off coupon and all you pay is the tax. The coupon expires on Friday, so don't wait too long.

-Christmas Cheer Tour Results: Our goal was to collect 1,000 pieces of warm clothing to help those in need this winter. Thanks to you, we collected over 1,300 pieces of clothing, plus 200 blankets! Our friends at A Love Project have been busy distributing them to areas where they hear of a need.

-John's kids, Evan and Emma, got a lot of new toys for Christmas, but they each want the other's toys and not their own. So, this has created a wonderful opportunity to talk about what it means to share. John has said the word "share" more in the last few days than he has in his lifetime, and he's ready to eliminate the word "mine" from the English vocabulary. We talked about strategies for teaching kids to share this morning and you can join the conversation on the 88.3 WAFJ Facebook page.