FML part pente

Two of my sons love Farmville. And you know, I've really kind of enjoyed it. I love gardening and so it's been fun to play with Farmville. A little confusing at first. What do you do? How do you do it? I'd get a lot of gifts and then I wouldn't know where they went or what to do with them once I found them. I'm pretty hip on it now. I've got me a few chickens, a sheep, a pig and a couple of cows and fruit trees. You get to collect eggs, collect wool, milk the cows (the brown one gives chocolate milk!) and the pig? You get truffles with him.

I've been admiring my friends farms. So large, lush. Many many cool designs. One friend has reindeer and there are stables and chicken coops and and and many of their farms are huge! How come mine is so small?

I'm told I need to keep going. Keep planting and harvesting. You get coins and bonus points or experience things and then you can buy a bigger farm.

I want a bigger farm.

Then one glorious day I'm told I can now buy a tractor! Oh! A tractor! Oh happy day!! Wouldn't that just cut down on the time it takes to clicky click my way around the farm. I am jonsing for a tractor, I click to buy.

And.

Oh I see you don't have enough money in your account to buy a tractor, would you like to add money to your account?

Like real money?

Like real money?

For reals?

You want me to pay money to play your game?

I've just been named Rockstar Farmer. But I have to pay real money to buy a freakin tractor.

FML

FML part cuatro

It's not as difficult as you might think to find something to bitch about.

And this is how I've been starting my mornings. And it has the power to crash my whole day.

My coffee pot is broken. More accurately the grinder is broken. We have one of those cool pots that grind the beans and then delivers up a perfectly delightful pot of exquisite coffee.

Except now the grinder is broken.

So now I must grind the beans prior to making a pot of delish coffee.

This is not so bad, no, not so bad. I enjoy grinding coffee in my little Coffee Mate or is it Mr. Coffee grinder, aka spice grinder, aka nut grinder. It smells terrific when I do it. It also makes a mess when I do it because I. Am a messy person and can't figure out how to do just about anything without making a mess.

Never mind.

That is not the problem. The problem is, or now is, the coffee pot burbs and drizzles coffee all over the pot and onto the counter. Why? Why does it do this? Coffee grounds too fine? Coffee grounds too many? Coffee pot dirty or just mad at me?

I clean it.

Many times.

With vinegar.

Still burps coffee all over my counter and leaves a sludgy muddy layer of . . grounds? at the bottom of the pot making a cup of joe more like a thick gritty bitter coffee flavored pudding that refuses to set.

It doesn't do it all the time.

There is no rhyme or reason for this phenomenon.

I do not know how to rectify this problem.

FML

FML part drei

I'm still bitchy.

There are happier places to visit.

Move along.




Who would do this! OMG!! I think I just threw up a little.




Ya'all know my unnatural fear of spiders right? No? Well I have an unnatural fear of spiders. You can call it phobic, you can call it arachnophobia, what ever you call it I call it 'spiders are of the devil'. They scare me. They scare me so much that I get nauseous just thinking about them. I once found hundreds of eggs sacs, hundreds, I exaggerate not, in the cupboard that houses the toys I keep for the grandbabies. I threw up for a good hour thinking how those delightful, and some not so delightful children could have had a spider on them.

So. I go into the bathroom, my bathroom, and I'm rubbing my eyes and getting ready for bed. I head into the bedroom when, I stop, and right at my feet. Inches, I say inches, from my feet is a very large wolf spider. Large. Wolf. Spider. If you're not familiar with wolf spiders in your neck of the wood let me just say they are large, furry, and fast. They look like baby taranchulas only faster. Except when they are carrying around their egg sack. Why? Why must they cart their egg sac around with them? Why? It's large and they tuck it under themselves and it's creepy and quite unnecessary if you ask me. But they do. The only thing creepier than that is that when the babies hatch, they then cart them around on their back. No really!

LOOK!!

And on someones hand! WHO COULD DO SUCH A THING? Truly vomitous.

Back to my spider. Because it's all about me. The spider is sitting there, standing? What? And I began to call out. Because I have no spider killing weapon anywhere near me and I'm getting ready for bed and not exactly decent, not to mention I can't leave the room because I'd have to cross the spider. There is just no way I'm crossing this spider. You may not know this but my house is practically sound proof. I holler down to BH. He can't hear me, I know this. Ddunkie is in the john so I yell out DDUNKIE!!!! WHAT? A SPIDER!! JC MOM! HURRY! I'M POOPING!! And then the spider, quite annoyed with all the yelling and pooping runs, RUNS! RUNS I TELL YOU! around my feet. AROUND MY FEET! then around the corner and behind my dresser.

FML

Ddunkie, mid poo, comes into the room to see. 'Is it big?' 'BIG!' 'One of 'those'?' 'yes' We're whispering at this point as we have no desire to further annoy this beast that is now hidden in my bedroom where I had intended to sleep but now will not be able to.

I run downstairs and grab the shop vac. The brand new shop vac that we got for cheep at the HD and has never even been used. This was a purchase that I'd hoped would improve my mood and if it fulfills it's spider killing duty just may.

BH hears me hollering and sees me grab the shop vac and head up the stairs with purpose and says What is all the noise? A SPIDER! 'Jeezs I thought you were dying up there.' Nice of you to check on me my love. He comes up the stairs after me. He. Is not such a great spider killer. He's not afraid, he just sucks at it. If I am going to sleep anywhere in this house I will need to be sure it's dead.

BH: How big is it?
me: BIG
BH: How big?
me: BIG
BH: Like. .
me: Baby it's BIG and it needs to die!

And now Ddunkie is out of the john and looking on.

BH slowly pulls my dresser from the wall. Of course the spider could hide UNDER the dresser and just move with it, or attach isself underneath and just ride it out. Spiders are smart this way. And the dresser moves, slowly, slowly, slowly and then. . . There it is! Up against the wall. All manner of colorful language escapes our lips. It truly is a LARGE spider. And since BH the brave spider slayer is there he quickly ducks behind the dresser and. .and. .crush crush crush. (vomit vomit vomit) He kills it. 'Now go get me a tissue' 'why?' 'to wipe the spider off my shoe' '(gak) no'

Ddunkie is just barely brave enough to get him a tissue and hand it to him in a most comical way. In other words, just barely close enough for BH to barely touch the tissue. And once tissue makes contact with BH's hands, Ddunkie hauls it out of there, crashing into me, watching from the relative safety of the doorway. Keep in mind the spider is dead at this point.

Dead spider = 10% mood elevation
Child with same degree of spider fear yet willing to kill a spider for his mommy = 20% mood elevation.

I'd rate it higher, but then I'd have to say I was now in a great mood.

FML part deux

I'm feeling pretty crappy and depressed. I'm a downer so may want to play somewhere else today. Again

I saw a pug! I can't resist. I must meet and smooch this newest addition to a friends home.

He not really a friend, he's our mechanic and we've known him for many many years. I guess he really is a friend, but not like a call up and chit chat kind of friend. Whatever.

And he says Saralee (his daughters new 'room mate') has a pug. So I gotta see him.

His name is Sparky. Or Spanky. I forget.

First thing I notice is that his head is huge! And then he is a bag of bones. Bony ribs, sunken flanks.

How's his diet? Does he eat well, have any diarrhea?
No, he eats well.
Has he been wormed?
Oh yes, he's been wormed.

She. Does not look like the type of gal that would spend money on a vet. If she did the vet would surly notice the mange on his wrinkles.

He's two years old and not fixed. She says. The lady I got him from wants to breed him one more time and then I'll get him fixed.

Great. He's a puppy mill puggy with a trashy new owner.

He needs to be rescued.

This does nothing to improve my mood.

FML

FYI I scrubbed my hands lest I bring whatever evil this sweet dog is harboring back to my own furry children.

FML

It's been a crappy week. Month, I think it's been a more like a month. I'll be doing a lot of depressing whining here so you may want to play somewhere else today.

February is sometimes a depressing month for me. I'm eating dinner in the dark. My plants are in bad shape, it's too early to start new plants and it's too cold to go out and clean things up. My Godmother has a name for February, it doesn't sound so bad in French but it is roughly translated 'February Sucks'. I don't worry so much about February, our winters are mild and soon enough the sun comes, the hills are ablaze in fiery orange poppies and all is soon forgotten.

I've had a heaviness for most of Feb and now almost all of March. Nothing happened, no major events, just a heaviness. I call it depression light. I keep busy and It'll pass.

It hasn't.

Someone hacked into my email account. I found out quick enough and changed my password. As a result I've had to change the code on my phone, which I did not know how to do. After spending 45 minutes with Sprint we got it all squared away. I can now receive emails on my phone again. BUT what I cannot do is sync my Cherry Berry up with my computer. Here's how it works. I use Yahoo. I add all my info on my desktop yahoo and when I sync it the information is updated on my phone. If I add info on my phone, when I sync it the information is updated on my desktop Yahoo. I can easily work from my home computer Yahoo to my work computer Yahoo or my phone. It's all the same. It's worked so wonderfully these two years that I never ever want to get another phone.

Of course now I am unable to sync with Yahoo. I'm quite sure it has something to do with our hacker so I call Sprint again. She checks everything and walks me through some things and then says, 'gee, let me ask someone'. When she comes back she tells me that BB doesn't sync up with Yahoo. 'Oh yes! For two years it has synced up with Yahoo, it most certainly does.' she runs a few more tests and excuses herself again. 'Yahoo does not sync with BB, you'll need to use your Outlook.' I don't use Outlook. Problem #1 with Outlook. I don't have Microsoft on my computer and even though Outlook can be used I'm not able to make it work right for me. #2 Outlook will work with one computer. With Yahoo I can change sh*t on any computer and when I'm ready to sync, it's all there. With Outlook you are limited to the computer that you have it set up on.

In other words, the bloom is off the Cherry Berry. I will be searching for a phone that will sync with my email account. Every email address, property address and notes, tasks, calenders, I need them all at my fingertips from phone or comp, specifically a Yahoo or other account I can access anywhere. My phone = 90% business. I am hog tied.

FML

The Midway

While visiting the Midway I spied this in the ladies room.

Rough sea's? No problem.

I'm thinking this set up would be welcome in many households.

What think ye?

What does BH think? BH thinks I'm a duffus!

WHO TAKES A PICTURE OF A TOILET FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!

Lamb Kofte part II

Lamb Kofte with yogurt sauce and Muhammara








Ok so go there to see the original recipe. I've changed it some but I will so do this again.

Ingredients

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I mixed this altogether with a little sugar. I had meant to pick up some tahinni and next time I will make the effort because I think it would be really good. This was good but I have a thing about yogurt, I love it but the whole savory yogurt thing still seems a little weird to me. I ended up liking this just the way it is a whole lot.

Köfte

• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1/4 cup coarsely grated onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 12 5- to 7-inch-diameter soft round Middle Eastern flatbreads (preferably with no pocket)
• 2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil, divided
• 2 large onions, halved through core, cut crosswise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices

I didn't grate the onions. Someday I may try that but it sounds like a horrid tear producing event so I'm gonna pass for now.

Now the paprika and cumin. Here's how I do it and I find this to really make a difference and it doesn't take all that long. I dump the powdered spices in a non stick pan and toast them just a bit. It releases whatever oils may still be left in these powdered spices. I try to keep my spices current and fresh but I never know how long it's been since they've been in their natural state. Any way, toast them a bit until you can smell them. Now I have to say that I think 3 tablespoons of paprika would be way too much. I rarely use paprika because I sort of think it doesn't really add anything to a dish. It's got a rather dusty flavor thing going on that's just sort of bla to me. I decided that in this large quantity I would go ahead and do it. And it was terrific. I may have underestimated this whole paprika thing. I didn't have any cayenne which I still can't believe I don't have any cayenne so I added some blazing hot garlic chili sauce.

And the mint. I'm quite sure the mint would be lovely in here but I forgot to pick some up and my mint plant has been left in the side yard to die so I didn't use any. Eating to much mint make me feel like I've swallowed mouthwash.

Muhammara

• 1/2 cup finely chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons (or more) pomegranate molasses**
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

• *Available at some supermarkets, natural foods stores, and Middle Eastern markets.
• **A thick pomegranate syrup; available at some supermarkets, at Middle Eastern markets, and from adrianascaravan.com.

You really must have the pomegranate molasses and before you get all whiny about what the heck it is and where in the world you would get it let me give you the recipe.

4 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Boil this down till it's reduced to about 1/2.

There, that wasn't so hard was it? And it's so worth it as I think you could use this in a dozen other dishes. Also if you enjoyed that whole plating thing you could drizzle this on in pretty patterns. Right? Yeah, me either.


The preparation was fairly easy and not all that time consuming. I was a little worried that this didn't have any egg or filler. I thought they'd be a little dry. They wern't fall apart in your mouth moist but I wouldn't call them dry either.

IMHO It's a do over for sure!

Preparation

yogurt sauce

• Stir all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Cover and chill.

köfte

• Line large rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix lamb and next 8 ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant 2 tablespoonfuls for each, roll meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs. Arrange on sheet.
• Preheat oven to 300°F. Place large sheet of foil on work surface. Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add flatbreads to skillet 1 at a time; cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Enclose in foil; place in oven to keep warm.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer onions to 1 side of large rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm.
• Add 1 tablespoon oil to same skillet; heat over medium-high heat. Sauté half of meatballs until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs, adding oil to skillet if dry. Reserve skillet.

Muhammara

• Add roasted peppers to reserved skillet; stir 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses. Bring to simmer, scraping up browned bits. Cook until reduced to 2/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more pomegranate molasses, if desired. Transfer to small bowl.
• Arrange onions and meatballs on platter. Serve with warm breads, yogurt sauce, and muhammara.

Happy St. Puggy's Day

Pugalug Pug Rescue Has this cute little pic. Pugalug is a Pug Rescue in Toronto, Canada.

Darn cute pic












How do they get hats to stay on? They always end up under their chin.














These would be cute to have. I may have to get some for next year. Go here.







And that is the extent of my St. Puggy's day celebration. My name may be Irish but there's not a drop of known Irish blood in me. I would forget it altogether if it wasn't for the Irishman at work. So I'll wear something green other than my eyes and I'll throw a corned beef into the crock tonight and that'll be that.












Lamb Kofte with yogurt sauce and Muhammara








Ok so go there to see the original recipe. I've changed it some but I will so do this again.

Ingredients

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I mixed this altogether with a little sugar. I had meant to pick up some tahinni and next time I will make the effort because I think it would be really good. This was good but I have a thing about yogurt, I love it but the whole savory yogurt thing still seems a little weird to me. I ended up liking this just the way it is a whole lot.

Köfte

• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1/4 cup coarsely grated onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 12 5- to 7-inch-diameter soft round Middle Eastern flatbreads (preferably with no pocket)
• 2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil, divided
• 2 large onions, halved through core, cut crosswise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices

I didn't grate the onions. Someday I may try that but it sounds like a horrid tear producing event so I'm gonna pass for now.

Now the paprika and cumin. Here's how I do it and I find this to really make a difference and it doesn't take all that long. I dump the powdered spices in a non stick pan and toast them just a bit. It releases whatever oils may still be left in these powdered spices. I try to keep my spices current and fresh but I never know how long it's been since they've been in their natural state. Any way, toast them a bit until you can smell them. Now I have to say that I think 3 tablespoons of paprika would be way too much. I rarely use paprika because I sort of think it doesn't really add anything to a dish. It's got a rather dusty flavor thing going on that's just sort of bla to me. I decided that in this large quantity I would go ahead and do it. And it was terrific. I may have underestimated this whole paprika thing. I didn't have any cayenne which I still can't believe I don't have any cayenne so I added some blazing hot garlic chili sauce.

And the mint. I'm quite sure the mint would be lovely in here but I forgot to pick some up and my mint plant has been left in the side yard to die so I didn't use any. Eating to much mint make me feel like I've swallowed mouthwash.

Muhammara

• 1/2 cup finely chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons (or more) pomegranate molasses**
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

• *Available at some supermarkets, natural foods stores, and Middle Eastern markets.
• **A thick pomegranate syrup; available at some supermarkets, at Middle Eastern markets, and from adrianascaravan.com.

You really must have the pomegranate molasses and before you get all whiny about what the heck it is and where in the world you would get it let me give you the recipe.

4 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Boil this down till it's reduced to about 1/2.

There, that wasn't so hard was it? And it's so worth it as I think you could use this in a dozen other dishes. Also if you enjoyed that whole plating thing you could drizzle this on in pretty patterns. Right? Yeah, me either.


The preparation was fairly easy and not all that time consuming. I was a little worried that this didn't have any egg or filler. I thought they'd be a little dry. They wern't fall apart in your mouth moist but I wouldn't call them dry either.

IMHO It's a do over for sure!

Preparation

yogurt sauce

• Stir all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Cover and chill.

köfte

• Line large rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix lamb and next 8 ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant 2 tablespoonfuls for each, roll meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs. Arrange on sheet.
• Preheat oven to 300°F. Place large sheet of foil on work surface. Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add flatbreads to skillet 1 at a time; cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Enclose in foil; place in oven to keep warm.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer onions to 1 side of large rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm.
• Add 1 tablespoon oil to same skillet; heat over medium-high heat. Sauté half of meatballs until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs, adding oil to skillet if dry. Reserve skillet.

Muhammara

• Add roasted peppers to reserved skillet; stir 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses. Bring to simmer, scraping up browned bits. Cook until reduced to 2/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more pomegranate molasses, if desired. Transfer to small bowl.
• Arrange onions and meatballs on platter. Serve with warm breads, yogurt sauce, and muhammara.

Lamb Kofte part I

Lamb Köfte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara

This is not my picture. By the time I'm done cooking I'm starving and plating is something I need to learn.






This was one of the two of the 5 AMAZING meataball recipes that I was dying to try. I'm not much for Indian cuisine but I really love Moroccan and Mediterranean foods.

This recipe claims 'The Middle East on a flatbread: Turkish meatballs, a tahini-spiked yogurt sauce, and muhammara, a Syrian red pepper spread.'

But here's the catch, it's made with ground lamb.

That may not be an issue where you live but here in the L of E you will not find ground lamb. Most of the year you will not find any lamb. But now that Easter is upon us lamb has cropped up in most markets. I thought there was a chance I would find it locally.

I thought wrong.

However, while visiting the folks in the OC I told them I wanted to catch the Persian market down the road from where they live. A great little market while kind of on the dirty side has many items that I use in large inexpensive quantities and all the Middle East items I can find no where else.

It's closed it's doors since I was there.

humf!

Oh wait! the old people say, there's that Whole Food store we told you about, they'll have what you want there.

The peeps have been mentioning this Whole Food store for several months. It started by them saying it was a store that had 2 words in the name. Then they thought it was Whole Food something. So I said 'Whole Foods?' cuz you know that's a store and everybody sort of knows this. And they say no, it's like Whole Foods but not Whole Foods. This may sound a little frustrating unless you've actually met my parents. And then you'd get it. And it would be funny!

So they take us there and it? Is fantastic! They have a fabulous cheese counter with cheeses from all over. I bought a pound of Bulgarian Feta. Bulgarian Feta! Who knew Bulgarians made feta? It's a lovely sheep milk feta with a sharp flavor and creamy texture. I picked up a ginormous jar of cracked green olives for about 3 bucks. A half gallon of grapeseed oil, half a dozen exotic spices, some tea. Oh the tea isle!! Tea tea tea. I picked up a box of Earl Grey, 100 count, for the same price as Numi Earl Grey 20 count. I'm quite sure it's not organic. But it is delish. Then headed over to the dairy case. I've been wanting to try some nice Greek yogurt for some time. My store has it but it so wickedly expensive that I've yet to pick some up. Persian market is where I wanted to go for selection and price. And it did not disappoint, Greek yogurts, Indian yogurts in several brands, huge sizes and at the same price as our domestic brands. I didn't get any as the expiration dates were rather close. So I guess it did disappoint. The bulk bins had couscous, several varieties of rice and some rather exotic looking dried figs. The figs were sweet and chewy. I should have bought more.

And then. . . on to the meat counter. Meat counters rather scare me a little. Especially if I don't know what I want. You got a guy standing there waiting to measure some meat for you and there are other people waiting and it just all gets a little stressful for me. Except that day, that day I spied ground lamb. I flagged me down a meat man and grabbed a couple of pounds of ground lamb and then, right next to the lamb was osso busco. I've been meaning to make some so I grabbed four of those.

Now I was set for my next AMAZING MEATBALL RECIPE!!!

. . . . . to be continued . . . . .

Party Time

These were most likely taken last Fathers DayThis is Papa Gnomes favorite posture while visiting. Sleeping, or trying to.

Mum sleeping. I throw roaring parties yo!

The food. I think this was a build your own burger party.

Mums World Famous Salad. Really it is such a hit. Everybody loves it. I've eaten it my whole life and I'm rather meh about it. I suppose I'll have to make it when mom no longer can. I dread that day for more than one reason.

My favorite not-DIL folded up some paper towels as this chickie forgot to pick up cute color co-ordinated napkins.
These are marinated onions. Really really easy. So easy in fact that I'll give you the recipe right here and now. It's onions, duh, sliced ridiculously thin on my old rusty mandolin. Rice vinegar or the vinegar of your choice, a little olive oil or the tasty oil of your choosing, a bit of salt and pepper. DONE!! You can make this a few hours in advance, red onions are pretty but not necessary as you can see here. And they disappear. They really do. Try it. I love my Pyrex. I need some smaller serving tongs.

Miranda. Cbuds oldest daughter. I love her. She is a delightful young woman. I find her mature for 19 and emotionally put together and stable. Considering she was raised by her wacky mother (who I like very much even if she is a nut job)

Dad

I so love this man.

My dad brought these. He calls them Grandpa beers.

All of this reminds me of the upcoming Easter celebration. The Gnomes, ifin you've been following for awhile, always seem to give me grief during the holidays. No one else on BH's side of the family has ever hosted a holiday party. I didn't think this was strange at first as women usually co-ordinate family get togethers and I just assumed their mother, BH's 1st X, did this. Turns out she does not. Did not. Like ever. Now that I know her a little better I understand this. So I mistakenly thought everyone would just love the family get together celebration thing. When you're in a family that doesn't operate this way I understand it can take a little time to get everybody confortable. Still I thought that the brothers, BH's sons, would enjoy spending time together. Also 2 of them have kids about the same age and I believe the cousins would enjoy playing together and getting to know one another better. Turns out this is not exactly true. The brothers, while close growing up, don't interact much as they've grown and had families of their own. Many reasons for this but it's never to late to start I think. The cousins? Well, they don't care for each other much. It seems the parenting styles are so different that one set of cousins find the other set of cousins to be mean and rude. I'll let you form your own conclusions as to who the problem cousins are.

So, here it is, three weeks before Easter, and I'm planning the Easter get together. It's assumed by my family that I will do it. It's assumed by his family that I will do it. They never organize any holiday so they come for lack of any other family obligation. I send out an email to all parties. I've decided these things should have time lines. Logical yes? People want to know when they're going to eat (and what they're going to eat) and they want to know when they can go home (or have to go home) right?

I get an email gnome express, is it the 4th? (????) Really? It was easier to shoot me an email asking if Easter was on the 4th? Being a very religious family I'm thinking they should already know about the upcoming holiday. 'Yes, Sunday April 4' I respond. Knowing them I already know something is up. BH calls and is told that they already have plans for Easter, they'd accepted an invitation long before I invited them. (???) More than 3 weeks prior to Easter, they accepted an Easter invitation but somehow can't remember the date.

So, I guess they arn't coming.

I'm getting real excited about Easter now.

LET ME IN!

This is in front of a store that I frequent. This space is almost always open and it is right in front of the store. It's usually a narrow fit as some BASUV is often in the next space, or rather, the next 2 spaces. Problem #1: I have to climb out of my car and onto the planter curb and then pull myself up. If this does not sound like a problem to you it's because you are not wearing a dress/heels or you're not rapidly approaching 50 with weakness in your legs.

Problem #2: The tree. The tree is right there. Once you do all of the above and manage to make it to a vertical position your face will be right in the middle of that tree.

Problem#3: During certain times of the year there will be bees in the trees.

From my kitchen window I've got this hummingbird feeder. Those purple things, are not hummingbirds.

They're morning glories!

Sure is pretty isn't it?
Look at the way it wraps around the feeder, in like 2 days!!


This reminds me. These feeders come with little yellow cage like bee guards. They always pop off, end up down the disposal or otherwise just drive me nuts. More to clean and who needs that? AND I've yet to see a bee here the whole time I've lived here. So I pitched the ones I had left.

You know where this is going. I go out to fill the feeder and what do you know? It's full of bees. FULL. Somehow these little devils climbed into that small whole and filled the carafe. When I dumped them some were still moving which made the garbage disposal of them a little yucky.

But now what? I have no bee guards! I check around at lowes and HD and you can't just buy bee guards. The feeder is fine and I don't need another one. So I google it. And Amazon has bee guards! A four pack for like 2 bucks! Maybe three.

So now my little birdies are happy happy happy.

I'll bet yours look just as bad

These are my cookie/baking/everything sheets. . . .

Yes I do know how disgusting these are and I used them and used them and used them. That floppy folded over thing is my silicone baking liners, like Silpat only not. You know they work even looking crudy and scary like this.

You'll be happy to know that I am now the proud proud very proud owner of two brand new baking sheets and one new Silpat. They didn't have two and I keep forgetting to look for another. For now, I'm good.

Now show me your baking sheets. . I dare you!

Camera Crumbs

Boredom on the way home from work.

Bilbop's Kabob Because it sounds funny. . .

Oh look! It's my VW!!!

Ifin it had A/C it would so be mine. . .

More Camera Crappe

This is the junk in my purse.
See that red case? It's my camera case. I've lost it. I have my camera but can't seem to find the case. Now that you know what it looks like if you find it will you call me?

The day the awning died

She will be missed

Mini Doxie's

With a cute little sign that said. "will you be mine for $359.00?"

No. Sorry.

Pug Tails

I don't remember why I took this.
Frank was doing something cute I'm sure but you can't tell from this picture.

Camera dribbles

Whilst getting my car smogged I saw this.

Lovely little Madonna. She is adorned with religious icons of all faiths. I think I counted 10.

Also this. . .

Did not know what this was for a long time.
It's from the accident. Horrible picture. but that what it is.

Quartzsite

Camera droppings

More boring from my camera. We're on our way out of town. Why did I snap this?
This is Quartzsite Arizona. They have the biggest rock shows on the planet. It's a little nothing town in the middle of the desert. When I first went there, way way back when, they had nothing. Nothing at all. We had our little camper and we would stay for a couple of days and cruise all the displays. In Jan/Feb the place fills up. You just would not believe when you see this little niche in the desert with wall to wall campers and RV's.

We were driving by end of December and they had started setting up. Some snowbirds now stay here in the winter. They have hotels and restaurants now.

This fierce little doggie bout ate the window to get to me.